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Saturday Morning, How I Love Thee...

This past Saturday I was lucky to be at home and off work. I started my day by sleeping in, well until 7:30, because that is sleeping in to me. I was really excited to get up early and head to the farmer's market and flea market at the county fairgrounds here in Norman.

I wasn't sure the flea market was going to be happening this weekend or not... it is kind of hit and miss. The last weekend I was fortunate enough to be at home the Cleveland County Fair was in full swing so that meant no flea market... and a very sad Brandy.

But, this weekend I arrived to a farmer's market full of pumpkins and all sorts of things Fall and an open flea market.

I visited the veggie first and found some late season tomatoes, probably the last good tomatoes of the year. I also got some poblano peppers which I plan to stuff and a spaghetti squash. I wanted a pumpkin but the one I picked out was $10 and I am just not sure a ten dollar pumpkin is in my budget right now.

Then I headed over to the flea market. This weekend I was on a mission to find some new display items and some vintage chains. I knew I'd be able to find one or the other, to my surprise I found both!

There are several vintage jewelry vendors at the flea market but one in particular that has grreeeat prices on her goods.

I left a very happy and inspired customer. I plan to work on  my "Vintage Redux" line this week. I'll be sure to share what I come up with.

I wanted the one that is squatty and brownish orange about half way up the picture...

YAY!

Table after table after table!

after table after table after table...

Downtown OKC Photo Shoot

Friday I had my first photo shoot for Bella Vita Jewelry. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. A while back I inquired about local photographers in the metro area and was referred to Rex Barrett of Glass Eye Studios in Oklahoma City. 

I never knew how tiring a photo shoot could actually be. I started my adventure  in the city by visiting Pippin + Pearl, Mister Rabbit, and Wild.Flower to select and borrow some clothing for the models to wear. After that I grabbed some iced tea and a cupcake (for later, when I finally made it home to my couch) at Cuppies & Joe. From this part of town I followed Lanie, Rex's wife, downtown to our homebase. There we started shooting by this cool weathered, painted brick wall.
After a few location changes on that block we headed further downtown to some interesting fountains to shoot for a bit. Then, right before sunset, we wrapped the shoot up at the top of a parking garage at St. Anthony's Medical Center.

One thing about Oklahoma is the sky. It is incredible and seems to go on forever. The day of the photo shoots was one of those days... the sunset was beautiful complete with interesting clouds and an almost full moon rising in the distance. I CANNOT WAIT to share the photos from the shoot! Rex says about 2-3 weeks, lets hope he is over estimating. In the mean time, enjoy what I captured. I am so excited to start planning another shoot!

Jewelry cases on the street bench... waiting to be worn.

Rooftop of parking garage. My awesome team of photographers, photographers assistant and models!

Angie

Crystal

The sunset, not the best picture from my phone... but you get the idea!!!!!

Accepting Credit Cards

About a year ago I decided to get a Paypal Virtual Terminal so that I would be able to accept credit cards at my shows and sales. I would tote my little MacBook around with me and hope and pray that I got a wireless signal where ever I was set up.
Well, that made me nervous because if my computer got lost or stolen I would be completely lost. So I decided to make the jump and buy an i phone. Everyone told me it would change my life (it hasn't). It has made my life a lot easier and definitely entertains me when I am standing in line at the post office. 

It has also made it a lot easier to process my credit card transactions. But not all of my needs were being met. In order to run a credit card I would have to pull up Paypal in my browser, login, type in ALL the card info etc... needless to say, it took a while and I wasn't satisfied with this process. 

A few days ago I had to call Paypal for some other business and happen to ask them if there was any kind of apps out there that would make it easier. They hesitated to give one brand, probably b/c of legalities, but gave me a couple of broad names. I did a little research and decided to go with, Swipe by appninjas.

I don't want to come off as "technologically advanced" here because I am not. I get by. 

This app has made my credit card sales a million times easier. I open it up on my phone and can immediately start the transaction. I fill in all the information, hand the phone over to the purchaser then they sign their signature and it emails them a receipt!!! My money goes to my account and they get their goods. It is awesome. I have only been using it for a few days and everything seems to be working out well. As of right now I highly recommend this app to all you artists and crafters that are in same boat as me. Here is the link to their website, http://appninjas.com/. The app is .99 and if you need a merchant account they can help you with that too or there are a handful you can connect the app to.

My Mothers, Mothers Necklace

This is my Mom's Mothers necklace. Well, her second one anyway. The first one I made had my brothers and my names stamped on silver charms with our corresponding birthstones. But,  few months ago my Mom gave me a handful of charms, pendants and other sentimental objects from her life thus far. She wanted me to compose a cluster necklace from the sentimental objects she had given me. So, I did. 

The heart with the Virgin Mary was given to my Mother when she was 12, by her Mother. The sailboat is from my Dad, he bought it Silver Dollar City after my parents had been married a few years. The Mom charm was from my brother and I when we were kids. The cross was from her baby necklace. The NA charm (the square one) is from the North Arkansas Medical Center. My Mother has worked there as a Nurse and now a Nurse Administrator for the last 38 years. (She works her ass off!) And, my Dad made the ring at the top out of a silver coin years ago. I incorporated my birthstone (ruby) my brother Aaron's birthstone (aquamarine), my brother Bryan and my Grandmother's birthstone (amethyst) and my Mom's birthstone (topaz). She loved it, and I love her.

Thanks for being my Mom, Mom!!!

Fall

Happy Fall weather! I celebrated by assembling these earrings. The awesome vintage Lucite owls are from my trip to Tucson in February. I picked them up from the Beadin' Path.