christmas deadline

holiday shopping market @ guero's

Tired of shopping the big box retailers? Support your local businesses by shopping indie!

Come join us for the Holiday Shopping Market located outside Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress. (at Elizabeth St)
This Saturday December 13th & Sunday December 14th and again next weekend on Saturday December 20th & Sunday December 21st from 10am - 5pm.

Local artisans will be selling unique gift items you can't find anywhere else. From hand-crafted jewelry and accessories to wooden bowls, scarves & MORE! There will be live music on Sundays from 3 - 6pm in the Guero's beer garden. So come out to support your local businesses and have some fun! Do your part to "Keep Austin Weird".

Hope to see you there!

xo diane

today's the day!

the tasty jewelry sale starts today! so head over to www.tastyjewelry.com and get 20% off of your purchase of $20 or more. see the front page of the website for more details!

hurry, this sale ends on wednesday december 10th at midnight!

cheers!
xo diane

a tasty little surprise....

this holiday season seems to need a little jumpstart and i'm here as santa's little helper to make that happen!

place an order on tastyjewelry.com from december 8th through december 10th and receive 20% off of your order of $20 or more! just enter the code: HOLIDAYS in the "discount voucher" box then hit "recalculate" to receive the discount. its that easy.

WHHHAAAAAAAAT? you say. that's right. it's just my way of helping your gift-giving budget stretch just a little further this year.

i hope you all have a wonderful & safe holiday season! enjoy!

cheers,
xo diane

Acknowledge Me

This Saturday December 6th I will be participating in a show called "Acknowledge Me" which will bring together Austin's indie crafters, artists, makers, community organizations, social justice groups & up-and-coming local bands. This is a local homeless assistance drive to help those in need around the Austin area.

The event is going to be held from 8pm - 2am at The Mohawk which is a really cool venue. If you bring a donation of a beanie, gloves or toiletries then your cover is $5. It will be $6 without.

Acknowledge Me is one of a few wonderful events that Mike Litt has produced and I am really happy to be a participant this year. If you don't know who Mike Litt is, then you need to check him out. He's a driven individual who believes that one person can truly make a difference! I agree.

Hope to see you there!
xo diane

new vintage style necklaces

i just added these completely cool vintage-inspired necklaces to my website www.tastyjewelry.com. blackened sterling silver or bronze chain adds contrast to the colorful beaded pendants. click on the photos to be taken to the website for more information.









i'll be adding more pictures soon!

cheers!
xo diane

the diy factory

tomorrow is the diy factory show in san antonio. i am heading down tonight with my friend annemarie beard to stay at my dad's house. we will be setting up tomorrow around noon and will be there all day/night long! if you are in the san antonio area please try to stop by. it is for a great cause and there will be loads of cool hand made merchandise there. see the flyer for more details & click on it to be taken to their website!



hope to see some of you there!

cheers!
xo diane

tasty jewelry now found on austinhandmade.com!

recently i was contacted by two really fabulous & creative people from austin, texas named catherine & jason. they asked me if i would be interested in becoming a participant in their latest endeavor austinhandmade.com. austin handmade is an online retail space dedicated to austin artists and creators of beautiful things. when they told me all about it, i had no choice but to say yes...i loved the concept behind the website and after meeting them in person i was even more impressed.

they are having a website launch party on thursday october 16th at gallery lombardi starting at 7 p.m. here is a link to the evite for more information about that party. hope to see you there...if not, be sure to check out the website austinhandmade.com to see what the fuss is all about! ;)

cheers!
xo diane

just do it!

i watched this video and thought more people should do it too.

for the sake of our future, please vote this election!!!

cheers!
xo diane

first thursday tonight oct 2nd

if you live in austin, tx then the place to be tonight is first thursday down on south congress ave. its a monthly celebration of all things austin...live music, art, & good food. there are loads of street vendors with items ranging from candles & clothing to mosaic work & jewelry. speaking of the latter, i have been setting up a booth in the guero's taco bar parking lot now for the past 2 years! i found this photo on flickr and it just happened to show my booth in the background. (you can click on the picture to be taken to the "first thursday" website.)



first thursday is a great way to get to know austin's crazy side, well really, does it have any other? its a great place to find unique hand made items and do loads of people watching. so come on out and see me!

hope to see you later!
cheers!
xo diane

ACL festival this weekend!

