Thursday, January 31, 2008

A Different Angle


I've been playing around with oxidation (darkening sterling silver with a chemical process) for a while and have made a couple of pieces for my shop in recent years but I just came across these beads in my stash that were just screaming for attention. So I set forth to create. The oxidation is a wonderful dark color and provides a contrast which, to me really brings out the color and shape of the stones. It highlights the stone into front and center. I put a mini collection together and it is now available at my Etsy shop with Free Shipping.

You know, it's been almost a month with no sale at my Etsy site, so the promotion stands. With each purchase, I will send you a free flower ring from my main shop site. It's really hard to get attention at Etsy with so many sellers and that first sale is a tough one to get because who wants to be the first buyer at a shop with no knowledge of how recent purchases went. But you know me, and you know I've been around a while (8 years now), so give a girl a break, please.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Touched

My friend Chris Franchetti's jewelry making book, Teach Yourself Visually, came out and she sent me a copy. She put my name in the 'Acknowledgments'. I am so touched. That's a first for me.The story goes, we met on the DIY TV show "Jewelry Making" a few years ago. I knew she wanted to write a jewelry making book. A publishing company contacted me a while back wanting to know if I wanted to write a jewelry making book and since it wasn't really my thing, I gave them Chris's name and everything came together for her! Yay.

Buy her book! It's thorough and amazing and almost 300 pages. It covers many different jewelry making techniques with wonderfully clear photos. I can't wait to sit down and plow through it. I'm sure I'll learn a thing or two.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I Should Have Vacuumed Instead

Not bragging, but it's not often I have a disaster in the kitchen. I usually can salvage the dish, no matter what. But baking is sorta foreign to me and I was craving cookies. Inspired by this, I set off to the store to find my ingredients to bake cookies from scratch. Well, I only needed the chips because I had everything else. I was just asking for one little thing. But of course that was not to be. All I could find was the regular semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips. To me that wasn't enough. I like gooey. I also like raisins or berries, but the family isn't into it. So mini -marshmallows would have to do.

I went home and used the recipe from the back of the Hershey's chocolate chips that I bought. I added the mini-marshmallows at the end and as I mixed them, it hit me. This wasn't going to work but it was too late. It was going to be a mess as I was thinking of the 100's of times I made Rice Crispy treats. I checked the time to bake and I opted for 8 min. Maybe the marshmallows would just get soft in 8 min. I made a batch. Wrong-O. I got them out and it was a sheet of cookie dough and marshmallow spread all over the cookie sheet. Great. I waited for it to cool and chipped it off the tray in little chunks. My daughter said to save it because it would be good on ice cream.

Alrighty, attempt #2. I had the remainder of the batter and I sprayed a baking pan with PAM and spread the dough in the pan. A thick cookie, pan cookie, cookie-cake, whatever you want to call it. I cooked it. And you know what. I really thought it turned out. I cooled it and you know what? It didn't. Because there were so many marshmallows in there (I think I used a large 16 oz bag), it was mush. Eat with a spoon or fork mush. But it taste good. Problem is, I promised my neighbor some cookies. Now what do I tell him? "I suck at baking and wouldn't want you to laugh, so you're going to have to wait until my next batch"? I believe that to be so. And how often do I bake? About 2 times/year.
I think I may be turning into my friend Julie and her many tales of Bad Home Cooking.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Free Stuff


To celebrate the opening of my new Etsy store, I am giving away FREE, a flower ring to the first 10 customers that complete a purchase. (color of my choosing.). The Flower Rings are found on my regular website, but the purchase must be made at my ETSY store.
Oh, and shipping is FREE to the USA!
So get shopping!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Only 2 More Weeks for Free Shipping and 70% off

Just a quick reminder that there are only 2 more weeks left for FREE SHIPPING at my website: Bonnin Designs and my Etsy Shop: shopbonnin.etsy.com

So hurry over for some great shopping deals and see our new Flamenco items as well. Perfect for Valentine's Day and any day really. Many items have been discounted up to 50% off at both shops and if you use this discount code YUMMY20 (at my website only) you can take 20% off of anything, including sale items and savings can be a whopping 70% off + Free shipping. You really can't beat that! But hurry, because this discount will expire Jan 31.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Soon to be a Published Writer

