Just a short blurb to remind everyone to write and call President Barack Obama to let him know your ideas for a new and improved healthcare system!

In case you need the contact info here it is!

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

You can also call: 1-202-456-1111
or fax your comments: 1-202-456-2461

I would love to hear who has written him and what you said to him in your letters. Please comment!

If you have videos about personal accounts regarding being denied medical care due to your insurance please send me the link and I might use them in upcoming blog posts either here or on my blogspot blog; http://artlifenewsblog.blogspot.com/

One day I was thinking about the concept of a broken heart and the lyrics of a song came to mind written by Carly Simon that say, "So don't mind if I fall apart; there's more room in a broken heart."

That really inspired me to create a line of jewelry which finds the silver lining in an otherwise sad symbol.

Much of my jewelry has been about making lemonade when life provides lemons, so to speak, and about regeneration, and as I turned over in my mind this concept of broken heart creating space for new beginnings I began to visulaize something more like an egg hatching with a joyous surprise inside (instead of something irreparably broken, as the traditional meaning of a broken heart suggests).

Thus was born the Hollowform Broken Heart necklace line. Today somebody else blogged about one of these which includes bone, Aquamarine, Turquoise, and genuine red Oxblood Coral;
http://honeyandsweets.blogspot.com/2009/09/going-native.html

The piece is fitting for what has been going on recently in my life. I have had some heart problems over the past several weeks and am scheduled to see a Cardiologist tomorrow. For about 8 or 9 months one of the necessary medications (Benicar) used to treat my Sarcoidosis has been witheld due to Medicare part D refusing to cover it because it is part of an off-label protocol and I have gradually declined since I have been unable to obtain it. To pay for this medication out-of-pocket would cost somewhere around $120-$130/ Month; money I do not have.

I'm trying to patch some resources together in hopes that I can raise the money through proceeds from my jewelry and/or possibly get some of the medication I need donated by non-profit organizations. Because the dosage usually used to treat high blood pressure is much smaller than that for autoimmune disease at most I will only be able to obtain a very small percentage of what I need through Sankyo (the manufacturer).

More of my jewelry can be found at http://Giftbearer.etsy.com

If you make jewelry and would like to look for supplies I have a second Etsy store selling supplies, some of which are quite unique!
http://GiftbearerSupply.etsy.com 

As September ends Summer and shifts to Fall I hope you will consider doing your holiday shopping here from a small business with a heart. I realize that with the economic problems our country faces budgets may be limited. This is all the more reason to make the few purchases you make on jewelry and/or supplies count this year.

Supporting artists who are sole proprietors is a way that you can make a difference, help defray the cost of healthcare, and stock up on your gifts for family and friends.

Starting your shopping early gives you the time to really pick out something special for your loved-one(s) and saves you money in the long-run.

This is the necklace that is in the same style as the earrings in my previous post. (I haven't been able to figure out how to post more than one picture in each post.) The piece is really alot lighter weight than it looks, being 4" X 4".

<a href="http://technorati.com/claim/8enmmbidiw" rel="me">Technorati Profile</a>

(While I'm at it I realized tonight that my Zaadz blog was not listed in Technorati, so I'm activating it now.)

I just recently finished some elaborate new earrings and a necklace using wire-wrapping and weaving, and am testing the waters to see if these appeal to people.

I'm calling them Great Spirit Milestone earrings and necklace because the gemstone beads used in them remind me of milestones that people gather along the road of life becoming fuller and more substantial as time goes by.

We are still adding participants to meet the 90 artist goal and have 45 as of today. Some new people have signed up, and a few others could not go the distance and took themselves off the list. This has really increased views on the participating blogs and hopefully it will increase sales as we near the holiday gift-giving season.

If you want to see love put into action and the power of intention at work, come to the thread and join in, and read the interesting stories about each artist. I changed the thread from the one we were using originally so that the instructions would be more concise and clear. You can get in on the fun and promotion for your business here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5276160&page=1 

Also, if you'd like to read the features on artists I've written check out my participating blog at http://artlifenewsblog.blogspot.com/ to see a variety of gift items, and please feel free to leave comments!

I am a believer that love is an action word and that it should not be something held only in the heart, but manifest in what we do. These are (for lack of a better word) all "competitors" who have decided to share with others who sell their work in the same pond, and by appreciating the work of other artists they also help their own businesses. That is the beauty of community and being willing to work hand-in-hand with others. When we put forth our committment to ourselves and to each other, all things become possible.

