Jewelry Crochet Fashion Blog

Since it is almost Christmas, and holiday sales were very slow this year due to economic issues way beyond any of our control, I decided to take this “downtime” as it were, and transition a little bit more of my business into an easier flow for myself. NOT that this transition was without problems!!!! LOL I fear I kept Mr. Murphy quite busy………………

First, I decided to go wireless in my home network. The way my phone company does things, you need to close your account that you opened with the wired modem, close out the phone numbers, and open a new account with the wireless modem and purchase new phone numbers…….. for me, a phone and fax. I love the service, and the company is not bad, prices are good. The various CS folks who helped me were NOT knowledgeable, and multiple blood pressure raising screw-ups occurred. However, the situation got sorted out in two days because I was extremely determined that it should be so, and because the Almighty bestowed upon me two of the most competent, professional and just plain NICE technical engineers from same said company. In the end, the blood pressure is back to normal, and I am a happy camper.

I ordered a new notebook computer because my trusty desktop computer is somewhat “broken” due to a device error that renders it occasionally unreliable for every day use. LOVE the new notebook computer. OLD notebook computer handles printing of emails and orders because she talks to the printer, the NEW one does not. BROKEN computer will be fixed by yours truly eventually and is reserved for rendering artwork only. SHE also speaks to said printer. So all works out well. Now, why can’t Microsoft create operating systems that are truly 95% backwards compatible????

In the end, everyone speaks to THE NETWORK, and we are all happy and grateful to be one cozy computer family, even if I am the human matriarch and don’t really think in 0’s and 1’s.

New shopping cart has been upgraded, and for now all little annoyances / bugs / fixes have been taken care of. Very happy with that even though no one has actually shopped in it yet.

Web Design / Business Services site will be moving over to an automated site as well, as soon as I install it and customize it. For me, hand coded html is a definite thing of the past. This will be better for clients as well as yours truly.

Two new businesses will be officially launched for the New Year, Lord willing. One is my Beauty and Health Consulting business, and the other is my Bridal / Wedding Consultant business. I’ve been doing both as a business for years, just never put them online. Now, they will be launched online within the next 10 days.

This down time is also good for re-organization……… I’ve been cleaning up paperwork, accounting, “the office” in general, and feel very confident about a successful 2008 for my businesses, all of them.

Down Time can be Good.

Note: If you are browsing any of my other posts in this blog that contain links to products, the links most likely will not work because I’ve installed a new shopping cart!!! So please instead just click here ~ http://www.jewelry-collectibles.com ~ and you’ll go directly to my newly remodeled web store!

Now, on with today’s post. It’s very funny (not ha ha funny, but a sort of thoughtful kind of funny) how things work out. Maybe we would call this dharma and karma, maybe we would say this is The Higher Power looking out for us; in any case it’s very funny how things turn out.

This past autumn as most of my loyal subscribers know I went back to doing juried arts and crafts shows. And, as most of you know, it didn’t work out well like I had hoped. Alot of money for booths, some great expectations, and lots of people who did not appreciate hand crafted goods and were looking for a bargain, instead of being happy to purchase a quality hand crafted gift for someone at a reasonable price. You’ve probably read one or two of my rants on this b4. Stupid people, I’m tempted to say.

However in all fairness, I will take that back and remember that arts and crafts fairs often equate to a flea market  with hand made goods, in many people’s minds, and so it’s natural from that view point they would be out looking for a bargain. I also have to keep in mind that people that find me on the Internet are targeted shoppers looking for a specific quality item. So, not stupid people. Simply not my type of targeted shopping audience.

That being said, what does one do with all the “props” one purchased for these types of events? Use ‘em! But where? When? Funny enough, having a 8 pure white tablecloths doesn’t work well in my house, the color white that is. Not when you have two cockatiels who are out all the time and practice their aerial and landing strip manuevers at will, leaving little “bombs” behind…………..

What about the little generator I bought so that I would not have to pay for electricity at these events? Never had to worry about my credit card machine battery dying at the most unfortunate time. Not that I ever had the opportunity to use the machine at the shows, but, still, does that mean the generator was a waste? Hmmm……….

What a beauty, eh? I still suggest this item for all of you who DO have success at doing arts and crafts shows……… the promoters nickle and dime you for electrical use, so purchase one of these and you won’t be paying them. It’s generally priced under $75.00, very reasonable and gives you something important ~ peace of mind ~ and it pays it’s own cost back very quickly.

As I sat mulling over some of these supplies I have that I will not be using again, I wondered in particular about this one. Then the light bulb went on.

I have an iguana, a rescue, that someone dumped on my front porch over a year ago. She has been written about here in this blog and also in my other blog quite a few times. Elizabeth Lizard has become a valued member of the family, all of my birds call her “Birdie” and she is just precious. She is also just a tad over 4 feet long and quite a lovely amber eyed beauty.

