Tangible Tidbits 2012 #19: Better Late Than Never!

Hey, all! Sorry I'm later than usual. I was fighting with a project that I was hoping to put on display at my chiropractor's office tomorrow. I finally abandoned it, at least temporarily. :-q I still have a few pieces to price out for tomorrow, unless I display some older pieces instead. I may look at some of my earlier work and use some of those, since I also have to get organized for the Networking Charity Brunch Image Forum on Sunday. I have to decide how much to bring, price the items, and pack them up. We also have a BSNJ meeting this week, so I'm gonna be busy! :P

Well, I never heard back from my friend at MSU about the professor's contact information, so I looked him up in on whitepages.com. I found a mailing address and phone number. I would have preferred email, but I opted to send him a note via snail mail. I felt funny calling his home out of the blue, and since I have a month before the scholarship deadline, I decided mail was best. Hopefully, he's still at the same address. :-/

Over the weekend, I finished the pendant I wanted to wear to the BSNJ meeting on Thursday, and I also made a crystal and seed bead ring. I'm still putting the final touches on the ring. I also worked on my Bead Challenge project for next month's BSNJ meeting. I'm really pleased with how it's turning out! :)

Part of the reason I've been so productive is because I made a big decision the other day. I'm shutting down the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the Virtual Mall as of tomorrow, May 15. It's been 18 months, and it's just not worth the time investment I've been putting into it. The Virtual Mall page on the website is still up for now. I can use that time more effectively doing other jewelry- and business-related activities. So, that's what I will do! ;)

I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day -- as a Mom, with your Mom, or remembering your Mom. :x We went to my sister's house for dinner and ate on her patio. The weather was perfect! My sister made a three-course fondue dinner like we've had at The Melting Pot in past years. Apparently, the restaurant changed their menu and it was less appealing to my sister, so she decided to do it herself. Plus, her kids are fussy eaters, so it made more sense to feed them stuff they would eat rather than "force" them to eat something from the menu, and pay through the nose to boot! 8-| We all had a good time...we even managed to play a round of croquet between courses! :))

Mom and I started watching Lifetime's The Client List on Saturday. We saw Cybil Shepherd on The Revolution on Friday, and thought it might be something to see. Jennifer Love Hewitt stars and Cybil is her mother. It's pretty good...enough to make me tune in last night at 10:00 p.m. after catching up with the first five episodes On Demand. We'll see if I keep up with it...I think there are only three episodes left of this season. :|

I still have lots to do, so I will sign off now. Have a great week, everyone! B-)

Tangible Tidbits 2011 #5: Snow, Snow, GO AWAY!

Hello, everyone! :) Man oh man, are we ever buried under a ton of snow here in New Jersey! :p Once the snow melts, it will be like a tsunami hit us. Where is all of that water going to go? :o And we're due for another snowstorm in the middle of this coming week! There's nowhere to put any more! :( I can't wait to get to San Diego next weekend and get a short reprieve from the wicked white stuff...I may just "forget" to come back! ;)

So, what's new around here? Well...

* The new Focal Piece of the Month is up on the website.

* I won a Flip video camera in an eBay auction last week for $112 (it ordinarily goes for about $200 retail).

* I've opened a new Twitter account specifically for the Virtual Mall: @STVirtualMall.

* And, I've set up a Google profile for Something Tangible LLC.

I decided I didn't want people to associate my "personal" kglanzman accounts on Twitter and Google Buzz with "spam," so I am now filtering the Virtual Mall messages through appropriately-named channels. ;) No one has ever complained, but I would rather keep the two activities separate...although I was once counseled to use one account under my name for everything in order to create my "personal brand." To that end, Something Tangible general messages will still go through my original accounts. :)

I have to start packing for the Empowered Entrepreneurs conference next weekend. I'm just hoping the snow won't delay my out-going flight on Thursday! At this point, I wouldn't really care if I got delayed coming home. LOL :o

On the personal side of life, I took my younger niece to Glassworks in Morristown, NJ for her 8th birthday last weekend. As I did last year with my older niece, I made a picture frame for the absent girl. I promised them I'd post the picture in the website photo Gallery and on the Facebook Fan Page. They love it when I post stuff I made for them for all the world to see. :D

I also saw "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" at Millburn's Paper Mill Playhouse today with an old friend/former boss & coworker. We had a great time catching up and the show was very funny! :)

Lots to do before I leave toward the end of the week. I will probably be posting from the San Diego airport next weekend. My flight lands in Newark at 5:28 A.M. on Monday! :o

Take care and stay warm! :D

Tangible Tidbits 2010 #46: The Holiday Season 2010 Begins!