If you are serious about promoting your business as an artist, willing to put in the time and make this a priority what you can gain is immeasurable. I have always believed that giving of ourselves and opening our hearts to new possibilities is the key to the abundance that was intended for all. This project illustrates that principle and shows you logically how it works. The more you put into it the more you get out of it.

There are some who say that they will only feature those who feature them, but although the project is built upon the honor system that everyone will reciprocate, this does not always happen with all participants, and in responding with equal and opposite resistance, one only further reduces his/her publicity because each feature you post in your blog brings with it a soundbite that is picked up by search engines. Therefore, each feature you don't do (either out of stubbornness, retaliation, or lack of self-discipline) is one more opportunity lost and one less soundbite you could have had to lead potential buyers to buy what you're creating.

This exercise shows very concretely why witholding (love, kindness, information, money, time, etc) is counterproductive, and why 'conserving" is not always the best policy.

I'll say it again: Witholding Is Counterproductive.

Using Einsten's Theory of Relativity as an example; each action has an equal and opposite reaction, but... we can choose to set the tone at any stage in the chain of events by which later reactions will be influenced.

Look at what you put out into the Universe as a kind of investment; not necessarily an investment with immediate returns, but more like a Money Market Account. In a Money Market Account you gain more by putting more in than by putting less in. Your money increases by the interest you get when you make an investment.

On Etsy many of the artists have at one time or another done something called a PIF (Pay It Forward) which is a free item offered in their online store to someone who wants to claim it. Then it is shipped to that person at no charge. The only thing that artist asks of the person in return is that they pass on this act of goodwill to somebody else by either listing one of their own, or to do some kind of good deed for someone. There was later some controversy surrounding the practice and how it should be done, and some had hard feelings that there were those going around just collecting all the freebies they could find without giving anything themselves, but I think nevertheless, the concept is a good one and should not be overshadowed by cynicism, nor should those who abused it be given the power to dictate or control how we behave in our dealings with others in the future. If you make it a point to do the right thing then even if it is lost on some people to whom you extend yourself, or even discounted, you have still put it out there, and The Creator sees and hears you.

After some pretty catastrophic current events like September 11th, Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, predatory lenders and other less than honest credit lenders and the economic damage done by these events (in addition to a conservative Congress and President), people seemed to be afraid of spending their money.

Foreign production displacing domestic, the layoffs of many US workers that ensued, and the fall of the value of the American dollar certainly added to the national panic, and resulted in a kind of stagnation that still remains in this country.

The rising cost of healthcare, and the lack of government regulation on health insurance providers to protect the interests of small business and individuals has only served to make citizens clamp down the proverbial sphincter further.

Many feel that the future of this country is not under their control, even the future of their own lives, so instead of making informed buying decisions by looking at the trajectory of those decisions, they give in to what's easiest, cheapest, and fastest; not necessarily best.

US dollars are leaving the country, draining our economy even further, and this trickles down to just about anyone employed here in America; not just artists. Even you guys who work in the IT industry are not immune. That is why I ask that you buy hand-made this holiday season. Of course online you will find some very good products by non-US makers too, and that's fine, but be sure to give US artists some love this year. I can't predict when or how, but each time you do it will come back to you in the longrun.

Also, getting involved in the 90 Features in 90 Days Challenge is a way to put your good intentions to work and start moving this country toward opening its collective heart.

As Iyanla VansZant would say; Don't Wish Good Luck, Be Good Luck!

Starting an Etsy account if you don't already have one is a good way (either for buying or for selling) and it doesn't cost anything. That's your first step in buying from these wonderful artists and/or to post your blog link and committment on the Etsy forum thread and getting started blogging your way to better sales, and a better community. To open an Etsy account go to http://etsy.com and click on where it says "Register".

       Get your art or fine craft featured 90 times in 90 days! Want to know how? Here's the deal; post on Etsy's messageboard on this thread;  http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5276160&page=1 (if you don't have an account you can easily open a free buyer or seller account at http://etsy.com/ in order to post there), and agree to swap features with me and however many others also post on that thread there as you want. If you have either a blog or a website that you can use to post pictures and 1-2 paragraphs complete with link to that person's online store on each feature you swap, you can do this! If not, and you would like to participate, you can easily start a simple and user-friendly blog by going to; https://www.blogger.com/start and set one up in a matter of just a few minutes. I was well into my 40's before I ever knew what a blog was and I picked it up very quickly.

