Just a reminder if you purchase from Nicholas Designs, remember to enter in the coupon code of
WHYNICHOLAS in order for you to get your 10% discount off all items purchased. (except shipping!)
XOXO
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Nicholas reaches out to strangers....
I wish I understood the statistics on this blogging business. Like I have said before, it seems my audience is mainly from Russia...I just think that is the most bizarre! Russia...hmmmmm. I know you are our friends and at the same time rivals...meaning that we simply "keep an eye on each other". But no one from Russia ever says anything to me. Why?
I knew a Russian girl once. Her name was Katia. She had a runny accent. This was waaaaaay back when I worked at the Hanover Inn, back in the glory days.
Anyway, what's happening in the jewelry business? Well, I will update you on my nosey outbreak from last week. As it turns out this vendor for my eyeglass holders pieces was appreciative that I (so to speak) told her that her fly was down. However, SHE DOES NOT CARE. And to further my frustration, she won't change it and her emails to me are overly stocked with spelling errors, like she intends to do it to annoy me.
She is very nice and she is phasing out of the jewelry making business into the jewelry supply business. We have been conversing and she has given me many many interesting ideas to pursue in order to get some traffic on my site. Traffic first, sales follow. That's the way it's supposed to go. I need people poking around, checking me out before I can capture a sale. They need to know they can trust me, like me, respect my work and admire it. Then someone will make a purchase. I am going to make this work even if it KILLS ME!.
One of the things she suggested is to talk to others who are NOT in the business of making jewelry. To do this by forming what Etsy calls "Treasury's" from my site, "Nicholas Designs". So today I spent the entire day making treasury's. I made up 3 of them. 1 is called, "Anti-Valentine, How to kill, murder, off, lose your lover..." another is called "Absurd Valentines Day Gifts" and the last I put together was for all of the people whom I have purchased supplies from entitled, "My Favorite Suppliers, the best jewelry vendors".
From these Treasuries I have reached out and touched many people by including their products in my treasuries. The first one was hard to come by. The treasury's allow for up to 16 photo's to make your point. That's all they are, photo's of other's products with a title, that's a treasury. They can be quite powerful when you make your statement.
The "murder, killing" one was hard to come by. I started to collect hammers, then mallets, then I came across an old photo of a murder taking place and grabbed that. I stumbled around for a while and kept coming across differing kinds of "weapons" and different ways of "offing" another and finally, suicide. It came out great, very macabre, strange, scary, violent and just plain weird! Any one can see it, you just have to go to Etsy and look up the treasuries. Use the key words "anti valentines" and "how to kill". You'll see it, my picture is right there with the Shop name. My user name of PC and J is also there (I can't change that, I wish I could but Etsy won't let me, so I am stuck being known as PC and J which was my old shop name.) Sucks.
I've gotten many "cool!", "thanks for including my product..." and "really strange!" comments. I replied to as many as I could today remarking on their shops or products trying to stimulate a relational interest where they might be curious about me and see what it is that I do and visit my shop...hence, TRAFFIC! See how that works?
The other one was a lot of fun. I went through many shops and found the most absurd oddities I could find to present as possible "gifts" to a Valentine who "has everything...but I'll bet (s)he doesn't have these!" products! Many responses to that as well. The next couple of days will show whether or not the treasury idea worked. I am tracking my statistics through Etsy's "Search Ads" for a whopping 25 bucks a week! That's a lot for me. I am on my second week. I won't be able to do this for that amount of money again. They have lesser options 5, 10 or 25 a week. I can probably swing 10 and then 5. But that's got to stop after that.
The last I put together as a tribute to those vendors who have kept me happy with my choices of product that I have bought. Although the majority of my inventory comes from a local mineralogist and from "JoAnne's", I am quickly fading from JoAnne's view and getting more cozy with the local guy. I like to "touch and feel" before I buy.
Speaking of buying products, I am making my m-in-law a pendant of birth stones of her 4 kids as we are visiting her over the Valentine's Day week. Her birthday is on the 14th. The birthstones I need to merge together are 2 light blue, 1 pink and 1 red. I bought the pink and the red at JoAnne's without incident but JoAnne's was out of light blue. Therefore I had to order the light blue and make sure they are the same style as the pink and red ones. I chose Swarovski 10mm Heart Crystals, not mounted. I am mounting them myself with a wire technique.
I successfully wired the pink and the red one and they look terrific. See?
I bought a pair of blues from a vendor and when they arrived I noticed the drill hole in the upper center was terribly close to the indent of the heart. I tried to "wire" them and they shattered. Here is a picture.
Well, I wasn't happy and I wasn't happy with the color either. (would you believe I am playing "fetch" with the cat and his green ball? he's really returning it for me to throw again...this is the 8th time!, cool cat!)
So, I reordered and mentioned that the product shattered and I think it is because the hole is too close to the top of the heart. I received my order today and the color is good but it looks like they re-drilled the hole. It's not a tiny hole any more it's a pretty large hole, like they were trying to bring the hole lower into the heart but the product arrives already drilled and to make the hole bigger just makes the stone less stable. I plan to ask the vendor about this.
