Mint Blog

Tired of this site

2008-06-27T11:38:00.002-04:00

I am sort of tired of pimping my own jewelry for right now, so I started an alternate blog that represents my diverse interests a lot more. I won't be posting anything here for a while, at least until I get my jewelry makin' urge back.

My new blog is over at GirlyNerds.com

All my SYTYCD reviews are over there. I plan to write about cool stuff, gadgets, gizmos, shopping, innovations, style, crafts, puppies, or whatever.

So - update your bookmarks etc. and check it out! Add me to your blogrolls too if you can! Thanks!

SYTYCD#4 Results Show #2

2008-06-20T10:03:00.004-04:00

Man, I missed the opening number by Shane Sparks! I had to pee and my stupid Verizon DVR wasn't counting the results show as the same series as the Wednesday show. *edit* Okay I finally got to see the Shane Routine. Kick Ass! Does anyone doubt that Comfort was running that whole show?

~~~~~

Bottom Three Girls:

First up -Chelsea Traile. Her solo was athletic, enthusiastic, and bubbling with personality, despite the awkward wardrobe choice of handkerchief and diaper.

Susie's solo wasn't bad, but she obviously has a limited repertoire. Representin' Miami yo! - by wearing leg-warmers?

Comfort's Solo was above average, but not fantastic. I think she suffered from a lack of choreography ideas for her first solo. If she ends up here in the bottom again, she'll improve it.

And the loser is:

YAY they sent little miss Miami packing! I will not be missing Susie. I thought she put in a lot of effort on her solo, but that still left her a one-trick pony with a rather poor trick! Thank god because I have hit my lifetime limit of hair extension flipping viewing. HA! My grammar checker isn't flagging that sentence as insane.

~~~~~

Bottom Three Guys:

Thayne goes first and basically proves what we already knew. He's kind of charming, he smiles WAY too big, and he's absolutely middle of the pack in every way.

Marquis turned in a sweet performance, in which he obviously put his heart and soul. It got a bit out of control near the end, but isn't too much effort better than too little? He's a bit effeminate for this show (Nigel seems to have a pet peeve about it), so his days were numbered from the beginning.

Personally I thought Chris's solo was the worst of the night. The choreography had very little thought put into it, and the intensity level was very low. I know he's not a tree, but I'm having trouble finding anything about him that really shines.

And the loser is:

Boo. I think Marquis got robbed in this decision. None of these three guys is going to win the competition, but Marquis seemed like the only one with a chance to improve with a different partner. Chris is tragically white and despite his good intentions and his sweet puppy dog look, is going to fail at every single dance that requires any soul. Thayne is just average too.
I hated how they ragged on Marquis for doing "all tricks" in his solo, when normally they bitch at people for not showing off their best stuff! I thought his solo was the best of the night. I also wanted to see Comfort or Chelsea or Marquis with a different partner. Are they trying to keep all the partners together or something? They always run out of time at the end of the show and rush through one or both of the kick-offs so you don't get to hear their reasoning.

~~~~~

Loser's Lounge

So You Think You Can Dance (#4) Episode 2

2008-06-19T14:40:00.005-04:00

I made some perty pictures to share. All the "styles" are self-identified by the contestant on Fox's website, so don't make fun of me because some of them are cringeworthy. I even edited Joshua's because I like him a lot and I felt like a tard captioning him with just "Performer". I am REALLY bored at work today and I have trouble remembering some of these guys without their name plastered all over their torso.

Here are my reviews of last night's performances:

Fruity King Costume Jazz Ball What?

I was mad at Nigel for talking so much about their costumes, when the contestants can't do anything about the wardrobe. They did look ridiculous though, and their performance was pretty forgettable. A lot of contestants aren't hitting 110% effort on stage yet. Mandy Moore's routine has some potential, but she didn't bring any spirit out of these two at all.

*****

Very Uncomfortable Argentine Tango

Mark gives me the creeps so much that I can barely stand to watch. I feel bad for Chelsie Hightower. I even got the impression during that intro segment that she thinks he is creepy too. :( I certainly can't possibly find their tango sexy when he gives me the oogies. I don't understand why he is in the top 20 anyways.

*edit* Okay after getting some comments, I watched this again, and it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as I remember it. I don't KNOW why I dislike Mark so much, okay? I will try to look at him with fresh eyes next week.

*****

Hip-Hop that I can't seem to remember at all.. I think they had suspenders on?

This must have been pretty unremarkable since I can't remember it. I seem to think they did okay?

*edit* After a second run through to get the screencaps, I noticed that they are NOT in fact, wearing suspenders! I guess this routine was pretty forgettable for me after all. Will is also noticeably better than Jessica :( Maybe he will luck into a new partner at some point. Sorry Jess.

*****

A Cute Little Foxtrot!

I really liked this one and actually called and voted for them since they did great but they're not one of the WunderCouples. Her green dress and that flapper hairdo were fantastic and they were classy and fun to watch.

*****

Adorable Pocket Dancers doing Contemporary

This routine was so cute. The two of them really do have a great chemistry. I hope the judges don't play up the fact that Gevorg (haha) has a crush on her too much and make them uncomfortable. They were in sync and hitting everything, and Gev doing contemporary was a nice suprise. PS - is Kat Deely 8 feet tall??

*****

High Energy Broadway (make-up courtesy of KISS)

What can you even say about these guys? This routine even got Nigel out of his seat, dancing around like a lunatic. These two will be around for a long time. Not least of all because of Joshua's ridiculously charming grin. If this guy leaves the show, it will be like watching someone kick my puppy. They are a great couple and this Broadway routine was super fun to watch.

*****

Salsa con Queso

Is it just me, or is Susie extremely unlikeable? Between her inability to conquer the type of dance she supposedly does best, and the ridiculous pronunciation of Marquis that drives me nutty, I hope they are in the bottom 3 tonight. Maybe Marquis can get a new partner when Susie is booted. I will only feel happy with that if Mark goes home first.

*****

Free Pass to next round - Viennese Style

They definitely did a good job with the choreography given. Like everyone else said, this was obviously a lucky pick for them with the story behind it guaranteeing that nobody would say anything uncomplimentary about it. At least the dance routine itself was better than that one Mia did for her dead father. I was a little surprised with the smoothness of Twitch doing this routine. He really is pretty fantastic so they've earned their favorites status. Kherington's name makes me insane but I can't help but like her. Damn it.

*****

Krumping will never be done on a street corner ever again

This reaction shot is in response to "My granny is more gangsta' than you". Thank you Nigel.

I felt terrible for Comfort after this routine. They blasted her for not hitting it any harder, but I thought it was pretty obvious she was toning it down in order to dance more evenly with her whitest-of-white-boys partner. She was already killing him up and down the stage. Any more aggression in her dancing would have made him look even sillier - something he was managing to do fine on his own. I want to like Chris. He seems so NICE, but he has a beady too-close-together eyes thing going on that freaks me out, and he hasn't really done anything noteworthy yet.