     For those readers who don't know me, my name is Pippit Carlington, owner and jewelry artist of Giftbearer, and Street Team Leader of The Art Jewelry Collective, a group of jewelry artists from Etsy who collaborate in our marketing efforts with the goal of educating the public about the value of art jewelry, supporting a living wage for jewelry artists, and upholding standards of high quality and innovation in the jewelry industry.

     The 90 Features in 90 Days Challenge came about as a way to increase sales in my own business, but it occurred to me that the group and even others outside the AJC could utilize the same method to increase their number of sales, based on the law of averages. Just imagine being front page news every day until Christmas, the biggest gift-buying time of the year!

     I figured if I could swap features with 90 people and do one feature per day between the time I get 90 participants and Christmas, that should create a large enough internet splash to have a noticeable impact on number of sales. The results of many blogs reciprocating, when combined, would be like advertising in a much bigger venue. The impact of such a marketing challenge will make whichever sellers do this extremely visible all over the web; the more people you swap with, the more visible both you and they are. You can also increase this exposure two-fold by linking to your feature stories.

     The end result should eventually be increased sales because you have reached a larger number of potential buyers of your work, and because not all the participants are working in the same medium, there is great potential for cross-promotion, such as handbags with jewelry, or clothing with jewelry, and with only about 10 minutes a day invested in posting your features. So this holiday season not only raise a glass, why not raise your odds, and maybe even... your income!

I have long been trying to come up with a design that can be reproduced in a reasonable amount of time, as most of my jewelry is extremely labor-intensive, and I think I've finally found it! Saturn Spiral Earrings!

Inspiration always seems to come at some unGodly hour of the night and I can't go to sleep until I draw it in my design journal or make the piece. Last night I got busy and completed a pair of earrings that is both stylish and requires less time to make. That is not to say it only takes 10 minutes, but compared to most of my work which takes days or even weeks, these are a breath of fresh air.

This is a clever all-in-one design using one continuous piece of Argentium sterling silver wire for the hook and the rest of the earring. These measure 1 3/8" long and their hooks have been work-hardened to make them slightly springy so that they hold securely as an extra safety catch. The end of the earwires touch the back of a delightfully translucent Purple Jade bead which is in the center of a continuous spiral of sterling wire (also work hardened and polished to a nice shine). These look very much like Saturn with its rings spiralling to create the feeling of movement.

These versatile earrings combine simplicity and elegance and are great to wear to work, or out on the town.

Argentium Sterling Silver is especially tarnish-resistant replacing the usual small amount of copper in the manufacturing process with a newer alloy that does not oxidize as easily. Over time Argentium Sterling Silver may develop a mild tarnish but it takes much longer to develop and is much easier to remove with a mild jewelry cleaner or cloth such as Sunshine Cloth.

If people like these and they sell you can be sure I will make more with a variety of different stones. These are easily customized too and I can make them with just about any shape center bead in any color, so all you readers, I would love it if you'd place custom orders for your friends' Christmas/holiday presents this year. They are priced at $30.00/pair (based on beads which are about 9-10mm). If you'd like tiny ones like 2-6mm, please contact me for a price quote, as those would most likely be less using less wire to surround the bead (unless of course the bead is something expensive like Sapphire or hot pink Tourmaline).
The link to this pair on Etsy is; http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7225238

Also, I am moving some of my stock around to see what sells best at which venue, and have recently opened an online store on SmashingDarling at http://www.smashingdarling.com/store/1882   where  I currently have my Rainstick Necklace line and soon will have my Softies line as well. I will continue to list more metalwork on Etsy as it comes out and will be coming out with some new, experimental pieces in the near future.

     In preparation for the Christmas season a number of jewelry artists who have online stores on Etsy.com decided to take advertising to another level. To date the majority of advertising hosted by the site's administrators has targetted kitsch and pop-culture enthusiasts, mostly younger, seller/buyers who were looking for more low-price/high volume items. That left the growing number of art jewelers without adequate representation for their wares, and as a result, sales were disappointingly slow and low-dollar; not much help to those serious art based small businesses who rely on their art to make a living.

     In response to this need two groups of jewelry artists organized, (one of them founded by me) for the purpose of advertising collaboratively within an artist co-op model. Having run artist co-ops before I felt that I could make a difference and make Etsy high-end-jewelry-friendly, so I adopted the slogan for our group; "Preserving Tradition, Creating the Future" to convey our dedication to high quality workmanship, not serttling for less than our best, but also to innovation and staying ahead of the curve. One thing I have learned having been professionally trained is that in order to "break the rules" successfully one needs to understand the basics and know how to do things without breaking the rules first. It is important to have a core understanding of how your materials react to what you do with them in order to break the rules and still be assured that your product is structurally sound, durable, as well as aesthetically beautiful.

