Showing posts with label buy handmade. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

You Can Wear My Jewelry With These Accessories

If you like the beadwoven earrings and necklace but have so far held off on buying them because you wondered what you'd wear them with, worry no longer!

Let this treasury act as your personal shopper on Etsy!

Beadwoven designs are very under-rated and deserve to take a spot in your jewelry box next to your pearls, gemstones, glass, and metal. The end product that results is worth more than the sum of its parts. When you buy beadwoven jewelry you are investing in a true piece of wearable art.

Purple is in this winter and it is gorgeous when combined with metallic bronze/gold with hints of plum and/or blue! The beads I've used for the tubular mesh in this Triangle necklace; Volcanic Heart Center and Golden Buds earrings are hexagonal, with an irridescent metallic color which give them the effect of fish scales, and when the light hits them they are absolutely luminous!

To purchase these or my other unique jewelry designs available in my Etsy store, please go to;

Giftbearer

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Check out the List of Items Listed Today by Members of Promotional Frenzy!

Here's my new pair of earrings (Click on photo for more information).

Metallic Gold Iris Beadwoven Carnelian Brass and Vermeil Earrings (Golden Buds)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

First Promotional Frenzy BNR Treasury A Huge Success!

Here's a picture of what it looked like before any of the shops got bought off, but we moved it after we had 300 comments and 17 sales to its new location where by 12:00 midnight we closed it with 22 sales (which included 18 bought out!);
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cbcda00dad56d91282123fb/closed-new-strawberry-wine-n-chocolate?index=0

If you enjoy buying into these BNR treasuries, and/or you want more sales, these are the ones to get into! Stay tuned for the next one. All those still in at end will be carried over. If you would, please stay and promote at least a litte even after you've been bought off to help those who haven't had a sale yet. We'd like to see all slots turn over if possible.

Meet with us to group promote on Tuesday nights at 9:00 PM EST and bring your friends!
Hope to see you tonight for the weekly social network blitz!
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6656811

Come see the sales people are already reporting!
The group will work for you if you'll work for the group!
There is strength in numbers!

See you tonight!

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Next 30 Minutes of FAME! Saturday Oct. 10th @ 9pm EST

Birds and Swings Earrings

(featured in the Etsy Treasury; Visual Comfort Food)

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/de24b47b044dc94b49700a00/visual-comfort-food?page=2#comments

30 Minutes of FAME:

The best place to Promote, Buy & Sell-Bring your friends!

Where?

Here; http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6639858&page=1

Saturday Oct. 10th @ 9pm EST

Famous Shop: http://myhandmadecrafts.etsy.com

Then, next;

30 Minutes of FAME!

Sunday Oct. 10th @ 7:30 pm EST

Famous Shop: http://angelaalessiyoung.etsy.com

Spider Applique Onesie Blue

Another Buy and Replace Treasury is coming up! Stay tuned for the time and date!

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Buying Fiber Outerwear Is Timely With Increasing Cold Weather

Raspberry Rhodalite Scarfette - $24.50

This scarfette is really soft and smooth against your neck and has a lovely drape to it!

Snow is falling in a varieties of cities and states here in the US and the temperature seems to be falling with no real warm-up in sight. Now is the best time to invest in some items to keep you warm, and support handcrafted work in the process.

If you can't justify purchasing jewelry then handmade outerwear is something you can always use (unless of course your entire closet is stuffed with it already). I myself only have one pair of gloves and so I have my eye on some on Etsy as well as a whole bunch of fiber supplies.

I truly believe that ultimately the key to repairing our economy is to resist the urge to buy such items from commercial stores that import, and instead to make a conscious decision to buy those things from "the little guy".

If we don't then the modern american artist/craftsman will become a dying breed.

Sending money out and none (or not enough) coming in does not make for a strong national economy, and although it's nice in theory to provide business opportunities outside the US to those who otherwise would not have such opportunities, we've farmed out way too much to foreign sources, and not enough money is coming in the other direction.

If we all start to make changes in this direction our economy will start turning around sooner than we now realize!

Doing this requires a shift in mind-set, and a mindfulness about where our money will end up.

