Craft Shows! Late but Better Than Never

I've been so hard at work getting things situated in my shop but I haven't forgotten about my Blog readers. :)

Earlier this year, just two months ago in May, I attended the Skyline Lakes Fire Department Annual Mother's Day Weekend Craft Show. This was their 9th year! We were a bit nervous about the weather. Just like last year we were supposed to get terrible roaming thunderstorms and just overall generally crummy weather as far as craft shows are concerned. But the morning of the weather did a complete 180. It was sunny and there was a fabulous turn out.

 My friend Michelle attended the show with me and was a wonderful help and great company during the down times. It was nice getting a chance to sneak away from the booth with her watching the shop while I was away. I hope she is able to attend my future shows with me! :)

Despite the scorching heat a lot of people showed up and the Threaded Chains outdoor booth was a big success compared to last year. I'm so glad to have given this venue another chance! I plan to continue going back and hopefully next year will be just as wonderful.

We did eventually get some rain but not until the end. I was so busy I didn't get a chance to take photos until just before the rain hit. I had very little time to prep the table for photos so some things are a little disheveled from shoppers.

I've made some progress in how to lay out the tables and I hope my next one turns out even better. I'm VERY pleased with the white table linens. They'll be good until I find some permanent cloth ones of the proper colors to match my shop logos. :)

I am planning to do a bunch of craft shows this fall as well. One is being held in Wanaque and I'll be submitting my application before the end of July. As I am very much looking forward to attending the Packanack Mother's Club annual November Holiday craft show which is held right here in Wayne, New Jersey, my home town! :)

There was also one other show I had my eye on so once I have finalized dates I'll be sure to update everyone! And as always you can tune in to my Facebook and Google+ pages for updates.

I hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July tomorrow and a great weekend. There will be a Christmas in July special coming up in my shop within the next few days so keep your eyes out for that!

I'll see you all in the next post.

Creative Cake Baking + Glad to be Back!

My goodness it's been so long. Almost a year...I really should hire someone to stand over me and smack me with a ruler whenever I neglect my blog!

Well I hope everyone is coming out of winter on a good note. I am getting back to my shop at long last and it's been wonderful. :) I've had a busy week and the weekend wasn't an exception. Before I get down to the real reason for this post I just want to let you all know I'm having a sale to celebrate my Etsy shop's grand re-opening! Just use the coupon code WELCOMEBACK when you check out and you'll get 10% off anything in my shop including made to order and custom items and anything else listed. :)

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. I took it upon myself to make him a cake. But not just any old cake. Oh no..this one was going to be themed! Anyone who knows me can tell you I'm not that great of a chef and I'm so-so at baking. Visually my food may not look spectacular or noteworthy but I pride myself on at least making sure it tastes great. When it comes to baking I like doing creative things. The last few years I have done special Easter themed brownies (seen below).

I thought that since I have so much fun doing these brownies I could try my hand at doing a fancy sort of cake. A shaped one. An epic one!

My family, as you know, is big on Halloween. All of us have a nickname those on the Halloween forums we belong to know us by. My dad's just so happens to be Vlad. He's made props before using the bat logo associated with that name and Vampires so I though it would be awesome to make him a bat shaped cake.

The original idea stemmed around having a two layer cake but shaping the top layer into the bat. Simple right? Yeah. Sure. We'll go with that!

So here we go. A short little step by step (with photos) on how to make a bat shaped cake. Just remember: I don't claim to be an expert cake designer!

How to Make a Bat Shaped Cake Mini Tutorial

Step one: Choose your poison. For my cake I decided on a butter cake. Just a store brand, off the shelf, box of mix that required the added stick of butter, three eggs, and 2/3s cup of water. Mix on medium or 450 strokes by hand and viola! You can pick any sort of cake flavor you would like though. :)

Step two: Evenly distribute the cake mix into two round cake pans, 8 or 9 inch in size. I think mine were 9 inches. Then pop them in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine baked for about 25 minutes to a half hour.

Step Three: Allow your cake to cool in the pans until they are able to be handled by hand. Then remove the two layers and place them on SEPARATE plates. Pop the plates into the refridgerator for about an hour or so. This is supposed to help reduce the amount of crumbs and whatnot when cutting your cake and spreading the icing on exposed parts of the cake that will be showing after you've cut your shapes.

