Thursday, August 23, 2012

250: Woohoo!

Hi friends!

As of today, 250 wonderful Etsians have "favorite"d my shop. To celebrate, I'm planning another little sale/discount over there. Check back over the weekend; I want to add a couple of new goodies as well, so hopefully there will be something you'll like to add to your jewelry wardrobe.

Some of you may have noticed that I have gone AWOL yet again lately... between work and my commute I have been spending approx. 12 hours a day out of the house. By the time I get home I have just about enough energy to visit a few of the blogs in my Google Reader before passing out in front of whatever happens to be on the telly in my bedroom (usually The Big Bang Theory reruns; they're on almost every night on a variety of channels). When I get a boost of energy I run errands or try to catch up with my sister (a post about my little niece Penelope Sue, aka Penny, aka Little Peanut will be forthcoming here). As I sense that I'm rambling now, I'll sign off and go fall asleep in front of tonight's rerun of Big Bang.

xxoo Jennifer

Friday, July 13, 2012

Lucky Penny.

Friday the 13th is known as an unlucky date, full of bad happenings.

For me, this one started out not-so-bad but got pretty rocky in the afternoon. Then a phone call from my father at the end of my work day made everything else fade away...

My beautiful and lovely baby sister gave birth to a baby of her own. Penelope Sue, our wonderfully lucky Penny. Mom, Dad and Baby are doing well, and I cannot wait to talk with them (well, maybe not with Penny just yet ;) tomorrow once they've had a chance to recover from the fantastic journey they took today.

Welcome to the world Penelope, my precious little niece. I cannot wait to meet you.

With all my love,
Aunt Jenny

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Falconwright.

It's amazing how many things I photograph for the blog, then take months (and months, and months) to actually post about...

For example: Way back in January, I ordered a card holder from the then brand-new Falconwright's first collection of screen-printed leather goods. When it arrived, I was so blown away by not only the purse itself in all it's chevron-y glory, but also the gorgeous way it was packaged. Before putting this little treat to use I just had to snap a batch of photos, which I am finally (finally!) posting here.


They even screen-printed the mailer, and how great is the handwriting?


From the looks of it, the paper the card holder was wrapped in was used to test out some of the screen patterns...


I absolutely love the layered effect of all the colors and shapes on the packaging... it's a work of art in itself.


Every detail on the purse is perfect, down to the logo printed on the soft suede interior...


It's just the right size to hold my iPod (yes, I am a tech dinosaur, but I still love my "ancient" Nano!) and headphones.


I'm so happy with my treat, and that Falconwright is getting so much well-deserved praise for their creations. I hope to add one of their clutches to my wardrobe sometime soon. Sandi and Danielle, congratulations on your fabulous line!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Sick day. Also, a new shop addition.

I took a sick day today... a virus of some sort has been quickly making its way through my system over the past few days. Yesterday I felt like I had been hit by a truck, and the cold medicine I took last night only added to the fog in my brain. 

By this morning I couldn't fathom making it through a 12-hour day (including round-trip commute to Manhattan and time in the office) before being able to collapse into my bed once again. So, after a bit of internal debate about using the last of my allotted sick days for this year (thanks to the great four-day sinus infection of February and a multi-hour health test in March), I phoned my supervisor and managed through my gravelly voice to let him know that I wouldn't be in today.

Back to bed for several hours, feeling well-rested and slightly improved by 1:30 pm... A bowl of raisin bran and some bad TV... Mustering up enough energy to dress, throw on a smidge of makeup, and head out to my local Trader Joe's to restock my sparse fridge and pantry... Coming home to the sweet (pun intended) surprise of my landlady's homemade chocolate chip & pecan cookies waiting for me in my mail basket (which will not be consumed until my stuffy nose clears and I can really savor their deliciousness).

I'm still a bit foggy, but feeling much improved by now. I thought I'd take advantage of this mini-boost of energy and finally post in my shop at least one of the several new necklaces I've been designing lately. So, without further ado, let me introduce the brass & amethyst geode Slice Necklace:



Thursday, June 7, 2012

Whoa.

How has it been well over a month since I last posted here?

We are getting into the craziest part of the year at my office now (July will be heavier than June, August will be the busiest in the company's history; hooray for job security) so I tend to be a bit of a zombie when I get home at night. Weekends have been spent for the most part lying in my bedroom watching DVDs and thinking about the apartment cleaning I should really be doing. Not to mention all of the jewelry I photographed for my shop ages ago; I haven't been able to muster up the brain power to compose the listings yet.

All of this means that this little corner of the interwebs has been woefully neglected by its creator for much too long. I can't promise anything, but I will try my best to actually dust off the cobwebs and get some new content up here very soon. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you here again soon.

Kisses,
Jennifer

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A sneak preview.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'll be adding three new designs to the shop this week. What's holding me back is my irrational fear of coming up with good product descriptions for each item's listing. Sad, I know. I figured posting pics of the pieces here would help motivate me to get off my keister and just do it. Actually, my keister can stay right where it is, as I have wifi and a laptop.




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Monday, April 16, 2012

Two hundred!


This is a very big occasion for me... My Etsy shop, {gemmifer} handmade, has reached 200 admirers! The shop has been open for a while now, and I am still learning the ropes of how to make a success of it, but the thought that so many people like what I've been doing so far is very encouraging and heartening.

To let everyone join in the celebration and to show my thanks, I am offering 15% off the price of all items in the shop until 9:00 p.m. EST on 4/29/12. Click on over, find what you can't live without (dramatic much?), and have it come live with you for 15 percent less cash (just be sure to use coupon code BIGTHANKS15 at checkout).

