Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry and Accessories

A new journey.

2010-11-04T13:11:00.001-04:00

It's been a very long time since I last posted, and some of you may be wondering "what the heck happened to her?".

Well, I'm going to tell you in my new blog Toni's Road to Recovery. It's not to say I won't be back, but right now I must do this.

Follow me on my new journey! I hope to see you over there...

Final Days of Clearance Sale & Changes

2010-02-26T10:39:00.011-05:00

It's been quite a while since I last posted.

No I haven't been contemplating "Lost" and the storyline. Yeah, right!
No, I haven't been in mourning because it's the final season of my favorite tv show "Lost".
No, its not because I've been covered in snow like the rest of the country.

It's because I'm experiencing life changes that are taking up a lot of my time. But, that's life. And it's constantly changing, right?

In the meantime, go shop for great bargains on my one of a kind, handmade jewelry at Dee-Zigns! It's the final days of my huge clearance sale, many items up to 50% off!

This can't be the end!

2010-02-01T08:11:00.008-05:00

I know this is the final season of my favorite tv show, the only tv show I truly can't miss, the only tv show I care about, and there are a hell of a lot of tv shows. But generally, I could care less about watching tv unless its "Lost".

Here are some of the many, many reasons why:

Sawyer - Need I say more? Oh, and he's from Georgia.
Jack - Stop drinking and make an honest woman of Kate.
Kate - You belong with Jack. Juliet needs Sawyer.
Hurley - Dude, love you man!
Charlie - Hurley misses you, dude, and so do I.
Sayid - He's very resourceful.
Locke - Mostly felt sorry for him, except now, he creeps me out.
Claire - I want Charlie to come back, find and marry Claire and raise Aaron.
Sun - She and Jin deserve happiness. Earned my respect after she stood up to her father.
Jin - He's so sweet, loves Sun and learned to speak English.
Desmond - See you in another life, brother! As long as Penny's with you.
Ben - OMG, he is the creepiest of them all. I try to feel sorry for him, but no can do.
Frank - No, you're not going to Guam.
Miles - When's he's not communicating with the dead, he's pretty darn funny!
Richard - Just tell us how old you are!

Smoke monsters, polar bears, spooky cabins, dead people, lots of dead people... what a ride!

You want to cut your hair?

2010-01-26T07:52:00.013-05:00

You can imagine my shock when my 12 year old daughter asked for an appointment to get her haircut. Her hair was incredibly long and beautiful and she had been adamant over the years of only having a 1/2 inch cut at the time. She was so darn attached to her very long hair. Getting her to the hair salon was another issue, the whining (Erika), the crying (Erika), the frustration (me!). Pick your battles, they say. Yeah right!

She said she wanted to get about 3 inches cut, so while sitting in the chair, she told our hair stylist she wanted a lot cut off. As I watched Erika showing her how much, I could hardly believe it was more than 3 or 4 inches! I asked if it was enough to send in to Lots of Love, a non profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children. As Debbie, our hair stylist, ran to get a measuring tape, I watched Erika's smile spreading across her sweet face. Yes, there was 8 inches! Let's do it.

Erika was thrilled to get a new look and to donate her hair to help people dealing with cancer and losing their hair.

We ended up sending her "locks" to Pantene Beautiful Lengths beause when we looked up the Locks for Love website and discovered their requirements of 10 inches. But doing a search, we found Patene's website and relieved to discover their requirements were only 8 inches.

I encourage everyone with daughters to always talk about these programs, as its not that difficult, and when your child is ready to do this, they feel so good about themselves!

Mind blowing clearance sale!

2010-01-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

I've been house bound for too many days now. Snow fell in Atlanta, Georgia last week, schools closed, activities were cancelled, and people were freaking out. Not because it snowed, it didn't, really that was called sleet, in my opinion. If I can see my grass, its not snow.

Problem was not the "snow" but the ice that crippled our city. Atlantans do not have any business riding around on icy roads. We don't know how to drive on ice, black ice and ice covered hilly roads. The drivers I saw exploring for a look-see at the "snow" and talking on their damn cell phones, and naturally, not paying attention to the black ice.

Okay, what the heck does all this have to do with a mind blowing clearance sale? Being house bound for 3 entire days makes a person clean closets, re-arrange kitchen cabinets, organize rooms and throw out crap... and while doing so, I kept walking past my jewelry studio thinking about the inventory I need to reduce. So wah-lah, a mind blowing clearance sale with so many of my handmade jewelry items up to 50% off.

Necklaces as low as $24
Earrings as low as $12
Bracelets as low as $17.50
and more!

For example, the Belle earrings to the right, originally $48, now at 40% off, sale price $28.80.
The Nahima bracelet to the left, originally $45, now at 50% off, sale price $22.50.

I know the huge holiday shopping season just passed, still, I must remind you the next looming gift buying occasion - Valentine's Day - in 35 days. Easter, Passover, first communions, christenings, graduations and the big one - Mother's Day is right around the corner. Don't hesitate, click now and go shop at Dee-Zigns Jewelry.

Please tell all your friends, family, co workers and anyone else you think would be interested in scoring cool deals on one of a kind jewelry. Tweet it, post it on your facebook, blog about it or send an email. Help me reduce my inventory!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-01T10:36:00.006-05:00

Why must we wait for a new year to make changes?

I ask myself this question every new year's day.

33% off at Dee-Zigns Jewelry

2009-11-27T09:10:00.008-05:00

Call me crazy, but I'm offering 33% off everything at Dee-Zigns Jewelry now through Cyber Monday, November 30th, but hurry this offer ends at midnight EST. Just enter coupon code black33 at checkout and you'll see the incredible discounts on my handmade jewelry and accessories!

If you've had your eye on those earrings for your sister, or a bookmark for your mother-in-law, go buy them now! If you've wanted that special necklace to wear to your office holiday party, buy it now. Every item is one of a kind, so when its gone, its gone!

Happy Black Friday to all!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

2009-11-26T09:20:00.003-05:00

My goodness, I don't know what to do with myself, its the first Thanksgiving in a really, really long time that I've not made Thanksgiving dinner. Strange not having control over the menu and how its prepared, but I'll live.

We're in North Carolina visiting my mom (Gaston Studio) and sister, and after 3 days of overcast gloomy weather, the sun is shining and the skies are blue. Mom is preparing dinner this year, so after being kicked out of the kitchen, I'm still in my pajamas, sitting on the sofa, writing this while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Life is wonderful, eh?

Cell phones taking over?

2009-11-20T13:51:00.010-05:00

Today I'm sad,

Not by the weather, because it's gorgeous in Atlanta, clear blue sky and chilly air.
Not by the clean clothes piled up on the guest bed, where the hell is Rosie the Robot when you need her?
Not by my son's poison ivy all over his sweet little face.
Not by the lack of sales on my website.
Not by the pounds I've acquired from my kid's blasted Halloween candy haunting me from the pantry. (Well, damnit, I am sad and mad about this.)
Not by the muddy areas in my backyard from the floods that don't appear to dry out.

Today I'm sad,

By the lack of customer service in America. No wonder people are shopping more and more online. Now, don't get me wrong, this is a good thing, but possibly because people are sick of taking the time to find a parking space, walk into a store and receiving lousy customer service or no customer service at all. This is if, they actually acknowledge you've walked into the store.
By the lack of people thinking their relationship with their cell phone is more important that a face to face relationship, and talking with their children. How pathetic, really.
By the lack of families sitting together at the dinner table, without cell phones, without the tv, and having a real conversation. 15-20 minutes isn't too much time to give to your family, is it?
By the lack of people being on time for appointments. Are you so damn important that your time is more important than mine?
By the lack of peace and quiet while grocery shopping, (at any public place, for that matter) because some self absorbed nutcase is talking so loudly on their bloody cell phone, about their personal issues. Hello... I can hear you and so can everyone else! Don't you have any morals or integrity?

By people talking on their cell phone, while in a check-out line and not being courteous enough to the check-out clerk to end their call. What are they afraid of? Talking to someone.

By people driving up to a drive thru window, with the bloody cell phone at their ear, talking away, and not being courteous to the attendant at the drive thru window.

What's it going to take for people to behave like the civilized society we say we are?

What's it going to take to slow down?

What's it going to take for people to be courteous and kind, again?

What's it going to take for people to smile, again?

What's it going to take to connect to your children?

What's it going to take to put down that bloody cell phone and turn it off?

Everyone knows I'm a Lost fan.

2009-11-12T09:47:00.010-05:00

If you don't know that I'm a huge Lost fan, then you don't know me. Besides being obsessed with my jewelry business, I'm obsessed with the show LOST.

I found this on Jennifer's blog. Had to post it on my blog so I can watch it over and over! These guys that created this video are hilarious, go see "the Donkey Wheel" on YouTube.

Here are a few cool gift ideas for Lost fans. Also, Season 5 is available now. If I get Season 5, then I can free up all that space on my DVR! All season 5 is on it, and I've threatened my kids, not to erase them, I don't care if Wizards of Waverly Place is new. They rerun those shows weekly. You never know if you'll see reruns of Lost. I'm just saying.

Limited edition earrings, yes, I said limited.

2009-11-10T13:47:00.022-05:00

Tis the season to be busy, and for me, that's making jewelry! I have so many ideas floating around in my head, ~~yes, that's right, floating~~, that my hands cannot work fast enough.

Sure, the easy way would be to sketch my ideas, keep them all together, like in some sort of binder, duh, ~~if they wouldn't turn out in a "stick figure" format, and you guessed it, I suck at Pictionary~~ but I swear, I have zero talent for drawing. My mother, brother and daughter sucked up all that talent in our family. My sister and I are out of luck, in that department. Still waiting to see about my son, Blake, after all, he's only 7.

Pictured above are the limited edition earrings I've recently created using sterling silver and Swarovski glass pearls, the Addison Earring s. ~~Yes, I watch "Private Practice", and enjoy Kate Walsh's character,~~ ~~Addison, and her~~ ~~impeccable sense of style.~~

I have 3 pairs available, at Dee-Zigns, in each of the colors (photo, above left), green, pink and white only $18 each. There's also 1 pair, in maroon.

This is my first foray into limited edition jewelry. With the biggest shopping season approaching rapidly, I wanted to offer a beautiful pair of earrings, under $20, that would make an easy gift choice for the women in your life.

Swarovski is the renowned crystal manufacturer, but they are also regarded as the most magnificent crystal pearl manufacturer. Swarovski pearls start with a unique crystal core that is covered with an innovative pearlescent coating for a flawless, silky-smooth surface that resists cosmetics, chemicals and perfumes. I must say, the colors are incredible.

I made these earrings using sterling silver oval links that I hammered, (because I love to hammer) to flatten them a bit, linked them together, then wire wrapped the Swarovski glass pearls in sterling silver and dangled them from the lower links. I then added them to my hand forged sterling silver ear wires. I prefer making my own earring findings i.e. ear wires, headpins, etc. that's what we call it in the jewelry making world, findings. Why? No clue. Maybe you find a head pin, put a bead on it, then hang it from the ear wire...

My escapee... Kitty!

2009-11-04T10:00:00.022-05:00

A few weeks ago, the weather was getting cooler, so I opened the kitchen window to let the fresh air in. I forgot I'd taken out the screen - because I don't like looking through screens and Collins had put a few holes in the screen, but that's another story.

As I sat at the kitchen table, working on my laptop, I heard something rustling in the kitchen. My first thought, oh crap, a large bug is caught in the window blind and going to fly in. As I got up and walked in, here's what I saw! (photo #1)

Obviously Kitty waited until he got my attention, I mean look at him looking at me and posing. Paw up and ready.

Then, (photo #2) he slips through just before I could grab his leg! Believe you me, I tried grabbing it, even with camera in hand!

Ta da! He's so proud of himself, as I take this picture hanging out the open window. (photo #3)

His goal? To hang out on the deck soaking up the glorious fresh air. Poor, deprived Kitty.

His silliness and mischievousness keeps me on my toes. Like when he sat on the furniture while Erika and I struggled to move it across the room. He seemed quite full of himself adding his extra 9 lbs. to the heavy wood furniture. Or jumping on the mattress while I'm stretching the fitted sheet across. Or walking across my workspace while both hands are occupied with pliers, so I can't knock him off! Hint, if you make jewelry and have beads and numerous other elements scattered across your table, do not, I repeat, do not try to knock off your cat, or scare him, or yell at him. I did this. Trays toppled over, beads and other components went everywhere. Huge mess. Huge.

Why oh why does he insist getting on these crowded table spaces, when he knows good well, there is not an inch of empty space to lay? Seriously, does he find this comfortable!

Back to the escaping cat. Erika goes ballistic when he escapes, not sure what she imagines is going to happen to the little shit. But, in the past, there's been alligator tears and hyper ventilating (well, almost). She gets very upset, if one of us is careless enough to open the door too wide, or leave the door open for too long. So we open the door just wide enough to squeeze out, or stick our leg in the way so he doesn't see an opening. She has chased him all around the yard, generally shaking a can of cat treats, thinking that will lure him back into the comforts of our home, sleeping on Erika's bed.

This is his daily excitement and he loves it, he loves being chased and getting the attention. Especially when Erika does it... I don't chase him anymore. And now I make him wait at the door before I let him back in.

Take that Kitty!