Step Four: Pick our your icing. For my bat cake I used whipped white icing and regular chocolate. Make sure you stir the icing in the cans before applying. It helps with spreadability!

Step Five: Once your cake layers have sat in the fridge for about an hour or so pull them out and grab a sharp edged knife. This will help make cutting your cake shape easier. I used a serated steak knife. Next I just traced a very light outline of my bat's body on one of my cake layers. I did NOT cut the cake yet!

Since I am terrible at evenly distributing cake batter into pans I chose the thinner, smaller layer to make my bat shape out of. Think of the body shape as being a snowman with only two sections. Make sure to include two pointed ears on top!

Step Six: Once you have a tentative outline on the top of the cake you're ready to start cutting. Try and follow your outlines as best as possible! Mine looked like this when I finished cutting it:

I removed the little top piece between the ears so you could better see my body shape and the head.

You should now have three parts for your bat: two wing sections and the body. The wings will be too large for the cake so you will need to cut them down further. You can just wing it on the one wing by freehand cutting it. Then to get a matching opposite wing place the two wing pieces together (with the top golden parts touching) and cut off the extra pieces of the other wing by following the edges of the first one. Keep cutting until you've made the wing parts small enough to fit on top of your cake and so they don't stick off too far (no more than a quarter of an inch).

Step Seven: Ice the bottom layer of your cake. For this I used my white whipped icing. Once done this is what it should look like:

Step Eight: Time to place your bat pieces on top of your iced bottom layer. Place the body on top first and make sure to center it as best you can. Make sure to try not to have the ears stick off the top of the cake too much. DO NOT PUT THE WINGS ON YET. I did this and had to pull them off the very sticky icing so I could properly ice the body of the bat. You need to ice ALL the sides and edges of the body and the wings would get in the way.

So ice the body of your bat first! Be careful when icing the ears. The tips are going to be thin and prone to crumbling off. It took me awhile but I was able to slowly ice them with little, tiny dollops of icing until none of the cake was showing from underneath it. Try also not to press to hard or you could risk breaking the ears off completely.

My cake looked like this before I had to pull the wings off and ice the bat's body. Make sure you DON'T DO THIS:

I used chocolate icing for my bat so he would be "black" or in this case brown.

Step Nine: Now it's time to add your wings and ice them. You may find it helpful to hold one side of the wing as you ice the edges to keep from pushing it around on the white icing or from sliding. It shouldn't slide too much, if at all, but it helps get the icing to spread better by stabilizing the wing as you go with your fingers.

Make sure to ice in along the sides of the wing closest to the body so none of the underlying cake parts are showing! I went the extra step and iced under the parts of the wings that jutted off the edge of the cake as well.

My cake looked like this once I was finished icing the bat:

 Step Ten: Time to add a face and any other details you would like. I choose to just use plain white icing that was leftover to do my detailing. I used a small plastic zip lock baggy with one of the bottom corners snipped off to use as a piping bag. You could also use an actual icing piper if you have them.



Two little dots for the eyes and a sad attempt at a mouth later....:

Now you should have what looks like the ghost of a dead cartoon cat with a mustache! Darn....Might as well as one final flourish:

A bow-tie with a dried cranberry cluster for the center.



Now just place your cake in a cool place (I put mine in the fridge) because there is no way this is going to fit under a cake plate until people have eaten the extremities off. Haha. :D

Anyway, that is my attempt at making a bat cake. Thankfully my dad loved it. You can't get something like that at the store!

I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your weekend and enjoyed reading. Feel free to comment if you've got questions. I didn't do a very good job at taking more photos. Next time....

Music Mondays and Craft Show Woes

My post is a day late but better late than never! :)

Let me start this blog post off with something I think that could be fun to do. I'm a very open minded person and I have an addictive personality. I don't often get to share my personal life with my fans and followers and I'd like to change that a little bit.

I'm always striving to be more open. So to kick start this Monday morning I'm going to share with you one of my favorite musicians. I like a lot of music ranging from opera all the way to metal bands and Irish pub songs. I like to give everything a try at least once. This artist was introduced to me on a forum a few years ago and I was so blown away by this man's work that it inspired me in some of my story writing endeavors.