If you know anything about music, you've probably heard of the Austin City Limits music festival that happens around this time every year. Its a three day musical extravaganza featuring some of the hottest names in music today. Click on the image below for more information. There are still one day tickets available for today & Sunday.



Speaking of Sunday....



I am SOOOOOOO looking forward to seeing the Foo Fighters again. It's been way too long since I've seen them. As a matter of fact, the last time I did was when they were playing much smaller venues like the Riviera, & the Aragon Ballroom both in Chicago. I just wish my friend and fellow Foo-lover Caroline was here to go with me. I'm happy that they moved it back one week from past years. Septembers in Austin are pretty hot and spending all day out in the sun doesn't leave you with much energy for the headlining show at the end of the night. But this year's weather is shaping up to be nothing less than perfect. Warm, sunny days and cool, dry nights. Mmmmmm.

So rock on all you ACL festival goers. Maybe I'll see you there!

a new look to my blog...

if you've been following my blog at all you will notice an astounding and major change has taken place since yesterday. i've been meaning to customize my blog for sometime and finally i just took the plunge today. i hope you like it.

the program that i use to build and design my website, freeway express, is the same one that allows me to create my own template in blogger. thank goodness that i have my blog account here!

now that i've redecorated, i hope to be blogging more frequently.

cheers!
xo diane

the new fall line is here!

its been several weeks in the making and finally the new FALL line is here! i've been so busy creating new graphics that reflect my modern sense of style and i hope you all enjoy them. i've used rich colors in addition to simple designs to create graphics that i can call "tasty".

here is an image of my new front page...but really, you have to dig around the site to get an appreciation of all of the new goodies available.



i am really excited about the new pet i.d. tags that are available. there are 50 different styles from which to choose AND you can also custom design your own! they are lightweight which also makes them great for smaller pets too. my cat, gunner, has been the test model for these for about 2 1/2 years. (you think i would have put them on the website before now! sheesh!)



so, i'm excited to say the least and i am looking forward to a wonderful fall/winter season.

cheers!
xo diane

new square pendants

i've been busy working on making these new square glass pendants. i do all the artwork myself on my trusty mac, then print out the images and seal them under a piece of hand cut square glass. i couldn't find the right bales to use (most of them WAY too expensive) so i decided to make them myself. bales are the metal finding that you attach to a pendant to allow it to hang on a piece of cord or chain. often times when i can't find just the right finding, i figure out a way to create it on my own. i think that also keeps my pieces truly like no other.

here are a few pics to see just how many of these i've made.



the most popular designs i have right now are the owls (which i also drew myself!)


austin is gearing up for its 7th annual austin city limits music festival happening sept 26th - 28th. if you EVER get a chance to come down here for it, do. you won't be dissapointed. the foo fighters are headlining this year as well as beck, robert plant & allison krause, david byrne, the raconteurs, gnarls barkley, vampire weekend, hot chip and many more.

parts & labour is a store where i sell my work and they are going to have a booth setup at the festival. i will be showcasing funky bauble magnet sets and these fabulous square pendant necklaces. you can find the bird designs here and the graphic designs here.

oh, and i don't want to forget to say that i got a blog mention on the fabulous purplepinkandorange blog yesterday. amy is so creative and generous. you MUST go check out her blog and see what's happening in the indie world.

cheers!
xo diane

Grand Opening this Saturday

Are you interested in learning how to make your own jewelry or perhaps how to sew your own purse? With workshops, classes and studio time available The Stitching Studio is the place to make that happen.
Whether you are a beginner just learning the fundamentals or an advanced crafter perfecting your technique you will love the variety of classes being offered here.