What is it about indoor cats? They constantly try to escape the confines of their home. If you have an indoor cat, do you allow them outside?

P.S. Kitty was not harmed or mistreated in any way in preparation for this blog post. Unless you count very cold toes... tee hee.

I'm a Funky Find!

2009-11-02T08:23:00.006-05:00

I've been missing in action due to the swine flu and pnemonia. Yep, my middle schooler came home several weeks ago with the swine flu, and taking care of her, naturally it got hold of me. Moms should be impervious to these illnesses, because, hello... who's going to take care of the children? So there I was sick as a dog, Erika started getting better, and I was not. Hence, another trip to the doctor, where they informed me I had pnemonia. Now, this is nothing to joke about. Not being able to take a breathe was scary, to say the least. Thank God, my son didn't get sick. Little guy stayed far away from the sickies in the house. Smart, eh?

So last week while trying to recover, I was "discovered" at Funky Finds. Here's the link... and go follow them, you'll discover indie artists, crafters and designers worldwide.

Happy November, ya'll.

Random photos and custom necklace design.

2009-10-02T09:17:00.011-04:00

I've been incredibly busy lately making jewelry, my favorite thing! These are a few pieces that sold before I could get them on the website.

Purple, passionate purple. I never have purple jewelry for long, which is a good thing, right? I loved making this 3 strand purple bracelet, that is now wrapped, and ready for some lucky mother-in-law for a Christmas gift, this was priced at $45.

That's right, there are actually organized women already checking off items on their gift buying list for the impending holiday shopping season. I'm impressed. I need to get cracking on my list...

Now this necklace was purchased (it was only $40) for a lucky lady just because she deserved something new for fall. I loved this golden yellow carved flower pendant and paired it with golden yellow glass beads hand knotted on chocolate brown cord.

Recently I was asked to donate jewelry for a silent auction at TasteFest in Roswell, Georgia. It's a fundraiser for Roswell High Schools' student and booster organization. Erika will be attending this school in 3 years, but let's not go there, I'm still adjusting to middle school.

I wanted to design a custom necklace with soccer elements and the school colors, black, green and white. This is what I created (pictured right). It's a sterling silver oxidized chain, hanging from that is a sterling silver soccer ball charm, black and green Swarovski crystals and a white Swarovski glass pearl. I actually had a round toggle clasp that was not working properly, meaning, it wasn't staying together. Well, I needed to figure out a way to use it in a different way. So I took the round part and hammered it in the oval shape, and hung the soccer ball from it.

Naturally, I needed to create custom earrings to go with the custom necklace, so I used the same sterling silver oxidized chain, and hung it from hand forged sterling silver ear wires, wire wrapped green, and black crystals and white pearls dangle below.

On another note, at Blake's school it was spirit week, so he decided on this look for tacky/wacky day. Looks like he's due for a haircut!

By the way, nice socks.

Halloween Costumes and New Jewelry

2009-09-16T09:58:00.016-04:00

Is anybody else sick of hearing about Halloween costume?
My kids have been talking about Halloween for 3 weeks! Shoot me now. Ever since the Halloween costume catalogues started arriving in our mailbox. Note to self: get the mail before the kids get home.

Way back when, we didn't have Halloween catalogues brimming with costumes. We actually had to use our noggins to dream up costumes to create out of nothing. Or visit Kmart and buy one of the prepackaged costumes with the plastic mask. The plastic masks were so hot, your face would steam up from your breathe. Remember those?

My son wants to be Harry Potter. That's easy enough, right? The robe, glasses and wand. Plastic wands are 8 or 10 bucks. Why can't he whittle a wand out of a stick? Oh yeah, because he cannot use a pocket knife. He's 7. What with all the explorer sticks out on my deck, I would think he could find a super cool wand out of that pile. This way, he's recycling and green. But, no, now he wants the broom, owl and other props after perusing the blasted catalogues! These costumes are ridiculously expensive too. For one night? I don't get it. If I'm buying a $50 costume, I want to see it out in public more than once.

The other spectrum is my daughter. "I don't know what I want to be", she says, several times a day. My idea, look in the back of your closet, and find the costume from last year - in mint condition! I have a nice, clean white sheet...

On another note, new jewelry! My kids are obsessed with Halloween costumes and I'm obsessed with new jewelry designs. I had to share these with you.

The necklaces on the right is made with dumorteriete, a deep blue gemstone considered to enhance organizational abilities and self-discipline. It is believed to release fear, bringing courage to one's life, and to boost creativity and expression. I should wear this one daily just to stay organized! Two beads are wire wrapped and hang from sterling silver chain and accent a round sterling silver pendant that has been hammered for texture. I love my hammers!

The necklace on the left is hand beaded with dyed mother of pearl nugget beads in a milk chocolate brown. I've added an oval sterling silver piece that I roller printed to add texture, then wire wrapped a blue turquoise nugget in sterling silver to dance atop the silver piece.

Look for these on the website by tomorrow. More to come...

Dusting off (again)...

2009-09-16T07:57:00.025-04:00

When they say "time flies" they aren't kidding. What with school starting, revamping my website and creating new jewelry, I've neglected my blog, again.

As a virtual store owner, I'm always looking for ways to improve the shopping experience. Some shoppers likes to sit in pajamas, coffee in hand, and slowly browse. Other shoppers, have about a nano second to buy a gift. They know they need one, but they can't be bothered with slow loading pages, dark photos, not enough information, etc. I know you know what I'm talking about.

Stop by Dee-Zigns Jewelry, check out the changes. Ive added new jewelry designs, including the Hadley necklace.
I used Czech glass in a beautiful turquoise green color. What I love about this necklace, is the smooth feel of the rectangle glass beads and the pretty hook clasp that kind of looks like a clover, not a 4 leafed clover, like, who's ever found one of those? It also reminds me of a fleur de lis symbol. Regardless, I designed the necklace to wear the clasp in front, or asymmetrical (see photo) or in back (for those off you with short, sexy hair).

Beware though, wearing this gorgeous necklace asymmetrically will have your OCD friends, turning it around so it sits on your neck, or perfectly in front. Trust me, I've had this happen!

There are two pairs of earrings, and two bracelets, to match the Hadley necklace.

I'm not ready for middle school.

2009-08-10T09:02:00.007-04:00

Yep, that's the way I feel about it. Erika began middle school today, right now she's in Language Arts ~~isn't that really English~~ with one of her closest friends, thank goodness. I don't get why they don't go to homeroom first, oh yeah, because its called connections or something ridiculous like that, and they go around lunchtime. This is why I'm not a teacher because things don't seem logical to me about the way they call things and do things. So I'll try to be nice and not roll my eyes so much.

She was very excited and nervous, very typical on your first day of a new school. Did I take the camera to the bus stop, no, because I had my coffee and I forgot, that's my excuse anyway.

Blake began 2nd grade and no, I didn't take the camera to that bus stop either. Again, the coffee, and I was carrying two reams of copy paper for him to take to his teacher. Amazing the things parents purchase for the school and the teachers. I don't mind purchasing items for the teachers, better than the ~~under pai~~d teachers purchasing these items themselves. Where do our tax dollars go, by the way? Not enough of our tax dollars are going to the school system, that's obvious!

But this is not a political blog, so I'm not going there. Not today anyway!

Back to Blake, he looked so sweet standing there waiting for the bus, rather quiet, but that's him. Watching everyone, taking everything in. He wasn't excited about school starting today. He has a very cool teacher so I'm sure the day will go well.

So, here I am, catching up on my dusty blog. I have loads to do today, but wanted to say hi to all and let you all know how much I've missed being here. I will be visiting my blog buddies to leave my very important comments that I am quite sure you've missed. I'll be tweeting, facebooking, stumbling, emailing, and everything business related to catch up on the last few months.

No, I will not be cleaning my house. Sorry, honey, I realize there is beach sand still underfoot and Collins' hair scurrying around the baseboards, but I will get to it. By end of the day. Or tomorrow. Must I? Really? But of course, I must, because there's no Rosie. Damnit.

Come on Apple or Microsoft, do something to endear yourself to women, for god's sake.

Robot cannot be too creepy, too sneaky or too mean.

2009-07-28T08:34:00.025-04:00

I must admit something, as a child growing up in the 60's, I truly believed that my future would be like the Jetson s, and that I would have a Rosie the Robot. I also thought we would be flying instead of driving by now. It's 2009 people, get with it!

It appears the Japanese will be the ones to get this accomplished and, most likely, at a price tag that we" mere mortals" can afford. Honda has the A simo robot, which seems too child like, so that probably wouldn't work for me as I would feel obligated to give him an allowance. I didn't see an add to cart button, so that tells me I cannot afford him. But how do I save for something if I don't know how much its gonna cost me? Sheesh.

Toyota has come out with one just last fall (pictured at right). This guy looks great and he sweeps! Sweet!

C3PO would also be a great choice, he can climb stairs to my laundry room, and make me laugh. Love his dry sense of humor. Except he'd probably give me attitude about doing the laundry. I'm following him on Twitter now. Don't ask.

I cannot have a robot like this Archie ~~freak~~ character (pictured below left, like, how can you miss him?). He's too creepy. Who, in their right mind, would use one in their home with children. They would certainly have nightmares and be in therapy down the road. Come to think of it, I would have nightmares and need therapy.

The robot from I, Robot, Sonny, at first seemed pretty cool. I later decided, too sneaky.

And The Terminator, well, what can I say, too mean.

Instead of those silly jars that say "Plastic Surgery Fund" ~~like I'd actually consider that~~, mine will read "Robot Needed" savings jar.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you should know by now that I am hopelessly optimistic and therefore, will expect a cool robot one day. I mentioned this to my husband, and he's like, "sell more jewelry". Jeez, that's his answer for all my needs. Ok, don't go there.

Aloha Friday and movie sidebar.

2009-07-24T10:15:00.011-04:00

Yes, I've been MIA - missing in Atlanta. Went to my mom and sister's for a week, had a blast, but had to come back to reality.

It's been way too long since my last post! Something's gotta give (*movie sidebar below), and the "something" has been my blog. I miss my blog buddies. So I'm back with Aloha Friday...

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. Thanks Kailani at An Island Life for starting this Friday tradition.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and go to An Island Life and leave your link. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question today is: Do you watch late night tv? If so, who do you prefer? My answer: I do, I do! Especially when I cannot sleep, which has been happening all too often. Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Ferguson crack me up and make me laugh out loud. I'm sick, I know.

* Something's Gotta Give - Loved this movie! Diane Keaton is one of my favorite actresses and Jack Nicholson, what can I say, it's Jack! Frances McDormand and many other great actors are also in this movie. But, Keanu Reeves was especially attractive in this movie. Ooh, la, la! If you haven't seen this movie, go rent it today! If you like Keanu Reeves, also rent, The Lake House. There's a dance scene with Keanu and Sandra Bullock that I found very sexy, so if you need to go to the loo, pause it, so you don't miss this scene. That's all I'm saying. And no, I do not work for Blockbuster or Keanu Reeves.

Tweet to be square.

2009-07-07T09:17:00.013-04:00

Twitter. I have been tweeting for quite some time, and one thing that drives me absolutely crazy... people who follow me and when I go visit them to see if I want to follow them back, they have no updates. Zero, Nada, a big goose egg, and there is nothing to tell me anything about them. Who are these people? I'm not going to follow a "nobody" and I'm not talking about everyday people here. I'm talking about the invisible people who have twitter accounts. How does a nobody get a twitter account and become a somebody?

Speaking of nobodies, celebrities are getting in on it. Think Oprah when she started tweeting. Some celebrities have ghost twitterers.

I also don't follow people with thousands upon thousands of followers when they only have a few updates. What is the point?

People, just an FYI, not everyone wants to hear about when you need to go to the bathroom. Jeez, if that was the case, that's all I would be tweeting. Drinking another cup of coffee. Heading to the bathroom. Getting another glass of water. Heading to the bathroom. Making new earrings. Heading to the bathroom. Do you see my point? No, I do not have a bladder problem. Drinking problem, yes.

Do you twitter? Do you follow people just to have them follow you back? Are you only interested in watching your follower list rise in numbers? Are you obsessed with how many followers you have?

Twit is twitter without the ter. Are you a twit if you twitter? Some might be.

Definition of Twit.

Main Entry:
¹twit
Pronunciation:: \ˈtwit\
Function:: noun
Date:: 1528

1 : an act of twitting : taunt
2 : a silly annoying person : fool

You can follow me. tweet, tweet.

Aloha Friday.

2009-07-03T10:22:00.005-04:00

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. Thanks Kailani at An Island Life for starting this Friday tradition. Although I'm beginning to feel that everyday needs to be Aloha Friday.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and go to An Island Life and leave your link. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question for today:

Are you on Facebook, and if so, what do you use it for?

My answer:

Yes, I'm on Facebook. I signed up a while back because I wanted a business page for Dee-Zigns, but unfortunately, I didn't know any better and signed up for a personal account, then had to create a business page. UGH! This is NOT how I wanted it. I wanted it the other way around.

But, because of my snafu, I've reconnected with old friends from my sorted past, with the help of my dusty high school yearbook! I've discovered unlike myself, these old friends have incredible memories. Is my memory bad or is it selective? Hmmmm.

It's been great seeing how old friends are doing, how we've all changed, where everyone lives, and all the other interesting tidbits of their lives. I have other questions regarding facebook, but will leave those for another day...

