a little sunshine on a somewhat cloudy day....

i saw this video posted on someone's blog and had to share it. it made me laugh....



cheers!
xo diane

Le Garage Sale this weekend

I will be participating in one of Austin's most coveted sale events this weekend. All the information is on the flyer below. I will have sale merchandise as well as my regular goodies there...



Hope to see you there!

cheers!
xo diane

this is what i'm dealing with today...

okay, anyone who has a cat knows that they have this incredible sense of where they shouldn't be and my cat, gunner, is no exception to this rule. as a matter of fact he actually epitomizes this rule perfectly!

here's the back story. i'm trying to take some photographs of these new earrings to send to someone for a silent auction and for my website too. my workspace isn't all that big and when i set up my light box and lights there is absolutely NO space whatsoever. so i'm getting up close and trying different shots when i hear this sound from my right side. here he comes, under my chin (as i'm actually taking a photograph!) and in he goes.





oh, he sure is cute, but right on top of my work! and then he starts clawing at the walls:


he got the squirt bottle for sure...now here he is just a few minutes later:



trouble sleeps....


oh, and if you are interested in the actual photo i was trying to take here it is:




hope you have a great day!

cheers!
xo diane

reworking a class

i'm not sure if i mentioned it yet, but i am teaching a jewelry making class at the griffin school this quarter. i was asked to participate again in their art workshop and gladly accepted. so i decided to teach the students how to make these awesome beaded rings. last year i did the basic jewelry making class which was alright, but i think they really wanted something more.

so i obliged. i have been busy working on making the patterns so they are simple to follow with color coding and the whole nine yards. well, after the first class last week, i realized that i had bitten off a bit more than i could chew.

before i had "kits" prepared for each student with the correct amount of beads counted out with a color assigned to each one. what was i thinking? i was trying to organize the class so much i feel like i squeezed the creativity right out of it. so this week i'm reworking the patterns to simplify them a bit so that the students can make more than one ring per class and so that they can choose their own colors too.

i suppose i got caught up in the whole project that i lost sight of the bigger picture. so i took a breather for a few days and now am super excited about the new ideas and patterns that we are going to be doing. simplifying the class will take a load off of the students' mind allowing them to open up and really become creative.

so today & tomorrow i will be taking apart the "kits" i had so carefully prepared and i will take this as a huge lesson learned.

inspiration

i subscribe to about 30 different blogs and am inspired by what i see almost daily. one of my absolute favorites is called the dieline and its dedicated to package design.

now if you know anything about me you know that i absolutely LOVE packaging. i strive to be as creative as i can when it comes to packaging my own goodies too. there's just something about presenting your product in a super cool and unique fashion that speaks to me.

so they featured some packaging from green genes which made me think of my line of tasty jewelry. see if you agree:


the dots and colors are so similar to my logo and website design that it made me want to blab about it.

so, if you are wondering what green genes is here's a quote from the blog; "Green Genes an eco-friendly boutique specializing in green goodies for whippersnapper’s and their grown-ups too in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood". now i used to live in chicago in the lincoln square neighborhood and that's not too far away from andersonville. its a really cool swedish neighborhood which is the home of the original ann sather's restaurant, sommarfest and some other really great bars & restaurants.

so if you are in chicago, check out the shop. i wish i was still there to stop by and grab myself some "green" goodies!

cheers!
xo diane

start of the new year

i've had several ideas of what i could do to make myself be more consistent with the posts, i.e. daily thoughts, creative influences, "themed days", i just can't seem to get it off the ground. so i start the new year with an attempt at more frequent posting...

so here's one for today. i'm currently working on taking tons of old jewelry that i have and getting it organized for a sale going on here in austin in a few weeks called "le garage" sale. its just that, but with a twist. tons of fantastic local boutiques have booths and they put all of their clearance merchandise out for ridiculous prices. meaning they are practically giving their stuff away.

my friend annemarie beard did the show last fall and invited me to share a booth space with her so i said yes. now i'm getting all of this stuff together that i just want to get out of my way...a perfect chance to make room for all new goodies for 2009!

here is a shot of my workspace:



i will post more about this sale later. i need to have something to post later this week...

cheers!
xo diane

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