If I break them again, I don't know what I am going to do. Obviously go to another vendor but I may be running out of time. I want to get them completed and mounted on the silver pendant I bought before I fly to Florida on the 11th. I think I still have plenty of time. It's just odd, because it is so obvious that the holes are bigger and why would they think a larger hole would be more stable? It is still in the same spot only larger. Maybe I'm dealing with dummies. Who knows? we'll find out though.
Well, it's 4am and I should start doing some listing for my other shop, especially since that one is the only one that's making any money! I would say anything from Grampa's Attic that sells at this point is pure profit. It's all junk anyway! But a lot of people like it. One man's junk is an other's treasure!
Bye for now, my Russian friends! Any one else out there?
I knew a Russian girl once. Her name was Katia. She had a runny accent. This was waaaaaay back when I worked at the Hanover Inn, back in the glory days.
Anyway, what's happening in the jewelry business? Well, I will update you on my nosey outbreak from last week. As it turns out this vendor for my eyeglass holders pieces was appreciative that I (so to speak) told her that her fly was down. However, SHE DOES NOT CARE. And to further my frustration, she won't change it and her emails to me are overly stocked with spelling errors, like she intends to do it to annoy me.
She is very nice and she is phasing out of the jewelry making business into the jewelry supply business. We have been conversing and she has given me many many interesting ideas to pursue in order to get some traffic on my site. Traffic first, sales follow. That's the way it's supposed to go. I need people poking around, checking me out before I can capture a sale. They need to know they can trust me, like me, respect my work and admire it. Then someone will make a purchase. I am going to make this work even if it KILLS ME!.
One of the things she suggested is to talk to others who are NOT in the business of making jewelry. To do this by forming what Etsy calls "Treasury's" from my site, "Nicholas Designs". So today I spent the entire day making treasury's. I made up 3 of them. 1 is called, "Anti-Valentine, How to kill, murder, off, lose your lover..." another is called "Absurd Valentines Day Gifts" and the last I put together was for all of the people whom I have purchased supplies from entitled, "My Favorite Suppliers, the best jewelry vendors".
From these Treasuries I have reached out and touched many people by including their products in my treasuries. The first one was hard to come by. The treasury's allow for up to 16 photo's to make your point. That's all they are, photo's of other's products with a title, that's a treasury. They can be quite powerful when you make your statement.
The "murder, killing" one was hard to come by. I started to collect hammers, then mallets, then I came across an old photo of a murder taking place and grabbed that. I stumbled around for a while and kept coming across differing kinds of "weapons" and different ways of "offing" another and finally, suicide. It came out great, very macabre, strange, scary, violent and just plain weird! Any one can see it, you just have to go to Etsy and look up the treasuries. Use the key words "anti valentines" and "how to kill". You'll see it, my picture is right there with the Shop name. My user name of PC and J is also there (I can't change that, I wish I could but Etsy won't let me, so I am stuck being known as PC and J which was my old shop name.) Sucks.
I've gotten many "cool!", "thanks for including my product..." and "really strange!" comments. I replied to as many as I could today remarking on their shops or products trying to stimulate a relational interest where they might be curious about me and see what it is that I do and visit my shop...hence, TRAFFIC! See how that works?
The other one was a lot of fun. I went through many shops and found the most absurd oddities I could find to present as possible "gifts" to a Valentine who "has everything...but I'll bet (s)he doesn't have these!" products! Many responses to that as well. The next couple of days will show whether or not the treasury idea worked. I am tracking my statistics through Etsy's "Search Ads" for a whopping 25 bucks a week! That's a lot for me. I am on my second week. I won't be able to do this for that amount of money again. They have lesser options 5, 10 or 25 a week. I can probably swing 10 and then 5. But that's got to stop after that.
The last I put together as a tribute to those vendors who have kept me happy with my choices of product that I have bought. Although the majority of my inventory comes from a local mineralogist and from "JoAnne's", I am quickly fading from JoAnne's view and getting more cozy with the local guy. I like to "touch and feel" before I buy.
Speaking of buying products, I am making my m-in-law a pendant of birth stones of her 4 kids as we are visiting her over the Valentine's Day week. Her birthday is on the 14th. The birthstones I need to merge together are 2 light blue, 1 pink and 1 red. I bought the pink and the red at JoAnne's without incident but JoAnne's was out of light blue. Therefore I had to order the light blue and make sure they are the same style as the pink and red ones. I chose Swarovski 10mm Heart Crystals, not mounted. I am mounting them myself with a wire technique.
I successfully wired the pink and the red one and they look terrific. See?
I bought a pair of blues from a vendor and when they arrived I noticed the drill hole in the upper center was terribly close to the indent of the heart. I tried to "wire" them and they shattered. Here is a picture. Well, I wasn't happy and I wasn't happy with the color either. (would you believe I am playing "fetch" with the cat and his green ball? he's really returning it for me to throw again...this is the 8th time!, cool cat!)