Have a wonderful, but safe holiday weekend!
xoxo
Toni

Weevils, not weebles.

2009-07-02T11:55:00.013-04:00

Although I like to think of myself as laid back, I am not. I don't do well with bugs in my house of any kind. But especially relentless bugs. What is a relentless bug? To me, its ants, roaches (thankfully, I don't have them!), mosquitoes, flies. Let's face it, these pests are hard to get rid of. Last summer it was ants in the bathroom shower, marching on to battle in one single line. Marching up the shower door or the corner of the shower stall. Where did they think they were going!?

Recently, weevils in my pantry. Here's how it went down.

When I come home after a shopping expedition, I usually give Collins a dog biscuit. Why? Because he's been patrolling the house and keeping it safe. Also, his reaction is so cute. He gets so excited, he takes the dog biscuit very gently and carefully, then tears off running like something is after him. Cracks me up every time!

So a few weeks ago, while fishing out a dog biscuit for Collins, I noticed they looked weird, there were tiny holes in the dog biscuit. By this time Collins is losing his patience as I examine his dog biscuits. Upon further investigation, I saw tiny black rice-like bugs on the counter, that moved!!! Damn things had dropped from the bottom of the box! Oh SHIT! Sorry, Collins, these are no good! Dumped the box in the trash, while spraying Raid in the trash can. What the hell? I went back to the pantry and grabbed an opened box of pasta. Crap, saw the same thing in the bottom of the box. Could this have happened because I was now only buying whole wheat pasta? I think not. I don't remember this happening to the "white" pasta. I'm just thinking out loud.

I phoned the exterminator to find out what these tiny, black rice-like bugs were. The girl said weevils. "Weebles?" I said. You mean like "weebles wobble, but they don't fall down", weebles? I questioned in my sarcastic tone. There was a pause, then I heard hysterical laughter on the phone, "no W-e-e-v-i-l-s", and there's nothing we can spray to get rid of them. After she regained her composure, she told me to take everything out and wipe down my pantry. Put flour, rice, pasta, etc. in airtight containers. Most everything was already in airtight containers, except dog biscuits. And the pasta!

At this point, I flipped out because I was so grossed out! I am a clean person and my house is clean. It might be messy, but its clean, I tell you!
I ran to the computer and googled weevils, then googled weevil images. Trust me when I say DON'T DO THIS. It gave me the heebie jeebies and nightmares for a week. I have chills just writing this post. Reminds me of my mom, Gaston Studio, writing about those damn cockroaches and posting that horrifying photo. Not to mention the snake post. Moving on...

I emptied the entire contents of the pantry out into the kitchen. I examined every box of pasta, crackers and every food item in the pantry. I was shocked to find these disgusting creatures in several items, even a package of opened paper napkins and sitting on top of a can of beans. My kids definitely thought I had gone over to the dark side, I was a mad woman, looking for airtight containers to store every item that was going back in that pantry. Shaking boxes, throwing food in the garbage disposal, take that! I took pleasure listening to the disposal grinding up anything resembling a black rice-like creature. Armed with a flashlight and clorox clean-up, I wiped down the walls, the corners and the shelves in that blasted pantry. This took hours as I needed sufficient time and couldn't be rushed. Do you rush the CSI people? I think not, otherwise they would never find the culprit.

As I was freaking out, I tried looking on the bright side and the end product, an extremely clean and organized pantry, no thanks to the weevils. I mean, really, what purpose do these despicable creature have?

Aloha Friday, finally.

2009-06-26T08:14:00.003-04:00

Wow, it seems as though I've been gone months! I have tons of blog reading to do, but before I begin, its time for Aloha Friday.

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and go to An Island Life and leave your link. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question today:

If you have children at home for summer vacation, are you finding as much time for blogging or for your business as you would normally?

My answer:

Heck no, which is why there are few posts and very little reading other blogs, since summer vacation began. Sometimes it really frustrates me, until common sense kicks in and I realize, they come first!

If any of you have a way of organizing your time so you can get your blogging in, I'm all ears! Make that all eyes... since I moved my office, I don't have any sound coming out of my speakers, and I haven't had the time to investigate this silly problem! Oh well, after the pool and after the phone company comes to fix the phone that is not working and the tv that we can intermittently watch. But that's another story...

Life is back to normal, although my life is anything but normal.

2009-06-15T09:33:00.008-04:00

You've probably noticed I haven't been around much lately, at least I hope you've noticed.

Two weeks ago, I thought I had poison ivy, not because I've been working in the yard. Noooooooo. I've never had poison ivy in all my years, surprisingly enough, but I've seen what others go through and I don't ever want to get this nasty, itchy, painful rash. I not because I've been working in the yard. I thought I got it from touching my husband's bath towel or his yard clothes, because he got poison ivy and gets it just about every time he works in the yard, which is every weekend! He is very susceptible to getting it. I've watched him suffer from contracting it and then, unknowingly, spreading it to many parts of his body, with his face being the worse. Poison ivy should be banned from the face of the earth!

I've never had poison ivy in all my years, surprisingly enough, but I've seen what others go through and I don't ever want to get this nasty, itchy, painful rash.

As I covered my rashy areas with calamine lotion, I couldn't take it anymore! The pain under my arm was really bothering me and several small areas on my shoulder blade were beginning to itch. I went to a "doc in the box" (a walk-in clinic) and was diagnosed with adult chicken pox (shingles). What? Are you kidding me? I'm not old enough to get this and why the hell do they call it shingles? Isn't that something roofers use? If it's adult chicken pox, just say adult chicken pox, for God's sake, don't use a stupid name like shingles.

Enough obsessing over the stupid name. I was so upset, I'd only known one person to get this and they were in their 60's. This can't be happening to me, a young chick with two small children. But the doctor (who had no bedside manners, no compassion and was the coldest doctor I had ever encountered in my young life) explained how as a kid I got chicken pox and it sat dormant in my spinal cord. Until, something like stress, brings it out in full force, hence my rash and the calamine lotion doing nothing to help the rashy areas. Stone faced doctor prescribed pain medicine, an anti viral medicine, and medicated patches that would relive the symptoms and hopefully, shorten the time I would have to endure this. Great doc, thanks for everything, now go work on your people skills before I report you to the head of doc in the box, because you are a heartless asshole who should be working in a laboratory, and not with people.

Then it hit me. Stress was taking over my life. Stress was causing me to keep pounds on that I clearly didn't need or want. Stress was causing me to get "shingles". Stress is not my friend but had taken up residence in my body and my life. But let's face it, everyone is dealing with stress in one form or another, but its how we deal with stress that makes a difference. I have been allowing it to take over, its time I give it the boot!

The adult chicken pox (I refuse to call it shingles because that doesn't make sense to me) is all but gone, thankfully, so now I will change my focus to reduce my stress. It won't happen overnight, but I will make small changes and make it happen. So who's with me???

Aloha Friday.

2009-06-12T07:49:00.004-04:00

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and go to An Island Life and leave your link. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question for you today: In blogging, do you use your real name, as well as your family and friends names? If so, are you ever worried someone might think or react to something you've written in a negative way?

My answer: I use my real name simply because I have an online jewelry business and use my blog to give my customers, and potential customers, an opportunity to get to know me. My business goal, with this blog, is to build trust and confidence and show people there is a real person behind "Dee-Zigns", what inspires me, how I create my handmade jewelry, and running a one-person business.

My personal goal, with this blog, is to talk about things going on in my life, connect with people, and express my humor and laugh at myself. I have so many opportunities, that's for sure!

So there, I've put it out there! Your turn.

Under the Weather...

2009-06-10T09:35:00.012-04:00

Hi all, I've been under the weather this last week, so haven't been around :( to blog or visit all your wonderful blogs. I hate feeling bad, especially when its beautiful and sunny outside. My kids have been pretty bored, as you'll see in these pictures.

Blake has been playing games on the computer, and Erika is running around with my camera driving Collins and Kitty crazy.

The look on Kitty's face seems to say "hurry up already!".

Collins puts up with anything, he's such a happy dog and very thankful to be a part of this family. Erika put clothes on him, fortunately for him, is was only this red bandanna :).

One thing the kids did for me recently, was to help me paint my new studio. Two walls are concrete and the floor is concrete, and at first I was freaking out about how they were painting and I was getting a bit nuts and fussing at them. I stopped myself, and thought, wait a darn minute, they want to do this and its the basement! Its okay if its messy! Let them have fun and feel proud they have painted "mommy's studio". Once I chilled, everyone was happy, including me! I used a beautiful shade of green, that is also in my foyer and hallways on the main floor.

My husband was stopping by Home Depot, so I asked him to pick up a light fixture for my studio. Immediately, he had that weird look on his face. You know the look men get when you ask them if the pants you just purchased make your butt look big? And they stand there, not sure what to say, because they don't know whether you want your butt to look like "Beyonce's" or if you want it to look skinny.

So, after describing what I wanted, he reluctantly went off with thoughts of despair, because he wanted to help me out, but didn't want to choose the wrong thing and come home to find out its not what I was talking about. Haven't you noticed you can describe in detail, draw pictures of what you want, and inevitably men come home with something different. At least, mine does. Is he not listening, or does he feel he knows best?

Naturally, he came home with different light fixture, but I'm going to give it a try and see how it looks installed and turned on. If it gives me what I want, I'll keep it and have a happy husband, because I do know that he tried to do the right thing :).

Once I'm feeling better, I want everything moved, so I can begin organizing (that's a laugh) and setting up my jewelry studio. My mom and sister are visiting in a few weeks, so hopefully I can get most of it done before they arrive!

I got another one! Award, that is.

2009-06-06T12:04:00.005-04:00

This has been my lucky week as I've received another award! Thank you Recreational Art for honoring me with the coveted Kreativ Blogger Award. I will do everything in my power to continue to be creative.

Kauai, no its Aloha Friday!

2009-06-05T09:26:00.001-04:00

In late 1980, I was fortunate enough to go to Kauai with a former boyfriend and stayed at the Westin Kauai. Fast forward to the early 90's after I married my husband, we went to Kauai, and surprisingly enough stayed at the same property, only this time, it was the Marriott Resort Kauai. It was an incentive trip with his company and I remember thinking, "I've been to Kauai, can't we go somewhere else?" It was so ridiculous of me to feel that way and not realize how incredibly lucky I was to go back to a majestic paradise as Kauai, with my husband! To be younger and foolish again...

Wish I was on the beaches of Kauai today (hell, any beach would be okay by me), but I'm not, so I'm dreaming about it and playing along with in An Island Life's Aloha Friday.

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend.

If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and go to An Island Life and leave your link. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question: Do you shop online? If so, what is the one thing that draws you into an online store? i.e. free shipping, a sale, pictures, free gift wrapping, etc.?

My answer: I love to shop online, I can cover a lot of ground and I can do it anytime I want, in the comfort of my home, in my favorite pajamas, drinking a cup of coffee! I did 90% of my Christmas shopping online. For all my out of town relatives and friends, its easier to shop, buy and ship it directly to them. I prefer shopping at other indie artist boutiques like mine (shameless plug for Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry), because they normally have one of a kind items and offer free gift wrapping, like me! Offering free gift wrapping is not a total deal breaker, though, because I've bought things at toys r us, shipped them to my sister-in-law's house and asked her to wrap them for me for my niece's birthday.

I'm a friendly blogger, who knew?

2009-06-02T09:28:00.012-04:00

A week or so ago, Gaston Studio awarded me with two awards, The 2009 Friendly Blogger Award and the Uplifting Blogger Award. I suppose I wasn't deserving of the friendly one in 2008, so I'm taking this one and running with it!

These awards were not given to me because of nepotism (well, maybe) but if they were, so be it. I am very friendly and I am an uplifting person. Jane at Gaston Studio had every right to award me these two particular awards. So there.

(Nepotism is the showing of favoritism for relatives or friends based upon that relationship, rather than on an objective evaluation of ability or suitability.)

Regardless of how I acquired them, I am honored, so now it is my turn to bestow these awards onto other deserving bloggers.

For the 2009 Friendly Blogger Award and the Uplifting Blogger Award, I'm awarding the chosen ones below both awards, and please don't report me to whomever it may concern, its day 8 of summer vacation with the kids, and I'm so behind on blog reading, I don't know what's going on with all my peeps.

Life in Left Field
A Cup of Mimi
A Psych Mommy
Sane Without Drugs
Words of Wisdom from a Smart Mouth Broad
Country Mouse, City Mouse
Confessions of a Moody Mommy
Peanut Butter & Smelly's Dad

I visit so many wonderful bloggers that are friendly, uplifting, humorous, kind, cranky, obsessed, talented, moody, factual, different, whinny, encouraging, supportive, country, creative, furious, sane, not so sane, divas and smart mouths. It's always hard to choose because I love them all.

Browsers, baby, browsers.

2009-05-30T11:18:00.007-04:00

In our computer world, we rely on browsers, its the program that retrieves web pages from the internet and displays them on the screen for you My personal choice is Mozilla Firefox. Internet Explorer was driving me crazy with the glitches, its lack of speed to name a few. So a while back, I downloaded Firefox and my craziness has subsided... at least when I'm browsing the internet!

So, my curious mind would like to know, what is your browser of choice? Because you do have a choice, you know.

Do you Google or Yahoo? In the search engine world, I mean. Or do you prefer another search engine?