     In the early formative stages of our group there were outside dissenters who took offense that such a group was even to be formed. Their argument was "why set standards on Etsy or have any parameters at all for quality-control? Just let customers buy what they want." The implication of such statements were anarchistic in nature and implied that to create guilds or collectives of people of one mind was intrinsically a form of censorship. It further implied that people should be rewarded for bad quality workmanship (and to hell with what happened after a piece which looked nice online then broke in a customer's hand as long as the sale was made).  In reality the dissenters were mostly those sellers who currently made lots of sales who of course did not want to name the elephant in the livingroom that there existed a problem that needed to be addressed, because to do so threatened their monopoly on that site.

     I have always been one to "keep it real" and I made no bones about it that I felt the demographic was decidedly slanted in favor or these other sellers focused on getting their money now at all cost even if in some cases quality was compromised, or the market for jewelry depreciated with undercutting simply for the sake of rebellion.  In the 60's people knew what they were rebelling against and were united toward a positive end. Now the younger crowd of young adults rebels for the sake of rebellion but it has no particular focus and often makes no logical sense.

     Creating great art takes self-discipline and I think these people who wanted no standards upheld confused good sales with good art. Those principles are often at odds in today's market.

     The members of our group are mostly older (with the lower end being probably late thirties, and upper end in the 50's) and we've been around the block, been through the rebellion thing and would rather not go back after having banged our heads agaist that brick wall too many times. We've learned how to pick our battles, the most important one being to have our niche as well; an equal place at the table. We understand the importance of doing a job right the first time because it only takes one dissatisfied customer to ruin your reputation if you decide to cut corners to make that fast money now. We've learned it just isn't worth being that avante garde that we run ourselves out of business merely to stick it to the proverbial "man", and that peace, fairness, and integrity in business (as in life) are more important than being "right". A car without an engine may look nice on the outside but if you sell it to someone and they get it home only to find out it has no engine, they are going to be mighty angry.

     Armed with that wisdom we decided to organize amongst ourselves and pool our resources to bring educated, informed customers to Etsy who appreciate the finer things and are not merely looking for a $5.00 gift. Our target customers are people who understand why sterling silver is going to be more expensive than base metal and don't whine at the prospect of paying what it's worth, but instead see something well-made, unique, and different, and are honored to pay for it. Our goal is to attract customers who look at an exquisitely cut stone and say, "Wow! I want that!", rather than passing it over and going, "Pff, who cares if it's real; I'm not paying that much for that". We are seeking customers who can look at a piece of elaborate beadweaving or chainmaille and understand that the labor is worth money as well as the materials.

     I decided to "set an intention" as Wayne Dyer or Iyanla Van Zant would say, to bring that into my life and the lives of others on Etsy whose beautiful work was sitting and collecting dust because those in the current majority did not value it. I have faith that those who really get it will buy it and it's just a matter of reaching the right market.

     Our first advertising endeavor is a 2007 Calendar, 11 X 17" (a nice, large size), with nice, thick, glossy pages. It is effectively a print ad, and several of us undertook the task of doing it ourselves (all the lay-out) and submitting it to CafePress to be printed. We ran into every barrier known to man along the way but we were determined to get it to press. Finally we were able to submit it, complete with the works of 16 jewelry artists, and I received 30 copies in the mail the other day which the group had chipped in for so we could get the bulk rate. Today I took approximately half of them to the post office, ones that were extra copies the artists wanted for themselves, and I will place 16 (one from each artist participating) in our group Etsy store. This store will be at http://artjewelrycollective.etsy.com and the proceeds from the sales of calendars and other items in the store will go towards larger advertising efforts such as taking out an ad in Ornament Magazine. It is not open yet, but should be open by January 1st at the latest. Our Treasurer is managing that.

     As a matter of fact, speaking of Wayne Dyer, I was watching his PBS special during the fundraising drive over the weekend on The Power of Intention and his other segment on Inspiration and I remember his saying, "You have to want something more for others than you do for yourself and things will just present themselves to you miraculously".