Now is the perfect time to get started...come join us for a fabulous grand opening this Saturday from 1pm to 5pm.

Meet the teachers, shop for some handmade goodies, and get inspired by all the crafty classes you can take. There are even classes designed for you to hand make your own holiday gifts!

I will be there selling my jewelry and registering people for my Swarovski® beaded ring classes offered next month. (Sept 6th, 9th & 30th)

So come out and see all the great things you can make yourself!

cheers!
xo diane

getting ready for a busy fall season

since i've been back from my vacation i've been gearing up for a busy fall season ahead. i have decided to start teaching classes at the stitching studio here in austin starting in september.

i will be offering a class in which you can learn how to make your own swarovski® crystal beaded ring as seen here:



they aren't as difficult as they look, but do take some time and patience. check out the stitching studio's website for more details on how to sign up and to check out the other great classes they offer.

they will be having a grand opening party on saturday august 23rd from 1pm to 5pm. if you are feeling crafty come on by and see what's being offered!

cheers!
xo diane

back from vacation with a surprise!

hey everyone,
as promised i am revealing a big surprise to all of the tasty jewelry blog readers...

i am offering 25% off of all merchandise on tastyjewelry.com!

this is your chance to get that necklace you've been eyeing, get your pet that cool new i.d. tag, or just stock up for christmas gifts! (yeah, i know a bit early to be thinking about that, but think of how ahead of the game you would be!)

here's the deal:
use the code SUMMERTIME in the "discount voucher" box during checkout then hit recalculate to activate the discount. its that simple. :)

this offer ends friday august 22nd so get on over to tastyjewelry.com and start looking.

have a great day!
cheers...
xo diane

tasty jewelry vacation

**here's a little announcement**
i will be closing the tasty jewelry offices for 2 weeks starting july 20th and returning on august 3rd. any orders placed during this time will be taken, but won't ship out until august 4th.

thanks for your support and keep subscribed to this blog because i have a surprise for my readers when i return!!!!

;)

xo diane

taking some time off

i don't know what's happened lately. i seem to have fallen off the bloggers wagon and into some strange abyss. i've been getting organized and going through all my stuff getting rid of the old and not adding anything new. (thank goodness since i don't have any more room anyways!)

the old stuff is going to be listed over on my etsy site under the "jewelry" section. basically i'll be listing discontinued items from the website and will also feature a ton of one-of-a-kind items that never made it there. there are many times when my creativity strikes and i just have to make whatever it is that's "calling" me. i've found some really great treasures that need a good home. and while you're over there check out my beads and other jewelry making components...if you're crafty they might be right up your alley!

in the meantime, here is a pic of my current studio setup. i have to be completely organized or i won't be able to find anything. enjoy!




i will be returning to the daily blog as of august 3rd since i really miss the challenge of writing everyday. so look out!

cheers!
xo diane

new candle holders

i've been a busy girl again, this time adding some new home accessories to the site in the form of candle holders. i came up with the idea when i realized that i had some really great ribbon that i wasn't using and some candle holders that needed to be fancified!

here are the results...

this one is the fancy one, available in 15 different colors and patterns!



and these are the mesh ones available in the three colors you see:



if you click on each of the pictures you will be taken to the website for more details. i hope you like them! i love 'em!

cheers!
xo diane

new listings at ETSY!

i've been busy going through all of the CRAZY stuff i have in my studio and with the new update to the website i've decided to clean house. so i have a little shop over at ETSY where i plan on selling funky components & kits (so you can make your own jewelry) and limited edition jewelry which is no longer available on the website.

check out these items i've listed recently.

funky craft kits




printed acrylic rings




keep checking back for new items!

cheers!
xo diane

the updated website is now up!