Oh HEY! I found the suspenders.

*****

Bonus:
Already caught the boot:

I also have slightly bigger 200px versions of all these, blank or with the names, if anyone wants them for the their own devices.

Digsby is Delicious

2008-04-30T10:03:00.003-04:00

I found a really cool new combo Instant Message + Email alerts + Social Networking doohickey. It's called Digsby.
It sort of merges all your different web personalities and lets you monitor multiple IM clients at once. It will even send you tiny messages when someone contacts you on Facebook or MySpace. The client is very new and still under construction, but if you have a chance, check it out.

The coolest thing is that it lets you build a little flash application, which you can post on your blog or website, that lets people chat with you in real time as long as you are online. Pretty NEAT if you ask me.

As you can see, since I embedded one in the left column, and I also added this one here in the main post, you can make them different sizes, colors etc. I added this big one to my website too.

I'm not much of a social networking junkie, but as I was just typing this, a tiny, unobtrusive message just came up from my Digsby, telling me that one of my friends just updated their status on Facebook to "fighting off a cold".

Children are Scary

2008-04-02T11:21:00.007-04:00

So the recent story here about a horde of evil 9 year olds planning a master scheme to tie up and hurt their elementary school teacher, has led me to question how long I would last in a Children-Of-The-Corn type scenario.

Apparently I could only take 20 of the little buggers. I blame my short stature and stumpy arms.

20

I did, however, answer that I would be willing to pick up and use one small child as a bludgeoning weapon against the advancing mob. I think that raised my score.

I couldn't find any web quizzes (with sufficiently accurate results) where the children are also zombies.

Etsy Heart-O-Matic is Back up!

2008-03-17T12:15:00.004-04:00

I just noticed today that the Etsy Heart-O-Matic is back up and running. It is also new and improved with even more info for Etsy Sellers to obsess over! You can even see how many hearts an item gets compared to the number of views (although this isn't telling me much since all my views got reset about a week ago). If you still have your correct number of views, this new tool can be really helpful.

In other news, I have listed a ton of new items over at my Etsy shop. I'm particularly proud of this new crop of items! Here is a sample:It was a great day of excitement and picture taking, except for the bracelet that got magically lost! Stay tuned for tomorrow's sob story about a lost bracelet.

We have a winner

2008-02-19T11:42:00.003-05:00

Saturday's Show may not have been a huge financial success, (you need customers in order to make sales), but it was certainly a success for me. I not only met a ton of wonderful people, but I gained confidence in setting up my booth, talking up my wares, taking credit cards etc. Space was a bit tight, but I even had a great time being sandwiched in between Moonlight Bindery and Penelope Designs, because both crafters were uber nice and fun to chat with when the customers were scarce. I am feeling so good about the fair, I am now planning to do another show in Woodbridge on March 8th that benefits the Gar-Field Highschool PTA.

In More exciting news- I have randomly selected a winner from the drawing I held at the Craft Show! I ended up with 19 entries to win this lovely handmade Sterling Silver and Multicolored Beryl bracelet.

The winner is: Kelly P. of Columbia Maryland

I will be mailing out her new bracelet tomorrow via USPS first class mail. I hope you enjoy it Kelly!

I had a lot of fun running a drawing and I think I'll do it again at the Gar-Field Craft show in March. In this case I mostly had other crafters participate, but I hope the next show is busier and I can get some real customer involvement.

Who cares though! Free stuff is FUN! Woohoo :)

PS. Thanks to Lourdes of Glass On The Square, who put the entire show together. Thanks for your hard work Lourdes.

Snowdrop Show is Tomorrow

2008-02-15T13:38:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is the Savage MD craft show featuring 30 crafters from the DC metro area. I have some new designs that I haven't put online yet, so if you want to see them, you have to come out to the show!

I have most of my designs packed up and priced. I have a tablecloth (well, a bedsheet), and earring cards and hangers and sales slips and a credit card reader, and jeez I sure feel like I'm missing something. I am even taking some supplies so I can change the length of necklaces and such if there is a demand. I talked to my mom on the phone today, and she told me to take an item to work on in case there are slow periods. I also have to pack a lunch!

This will be my first ever craft show, and I'm nervous as heck! I know that I make great stuff, but I have yet to show it in person to complete strangers. No matter what happens, at least I will have met the other crafters from EtsyCrest, and gained some experience.