His name is Ed Alleyne-Johnson. He has a very unique instrument and it was one I had never heard of until I saw a video that was linked in the forum I belong to. I think his work is so haunting and beautiful. If you have an ear for classical pieces you may just like this musician and composer. Here is a video I found just searching for his name on Youtube. I happen to love the song he is covering!



Here he is playing live doing a song from his own CD called Ultraviolet.
I would love to see him playing live someday. I'm certain it's a life changing experience! What sort of music do you like to listen to? What music really inspires you?

Craft Shows from May

I've had two craft shows this month. Unfortunately unlike my first show back in March neither of these two worked out very well. I think the first show I attended on the 4th was just not advertised enough sign wise. There weren't any signs out on the main road leading to the venue. I also feel the crowd was just not right for what I was selling. I had more people wanting to buy my mannequin (Beverely) and her wig than I had interested in my jewelry or Vintage wares. They plan to have another show this September. I'm not certain if I'll attend again. There was very little structure to the show and it seemed a bit too much like a free-for-all. While I met some wonderful people I think a lot more planning needs to happen if future shows are to be successful. It just didn't feel like a vendor-friendly show.


My second show, on the 11th, didn't turn out well either. Unfortunately although this was the 8th year for this particular show the weather was forecast to have downpours and thunder storms for the entire day. Even though it didn't rain until the last half hour of the show I believe the potential for bad weather kept many from coming out. I am hopeful that next year will be better and I do look forward to giving this venue another chance. My only wish would be that they have a rain date for this show as it is unfair to their outdoor vendors that don't have the luxury of being located inside the main building. There was also a pet adoption held along with the craft show.

I had a lot of fun meeting all the dogs and cats looking for their forever homes. I was a little disappointed however that many of the handlers didn't seem to care where their dogs were dragging them around to or what the dogs were doing whenever they stopped to meet someone. One of the dogs happened to pee on one of the table skirts of the vendor selling across from me. Most of the handlers also would stop right in front of the vendor tents to talk with people walking by which I believe was a large deterrent to anyone who might have otherwise stopped by the vendor booths. It is difficult for people trying to shop while there are dogs jumping up their legs.

I am hoping that next year the weather is nicer and that perhaps the venue re-think where they place the pet adoption tables. While I support adopting shelter animals I think a lot more thought needs to go into keeping the dogs away from vendor booths. I certainly don't mind them walking by (I don't expect them all to be forced to sit still all day) but it certainly didn't help with sales for mine or any of the other vendors who were set up next to or between the pet adoption booths.

I did get the opportunity to snap some photos for both shows. I suppose that is the plus side to not having many shoppers coming by! lol

Here are just a handful:

These two are from my Lionshead Lake show on the 4th.

Pictured right is the jewelry half of my booth. We had it facing out toward the entrance to the parking lot where people would walk in.

 Pictured left is a front view of my booth. We had two racks of vintage clothing to each side as well as crates filled with vintage fabric. The table to the inside left of the booth had all of our other vintage items such as shoes, sewing patterns, and miscellaneous accessories like gloves and scarves.



And lastly here are two photos from my Skyline Lakes Fire Department Craft show on the 11th.

Pictured right is a front view of my table set up on Saturday May 11th. I had invested in some plastic table clothes and skirts (because of the predicted rain fall). I also acquired some green shower curtains to hang around the back and sides of the canopy. These did an excellent job of keeping the wind from knocking my displays over. I will be investing in some actual canopy curtains so that my set up looks more professional. I also plan to obtain some real table clothes and skirts as well.

Here you can see my best friend Michelle who spent the day with me. She was a huge help with setting up. You can also see that I've ditched all of my hang tags for my items. There was no tangled mess to sort through when it was time to pack up and leave. I also plan to update my little price signs that were placed with some of my items.


If you would like to see more photos from these and other craft shows I attend, please check out my facebook photo albums or my flickr gallery.

Facebook
Flickr


I have a ton of work to catch up on this week. Also I will be looking for more craft shows to attend. Hopefully I can get more lined up very soon!

Have a great week everyone. :)

Craft Fairs + Giveaway + Threaded Chains in Fundraisers

Hey everyone! It's been my goal to try and write a new blog post every Sunday but as you can see I haven't exactly met that goal. LOL! Things were extraordinarily hectic the week leading up to my first craft show in March. Afterward I had a complete burnout for the majority of that month. But I'm working hard now at trying to get my name out there again and have been busy searching out more shows to attend. :)

Threaded Chains Giveaway

Let me first start with some big news. I reached my goal of 400 Facebook fans just two weeks ago! Since then I've gained an additional 50+ followers and as I promised on my page I am hosting a giveaway to celebrate!

