Coming to a Store Near You!

After my weekend of antique shopping I was inspired to stock my entire Parts and Labour shelf with all pink, red and white jewelry for Valentines Day. Mission accomplished. If you live in Austin be sure and stop by the store on South Congress and check things out. I think it says Valentines Day. I made tons of new jewelry for the booth some of my favorites are earrings out of cupcake toppers and a Chihuahua cuff bracelet.







In other Austin store news I am now selling my charm bracelet kits at Craft-o-Rama! I love this cute little crafty store and think it is one of Austin’s undiscovered gems. There is a possibility that I might be teaching some jewelry classes there in the future as well. I’ll keep you posted. If I were to teach a class in your area would you be interested? Like projects from my new book? I supply the kitschy parts and show you how to make some jewelry magic? Just curious. If Parts and Labour or Craft-o-Rama does not have what you are looking for in Austin pop into Flipnotics. Today through Feb 6th they are having a buy one get one free sale on everything in the store and they have some CUTE things!

So you don’t live in Austin but want to shop for some Naughty Secretary Club goodies, well I have recently restocked some other stores around the country. If you live in Orlando, FL pop into Shear Madness (Etoile Boutique carries NSC too). In West Chester, Pennsylvania Nich Boutique has been restocked. Left Right Left in Bellingham, WA just got a package full of some really fun Naughty Secretary Club jewelry. I’m working on new wholesale orders in Australia, Chicago and more in Florida. If your store wants to carry Naughty Secretary Club just give me a holler and we will hook you up!

Bead Simple Bracelet

While trolling around Amazon this afternoon to see if by some whim Naughty Secretary Club: Jewelry for the Working Girl had been added for pre-order I came across Bead Simple. I am waiting with baited breath for my copy to arrive of Susan Beal's latest book since I made a bracelet for it. I was super duper excited when I clicked through the "search inside this book" link to see my bracelet right there on the contents page! Susan sent me pictures of a bracelet she made and I was told to make my own version and this is what I came up with! You might recognize some of the supplies I use for the Apple Pie Bracelet, Horoscope Hottie Necklace, and Kitty Klips.

That reminds me I need to get onto making my button necklace for her new book!

It's Been Raining Crafts and Dogs

Well it’s not really raining, but there has been a lot of crafting and dog chatter going on around my house. I have been MIA because after my trip to Dallas got cancelled this weekend due to weather, my mom decided to come to Austin for a visit. When Fredda is in town that means craft city USA and that is exactly what happened.

The craftstravaganza started with a wild goose chase all over Austin looking for the right bobbin for my sewing machine, which proved to be fruitless. I got a new Viking from Santa and thought there was something wrong with me that I could not thread the bobbin, but after my mom could not do it either I knew I was not to blame. We ventured to a Joann’s where we learned that we had been sold the wrong bobbins and that is why there were kinks in the system. Once we were sent home with the one correct bobbin the dealer had we went on to sew 2 pin cushions and rework a T-shirt with a project from Tease that I will blog about in detail at a later date.

In other crafting news the Hancock fabrics near my house was having a 50% off sale and I went a little crazy. I think I bought almost every button cover kit they had in ¾”, scored some roving for my adventures in needle felting, more decorative ribbon and rick rack than I will ever use, tons of computer printer fabric, thread in every color and more. Everything but bobbins pretty much. Even bought a bobbin holder at 50% off that is currently empty.

The other favorite past time of my mother and I is to go antique shopping. This is the same woman who I went to Massachusetts with last year just to go to a flea market. We made the rounds of several local antique malls and for some reason I started noticing all the vintage crafts. From snowmen made of Golf Balls to kitties made of washcloths. I have recently been obsessed with vintage craft books and magazines so it was fun to see some of these projects from the books in real life.





I LOVE the doll head muff and must make one in my size!

The most exciting news around here is that Chris and I are expanding our family. That’s right I’m…….getting a new puppy. By some whim of God we found a rescuer here in Austin who had a Mastiff surrendered to her that was too far along for the vet to fix her so she had 12 puppies! On Sunday afternoon 4 6 week old mastiff puppies bounded around our backyard. The toughest part is picking which puppy! We are torn between a brindle and a fawn both are little girls and adorable. I wish I could have them all but since they will probably get to be 120 pounds-ish we can only have one. Lucy seemed to get along well with everyone except when one little one tried to nurse on her and she was not having that. And believe it or not our cat Georgie did not seem to be phased. We can’t get the puppy for 2 more weeks and that seems like 2 years right now. I am already reading my Monks of New Skete book about puppies and thinking deep thoughts about names.