seeing as i have not blogged in about 2 weeks you might be wondering where i've been. well, i have been as busy as a bee updating my website with all sorts of new designs using original artwork.

here is an example of one of my new offerings where i've used my original artwork, printed it onto acrylic, then added a metal ring accent. this is a new design since i've put the disc onto a post style earring. cute and lightweight.



please head over to tastyjewelry.com and check out all of the other new goodies. keychains, ped i.d. tags, tea light holders etc. i'll be posting a new item every couple of days just to showcase them. i'm so proud and really hope you enjoy all of the hard work that i've put into this update.

oh, and while you're at it please vote for me!



i'd love to be a contender for this award.

cheers!
xo diane

the last day of may

well, i did it! i am proud to say that the "blog-a-day" challenge in may was a complete success. each and every day i would take time out of my hectic schedule to come up with something to write about. sharing moments of my life for the past month has been pretty rewarding.

i've learned that when i read blogs i love to see pictures...seeing as i'm such a visual artist that didn't surprise me at all. i attempted to deliver a picture with my blog postings as well. sometimes it just wasn't possible, but i think i made up for it with multiple pics on other days.

i have decided to keep up with posting on a regular basis...although its probably not going to be every day.

so here's to walt, venus & nicole who were posting along with me. cheers friends, we did it!

xo diane

a mountain of magnets

i just got home from a wonderful lunch meeting with my friends anne marie and ann where we talked about my teaching classes at ann's stitching studio in the upcoming months...more on that later.

when i got home i realized just how behind i am on making magnets for local stores and upcoming shows and just about had a panic attack! not really, but when you see the amount of graphics that i printed you will know how deep into it i really am. here is a pic of the sheet of graphics that are in addition to the ones i already have cut out.



and here is the pile of the ones that are ready to go:



those don't include all of the "austin rocks" ones i still need to do and the "tasty jewelry" ones too. whew! i better stop typing and get to work!

have a great weekend.
xo diane

worst tuesday ever

i'm not going to go on and on about my theory of what made me sick, i just know that i got it and bad. i've never felt so awful in my entire life.

i'm tired and shaky....enough said. i'm going to go lay back down and drink some more water.

diane

looks like smoked ribs today

happy memorial day.

we've been cocooned inside so far today watching the third installment of the matrix series "revolutions" and are now thinking about our next move. it has rained on and off this morning leaving the backyard a bit of a soggy mess, but i'm not made of sugar, so i'm not going to melt...unless the heat continues like this! yuk!

we are going to smoke some pork ribs and if they turn out as good as they did last time then look out. complete with the red ring of smoke and all. if we do them i will get a pic of them up and cut so you can see that ring.

in the meantime, i'm getting a bit sleepy and still have loads of work to do.

cheers!
xo diane

lazy saturday

well, this was a well-deserved lazy saturday. after working so diligently all week on new designs and taking over 100 new photographs, i have allowed myself to take a day off.

carlos and i rode our bikes down to uncle billy's brew & que for a pint of their anniversary ale and some eats. i got the pulled pork quesadillas and he got a super delicious cheeseburger. hey, i didn't say it was going to be a healthy day off, just that i was taking one.

i will be back to work tomorrow, however, to continue work on the necklace, home accessory and rings pages for the website.

cheers!
xo diane

coming soon....

i know i must sound like a broken record, but when i'm working on something this big, i just gotta chat about it! here is a new photograph of my new mod trio printed acrylic earrings.



i have been working so hard on all new original graphics that my back is hurting. maybe i should get a better work chair...

well, i hope everyone has a great weekend. i'll be sure to post tomorrow too!

cheers!
xo diane

new office supplies

there are so many crafty minds out there in the world its absolutely inspiring! new ideas and techniques are popping up all over the place...so here's something that i admittedly didn't pioneer, but instead have developed to fit into my tasty world.