I will also get to see how the more experienced crafters run their tables, how they are set up and how they manage customers. I am also running my own drawing for a bracelet - my most popular design, a beautiful ring of Aquamarine coin beads, hand wrapped and looped with sterling silver wire. From that drawing, I should get a number of email and snailmail customer contacts.

My husband I think expects me to come home with $200 or something, but I will be amazingly happy with one sale. I know the other sellers who have coordinated the show have put a lot of work into the hall rental and signage and advertising, but it's going to be cold tomorrow, so we'll see how many people stop in!

If you are coming to the show, I will see you there! If you have any advice for a first-timer, let me have it :)

Sales make me happy!

2008-02-04T11:25:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I finally made my second sale on Etsy. I was so excited. There is something amazing about a random stranger appreciating something that you really labored over. The necklace is actually one of my favorites. It combines Pietersite cubes and amazonite beads of different sizes and colors, and very very fine 26 gauge sterling silver wire.

It is extremely lightweight, and the pietersite has an amazing range of colors.

The only thing I'm worried about is that it is only 15 inches long + a one inch extender. When I first started, I made everything pretty short like this because that's the way I prefer my necklaces. Then I read some threads on the Etsy forums, where person after person stated their preferrence for 18-inch necklaces. That surprised me, so I have started making them longer in general.

Does anyone have good statistics for the average size of women's necks? Mine is about 13.5 inches, so an 18-inch necklace hangs down really low on me and looks funny. Does anyone who does shows have an idea of what size I should shoot for? Maybe 16-inches w/ a 2-inch extender if the design allows?

Threadless Shopping Spree

2008-01-30T13:59:00.000-05:00

I completely forgot that I got a gift certificate to Threadless for X-mas. Despite having a closet-full of shirts (well maybe a closet and a half if you ask my husband), I could always use more! I got 6 shirts total but here are two of my favs:

This one is called "How hamburgers are made". I always knew it was delicious magic!

I also picked up this Threadless select shirt "Diodes are a girl's best friend". I've never payed the $25 bones for a "select" T before. I wonder if they print on different t-shirt stock.

I haven't been to threadless in a while. I can't say I was overwhelmed by the new selections. They seem to fall into very few categories - Puns, cute food, amorphous blobs of animals/plants all intertwined in some environmentalist wet dream, oh and robots. But I like Robots!

Dog Bowl

2008-01-28T16:46:00.000-05:00

I was looking on Etsy today for ceramic or other handmade bowls for our doggies to eat out of, and so I go to search, and I type in "dog bowl" and this is what came up:
These are SOO cute. Here is a dachshund bowl:
The Etsy artist is MaidOfClay.
Go check out her shop and maybe take one of these little guys home. They can be used as jewelry containers or change baskets and they are food safe on the inside for snacks or a fun dinner party.

Birthday Gift

2008-01-26T15:57:00.000-05:00

My friend is turning 30 again this year, so tonight I am going to a dinner/ice-skating/movie party. I'm so excited; I made her a necklace that I think is exactly her. I just finished it this morning.It's an adorable shell flower hung from a hand-wrapped necklace, the links of which are riverstone, aragonite, picture jasper, serpentine, amazonite, and rhodonite.
I sure hope she doesn't manage to check my blog within the next two hours!

Oh - Bonus, I managed to get around to taking photos of my gift-box, so I can post those on etsy and on my website and show that I have a complete package of awesomeness.It may be a bit over-lightened but I wanted it to have a seamless white background for dropping directly on my website. Okay, gotta go get ready for the parrr-tay!

Sports Interlude - Aussie Rules

2008-01-23T10:43:00.001-05:00

I love tennis, but the Australian Open is by far the hardest Grand-Slam to get into. Last night, Roger Federer played James Blake at 3:30 AM Eastern US time. That's an impossible time to watch a match! I look forward to seeing it, but it just isn't as much fun when I already know who won.

Last night I was able to catch a live day match (well, daytime in the Outback), between Anna Ivanovic and Venus Williams. It wasn't a great match. They both started out pretty lackluster. Errors and double faults were high. I think Ivanovic only had two aces by the end of the match.

Now I respect the fact that this is a sport, and we should care about their skill and not their clothes, but pro tennis is a game about individuals, and unfortunately that means we pick our favorites based not just on talent, but on external things like style and personality and looks. Hey if we based these things completely on skill, then Jelena Jankovic would have just as many multi-million dollar endorsement deals as Maria Sharapova.

So anyways, what I wanted to talk about were their OUTFITS.

Venus is looking great, even if she isn't necessarily playing that way. She has obviously decided to take her tennis game seriously, dressing for movement and eschewing the big uncomfortable jewelry. Last night she wore a very cute old-school tennis set, with a multi-colored polo shirt, adorable white tennis skirt and matching visor. Classic! Even the cut on the shirt panel inserts was flattering.

