I’m running a thank-you sale from now until the end of June.  I really appreciate all the kind words and support from everyone who has come out to fairs, Open Studios and shopped online this Spring.  Please use the code “THANKYOU” at checkout on Ach Ach Liebling to receive 10% off your order total.  This is a great chance to snap up that piece you saw at Renegade/ BazBiz/ Bust and are kicking yourself for not buying– stop kicking, start shopping!

Also, over on Etsy, I am marking down some limited and one-of-a-kind items by $5, $10, and $15.  Woah!  And, yay!  But only for June, so get it while it lasts.

And if you are going to be in S.F. this weekend, definately come by Thee Parkside for Indie Mart on Sunday, noon – 6pm.  I will be there, selling even more redonkulously marked-down items, plus some spanking new designs from the Fall 09 collection.  There will be vendors and festivities on 17th St. & all down Wisconson. . . plus booze, DJs, bands, food and local goodies (like Four Barrel coffee!).  Ride your bike or take the 22 Muni.  All ages.  $2 suggested donation goes to the Avon Cancer Walk.

So, today (technically yesterday, but that’s not the point) Elizabeth and I made a pilgrammage to the Intergem Gemstone & Jewelry show in San Mateo.

On the walk from the CalTrain station to the Expo center, Elizabeth gleefully squeaked a little song: “shiny things, shiny things, we’re getting shiny, shiny things.”

On the walk back, we were both clay-footed and grumbling: “so tired. . . must have smoothie now.”

Man, was that exhausting.  The combination of all the super-bright lighting, crowds of slow-moving yet sharp-elbowed tiny old people, and row after row after row of sparkly things for looking at, my brain turned into soup.

I did pick up a few really cool things before we left (no sneaking the ingredients!  You’ll see what they were as, one by one, the new pieces come to life).  And I got one treat for myself: a lovely, deep sapphire to use on my engagement ring, since Steve proposed sans jewels, suspecting (correctly) that I’d much prefer making something myself.  I also saw a few other items I really, truly meant to buy, but, after several hours in visual-overstimulation-land, completely failed to make it back to those booths.  Like I said, brain soup.

Oh, well.  Next year in Jerusalem San Mateo, I suppose!

For now, sweet dreams.

Yes, yes I know my business plan, draft #2, is due in approximately eight hours.  No, it is not remotely finished.

But Steve and the cat are both fast asleep and I’m just too excited to keep it to myself: I was accepted to the San Mateo Bazaar Bizarre and Renegade Brooklyn!  Yay, yay, yipee-fricking-yay!

The BazBizes and Renegades are way up at the tippy-top of my all-time favoritest craft fairs, and not just because they are always super-well-attended.   The shows’ organizers are authentically good people who pour a lot of heart and sweat into supporting independent artists crafters and designers, facilitating creative micro-entrepeneurship and promoting the craft/ DIY/ handmade ethos.  Nothing makes a show more enjoyable for me than feeling like a valued participant in something– a community, a movement– that is large and positive and wonderful, and that’s totally the vibe I bask in at these shows.

I’m so excited and I hope to see you there.  I’ll post the details soon soon soon.  Right now I really– and I do mean really– need to get back to my work.

P.S. One more piece of shiny, happy news: Ach Ach Liebling got a shout out on the Ponoko blog yesterday, along with the Renegade brick and mortar store and fellow SF jewelry designer Orange Slice (who I’ve admired since her days of making felt scarves and owl plushes).  I’ve been meaning to play around on the Ponoko site, which if you don’t know is kind of an on-demand laser cutter and marketplace that seems really cool.  Guess it’s time to check it out– just as soon as I finish my homework.