they are those cute little binder clips embellished with tasty graphics. this set of 12 comes in a super cute metallic tin with see thru lid and a magnet on the back to be able to hang off the side of your filing cabinet. i also have large size clips in a set of 6. look for them on the website soon.

and here's a pic of my studio helper, gunner, he's my little manx cat that loves to hang around when i'm designing. i love him.



cheers!
xo diane

more, more, more....how do you like it?

here is another photo of some of the earrings i've been working on for the austin museum of art.



i've been so busy designing new graphics and getting ready to do a major overhaul on the website! each and every graphic is original and its taking me awhile to weed through all of them....whew! this is one of my favorites, the birdcage!



let me know what you think! keep checking back here for updates and i'll be issuing a special code to use on the website for blog subscribers only!

cheers!
xo diane

ooh, a bonus post

i've been working my little fingers to the bone today and it's still not over yet. here is a quick shot of some 17 pairs of new earrings that i am working on presently. (7:15pm central standard time)



oh, and that's not including the 30 other pairs that i made earlier (different style) and the 95+ discs that are waiting for their "tasty" treatment. all this without the aid of caffeine. (because i can't have it. although i do love a decaf iced americano...black) well, no one can call me lazy!

i'll have more pics of the newbies soon! can't wait....

cheers!
xo diane

great music part deux

okay, so i'm back from the show and it rocked! full of energy...the crowd was amazing too. they just love playing here...and it shows.


so a short post today...finishing up an order for the austin museum of art and putting the finish touches on my website update.

cheers!
xo diane

excited about tonight....

so this is a bit later than usual for my blogging...but i'm just so excited to go see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club tonight at Antone's i can't see straight. my friend tracy got me into them years ago and i've been hooked ever since. they just simply rock. think late 60's guitar with smoldering vocals and bad ass rhythm.



if i can do it, maybe i'll blog tomorrow's post when i get home later tonight!

cheers!
xo diane

my second love in life...

well, in order for me to be able to keep up writing every day in may, i feel that i must include my second passion in life...which is food. i absolutely love cooking, grocery shopping, planning meals the whole shebang. except for doing the dishes, but i digress.

here you can see me at 1 1/2 years old sitting on the counter while my mom is cooking. she told me that i would just sit there mesmerized and wouldn't touch a thing. my sister annie is in the curls, and that's my other sister carol who was going through chemo at the time.



so here is an example of what i like to cook...simple things with loads of flavor and home made. i like to know what's in the food i eat and i try to stay away from preservatives and bad stuff like that. so i bought some lean ground turkey to make some meatballs with some spaghetti the other night. i had made enough to have leftover sauce and meatballs so i could turn it into this delicious submarine sandwich. that is fresh mozzarella cheese on one side and grated parmesan on the other. it was delicious.



i hope your mouth is watering now...if i ever get a chance to meet you in person i'd love to cook for you!

cheers!
xo diane

giggly about googly

my friend nicole had this great idea to start sticking googly eyes on everyday ordinary things to sort of "spruce" them up a bit. on the forum of her podcast she asked if there was anyone else who would like to participate and i of course said yes!

carlos & i went out last night for happy hour and here are a few of the pics we took of our "googly" experience. we were at chuy's on barton springs and i was enjoying a wonderful frozen strawberry margarita. i'm pretty adventurous and creative so i had a feeling a little frost wouldn't hinder the stickiness of the googly eyes. and i was right....


next was a sticker outside chuy's for a design group in santa fe, nm. it had elvis on it with the fancy glasses and i just couldn't resist.


we then rode our bikes down to uncle billy's brew & que for some of their new celebration double ipa. yum! on a side note i LOVE hoppy beers.....we were sitting at the bar when i looked down and saw the fabulous woodgrain that just had to be googled up.


so there...i hope others will see the joy that we left in our paths. i think its pretty fun and really harmless. the eyes aren't all that sticky so they won't ruin anything. i hope you enjoyed seeing these funny pics as much as we had taking them....

