Two for Two

Got a shop lift and added a new listing - all in one night!

First

I got a spontaneous shop lift tonight! Awesome Etsian Vickinator was kind enough to offer a free banner to one fellow Etsian. Well, I was all over that so I said please! and ta-da...got not one but two awesomeeeely put together banners.

I love them. The warmer one is up right now for the lovely Fall season.

Vickinator, in addition to offering graphic designs, also sells quality buttons and pins at her Etsy Shop.

Thanks Vicki!

Second

I've spent the last few days hand shaping little hearts and designing some rings and bracelets. While I should have many things to show you after so much blood, sweat, and tears (ok, there really wasn't that much blood, sweat, and tears. There WAS however, a lot of wire used unsuccessfully, let me tell you!) I only have one to show you. (I know. I'm slacking.)

Two Hearts Bracelet by TesoroJewelry

Hey, I felt like showing some love :)

- Jessica

Treasure Eye Candy

Ready for something sweet?

I tried to get my own Treasury this morning on the Etsy Treasury but I stupidly kept refreshing and missed it.

But Etsian Schiersknits cooked up a sweet Treasury of her favorite color - Turquoise.

And guess what! My cute little Turquoise and Gold Nested Turquoise was featured in it!

Isn't it lovely? Isn't it grand?

Happy Friday everyone!

- Jessica

Featured!! How cool is that!

So this morning, I was thrillllllllleeeeddd to wake up and see a sweet tweet from twitter friend Jackie (@EtsyToday).

My little Onyx Eye of the Beholder Ring had caught her fancy and was being featured on her awesomely fun and chic website, Etsy Item of the Day.

You can check out her featurette here Etsy Item of the Day - Onyx Wrapped Ring

Jackie regularly features great items from Etsy Sellers via her blog and twitter. I definitely recommend following her tweets and blog - you won't be disappointed!

Thanks again Jackie!

- Jessica

Guac-a-mole!

How was your manic Monday?

Mine started with a overly hectic 5 hours at work (T-minus 10 days - more on that later) and when I left, I had a suzie homemaker itch to cook dinner. But not just cook dinner (I love to cook but I don't cook a variety of things) I wanted to cook something I've never cooked before.

I thought about...called the DH for ideas....and decided if I wasn't going to cook, I'd want On the Border's Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas. So that's what I cooked :) Well attempted....

Usually if I want a recipe of a dish from a chain restaurant, trusty Google always delivers - but no luck. It wasn't even listed on their menu anymore.

I searched Recipezaar, Martha, and AllRecipes but found the winner on a random forum.

I spent the rest of the afternoon coupon cutting, filling an order, ran into DH on his way in and my way out (perfectly timed right?), braving the post office, and doing a grocery run.

Once home, it only took about 50 minutes from grocery bags to the table. Even DH helped as the official green chili chopper - except he cheated. He busted out our never used wedding gifted mini food processor. I can not believe we have not used it in the 15 months we've been married. It is awesomely efficient.

Once DH discovered the processor - we instantly had chopped chilis, guacamole, and pico de gallo. Who knew right?

I took a couple of pictures of everything but really, enchiladas in a 9 x 13 do not look visually appealing so I will only subject you to

Guacamole!

Dinner was pretty good I think - a bit spicy but DH really liked it! The sauce was the best part!

Things to remember for next time - don't listen to DH and do fry the tortillas beforehand, less green chilis, and get cotija cheese!

In case you were wondering - the recipe I used is here. I tried to copy and paste it here but blogspot won't let me :( The recipe is in the 2nd response from the top by member: NightFlier.

Enjoy and let me know how it goes if you try it!

Awesome Artists GIVEAWAY

Yayay! I'm apart of the Awesome Artists Giveaway Edition II.

Check it out here Live Breathe Dream Etsy: Awesome Artists Giveaway !

You could win 1 of 5 giftbaskets (totaling $260.00)

My Chunky White Rock Crystal Ring is included!

I wish I could enter the giveaway. The gift baskets are awesome! :(

Over so soon?

I think it hit me for the first time today. Summer is officially over..... sad face :(

I won't lie, there have been clues.

• Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas decorations at Michaels (can you believe that, a little over 3 months away)
• Its getting darker sooner
• Seasonal allergies :(
• Starting to look for flights for the holidays
• and the biggest - MORNING TRAFFIC. Its like a thorn in my shoe that increases my morning drive from 30 minutes to 50-60 minutes.

And now, the real kicker, its getting colder.

On Wednesdays, my nephew comes over and he and DH go swimming in our complex' pool. Usually, I go swimming too or hang out and watch - and by watch I mean throw the kid in whenever I get the chance :0

But today, I opted not to swim even though the water was a toasty 84 degreesand had to adorn a light sweater. Can you believe that? A light sweater is so final.

To top it off, all I wanted to do was sit in here.

Well, bye Summer! We had a great run - birthdays, Vegas, first wedding anniversay (woohoo), Montana. I'm going to have to blog about all those to relive the memories!

Hello Fall! Can you beat Summer?

WINNER - Blue Lapis Ring Giveaway

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I want to say a huggee HUGE thank you to all those that participated in my first every giveaway. I think it was a great success and I loved reading all of the comments.

Thanks to Random.Org, the winner is........*drum roll*.....

Wonderful commenter Kylie B - I'll be contacted you shortly!

Again, thank you to all the participants and please check back often. I'll be doing another giveaway in a week or so.

Loving the love!

Jessica

Comment Malfunction

So sorry to recent Giveaway commenters but it seemed that my new layout (like the 3-columnness?) did not allow for Embedded Posts Below.


I panicked but discovered that it could all be easily fixed by setting comments to pop up window mode.

Commenters that contacted me directly will be added in order of receiving them after the 52nd commenter for the Giveaway.

Hope your enjoying your weekend - off for some Shirley's Bagels (aka. best bagels in SoCal!)

Hear Him Roar!

The other day I was doing my "don't think about it routine drive to work" and thought what a great idea it would be to do portraits of "Kings" as in Kings of their jungles!

Soooooo this is my first painting in the series. I really hope to continue this series because I love the concept.

I'm thinking painting #2 will be that big Rock Iguana in one of my previous posts. What do you think?

Twitter Feed testing

I'm diving into the world of TWITTER.

I just signed up for twitter feed. This is a test

GIVEAWAY!

So in honor of my very first time on the Etsy Showcase (check it out here http://www.etsy.com/showcase.php).

I'm also going to do my very first Giveaway here on my blog.

I'll make it simple - leave me a comment here on your favorite item in my Etsy Shop http://tesorojewelry.etsy.com/ by Sunday, September 13th, 11:59 PM PST and I will pick at random a winner (thanks to Random Integer).

Winner will be announced Monday, September 14th.

Want to know what you'll win? Of course you do!

Semi Precious Faceted Blue Lapis stone with anti-tarnish silver wire.

Ok! Show me some love! 

(Please leave me with some way to contact you - email address, etsy shop name, etc. If you are uncomfortable leaving your email address as a comment, please contact me on my blog)

Proud parents!

The North American Reptile Show was at the Anaheim Convention near Disneyland this holiday weekend.

DH was excited (that doesn't even do it justice, you'd think he was a kid going to Disneyland for the first time) and we were there bright and early Saturday morning!

I've always been into animals - wanted to be a vet for most of my childhood. I even had Bearded Dragons (eight of them!) as a kid and bred them. They were so cute!

So I was excited too!

There was so many people there and soooooo many reptiles, snakes, and even creepy crawlies. I can't do the creepy crawlies. I'm cringing just thinking about all the hissing cockroaches, scorpions, and spiders I saw. No thank you!

He was the show stopper. So many people were taking pictures of this guy! He was pretty mellow and awesome looking. He was probably loving the attention or maybe not.

They look plastic.

Cute right?

DH's favorite - little hog nose snake. I have to admit he is really cute.

We have 2 female Crested Geckos at home and DH has been thinking about breeding them like 3-4 months down the line.

We walked around the place about 4 times and then decided that it would be more cost effective to get a male Crested Gecko now. Plus everything we needed was all right there. So we circled the place another 2 times looking at all the males and then decided on this guy.

Meet Leo! I think he's pretty cute and I think the girls think he's pretty cute too!