The catch is that you must be a Threaded Chains FB fan in order to be eligible to win. I will award up to 3 prizes depending on the amount of entries. If there are less than 10 only one winner will be chosen. If I get 10 or more  there will be 3 prizes awarded. :)

Hop on over to the Threaded Chains FB Page to read up on the rules. The giveaway starts Monday April 29th and ends on Friday May 4th!

Auctions & Donations from Threaded Chains

Sometime before my March craft show I was contacted by the New Jersey Passaic County CASA organization. They wanted me to donate some of my jewelry to their Tricky Tray & Dinner fundraiser that will be held June 11th (a Tuesday). I gladly accepted and I will be donating about $50 worth of jewelry to the Tricky Tray. If you live in or near Passaic County in northern New Jersey and are interested in attending this fundraiser please head over to the Passaic County CASA website for information. Tickets are $40 but the money goes to a great cause. You get a full sheet of raffle tickets, a special door prize ticket, and also dinner for the admittance fee. My jewelry will be in a basket all on it's own so please be certain to check it out! :)

Rosie the Cat's Fundraiser Auction:

Lastly for fundraisers I stumbled on a post in my news feed on FB the other day. Through one of my fellow crafters I found out about a beautiful tortoiseshell 4 month old cat named Rosie. She has luxating patella (a rare condition for cats where the knee caps rotate out of place) which can cause pain and in Rosie's condition will eventually lead to her losing both of her back legs at some point in her life. To prevent this there is a surgery that costs $3,000 PER leg. Being an animal lover I am going to be donating several items to an Auction being held by Rosie's owner on a FB page made specifically for Rosie's cause. The auction will be held on Rosie's FB page Wednesday May 15th through Sunday of the same week.

Please click on the below links to donate to Rosie's cause, attend the auction, or just to get more information:

Rosie's Auction Event page

Rosie's FB Page

The Auction Folder (This is where the items will be up for you to bid on starting May 15th)

Rosie's Auction Group (This is a group ONLY for people donating items to the auction, you must join to see information on donating)

Craft Fairs

Last but not least I have been super busy trying to find new craft shows to attend in my area. I found a lot but I have to tidy up some things for my business before I can attend them. However, that hasn't stopped me from scouting out venues in the meantime. :)

Today I went to the Adorno Father's Fair in Ramsey, NJ (in Northern Jersey in Passaic County). I wasn't sure what to expect because this venue has both Crafters/Artists, Re-sellers, and Antique sellers. I met so many fellow crafters though and made a few purchases. I had so much fun doing some in person networking and exchanging my business cards when appropriate of course. ;)

Most of the handmade sellers I spoke with told me this was their first time at the show but one did tell me she was informed from other vendors that they do very well at this particular show. I hope to be a part of it in October but if not I'll at least attend as a customer and check out the tables and maybe meet some new friends again.

My purchases for the day came from one lovely seller who redecorates recycled bottles with gorgeous stones, shells, and pebbeles for a nifty upcycled vase or shelf decoration. She also had these smooth, oval somewhat flat stones drawn on with stained glass paint. There were a few tiny ones that I couldn't resist snatching up. They had some inspirational things written/drawn on them that I just had to have. I also made a purchase from Soaps for a Cause, a nice girl and guy were attending the booth selling handmade all natural soaps. A portion of their proceeds goes to helping Uganda get clean water and help with sanitation issues. As well the little info card that comes with the soap is loaded with real seedlings. You just wet the paper, plant it, and herbs will grow. I love eco friendly! :D I bought a bar for my mother, who came to the event with me, as an early Mother's Day gift since she loves gardening. We have no idea what herbs will grow but we can't wait to see!

