Made my first treasury on etsy

Today I managed to finally be on Etsy at exactly the right time to make a treasury. My treasury theme is Mediterranean Dreams and it contains lots of gorgeous items to get you into a summery mood. Please take a look at it and leave a comment if you can.

First donation to Argos Animal Shelter

At the weekend, I made my first donation to Argos Animal Shelter Cyprus. It wasn't a lot of money, just 20% of my profits so far on my jewellery sales. I think it will still make a difference as it was enough to buy a couple of bulk bags of animal food.

Argos Animal Shelter looks after more than 200 abandoned cats and dogs. They really need all the money that they can get! Hopefully people will keep on buying jewellery and I can keep on giving donations.

Sale at New World Monkey Jewellery

I've just launched a sale section in my etsy shop where you can buy some pieces from my collection at greatly reduced prices. Don't forget that 20% of all profits go to helping animals in Cyprus. Happy shopping!

How to set up domain name forwarding

Having recently started selling on Etsy and Dawanda, I made myself some business cards to send out with my orders. However, www.newworldmonkey.etsy.com is not exactly catchy, neither is www.dawanda.com/shop/newworldmonkey. What I really needed was a succinct domain name. It’s also very useful for advertising as it looks more professional to have a proper domain name. I’m not very experienced at these things and I assumed that if I bought a domain name, I’d have to buy hosting and build a website. Luckily, it turns out that you can create a domain name and then forward it to a url of your choice. Here’s how to do it:

1) Find out what domain names are available. I am from the UK so I opted to use www.daily.co.uk which has a special offer on at the moment where domains are half-price. A lot of Americans recommended www.godaddy.com
2) Most of the good domain names are gone. I’m no expert but, based on my research, it seems that the best thing is to get a .com or failing that a .co.uk. You should write down all the possibilities available to you and compare them. A brief, catchy domain name is best but catchy is more important than brief. You also want to include your keyword in your domain name to optimize it.
3) I managed to get www.bohemian-jewellery.com for 10 GBP for 2 years. It doesn’t include my brand name but it is easy to remember and includes my two main keywords.
4) Daily offered me quite a few things to pay extra for. I think it’s best to opt out of everything and buy it later if you find that you need it.
5) Make sure that your domain name is registered in your name.
6) Once my domain name was set up, I went into my control panel on daily and clicked on domain forwarding. I then entered my etsy site and filled in the meta tags and meta description. Daily has a very good guide on this which they provide a link to when you set up domain forwarding.

Now if you go on www.bohemian-jewellery.com it automatically will take you to www.newworldmonkey.etsy.com. I hope this helps, please comment if you have any questions.

Cypriot Jewellery

One of the things that one notices in Cyprus, is how much the women love jewelry. Obviously, women everywhere love jewellery but Cypriot women really love it. With their warm colouring, they are also able to wear pretty much any kind of metal.

It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that there have been many unearthings of ancient jewellery in Cyprus.

Around 750-500 B.C. the most popular form Cypriot jewellery was spiral earings of solid metal, which were worn by both men and women. These spirals are found in varying sizes and metals, and some have elaborate ornaments.

The spirals rings tended to be made of bronze, silver or gold-plated bronze. The combination of bronze and gold in jewellery was a Cypriot speciality.

It is interesting that both men and women wore jewellery in Cyprus at this time.

Another popular style of jewelry at this time in Cyprus was these sort of strange elongated hoops.

During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, Cypriot jewellery lost its distinctiveness and is often mistaken for Greek and Roman jewellery. The increased levels of trading meant that more gemstones and pearls were incorporated into pieces. The levels of craftsmanship increased hugely and the number of different styles grew.

Tetris Jewelry

Valentines day has hit us. For women I think the importance of the day and our relationship with it is formed at school. Ask any woman and she will have some story of a school V-day experience. The disappointment of not receiving a card, the humiliation of roses being handed out to the popular girls, the injustice of some very undeserving girl getting flooded with gifts. During those hormonal days, Valentines day seemed like a day designed to emphasise your success (or lack of success) with the opposite sex.