So, I reordered and mentioned that the product shattered and I think it is because the hole is too close to the top of the heart. I received my order today and the color is good but it looks like they re-drilled the hole. It's not a tiny hole any more it's a pretty large hole, like they were trying to bring the hole lower into the heart but the product arrives already drilled and to make the hole bigger just makes the stone less stable. I plan to ask the vendor about this.
If I break them again, I don't know what I am going to do. Obviously go to another vendor but I may be running out of time. I want to get them completed and mounted on the silver pendant I bought before I fly to Florida on the 11th. I think I still have plenty of time. It's just odd, because it is so obvious that the holes are bigger and why would they think a larger hole would be more stable? It is still in the same spot only larger. Maybe I'm dealing with dummies. Who knows? we'll find out though.
Well, it's 4am and I should start doing some listing for my other shop, especially since that one is the only one that's making any money! I would say anything from Grampa's Attic that sells at this point is pure profit. It's all junk anyway! But a lot of people like it. One man's junk is an other's treasure!
Bye for now, my Russian friends! Any one else out there?
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Nicholas has a dance with the Blue Nun...
Well here I am again. I'm back in the saddle again...It's 2:41am and I'm back on the keyboard letting my fingers do the dance of the millennium. I have my glass of Blue Nun, I have YOU to keep me company and I am happy as a turd. I wonder if turds are happy to be free or sad to be leaving....?
I did something today and I am not sure I like what I did or, if it was an appropriate thing to do. I hope I have some feedback on this because I need your help in deciding whether I did right or whether I totally screwed up.
I went to a site yesterday morning to buy some supplies from a vendor/designer who I have never bought from before. After my purchase I received the typical canned "thankyouverymuchforyourorder" message. Within that message was a bunch of apologetic statements from the vendor/designer about how crappy her photo's were, and that she was trying to be as professional as she can and that she was a "designer" and not a photographer, blah blah and finally, a plea for business. Odd, I thought.
I went to her site and poked around. Well, she was right, every picture I looked at (no kidding!) was blurry. She was right! Her photography sucked! But not only that, in the particular piece I was looking at had 2 spelling errors in the title alone and the description of the item was grammatically incorrect, so much so, that I had to read it several times in order to make sense out of it.
Now, here's the part where I have my trouble....let me ask you this, would YOU contact her in an attempt to alert her to the fact that there were spelling errors in the title? Well I did. I have done this type of thing before if I find a grossly misspelled word(s) or a math error, I have sent an FYI to the owner to let them know. Every time they have been appreciative, rightly so. If your fly was unzipped wouldn't YOU want to know about it? I am just the type of person that will discreetly let you know. (Where are the boundary lines for being "discreet"?) I consider it a service to my fellow sister/brother.
So, yes, I contacted her. But for some reason I didn't stop at the spelling errors. I told her about the grammar problems and agreed with her that she was no photographer. Every other sentence was an apology from me and I inserted many offers of help if she needed it. And I asked the "Who am I to..and who do I think I am..." when in fact she had hundreds of sales and I have not counted 4. She must be doing something right... right?
I have been too afraid to look at my messages. I have not checked that area in my daily routine of checking all the possible hot spots going on in my life. Therefore I have no idea yet of how she reacted. I tell you I was sincerely humble in my comments almost to the point of being embarrassed. I hope that came across.
I have just made up my mind to look and see if she has written back and to read her rebuttal, if any, before I go back to bed and catch a few more winks because, I don't want to wait until daylight and have to carry the guilt around all day. If I can get some sleep in between, somehow it makes the whole thing a littler farther away and not so hauntingly close.
I feel sorry for her. I probably should not. I probably should feel sorry for me for being such an ass. Why did God give me this terrible trait? Why is it MY job to tell people that their fly's are down? I believe there is one in 50 people who are like this and I have to be one of them. Bummer. My big mouth has always been my pitfall.
You know what? I really had no intention of writing about this when I first sat down. Perhaps the Nun makes you blue...hmmmmm. So I ask, What would you have done? I need some feedback here folks! Help me out.
Moving along. I am going to try like hell to post a video on this blog that I put together last week for my shop. I know that it sounds easy, post a video, but I can't get the damn thing to insert into my email the way that I want it to. I want it to just be there on the email where you see the little TV and the "play" arrow. I couldn't figure that out. I did not want to have to post-a-link to it but that is what I ended up doing. Perhaps I could not get it to insert the way I wanted it to, had something to do with how it was made and with what product. I hope it was that and not my ignorance.
Anyway, I am going to post the link here: http://www.photoshow.com/members/dbarrell/all
I hope you go there and from there, click on the little TV screen and play it. I think it came out marvelous! Just another advertising scheme.