My last purchase was from two women attending a booth selling hot sauce. The one woman's son and the other's daughter started this little business called Heartbreaking Dawns. They were letting people sample the hot sauces on display and being a lover of spicy food I had to try it. I came back before I left the fair and bought their second hottest blend. It's made with ghost pepper and I can't wait to make buffalo chicken with it! Check out the Heartbreaking Dawns website for more info on their hot sauces. :)

Upcoming Fairs for Threaded Chains:

I have lined up one more show so far! I will definitely be attending the Lionshead Lake Arts/Crafts Fair in Wayne, NJ on May 4th. The show starts at 9 am and ends at 4 pm. If you live in or around Passaic County NJ please stop by and say hello! There is also going to be a Garage sale held the same day at the same location. So far there looks to be approximately 7 Crafts vendors with a total of 20 "booths" total including the garage salers. I hope to see you there! :) Checkout the Lionshead Lake website for information or directions.


That's all for now. I will keep everyone posted on any future events I attend. I also hope to be showcasing some sellers that I get to meet from these events. :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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Glass Pearl Earring Giveaway!

Because a lot of people had trouble entering the last giveaway on last Friday, my winner and I decided to wipe the slates clean and try again!


Please read the entire blog post carefully. Read ALL the rules and instructions on how to enter.


Unlike last time I will not be so lenient and help people along if you don't do EXACTLY as the instructions and rules say.

Prize

You will win a custom made pair of glass pearl earrings done in your choice of glass pearl colors (there are 17 total to choose from) on either gold or silver plated ear wires and findings.

To see pictures and examples of all the colors I offer please click this link!

And here are some group shots of all the colors on the gold and silver plated ear wires:

Who Can Enter

ANYONE can enter! The Giveaway is open worldwide.

How to Enter

Answer the trivia question below by leaving a comment on this blog. Please ALSO include a valid e-mail address with your answer. You can look up your answer via search engine, ask a friend, ANYTHING you need to find the answer! Don't forget to enter the captCHA code when you go to submit your answer or else your comment will not post!

The FIRST PERSON to answer the question correctly and leave their valid e-mail address will be the winner.

Trivia Question: In the Stargate television shows, what is the name of the character that Richard Dean Anderson plays?

Good luck!

Whimsical Photography

As an artist I appreciate many aspects of art. I have always been more into drawing and within recent years creating handmade items like jewelry and accessories. But one thing I have a huge respect for is photography. It has always been an art form that has somewhat eluded me in the past. As time has gone on I continue to improve especially now that I must take crisp, clear photos of my jewelry and vintage items when I list them in my online studios and social networking sites.


I admit, I envy photographers that sell prints because it is something I have always wanted to do but never had the true talent to achieve. But this doesn't stop me from looking through shops and "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing over photos that grab my attention.

I really adore whimsical, and fantasy based or inspired artwork. But sometimes I can be pleasantly surprised and taken by imagery of very real life things or people.

At the end of the day though it always comes back to nature and animals.

These images are just the very tip of the huge cache of gorgeous prints that Photographer and Artist Danny have to offer in their Etsy shop named Maximonstertje.

But she doesn't just offer prints. She also has a beautiful selection of jewelry, postcards, and even iPhone cases.

I am continually inspired by the artwork she lists and I am always eagerly awaiting her Facebook updates so I can catch sneak previews of her newest print.

Be sure to check out Maximonstertje Photography on:

Facebook

Blogger

Etsy

Flickr

I hope you all find her work as inspiring as I do. I am hoping to get a print or two from her to hang on the walls of my studio here at Threaded Chains.

And for the month of July she is offering FREE WORLDWIDE shipping! That's such an awesome deal. :) Just enter the code FREESHIP at checkout to get free shipping on your order.

May the rest of your day and week be filled with wonderful art, inspiration, and love.

~ Remmie

Winner Chosen!

The winner for my Friday the 13th giveaway has been chosen! Congrats to Maureen for winning. :)

That said there are some things I need to say to clear the air, as this giveaway has upset me a bit in regard to how some people have acted.

For the future I may need to rethink my giveaway strategy. I was a little disappointed with the very small turn out but to be fair it was a very spontaneous giveaway with little notice. There was also some big squabbling that went on after I started receiving entries so I may not offer my giveaways to include friends and family in the future. I can also just run all of my giveaways using rafflecopter.

As a reminder to anyone participating in future giveaways, please make sure that you read all of the rules thoroughly. I let a lot of things slide this time because it was my first real giveaway. In the future I won't be issuing reminders to those entering if they don't follow all of the rules. Reading everything and all of the instructions is key!


I hope that for my future giveaways this sort of thing doesn't happen again or I may have to ban people from participating in my giveaways altogether and I don't want things to have to come down to that!