Hi, everyone! Hope all you U.S.-based folks enjoyed your Thanksgiving. :)

As I mentioned last week, I had a family funeral to attend on Wednesday. I hadn't been to their house in probably 25 years, but I recognized the neighborhood when the funeral procession passed the house. That choked me up. It's a nice thing to do, and I've heard it's becoming more commonplace. I think my immediate family members would have liked that, had it been done in the early 2000s. :\ I also went to visit a friend at the cemetery on Thanksgiving morning, but I couldn't find his grave. I should have looked for landmarks the last time I was there in June, but it didn't occur to me at the time. :p Got caught in the day's snow flurries while I was there! It didn't stick here in New Jersey, though.

Still trying to promote myself and my company, I submitted some pieces to Buy Art Now Guys! (BANG) 5 this morning at the 1978 Maplewood Arts Center. Check out the second exhibit listed here for more information. I was approached to participate after the deadline for the postcards and posters, so my name isn't listed. :\

I also posted a new Factoid this week: Procedures For Preparing A Wax Cast in Jewelry and Sculptures, based on last month's Focal Piece of the Month. The new Focal Piece is up on the company website, BTW. :)

In addition, I made a trip to Monroe Township (exit 8A on the NJ Turnpike) to deliver a necklace that was requested at the Jewels of New Jersey earlier this month, as well as a ring. We chatted for about an hour and discussed ideas for future pieces she would like. I have some materials already on-hand, so I will hopefully get some time to pull them together for her soon. :)

I have another custom necklace to make this week, which I hope to get to by the middle of the week. I have school tomorrow night right after work -- remind me to report on last week's critique next week! -- and the Virtual Garage Sale to set up on Tuesday night. I was out most of the day today with my mother and sister at the Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Les Miserables. Mom took us there and to dinner for our birthdays, which come in December and January. GREAT performance, BTW! They are really promoting it, too...I heard a commercial on WBGO-AM this morning (Mom's Sunday morning station) and saw three ads on The Hallmark Channel last night! The TV spots impressed me. I don't recall seeing them for any other Paper Mill production before. :o

Still on the back-burner is restitching my coworker's grandmother's necklace. I ordered 4 lb. Fireline (stringing material) for it this week. Hopefully, it will get here sooner rather than later to give me more time to work on it before Christmas. :)

Thankfully, I've done most of my Christmas shopping already through Something Tangible's Virtual Mall. I had read from one astrologer that shopping would be difficult in December due to Mercury going into Retrograde later in the month. Items would be backordered, hard to find, or not enthusiastically received if purchased during that period...so I decided not to take any chances and get my gifts early. Got some great deals, too! ;)

Can you believe December is less than a week away already? Is it just me or does time speed up the older you get? LOL Have a great week! ;)

Tangible Tidbits 2010 #33: Cee Lo & E-Sales Circulars

I'm pretty sure most of you are not from New Jersey, but today's Newark Sunday Star-Ledger ran an article in the entertainment section about a song that is a mega-hit on YouTube, but can't be aired on radio or music video stations. The name of the song can't be written in print publications either. If you're familiar with Cee Lo or the song, then you know to which one I'm referring. Apparently, everybody who is anybody knows this tune...and I'd never heard of it (not exactly surprising). :o Well, I checked out YouTube today after reading the article, and I have had the song playing on an endless loop for most of the day while working! LOL Aside from it having a good dance-in-your-seat beat -- the article likened it to the style of Smokey Robinson, although Smokey would never use foul language -- whenever the words penetrate my brain, they in turn make me laugh out loud, chuckle, and genuinely smile. I am not easily offended, so the language doesn't bother me. The concept in the song is something anyone can relate to...and I just find the delivery completely amusing! :D Maybe part of the reason I like it so much is because the song reminds me of someone I used to know who liked to talk dirty. We lost touch a while ago, and this song makes me feel like he's not so far away. I hope we meet up again someday. ;)

