Poofy Tutus!

These tutus have been so much fun to make! The possibilities are endless! My Extra Poofy Tutus seem to defy gravity! They are three times as full as the basic tutus and look so cute!

Newsletter!

I'm putting out a newsletter! Once a month I send out a newsletter to my wonderful customers. In it you'll find freebies, discount codes and all kinds of goodies. I'm also featuring a business each month. If you'd like your business featured, let me know (info@lacijo.com) and I'll see about adding you to a future newsletter.

Sterling Silver..

I love sterling! I had an idea (scary, I know!) to use jump rings to make a bracelet. Usually that's called chain maille but I don't know if this counts as chain maille or not. I don't care what it's called! I really like this one. This bracelet is all sterling. It's even more beautiful in person than the pictures show. It shines like you wouldn't believe! I'm planning to make more in different patterns and using different shaped rings. It's time consuming but the end result is worth it! The clasp is a simple, plain sterling toggle clasp. There are no extra designs on it - it really finishes the bracelet nicely. Look for more of this style in the future. Flowers, circles, triangles and more!

Bringing you up to date...

I know, I know! Too long between posts. Not good. But I have some good excuses.

1. We're getting an addition on the house. It hasn't been too horrible but I'm ready to not have people here every day.

2. Kids. Yes, I have kids and they keep me busy! When school starts again I'll have more time for this (yeah right!).

3. Business. It's been keeping me going, and going, and going.... That's what I'll tell you about tonight and then I'm headed to bed.

So last Friday I get a phone call and an email from a potential customer. Of course the one day I forget to take my cell phone with me is the day I have someone that wants to place a BIG order. And I mean BIG! I returned her call and email. She wanted 10 adult size tutus (really, it makes a difference if they're adult size or child size. Adult size take longer to make and use more tulle). She wanted them to be in her hands TODAY. One week, half way across the country! I'm happy to say she had them yesterday. Yay me!

So anyway, back to the story. I worked hard all weekend - even had the kids stay with Grandma on Monday so I could finish them. I took pictures (like she asked) and emailed them to her. She was thrilled, yada, yada, yada.... I asked her if she'd take pictures of them being worn. They look so much better on a person than they do sitting in my photo tent to have the picture taken. I'd like to have a picture to put in my gallery on the website. She emailed me back and said she'd be happy to take pictures. She then explained where these tutus will be worn.

It seems there's this event in LA next week. An event for up and coming young artists and designers. It's called Project Ethos. They have this little thing called a fashion show and MY TUTUS will be worn by the group that is dancing to open and close the show! How exciting is that?!

Okay. I'm done for tonight! Since I don't have (good) photos of the tutus, I'll leave you with a photo of a ring I made recently. Tomorrow, if I get a chance, I'll blog about the ring and also my latest favorite piece of jewelry. If you can't wait to find out what it is, check out my website and see if you can find it. It's the only thing that is ALL sterling silver.

Updated the website!

Finally! Another post! Sorry but it's been rather crazy around here. We're having an addition put on our house so I haven't had much time for blogging.

Back to the topic..... I spent a lot of time over the past couple of days updating the website. Check it out! There are some new bracelets and new pics. I have some new Autism Awareness bracelets in the store. There's a new special for the months of June and July. It's for anyone who hosts an online party. If your sales reach $200 you'll get a free bracelet or tutu along with the regular hostess benefits!

Another name bracelet

I really like the Swarovski® cubes! They go very well with the square letter beads. This bracelet is made with sterling silver (of course! All my name bracelets are.), Swarovski® cubes and Swarovski® pearls. The charm I put on this is a puzzle piece. It is the symbol for Autism awareness. My son has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS (find info here) which is an autism spectrum disorder. The doctor thinks he has Asperger's Syndrome but he's a little young for that diagnosis. So, I have incorporated the Autism awareness symbol in this bracelet which is one that I wear quite often. Once I get the right color beads, I'm going to be making some Autism awareness bracelets and selling those.

All of my bracelets can be customized with a charm of your choice. This just happens to be the one I choose for my personal jewelry.

Beads, beads & more beads!

I went shopping yesterday! I found some beads that I was looking for so I spent some money. I had a lot of fun last night after I finally got them all tagged so I know how much to charge for them (that's the boring but important part). I came up with a name bracelet that I really like. The pictures don't look as good as it does in person. It's made with sterling silver, Swarovski crystal pearls and of course the letter blocks. I also found some peace stone jasper (had never heard of that before) that is really pretty. It has pink & green in it like I've been using lately. I put that with the pearls & sterling beads and I think it looks great. I might make some earrings to match it. So without further ado (because I'm tired and can't think of anything else to say about these pieces), here are the pictures. Sorry they aren't very big. You can see them better on my website ~ www.lacijo.com.

My website

I finally have my website up and running. I'm sure I'll be making some changes on it in the near future because I'm never satisfied with it. But I finally found a great shopping cart service so I now have a fully functional website that people can actually order from! www.lacijo.com Now I need to work on building up my inventory for the parties and craft shows. I love the idea of doing online parties because then people who don't enjoy going to the home show type parties can just shop from home. I've also added gift certificates. What better gift for that hard-to-buy-for person?! Let them choose their gift!