have a great weekend!
cheers!
xo diane

inspired for growth

i just finished listening to my friend mark tafoya's latest episode of his remarkably mark podcast . this one is about what he does with his enormous talent in the podcasting world and i'm feeling quite inspired. lately i have been feeling a bit like i'd like to do more with my crafting talent and share it with others. this show got me thinking on a different track about that possibility. nice. if you have the chance or inclination, i highly recommend giving his podcast a listen. you can find it on itunes with his other podcast remarkable palate about being a personal chef in NYC.



gosh, i don't know when this guys sleeps. if you are at all interested in food and travel i suggest you go to itunes right now and subscribe. you won't be disappointed. i'm planning a trip to NYC sometime soon and i hope that he's in town so that we get a chance to meet...

have a great friday night everyone!
cheers!
xo diane

new graphics & a broken window

i'd like to show you one of the new graphics that i've been working on for the website, but first, can i just mention how crazy the weather was last night? i was woken up by a HUGE thunderstorm that produced golf ball sized hail....this was the result. i can't tell you how scared i was hearing it hit the windows. it sounded like someone was throwing baseballs at our house. i guess the storm produced up to 70mph winds and some funnel clouds too. at one point we couldn't even see out the window the rain & hail was coming down sideways. i just kept hoping it wouldn't break the giant window we have in our kitchen. anther bonus was that our power was out for 8 hours....bye bye groceries in the fridge. (i'm an old lady talking about the weather...)



now on to better things. i've been working on bird graphics for spring and wanted them to have multiple layers and colors....this is one of my favorites so far:



it will be offered in a couple of different styles of earrings as well as necklaces and perhaps even salt & pepper shakers. we'll see....i really like the colors in this one. subtle and retro.

cheers!
xo diane

back to work....

all the fun has ended since i just dropped off my friend caroline at the airport just 30 minutes ago.

we had such a blast together, ate lots of mexican food, took lots of photos with arty vandalay, and despite her fending off a cold/allergies we still had our fair share of fun time cocktails.



yesterday we were at guero's taco bar (where i set up for first thursday each month with my tasty jewelry booth of goodies) and we saw none other than jeff tweedy of wilco fame. it's a good thing i'm from chicago and actually had a sighting of him a few years back with his child in a stroller. they were in town playing 2 sold out shows at stubb's amphitheater.



ok, so all that great stuff is now over....wah wah, now its back to work.

i've been working on revamping my website with all new prints & designs so watch out! i will be definitely blogging about that when it happens too...so stay tuned.

cheers!
xo diane

beautiful day part 2

okay, so if you read yesterday's blog you know that my friend caroline and i went to central market and were going to make something great with our finds. she's a vegetarian so instead of burgers & steaks we opted for something a little healthier....

a grilled veggie sandwich!

but first, here's arty vandalay whilst we grill...he was busy reading magazines and chatting with the girls...



i grilled zucchini, onion, a portabello mushroom and roasted a red pepper. we got some fresh pita bread from phoenicia bakery here in austin which is amazing. i took some simple goat cheese and added fresh garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, onion powder, red chili flakes and salt & pepper for our spread. we built the sandwiches with spread first, i added avocado, the roasted red pepper, mushroom, onion, tomato and mesclun greens. WOW! what flavor! so here is the sandwich in all its glory:



cheers!
xo diane

beautiful day part 1

we decided to spend a great deal of time outside today since the weather was so beautiful! sunny, dry, breezy and about 80 degrees. caroline and i went to central market to do a bit of grocery shopping for our grilled veggie sandwich.

since caroline is from chicago she was amazed at the bounty of produce that we offer here in the south. here are a few of her observations:

funky fruit


texas grown herbs


a plethora of dried peppers


and her favorite, the salsa bar


see what we did with some of the goodies that we got tomorrow!

cheers!
xo diane