We are all adults, so I hope for the future we can all act as such.

I apologize for this mixed feelings blog update but these are things that needed to be said. I am going to try and enjoy the rest of my weekend before heading off to my day job tonight.

Don't forget, it's still Christmas in July at my shop so even if you didn't win the giveaway you can still get a great discount on all items in my shop through July 31st! Hop on over to my Etsy Studio or my Artfire Studio and use the coupon code XMASINJULY10 at checkout to get 10% off your entire order!

~ Remmie

Behind the Scenes

I am taking a short break from updating my Artfire studio and I thought that since it's Christmas in July I'd like to share some behind the scenes pictures of just how I strive to go the extra mile for my customers.

All of my fans be them on Facebook, Twitter, here on my blog, or anywhere else you are watching me and my customers are the ones that make it possible for me to do what I love. I know for me when I go shopping at other handmade, vintage, and supply shops on Etsy, Artfire, or anywhere else I love it when my order is given that personalized touch. I have bought items that came to be wrapped so beautifully and included little notes, thanks yous, business cards, and even coupons. I love knowing that the artisan and shop owner I am supporting has taken the time to stop and appreciate my business to them.

Orders are gift wrapped in colored tissue paper and sealed with festive stickers that I change around depending on the season and holiday at the time of purchase. A hand written note is also included to voice my thanks and to let you know just how much I appreciate your business. :) I also have been including my new business card with my orders for you to share with others.

Recently I had an order for two pairs of my grape cluster earrings. My customer was purchasing these for a friend of hers for her birthday. We talked on Etsy for a bit and I was given the go ahead to customize her order a little further. Polka dotted tissue paper was used to wrap the earrings and each package was sealed with some adorable birthday stickers.

I also included a special Hallmark card, with matching envelope, with a personalized greeting (as requested from my customer), to go with the order. And as always, I included a note for my buyer. Two business cards were sent so she could share one with her friend.

Everything here is included for free with her purchase. I have stickers for just about every occasion and I am always looking for more. I definitely have a lot of fun wrapping my orders. It feels like Christmas to me, wrapping things up to send off to people. :) My hand written notes are also different for each order. I have many different note pads to use for this purpose. Someday I would love to have some stationary with my shop name on them.

Currently my vintage items are shipped in ways that maximize their safety with in the mailers. However, I can offer gift wrapping if asked. :)

What do you guys do for your customers? Do you offer gift wrap options or do you gift wrap everything, like I do? I'd love to hear what you guys do for your clientele.

Back to work for me now. Have a fabulous evening!

~Remmie

Goosebook + Christmas in July

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday! Things have been super busy over here so I apologize for not updating sooner as I had promised.

I'll get right down to it and start with the big news first.

There is a new social networking site and it is small business friendly! I am personally tired of Facebook making changes that negatively affect small business owners like myself. Lately all Facebook has done is make changes that many of it's users hate. Their motivations are to please shareholders now that they have gone public. So Goosie Girl took matters into her own hands and created her own social networking site. About 70 people signed up in just the first 24 hours alone, and I was one of them. Businesses seeking membership are asked to pay a small $5 per year fee and regular profiles for non-business members are completely free! No "promoted posts" like on Facebook. Your posts will reach everyone who watches your profile and won't get hidden, unlike on Facebook. I'm excited to be a member and I am certain the site will only continue to grow.

Goosie has named the site domain mombition as many people who wanted to sign up in the original wave are mostly stay at home, self employed mom's, but EVERYONE is welcome to join! I am currently awaiting approval for my account so i should be up and running on there within a day or so. Come and join me, and many other small businesses, and check it out here: Goosebook

Christmas in July!

And with July comes Christmas! It's that time again so I've been working very hard to get some more Christmas themed items ready to post into the shop. I just listed two handmade jewelry items for Christmas in July the other day. Check out my Christmas Shop Section and stay tuned for more!

Also coming to the shop to celebrate Chistmas in July I have two brand new jewelry styles I'm introducing to the shop: Lariat necklaces and Adjustable Macrame Hemp Jewlery bracelets/anklets. Below you can find a sneek peek preview! I will be adding these and much more to the shop over the coming days.