Last week I also went through all my own jewelry pieces that I keep for my own wear. They were all ratty and worn and in desperate need of a "face lift". I basically remade them and used all sterling silver. Before I only had the ear wires in sterling as I am wicked allergic to cheap, inferior metals. (And "they" say I have "expensive" tastes...it's out of necessity, not want!) (What do "they" know anyway?) (And who ARE "they" anyway?)
I ended up making some pretty cool pieces. If you have an extensive inventory and a huge imagination, one can whip up a pair of earrings in about 6 minutes and 45 seconds! No Kidding! My next skill to tackle and conquer is wire wrapping. I can't figure it out! (again) "They" say once you know HOW to do it, it is pretty simple. Well, I can't imagine it. I think I have wasted 2 feet of expensive sterling silver 24 gauge wire just fooling around and trying! (gotta stop doing that!).
I just need to find the time and take a formal lesson. And I should do that just as I need to renew my CPR certifications. Which reminds me....I need to find a place where I can do that cheap. Since I work for myself I can not rely on my employer to provide the means. Another part of running a business that sucks.
Gawd, (I think that's cleaner than "God", it's also more "NewEnglandy") another blog without pictures...what do you all think? Can you read a blog with no pictures? Is it sort of like reading the comics page without the pictures, are they still funny? I hope so.
Going to close now and take a deep breath, cough, cough some more, and go and read my fated replies. I hope to remember to tell you how it all came out. (Another of the things that "they" say is...) things have a way of working out for the good, don't they? Let's hope so.....
I did something today and I am not sure I like what I did or, if it was an appropriate thing to do. I hope I have some feedback on this because I need your help in deciding whether I did right or whether I totally screwed up.
I went to a site yesterday morning to buy some supplies from a vendor/designer who I have never bought from before. After my purchase I received the typical canned "thankyouverymuchforyourorder" message. Within that message was a bunch of apologetic statements from the vendor/designer about how crappy her photo's were, and that she was trying to be as professional as she can and that she was a "designer" and not a photographer, blah blah and finally, a plea for business. Odd, I thought.
I went to her site and poked around. Well, she was right, every picture I looked at (no kidding!) was blurry. She was right! Her photography sucked! But not only that, in the particular piece I was looking at had 2 spelling errors in the title alone and the description of the item was grammatically incorrect, so much so, that I had to read it several times in order to make sense out of it.
Now, here's the part where I have my trouble....let me ask you this, would YOU contact her in an attempt to alert her to the fact that there were spelling errors in the title? Well I did. I have done this type of thing before if I find a grossly misspelled word(s) or a math error, I have sent an FYI to the owner to let them know. Every time they have been appreciative, rightly so. If your fly was unzipped wouldn't YOU want to know about it? I am just the type of person that will discreetly let you know. (Where are the boundary lines for being "discreet"?) I consider it a service to my fellow sister/brother.
So, yes, I contacted her. But for some reason I didn't stop at the spelling errors. I told her about the grammar problems and agreed with her that she was no photographer. Every other sentence was an apology from me and I inserted many offers of help if she needed it. And I asked the "Who am I to..and who do I think I am..." when in fact she had hundreds of sales and I have not counted 4. She must be doing something right... right?
I have been too afraid to look at my messages. I have not checked that area in my daily routine of checking all the possible hot spots going on in my life. Therefore I have no idea yet of how she reacted. I tell you I was sincerely humble in my comments almost to the point of being embarrassed. I hope that came across.
I have just made up my mind to look and see if she has written back and to read her rebuttal, if any, before I go back to bed and catch a few more winks because, I don't want to wait until daylight and have to carry the guilt around all day. If I can get some sleep in between, somehow it makes the whole thing a littler farther away and not so hauntingly close.
I feel sorry for her. I probably should not. I probably should feel sorry for me for being such an ass. Why did God give me this terrible trait? Why is it MY job to tell people that their fly's are down? I believe there is one in 50 people who are like this and I have to be one of them. Bummer. My big mouth has always been my pitfall.
You know what? I really had no intention of writing about this when I first sat down. Perhaps the Nun makes you blue...hmmmmm. So I ask, What would you have done? I need some feedback here folks! Help me out.
Moving along. I am going to try like hell to post a video on this blog that I put together last week for my shop. I know that it sounds easy, post a video, but I can't get the damn thing to insert into my email the way that I want it to. I want it to just be there on the email where you see the little TV and the "play" arrow. I couldn't figure that out. I did not want to have to post-a-link to it but that is what I ended up doing. Perhaps I could not get it to insert the way I wanted it to, had something to do with how it was made and with what product. I hope it was that and not my ignorance.
Anyway, I am going to post the link here: http://www.photoshow.com/members/dbarrell/all
I hope you go there and from there, click on the little TV screen and play it. I think it came out marvelous! Just another advertising scheme.
Last week I also went through all my own jewelry pieces that I keep for my own wear. They were all ratty and worn and in desperate need of a "face lift". I basically remade them and used all sterling silver. Before I only had the ear wires in sterling as I am wicked allergic to cheap, inferior metals. (And "they" say I have "expensive" tastes...it's out of necessity, not want!) (What do "they" know anyway?) (And who ARE "they" anyway?)
