tasty holidays!

what a year for tasty jewelry! busy, busy, busy here in austin, tx. shows, stores and gifts, oh my! please stop by www.tastyjewelry.com for the latest goodies. i've got some great gift ideas for everyone! plus, how great is it that shipping is FREE?! (1st class mail only)

please have a wonderful holiday everyone! i promise to do better with this blog thing next year! xo diane

welcome september

its been awhile since i've posted. i'm not even sure anyone is reading this...but what the hey! the latest is that i have been accepted to the "stitch austin fashion show and guerilla craft bazaar". its an awesome compilation of local and national indie artists and musicians and is taking place here in austin on november 11th at the austin music hall. i will have more info later for sure! to get more info for yourself check it here: stitch austin

i have been working on some new ideas for fall. a ton of new hair accessories, which i think are super fun. japanese inspired, minimal design...pretty much my thing. i'm also going to be adding many more bracelet/cuff styles. mod, fresh, funky...so be on the lookout for those.

my friend annemarie beard and i set-up last weekend in austin for the "keep austin weird" 5k and music festival. i feel it necessary to say that it was 105F and we were there from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. whew! i have never sweat so much sitting still in my whole life... we had loads of fun anyways.

please check out my website for more cool stuff and now you can leave me a voice message on the "my chingo" system at the bottom of my home page. (i think i'm going to call it "my ching-a-ling"). it is the coolest way to communicate with someone and i heard about it through many of the greatest podcasts that i listen to each week. if you're interested visit their website to get your own! its tons of fun! www.mychingo.com

ta ta for now! cheers!

xo diane

getting ready for fall

i've been busy working on new designs for the fall season! in the meantime i've come up with a whole new punk rock section of my website. it's got some rad skulls & 8 balls on a red or black checkerboard pattern. very retro, very punk!

i also have a "back-to-school" sale on selected items. get 20% off!

i've been looking forward for the fall season...if ever in this heat! so my focus has been on digging down deep and getting some new ideas brewing! some which may include some home accessories! i'll get some up as soon as i can.

thanks for reading and send me a note! xo diane

Alternative Press Magazine!

hey!
my LP record earrings are going to be featured in the newest edition of Alternative Press magazine in their back-to-school issue that hits stands tomorrow Aug 3rd! i couldn't be MORE excited! get them while you're still one of the first...if you get the chance to browse a copy let me know what you think!

i'm still changing things on the website...i've added a new punk rock section and LOVE it!!! let me know what you think. e-mail me: info@tastyjewelry.com if you have any suggestions or anything....

have a great day and cheers!

xo diane

remarkable

i've been listening to my favorite podcast "the remarkable palate" for awhile and now chef mark tafoya in nyc has a new personal podcast where he shares his life "outside the kitchen" with us called "remarkably mark". yesterday while i was listening he mentioned something about "planning your work and working your plan". what great advice!

i just wanted to share that with anyone who's reading this...sometimes its just a little "remark" (pun intended here) that can get you going on another path...one that may lead you straight to something great!

cheers!
xo diane

more work...

well, here it is the middle of july and i'm still working on loads of new stuff. i'm currently making the mod rectangle and mod disc earrings each in all 6 colors! they look great! so playful and actually a bit like candy. well, i guess that's the point really of "tasty jewelry", huh?
i've got tons of new ideas swimming around in my head and just not enough time to get them out into 3d form. time just flies by!!!!
well, keep signing up for my e-mail list...also stop by myspace and add me as your friend. tasty jewelry myspace

its pretty hot here and we lost our power for about 2 hours last night in the heat of it!!!! but we survived by going to our local watering hole to have a cold one and play some trivia....photo hunt rocks!

have a great day!
cheers!
xo diane

first contest

i've made many changes to the new site! added some more links including a link to my new "tasty gear" page. fun tees in all sizes, punk rock buttons and even a tasty apron!

so, i'm going to have my first official contest! all you have to do is go to www.tastyjewelry.com and sign up for my e-mail list. you also have to answer the question of the month. the drawing will be held on july 31st and the winner will be announced on the blog and the website! sorry, only one entry per person. the winner will receive one pair of tasty earrings! yummy!

thanks for reading and good luck!

cheers!
xo diane

its finished! finally....