When we go to Walmart or large chain department stores or small stores in the local shopping mall we often don't even think about where our money is going, but we should. Most such stores work with plants that originate in other countries and those jobs are taken up by people overseas. Most commercial stores do this because they can buy and sell these proucts cheaper because of exchange rates and the difference in cost of living, but it also drives down the perceived value of items made by artists and fine crafters here at home.

What we end up with is tatamount to the story of John Henry who attempted to compete against a machine and killed himself trying.

It is tempting to view things as interchangeable but the inherent value of items is the individuality from one maker to another.

I am finding that even among those who spin yarn the mark of the maker is distinct and unique.

Many of us have probably heard the unfortunate statement, "I can buy that same thing for half-price in Taiwan." Of course that is a generalization. A machine-made item or mass-produced item can never be identical to one that is made by a sole-proprietor or small group of artists who can give individual attention and quality control to what they make before it goes to the customer. Such a statement is intrinsically devaluing to the inherent worth of the individual product.

Mindfulness of the erosive mechanisms at work in such a mind-set goes right along with sustainability and living a greener lifestyle.

Who among us would not want to have a more personal relationship with what we buy.

When we buy from the grocery store from huge manufacturers in commercial plants we cannot make special requests and put in special orders, or influence the future manufacture of those items, whereas in dealing with smaller operations we can.

I thoroughly enjoy reading about the animals and seeing pictures of them that produced the yarn or roving I'm buying, or knowing where other fibers come from. I also know that I can request whatever blend I want. I could never get a commercial yarn company to custom make the yarn that works best for me. They would care less if I wrote and asked them to do that and probably would tell me they don't do that (if they even answered my e-mail at all).

Tonight I'm getting ready to start on another piece of outerwear.

Keep an eye on my etsy store for something stylish and useful for the cold weather in your size and color! I look forward to putting these new items to good use! My 90th sale will receive a free gift worth at least $20.00. This deal is still available as nobody has claimed it since before Christmas.

http://giftbearer.etsy.com/

Monday, March 09, 2009

What May Spring Bring?

I am getting ready to start covering some more violet leaves with fine silver slip for a local custom order. Across the street from my house these leaves grow abundantly, so I can take my pick of size and width. That is a start, but I will need more than one order to keep things going. I made these hoops and more are in the works. I've seen others' hoops sell repeatedly on Etsy, so these should also do well.

Try These Angles Fine Silver Hoops - $35.00

Blackened Chili Pepper Fine Silver Hoop Earrings - $28.00

Hand-forged Fine Silver Latch Hoop Earrings - $50.00

Fine Silver Bamboo Leaf Hoops - $25.00

Fine Silver U-shaped Hoop Earrings - $22.00

Dime-Sized Fine Silver Hoops - $20.00

Last week I ordered some more supplies for soldering. I've had a butane torch for several months but until now have not been able to get all the supplies I needed to go with them. Then the company called to say that the copper sheet and hard 75% silver solder is out of stock. I guess everybody was mobbing those two items when I ordered and then as my order was being processed they sold the last ones. Now I will have to get those two things from Rio Grande, but have little money left.

Recently I found out that Carmella's yearly insurance limit had run out and so I won't be reimbursed and further for any of her mange treatment claims. They only paid a small portion of that before her limit was reached, and now it will be July 11th before any illness can be reimbursed. If her mange re-occurs they won't cover it then because it will no longer be considered a "First Time Illness". I hope she won't get any more illnesses but I am worried about the mange coming back, as Dr. Norwood told me at the last appointment that it may be awhile before it is gone for good, and that can get expensive especially if it can never be reimbursed again. Even putting lemon on the side of her face (the area that is slowest to heal) in addition to the supplements and new flea drops which smell like heavy duty bug spray for a full day still has not returned that one area of her body to normal.

Now that she is not getting dips I am going to try putting on some other things as spot treatments and see if any of them work.

Soon I'm going to start approaching Science Diet about dog food endorsements using pictures from before her Mange and current ones showing the left side of her face where all the hair has grown back. Here she is on March 1st; the only day it snowed this year.

She was a little bit tentative about sticking her feet into the snow. She wrinkled her nose when flakes landed on it.