By the time you actually have a partner with you on Valentines day, it has been built up in your mind as this day of wonder that other people have been enjoying each year whilst you have been sitting at home watching bad TV. I genuinely think it is this build up that means women have such high expectations of the day. I am very lucky in that my partner is a very considerate man who always plans something even though he doesn't believe in the day. However, if your partner disappoints you then try to focus on all the many things that they do do for you on all the other days of the year. Generally, men who are good at the big gestures are not good at the real things that count. You only have to look at the fact that footballer John Terry is planning a big surprise for Toni Terry and has given her 100 red roses. I know that I would rather have a partner who is there to support me than a partner who sleeps around but buys me lots of gifts.

On that note, I've found the perfect gift for a tetris fanatic to give to his special lady next gift-giving time. Tetris has designed a range of jewellery based around the little tetris shapes. They do have a pleasant simplicity to them and would no doubt be happily worn by women who like nostalgic, ironic items. However, I am very disappointed to see that the colours are not quite as bright as those of the tetris game.

Human Jewellery

Perhaps this christmas, you may find yourself trying to find a gift for the person who has everything. You will have trawled the net and the streets to find something quirky and unique and just right for them. If this person that you are shopping for also has a taste for the macabre, then I might just have found the perfect gift for you to give them. Both environmentally friendly and one of a kind, jewelry made from human parts could be the answer to your yuletide quest.

An Australian jewellery designer called Polly Van der Glas has come up with a collection of jewellery made from human teeth and hair (sterilised of course). These teeth rings would definitely be a conversation starter if worn on a date or basically anywhere in public.

These hair bracelets are slightly more discrete

and may be a good way to wean people off chewing their hair.

However, the best bit of the collection is this delightful hair purse. Take care not to hold it anywhere in front of your crotch or chin area - it could rather confuse people.

Aren't we all glad that there are people out there

with the time and the inclination to keep pushing style boundaries?

How to make Christmas less expensive

Having recently taken in a stray kitten, my spare cash has rather shrunk. For the first time in a while, I have been thinking about why we all feel we have to spend so much money at Christmas.

A while back, I did a post on home-made gifts. Home made gifts can help you to ease your cash flow a little. I also think that it's a good idea to cut out unnecessary gifts. Gift-giving should be limited to close family and your partner; do we really need to be receiving gifts at Christmas from more than about 5 people?? Excessive gift giving is just a way to be more materialistic than we already are and find an excuse to shop.

A good idea is to combine a home made gift with a small bought gift. For instance, why not make use of special offers and get a few books and then give people a book and a home made gift. Another idea is to make your Christmas cards yourself. Buy some coloured card and cut out humorous pictures from old magazines and newspapers. Stick them on the card and add a funny caption.

Food is always a great home made gift to receive. Another good idea is something that I saw in The Guardian today. It sounds crazy but you can "knit" jewellery for the women in your life. You will need to know how to knit (easy to learn, just google it) and then you will need metal wire and some beads.

Instructions:

1. Thread all the beads that you want to use onto your wire. To work out how many beads to use multiply the amount of stitches per row by the length of the bracelet in centimetres (eg if you are doing a six stitch wide, 12cm long bracelet, I'd thread at least 72 beads on).

2. Cast on as many stitches as you think want and knit one row. As you knit the first stitch of the second row, bring one of the beads up to your needles and knit it into the fabric. Repeat for every stitch of the second row.

3. Continue knitting every odd row without beads and every even row with beads - this will ensure all the beads stay on the same side of the bracelet.

4. Once the bracelet or choker is long enough, cast off then fix a jewellery clasp to either end of it.

The end result looks pretty good and would make a great gift for someone.

Jewellery in Jordan

On a recent trip to Jordan, I decided to us the opportunity to buy a bit of new jewellery. Whenever you go abroad, it's worth having a quick look at the jewellery as in many countries it can be considerably cheaper and different to the jewellery on offer in your hometown.