Lucy loved the new puppies!

Kitty didn't really care about the new puppies.

The Fawn Mastiff who we are currently leaning towards.

Her Brindle sister who is equally a-doorbell. It's like Sophie's Choice around here.


Mom and I stayed up until 3:30am last night. She was whipping up pin cushions out of my stock of vintage feedsack and I was making Valentine Day themed jewelry for my booth at Parts and Labour. Needless to say I am a little on the pooped side tonight.

Clearly Van Halen with David Lee Roth is the best way to see the band.

Before I go off on a diatribe about how awesome the Van Halen concert was last night I wanted to clarify something. I realized the only real times I talk about music on my blog is when I am going to concerts like Christopher Cross or Def Leppard. I want you to rest assured that these jams of my youth are nestled snuggly between bands like Justice, The Nationals, Band of Horses and more when I hit random on my IPOD. Ooooh did I just justify my love for Van Halen, that is so very wrong.



So anywhoodle Chris and I went to San Antonio last night with our friends Joey and Erin to see Van Halen and it was awesome. Maybe one of the top 5 most awesome days of my life. I grew up listening to Van Halen and this was as close to the original line up as I could hope to get. Chris and I have seen David Lee Roth solo, the Sammy and Dave show when Dave went on tour with Sammy Hagar, we saw at the same arena we were in last night Van Halen with Sammy Hagar (and Michael Anthony on bass). Last night had David Lee Roth singing and 3 Van Halen family members on stage. Alex, Eddie and Eddie’s son Wolfgang replaced Michael Anthony on bass (he did a fine "Running with the Devil" intro). Chris and I decided next we need to take a vacation to Cabo Wabo in Cabo San Lucas to see Sammy and Michael in the Wabaritias.



Clearly Van Halen with David Lee Roth is the best way to see the band. They sang all the hits like “Beautiful Girls” (my new fave VH song), “Jump”, “Unchained”, “Hot For Teacher”, “Everybody Wants Some”…the list goes on. Dave even did “Ice Cream Man”. The opening band was one of the Marly kids which I thought was an odd choice, but pleasant. The venue was the AT&T Center in San Antonio as in where the Spurs play basketball so it was huge. We had decent seats, but lets just say I was thankful for the big screen behind them where everything seemed much bigger.



One of the highlights of the night was the ski vest (scored at the clothes swap!) my sister Hope Perkins of Hot Pink Pistol fame painted for me. We searched high and low for the most awesome picture of Dave and found this one!



So that was my exciting night! The whole ride home the 4 of us were planning our next concert outing to see Air Supply here in Austin.

Just not my day

Today is just not my day…

1) My Blackberry (which is also my only cell phone) has died and I had to order a new one.

2) My My Space account got hacked or something because all my top 24 friends have been swapped out. I am trying to get things back to normal.

3) My outlook email is not working right.

4) My web hosting service Dreamhost “accidentally” charged me for 2 years worth of service at once causing me to bounce checks which I am having a bitch of a time getting reimbursed for.

5) It’s cold and the weather sucks and I am supposed to drive to Dallas tomorrow and there is freezing rain on the agenda.

Here are some things that are helping me work through these shiteous things…

1) TONIGHT IS THE VAN HALEN CONCERT IN SAN ANTONIO!

2) The Heart Shaped Lollipop Earrings got written up on the Bag Lady Blog.

3) I bought this completely awesome T-shirt from Nails Did last night.

4) I am THIS close to getting a Mastiff puppy, we are going to look at the little girl on Tuesday.

5) My new book pitches are coming together. Ya I know Naughty Secretary Club Jewelry for the Working Girl has not even come out yet, but I am already working on 2 new books.

PROJECT RUNWAY SPOILER BELOW....
P.S. Was anyone else surprised that Victoria got kicked off Project Runway last night? Was Ricky's little tube dress really all that cute? I thought Christian's pants were way cuter.

I didn't even send Christmas cards, wouldn't it be weird to send a Valentine?