Since last year, Venus has been looking fitter too. The difference in size between her and Serena is the most telling. Serena is fat and sluggish, and has been acting out on the court, getting frustrated when she loses, talking trash, and being a poor sport in general. Venus has been classy all the way. I'm worried that she is so skinny, but she is extremely tall, and that probably makes her look tinier. I wish I was 6'1". I could use some illusion.

The only concern I have is that those puffy capped sleeves are looking a little Ren-Faire. Maybe someone should offer her some meat on a stick.

Venus' opponent last night was Anna Ivanovic, an up-and-coming Serbian with a huge forehand. The baseline battle that was expected never really materialized, although like most tennis matches, the effort level did rise as the match went on. I like Ivanovic. She's fun to watch with her big groundstrokes and power game, and she does a lot of interviews and is polite to the press and fans. Plus, her mom's name is Dragana. How bad-ass is that?

Ivanovic is sponsored by Adidas, and imho Adidas totally failed her last night. I HATE this outfit!
How do you take one beautiful, fit tennis player, and make her look flat-chested, broad-shouldered like a linebacker and chubby to boot? And also make her look like half her lunch ended up on her shirt? Good going guys!

What the hell are those bizarre panels on her chest? They serve no purpose and definitely aren't keeping the headlights off or anything! What is with the weird poofy skirt hem? I hope the bubble skirt trend gets run over by a bus. That yellow insert in the center ends up looking like the remnants of a mustard covered hot dog. the entire thing is too thin and makes everything look like a flaw. It didn't really stand up to sweat either, making it a particularly poor choice on a day when the court temperature was almost 110 degrees.

Adidas, you used to be cool. What happened man? I don't want to have to abandon you for Umbro. lol soccer shorts :)

Mood Fabrics are now Online

2008-01-21T17:29:00.001-05:00

As seen on the one and only, incomparable Project Runway, Mood Fabrics now has an online shop. I have yet to look through it and see if there is anything special, but as soon as I have the time, believe me, I am gonna go nuts!

At first glance I'm not seeing too many exciting printed fabrics. Seems to be upholstery and fashion fabric sections. Looks like lots of silks. I'll check back later.

Oooh - here is a cotton print that I really like. It's only $8/yard. Could be worse. Do I love brown a little too much?

Wedding Update: Navy + Amber are In!

2008-01-21T11:32:00.000-05:00

I talked before about the wedding I am making jewelry for. Well I was concerned about how to mix the stones/pearls that the bride wanted but I think it is all working out for the best! I made a mock-up test run of Swarovski crystal pearls in "Night" flavor, and some adorable amber nuggets, and I like the combination a lot. Check it out to the left. It does seem maybe a bit dark for a bridal occasion though.

I made some earrings with the same components, except this time the amber is round, and I added some white freshwater pearls to see if I could lighten up the overall look. This is not a great picture of the earrings because the colors are off,; the real thing is definitely a lot less "patriotic" (red white and blue)! It's more navy, orange, off-white in person.

I have a meeting with her on Wednesday to see if she likes anything so far. I'm very excited!

I would welcome comments about this color mix for a wedding. It's non-traditional but I like it.

Blogging Back to Normal

2008-01-18T10:53:00.000-05:00

Geez, changing over my entire hosting to Linux had some unforeseen consequences. Apparently, Windows hosts are not too picky about capitalization, so I had a huge mishmash of links and pictures and pages all in an assorted state of capitals or lowercase. I had to go through my entire website and check everything and standardize it all.

My blog pictures had disappeared. My banner was gone. Every link on MintTrim.com was broken. I think I have everything fixed now. Go-Go Gadget FTP program and a very un-busy day at work. :)

Spring Color Forecast: Yum!

2008-01-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

Here is Pantones' forecast for the color trends of Spring 2008. I dig it. I love food colors: Daiquiri Green, Croissant, Canteloupe. Yummy! I don't think I have any gemstones that come in Rococco Red, but I feel like I'm already ahead of the times with the awesome Sesame Jasper and Pink Pearls necklace I made last week. It is pink mist, daquiri green and silver grey to a T.

I have to find something that is cantaloupe colored immediately!

Edit - here is that necklace I was talking about:

Changing to a new Blog

2008-01-16T17:31:00.000-05:00

I went through all the trouble today to switch my web hosting from Windows to Linux so I could install wordpress and switch to that for my blog, but so far I am kind of disappointed with it after all that work.

And then I have to post the different blog address everywhere. Arggh I am not sure what to do at all.