My preference, Google! I google everything, lol!

Those are my techno questions for the day!

I do not work for Monopoly or Parker Brothers.

2009-05-29T05:00:00.000-04:00

Let's get one thing straight, I do not work for or have ever worked for Parker Brothers , the makers of Monopoly. I know I have mentioned monopoly here before, but I am not getting paid to talk about it. Got it?

Day three of summer vacation with my kids. After Erika was invited to sleep over at a friend's and husband was out of town, it was me and Blake. I thought, we can cuddle, watch a movie and eat popcorn. NOT!

Here's how it went down:

He said, "Take a break mommy, ( I was sitting at the computer) and lets play monopoly". It was about 5:30pm, and thought that was a great idea, so he set up the board game and was "not so"patiently waiting for me. I walked to the kitchen table to find "Atlanta in a Box" set up and ready to go.

FYI: "Atlanta in a Box" is a monopoly clone based in Atlanta, Georgia. It has spaces such as Georgia Tech, The Varsity, Zoo Atlanta, Dekalb Farmers Market, Turner Field, Georgia State Capitol, and Jimmy Carter Boulevard. Cards include local events and staples of life in Atlanta. Instead of houses, you build skylines. Instead of hotels, you get keys to the city. Instead of the race car, thimble, cannon and so forth, "Atlanta in a Box' has a Georgia Peach, baseball glove, sailboat, pretzel, etc.

My dad gave us this game before the kids were born. At the time, Craig and I looked at each other, both wondering, why? We already had monopoly. Well, thank you daddy, because we love playing this game as a family and Blake is the monopoly and "Atlanta in a Box" champ in our family. It has taught him to count money, make change, the value of money, saving for purchases and stuff like that. Only he's become slightly obsessed and very competitive.

So the game began, and it was obvious I was having luck landing on good property to purchase and I was getting set-up nicely. I was making a lot of money, too. He was getting really frustrated and started whining about how it was not fair, and I had so much property, and he had no money, etc. And it kept happening, my luck was getting better. Then the alligator tears started falling, and it tore right into me. I mean, come on! He's 7! I purposely skipped a space or two, so his "baseball glove" wouldn't land on my property, I mean, come on! He's 7! So eventually we were in trading mode, and I let him convince me to make a deal that was certainly to his advantage. This was the beginning of the end for me. The tables turned, he started making money, getting more property, yada, yada, yada. You know the story. 4 1/2 hours later, he wipes me out, and thank goodness, too, I was exhausted.

So, was I wrong to let a few things slide during our game to allow a better outcome for him, which in turn paved the way for him to win? Let me remind you, he's 7! He has the cutest dimples and big beautiful eyes. I wanted our evening to be special and memorable. I accomplished that, for sure.

Fun facts about monopoly:

Over 200 million MONOPOLY games have been sold worldwide.
More than five billion little green houses have been "built" since 1935.
A MONOPOLY game made by my friends at Alfred Dunhill, with gold houses and silver hotels, sold for $25,000.
The longest MONOPOLY game in history lasted 70 straight days.
The longest MONOPOLY game in a bathtub lasted 99 hours!

Don't tell Blake, or we'll be playing in the bathtub!

More homework from my Mom!

2009-05-27T08:30:00.003-04:00

My mom, aka Gaston Studio, tagged me for this 6 Tag game where you post your " Six Unimportant Things That Make Me Happy" and then name six bloggers to play along. All the things that make me happy are very important to me but I'll wing it, so here are my 6 things:

The beach! Bet you didn't see that coming, lol!
The family playing monopoly and seeing my 11 year old finally winning because normally my 7 year old wins!
Seeing how excited my dog Collins gets when my husband walks in the door.
Watching my children mimic their daddy at the dinner table - they anticipate his actions before he does.
Having a vase of sunflowers on my kitchen counter to enjoy daily.
Hanging out with my family and friends!

To play along, I've selected 6 blogger friends:

Are we there yet?

Mom's fortress of Solitude

Peanut Butter & Smelly's Dad

Rundpinne

Ziggy's Blog

Coffee with the Mrs.

Stop and visit these bloggers and see what they're all about!

Happy Memorial Day, ya'll!

2009-05-25T08:09:00.009-04:00

I hope this finds everyone safe, happy and filled with joy on this Memorial Day.

Take 20% off at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories , this includes everything already on sale, so hurry over and snag yourself a bargain!!

Use coupon code MEMDAY at checkout to receive the 20% discount now through Friday, May 29th.

Small Talk Six

2009-05-23T13:38:00.005-04:00

While visiting Momdot.com, I saw this post and thought it was a nifty idea, yes, nifty and thrifty. Why you ask? Hmmmm...

Maybe its because these two women (let's pretend its me and my BFF - you know who you all are!) are sitting at a table (let's pretend it's at Starbucks), drinking cups of coffee (again, pretending Starbucks) and one is eating a piece of cake (let's pretend its Michel since she is so completely obsessed with cake not like other friends of mine, but she's my blogging BFF, so its all fair).

I just had to play along because its also about one of my favorite things, the beach, ocean, heaven, (whatever you want to call it).

Name 6 things you love or hate about the ocean. This is so easy, I could do it with my eyes closed, thrifty, yes?

1. I love how the sand feels between my toes and how relaxing it is.
2. I love the relaxing sounds of the waves lapping against the shoreline and the squawking of the seagulls overhead - it puts me in a coma.
3. I love how easily entertained my kids are at the beach and how they love it as much as I do.
4. I love walking on the beach picking up sea shells and various other strange treasures.
5. I love ocean sunsets, they are simply the best.
6. I hate jellyfish, 'nuff said.

Hot fun in the summertime!

2009-05-23T10:07:00.005-04:00

I love the beach, and when I saw these questions at Crazy Sam's blog, Saturday 9, I just had to join in.

Saturday 9: Hot Fun in the Summertime

1. Is summer your favorite season? Why?

It's only my favorite season when I'm at the beach, otherwise, no because I don't enjoy high humidity mixed with 100 degree temperatures and mosquitos!

2. Do you exercise more in the summer because you wear less clothing?

I wish I could say yes, but no.

3. Do you enjoy tanning or are you more concerned about the dangers of basking in the sun?

I do enjoy tanning, in moderation and with an SPF 30 or higher :).

4. You are on the beach when a waiter appears for your drink order. What do you ask for?

Vodka and lemonade, or something with mangoes in it, heck just throw a mango in my vodka and lemonade :). Refreshing!

5. Do you camp in the summertime?

I don't camp, period.

6. What was your favorite summer vacation as a kid?

Family reunions at the beach. A relative would rent a huge beach house and all the kids would run in and out and all around the beach, in a pack.

7. Do you enjoy sleeping outdoors?

Absolutely not. Please refer to the camping question.

8. Do you throw a summer barbecue every year?

Yes, we normally have a 4th of July bar-b-que.

9. Have you ever been to a nude beach? If yes, what did you think?

You're kidding, right?

Aloha Friday, May22nd

2009-05-22T05:46:00.011-04:00

Today is Aloha Friday and gosh how I wish I was on a beach right this very minute.

My question for you today:

Have you ever had a surprise birthday party? Who gave it in your honor and how old were you?

My answer:

I've had two actually. One when I turned 18 years old and my mom surprised the hell out of me at our home, no less. I still cannot figure out how she pulled that one off. The drinking age was 18 back then, need I say more?

The second one was my 40th and my husband organized this one. I cannot say I was excited about it. Embarrassed is more like it. We were living in a new city, so my friends were new,and I was rather uncomfortable about most of it. I like to be the life of the party, but on my terms. Not to mention the house was not clean and there were some invitees that would take notice to this fact. Plus, I thought I had expressed more than once to him, that's not my thing, it's his. The one huge highlight of the event, my mom and sister drove in from out of town to celebrate with me.

Husbands, if you are going to surprise your wife with a birthday party at your home, please clean the damn house before the guest arrive! Otherwise, she may spend the entire party worrying about the bathroom, the dust, the mess, etc.

I follow you, then you follow me, or else.

2009-05-19T09:49:00.009-04:00

Blog etiquette, does everyone know what it is? How do you feel about it? Does it bother you when people are not courteous on your blog?

With so many people blogging these days, I believe that personal blogs are kind of like a person's home. Would you stop by a person's home and not use your manners? Let's face it, these days, many people don't have manners or don't use them. This is especially relevant in blogland. Read on...

As I wander around the blogosphere, reading other blogs, a few things drive me crazy. Tell me if you haven't thought some of the same things?

Please don't spam. One thing that really gripes me are the people who leave comments for the sole sake of promoting their business. You know who you are, you blatantly post your url in the comment section without any reference to the post. It's one thing if there is relevance to your link, but I'm referring to those commenters that clearly haven't read the post they are commenting on. Would you leave your business cards and brochures at someone's house you just visited?

Please don't expect anything in return. I'll explain this, if you link to a blog that you find interesting, informative, entertaining, whatever the reason, do not expect that blogger to link back to you. That's not how it should work. Maybe you find a blogger who is following you, you go visit their blog to thank them, and find their blog not your "cup of tea". Do you automatically follow them? Would you return to their house if you didn't have anything in common? I say no. Be honest with yourself and true to yourself.

Commenting. If you are going to comment, please read the post first, then browse what others have already said in the comment section, because if what you are about to say is the same thing, best left unsaid. Think before you comment, be mindful of the blog author who took their time writing the post..Take the time to actually read their post, otherwise what is your point for following them?

While commenting, please do not ask a blogger to follow you. This is really tacky.

Please don't clutter your page with "stuff". If I visit your blog and it takes too long to load because it is bogged down with crap, I will move on. As much as I find it interesting and would like to follow, I will not. We're all busy, so clean your "house" and make it easy for people to come in.

Please don't whine. All the time. Enough said.

Even if you're blogging to make money, as many are doing these days, be courteous, be interesting, be respectful, have class, and above all, use your manners, damnit! Treat other blogs like you would treat your own.

How do you feel about this? I'd really like your honest feedback?

Disclaimer: These observations and statements are the opinion of the blog author. If I have upset anyone, I don't feel I need to apologize as I don't usually apologize for voicing my opinions. I'm not a manners expert. I'm a jewelry artist (this is a relevant link).

Aloha Friday, May 15th

2009-05-15T08:37:00.008-04:00

Aloha ya'll!

My thought provoking question for you today:

Do you view life as "the glass is half full, or the glass is half empty"?

My answer:

I'm usually wearing my rose colored glasses while looking at my glass half full :).

LOST ROCKS!

2009-05-14T11:09:00.007-04:00

If you are a Lost fan, are you reeling from last night's season finale? I am and I can hardly think of anything else! I've never been this attached to a tv show and to think I have to wait until 2010 to find out what happened? Just freeze me now (is cryonics an option?) and thaw my body out when season 6 begins.

Thank you very much writers and producers, you must be so happy with yourselves torturing us mere mortals. In my wildest dreams, and believe me, I have some doozies, I couldn't have imagined everything that we found out last night in the 2 hour finale. I was on the edge of my seat and checked the time at each commercial to anticipate how much excitment I had left to endure. I was exhausted and drained afterwards, but will watch it again and again! Thank you DVR!

If you are not a Lost fan, you are really missing something special!

Go here for more info on Lost and entertaining and informative interviews with the executive producers of Lost, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof , brilliant storytellers.

Wordless Wednesday.

2009-05-13T11:09:00.007-04:00

I'd like to spread a little sunshine today,
and I adore sunflowers, they're so happy!.

Two Fer Tuesday, two giveaways!!

2009-05-12T11:29:00.007-04:00

Hold the phone! Another giveaway? I've decided today is Two Fer Tuesday, because I must tell of another incredible giveaway at A Daily Dose of Toni, no its not me, its another strong, confident, go-getter aptly named Toni. Here's a great way to win one of my necklaces from the Metals Collection, visit A Daily Does of Toni and enter to win the Kimberly Necklace, shown below. Toni, (not me, I swear) has multiple ways to enter, so go forth and tweet, blog, comment and whatever else to increase your chances. The contest ends Thursday, May 21st, so hurry on over to enter. Be sure to follow her blog, if you haven't already, Toni tells funny and inspiring tales of her everyday life, and offers fabulous giveaways. We could be twins.

Last 2 days to enter the Happily Handmade Giveaway!

2009-05-12T08:08:00.009-04:00

Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13th is the last day to enter the Happily Handmade Giveaway! A giveaway, you say! Read my previous post for all the details or you may pop over to Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories to get the details and sign up, all you need to enter is your full name and a valid email address! Easy as pie.

They are giving away 25 glorious baskets full of handmade goodness valued over $300 each. Yep, you heard me, so if you haven't already, enter at all the sponsors' websites to increase your chances of winning. Look for the official HHG sponsor badge and follow the directions. Me, myself and I, a.k.a Dee-Zigns, has donated 11 one of a kind jewelry items. I've included photos of 2 of the 25 baskets to be given away.

Here's a link to all the s ponsors and the exclusive discounts they are offering to Happily Handmade Giveaway visitors. Show them some love!

Aloha Friday

2009-05-08T09:04:00.008-04:00

I know, its shocking I'm posting two times in one day! It's Aloha Friday, stop by An Island Life to learn more about Aloha Fridays. Basically you post a question for your readers to ponder, so here goes!