I love pretty paper, vintage paper, kitschy paper - just paper in general. I stock pile and use it to make collage jewelry. Lately I have been making cards. I inherited a huge suitcase full of vintage postcards from my grandmother recently and have been day dreaming about what to do with them exactly. Well I bought some ready made cards and envelopes and busted out the glue stick and gel medium and had myself a regular little card making party. I'm not sure what I am going to do with these cards. Send them? I didn't even send Christmas cards, wouldn't it be weird to send a Valentine. There is not a card category on Naughty Secretary Club so I can't put them there. Maybe they will end up in my booth at Parts and Labour or in my Etsy shop. Or maybe they will just live here in my studio, I haven't decided. Anywhoodle thought you might like a peek at what I whipped up as I watched the Housewives of the OC marathon last night....











Speaking of paper I just added new Crafty Collage Curios to Naughty Secretary Club. Before the packs were themed like birds, dogs or cats, but the new selection is just a random assortment. What do you think about that? Do you like it better random or with a theme? I also added new Crafty Curios last night!

Clothes Swap 2008 in Video!

For some people January brings a major flare up of Seasonal Affective Disorder, but for my friends and me it brings excitement, joy and most importantly a brand spanking new wardrobe. Ya see every January we host our annual clothes swap AKA Naked Lady Party. I have blogged about the 2006 & 2007 so you might remember me talking about it. In case you are new to the blog here is how it all works…

My friend Cory started the clothes swap tradition about 5 years ago and held it for 2 years at her house. Eventually she had to move into an apartment and 3 years ago the torch was passed to me as host. The same girls plus or minus a few have been coming for years and we always try to keep it under 20 so things don’t get too out of hand. Everyone brings tons of food, drinkies, their old clothing and I make a booty-liscious dance mix that we cap off the evening with. I sent Chris off to Corpus Christi to see his dad so the house was dude free and the party was started. Don’t believe me, turn up the volume and watch the video of us having "the time of our lives".



If you are not a visual learner here are the instructions to hosting your own clothes swap….

1) Make a small, medium, large and random pile (shoes, purses, jewelry, makeup). Everyone should sort their trash bags full of goodies into the correct piles.

2) Draw numbers

3) In groups of 3 at a time dig through the piles in a furry for 3 minutes and walk away with 5 items of clothing.

4) If your 5 pieces fit awesome they are yours, if they don’t return them to the pile.

5) Go through this cycle 2-3 times and then there is a free for all where everyone just kind of digs. We have been doing this so long we all find things and say “Tina this looks like you” or “hey Karly didn’t you get this at the swap last year, why are you brining it back”

6) After everyone is loaded up with their new spring wardrobe we bag the left overs up (there were probably 15 giant trash bags full) and take everything to a donation center. This year Jessica wanted to take everything to the State School where she is working since they are always in need of women’s clothing for the patients.

7) Once all the clothes are out of the way – start dance party.

For some reason we also have the tradition of selecting the most ridonkulous outfit we can out of the reject pile. Everyone then changes into said outfit for the dance party portion of the evening. Also the girls do love to raid my sunglasses collection.

The thing that is special about this year is A) we had a cat walk style walk off for some strange (there were too many drinks involved) reason. B) The best part of that is the fact that my new Flip video camera arrived in the mail on Friday so I could document the whole thing. I spent the day messing around with editing software. I’m no Scorsese, but I had fun making the videos. Thank God I was holding the camera and not in front of it.



Another added bonus of the clothes swap is all the yummy food. I was going to attempt to make curried devil eggs but I over cooked my eggs and could not get the shells off. My other plan was to make goat cheese stuffed figs, but figs were out of season so I had to pull this recipe out of nowhere….

Goat Cheese, Pecan, and Bacon Brushetta
½ Cup Golden Raisins
6 oz goat cheese
½ Cup chopped pecans
2 small whole wheat hoagie rolls
Veggie Bacon
Toothpicks

I took the hoagie rolls that I had for sandwiches and cut them into thin slices that looked more like brushetta, so you could use any small sized piece of bread. In a bowl mix the raisins, cheese and pecans. Spread the mixture onto the bread slices. Wrap the entire thing with a piece of bacon or veggie bacon. Hold in place with a toothpick. Cook at 450 for about 15 minutes or until bacon is done and serve warm. Yummy!

Chris and I had a ton of left over cubed butternut squash in the freezer that I thought I might be able to whip up into something tasty and with a quick Google search that landed me on Rachel Ray’s page I was right. I used my cubed squash instead of fry shaped and just served with toothpicks for people to use. This was so dang yummy I want to make it like every day.