And lastly to celebrate Christmas in July I will be offering 10% off ALL items in my shop using coupon code XMASINJULY10 until July 31st at midnight, eastern standard time. This discount is not available with any other percent off offer (like the 5% discount offered through the My Etsy Shop app on my Facebook page) but IS good in conjunction with the two for $11 glass pearl earring sale as well as the 3 for $7 Vintage sewing pattern sale. So now is the perfect time to get some early holiday shopping in whether you want to buy my handmade jewelry or some of my mother's vintage items. More will be added as the month goes on.

I will be activating the code within the next few hours on both Etsy and Artfire. Keep an eye out on my Facebook and twitter accounts as I will announce it once the codes are activated!

That's all for now. Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

~ Remmie

Stickers, Stickers, and more Stickers! + Item of the Day

My first apologies for not updating in a few days. There are many things going on in real life that have kept me from being able to update.

My family and I are in the process of moving to my grandmother's house. My parents have been actively trying to fix up the place for her for over two years now. Finally they hired a contractor to come in and redo the driveway and the sidewalk leading from the driveway to the front steps...but they botched it! The contractor never excavated the sidewalk and they botched the stonework that is to line both sides of the driveway. On top of that they butchered the sidewalk. They set the cement and black work right on top of dirt, not gravel as was requested vehemently by my parents, and to top it off when they set the cement they didn't put in good enough supports so the outside edge of the entire walkway is now wavy/scalloped. The surface is also highly pocketed and uneven and there are cracks and gaps in places where water can seep in. It's been a fiasco. I've even had to go and house sit as we have caught word from one of the bosses (who let it slip while talking to my dad) that some of the people have been coming to the house while we aren't there. We haven't moved in yet so my parents don't get to go over there until late afternoon when they both leave work.

However, I have been working on Threaded Chains as well. I have simply been working more days last week and also this week. Tonight and tomorrow are my last two days for the week and then I should hopefully have much more time to work on new pieces, update my shop fronts, and continue my renovations with the store. Thank you SO much to everyone who is hanging in there with me and being patient and supportive as I work hard on improving my customer service initiative and overall SEO and other aspects of my little business.

I am also starting my first Item of the Day promotions! Each day I will choose one item from my shop and offer it up for a sepcial discount. It could be anything from a percentage off, free shipping, or you could even get it FREE with the purchase of another item or maybe even get a few dollars off the original price.

~*~Item of the Day~*~

A one of a kind black and white stone and glass bead charm bracelet. It was originally $6.75 but is is now 15% off for the 21st of September ONLY! Don't miss out on this great deal. The item expires off my Etsy shop on the 26th of this month so Etsy shoppers snag it while you can! You can also get this deal on my Artfire shop.
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/29336476/sale-bracelet-ooak-wire-black-beads
Artfire: http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=384766

~*~Item of the Day~*~

As promised though I have shiny new pictures for you! All orders are now wrapped and fancified, it's like receiving a little gift in the mail. I have taken great lengths to find stickers to use as seals on my tissue paper I use to wrap my items when they sell. I don't have any images of all the colors I have for tissue paper but I do have pics of my stickers!

This is just an overview of what I have. I left out some on mistake that I ordered from someone on Etsy. ):

Here are some little overviews of some of my holiday/seasonal stickers!

And lastly here are some shots of my wrapping. Blue and red just happened to be the two colors of tissue paper I chose for the order I was shipping out the day I took these photos.

Every package is different and I never put two of the same stickers on packages within any order. For the time being all tissue paper that I use is being recycled from what I had used to stuff my mother's present bags for her birthday back in August. I used a TON of tissue paper (I not only stuffed the bags but I wrapped all her gifts inside the bags with it too) so I am now taking the opportunity to recycle it instead of allowing her to throw it away. She got neat gifts and I got to keep the 'garbage' so we're both happy, lol.

If anyone is interested in seeing all the photos I took (I got some close ups for my stickers and some of the packaging) please check out my flickr page. I would love more contacts on there as well!

Check out my flickr page here: Threaded Chains on Flickr!

Also I am nearing my goal of 150 fans on facebook. I have joined the group #LINKLOVE so come on by and check out my discussions tab, you can leave your links too. I have a special offer for all my fans if I can hit 150 before Friday the 24th. Think you guys can help? I only need 7 more! Just click the button on my sidebar to go right to my facebook page. :)

And as a little extra teaser here are two more photos of some of my new jewelry that I will be posting soon.