     Well last night I called the bank to see how much money I had left in the my checking account just in case. I thought I had about $60.00. I was very concerned about getting these calendars to the artists and to my horror I heard on the automated phone banking system that I was overdrawn $17.00. I had a horrible feeling when I thought I might not be able to ship the calendars and I thought I had balanced my checkbook completely, so, hoping that it was a mistake, I pressed zero to speak with a customer service representative. A man picked up and I asked him how that could be and asked if he'd go through everything that month that posted in my account, so he started reading the various checks and debit card purchases and he came across the debit for my monthly Etsy fees. I realized then that they had not billed me last month and compounded the two months into one this month, and then realized that I had forgotten to enter my last post office charge when I got cash back while shipping a box. While he was on the phone he asked me what Etsy was and I told him it was a website for artists. He went online and looked at it briefly, and said, "Oh, wow, that's a neat site!". I then told him I needed to ship these calendars and that it was a group of artists from Etsy who had ordered them that I was to mail them to. I said I didn't know what I was going to do because the group was counting on me to mail them their copies, and the representative said, "Well let me see what I can do to help", checked my account and said, "O.K. I can re-fund your last overdraft and the $2.00 monthly bank fee and that should leave you $19.00 to work with. I was so happy I couldn't stop thanking him. Then I wished him a Merry Christmas and got off the phone. I still wondered if the $19.00 was going to cover all the postage for these huge calendars, some of which were going clear across the country to places like Washington State and California. I thought I only had $10.00 or $12.00 in my PayPal account and then got online to check, and lo and behold I actually had $20.00. A few months ago I got this PayPal debit card so that I could have quicker access to that money instead of waiting 4 days to transfer funds into checking and this came in very handy in this instance. I really didn't know until I got to the post office this morning if I was going to have enough even with the PayPal money, and then I got another stroke of luck. Even sending the calendars parcel post would have probably been more than I had, and Priority mail was way out of the question, but when I mentioned to the man behind the counter that they were calendars he told me they qualified for the reduced media mail rate. I spent everything but two dollars left in my checking account, but I was able to get them all mailed. Somehow it didn't even matter to me that I was running out of food in the house and that I would have to wait until January 3rd (or until I make another sale of my jewelry) before I can afford to go to the grocery store.

Above is a picture of the front of the Calendar. In the meantime, if you think you might like to purchase a copy, please go to http://artjewelrycollective.wordpress.com/ our group's blog, and leave a comment with your contact information and let us know you would like to buy one and one of us will get back to you to arrange it.

I thought I would share with you all another good place to promote handcrafted items for those of you who do that and would like to get the word out about your wares in as many venues as possible.

In addition, Crafter's Buzz also is offering reward points for posting in their forum, creating a free gallery account when you post 20 pictures and descriptions of your art objects, for submitting new craft/art show notifications, writing articles, and when you refer people for their $9.95 free webhosting service and they sign up. You also get reward points for each unique click on your own gallery.

So far this is the best return I've seen in any web-based program. These points accrue quickly, and then can be redeemed for many useful items in their "Bumblebee Store", including gas cards, small electronics, and some supplies. The staff there are adding more and more items as time goes on.

To see what my gallery looks like take a look here; http://craftersbuzz.com/gallery.cgi?GIFTBEARER&cbrewards=GIFTBEARER

If you are interested in getting a free Gallery Account there, go here; http://craftersbuzz.com/account.cgi?&cbrewards=GIFTBEARER

For the $9.95 Full E-Commerce Webhosting, go here;
http://pagebuzz/account.cgi?&cbrewards=GIFTBEARER

I would also love to hear from anyone who signs up!

     Last night at 12:00 midnight was the deadline for the collaborative effort between the new "Craft Magazine" and Etsy. I had stayed up for two nights in a row making three items for the contest and was finally finished with three items I was pleased with (I hope the judges are as well).

     To recap, for anyone who doesn't know about the contest, the challenge was to somehow use or reinterpret the Craft logo in something we make. The winners (4 will be chosen), will be provided extra publicity in Craft's inaugural issue in print (2 pages that Etsy has obtained), on both Etsy and Craft's websites, and be given a free subscription to the magazine. I especially like the print opportunity, as I think it probably lasts longer than the website publicity and is more guaranteed to reach it's audience, but having both would be great!

     I made a greeting card which says "Craft: It Runs In The Family", a really innovative beaded necklace which kicked off my new line "Message-In-A-Tube", and a white, untrasuede amulet pouch which has beads sewn onto it, a leather drawstring with matching green, red, and yellow beads strung on it, and a polymer sheet heart that has leaves in the background and says "Craft: & Create Love".

     If you are interested in purchasing my work, or placing a custom order (by the way I can write anything you want and put it inside those tubular beads), please go to www.Giftbearer.etsy.com