Butternut Squash Fries with Chili Salt and Maple Cream
1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds) - halved
lengthwise, seeded and peeled
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup crème fraiche or sour cream
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 limes, cut into wedges

Preheat the oven to 425º. Cut the squash into 1/2-inch-wide sticks, about 3 inches long. In a large bowl, toss the squash with the olive oil. Spread in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast until golden and tender when pierced with a knife, about 35 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the crème fraiche and maple syrup until combined. In another bowl, combine the salt, cumin and chili powder. Sprinkle some of the seasoned salt on the squash fries and serve with the maple cream, remaining seasoned salt and lime wedges.

I of course had to make some tasty bevvies so I busted out my margarator from the Cinco de Mayo party and with two cans of frozen fuzzy navel mix, a lot of ice and a bottle of Champagne I made Bellinis. I added raspberry puree as well.

This past SXSW the Fader party was sponsored by Southern Comfort and they had free punch which I enjoyed daily. I decided to whip up a batch for my guests...

Southern Comfort Punch
1 Bottle of Southern Comfort (750 ml)
6oz lemon juice
6oz can frozen lemonaide
6 oz can frozen OJ
3 litters Lemon Lime Soda (I split it between gingerale and 7up)

Mix well and served chilled. I wish I had planned enough in advance to make a festive frozen ice punch ring, but alas.

So there you have it. This weekend I have danced, cooked, scored new clothing, made videos, gone out for burgers, watched a movie and more. Hope you too had an adventuresome weekend.

New Earrings and Bead Bloggers!

This week's eddition of Bead Bloggers is brought to you with pictures of all the new earrings on Naughty Secretary Club. Pssst, there are new Crafty Curios too!

About.com Jewelry Making
Tammy talks about an article she recently read which deals with various jewelry-related ethical issues such as free trade. Even though many of us are "small time" designers, that doesn't mean we can't at least listen to this on-going conversation which is a hot button issue in the jewelry industry right now.

Art Bead Scene
The Art Bead Scene editors are sharing a little Valenine's love early, with a post full of love related eye candy

Jewelry & Beading
Amazing fiber and bead artist Rebecca Brown is profiled on Jewelry & Beading this week.

Katie's Beading Blog
The February Triple Take from Simply Beads is online now. Visit Katie's blog for pix and links to this month's fun, hearty projects!

Naughty Secretary Club
This week’s link is not about jewelry, but instead about supporting fellow crafter Bernie Berlin in her quest to expand her animal shelter A Place to Bark. Bernie saved over 500 cats and dogs last year and with our help can save even more!

Savvy Crafter
Oooo, Baby it's coooold in Candie's apartment!!! In honor of having no heat, she whips up some Sweet Snowflake earrings to go along with the chill in the air. Brrrrrrr!!!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Eni Oken (www.enioken.com) is a famous wire working star. I just had to try my hand at her fascinating ring. She was really kind and encouraging to me by email, and enthusiastic, too! That is what I love in a teacher! It makes you WANT to learn from that person!

The Impatient Blogger
So you sold a project or a book, now what? Summon your inner pirate with Margot Potter as she tells you how to negotiate a fair deal. Arrr...

I have been saving up some good articles I have recently read on the internet to share with you!

I have been saving up some good articles I have recently read on the internet to share with you...

Apparently according to Fashion Wire Daily Simple, Functional Accessories Reign Over Bling at the Circuit Accessories Trade Show in New York.

For me that is not the best of news since I don't do simple so well, but I do have several Nostalgic Notions Necklaces that fit the bill and the whole Bow on Top Series would work. These necklaces pictured are by Laurel Denise.

I found this link on Cool Hunter claiming to be a list of the Top 100 Blogs about Making Money Online. If you run a blog that sells advertising or an online store you might click a few of the links I did.

The links got me to thinking about a few things with blogs. What are Technorati tags and can I use them on my Blogger Blog? Speaking of tags when I blog there is a space at the bottom for “labels”. Over on the right hand column you notice I have categories like Bead Bloggers, recipes, fashion, press and more. For instance this post will be listed as business in the label section and then put there. Am I using these labels wrong and really they are tags? Oh it’s so confusing. Why on some blogs like say for example Shelterrific at the end of each post there is automatically a way to use Ma.gnolia, Stumble Upon, Technorati, del.icio.us, dig, & spurl. Should I have these options on my blog? Can I have these options on my blog? How does one get these options on their blog.