Ok, I have news. Now don’t laugh too hard and spit coffee out your nose onto your monitor. Just take it in and nod and say to yourself, “I knew she could do it”. You see, I’ve had a couple of my jewelry pieces published in books, well, once for DIY and soon again supposedly for another book (news for that to come later) but my actual words are going to be published in a book! (Don’t laugh). I know you absolutely know I’m not a writer, but for some reason, someone thought my words were good enough to be put into a book. Well, only six words actually, but it’s all about six words. It’s called Not Quite What I Was Planning: And Other Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Obscure and Famous. So you see, my words along with some famous six-word memoir authors will be together in a book. How odd and fantastic is that! This is what they’re saying:
· "Will thrill minimalists and inspire maximalists." – Vanity Fair
· "If you have only 30 seconds, skim the pithiest of life stories." – Oprah Magazine
· "Will make you value the words you speak and write—no matter how few or many" – Penthouse
It will be released Feb. 5. You knew I had it in me, didn’t ya? Oh, and what is my six-word memoir you ask? You'll just have to buy the book to find out....

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Celebrations and Rememberances of all Kinds this Week

The circle of life has definitely come before my eyes this week. In just one week we celebrated life, and mourned as well. It started with an adoption hearing to officially make my friends legally parents of their almost 1 year old adopted son. I was so honored to be part of that. I was just gleaming at the judge and the great role she plays on Tuesday mornings when a group of 15 adoptive parents, their friends and family line up waiting for their turn to be official. How cool is that!

When I got home, I opened a birth announcement from a friend. That explains why I didn't get a Christmas card from them. They were busy having a baby. They're excused this year. He is so cute too.

Later in the week, we heard news that a friend of ours passed away after a long illness. It was expected but it's still tough, knowing the pain she must have been in and that she left a husband and 2 adult sons that are just starting their independent lives. The funeral is today.

But today we also celebrate for it is Flick and Summer's 9th birthday. I couldn't believe they were 9. Last night I had to dig up puppy pictures and try to find a year they were born. We didn't get Summer until she was about 5 years old, so I don't have any puppy pictures of her. As for Flick, the only one I had on my computer was this cute one. His brown eye patch has faded and is mostly white now. Whippets seem to change color constantly. He added more spots in other places. So Happy Birthday to my sweeties. We will be celebrating as we can throughout today. I got them doggie treats shaped like lobsters because when our family celebrates special occasions, we eat lobster and drink wine. No wine for them though.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Warmth Saves Time

You know how I spend most of my day if I'm home? I hear a bark. I ignore it, over and over these single barks. Does Flick want to go outside? Of course not! Sillies, he wants to be covered by his blankie. I spend my day over and over repeating this ignore-the-bark-then-get-up-and-cover routine. How annoying after a while, but no more. I finally crocheted him a sweater that I will call his blankie-to-wear. He stopped barking. Amazing! I'm so well trained I tell you. This should save a good full hour or more of my day, seriously....until he wants to go outside then I have to take it off then re-apply, and that goes on all day as well.....I'll never get a break. And don't say doggy door. We can't put one in anywhere. GRrrrr.

By the way, this is dc except for the neck which is sc and my own pattern based on his size as I measured him as I went along.

Monday, January 07, 2008

They're Baaack

The always popular Flower Hair Pins are back in stock, but on my Etsy site at http://www.shopbonnin.etsy.com/ Same price as they have been at $10/pair and free shipping through January. They are available in pink, mint green and a new color: red.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

More Output, Less Input

Wow, I feel like I was thrown face first into 2008. Now that I’m scraping myself off the floor, not because I drank on New Years. I only had a glass of wine, but because I wasn’t prepared for it. There’s just so much to do.
I found myself caught up in knitting and kinda put life aside for a while. A little break I guess you’d call it. Now I’m off my break and having to go full guns.
I already fulfilled one resolution and it’s only Jan. 3. I opened an Etsy shop. Because I had decided to focus my website on Flamenco items more, I still wanted to be able to offer current inventory and some of my faves. Now they are my Etsy shop.
My other resolution (and typically I don’t make resolutions) is to sell stuff more than buy stuff. Over the holidays I’ve just been shopping tooooooo much. Done with that. So when I say sell stuff, I not only mean jewelry. I want to get rid or cleanse this house a bit. I have things I need to get rid of to make more room, like an old bike, like some flamenco dresses and more. I think Craigslist and Ebay will be the way to go.

Oh, and use code YUMMY20 for 20% off including sale purchases. And FREE shipping is extended through January. After that, there will be a shipping charge.