My question for you today:

If you are fortunate enough to go on vacation with your family for one week and asked to give up your cell phone, computer, tv, video games and all the technology that keeps us connected, could you and your family members do it?

My answer:

I could do it for one week, but I'm not sure my husband would do it. It's all about choices and my choice would be my family for that entire week. It's only one week out of our lives (see, I'm already working on him :). The kids wouldn't have a problem because they would have our undivided attention. And we would be at the beach, see photo of my kids last summer at the beach. No problems here, daddy-o!

Frustrating Friday and Fabulous Friday!

2009-05-08T08:27:00.006-04:00

Ever have one of those days when you make a cup of coffee, then lose the cup in your house? I have these days too often, usually when I'm walking around with my mug urging Blake to get off the floor and get dressed. Why he decides to roll around on the floor when the bus will be here any minute, is beyond my comprehension! I've searched everywhere for that cup of coffee. I retraced my steps and still cannot find it. This is so darn frustrating because it was just my second cup. I know I'm obsessed with my coffee, but its better than crack, right?

Frustration took over and I have a new mug with fresh coffee. I suppose I will find that "lost" mug somewhere around the house, unless someone moved it to play around with me. Probably my mom's poltergeist! She probably sent him/she/it over to drive me crazy, not that she doesn't think I am already crazy. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I'm just saying. Head over to Gaston Studio's blog and ask her about the "lost" rain jacket or her favorite shoes. Uh huh! I'm just saying what's true.

I'm over my frustration now and thinking about how fabulous Fridays are. End of the school week. End of the work week. Our family is together for the weekend. And it's two days before Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to everyone and here's hoping you'll take a little time for YOU.

Thankful Thursday

2009-05-07T06:27:00.007-04:00

Yes, I'm very thankful. My kids are healthy and thriving. My husband is healthy and has a job. We have a roof over our heads, food on our table, and clothes on our back.

Here are some " rather lame" things I'm also thankful for.

Watching Lost last night! So thankful we're not seeing re-runs.
Grey's Anatomy's 100 episode is tonight.
It's only 3 days until Mother's Day.
It's only __ days until my birthday.
15 days until the last day of school.

Too bad today isn't Wordless Wednesday.

Weird Wednesday!

2009-05-05T11:01:00.013-04:00

I had an extremely weird dream last night. My cat saw a very large ~~hamster gerbil~~ guinea pig in the house. If that wasn't wacky enough, because we don't own one of these ~~rodents~~ pets I watched as my sweet little cat "Kitty" took him down! Kitty went to this freaky looking thing, pounced, bit him on the neck like a vampire and left him belly up. Another very strange ingredient to this already, weird and wacky dream, Kitty didn't look like my current cat Kitty, he looked like Romeo, my long haired black and white cat that died suddenly several years ago. Was Romeo trying to tell me something in my dream?

But wait, that's not the end of it, my dream continues, as I walk outside to look for my husband, children and my 80 lb. dog, but I froze in a panic because staring at me from many tree branches were these extremely large guinea pigs with evil eyes, it was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcocks' movie "The Birds. The obvious difference, the "birds" in my ~~movie~~ dream were guinea pigs. Large ones. With evil eyes.

Could it be I've seen Adam Sandler's movie "Bedtime Stories" too many times? Could it be ~~my mom~~ Gaston Studio is rubbing off on me with her paranoia about snakes and roaches?

On a different note, I was blown away when lil Kim and Derek were voted off "Dancing with the Stars" last night! Poor Ty, he looked just as surprised as everyone else. I was disappointed hearing the boos from the audience, that's not nice. I feel very weird about this, I didn't vote, yet again, and now I'm feeling like it was my one vote that caused the better dancer to be voted off! The only way to redeem myself is to vote next week.

Terrific Tuesday

2009-05-05T08:54:00.004-04:00

I've decided this week of blogs will be titled with my moods and how I feel on that particular day, so watch out people!

While catching up on the various blogs I follow, I stopped at this post from Confessions of a Moody Mommy, because it mentioned" Dancing with the Stars", one of a my fav-or-rite shows, second to LOST, of course. It's a video of the Ballas Hough Ban d, ( you know Mark and Derek, two of the brilliant dancers from the show) and their song, "Do you love me" which features cast members, past and present, singing karoake style. It's got a great beat, makes you feel good and cracks you up, all at once. If you're a fan of the show, do check it out. Listening to and watching this video put me in a terrific mood.

I'm torn between which team I want to see win this year on DWTS. Mark and Shawn? Derek and lil Kim? Melissa and Tony? Gilles and Cheryl.? I've listed them in no particular order. They are all so great, Tony is the only pro that hasn't won. I think he has a pretty good chance this year with Melissa as his partner. So, you know where to find me tonight at 9pm, watching the results show, hoping Ty leaves. Did I vote last night? No. Have I ever voted? No. What's that all about? My vote could be the deciding factor. I hope one of my favorites don't leave tonight!

Moody Monday!

2009-05-04T09:10:00.008-04:00

I'm moody this Monday, it's raining and supposed to rain most of the week. Yes, I know we need it, Atlanta's been in a drought for 2 years, yada, yada, yada!

Last week, I had stress and anxiety with regards to my website, specifically, my shopping cart was messed up, ARGHH! After going through several freelance web developers, I finally found one who jumped in and corrected the problem. Whew! So if anyone tried to place an order, I'm so sorry, give it another try, everything is working fine now :). It's not too late to get Mother's Day orders shipped and I assure you, you won't be disappointed with the quality and service at Dee-Zigns.

To add to my stress, I spent 12 hours yesterday participating in an artist market, which produced no sales. Because, seriosuly folks, you must let people know there is going to be an artist market, otherwise the people have no clue, and therefore will not come. "If you build it, they will come" only works in the movies with Kevin Costner. It wasn't happening yesterday. This was a well organized ~~apparently organized for invisible people~~ event in conjunction with a world wide bike race. Could have been a spectacular event, the weather was wonderful, the race was exciting, but apparently the organizers never advertised an artist market because there were no people. WTF? Yes, there were some people, the friends and family of the bike racers, but they weren't prepared to shop. Because the streets had to be blocked, it was like the artist market, was secluded, from the outside area. And, yes, I'm still bitter. I got up at 5am and didn't get home until 7pm, the market hours were 10am-6pm, that was time spent away from my family! My dog missed me so much, he didn't eat the 12 plus hours I was gone.

So today, I'm very moody. I'm wondering if participating in art shows are worth my time? I'm sure they are, if they are organized and advertised ~~yada, yada, yada and blah, blah, blah~~.

I'm jumping on the band wagon!

2009-04-29T10:10:00.005-04:00

Many blogs I visit have cool ideas like Tuesday's Tidbits and Wordless Wednesdays. I know there are others but I've not had quite enough coffee this morning to remember them.

Here's my Wordless Wednesday, a photo of Q-tip boy, Blake the explorer and the king of dirt, read this post to discover why.

So if it's Wordless Wednesday, I suppose I should stop now. I need to save my energy for the 100th episode of "Lost" tonight at 9pm est on ABC. And, no, I do not work for ABC or Lost, but if they are interested, they can email me.

It went like this...

2009-04-27T08:09:00.009-04:00

Blake: (yelling in a muffled tone) Mom! I need you!

Me: Yes, Blake (speaking loudly, well alright, yelling back).

B: I need you.

Me: What for? Where are you?

Erika: (snickering) He's in the bathroom.

Me: (at the bathroom door) Blake, are you okay?

B: No, I need you.

Me: (trying the door, its locked) Honey, can you open the door?

B: No, can you get one of the fluffy things... and just... (more words that I cannot make out, is his head in the toilet?)

Me: What fluffy thing? (what the hell is going on in there?)

B: You know the stick with the squishy white stuff on the end?

Me: (Good lord, this could take forever) I don't know what you're talking about. Can you open the door?

B: You know the stick you put in your ear. You take one and take off some of that white fluffy and put that in the door.

Me: Huh? You mean a Q-tip? (Where in the world is he going with this?)

B: Yes, take some of the white stuff off and then put it in the door.

Me: I don't understand. Why do I need to do this? You want me to place it under the door?

B: No, in the little hole and push it in. Hurry, I need you.

Me: (Finally! I'm beginning to see where he's going with this). Oh, okay. Hold on, I gotta go get one. (I run to the kitchen, turn down the stove so our dinner will not burn, ask Erika to watch it, race upstairs with the dog chasing after me, and find a Q-tip). I get one, remove most of the white fluffy from one end, and insert it in the hole in the doorknob and ta da! the door unlocks. I go in to see him sitting on the toilet moaning about his tummy. I say "Are you alright?"

B: Yes, but I just can't move, my tummy aches. Can you carry me?

Me: Carry you? Are you kidding? You're 7 years old. You need to wash up and come to the table, dinner is just about ready. Do you need me for anything else.

B: No, I think I can do it. What's for dinner?

All that because he wanted me to unlock the door, go into the bathroom and see him? Or did he want to see me?

Boys are little men in need of a female's attention. They can't seem to do anything by themselves. I'm trying to raise my son to be independent. Where am I going wrong? Are we suppose to read their minds?

Pirates, Skulls and crossbones, oh my!

2009-04-24T06:29:00.016-04:00

I just saw the cutest pirate stamper over at Purplepinkandorange.com, and its only $3.99. What a neat idea, my son and every other little boy, loves pirates, skulls and crossbones. Yesterday as we drove home from his baseball practice, he asked me to make him a necklace. Then he described the necklace, it was not what I had envisoned. I asked for a drawing, but haven't received anything, yet.

After clicking on the pirate stamper link, it took me to what I think, may become my favorite website, Perpetual Kid.
These gloves caught my eye and would be a cute Mother's Day gift or a cute hostess gift.

I could get this organizer for my mom because she hates to cook.But wait, she already said she wanted Amazon Gift Cards to feed her Kindle habit. If I don't get her the gift card, she'll disown me and adopt Beth.

I honor of all the cool moms who've become taxi drivers, this mug is a must! And when you need to jot down something that your kids are telling you while you're driving, here's something to put your notes on, talk to the hand sticky notes! Then file it in this total crap file folder! LOL.

I could get these for my brother's upcoming birthday, keytar key covers. My daughter would love these as well, but who am I kidding, she's 11. No need for these, any time in her future.

Can you guess? I am the perpetual kid!

My first award, no wait, my first two awards!

2009-04-23T07:43:00.033-04:00

Yesterday morning, as I frantically went around fixing a glitch on my Dee-Zigns website, I received an email about my very first award! Okay, it was from my mom, Jane at Gaston Studio, but she doesn't hand these out lightly! I must say, she follows many, more deserving bloggers than myself. But my mom has always (well, mostly) been my number one fan! I I mean, come on, there have been times in my past, when she hasn't been supportive of some of my decisions (with good reason, I might add) but that's another story.

So she awarded me One Lovely Blog ... so thank you... thank you very much (my silent Elvis impression!).

The rules are: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
Here are my 15 favorites that you really should visit if you haven’t already discovered them:

"Grab" these awards and place them on your own blog... and don't forget to share!

So just when I thought I'd completed my list above, I got another email that I had another award! Woo-hoo! Yes, Jane at Gaston Studio, awarded me the Zombie Chicken Award, but give her a break, I am her first born (read favorite), after all.

Warning, the following award might scare you! Ha, it did me, not a fan of "real" zombies, although I always watch movies with zombies in it. Go figure.

The Zombie Chicken award which is described as follows:

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all..."

Crap, no wrath for me! I have enough wrath to keep me busy for a while, thank you very little.

Here are my five, and they totally deserve as do many, many others!

Purplepinkandorange
Confessions of a Moody Mommy
Be Different... Act Normal
The Power of a Housewife Word of Mouth

A Southern Daydreamer
Dooce

So go forth and check out all these bloggers. Some are inspiring, some are informative, some are entertaining, some keep you busy, some are just down right hilarious, and I mean fall off my chair hilarious, not just a "lol".

If you give a cat tuna fish ...

2009-04-20T12:42:00.012-04:00

If you give your cat some tuna fish, he'll want it again the next morning.
If you don't give it to him the next morning, you'll wake up to find him staring at you.
If you find him staring at you, you may also find the dog jumping around because he doesn't like the cat on the bed.
If you push the cat off the bed, then the dog is going to chase him down the hall.
After the dog chases the cat down the hall, he'll come back and bark to get you out of the bed.
If you don't get out of bed immediately, the dog will thrust his 80 lb. body halfway upon the bed and give another bark.
Once you get out of bed, you'll see the dog and cat sitting somewhat close to each other, waiting and staring at you!
When you stumble down the stairs, the dog might trip you on his way down to beat you to the bottom. Same with the cat.

After you catch yourself and let the dog outside, the cat will begin to circle your legs and meow, loudly.
While ignoring him and getting your first cup of coffee, you notice there's no milk. As you walk to the fridge, your cat stands boldly in front of you.
After you trip over him to get the milk, you pour it into your cream pitcher and place it beside the coffee maker.
As you drink your first cup, you hear the dog scratching at the door. Walking to the door, you let him in and are relived the cat is no longer bugging the crap out of you.
After the dog comes barrelling in, you notice something out of the corner of your eye.
It's the cat on the kitchen counter, drinking milk from the cream pitcher, soy no less!
While racing to the kitchen and yelling at him to stop, he jumps down and the dog chases him up the stairs.