I keep reading about a 17 year old girl named Ashley Qualls who runs a website called Whatever Life that makes My Space backgrounds. The girl made a million bucks doing it! Check out the story on People of the Web.

Stitch Podcast Part II - The Fashion Show

It's a slow news day around Naughty Secretary Club headquarters and since I just got back from the gym with Vickie where I was telling her all about how she should be a news anchor I thought I would post part 2 to the Stitch Podcast. This episode is all about the fashion show portion of things!


If you didn't catch the craft bazaar podcast click here.

Bernie last year saved over 500 dogs and cats from death and are all in happy new homes

I got an email from my lovely friend Bernie Berlin today with some exciting news.

You might know Bernie as an amazing artist and the author of Artist Trading Card Workshop: Create, Collect, Swap. I know her as that too, but I also know that she is someone who runs a one woman version of the Humane Society on her own time and her own dollar. Check out A Place to Bark to read about all the wonderful things Bernie does for animals. Seriously, if you know someone who might like to pitch a show to Animal Planet tell them to call Bernie. Bernie has been helping Chris and I look for a Mastiff that needs to be rescued. So many animals out there need our help and Bernie last year saved over 500 dogs and cats from death and are all in happy new homes. Evertyime I talk to Bernie or read her blog I am amazed by what just one woman can do.

Do you feel all warm and sqishy inside right now and want to help Bernie help more animals? Sure you do, read on and I'll tell you how....

So Bernie, along with some other animal rescue groups are in a contest of sorts. The winner gets $50k to start their own animal shelter with. I can’t think of a better person to win this money and do something wonderful for animals with it. Here is how this is all working, copied straight from my friend Claudine’s blog….

Six Degrees has partnered with the Case Foundation to invite you to take part in America's Giving Challenge sponsored by Parade.

It's your chance to get $50,000 for your favorite charity. Here's our opportunity to help Bernie at A Place to Bark build the shelter that she needs!

How It Works:
The four charity badges with the most unique donations through America's Giving Challenge will get $50,000 for their cause. America's Giving Challenge runs until January 31st. So that does not mean the most money raised necessarily, it means the badge that gets the most different donations. So the more people that click this little badge and donate $10 to animals the better Bernie’s chances are of winning!

What we need to do:
Put this 6 Degrees Badge (below -- just click the "share tab to get the code") on your blog and help spread the word.



Donate:
If you are able donate , please donate via the badge a $10 tax deductible donation. We need the most people possible to each donate $10 to A Place to Bark. In order to win the grant we need to have the most amount of donors, not necessarily the amount of money donated.

It gets better!
All donations made to A Place to Bark's Six Degrees Badge, will be matched by the "Zoline Foundation" up to $25,000.00!!! All donations up to June 1st will be counted for the matching donation from the Zoline Foundation. It's a win-win!


About A Place to Bark:
"A Place to Bark" is a private no kill rescue run solely by Bernie Berlin. All animals come from high kill shelters in the south and are on death row. Combining health care, rehabilitation, and working with animal welfare organizations A Place to Bark provides a true no kill vision. Registered 501c3 non-profit. Visit A Place to Bark's web site.

Can you think of a better way to get a tax deduction than by supporting a crafty lady that runs an animal shelter. I mean really. I know I donated and I hope you will too! As of this post Bernie is in the top 5, but she needs to be within the top 4 to win and we only have until Jan 31st to make this happen. Please donate and if you have a blog of your own we would love you forever if you put the badge up and help spread the word!

If you wanna see A Place to Bark in action, watch this video....

Did anyone else ride a jackalope this weekend or was it just me?

Did anyone else ride a Jack-a-Lope this weekend or was it just me? My friend's Jen and Kevin had a potluck Sunday afternoon that just so happened to include a giant ride-able Jackalope. I felt like Deborah Winger in Urban Cowboy riding the mechanical bull but different. Kevin is one of the owners Austin's Blue Genie studios who make majority of the awesome Fiberglass signage you see around town. I stopped by the potluck with a few friends and brought a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts as my contribution to the pot luck. Good thing I also brought a stack of the complimentary paper hats they give away since I later saw other people posing for pictures on the Jackalope with their Krispy Kreme hat on.

After the potluck I of course had to come home and watch the premiere of the new season of Rock of Love and the Scott Baio show. I’m not sure how I managed to get addicted to both of these cheesy shows, but I am. I felt so sad for the poor girl who got so drunk she missed elimination on Rock of Love. I also thought the new batch of ladies seemed a little more, um how shall I say this delicately, well if you saw the show you know what I am trying to say.