well, here i sit...2 days later after putting up my new site....www.tastyjewelry.com. i had some troubles with uploading yesterday, however, with a little patience, i prevailed!

what's new? well, i decided to add a link to a shop that will sell t-shirts, mugs, etc...all with the tasty logo on them...i think they look good. i will keep that until i can get some of that stuff printed for myself in house. look for that sometime.

i am still waiting to hear if i will be accepted into the ACL music festival as a vendor. i have applied with 2 absolutely fabulous artists who have both been selling at the festival since it started...so i'm crossing my fingers. if we get in it will be awesome! great bands come to austin, tx for 3 days in september and take over zilker park. luckily i live nearby. if you are curious check out: www.aclfestival.com for more info. the pixies played 2 years ago and i LOVED it!!!!

i've just finished dinner...homemade pesto (with homegrown basil, thai basil & arugula!) i also made the pasta fresh...super delicious too! i tell you...i LOVE to cook! i cook about 4 - 5 times a week for carlos and myself.

well, i'm off to do more research on marketing. thanks for reading! allez les bleu! world cup action is getting fierce!

cheers!
xo diane

still going....

well, here i sit, still going on the website. i'm still working on the earrings stuff....so many rollovers so little time! i am finally ready to start on the necklaces, accessories and the bracelets pages. ;)

we have company coming to visit, the world cup is finishing its first round of play and the US is still in it (at least until thursday).

cheers!
xo diane

a new day, a new way

well, here it is...friday the 17th and i'm still not quite finished with the site. i've had some challenges with the "white background" that i wanted to put behind the jewelry...but, alas....with the help of my boyfriend, carlos, we decided that the jewelry got "lost".

so 3 days of taking about 450 photographs, photoshopping them (all!) and deleting them (ALL!) i've now decided to go with a super ultimately cool grey background. it looks wonderful and the colors still POP!

i even built a new lightbox which was very cheap and works like a charm. so if anyone out there needs help or suggestions about taking photos of jewelry i've got some pretty good ideas. ;)

its been awesome watching the world cup too...i hope USA can pull it out tomorrow against italy. (big dreams here) we'll see. we're planning on going to a friend's house to watch with others on a huge HD tv. it should be a blast.

well, that's it...i've learned by making a TON of mistakes this week. i feel so much better about my photoshop 7.0 abilities it's scary. i'm looking forward to the next go 'round of photoshopping these next 20 photos....tomorrow. now its time for a tecate and some bubble bath. mmmmmm.

cheers!
xo diane

welcome to the daily menu!

hello, to anyone out there who is interested...i'm a jewelry designer from austin via way of chicago. i've been working non-stop trying to have my new website up soon....target date friday 6.17.06! its been a crazy ride so far...about 3 1/2 weeks to get it formatted and now i'm working on getting the samples made for photographs. you can check out the basic set up by going to the website www.tastyjewelry.com. its a spin-off from my original site www.dianepetkoff.com.

i decided to split up my business because i basically had 2 different types of jewelry styles i was making. in one hand you have the www.dianepetkoff.com site which offers more sophisticated clean lined jewelry using semi-precious stones and wood. more organic really. then in the other hand you have the www.tastyjewelry.com site which is the funky, mod, hip alter-ego of the latter. using what i call "confetti dots" which are plastic dots in loads of colors. this allows me to create a more retro look of which i'm so fond. both styles really suit me, as a matter of fact, i think they would suit a lot of women. somedays we feel a bit more reserved and sophisticated, somedays we're wild and playful. most women are complex that way so it just made sense to me to create 2 different websites to support those feelings. i'm hoping that each one finds the right audience.

we'll see how it all goes. once the new site is up i'm hoping for big things....i've currently got my hands in many a cookie jar...loads of posts to read and e-mails to sort through. i love being busy. (be careful what i wish for i suppose.) i'm a member of indie finds, the switchboards, i buy diy & babes in business (a local group of designers from austin that get together and chat about our crafty businesses).

in the future i will be offering "daily specials" if you sign up for my e-mail list. i've got to figure out how to do that...so please bear with me. i also want to start a monthly contest for those who have signed up or helped me with my businesses. i love to give stuff away! so keep checking back and i'll try to keep this post interesting and fun.

cheers!
xo diane