PS: I'll be adding three completely new designs to the shop this week. Which will also be included in the sale, of course. So be sure to check back here for an update. And THANK YOU ALL!

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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Swedish sweets.


A very neatly-organized selection of treats from Sockerbit, a wonderful Swedish candy shop in NYC's West Village. It's a good thing that I thought to shoot this on the day that I bought these sweets, as they were all gone soon after. The pale blue frogs were violet marshmallows, the pastel eggs filled with marzipan, the yellow bunny citrus marshmallow and the white bunny vanilla. Everything was oh so yummy.

Happy Easter and/or Happy Passover to all of you who celebrate!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Metropolis II.

I would love to see this work in person. Maybe one day in the not-too-distant future I'll get to LA and LACMA and make it happen. In the meantime, this short film will have to do the trick.



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Monday, March 26, 2012

Goodies.

I'm really looking forward to coming up with some new designs that incorporate these great beads I got at the Whole Bead Show in Manhattan over the weekend...

Colorful smaller African phono beads...

Solid brass beads in three different shapes...

Serpentine heishi beads, hematite discs, dalmatian jasper squares, large stabilized turquoise rondelles and interlocking beads.

Sometimes I go to this show with a list of things I'm looking for, but I usually have more fun discovering something I didn't even know I wanted... the ideas start popping into my mind right there.

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Monday, March 19, 2012

New designs.

New in my shop; the Corda Necklace in cotton and brass.



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Sunday, March 11, 2012

Lazy Sunday, on toast.

Turning the clocks forward an hour last night gave me the perfect excuse to make this a very lazy Sunday. I slept in until 9 a.m. (I'm up by 6:15 weekdays and usually before 8 on weekends!) and made myself a delicious breakfast a couple of hours later (I've been trying to pace my eating a bit as I've been putting on a few pounds).

Like so many others here on the interwebs, I have become a convert to the pleasures of avocado toast. As a child I found it such a treat when my mom would put avocado in our salads at dinner, but as an adult I had lost my joy for the green fruit... Something about the texture just didn't agree with me, but recently I had been rethinking this opinion.

As part of my makeshift "diet" I thought it would be good to cut back on my use of butter (I use Olivio spreadable butter, which has healthy fats blended with dairy cream) and figured nutrient-dense avocado would be a much more satisfying and delicious spread for my toast. My current "recipe" is one half a very ripe avocado roughly mashed with red pepper flakes, fresh cracked pepper, and salt to taste. Spread on two slices of darkly-toasted Trader Joe's Multigrain Rustico Bread and savor. Delicious, healthy fats, healthy grains, and totally indulgent.



PS: I've made a few small changes to the blog layout. I'm not a coding whiz so I just stuck with the tools that Blogger offers. The biggest change, as you may or may not have noticed, is a new photo on my banner. Let me know what you think!

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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Creative inspiration.

I hadn't worked on any Kumihimo pieces for a long time and really wanted to find a way to incorporate it into some new designs. Last October I bought some interesting hand-cast bronze pieces from Burma/Myanmar and hadn't yet figured out what to do with them... Then a bolt of inspiration struck, and voilà!



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Friday, February 10, 2012

Woohoo!


This news has me doing my happy dance!

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Laugh-out-loud funny.

This book made me laugh out loud. Many, many times. Dare I say, even more than Tina's book? I highly recommend it for a quick, fun read.


P.S. I just discovered The Concerns of Mindy Kaling, a site chock full of Mindy goodness. From the "Prelude" page:

Mindy Kaling is an actress, comedian, writer, producer and shopper. She can translate Latin and is an avid slow jogger who covers small amounts of distance over long periods of time.

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

More from Isabel.

Vince printed tunic in blanc/rouge
Fimo keyhole dress in noir (I'm not sure about the sandals and socks, though)
Paco blanketwrap in marine (LOVE this!)
Some more of my favorites from Isabel Marant's new designs, found on the blog of San Francisco's Metier boutique.

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Etoile.

Hera floral dress in noir
Hume start print tunic in creme
Budy embroidered peasant top in noir
Helba star print shirt in bleu
Wonderful new designs from Etoile by Isabel Marant. All found on the website of Metier, a San Francisco boutique I hope I'll get to one day soon.

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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Holiday sweets.

At my workplace, the holiday season means receiving many, many edible gift from businesses we deal with: cookies, chocolates, even a lunch of enough barbeque to feed a small city. As much as I enjoyed indulging in all of these treats, I can honestly say that my very favorite this holiday season was a box of incredibly delicious and decadent Champagne Truffles from Teuscher Chocolates. Only once before in my life have I had these truffles (as a "thank you" from a client at a prior job), as they are much too expensive for me to buy for myself. So I have been trying to make them last as long as possible, eating only one at a time. So far, so good; at this point more than half the box remains uneaten. Soon to be minus one more... typing this post is making me very hungry!

I had to post some photos here; the packaging is so pretty and colorful.



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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Farewell, Eva.

I only just found out this sad news. Zeisel was an incredible artist with a lasting impact. Her timeless yet modern designs will live on.


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Pinned.


Over the past few years I've overloaded my computer's hard drive with hundreds and hundreds of screen shots of all sorts of things that fascinate me on the web: fashion, DIY, crafting, art, photography, textiles, jewelry, and on, and on... So I realized it was time for me to jump in and join Pinterest. Now not only can I save all my faves from around the internet in one place (without clogging up my Mac's memory), I can expand my inspiration by browsing the boards of other pinners.

I'd love to follow you on Pinterest... do me a favor and leave me a link in the comments on this post? You can follow me by clicking on the red Pinterest button on this or any of my other recent posts. Hope to "see" you there soon!

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