I think I am going to request that they switch my website back to Windows hosting. At least windows doesn't care if all my html is wacky and I use capitals in some places and lower-case in others.

Gotta Buckle Down

2008-01-15T12:09:00.000-05:00

With the show in Savage Maryland coming up in February, I really need to get in gear and start stocking up on ready-to-sell items. Real life keeps getting in the way. I had pool league last night and now I've been talked into a second league (this time 9-ball) on Wednesdays. Maybe nobody will show up and they'll have to cancel it.

I'm excited though because I just got a new shipment from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads! I got some garnet, some faceted rondelles in Peridot and Amethyst, some Apatite, oh all kinds of awesome goodies!! I can't wait to use these:Hessonite Garnet Faceted coins. These will make some lovely earrings. They're only about 5mm so I don't know yet if I can make them into a necklace, but I can't wait to try.

Tonight my nose is going right to the grindstone. After I make some dinner and see my husband and play with the dogs a bit, of course :)

View Item hearts on Etsy

2008-01-14T09:59:00.000-05:00

This is an awesome tool I just found so that you can view the hearts for your individual items for sale on Etsy. All you have to do is type in a username or your unique ID.

Heart-O-Matic

Thanks for creating this script Majaba.

Savage Arts Craft Show coming up!

2008-01-11T14:50:00.000-05:00

I am going to be participating in a 40-person craft fair on Saturday, February 16th 9AM to 3PM. Check out the blog at Savage Arts Craft Show.

All the crafters at this show are members of EtsyCrest, an organization of Etsy crafters, all living near the DC Metro area. Come on by and support all these awesome arts. A full listing of the artisans and their websites is on the left-hand side of the blog. Here are a few samples of their awesome goods:

More information will be upcoming between now and the show!

Hired for a Wedding

2008-01-10T14:20:00.000-05:00

Last night my friend Lauren asked me to make all the jewelry for her wedding in April. I am wracking my brains to come up with the most fantastic designs using the materials she has in mind. Her bridesmaid's dresses are navy blue and she wants to incorporate that a little bit into their necklaces, but she is also interested in using amber. I don't want them to be too heavy or strong, so I'm looking to incorporate either pearls or opal swarovski crystals or crystal pearls.

Right now I am picturing something with a few dark blue swarovski crystal pearls, highlighting white crystals and amber. I need to see them in person to decide.

But I have almost none of that on hand. In order to have a meeting next week with her, I need to make another supply order. Arrgh. Gotta spend money to make money!

I plan to feature some of the design process here on my blog, maybe take some pictures of ideas on the way and then show off the finished products. That should be fun. I plan to add pictures of the completed order to the custom orders page of my website, to show off my collaborative skills.

Wish me luck!

Tips & Tricks - Silicone Baking Cups

2008-01-09T14:11:00.001-05:00

Not only do these things ROCK for making cupcakes, but they have wormed their way over to my jewelry work table as well.

They are awesome for dumping out a string or a ziplock of beads, holding findings, scrap cuttings or anything else. Then, when you want to get the beads back in their natural storage unit, you just pick up the cupcake cup, squish the sides in, and pour the beads exactly where you want them. I keep all my beads and supplies in tiny labeled ziplocks, and using these things to pour the beads back into the itsy-bitsy bags has made life a lot easier.

If you are using a needle to pick up beads, I found it easy to pick them up straight out of the cup since they don't slide around on their own due to the rubbery texture of the material.

I'm sure they would be great for other crafts or small jobs around the house as well. If they get dirty, I just wash them in the dishwasher and make more cupcakes!

I also found some new ones that are square-shaped and a bit bigger, and they work great too.

Self Promotion

2008-01-09T10:32:00.000-05:00

I have never been one to toot my own horn (one of my mom's favorite sayings, not mine!) but I am beginning to realize that to make it in sales of anything, you just plain HAVE TO. I joined EtsyCrest today. It's a group of Etsy sellers based in the DC Metro area. I am hoping to get some information about local craft shows and network a little bit.

In the meantime, I think I'll finally send my web address out to all my family and friends. I know I'll never think its 100% done, but there is no excuse anymore. The website and my etsy site are ready.

The bracelet off my wrist

2008-01-08T13:51:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting at my local bar watching the Giants squeak through their first playoff game, when the girl next to me says that she loves my bracelet. It was a circlet of natural aquamarine coins wrapped together with sterling silver.

"$25 and I'll make you one", I said. But then I thought, "why?". I had photographed it, but I hadn't listed it yet online. Why make a new one when I have this one right here?

Then I gave her the bracelet off my wrist! I felt a but weird about being such a salesman in person at my local hangout, but I figure I have to start somewhere!