ANYWAY, before I forget again this week, the new Focal Piece of the Month went up last week. I know a few people saw it, so thanks for remembering to look for it! :)

I have a decision to make regarding the Virtual Mall (VM). I receive emails semi-regularly from vendors about special sales and promotions they are running. We can only update the website once a month right now, and the Virtual Mall is something that is beyond my capability to handle updating myself. So, I was thinking about sending out a separate message to those interested in keeping up to date with the various opportunities presented by the VM vendors. A weekly Virtual Mall Deals & Discounts message could be sent on Wednesday or Thursday, and it would be clearly marked to differentiate it from the Sunday (and occasionally Monday) Tangible Tidbits newsletter/messages. I would start out by sending it to the existing newsletter list, and then anyone wishing to be unsubscribed from that mailing can opt-out by sending a response email with "Remove" in the subject line. If someone decides that she wants to be removed from all correspondence, then she can respond with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line, and I will remove that name from both lists. My concern is that this second weekly message will be viewed as spam. My goal is obviously not to annoy anyone, but to offer information about special sales and promotions that they may be interested in checking out at the Virtual Mall. What I have been doing up until now is just "filing away" the messages if the time frame doesn't fit with our updating schedule, but I realize that is doing my audience a disservice. On the other hand, I don't want to take valuable time away from other necessary tasks to draft and send out these messages if people aren't interested.

Any feedback on this issue would be greatly appreciated. I do have a few messages held aside for Back To School and Halloween sales (ALREADY??), so if there IS interest in receiving this kind of "e-sales circular," please let me know. Next week, I'll report my findings and if it's a go, the first Virtual Mall Deals & Discounts issue will go out September 8 or 9. Naturally, if anyone just can't wait to find out about the discounts being offered, feel free to contact me directly and I can give you the scoop. ;)

Something Tangible had a number of sales and custom inquiries this week, so I'm happy about that. I'm not quite on track to make my sales goal for the quarter (50% more than last quarter), but we still have a month to go. We are past the half-way mark to making at least as much as last quarter, so surpassing that figure would still demonstrate steady growth. Can't ask for much more than that in this economy, right? :D

I hope people in the NY Metro area enjoyed the break in the summer heat we had this past week. Looks like we're expecting another scorcher this coming week! :p

Take care and catch you during the three-day Labor Day Weekend next time! :)

Tangible Tidbits 2010 #29: Welcome to August!

Here we are in a brand new month! Sorry I missed you all yesterday, but I had a really bad headache off-and-on all afternoon and evening, so I took a much-needed break and watched "The Bounty Hunter" with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston On Demand last night. Cute movie! :)

So, I forgot to mention last week that I picked up my printed brochures! They look very nice, although I would have preferred cream glossy paper if the printer had it. Instead, we went with the matte finish because I didn't want it printed on white. The photos look a little flat on the matte finish, but the overall brochure is very good. Many thanks to LightWork Designs in Arizona and Signal Graphics in South Orange, NJ for pulling these together for me! ;) I should really ask the designer for a PDF of the final version, in case I want to email it to anyone. I tend to do a lot of business with people who do not live locally, so I have an email version of my invoice that I can send without having to scan letterhead. :)

I had a very productive week, completing three necklaces, two bookmarks, and a key chain...not to mention putting in a few large chunks of time on updating my database! That project is naturally ongoing, but I feel that I'm accomplishing more on it when I devote a number of hours at a time to it rather than just one a day. It probably averages out to the same amount of time, but it still makes me feel like I've gotten more done this way. :\

My mother changed my mind about the pink braid on the embroidered rivoli from my class a couple of weeks ago. She said it was distracting attention away from the pendant, so I'm waiting on an order of some satin silk string, satin, cotton yarn with matching Swarovski(R) Crystals, polyester chain, and hand-dyed silk, all in dark green, to see how they will look with it. I just received notification that my order was shipped today, so I will hopefully get that completed and posted this week. However, I did finish an embroidered key chain with a Granite stone for a friend in Canada, so you can see that in the Design Samples Gallery on the website or on the Facebook Fan Page if you're curious. ;)

Unfortunately, we had a technological snafu with the Virtual Mall...the file got corrupted somehow over the weekend. We are working on getting it completed sometime this week. Keep your fingers crossed for us! ;)

That's about it for this Monday morning. Hope everyone has a good week! :D