I ended up making some pretty cool pieces. If you have an extensive inventory and a huge imagination, one can whip up a pair of earrings in about 6 minutes and 45 seconds! No Kidding! My next skill to tackle and conquer is wire wrapping. I can't figure it out! (again) "They" say once you know HOW to do it, it is pretty simple. Well, I can't imagine it. I think I have wasted 2 feet of expensive sterling silver 24 gauge wire just fooling around and trying! (gotta stop doing that!).
I just need to find the time and take a formal lesson. And I should do that just as I need to renew my CPR certifications. Which reminds me....I need to find a place where I can do that cheap. Since I work for myself I can not rely on my employer to provide the means. Another part of running a business that sucks.
Gawd, (I think that's cleaner than "God", it's also more "NewEnglandy") another blog without pictures...what do you all think? Can you read a blog with no pictures? Is it sort of like reading the comics page without the pictures, are they still funny? I hope so.
Going to close now and take a deep breath, cough, cough some more, and go and read my fated replies. I hope to remember to tell you how it all came out. (Another of the things that "they" say is...) things have a way of working out for the good, don't they? Let's hope so.....
Friday, January 13, 2012
Nicholas rocks the boat...and picks up rocks.
To my dear International friends,
OK you guys...Please post some comments and let me know you are alive out there!
I have 2 friends from Russia and 3 from Germany.
Pray-tell, who are you?
We are having winter right now, what is your weather like where you are?
I keep in contact with a friend in Australia and she is in mid summer with a wedding planned for March which would be like our early fall season.
Early and mid fall seasons are the absolute best in my opinion, here in New England.
This woman is fantastic. She is a retro pinup and competing for the Miss Pinup title for Australia in February. She walks and talks the 1950's style of clothing, makeup and demeanour. Young and lovely. Quite a lucky woman. Other than her competition, (which is, I am sure, is a time consuming job), I do not know where or if she is employed by anyone else.
Me? I'm employed everywhere! At least I have been! I am a licenced Practical nurse and work seasonally for an immunization establishment located in Arizona. I must honestly say I am not much of a nurse. I keep up with my educational credits and I have enough working hours to retain my license, but that is all. I would LOVE to do some serious nursing but the nursing world doesn't care for people like me.
I have worked just about everywhere and only for a short period of time. I have the misfortune of carrying the disease of blabby-mouth, footin-mouth and lacka-tact. My skills were terrific but the world of butch boss-ladies and tender-frightened-bullied nurses are not working for me.
I work well with the immuno company because my bosses are all in AZ. I am terrific with the public and well organized and have honed my tasks to perfection. I have been able to be a success because there is no one around forcing their idea of wisdom, lifestyle and rules down my throat.
It's too bad most places to work as a nurse, have female supervisors. When it comes to this business of nursing, the old bags eat their young chicks. There are no "mentors", and no matter how much they say they appreciate your opinion and your ideas, they do not want their boat rocked.
I am a boat rocker.
You see, when people tell me these things in an interview, I believe them. I believe in honesty. don't ever lie to me, ever. I hate liars. Strong word, I know. "We welcome your input, "your opinions are highly valued, "any suggestions you might have are always welcomed, "If you can see where something could be improved, we'd love to hear it....." All of that is a lie.
The "American nursing" way, according to the places I have been subject to, is to keep your mouth shut, overwork yourself and stab anyone and everyone in the back whenever the opportunity arises. That is what I have observed, and I can't do it. Sad isn't it? Don't come here to America and expect to make a difference, that is just plain stupid. If you have a lot of money, you can do anything you want, but, most do not.
So nursing just isn't what I thought it was going to be. A waste of 2 years of education and 10,000. I suppose that is why I went to work for myself the majority of the time. If you can find an outlet for your own creativity, you will be a better person, a happier person and you actually see the world for what it is. It took a long time to understand that I am not going to change anyone, anything and certainly not the world, only my little piece of it and God help me if I intrude on anyone else's ground.
See? I am a boat rocker. I believe in honesty, sharing, mentoring and learning all that I can. If I could find a nursing position in a place where people upheld those characteristics, I would jump all over an opportunity to be a part of their team. However, people and places like that are no where to be found, at least not for me. I'm a hard fit, but when I do fit, I am a comfortable, reliable shoe.
So, here is Nicholas...Why Nicholas? Well, because Nicholas is free to be whatever she wants to be, because Nicholas has no boundaries, because Nicholas enjoys sharing ideas, techniques and conversation, because no one is holding Nicholas down and choking her and Nicholas provides a creative outlet for life's frustrations, fills the holes where relationships have left emptiness and Nicholas provides beauty and joy for others and makes them happy. I love Nicholas.
I want Nicholas to fly, with your help, she can and will. I am practicing my patience and becoming more creative and skillful as each day passes. But I am waiting on you...Nicholas can not do this by herself, she needs people like you to help her.