Also this weekend I shopped with my sister, made some new necklaces out of tree rings, planned my trip to Magic – Pool and Project in Las Vegas with my friend Natalie, put together new batches of Crafty Curio Jars (and made new cute labels for them), went out to dinner with my hubby and our friend Chris who is about to move to Poland and more! Hope you had a nice weekend full of Jackalope riding style adventure too!

Bead Bloggers and New Necklaces!

I have been a bad bad girl with my Bead Blogging links and I am just downright ashamed of myself. Today I am back ontop of things! I am also spicing up all these informative links with pictures of the new necklaces in from the Bow on Top Collection!

About.com Jewelry Making
Do you like two tone metal jewelry? Are you a metal clay jewelry maker? Tammy tells us about a new product to help you mix up metals using metal clay techniques.

Art Bead Scene
We are feeling groovy here at Art Bead Scene, as we celebrate our own Tari Sasser's recent press with her tie dyed beads. What trippy thing would *you* make with them?

Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi has a free book giveaway going on! You can enter to win a copy of "Crazy About Jewelry" simply by leaving a comment on this post! What could be easier?

Naughty Secretary Club
Thinking of selling your jewelry for a living? Jen has some tips on free promotion and suggested reading to get you started.

PearlEsq.
Check out the latest adventure of a rubber stamp that's made its way to Australia!

Savvy Crafter
Finding the findings is always an interesting experience in Candie's part of the world. This week she shares a couple of pictures from a trip to Hong Kong.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Beautiful (...possibly even...sexy?) champagne coin pearl chandeliers by Jean!

The Impatient Blogger
Need a dose of inspiration? Check out this video blog post by Margot Potter as she traverses a whole new dimension of bloggy goodness!

A Few Small Business Tips

Time and time again I get asked hot burning questions about how to run a small business. Questions like how did you get your book deal? How do you get your jewelry in magazines? and How do you keep everything straight? Venus Zine and Sublime Stitching’s Jenny Hart are covering all these questions and more for you in a new monthly column called Crafting a Business with Jenny Hart. The articles are always interesting and well written and I always find them relevant and learn something new. This month Jenny mentions our girl gang the Austin Craft Mafia and the fact that we always swap swag with each other. Hey it’s a free and easy way to spread the gospel about your company. For tips like this and many more be sure to read the article, read the past articles and keep an eyeball peeled each month for more new articles. Oh and I love the Illustration by Alicia Traveria.

Usually when people ask me questions about running a business I send them over to the Austin Craft Mafia website and suggest they read our individual profile interviews. We answer a lot of questions there. Another more recent suggestion is that they pick up a copy of Craft, Inc by Meg Mateo Ilasco from Chronicle Books. The book claims to be the ultimate guide to turning what you do for fun into what you do for money. You bet your sweet toosh you could be making a living off of your Etsy store, just read the book to figure out how. There are tips on how to handle your first craft fair, wholesale versus consignment, trade show 101 plus interviews with companies like Wool and Hoop, Jonathan Adler, Poppi Jewelry and more. Sure there are tons of books on how to run your small crafty business, but this book has an Indie slant and a layout so pretty it would make the gals over at Decor8 proud!

I leave you with 10 free ways to promote your business and get the word out.
1) Start a blog! Well no one wants to just read about your business so you need to spice it up a little bit too! Once you have a blog start your own Bead Bloggers or Web Snob Weekly Round Up with some friends to promote your blogs.

2) Have a My Space account for your business. One of the number one refers to my website is my My Space profile. Don’t forget Face Book, although I am not as big of a fan since they are a little slimy about what they tell their advertisers.

3) Start a Flickr account. Once you have your account join some groups and send your pictures to those pools for others to see. Also be sure to add tags to your photos! Plus it’s fun and inspiring to see other people’s pictures.

4) Ask other like minded companies to trade links with you. The more links out there leading to your website the easier it will be for people to find you.

5) Chat on The Switchboards, Craftster, Supernaturale – however many crafty posting boards you have time for! These boards are awesome resources for business and craft information, plus you make new friends.

6) If you already have swag then it is free to swap it with other people. Jenny Hart puts Naughty Secretary Club post cards in her Sublime Stitching Orders, I put Vickie Howell’s postcards in my orders and Tina Sparkles includes postcards about All Dressed Up and Shy. Find your crafty circle and swap swag.