If you are in Jordan visiting Petra then you will probably have quite a few opportunities to buy jewelry from the local Bedouins. This is worth doing as some of their jewelry is beautiful and unlike what you can perhaps get at home. The jewelry on offer in Petra tends to be made of rocks and glass. Agate is commonly used as well as moonstone and coloured glass. It is likely that the rocks are imported but even so, the jewellery is handmade. I took the opportunity to buy a blue beaded bracelet and a multi-coloured glass necklace from a lovely man just near Shobak castle (not in Petra but on the route to Petra from Amman). It cost me only 5JD (approx 5 euros) for both items. The price was lower than what you would probably pay in Petra itself. No matter if the price they first offer you is something that you are happy with, it is still good to bargain at least 10% off the price. The reason for this is that I genuinely have found that Middle Eastern people respect you more if you don't take the first price and it tends to give you an opportunity to have a chat. Obviously, for some items you will need to really haggle over and I will be writing a post later about how to haggle.

During my trek around the Petra site, I saw a wide range of jewellery ranging from basic beaded necklaces to more ornate cuff bracelets. The beaded jewellery does tend to be quite basic but it's always useful to have and you will be giving your money to people who will appreciate it which is better than buying a string of beads from the high street. The silver cuffs are beautiful and although I did not buy one, I am pretty sure that I could have bought one for about 10JD.

When I returned to the capital city of Jordan, Amman, I really got my jewellery shopping on. King Faisal street contains all the main jewelry stores and is labelled on maps as the location of jewellery market. When buying more expensive jewellery, I definitely recommend doing as much browsing as you can - do not buy from the first shop you go into!

First, I had a good look at all the jewelry on offer and tried to get an idea of the level of quality on offer and the price ranges available. Most of the jewellery in Amman tended to be yellow gold - very yellow gold is not popular in most western european countries because it is not overly flattering to pale skin. However, the very yellow colour shows that is high quality gold and if you can carry it off, it is definitely worth buying. It's vibrant and much cooler than the pale, insipid gold that is normally available. Personally, if I could wear it without looking jaundiced, I would have got lots of it as it was reasonably priced and exotic.

Instead I opted to get a woven bracelet with strands of rose gold, silver and yellow gold. Generally rose gold is flattering to most skin types and is also unusual. After a bit of a chitchat we managed to reach a price we all liked and I walked away with a gem at a good price. The quality could have been better but at the price offered, it was still a bargain and it will definitely bring back memories of Arabia when I wear it.

I then decided to invest in a bit of silver for everyday wear. Silver is not so popular here which makes perfect sense as silver is too bland for the gorgeous brown skin of the locals. Quite a few shops did try to trick me into buying very poor quality jewellery at rather inflated prices. When you are not sure about an item, just say that you want to browse a bit more and compare the product to similar ones in other shops. You won't regret taking your time as there is nothing worse than taking a piece home and finding out it's badly glued and damaged.

I settled on two delicate silver bracelets which, after some intense haggling, I got at a great price. I also picked up two gorgeous pairs of earrings which were of a very good quality and a good price.

Scurrying home with my swag, I felt very happy with my purchases and so will you if you take the time to buy jewellery abroad.

In the shadows

A Tokyo born jewellery designer has revealed a revolutionary jewellery idea. The Central St. Martins educated designer has come up with a line of jewellery that projects shadows onto your body. Her collection, called Cinematography , is made of metal mesh. Maiko Takeda drills holes into the metal by hand to creat trompe l'oeil effect.
Maiko Takeda says that the concept of the jewellery is that the shadows themselves become the jewellery. Here are some examples of her work:I certainly think that Takeda has designed something truly original.

Filigree Jewellery in Essaouira

Filigree involves interlacing and soldering strands of gold or silver to create your design. One of the best places to buy filigree jewellery is in the harbour town of Essaouira in Morocco.