It occurred to me that if the power went out here in the winter, she could never be kept warm enough to survive, despite even if I stuck most of her under my shirt and snuggled her. A) She would not stay still that long, B) I’d get scratched to death, C) I doubt I could keep her as warm as she needs to be kept for an extended period of time.

Reason I thought of this was because we had one snowstorm already this week and have a pending Nor’easter coming this evening into tomorrow. Nor’easters pack decent winds, and if the precip was to be ice instead of snow, power can go out very easily. What to do with a delicate animal like Liz? My birds can be bundled in their cages under piles of blankies and survive quite nicely ~ they can hold their body heat ~ Liz cannot.

While pondering this, my eyes wandered over to the Black and Decker. Ah ha!! A use for something I thought was going to be a wasted purchase ~ and a very good use ~ a life saving use. It’s charged up, and waiting for action. Action that I hope never comes. But I’m grateful to have found the ultimate use for it if need be ~ it can keep Liz’s heat lamps and UVB lamps on, even if intermittently, which is far better than nothing at all. I love the idea. So does Lizzie.

Not been blogging for a while, got caught up in other things, notably, home improvement.

Not the Home Depot sort of home improvement, more like Internet home improvement.

One of my other businesses provides small business services to other businesses who are on the Internet and also to those who would like an Internet presence, be it e-commerce or informational.

A client of mine had me do a large job on her site ~ moved her entire website from her present website hosting provider to my company and upgrade her present shopping cart. Although the upgrade of the shopping cart turned out to be a little dicey and somewhat annoying, it’s a beauty of a shopping cart, full of features that are everything you really need to run a customer friendly and highly attractive web store.

Despite the issues involved, I loved it so much I went out and got one for Jewelry Collectibles! I’ve been busy with that lately ~ installing, customizing, working out the bugs, and loading my inventory. The fresh install went a great deal more easily than the upgrade.
I’m only about half way through with the inventory loading ~ what an opportunity to get organized as well!! And what a dream going from my old, hand  coded HTML site to this beautiful automated and highly customizable shopping cart!!

So that’s what I’ve been doing. Business has been slow, order-wise, of tangible goods of the sort that I sell. I guess with the economy the way it is and the war, people are not really spending. I’m very fortunate that my businesses do not depend on the Christmas season alone. I’m also very fortunate that this shopping cart has made me as happy as it has, since now I’ve got two more business clients very seriously considering installing it as well!!

Once I get caught up I will again be posting some new creations here in my blog for you to see. For now, I’m simply adding my current stock and lovin’ every minute of it!!

Contact me if you would like to know more about this shopping cart which can be installed and customized to fit in with your current branding.

Check out our beaded birthstone jewelry for December ~ we feature tanzanite, metallic Montana blue and blue zircon Czech glass and Czech crystals, Bermuda blue Swarovski crystals, clear crystal AB highlights and sterling silver! A necklace, ankle bracelet, bracelet and various styles of earrings await you.

Nothing is ever mass produced here at Jewelry Collectibles and Wedding Jewels ~ 99% of our beaded and gemstone jewelry is one of a kind and unique.

Below is a sneak preview of the necklace…..

click here to find out more about this dazzling birthstone jewelry set for December!

And the bracelet ………

Ankle Bracelet ~

and the Earrings………..

Find out more about this beautiful crystal and glass December Birthstone jewelry right here!

We also have some lovely Catholic / Christian religious jewelry available in December’s birthstone!

View Below!

December Birthstone Crystal Sterling Silver Beaded Rosary Bracelet

and, our lovely December Birthstone Beaded Rosary Necklace

To find out more about either of these beautiful pieces of December birthstone religious jewelry, simply click on the item name which is above each picture!

If any item is ever sold out, which happens frequently because we do only make one of each kind, you can ALWAYS custom order that item at no extra charge!

Although I have quite a few unfinished beaded rosary necklaces on the bench as work in progress, here’s one I managed to finish (and finish well, I might add!) despite all the insanity of the last few months:

A truly elegant beautiful mixture of colors, textures and metals make this rosary necklace just exquisite! Deep garnet aurora borealis Czech glass opaque seed beads create the basis for this charming rosary necklace and provide a warm compliment to the genuine moukaite jasper gemstone beads in all their naturally glorious colors of deep browns, burgundies, mauves, roses and pinks. Each moukaite jasper gemstone bead is God’s original, no two alike! A most beautiful lead free antique silver pewter heart and angel clasp fastens the necklace, a sterling silver Sacred Heart medal is the connector, sterling silver beads are at the beginning and end of each side of the necklace, and the exquisitely detailed Crucifix is made of base metals whitewashed to a silvery sheen. Two decades with the Our Father bead above the Crucifix.

Note the clasp ~ this is a truly exquisite heart and angel clasp, perfect I’d say, for the piece that it is on, and perfect for the subject matter at hand ~ The Lord’s love for us and a little angel protection never hurts either!!

To find out more, visit the Moukaite Jasper Gemstone Beaded Rosary Necklace page!