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Archive for March, 2011

If it's from a Yard Sale, Does it Count as Proprietary?

March 28th, 2011 at 09:14 pm

Spring fever this past Saturday put me on a short bike ride around the area to a few yard sales. Nothing of interest until the very last few minutes. There on a table in the driveway of a home with a 'For Sale' sign and a somewhat subdued lady was this item.

Tie Case


It was a tie made into a cell phone case. I LOVED it! Of course it appealed to me for being eco, environmental and reusing something. And not leastly for being a crafty thing that might be fun to make.

She only wanted $1 so I snatched it up. Her mom made it and I mentioned (nicely) I might steal the idea for holiday fairs.

There are a wealth of fantastic silk ties in the thrift stores, am I right? What do they run anymore, anyone know?

Logo and Homemade ICS

March 20th, 2011 at 11:38 pm

Is five years enough time to build a brand with an online av? Even though my jewelry design business has evolved in recent years from 'Pretty Designs, Cheap Prices' to The Frugal Artisan, common sense has always prevailed to stick with the same logo.

Until today. I finally tweaked my avatar just a little to remove the 'cheap' connotation. What do you think?

BEFORE


AFTER


The 'not' symbol was hard to make in Photoshop 2.0, the ancient version which I frugally do not wish to update.

Perhaps it won't be as long until I overhaul the biz logo next time. The overall goal would be to integrate the website name

Text is Pretty Cheap Jewelry and Link is http://www.prettycheapjewelry.com
Pretty Cheap Jewelry with my alter ego, and biz card name The Frugal Artisan. Any ideas?

ICS RAINY DAY PROJECT

It's been raining for 12+ hours and we've been in the house all day. But all is not lost! We made oatmeal cookies destined for this project:

ICS = Ice Cream Sandwiches


My husband (or was it a friend?) showed me this little trick about 15 years ago. Why I hadn't thought of it myself is a surprise. Just take 2 homemade oatmeal cookies, place a scoop of icecream between, wrap in saran and save in the freezer.

Recycling G Strings

March 8th, 2011 at 05:37 pm

What do you do when your BIL is a classical guitarist and accumulates piles of spent metal strings like this...



and what do you do when you have a strong environmental ethic to reduce waste, reuse things, and instill the desire to recycle in more people?

You combine a vision of creative design with a skill making jewelry and produce something like this...

G String Guitar Bracelet



Brass coiled guitar strings are strong and springy in this jingle jangle bracelet. Fun mix of turquoise, cloisonne, and stone form your own blues group.

E String Guitar Bracelet



Don't let the delicate appearance fool you. Many strands of super strong steel guitar strings will never break. Demurely colored in peach / pink / tan glass and pearl.



Just two of the new line from
Text is Pretty Cheap Jewelry and Link is http://www.prettycheapjewelry.com
Pretty Cheap Jewelry for the frugal environmentalist music lovers. Prices start at $24 ea. Available April 2011.