7) Blogs that specialize in writing about crafty goodies are always looking for new content (Indie Fixx, Modish, Anything Indie, ect . Most have a link and email right at the top that says something along the lines of “contact me if you think our readers would like your ______”. Contact them, it’s free advertising if they write about your business.

8) Have a mailing list and use it. If you have a web page or even an Etsy account you should have a newsletter that people are able to sign up for. Send your newsletter out with regularity but not so often that people unsubscribe. Let peeps know about sales and new products.

9) Start a local chapter of a Babes in Business, Church of Craft, Etsy Team and meet monthly. There are power in numbers!

10) Does your email have a signature with URLs? Mine is ridiculously long and every time you get an email from me you find this at the bottom….
Naughty Secretary Club
Jennifer Perkins
PO Box 151510 Austin, TX 78715
info@naughtysecretaryclub.com

Watch Craft Lab & Stylelicious on DIY Network.

A Few Other Things I do:
Etsy
Blog
Austin Craft Mafia
Stitch Fashion Show and Guerilla Craft Bazaar
Naughty Secretary Club and Craft Lab on My Space.

P.S. One last free thing that I LOVE are Google Alerts. Everytime the words Naughty Secretary Club, Jennifer Perkins, Stitch Austin or Austin Craft Mafia appear on the internet I get a Google Alert about it with a link. This way you can see what the world is saying. A lot of times I find mentions on blogs and websites through these alerts that I would have otherwise never seen. Just be sure when you are submitting words like "Naughty Secretary Club" to put it in quotes or you will get alerts about each of the 3 seperate words.

Roy Lichtenstein

Chris and I had a hot date at the Austin Museum of Art for a Roy Lichtenstein exhibit tonight. Years ago I had been to a Lichtenstein exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art and some of the pieces looked familiar like I had seen them there, but I could be dreaming it. I love the look of Lichtenstein prints, but too many of them can almost give you a headache with all the dots. Sometimes his color choices throw me off a bit too. Not the primary colors but the primaries with a mauve pink thrown in.

Ok back to make me a super model and adding new Revamped Vintage Earrings to the website.

I asked for our money back and got the bad guys kicked out

Here are a few reasons why I have not been blogging....

I picked out 100 different necklaces to send out with the next Sampler.

Went to Ikea with my Christmas gift card burning a hole in my pocket and spent less than $10.

Had lunch with Tina Sparkles and discussed books, magazines, vintage fashion, the story of stuff and more.

Restocked my shelf at Parts and Labour with some new goodies.

Added the last 15 of the one of a kind Bow on Top Revamped Vintage Necklaces.

Contemplated some Betsy Johnson luggage at Marshals. Cute as all get out, but not that practical.

Started reading my Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords book which made my head spin.

My Christmas present to myself arrived in the mail which I promptly started playing with. I should not have practiced on something good because I ruined it. After taking a class with Suzan Lenart Kazmir this summer I have been dreaming about a metal punch, dapping block and disc cutter.

Had dinner with my mother-in-law.

Went antique shopping at New Bohemia and Uncommon Objects and walked out empty handed from both stores.

Tried to go see No Country for Old Men, but due to some rowdy hicks in the theater Chris and I left and went and asked for our money back and got the bad guys kicked out. We really want to see There Will be Blood anyway, it's just not playing in Austin. CLICK HERE to read Chris's whole account of the event.

Made several Pairs of New Earrings.

Watched a 70’s movie called Magic with Anthony Hopkins as a psycho ventriloquist.


Spent all day Sunday in wee little Texas towns scoring new goodies for Crafty Curios and Revamped Vintage Jewelry at various little antique shops. Plus a new stash of fun craft books for me.


These are just a few of the reasons why I have not been blogging with regularity. Tonight if you are out and about you should come by Emo’s Lounge. Not only is it free cover, it is also the premiere of my friend Cory’s band Hollywood Gossip. Show starts about 11:30!

Ok I'm off to meet Vickie at the gym!

My prom was held at….brace yourself….South Fork Ranch

If you squint really hard in the new issue of Seventeen Prom you can see some Naughty Secretary Club jewelry.

First up the Rhinestone Rocker Earrings!


The Revamped Vintage Red Hair Clips are a little easier to see. I made them from some old 1960's earrings I bought last year in Massachusetts.