Feeling like your head is going to blow off, you dump the cat contaminated milk from the cream pitcher and put it in the dishwasher.
While searching for another cream pitcher with a narrow opening, you hear the cat meowing, again, loudly.
Finally, you break down, give him the bloody tuna fish, feed the dog and get another cup of coffee.

So ... if you ignore your cat and don't give him the tuna fish, he'll drink your soy milk out of your cream pitcher.

P.S. No cat was mistreated in this scenario.

Wonder Woman Cuff.

2009-04-17T08:29:00.013-04:00

Maybe its because I feel powerful when I slide this cuff bracelet on my wrist that I refer to it as "the Wonder Woman cuff". How I wish I had Wonder Woman's powers or her body, for that matter. Maybe I'll name this piece Linda, for Linda Carter the star of that cool tv show.

Who knows, all I know is that I'm not finished setting the stone, but I'm loving the look. It's a long process setting a stone of this size, at least for me. I'm not a perfectionist, but I want to be pleased with the finished piece and be proud of my design.

When I purchased this stone, I imagined a chunky pendant. I soon changed my mind when I began thinking the stone looked like various things, from a wedge of cheese to a slice of turtle cheesecake to other things I dare not mention. This musing began in my metalsmithing class at Spruill Center for the Arts. A few of the girls (T and J), made cracks about this stone, so finally T suggested I mount it on the cuff bracelet I had been working on! Brilliant idea! So began the process. Interesting how you purchase a stone with thoughts of one design and then the finished product is nothing how you envisioned. Hence, handmade jewelry that is one of a kind, because its hard to duplicate errors.

Another example, the turquoise stone in this pendant setting (below right) was going to be a ring. It would have been a beautiful ring, but I began setting the stone, BEFORE I soldered it to the ring shank. No, no, no! You must finish the setting, solder it to the ring shank, then set the stone, because you cannot solder a piece with the stone already inside, it will break or shatter the stone. Duh! the stone is not invincible to heat.

This is called problem solving or fixing screw-ups. I have to say, every time I've "problem solved" I've been super happy with the results. I'm working on two ring settings and have sticky notes on my workspace reminding me to solder, clean-up, then set the stone.

This, my friends, is why I make one of a kind jewelry and wouldn't want it any other way.

I was tagged!

2009-04-16T14:26:00.006-04:00

Two days ago I was tagged on Gaston Studio's blog to play the 8 tag game. This was a lot of fun and quite interesting when I read back over my responses. Join in if you're game!

8 things I'm looking forward to:

Completing my taxes now that I filed the extension.
Finishing my new studio!
School being out.
Sleeping in a bit over the summer.
"Lost" episode in 2 weeks.
Going back to visit my mom and sister in NC. Last time was not long enough!
the beach
making new jewelry for Summer

8 things I did yesterday:

Had coffee with Kim.
Shopped for a new blouse for this weekend's party.
Frantically tried to complete my taxes!
Filed an extension for my taxes.
Finally talked to Kirsten, it had been weeks, no months!
Went to my son's baseball game and froze it was so cold.
Vacuumed.
Watched "Lost".

8 things I wish I could do:

Make enough/steady money with my jewelry business so that my husband doesn't feel so stressed about money.
Go back to Italy.
Take my kids to Italy!
Live at the beach year round.
Twitch my nose (like Bewitched, and move my mom and sister's house only 4 hours away, instead of 8.
Visit my family in Phoenix more than once a year.
teach my dog Collins not to bark constantly at anything and everything he sees at the front door and/or windows.
go on a girls trip for a week with a great group of my girlfriends

8 shows I watch:

Lost
Dancing with the Stars
Castle
Greys Anatomy
The Weather Channel
Oprah
Whatever is on the Disney Channel (not by choice)
Dog Whisperer

8 people I tag:

Post your own answers to the questions in each category, including 8 people you want to tag.

Tip of the day.

2009-04-16T12:01:00.004-04:00

If you are running late for a hair appointment, do not eat a piece of chicken while running around your house, no matter how small the piece of chicken, or how moist it is. Inevitably, it will get stuck and you'll spend a lot of time you don't have coughing and drinking water trying to clear your throat. Just go hungry until after your hair appointment or until you calm down, whichever comes first.

This tip applies to people in the house by themselves, with only the dog to turn to.

My kitchen, my other office.

2009-04-14T07:49:00.015-04:00

I don't think I ask for much in the kitchen, well maybe I do. It drives me completely crazy having piles of crap sitting on my kitchen counters. I say "my" because, after all, it is my other office. I gave up counter space when we moved into this house. My kitchen in Charlotte had lots of counter space and lots of cabinets to hide crap in. Now I must adjust to this new kitchen and cooking in this new kitchen. It hasn't been easy. Maybe its because I miss all the counter space I gave up. Maybe its because I don't really cook like I used to. Maybe its because there's always so much crap on the counter tops I'm constantly removing that I become so annoyed afterwards, I'm not in the mood anymore.

By the way, who (husband) tied the ribbon to my kitchen cabinet knob? Yes, I would someday, like to replace my cabinet knobs, but not with decorations. Don't do this again.

When I cook, I like to spread out and control everything. After all, it is my kitchen and my other office. I like my kitchen neat, pretty and orderly. To have those things, I declare I must live alone, and since that is not an option (because I love my two adorable children and my sweet husband!) I must adjust and adapt. I am always looking for ways to do this. But everyone needs to be on board. I set up "systems" and tell everyone, but no one follows the system. People, this is not difficult. Am I unreasonable?

System #1. The coffee station. Everyone who knows me (and you really should get to know me, lol) knows I'm a coffee freak! This photo from yesterday, when husband worked from home (see previous post) really freaked me out! I cannot walk into the kitchen mid morning and see this horror! Especially when I am working on the computer. I was only freaked, until I whipped out my Senseo coffee pot and made a one hitter (husband's term for one cup of coffee from this particular coffee pot).

Sorry, got side tracked with no coffee, on to system #1, whoever makes coffee, either me or my husband (since kids haven't been taught how to make coffee, yet), is suppose to use a coffee spoon rest and take the artificial sweetner container from the cabinet and put it by the coffee pot. This artificial sweetner container does not live on the counter top while not in use. And when using artificial sweetners, if you empty one, you throw it away. Simple enough? Then why is it someone (husband) never does this. Look at the evidence in the picture I took yesterday.

Those yellow Splenda wrappers are all over the place (picture on right)! This can affect the start of my day!
Picture below left, illustrates how it should appear, IMO. Peaceful, neat, tidy.

I have tried asking husband for suggestions on systems and what he would like to see and use. Sometimes he offers suggestions, but when I put them in place, he doesn't comply.

All you organized people out there, help! How do I get my husband on board with these little systems? And why does he fight the systems in the first place?

Its like people say, "husbands, you can live with 'em, you can't live without 'em!" or its like I say, "husbands, you can't live with 'em, you can't kill 'em!". I always get a lot of eye brow raising from others when I say that and sometimes they slink away from me. Their loss.

Invasion of my WAH space.

2009-04-13T10:15:00.013-04:00

I love my husband, don't get me wrong, but he's been working from home way too much lately. I mean, come on, before spring break he was in the house most of the week. Doesn't someone need him at the office? He's probably more productive here with no interruptions and the peace and quiet. But now, my peace and quiet has been interrupted.

Not to mention he's taken over our sunroom, setting up (what I hope to be) his temporary workspace. He has an enormous office downstairs (I will not embarrass him by posting a photo) in the basement that I graciously offered two years ago when we bought this house. Okay, it is an unfinished basement with no central heat or air conditioning. The ac is not an issue for him. It's the lack of heat. He's always cold. (Note blanket on chair). Husband is from Michigan, so buck up baby, and deal with the space heater I bought for you! He has a lovely view of our backyard with the kids trampoline and most likely piles of dog poop. Note to self: clean up dog poop today.

I'm moving my studio downstairs to a room with no bloody windows, therefore, no view of the yard, trampoline and dog poop. Am I complaining? No. Will I miss the bay window overlooking my beautiful yard ( in my current office/studio)? Absolutely. Am I upset? No, because I can do whatever I want in my studio and keep it anyway I want. Messy, neat or a little of both. I bet anyone a $1 that once I move downstairs in my new, cool studio, husband will be downstairs using his office. Do I care there is no heat? Hell no! I'm warm most of the time.

I took over the front room in our house because I thought it was the best place at the time. Things have changed. I need a place to hammer, drill and solder. Sometimes I like to hammer at night after the kids are in bed and the daughter has told me to please stop, she can't get to sleep. Not good! Hence, the moving downstairs. I'm constantly stressed about keeping this room tidy, these pictures are my feeble attempt.

Whether you like it or not, I will take you on my journey to finish my new jewelry studio. My brother put up the drywall and showed me how to "mud". Now I must sand, mud again, sand, clean up all the crap in the room, prime and finally - paint!!!!

To be continued ....

Honor thy Mother.

2009-04-11T10:22:00.005-04:00

After spending the last few days with my mom in North Carolina, I thought it only fitting to mention Mother's Day is May 10th. Please remember to call your mother, send her a card and /or a gift this year. Honor your mother and let her know she is loved and appreciated. Don't take her for granted.

Amy over at Purplepinkandorange has put together a Mother's Day gift guide featuring a variety of gift ideas to honor moms, mommys, mother-to-bes, and mother-in-laws. This guide offers new selections from independent artists you should know, or get to know. Many of the shops are offering special discounts - look for them on the right side of the page.

Using Gaston Studio's computer.

2009-04-08T10:28:00.008-04:00

Okay, for those who don't know, Jane of Gaston Studio is my mom. So when I posted a comment earlier today on Beth's blog, I posted as Gaston Studio! GAAKK! Quickly deleted, logged her out, and logged myself in. Yes, I'm at my mom's and using her computer.

A few days ago, I packed up the van with the kids, my 82 lb. dog, and all our crap, and headed to eastern North Carolina to visit mom and sister. It's spring break, in my neck of the woods, so what better time to visit family, right!? Also, my husband moved us 8 1/2 hours away from his mother-in-law, our children's Nana and Aunt Sandi, so we must plan this bloody long trip when the kids have more than a long weekend.

This time, we stopped over in Charlotte to visit friends, and break up the trip. Brilliant plan! I felt well rested and daughter got her BFF fix. With only 4 1/2 hours, I took 2 pitstops and downed only 1 Starbucks. FYI, Starbucks has very clean bathrooms.

So here we are, freezing in NC, I think it went down to freezing last night. My sister, very disappointed she couldn't go the month of April with no heat or no air conditioning, turned on the heat. Jeez, we could've stayed in Atlanta to be cold. I was looking forward to relaxing on their big ass porch with my coffee and putting puzzles together with the kids.

As I sit at mom's computer typing this post, mom and sister, are working my kids to the bone spreading bag upon bag of pine mulch. I escaped this task because my kids are being paid a nice little sum to do yard work and I don't want to steal their thunder. I'm taking advantage of the peace and quiet, only occasionally listening to a very pitiful yelp from sister's eldest dog Loki.

Well, darn, Loki set off the others, now all 4 dogs are barking like something has them by the tail. Better go investigate.

No April Fool's jokes this year.

2009-04-02T08:38:00.009-04:00

Yesterday was the first April Fool's day I didn't play a joke on my husband. Maybe its because he's been a bit stressed at work like many people these days. Maybe its because I've been so busy making jewelry and getting ready for the market I'm participating in this Saturday. Maybe its because I haven't finished our taxes and I'm stressed about time running out. Maybe its because I had a lot of updating to do on my website. Maybe its because I was looking for my to do list and haven't found it. Maybe because I was anticipating "Lost" coming on that evening and was wondering what cool thing we'd discover. Or maybe it was because I couldn't think of anything really good this year.

I believe it was the first year of our marriage, I played a good one. When we married, I had a dog and cat, both fixed, of course. But my cat had the low hanging extra baggage that would shake as she walked. So while husband was showering, I told him that when Cookie (top right picture is her several months before she died at 18) escaped from the house, that she got pregnant. She was an indoor cat and it ticked me off that husband allowed her to escape. He said he thought she was fixed. And I said, well the vet said, sometimes it doesn't "take". I told him how excited I was to have kittens and started wondering who we could find to adopt some, but I wanted to keep one. Oh, trust me, it went on and on with my exurberance. I could sense his unhappiness and stress level rising over having kittens. For goodness sake, we didn't have children yet, what's the deal about another kitten!?

When I finally confessed and let him off the hook, he was relieved and said all he could think about was more vet bills and mouths to feed. I looked at him blankly and said, I'm not pregnant, its the cat, with a few kittens. Jeez, louise! He did like it though, said it was very creative .

Game on!

2009-04-01T09:07:00.010-04:00

Okay, there's no game, really. And this is not an April Fool's joke people! Go to my website and sign up to enter the 2009 Happily Handmade Giveaway (click on the official pretty green badge - each sponsor has one on their home page). All you have to do is sign up with the entry form on each and every website of the Indie Sponsors for the Happily Handmade Giveaway. There are 25 glorious baskets brimming with handmade gifts valued at over $300 each. No kidding! This basket to the right includes a pair of my earrings.

This baskets to the left contains a pair of my earrings! To me, the game is entering through all the Indie Sponsors websites. There are so many talented artists, so I get side tracked looking at all the goodies on their websites.