Just by visiting you bump up the traffic at the site and that is a wonderful sight indeed! People coming, people going, people browsing, people shopping and some even buying.
Tomorrow is Saturday and I am going to visit my favorite place, GemStone Gems off Route 4A in Enfield, NH. The place is a museum of rocks! The outside grounds are filled with Quartz Crystal Rocks and boulders...the inside is over crowded with some of the most beautiful stones you'll ever see. And Dunham's work is fantastic. You can buy pendants that are already wire wrapped, you can purchase precious stones and semi-precious ones too. Very exciting. I always plan for a couple of hours. It's always crowded in there, too many people, too little room, floor to ceiling stones, an abundance of help all in about a 20' x 20' tiny shop. It's like family when you walk in.
I need to pick up stock of white beads. I also want to start a few items that are small and dainty. We'll see what I come back with. One never knows until one gets home just what kind of treasures are awaiting in the bag.
Until later...
Remember, you have 10% off all items in my shop when you use the coupon code WHYNICHOLAS when you are checking out!
OK you guys...Please post some comments and let me know you are alive out there!
I have 2 friends from Russia and 3 from Germany.
Pray-tell, who are you?
We are having winter right now, what is your weather like where you are?
I keep in contact with a friend in Australia and she is in mid summer with a wedding planned for March which would be like our early fall season.
Early and mid fall seasons are the absolute best in my opinion, here in New England.
This woman is fantastic. She is a retro pinup and competing for the Miss Pinup title for Australia in February. She walks and talks the 1950's style of clothing, makeup and demeanour. Young and lovely. Quite a lucky woman. Other than her competition, (which is, I am sure, is a time consuming job), I do not know where or if she is employed by anyone else.
Me? I'm employed everywhere! At least I have been! I am a licenced Practical nurse and work seasonally for an immunization establishment located in Arizona. I must honestly say I am not much of a nurse. I keep up with my educational credits and I have enough working hours to retain my license, but that is all. I would LOVE to do some serious nursing but the nursing world doesn't care for people like me.
I have worked just about everywhere and only for a short period of time. I have the misfortune of carrying the disease of blabby-mouth, footin-mouth and lacka-tact. My skills were terrific but the world of butch boss-ladies and tender-frightened-bullied nurses are not working for me.
I work well with the immuno company because my bosses are all in AZ. I am terrific with the public and well organized and have honed my tasks to perfection. I have been able to be a success because there is no one around forcing their idea of wisdom, lifestyle and rules down my throat.
It's too bad most places to work as a nurse, have female supervisors. When it comes to this business of nursing, the old bags eat their young chicks. There are no "mentors", and no matter how much they say they appreciate your opinion and your ideas, they do not want their boat rocked.
I am a boat rocker.
You see, when people tell me these things in an interview, I believe them. I believe in honesty. don't ever lie to me, ever. I hate liars. Strong word, I know. "We welcome your input, "your opinions are highly valued, "any suggestions you might have are always welcomed, "If you can see where something could be improved, we'd love to hear it....." All of that is a lie.
The "American nursing" way, according to the places I have been subject to, is to keep your mouth shut, overwork yourself and stab anyone and everyone in the back whenever the opportunity arises. That is what I have observed, and I can't do it. Sad isn't it? Don't come here to America and expect to make a difference, that is just plain stupid. If you have a lot of money, you can do anything you want, but, most do not.
So nursing just isn't what I thought it was going to be. A waste of 2 years of education and 10,000. I suppose that is why I went to work for myself the majority of the time. If you can find an outlet for your own creativity, you will be a better person, a happier person and you actually see the world for what it is. It took a long time to understand that I am not going to change anyone, anything and certainly not the world, only my little piece of it and God help me if I intrude on anyone else's ground.
See? I am a boat rocker. I believe in honesty, sharing, mentoring and learning all that I can. If I could find a nursing position in a place where people upheld those characteristics, I would jump all over an opportunity to be a part of their team. However, people and places like that are no where to be found, at least not for me. I'm a hard fit, but when I do fit, I am a comfortable, reliable shoe.
So, here is Nicholas...Why Nicholas? Well, because Nicholas is free to be whatever she wants to be, because Nicholas has no boundaries, because Nicholas enjoys sharing ideas, techniques and conversation, because no one is holding Nicholas down and choking her and Nicholas provides a creative outlet for life's frustrations, fills the holes where relationships have left emptiness and Nicholas provides beauty and joy for others and makes them happy. I love Nicholas.
I want Nicholas to fly, with your help, she can and will. I am practicing my patience and becoming more creative and skillful as each day passes. But I am waiting on you...Nicholas can not do this by herself, she needs people like you to help her.
Just by visiting you bump up the traffic at the site and that is a wonderful sight indeed! People coming, people going, people browsing, people shopping and some even buying.