I took a picture of the purple/pink sunset and got a beautiful view of the snowflakes as they came down around my chimney.

I need to raise as much money as possible now that Carmella's insurance will not be paying any of this back to me. I'd really like to be able to have all her medical expenses paid off within the next few months.

My own insurance troubles are ongoing. Medicare Part D has continued to refuse to pay for one of my necessary medications. If I literally cannot get them to do that I don't know what I'm going to do because living without it is not an option and there is no equivalent substitute.

On Saturday, March 8, 2009, I received a denial letter in the mail dated March 2, 2009 stating the same reasons as my doctor's nurse had told me that the doctor had received last week. It said specifically;

"A prescription drug is a part D drug only if it is used for a medically accepted indication, meaning that it is prescribed for a use that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or approved for inclusion in one of the following three compendia:

1. American Hospital Service Drug Information;

2. United States Pharmacopeia-Drug Information (or its successor publications); or

3. Thomson Micromedex DrugDex"

The letter goes on to say;"Furthermore, beginning January 1, 2009, Part D will also accept anti-cancer chemotherapeutic drug uses that are approved for inclusion in the following additional compendia:

1. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Drugs and Biologics Compendium;

2. Clinical Pharmacology, or

3. Peer Reviewed Medical Literature.

Because the drug requested is not prescribed for a use approved by the FDA or in one of these references, the requested drug is not considered a Part D drug and is not covered by the plan.

BENICAR IS DENIED FOR NON-FDA APPROVED DIAGNOSIS. THE USE OF BENICAR IS NOT MEDICALLY ACCEPTED FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE FOLLOWING DIAGNOSIS IN THE COMPENDIA LISTED ABOVE: SARCOIDOSIS. REVIEWED BY: AXN, PHARM.D

You should check with your doctor for another drug that is included on your formulary and has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this use."

The only one I know of that is officially FDA approved (because of the woeful lack of money devoted to research in this disease) is Prednisone which not only does nothing to cure it, but causes avascular necrosis among other serious adverse reactions and can severely compromise the immune system. The biologics and anti-cancer drugs are even worse! Some of the clinical trials on those actually had to be called off due to deaths and other serious events.

I've been on Benicar for several years with no adverse reactions whatsoever! I wonder how on earth the government allows a pharmacist to over-rule my doctor on something like this!

I don't have several hundred dollars to pay for this medication out of pocket, as I'm on Social Security Disability, and most prescription assistance programs require that you be totally uninsured before they will cover the cost. They don't pick up the slack when insurance companies choose not to cover a drug and leave the patient at risk of relapse; even death.

I could buy it cheaper from a manufacturer in India but even so, with sales not moving I don't know that I will have the money for that either.

It's possible that I may have to take this to court, but in the meantime I wrote President Obama, and sent another letter to the editor of a news blog which exposes inhumanity within the Medicare system. Apparently there have been cases that are in litigation now on this same issue.

Take a look at these interesting articles written by David Glendinning. They may help you or someone you know;

Medicare drug not covered? You can help patient appeal
For patients who need to veer from their drug plan's formulary, the assistance of their physicians will be essential.
By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. March 20, 2006

http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/parsing-verizon-warranty-services/2008-10-24

Suit opposes Medicare denials of off-label, non-compendia drugs
The administration is interpreting Medicare law in a way that prevents coverage of lifesaving medications for people with rare diseases, a patient advocacy group says.
By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. Jan. 21, 2008

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/01/21/gvsb0121.htm

Physicians complain Medicare Part D decisions threaten patient care
The AMA urges physicians who are encountering problems with Medicare drug plans to report them to CMS and the Association.
By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. June 5, 2006.

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/06/05/gvl10605.htm

With the new economic stimulus package allowing American citizens to keep more of their earnings each pay period I hope that some of it will be put towards buying more wonderful handcrafted items.

Those of you or with family member(s) going on interviews should consider buying your outfit and accessories from a small designer/maker instead of going to your local Walmart, mall, or department store this year.

After all, there is no better way to stimulate the economy than buying handmade! Remember that with love and action, all things are possible!

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Art Life Newsblog

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Spider Applique Onesie Blue

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Monday, March 09, 2009

Etsy Mini

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