Let me know what you think of this giveaway.

Rainy days in Georgia and other ramblings.

2009-03-27T16:01:00.008-04:00

We have had the rain. All outdoor sports were cancelled, so my son was bummed about missing baseball. Daughter's volleyball game was on and they won! All in all, not such a bad weekend, we got several games of Monopoly in. My seven year old played his dad a few times and kept winning. He also bragged about it. My husband thought this very funny, especially that he came to me to tell me how badly he was beating his daddy.

Lo and behold, I beat everyone on Sunday for our one hour time limited game. Such fun playing board games with children. You learn a lot by doing this.

I also found time to work on my Happily Handmade Giveaway page that will be up on Wednesday, April 1st. No joke!
Be sure to stop by Dee-Zigns' website and register to win.

My daughter wanted to create a logo for her jewelry business, yes the apple doesn't fall far from tree. She's been making earrings like crazy ever since she got her ears pierced. This is the logo she came up with.

This Saturday, April 4th, I will be at the Sweet Apple Village Market, in Roswell, Georgia for a soft opening from 11am-5pm. I will have a lot of one of a kind jewelry for Spring and Summer, including my new metals collection. I don't know what other vendors will be there, but when I find out, I'll post them. The Sweet Apple Village Market will officially open June 6th, with a market every Saturday and Sunday. All the neighborhoods around have been anxiously awaiting the opening.

Going now to ask the rain gods to skip this Saturday, so we can have a fun and beautiful day!

My mom, the blogger.

2009-03-25T10:45:00.007-04:00

I know so many family bloggers, usually moms and daughters, or sisters. We women are the creative ones and love to talk, right?

I have learned many "new" things about my mom from reading her blog. She swears she's told me these little stories before, but I guess my memory has gone to the toilet, because I swear, I've never heard them before.

Take for example her recurring dream, you can read it here. It gave me the heebee, geebees when I read it. I wasn't surprised, she's always telling me things that send goosebumps up my arms. Like the fact that there's a poltergeist living in her house, it's a huge 100 year old house with creeky floors. My sister, who lives there as well (my mom and sister share this huge old house in Kinston, NC), says the same thing. This drives me nuts! I don't want to know! They think its funny and fascinating, I don't.

I'm the chicken that still cannot look at a fly the same way, after seeing the original movie "The Fly" when I was a tween. If I remember correctly, mom and dad were out for the evening, and my aunt was babysitting and she loves scary movies. So we watched it. OMG! That was the most horrific movie I had seen up to that point in my young life. I've had nightmares ever since. It took me years to get over seeing "Alien" when I was 18. Now, it fascinates me and I've seen all the "Alien" movies with Sigourney Weaver.

Happily Handmade Giveaway begins April 1st

2009-03-25T09:50:00.011-04:00

The Happily Handmade Giveaway is back, woo-hoo! If you haven't heard about it before, the HHG, is a massive giveaway created in appreciation of indie shoppers everywhere. They took a much needed break for 2 years, regrouped with a new website and new logo and are back and better than ever! As a shopper, you can be generously rewarded for your continued support of indie businesses. You can feel good about making the conscious decision to shop indie and limit your big box purchases.

The Happily Handmade Giveaway began in 2004 as the result of a brainstorming session among several indie artists looking for a unque way to promote their businesses and reward their customers. The last event gave away nearly $15,000 worth of indie merchandise to 51 lucky shoppers around the world.

The 8th event begins April 1st with entry forms easily found on each sponsors' website. Mark the date and go to Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories to enter to win fabulous prizes (all handmade, of course) worth around $250!

Since I'm one of the sponsors, I'll have the huge sponsor list posted on Dee-Zigns website. The Farrah Earrings and the Sun Necklace are two of the eleven items I donated. Check back often for additional details.

Going on a Blog Hunt!

2009-03-23T13:42:00.018-04:00

I saw this on Scoutie girl and decided to put my list together. I enjoyed visiting blogs that I haven't (I'm sorry to say) visited in a while. Be sure to stop by each one and see for yourself what incredible writing there is to be read out there in cyberspace. And please let me know what you think of my list!

{image + game via marta writes}
play along if you please.
link it up. spread the love.

link a blogger who...

has an online shop: The Pear Project
has flawless taste: just beachy
has admirable qualities: purplepinkandorange
has awesome links to other blogs: scoutie girl
is an artist: Peggy Li Jewelry
is intriguing: Mimi Love 4 ever
is a daily read: youlookfab
is an old favorite: fashionista
is creative: Orange you lucky
is a designer: the material girls
is wildly prolific: indiefixx
features fabulous layouts: modish
features loveliness: MissMalaprop
features fantasticness: Indie Collective
lives far away: Mixed Plate
lives pretty close: Funky utopia
lives pretty far: desire to inspire
takes fantastic photographs: heather bullard
tells great stories: Gaston Studio
crafts up a storm: Craftster
writes about life: blissfully caffeinated
gives fabulous recipes: the pioneer woman
gives fabulous tips: Modish Biz Tips
makes me want to be her best friend: laurenandkellytalk
makes me believe in the goodness of people: dollar philanthropy
makes me laugh: dooce

March Clearance Sale

2009-03-22T16:43:00.007-04:00

Its time to take advantage of the serious March Clearance Sale going on at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry. Seriously, I am cleaning house and making room for new items for Spring and Summer. More than 70 handmade jewelry treasures are on sale with earrings starting at $10.40.

This is a perfect opportunity to rack up on the deals, before Easter and Mother's Day rolls around, to give your loved ones a one of a kind gift. If you've had your eye on anything on my website, now is the time to buy!

Animals are creatures of habit.

2009-03-19T07:45:00.000-04:00

Whoever said, "Animals are creatures of habit" sure knew a thing or two.

Case in point, after I kiss my kids and send them to the bus stop, my dog, Collins, and cat, Kitty go running to the kitchen. They are expecting their breakfast. I got into the habit of feeding them after the kids left for school and I had my second or third cup of coffee.

Collins is my male comrade and office/studio companion. He is truly a male in every way. Once he finishes his meals (two a day), he wants to go do "his business". I can set my clock by him. (she pauses) Sorry, had to go let Collins outside. He got ancy and gave me a quick "ruff" which means, stop typing now, turn around and come let me outside - now!

Kitty is our male cat, yes a male cat named Kitty. My daughter named him, after a visit to my mother's house, which led to us adopting this sweet little guy. At that time, my mom had three cats of her own, and didn't want a fourth. Mom acquired Kitty after rescuing him from several large dogs. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Fresh victims were about to enter the adoption zone... my kids and I! Erika fell in love immediately and wanted to take him home. Mom had no offers, so after several days of Kitty cuddling with me, I caved. See the picture of Kitty sitting in the light box I set up to take jewelry photos for my website. Click on the photo to enlarge and you'll see the necklace peeking out from under his bottom. He's a typical male, always trying to get my attention. :)

After Kitty eats, he is ready to aggravate Collins! He's such a tease and dances around my legs which makes Collins nuts. So they start the game and eventually must be sent out of the room. The chase is on, up the front stairs, down the hall, down the back stairs. That 9 lb. cat sounds like a herd of elephants. Collins, at 82 lbs. always sounds like a herd.

They crack me up and make me smile. Animals, you gotta love 'em.

Erin go braugh!

2009-03-17T07:32:00.010-04:00

It's 7:33am and I know first hand the Irish party-goers in Savannah, GA have been going at it for sometime.

How would I know? Many years ago, as a young Lass growing up in Savannah, my friends and I would begin the day with green eggs, green bagels, green beer and any thing else dyed green to begin a fun filled St. Patrick's Day. We would make our way to Riverstreet and meet up with other friends and family members. If you weren't wearing green, you'd be pinched! I was covered head to toe! It's all about the wearing, eating, drinking and celebrating of the green.

St. Paddy's Day is an event not to be missed in Savannah, it is one of the biggest celebrations in the United States. The parade is something special every young child should witness. Have I taken my kids to Savannah for St. Paddy's day? No. Maybe next year. Even though Savannah literally shuts down for this special day, other cities don't and its hard taking children out of school to go party on Riverstreet with their parents.

According to the Savannah Visitors and Convention Bureau, 400,000 visitors are expected for the 3-hour parade on March 17, traveling from all over to celebrate this month long event. No, its not a one day event, Savannah celebrates all month.

Get free priority mail shipping at Dee-Zigns all day today, use coupon code GREEN at checkout.

How much dirt is too much?

2009-03-12T11:26:00.000-04:00

I don't walk around with a dust buster behind my kids (anymore) so I'm okay with a little dirt and a little mess. I want my kids to have fun and I am not going to stress over every little thing out of place and the house not in perfect order. I have chilled tremendously about keeping a perfect house! Life's too short, right?

And I realize how great it is to have children that want to play outside. The stream (maybe its a lake) behind our house fascinates my kids. They find various items around the water and have made secret hideouts with the neighbor kids. But water is water, and there is something alluring about putting your hands in the water, next comes the feet and before you know it, they are filthy and wet.

My big complaint - the dirt! The amount of dirt they collect on their bodies, shoes and clothing is mind boggling. The process just to get "clean" to come into the house is truly exasperating. Take off your filthy shoes, (whine) now the socks, oooh, they are wet and filthy. Okay, son, you are so disgustingly dirty you must strip down in the garage. Go scrub your hands and fingernails (more whining). I need one of those outside showers you see at the beach. Daughter fusses, telling me she's not that dirty. Uh-huh.

I have friends that would love to see their kids play outside instead of sitting in from of the tv or computer or even playing on the Wii, X box or any other gaming device. These kids are probably clean and neat.

The shoes are a huge problem, I have purchased boot scrapers (you know, the cute animal kind) to help them clean their shoes off before coming inside. Well, a boot/shoe scraper doesn't work if you don't use it.

Don't get me started on the laundry. I have tried every stain remover to remove said stains. The clothes are so bad they need cleaning before they go into the washer. What's a mother to do?

So seriously, how much dirt is too much? Any suggestions on ways to control the dirt before it is deposited into our house will be happily noted.

Green for Spring

2009-03-07T10:13:00.012-05:00

I was happy to see this post titled "Green is trending for Spring" as anyone who knows me, knows I love the color green. I especially love the green trench coat Angie featured on Nordstrom website priced at $128. There is a red one featured on the same page that caught my eye because red is my all time favorite!

I'll never forget a night a neighbor stopped by to purchase a gift, naturally I had all my jewelry on display in the dining room (the life of a WAHM selling her wares from her house). After Janie (not her real name), perused the jewelry, she commented with a giggle "You really like the color green". I cracked up, walked over and sure enough, I had many one of a kind jewelry pieces in various shades of green. Not everyone likes green.

When we moved back to Atlanta, I decided on a fresh grass green, Baize Green from Sherwin Williams, for my 2-story foyer, up the stairs and down the hallway. In this dining room I went with a slightly darker shade aptly named Great Green, above the chair rail and a darker shade, Leapfrog, below the chair rail. I love it and will probably never tire of it. My husband, not so much. After 20 months, he's never said he likes it. He's more of a blue guy!

You can find many shades of green in my handmade jewelry at Dee-Zigns. One of my favorites is the Josie Necklace shown below.

Goody bags at birthday parties.

2009-03-06T11:25:00.001-05:00

This has bugged me for years, what insane mother started giving goody bags to their child's birthday guest when they leave the birthday party? Are you kidding me? This has never made sense to me. The birthday child is the guest of honor. The children invited to the party should not be given gifts for attending a friend's birthday party. The "gift" of friendship should be enough. Are we teaching our kids they should for friendship? Think about it.

I especially don't like the junk that is typically in a goody bag. Usually plastic trinkets and candy that probably cost the parents a small fortune. How, pray tell, do I know filling goody bags can cost a small fortune? Because I have been there, done that! I have purchased little crap from the party companies and taken great pain choosing neat stuff and have spent upwards of $15 per bag. Kid's birthday parties are so outrageously expensive (read - over the top) why spend additional money when it isn't unnecessary.

Why did I do this? Because everybody does it and I didn't want anyone thinking less of me for not doing it. Well now I say, forget about it! And if you are going to think less of me, so be it. You and I probably wouldn't have been BFF anyway.

So enough with the goody bags! Kids are already on a sugar high when they leave the party, they don't need extra candy from the goody bag. The children may play with the plastic trinket for a minute, or less, then the parents are left picking up plastic trinkets from the car floor or pulling them out of the vacuum.

Okay, I'm finished with my rant, what do you think?

Snow storm and jewelry market in Atlanta.

2009-03-05T16:51:00.007-05:00

Last Sunday, I participated in Spruill Center for the Arts 1st Annual Jewelry Market (Dunwoody, GA) and offered my new Metals collection. The day began cold and rainy with the weather people predicting snow, severe winter weather, they called it. Yeah, sure, the day before it was almost 70! But as we finished setting up our space, we saw a few snow flakes. Nice.

Atlantans go nuts when they hear the word snow, so the organizers and the participants at Spruill's jewelry market were not expecting many shoppers. Boy, were we wrong! Surprisingly, people began flowing in doning galoshes, snow boots, hats, gloves, scarves and umbrellas! I looked outside and saw that it was snowing heavily. It wasn't keeping them away. In fact, people were excited about the weather and didn't want to stay home as recommended by the weather people. They had been anticipating Spruill's jewelry market and wanted to see the many artist displaying their handcrafted jewelry. A lot of gorgeous jewelry went home to happy people through-out Atlanta. It turned out to be a wonderful event and a successful one at that.