When I sent the red hair clips off the photo shoot I actually sent a bunch of pairs, one of which that were pink and I adored. They did not get chosen for the shoot so I sold them at Parts and Labour. At Stitch I ran into a girl who was wearing them and she looked adorable! I was so glad they went to a good home. I will be adding more to the site soon.


Ok back to Seventeen Prom. The last page features our Carved Coral Ring and a Pair of Guitar Pick Earrings. I swear they are there, you just have to really concentrate to see them.


Flipping through the magazine reminded me of my own prom. No I did not do it up all Molly Ringwald crafty style, I wore a plain old black velvet dress I bought at the mall. Being from the DFW area however my prom was held at….brace yourself….South Fork Ranch. Yes as in where the Ewings lived on the TV show Dallas. I called my mom from the phone next to JR’s toilet. I don’t remember my prom being that awesome. We left early and went to some dance club in Dallas and my eyebrows looked like giant black caterpillars. The girl who did my makeup mistakenly thought I was a hair model and was about to be whisked off to an eyebrow and above photo shoot for a hair magazine, not to a high school prom. I tried my best to take some of the make up off, but time was running short and when I look back at the pictures let’s just say it could have been a costume party and I was there as Frida Kahlo.

Law and Order marathons and ordering Chinese take out

I know I said I would not go MIA in the blogging department again and did, but there was a personal issue in Illinois I had to deal with kind of out of the blue. However I am back and in full effect now. The last minute trip actually turned into quite a nice shopping spree in the jewelry, purses and crafty curio department so look for newness at Naughty Secretary Club soon. I also got the chance to stay in a nice bed and breakfast called the Conerstone Inn. All the rooms were biblical in theme, Hope and I were in the "Glimpse of Heaven". I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. I spent mine in McKinney with my family. My parents decorate their victorian house up to the 9’s with Christmas awesomeness so it always makes me happy to go home for the holidays. From McKinney we ventured to Tyler to see my extended family and from there I flew to Illinois until Sunday night when I got back to Austin. Here are a few Christmas pictures to share…








Santa brought me tons of books, a new sewing machine, a framed Stylelicious poster and of course new Dream Pets and Rubber Faced Dolls!



So speaking of my parents I just got an email that they were out last year on New Years until 2:30am. Chris and I were asleep by then after a big night of watching a Law and Order marathon and ordering Chinese take out. New Years always seems to be one of those anti-climatic nights of the year that is overpriced and overcrowded and I could have more fun if I just go out on Wednesday or something. I didn’t just watch TV I actually made some new jewelry out of wood, plastic, rhinestones and more that I am super excited about. It should be on the website too. Chris and I also watched The Hitcher (the old one). The other thing I did is thought a bit about new years resolutions. Sure I’d like to drop a few pounds, learn to put things away after I use them, give up a few vices and various other things that will probably never happen. Here is a quickie list I thought I might share…

Learn to Sew-Well technically I know how to sew, I should say learn to sew better. I got a new sewing machine for Christmas and have already started buying fabric. I have an awesome old book on soft jewelry that I am looking to for a lot of inspiration.

Start Cooking More- Just tonight Chris and I made Vietnamese Noodle Bowls. We also have the groceries to make an African Butternut Squash and Peanut Soup, Barbeque-Rubbed Pork Loin with Raisin Mustard Chutney and Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cheese. We got a subscription to Cooking Light from my parents for Christmas. Once upon a time I cooked often and enjoyed it. That was pre running my own business now I barely put a frozen pizza in the oven.

Update Naughty Secretary Club more- I want to try and add new goodies to the website once a week. Well at least a couple of times per month. I find the more jewelry I make the more inspired I become to make jewelry. If that makes sense.

Read More
- I am one of those sad American statistics that does not read that often. I read the internet and magazines, but I rarely find the time to sit down with a book and that is just downright sad. I’m currently reading The Ruins and Next Now: Trends for the Future.

Try new Crafts
- I am already pretty adventurous in the jewelry department, but this year I want to take it to a new level. I have two new batches of jewelry to add to the website that are both different for me. I’m not saying everything has to be ground breaking, but I want to break out of my comfort zone and remember how to crochet, use all the polymer clay I have, bust out my soldering iron, hammer out some things on my dapping block and more.

I’ll keep you posted on how all these things progress. Until then after a long day of cooking, cleaning, making jewelry and more I am off to watch more Law and Order and read yet another magazine.