we're back!

just returned from a great weekend away with my husband and friends in santa barbara, ca.

everything was great, i'll post more about this wedding soon, it was great to help my friend design her special day... and on sunday we finished the weekend off with my very first wine tasting mini-trip to Solvang

here's a photo of us and one of our close friends/married couple

a little good news/ bad news

no, no i haven't run out of the eternite necklaces again.... but, after visiting my friendly component supplier and discusing the price of gold (which is hovering very close to $1,000 a ounce, yow!)  i thought real long and hard about it and realized that all good things come to an end... and unfortunately so will the current prices for my gold eternite necklaces, the gold "love" necklace, and some of my other gold pieces.  

while prices will still be very affordable, i do have to adjust my pricing to reflect the cost of gold these days, especially given the current financial state we are all finding ourselves in right now! (it seems the worse the stock market gets, the more gold spikes, go figure)

not to worry though the ever popular eternite and "love" necklaces will not be moving to an unaffordably high price... 

here's the price breakdown:

- petite will go from $26 to $30 

- grande will go from $38 to $42

- love will go from $30 to $34

but.... i did save the good news for last!.... it is that i will continue my current pricing through the end of February! so if you act now, i will be happy to sell you these pieces till the end of the month for the lesser price... so if you've been thinking about placing an order but have put it off, now's the time to act! =) my new pricing will begin March 1st, so visit my etsy shop to pick up any goodies you've been thinking about before the end of the month!

* also, a bonus: if you have shopped with me before i'm happy to give you 10% off your purchase through the end of the month as well... so consider this my first S-A-L-E people! =)

happy valentines day...

oh martha!

... to everyone out there following along, thank you all for your love and support, so this is my valentine to you!

have a great day and spend it with someone you love and hold dear....

things i love.... Newsprint Gift Boxes

just saw these last night, while looking for clever ways to pack up my jewelry orders... and i found these... they are super cute, ephemera style kraft boxes!  love them! i could even do this with my current boxes with some of my rubber stamps....hmmm... or if i get real lazy, i could cave and buy these! =)

newsprint gift boxes

and holy gift wrap... they have every wrapping option under the sun in this newsprint... oh joy!

i'm tinkering...

so please disregard some of the slight changes you'll see in the next few days, while is see what works best!

b

{JDV Paperie} Santa Barbara suite preview

just wanted to give you all a sneak peak of what i've been working on recently... we're heading to the wedding for this couple next weekend, so once we've returned i'll reveal the rest of the invite suite!

ps... this is just an intro to my gocco'd JDV Paperie items.

stay tuned,

b

{about JDV} unconventional workspaces

i am not about to show you my "so called" studio because.... well.... i don't really have one.  does that surprise you? well for those who know me, you most likely understand why that is...

i'm always on the go!

case and point: the following photo was on my way back from my grandpa's memorial in Illinois... we spent some great time with family celebrating his 94 years of life, but once we were back on the plane heading home to CA - it was back to work for me.  below is a photo i snapped of my "mock airplane tray-table studio."  my mom and i were joking that i should commemorate the fact that TSA let me on the plane with my tools (not to be confused with weapons) =)

the cup holder comes in handy to hold loose beads and findings in the event of turbulence.

and if you want a closer look at the custom Christmas order i was working on, here it is:

it's a sterling silver (teal, purple, & brown) version of my l'eau necklace

the truth is, i have some very handy dandy snapware containers that snap apart and lock together, so i can take the trays that i need, and leave the ones i don't ... take a look

i knew about snapware, because i already love their snap n serve tupperware line, but when i found these on a recent trip to WalMart (i'm not ashamed to admit i shop/find great deals there) i bought up quite a few for jewelry, gocco, and stamping portable storage! and at $4.95, it's such a deal!

next i'm gonna have to snatch up some of these crafty helpers too!

i guess i should tell you now... 

i love organization especially when it helps the portability of my business supplies! 

{blog love} pretty. pretty. paper - by cevd

i want to give a big shout out of thanks to Christina of the pretty.pretty.paper blog!

you can also find her on etsy where she has these super sweet valentines

thanks for the sweet words on your blog and seriously, i hope you find you precious necklace...

cheers, and good luck to your business!

things i love....

i just found this on sweet papery's blog and i just got the chills in a good way! =)

check it out: simple truth's

here's why:  

even before starting my jewelry business, i had a background in customer service, and since it's inception i'll be the first to admit that it's a challenge to have a "one woman show" (as JDVJewelry) is!  the challenge comes when you are the creative force designing everything, you're also the business manager coordinating payments and shipping time (for all you type A's out there, this isn't so easy for us creative types, we tend towards disorder) =), and then you're responsible to wear the customer service/PR/HR hat at all times too!

don't get me wrong, this is not a downside to owning and operating your own business, it's just some of the challenges that come your way.  i enjoy the challenge, but always wonder are my clients happy? and i love getting feedback saying that they love an item and never wanna take it off! i also love feedback about my packaging; i myself love opening shipments only to find that the company has taken the time to make my order look special, like a sweet gift.  so you'll see that i've just changed my packaging to be more fun to receive!  but in all, i love the challenge to, plain and simple, make those who choose to support me happy.  the video from sweet papery really made me think what i can be doing to make my clients' experience special!

if you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment, or if you have ideas that have worked for your business that you care to share... feel free!

*b

{Custom Orders} love of family

a little while back a close friend of mine saw the "love" necklaces i've been making and wanted in on the idea... she and her sister were getting ready to travel to meet her cousins in Italy (most of whom she had never met)!  well, seeing how Italians respect handmade goods she asked if i could make necklaces for her sister, her two cousins, and herself.... and here's how they turned out...

their Italian family name is Compagnoni

if you are looking for an original idea as a gift for someone special (think new mom-to-be, etc..) feel free to message me at 

JDVJewelry@gmail{dot}com or send me a message via my etsy shop