Tomorrow is Saturday and I am going to visit my favorite place, GemStone Gems off Route 4A in Enfield, NH. The place is a museum of rocks! The outside grounds are filled with Quartz Crystal Rocks and boulders...the inside is over crowded with some of the most beautiful stones you'll ever see. And Dunham's work is fantastic. You can buy pendants that are already wire wrapped, you can purchase precious stones and semi-precious ones too. Very exciting. I always plan for a couple of hours. It's always crowded in there, too many people, too little room, floor to ceiling stones, an abundance of help all in about a 20' x 20' tiny shop. It's like family when you walk in.
I need to pick up stock of white beads. I also want to start a few items that are small and dainty. We'll see what I come back with. One never knows until one gets home just what kind of treasures are awaiting in the bag.
Until later...
Remember, you have 10% off all items in my shop when you use the coupon code WHYNICHOLAS when you are checking out!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Nicholas Has Sterling Silver Chains with Large Pendants Just for YOU
All of these Gorgeous Pendants are hanging on Sterling Silver Snake Chains.
Most are on 2mm, 30" long, a few are on 26" long
and the Pussy-Cats (below) are on 26" long, 1mm dainty chains for the pendant's smaller size.
All of these are $50.00, well worth the investment in these large stones and Sterling Silver!
Indulge yourself or...Purchase for your lover on Valentines Day which is right around the corner!!
Remember, use the coupon code WHYNICHOLAS for your gift discount of
10% off all items less shipping
just for reading my blog!
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| Turquoise Pendant |
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| MoonStone Pendant |
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| Close up of the MoonStone |
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| Banded Coral Agate Pendant |
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| Unakite Pendant |
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| Green Malachite Pendant |
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| Pink Rhodonite Pendant |
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| Howlite Playful Cat Pendant |
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| Hematite Sitting Cat Pendant |
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| Milky White Quartz Drop Pendant |
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| Banded Coral Agate Pendant |
Nicholas has a gift for you!
Hello out there!
I see I am being watched by faithful folks in Russia, Germany, Alaska and the US of A.
COOL!
I love you guys!
I have been a very busy bee this past week. I spent a solid 10 hour marathon photographing a lot of new items I have put together for you. Then it always seems forever to list them.
I want to let you all know if you are reading my blogs, you are able to receive a 10% discount on all items in my store!
At Etsy, we use what they call a "coupon code". Your 10% coupon code is called WHYNICHOLAS
When you are browsing my shop at this location: http://www.nicholasdesigns.etsy.com
Pick out your items and put them in your cart.
When you are ready to check out you will see your cart contents.
There is a column that looks like this:
Ship to [Box to enter country] default's to U.S.
How You'll Pay
Paypal Visa MC AE Discover (defaults to paypal)
Apply shop coupon code <--- PRESS <ENTER> HERE!!!
then enter the magic word WHYNICHOLAS
in the box that appears.***
Item total $50.00 USD THEN your discount will be taken
<--- off the item and shown here
Shipping $8.00 USD
Order total $58.00 USD
....blah blah blah
THANK YOU for following and visiting and SHOPPING! Enjoy your discount!
I will be entering in some new pictures for your very soon!
Ta!
I see I am being watched by faithful folks in Russia, Germany, Alaska and the US of A.
COOL!
I love you guys!
I have been a very busy bee this past week. I spent a solid 10 hour marathon photographing a lot of new items I have put together for you. Then it always seems forever to list them.
I want to let you all know if you are reading my blogs, you are able to receive a 10% discount on all items in my store!
At Etsy, we use what they call a "coupon code". Your 10% coupon code is called WHYNICHOLAS
When you are browsing my shop at this location: http://www.nicholasdesigns.etsy.com
Pick out your items and put them in your cart.
When you are ready to check out you will see your cart contents.
There is a column that looks like this:
Ship to [Box to enter country] default's to U.S.
How You'll Pay
Paypal Visa MC AE Discover (defaults to paypal)
Apply shop coupon code <--- PRESS <ENTER> HERE!!!
then enter the magic word WHYNICHOLAS
in the box that appears.***
Item total $50.00 USD THEN your discount will be taken
<--- off the item and shown here
Shipping $8.00 USD
Order total $58.00 USD
....blah blah blah
THANK YOU for following and visiting and SHOPPING! Enjoy your discount!
I will be entering in some new pictures for your very soon!
Ta!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Wandering Nicholas
Seems like I've had some wanderlust. I mentioned that I intend to restring all of my earlier pieces, well I spent an entire day on NYDay trying to put together a necklace that I tore apart. I guess I just didn't like the beads because after 3 hours I began bringing out completely different beads and pendants and the like and by 6pm that night I had an entirely different necklace than I have ever done before!
I had packaged up all the original beads from the early necklace and put them away in a nice ziploc bag. I had in front of me a really pretty and very unusual piece that I had no intentions of working on. I had been playing around with a few ideas in my head about these 4 large yellow-brown flat rectangular milky transparent beads that measure about 1 inch by 1 and half inch.