It's organic!

2009-02-15T09:21:00.015-05:00

For the last several quarters, I've been taking metalsmithing classes at Spruill Art Center. I've always wanted to learn more about jewelry making, so having the time and opportunity to take classes, is a dream come true.

"It's organic" is one of the many humorous comments my instructor, Kristin Wilder, says while examining students' projects. It always cracks me up! Oh my gosh! Everything I create is organic. I don't believe I could produce two identical items if my life depended on it and, that's okay. I prefer one of a kind. People are one of a kind whether they realize it or not.

These photos contain my first projects in metalsmithing. Please let me know your thoughts and feelings about the organic jewelry designs in these photos.

In the next couple of days, I will be adding this new line of jewelry to my website, Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories.

New creations for your favorite Valentine.

2009-01-29T11:27:00.001-05:00

Here are the latest one of a kind necklaces and earrings found only at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories.

Guys, this Valentine's Day, don't rely on chocolate and flowers, handmade jewelry will last a lifetime. Your loved ones will appreciate a gift that won't add pounds and die after a few days.

I'll be creating new items, so check back often!

Happy New Year, finally!

2009-01-17T12:01:00.011-05:00

Happy new year everyone! I know, I know, it's been a while since I last posted. We spent 10 days in AZ for the holidays. It was wonderful being with family for so long and the weather was fabulous. Coming back to Atlanta and reality was difficult. The weather was gloomy and overcast for about 8 days, so that got me down and I was finding it hard to get motivated.

We missed our dog and cat very much so it was great coming home to them! Going through mail, emails and getting back into the routine of school (and all that entails) was painful.

Fortunately, the sun returned and we're back into our routines. Life is good.

Now on to something fun... getting ready for Valentine's Day with new jewelry creations at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories.

Be sure to visit Purplepinkandorange.com and their Valentine's Day Gift Guide for unique gift ideas. You'll discover some of the finest independent designers selling handmade goodness, including Dee-Zigns.

Last giveaway at Modish

2008-12-15T05:43:00.005-05:00

Jena at Modish is offering 3 days of giveaways. Dee-Zigns' Bree Earrings are listed as one of the gifts. You really must enter to win one of these 3 giveaways - there are tons of wonderful gifts for yourself and for others on your holiday gift list - each giveaway is worth over $700 dollars! Deadline to enter is tomorrow, so hurry on over!

Shopping online makes sense!

2008-12-02T08:30:00.004-05:00

As I sit at the computer, drinking my coffee, I am compelled to write about the "Countdown to Christmas" I put on my blog. Part of me loves it because I can see the exact time to prepare without having to look at the calendar. The other part of me is freaked out by it, because I see time ticking away and I have so much to do!

My shopping is almost completed - woo-hoo! I love shopping online. For those of you still undecided, here are just a few reasons why I shop online.

Easier - No parking issues or aggravation searching from store to store. Easier to do comparison shopping.
Safer - No worries that someone may be lurking in the parking lot, ready to rob you, or worse.
Comfortable - No make-up, hair can be messy and you can be in your pajamas!
Convenient - You can shop 24 hours a day - have a real lunch instead of shopping on your lunch hour.
Save money - You save on gas, find lower prices, and many deals and promotions from your favorite merchants.
Less Stressful - You avoid crowds! A lot of smaller, independent designers offer free gift wrapping - we do at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories.

Read this article about shopping online.

CYBER MONDAY

2008-12-01T08:03:00.006-05:00

In honor of Cyber Monday, get free shipping and a free gift by using coupon code HOLIDAY at checkout only at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry and Accessories.

Support small, independent designers of handmade wares and purchase one of a kind gifts for your family and friends. The big box stores cannot compete with our attentive customer service and handmade items.

Here is another wonderful gift guide from Wishlistworthy. Check out the handmade goodness!

Free Shipping - today only!

2008-11-04T07:32:00.007-05:00

Happy election day everyone. If you haven't already, please exercise your right to vote. I'm heading to the polls in a bit so I wanted to offer free shipping to anywhere in the United States today only at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories.

There is no better time to shop for sales and be sure to check out our Items under $25.

At checkout enter coupon code ELECTION and receive free priority mail shipping anywhere in the United States.

Gift Guides Galore!

2008-11-03T12:15:00.005-05:00

Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories is listed in a few other holiday gift guides. Personally I find while browsing these gift guides it helps me focus on my shopping list and within a few clicks I have found unique gifts that I know I wouldn't have discovered at any big box retailer. And generally, I get better customer service and and friendlier shopping experience.

The Indie Collective Holiday Shopping Guide has a wide array of unique handcrafted items from innovative indie designers in a magazine-inspired format. Indie Collective boasts they provide one of the hippest resources for today's savvy shopper to discover the best of indie fashion & style. Look for incredible savings on shipping and discounts at each of the shops.

The Holiday Gift Guide at PurplePinkandOrange is available and contains over 30 indie designers and artists offering discounts and special savings to make shopping this holiday season a little easier.

The new website!

2008-10-31T09:43:00.005-04:00

In the last few weeks I have been updating and refreshing the website with a fresh new look! The last few days were a bit stressful because my site was down off and on. That just about drove me nuts! It couldn't be helped, but this is a busy time of year for shopping.

So if anyone tried to shop at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories and had problems, I am truly sorry and I hope you'll give it another try. You can always email me toni@deezignsjewelry.com and let me know you're having trouble and I will be happy to assist you!

I'm participating in a weekly giveaway at Styleforfree.com to win a pair of Harper earrings. They'll be giving away one pair of Harper earrings every day for the next 7 days. I had to compromise a bit and offer the same style but in different colors so they would still be unique.

Please visit this cool website and enter to win the Dee-Zigns giveaway and the other fabulous giveaways up for grabs. You'll find wonderful coupons in many places you already shop and other new designers and stores you should check out.

Christmas Countdown

2008-10-28T16:56:00.007-04:00

Oh my goodness, I just added this Countdown to Christmas on my blog and now I'm panicking at the time ticking away until Christmas. 8 weeks and 1 day! Yikes, I have so much to do because my family will be traveling to Arizona for Christmas. That will put a different spin on things. My kids keep asking if Santa will find them there. Of course he will, he's Santa!

I've already started my holiday shopping. I'm determined to start early so its not so stressful come December.

Which brings me to holiday gift guides. Dee-Zigns will be featured in several Holiday Gift Guides this season and Mixed Plate is the first one. Please take a peek and discover plenty of indie artists and designers showcasing many different gift ideas for friends and family members, including the furry ones! Every shop is offering a coupon code from free shipping to percentages off your order. So visit them today and start shopping.

Random Giveaway Winner

2008-10-22T19:19:00.003-04:00

Rachael I. was the lucky winner of Dee-Zigns Random Giveaway and won a $50 gift certificate at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories.

Rachael's name was randomly chosen from Dee-Zigns's newsletter subscribers. If you would like to be eligible to win the next Random Giveaway, be sure to sign up for Dee-Zigns email newsletter and you will automatically be entered. By signing up, you will receive 25% off your first purchase at Dee-Zigns.

Check this blog and the Dee-Zigns website regularly for the next Random Giveaway. You never know when we'll have it, that's why its random!

End of Season Sale at Dee-Zigns

2008-10-21T16:23:00.008-04:00

Hey all, there's huge savings on many sale items at Dee-Zigns. I've marked down lots of one of a kind necklaces, earrings, and bracelets at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories.

Shop now and get started on your holiday shopping list or pick up a birthday present for a friend or family member. Gift wrapping is always free and I'm happy to enclose a gift card and ship it directly to the recipient.

Oh, happy day!

2008-10-15T17:11:00.012-04:00

It's been a happy day. To my surprise this morning, I opened an email to find that my interview was published on Stylelist.com's blog. My Faith Necklace caught my eye immediately when I clicked on the main page. It's also filed under "Must Haves".

Mallory Whitfield interviews indie designers so you can read interesting facts about all the talented artists that you want to know and some you should know.

If you've never been on the Stylelist website, you're in for a treat.

Socially busy!

2008-10-13T17:43:00.004-04:00

There is a valid reason why I have not posted lately, alright 8 days to be exact. I've become a twittermom and meeting many moms that have a lot going for themselves. Besides running a home, being a wife and mom, they are running fascinating businesses and blogs and many doing both. It's a great community of busy and productive women supporting one another with a lot of humor thrown in.

I tweet on twitter, stumbling cool sites on stumbleupon, posting new photos on facebook and flickr and answering many emails.

So when do I have time to make jewelry? Funny, haven't lately. I have quite a few designs that I need to complete. I would love to copy myself like that movie with Michael Keaton, 'Multiplicity" Anybody remember seeing it? The plot: A man who never has enough time for the things he wants to do is offered the opportunity to have himself duplicated. Yep, I would do it, short term.

It could get messy, as it did in the movie, but I would love to try that out for a few days. I wonder if anyone would notice the difference in work Toni, mommy Toni, wife Toni, friend Toni.
To be continued...

Win a $50 Gift Certificate - randomly

2008-10-05T10:55:00.014-04:00

While making coffee this morning, I had an epiphany. A random giveaway at Dee-Zigns. Everyone loves contests and giveaways, right? Why not offer one on my website, but randomly.

In other words - whenever it moves me! Could be once a month, once a quarter, once a year! That's why it's random. I'll announce each Random Giveaway in the email newsletter, on this blog and you'll see it on Dee-Zigns website at the top of the page. So add us to your favorites!

To enter, sign up for Dee-Zigns email newsletter. By joining you will automatically be entered to win a $50 gift certificate at Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories. You'll also receive 25% off your first order by joining the email newsletter. Rest assured your email will not be shared with anyone or used in any other way.

Join now! The first Dee-Zigns Random Giveaway ends midnight, EST on October 17th. The winner will be notified via email. Good luck to everyone!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2008-10-01T08:28:00.008-04:00

October is breast cancer awareness month and Wishlistworthy.com is sponsoring Pink October with the purpose being to support breast cancer awareness and contributing to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Dee-Zigns Handcrafted jewelry & Accessories has donated the Katherine Bracelet for Wishlistworthy's first giveaway for Pink October. The giveaway for Dee-Zigns' Katherine bracelet ends October 8th at 9pm but they will have giveaways all month long, so be sure to visit the site.

Fall is in Atlanta, hooray!

2008-09-25T07:59:00.015-04:00

If you live in the South, you are probably enjoying the crisp, clear mornings we're experiencing. Seems as if Fall has arrived. The leaves are changing - possibly due to the drought in Georgia - or the approaching Winter season. Whatever the reason, I for one am in heaven!

A change in temperature, a change in color, clothing and accessories, makes me tingle all over.

Although Dee-Zigns Fall 2008 Collection is focused on black and white jewelry and bold, juicy colorful jewelry pieces, the cooler temperatures inspired the Tamryn necklace, bracelet and earrings. The stars of this one of a kind set is amazonite, laboradorite and Peruvian opal gemstones. An elegant combinations of cool colors and chunky sterling silver beads. This fine handcrafted jewelry set is one of a kind, so head over to Dee-Zigns now and buy them before someone else does.

Wear your teal and support Ovarian Cancer Awareness

2008-09-12T16:38:00.009-04:00

Cancer, in any form, is a horrible disease, but there is one form of cancer, Ovarian that is called the silent killer for a reason. There are no screening tests and no obvious symptoms. Hence, the importance of cancer research funding and spreading awareness.

Women need to be aware of their bodies, not shy away from looking and examining and asking their doctor questions. For more information, go to www.ovarian.org.

I want to do my part, to help raise money for Ovarian Cancer research. That is why my small company, Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry and Accessories is contributing 15% of our sales to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. I have adopted the NOCC to help spread the word, break the silence and support Ovarian Cancer research. You may help by purchasing items from Dee-Zigns online boutique.

I have created several teal jewelry items and will be donating 50% of the sales of the Joy necklace, the Marianna bracelet, and the Char lie bracelet to the N ationa l Ovarian Cancer Coalition.

Wear your teal, talk to your friends, family and talk to your doctor. Let's break the silence for good.

Remembering 9/11

2008-09-11T09:03:00.005-04:00

Seven years has gone by and I don't think anyone will forget where they were and what they were doing when we first heard about the attacks on the World Trade Centers. So surreal.

I was getting ready to meet a few other moms with our kiddos for coffee and conversation. I was pregnant with my second child and feeling sick. Not from the pregnancy.

While our children played, we sat there, stunned, confused, frightened, sad, worried, not sure what to do. Was there anything we could do? Pray, that's what we could do. Pray for the families that were being affected at that moment. Pray for our country.

We will always remember, we will never forget.

Dee-Zigns Fall 2008-09 Collection

2008-09-07T14:44:00.016-04:00

Dee-Zigns Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessories has introduced its Fall 2008-09 collection. You'll discover black and whites, purples, oranges and golden yellows.

In the south, it hasn't begun feeling like fall, but I'm ready for the cooler temps. They invigorate me and I look forward to new clothes and new colors. Here are just a few of the new colors you'll find at Dee-Zigns.