BOGO Sale Saturday - Monday at Risky Beads

Risky Beads' 3 year anniversary on Etsy is August 7, 2010, so I'm having an end-of-summer BOGO sale to celebrate. This is a great opportunity to get some fabulous deals and stock up on some gifts, too! Here are the rules:

1. There's no limit to how many items you can get for free. Buy 1 or buy 10. Whatever! It's up to you! Everything, except supplies, ships free worldwide!

2. Do NOT purchase your free item choice; request it in notes to seller at checkout. Purchased items are not refunded. I'll email you to make another freebie choice.

3. Hand-stamped jewelry or accessories cannot be your free item. You can, however, get them for 50% off with purchase of a regularly priced item. If you choose this option, let me know via email or convo ahead of time what you want to buy, and I'll set up a listing for you with the correct pricing.

4. Your free item must be of equal or lesser value than your item purchased. Example: if you purchase a $45 bracelet, you can get another piece for $45 or less free. If you also purchase an $8.95 pair of earrings in that order, you can choose another freebie for $8.95 or less. That's a killer deal!!!

5. Sale ends at midnight on Monday, July 26, 2010. My mailing list subscribers knew about this sale a week ago! Want to get on the list? Email me and let me know and I'll add you asap! This sale is only valid at my Etsy venue.

If you have any questions, please ask. Also, I'm in the process of re-shooting pictures for my shop, so if you're looking at an item and it suddenly vanishes, I'm probably editing the photos. Please feel free to inquire!

Here's to another great year!! Shop now!

~Lori

Well, it's official.......I finished re-shooting my earrings!

Well, I finally finished re-shooting pics of my earrings, and now I just have to move on to bracelets, necklaces, bookmarks, and key chains.  By the time I'm done, I'll probably feel a need to start all over again, NOT!

Earrings are always buy 3 pairs get 1 FREE everyday in my shop, so now that I'm done re-shooting, I'll give you a sneak peek at a few new pairs!

Condensation, $8.95

 Sugar Plum Sparkle, $9.50

Hot Cocoa, $8.95

Nudity, $8.50

There were a couple pairs I chose not to reshoot, and I've decided to give them away, so stay tuned to this blog for the upcoming freebies and tell all your handmade jewelry-loving friends!

~Lori

I Blame the Summer Heat for This...

Boy, sometimes it just gets too hot, doesn't it?  Look what I found for hot ladies everywhere!

*Whew* I need a cold shower now!

~Lori

Keep Me in the Loop - A Treasury

Had a lot of fun putting this together!

~Lori

Recent Handmade Purchase-Silver and Copper Stacking Rings from Minty Fresh Fusions

So, as I promised yesterday, here's my other ring purchase of late. I decided to order these really cute stacking rings from Minty Fresh Fusions on Etsy. They come with 3 silver and 3 copper. Aren't they adorable? They also came with great customer service, which is always a plus.

Flowered Copper and Sterling Silver Stacking Rings, $38

I ordered them in a size 8 which is a tad too tight, so for now, I wear 3 on each ring finger. I figure if anyone asks, I'll just tell them I'm married to Etsy because it's practically the truth anyway! Did you know that you can be nosy and read about what else I buy? :)

See you tomorrow,
~Lori

Recent Handmade Purchase-Sterling Silver Stamped Ring from Tiny Tokens

Well, it's confession time again.  My handmade soap and lotion fetish is completely out in the open, but there's another fetish I have that's less well known and that's rings!  Here's a picture of my handmade ring collection from several Etsy shops.  I've had these for a couple of years...

 Lately though, I've been in the mood for smaller rings because I smack the big ones on every thing I touch...bull in a china shop somedays around here.  So, I went with Tiny Tokens on Etsy and bought this sterling silver ring below and had it stamped to read:  EXIST * INSIST * PERSIST * because that's my mantra.  So this is 3 shots of 1 ring below:

 It was $16 and I absolutely love it.  I never take it off.  Stay tuned for details about another ring purchase tomorrow!  Be nosy and read about what else I buy.

~Lori

Reshooting Pictures for My Shop

Argh. I've gotten to the point where I want a little more context to the pictures in my shop, so in true Lori-fashion, I thought about it for 3 or 4 months before I decided to go to Lowe's and search for some tiles.  I wanted something gray, something with texture, and something with a matte surface.  I ended up buying 2 pieces of slate and 4 small accent tiles.  The entire cost was...$11.67.  Can't beat that with a stick can you?  The rest of the setup is my old homemade lightbox and my lamps that came with a light tent I don't like.  Love the lamps; just not the tent.  I've taken a couple of shots with the new background...new pieces.  Whaddya think?

 Smooth Operator Necklace

Nudity Earrings

Boy, I can't wait to reshoot my entire shop.  (i.e.: sarcasm).  But I think I like the look. :)

~Lori

Haut Totes - A Tale of Handmade Inspiration

If you're a handmade seller and want to be inspired, you have to read this article about Melissa Lewis of Haut Totes.  You won't regret it!

~Lori

Patriotism for the Lifelong Liberal

WeeRPatriotic, Kim Bade, $15

The older I get, the more I feel like 'patriotism' has become code for something else in America today, and it's not generally something I want to align myself with.  I have a different view of 'American Exceptionalism,' the idea that America is the greatest country in the world regardless of the way we as a nation behave at home or abroad.  I think what would make America truly exceptional would be accepting the fact that we're one of almost 200 countries in the world and can co-exist peacefully.  We don't need to be the best, no country does.  We're part of a bigger picture on an ever-increasingly fragile planet.  The 'greatest country in the world' would know this, wouldn't it?

~Lori

Sweet and Sour Chicken from Scratch for Lunch

I've been dieting and exercising lately, (10 lbs gone today), and I've started cooking as well.  I've never enjoyed cooking in the past, and I don't do anything super-involved, but I'm having fun trying out a few not-easy-to-mess-up-recipes.  Today, I made Sweet and Sour Chicken from scratch.  It's a hybrid of two different dishes I make:  Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken and Rice Casserole.  Yes, this is cooking for dummies.  :)

I use this recipe to make the sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar
6 tablespoons of canned pineapple juice and pineapple chunks
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 teaspoons of soy sauce

I mix everything together in a saucepan, add lots of pineapple chunks as well, bring it to a boil, reduce heat and let it cook until clear and thick.  Then I add the sauce to the chicken breasts and brown rice when they're done baking in the oven.  The chicken, uncooked rice, and water cook for 1 hour at 350 and then uncovered for another 15 minutes to absorb all the water.  Season your chicken a bit before baking.

I like this recipe because you get sweet and sour sauce that doesn't look neon orange.  It's sweet and tasty and keeps me full until my next meal.  It's simple, but it's yummy, and you can make the same dish with pork chops.  I think I like it better with pork, but chicken was thawing, so chicken it was!

~Lori