Get your Shop On!

This weekend has some of the best Holiday Shopping in Austin, Texas. Who wants to purchase cool, one of a kind, modern, reasonably priced gifts? You do??? Well peep the Cherrywood Art Fair! I do this show every year, and we got great coverage in the Austin American Statesman today. Check out the article for shopping details on two other fabulous events - Blue Genie and the Armadillo!

Treasure Tuesday: New Jewelry!

Ahh, one reason I love the Holiday season so much is all the new goodies I get! As a handbag designer, I have the priveledge of being able to trade my product with other designers - namely, JEWELRY designers. This past weekend held three days of shows, and I was thrilled to be able to snag new jewelry from Husak Design, Irok Gems, and Claire Fielden Designs. All three ladies are friends of mine, and I am so happy to have the new jewelry to wear this Holiday season. See below for details about what I scored!

Item Name:Brass Lion Pendant	Category:Jewelry	Value:$35.00

Content Generated - 12/4/2007

Type: Necklace Style: Modern Main stone: Citrine Stone color: Green Secondary stones: Brass Pendant Metal: Gold Designer/Brand: Husak Design Condition: Excellent

Notes: Designer Courtney Husak is always updating her look - this year saw many of these brass pendant necklaces.  I had to have the LION one - so fierce, but in a sweet way.

Item Name:Classic IROK GEMS Necklaces	Category:Jewelry	Value:$95.00

Content Generated - 12/4/2007

Type: Necklace Style: Modern Main stone: Onyx Stone color: Black Secondary stones: Vintage Crystal, Ruby Secondary stone colors: Iridescent Bronze, Red Metal: Gold Designer/Brand: IROK GEMS Condition: Excellent

Notes: After 5 long years of waiting, I finally have my own IROK GEMS Necklace!  Known for her BOLD style and excellent craftmanship, designer Kori Jones turns out some of the best handmade jewelry around - period.  I wore it almost immediately, and I LOVE IT!

Item Name:Art Deco Style Earrings	Category:Jewelry	Value:$45.00

Content Generated - 12/4/2007

Type: Earrings Style: Modern Main stone: Rhinestone Stone color: Clear Secondary stones: Rhinestone Secondary stone colors: Bronze Metal: Silver Designer/Brand: Claire Fielden Designs Condition: Excellent

Notes: Claire has this way with jewelry - it is subtlely elaborate, feminine and always very sexy.  I love the necklace I have of hers, and these Art Deco inspired earrings just HAD to be mine.

Thornton Road Studio Sale - Saturday!

Come on out to the Thornton Road Studio Sale today! From 10am to 5pm, we will be celebrating the holiday season with handmade art and live music! I am set up at the Cone 10 Studio - which is the very last studio on the left. Check out all these awesome photos of some of the work there.

Hip Holiday Happy Hour - Tonight!

Join myself and Courtney Husak for a fabulous Holiday Gift show in the heart of South Austin (78704, baby!) Tonight from 5pm to 8pm. We have all kinds of fabulous gifts for under $25! Earrings, Coaster Sets, Mini Wallets, Necklaces, Cosmetic Bags and more....                                                                  

ETSY Shop Now Open!

Friends! After many years of fiddling around with thoughts of how to sell my work online, I am pleased to announce that my ETSY shop is open!

What is ETSY, you ask? Well, it's a really fabulous site where you can create your own store online for just a small fee. Each item gets up to 5 photos, and once you figure it all out, it's quite easy to use.










For starters I have posted LOTS of Mini Wallets, several Cosmetic Bags, and a few Gift Sets. The Holiday Shopping season is officially here (duh, as of last week)... but if you're anything like me, you avoid the crowds at all costs.








Super fun shows just around the corner - check out all the links at left, and look for a special blog on that early tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me that Yahoo lets my email out of "Spam hawk"!!!

Yahoo thinks I am a Spammer

So friends, I am the first to admit I am a bit behind in internet stuff. I like to use free services - this blog is free, I have free email addresses, etc... Well you get what you pay for!

Normally for events, I send out an Evite (free!) I love Evite because I can send up to 500 people an invitation in one click. Yet today, I needed to send more of a "newsletter" - an invitation to 3 separate shows I have coming up.

I actually sat and manually entered in 450 email addresses into my new yahoo email account, carefully separating them into groups of 50. Then I sent each group my newsletter. Then my account was deactivated.

I guess you get what you pay for. I counted on yahoo to provide me with a free and secure and fair service. Now I have spent the past hour searching for a way to actually contact a human at Yahoo to reactivate my account.

Lesson learned. I'm going to have to become a paying member of the web, and purchase access to my own email server and perhaps use some service to send out newsletters. Just what I need before a weekend full of shows - a tense neck from the stress of wondering if I will EVER get my email address back?

A word to the wise - if you have important info transmitted by email - do NOT use a free service. I can just hear my Dad saying "well, you should've known better..."

A more cheerful post tomorrow,
ambie

2nd Annual Holiday Gift Show

So, a few weeks ago I wrote a blog about my friend and fabulous jewelry designer - Courtney Husak.

Last year we had a fabulous Holiday Gift Show together at her studio - and we are doing it again this year! Nestled in the heart of 78704 (that's South Austin, folks)is a cute little home that serves as Courtney's studio (and home to her hubby & pets too!)

Check out the flyer for details on time and location, and email me at annemarie_beard@yahoo.com for more details. Oh yes, and I will be PREMIERING my brand new "Fine Art Handbags" - you have never seen ANYTHING like them, I promise you will be pleased...