Giveaways - Read all about em!

I really want to do a giveaway so I've spent the whole morning reading article after blog after website about how to go about doing one and where to advertise it. I'm not quite ready to do one yet but this is what I've found. Enjoy and please let me know what else you've found!

EtsyGiveaways They twitter and have a fan club of over 700 people. I looked into some of the contests and a BRAND NEW blog (started 9/5) had 48 comments on their giveaway post. Amazing for exposure!

Where do you advertise your giveaways? Older post by Etsy shop ShinyAdornments. Pretty impressive list of sites, blogs, and threads.

TheGiveAway Diva This is an extremely popular blog for giveaways. One of the #1 sites I ran into.

Sharing Etsy Knowledge

When I get into something - I get into it. It's bad. I go to sleep, dream, and wake up thinking about it. Nothing else gets done. Food loses its taste. Colors fade. Ok, it doesn't get that bad. But it does consume a very good portion of my life.

But I'm not just getting into something this time, I'm making it my job. I am leaving my cozy office job to pursue my creative urges and explore artistic opportunities. Starting in October, I will be teaching, tutoring, painting, creating, ahhhh...I can not wait!

I have many many To-Do's until then but right now...

Current project - ETSY!

I've made pieces, taken photos, set up shop, and spent hours and hours scouring Etsy forums, threads, random blogs, trusty Google for everything and anything about advertising, promotion, shipping, pictures, and so much more. In just one week I've absorbed so much information that I feel bloated. That's right I'm bloated!

I have to share this information with everyone so get comfortable and be prepared to do some bookmarking

Piddix Unofficial Guide To Etsy - This is a pretty awesome site that Etsy shop Piddix has put together. You definitely have to check it out - you're going to learn so much helpful information on pretty much everything you need to know about selling on Etsy.

Product Advertising - courtesy of Etsy shop Nerd Girls Unlimited a very extensive list of sites of advertise your products on. I personally have not checked them all out because I started and stopped on Google Base and then decided to do this blog spot for the benefit of the people.

US Sellers - Shipping Domestic and International - Nice writeup from Etsy shop GoTo

Don't Be Afraid to Ship Internationally - Blog post by Etsy Shop Tinahdee about shipping sold items internationally. This was my savior when I had my first international shipment. I did every thing they suggested and had no problems. I would just like to add that when you fill out the Customs Form 2976 the attendant said to mark it "Other"

Great deals and freebies - Awesome blog spot about getting great deals and freebies from Etsy Shop BurningMoon.

How to set up a mailing list without having a blog - Etsy Forum Thread

How to make an Etsy Treasury - Courtesy of The Storque on Etsy

Etsy Renewing Experiment - This blog post is extremely helpful in you want to try something to boost your Etsy hearts, views, and sales. When my shop is where I want it, I plan to follow this blogger's advice (Etsy Shop ShopSomethingBlue)

I plan to post more goodies I find in my many searches in the future so check back!

Coming up short

So I didn't quite finish my list. I'd say I worked on the first 5 and the fruits of my labor are as follows:

White Agate Chunky Ring

Picasso Jasper Stretch Bracelet

Gradient Carnelian Hoop Earrings

Sterling Silver Cone & Sea Cluster Earrings

Vibrant Blue and Green Chrysocolla Ring

Translucent Red, Brown, and Gray Ocean Jasper Ring

Bowtie Wrapped African Turquoise Ring

White Rock Crystal Gold Wrapped Ring

Check them all out at my Etsy shop Tesoro Jewelry

More to come!

Putting it out in the universe!

Today I have a big goal and I'm posting it here so it's officially out there and I have to finish it.

1. Fill order and go to post office
2. Start a giveaway
3. Make jewelry with new stones
4. Take and retake pictures of existing and new pieces
5. Add all pieces to Tesoro Jewelry
6. Organize supplies
7. BLOG!
8. Respond to emails
9. Finish painting
10. Take pictures of paintings
11. Add paintings to etsy
12. Think of more things to do

It's going to be a busy day!

Working on Item 1

4th Time is a Charm ?

4th attempt. Don't ask. See attempt 3 at http://allaboutthehenrys.blogspot.com/ :(