Located on Morocco's Atlantic coast, Essaouira is well worth a visit and differs entirely from the bustling metropolis that is Marrakesh. You can get there by flying into Marrakesh and then getting a taxi onto Essaouira. The journey is long but is an adventure in itself and helps to keep Essaouira safe from the hordes. However, try to get a taxi to yourself. My friend and I found ourselves crammed into a taxi and were in fact stopped by the police part way through the journey and had to all have our passports checked.

Essaouira is a walled city lost in time. The streets are still populated by people wearing traditional hooded robes - slightly scary when encountered down a dark alleyway at night. We stayed in a traditional riad run by a French couple. The place was beautifully decorated and incredibly cheap.

Essaouira has a large sweeping beach where Byron is said to have ridden his horses. There is also what looks like the remains of a castle in the sea on the edge of the beach which is said to have inspired Jimi Hendrix to write his song 'Castles made of sand'.

In the sixties, legends such as Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix visited the town and took part in local music events. Music is one of the most memorable aspects of Essaouira as it has many shops which sell some of the best North African music you can buy. It also plays host to the Gnaoua World Music Festival. In the forties, Orson Welles filmed 'Othello' in Essaouira - he described his time in Essaouira as "One of the happiest times I've ever known".

You get the picture - Essaouira is a place that is brimming with creativity and soul. The people are gentle and intelligent, they exchange text books with one another. When chatting to a shop owner, he told me that the only thing that he envied about living in England was the standard of education as he loved his life of creating art and hanging out with friends on the beach in Essaouira. Who can blame him! It makes you feel ashamed of all the British people who make no use of their educational opportunities.

If you're buying jewellery, surely it is better to buy something handmade by someone who is part of a place with such a history. Essaouira filigree is delicate and reasonably priced (you will need to haggle). The choice of filigree jewellery in Essaouira is vast! You can also buy leather goods, scarves (if you meet a guy from Mali selling scarves say hi to him from the two english girls who bought so many scarves that he started to get suspicious that we were going to set up a shop), spices, perfumes and wood carvings.

Let me know if you've been to Essaouira or if you're planning to go...

Revenge served hot

Women can buy their own jewellery but for some women nothing beats being given it.

According to the news, a woman in America went to extraordinary lengths to show her husband the importance of gifts. She was given some jewellery by her common-law husband and, for

whatever reason, he took the jewellery back to the store. In a fit of rage the woman took his goldfish and fried them. By the time the police arrived she had eaten three of them.

Not sure who got punished more here, him or the goldfish. It certainly doesn't seem right to kill them over a few bits of jewellery.

Gorillas in the mist

Jewelry for men is always a hard one. Some love to see a nice forearm accessorized with a bit of bling but many think it’s a bit effete. Well it turns out that in Hollywood someone else has been pondering this dilemma too and they’ve come up with a ‘solution’. I bet you’re expecting it to be some kind of renowned jewelry designer such as H. Stern. Nope. It’s that exceptionally talented designer who has been plying at her trade for decades – yes it’s Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Turns out playing Meadow Soprano gives you an insight into what men want.

Whilst working on the set of Entourage, Jamie-Lynn somehow discovered that what men need is a charm bracelet. Now most people wouldn’t associate charm bracelets with alpha males but apparently that’s who’s buying them. http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/monkey-business-alpha-male-charm-bracelets/ Yes it does look like a plug chain with a gorilla attached but wait it starts at $500 so it must be worth it – right? I mean if all those alpha males on entourage are loving it then it’s gotta be good. Oh and the fact that it has a gorilla attached is a very subtle way of sending the message – me big man, you little man. Erm… wait there lies the rub. Are there any alpha males on the entourage set? I mean I know these days having a lot of money qualifies you as an alpha male but really…since when did a bunch of immature, actors count as alpha males?? So I propose that yes charm bracelets are great for men. But maybe only for men who are not alpha men.