Alone, they are ugly, but maybe because I thought they were ugly, I was determined to do something with these beads. I wanted to make them beautiful. Is it possible for me to "fell sorry" for the ugly beads? Oh GAWD! That's just way out there, Reel it in Deb!
I had all these ideas of yellow and brown, yellow and white, what I ended up with was yellow and silver. I purchased a silver wire wrapped yellow stone over at Dunham's place, kind of without thinking and when I got that home along with all the other stuff I had purchased (this was about 2 months ago) I saw the dirty yellow wrapped bead. Again that same color is not pleasing but the wrap was stunning.
I found that the wrapped stone and the 4 flat beads I had from God-knows-where-I-found-them, matched perfectly. Odd. I was determined to make all those ugly yellow, dirty-looking yellow beads, beautiful. I did. At least I believe I did. When I take a picture of it to list, I will come back here and insert a picture of it.
I took an 18 inch black cord with silver cord-ends and removed the lobster clasp and the receiving loop and chain. I must have spent at least two or more hours trying to come up with a color combination that would complement these yellow beasts. Red, brown, black, white, blue, nothing went with them, they either overshadowed the beads or contrasted terribly. Tigers eye brown was very close, I spent the most time with all of the tigers eye I had but I ended up putting all the colored beads away and brought out silver findings. YES.
I strung about 12 inches of the 4 yellow beads plus I found 2 coin beads that were very very close in color with some black strewn through them, plus my pendant and made a simple pattern using only silver beads to complement the yellow. It worked. I attached the foot long string to the black cord ends making one end a toggle clasp in antique Bali SS. The black cord goes around the back of the neck and the ends connect on the upper pectorals nearly level or just below level with the shoulders.
I restrung this section several times, too long, too short, too ornate, then just right. I wanted it to hang a few inches below the collar bone as this would be the usual place just below the neckline of most tops. That way the piece would rest on the cloth as a back drop instead of your skin. This particular color of yellow ought not to be against your skin, it may make you look jaundiced! A Black, Brown or dark blue top would complement this necklace immensely!
I can't wait to get it listed. Pictures will be taken this week and I will get this one and a couple more I have put together out so you can see them. I hope soon I will get more traffic at my site, I need the attention!
I also need you to follow me here, I hope y'all find me, I am looking for ways to find you!
Needing you,
Ms. Nicholas
I had packaged up all the original beads from the early necklace and put them away in a nice ziploc bag. I had in front of me a really pretty and very unusual piece that I had no intentions of working on. I had been playing around with a few ideas in my head about these 4 large yellow-brown flat rectangular milky transparent beads that measure about 1 inch by 1 and half inch.
Alone, they are ugly, but maybe because I thought they were ugly, I was determined to do something with these beads. I wanted to make them beautiful. Is it possible for me to "fell sorry" for the ugly beads? Oh GAWD! That's just way out there, Reel it in Deb!
I had all these ideas of yellow and brown, yellow and white, what I ended up with was yellow and silver. I purchased a silver wire wrapped yellow stone over at Dunham's place, kind of without thinking and when I got that home along with all the other stuff I had purchased (this was about 2 months ago) I saw the dirty yellow wrapped bead. Again that same color is not pleasing but the wrap was stunning.
I found that the wrapped stone and the 4 flat beads I had from God-knows-where-I-found-them, matched perfectly. Odd. I was determined to make all those ugly yellow, dirty-looking yellow beads, beautiful. I did. At least I believe I did. When I take a picture of it to list, I will come back here and insert a picture of it.
I took an 18 inch black cord with silver cord-ends and removed the lobster clasp and the receiving loop and chain. I must have spent at least two or more hours trying to come up with a color combination that would complement these yellow beasts. Red, brown, black, white, blue, nothing went with them, they either overshadowed the beads or contrasted terribly. Tigers eye brown was very close, I spent the most time with all of the tigers eye I had but I ended up putting all the colored beads away and brought out silver findings. YES.
I strung about 12 inches of the 4 yellow beads plus I found 2 coin beads that were very very close in color with some black strewn through them, plus my pendant and made a simple pattern using only silver beads to complement the yellow. It worked. I attached the foot long string to the black cord ends making one end a toggle clasp in antique Bali SS. The black cord goes around the back of the neck and the ends connect on the upper pectorals nearly level or just below level with the shoulders.
I restrung this section several times, too long, too short, too ornate, then just right. I wanted it to hang a few inches below the collar bone as this would be the usual place just below the neckline of most tops. That way the piece would rest on the cloth as a back drop instead of your skin. This particular color of yellow ought not to be against your skin, it may make you look jaundiced! A Black, Brown or dark blue top would complement this necklace immensely!
I can't wait to get it listed. Pictures will be taken this week and I will get this one and a couple more I have put together out so you can see them. I hope soon I will get more traffic at my site, I need the attention!
 |
| Well, it's Jan.11 and here it is. Not bad...huh? The ugly duckling got pretty! |
I also need you to follow me here, I hope y'all find me, I am looking for ways to find you!
Needing you,
Ms. Nicholas
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