Holiday Q&A...All the stuff you wanted to know but were afraid to ask

Hi Guys,

Happy Holidays!

Here's all the nitty gritty details for getting your grubby paws on some glittering holiday goods from tobyDESIGN:

Shipping Cutoffs:
For all pieces that aren't labeled as "Quick Ship" (look right underneath the piece's name):
December 11th
These pieces are made to order, and I want to make sure I make them absolutely special for you.

For Quick Ship pieces:
December 17th for standard shipping
December 21st for overnight shipping

Custom Pieces:
Yikes, I'm all booked up for Holiday orders. How 'bout Valentines day?

Guys, do you need some help?
Ok, the fact that you're shopping on a handcrafted jewelry site means that you're 90% of the way there towards purchasing a really thoughtful gift. You get brownie points for even getting this far. Let me help you get all the way there. Email me at toby@tobydesign.com and tell me a little bit about the person you're buying for, and I can steer you in the right direction.

Free Giftwrapping?
Of course! 20 bucks says that this will be the prettiest box under your tree!

Questions? Need Help? email me at toby@tobydesign.com

Here's how to up your gas milage...

I found this in the Organic Consumer's Association Newsletter...

QUICK RELATED FACTS:
YOUR DIET IMPACTS ENVIRONMENT MORE THAN YOUR CAR

13 PERCENT = The percentage of greenhouse gases created by all trucks, SUVs, cars, airplanes, trains and other transportation.

18 PERCENT = The amount of greenhouse gases created by livestock production.>

Source: United Nations

Moral of the story: If you are an average U.S. meat eater, reducing your meat consumption to 2 ounces per day is roughly equivalent to doubling your vehicle's fuel efficiency, in terms of greenhouse gas reduction.

More coming soons...

Here's another style that slowly but surely making it's way onto my site. Cool, huh? I've found this beautiful Japanese silk cord to use for necklaces now. The colors are unbelievably vibrant. And Dave's beads? Gorgeous as usual. This is my favorite style he makes...looks like dewdrops, doesn't it?

Again, if your peeing your pants in anticipation and just can't wait to have this piece, shoot me an email and it's yours to keep.

More Custom Pieces

Wahoo! I'm finally caught up with custom orders! It only took 3 months. Just in time for a quick breather before the holiday shopping frenzy starts. I can't believe I'm getting Christmas catalogs in the mail already. Hello - it's OCTOBER. I promise...you will see no Santas and reindeer on this site until well into November. Pinky swear.

Anyway, here are the latest custom pieces. I really love both of those stones. I'm always so happy to know these goofy rocks are going to good homes.

[Edited to add...]

And here's why I love working with custom orders:

Let me start out with...

Oh my god thank you Toby they are absolutely gorgeous. Definitely worth the wait (you should see the giant smile on my face now).

I can't wait to see them "in the flesh". Thank you so much, I don't think I will be able to say that enough.

These are going out to Australia, cool, huh? I still can't wrap my head around it being spring over there. All our beautiful flowers are brown and crispy now and theirs are just popping up.

[Edited even later to add...]

Hi Toby,

Just writing to say I received the necklaces today and they are absolutely gorgeous. I can't express how much I love both of them.

It was also a great pleasure getting to know you and if anyone asks I won't hesitate to tell them where I bought these beautiful necklaces.

Preview of things to come

Want a sneak peak of what's coming for the holidays?..... This is laboradite and moonstone. The photos absolutely don't do it justice...the stones are really irridescent. Coming soon to a browser near you. And if you have ants in your pants and can't wait that long, send me an email.

Poor Dave, he humors me so much

Want to see where I'm dragging him and Devera this weekend? Richardson's Rock Ranch >> There are miles and miles of rocks there. I'm so excited. Ah, the things you do for love.

Here's another custom piece

This piece of jasper has just been begging and pleading to be a ring. And now it's finally gotten its' wish. Cool, huh? Hope they like it.

Microlending - yet another payment

Got an email today that said my gals made another payment on their microloans. That means that they're a third of the way through their repayments. It's pretty cool that $850 will buy you an acre of land in Samoa and some workspace improvements So far so good.

Free Geek Count Is In...

Wow, who knew? There were just as many girl geeks at Free Geek as there were guys. Lots and lots of bikes there. You could barely get from the street into the place without weaving between all the bikes parked outside. The computer is off to it's new home (and out of my house, yippee!!).

These geeks are great

So, it's time for my old computer to get the hell out of my house. It's taking up space, wasting energy, and not doing much else. So, I found a new home for it tommorrow: free geek

These guys are so cool ( yeah, 20 bucks says that they're 95% guys, it'll be interesting to see - I'll report back). Anyway, they have a computer adoption program that's just a great idea. If you volunteer 24 hours of your time to them, they'll give you one of their rebuilt computers and teach you how to use it.

As the guys on the Guinness commercial say, "Brilliant!"

Microlending - So far so good

Hey, so I think this Kiva thing is working out. Both of the entrepreneurs are on payment #3. How cool is that? Maybe I'm helping create a Manioc Land Barroness and a Matt Maker Extraordinaire? Either way, these guys are 1/4 of the way through paying back their loan. I'm so excited. I tell ya - a whole bunch of little people doing little things can do some pretty cool stuff!

Hi Guys - I'm taking a vacation

Wahoo! I'm out of here for a couple of days. After a CRAZY couple of weeks I'm soooooo looking forward to getting out of Dodge for a little while. I'll be back on Tuesday, I promise.

Here's a little eye candy to keep you tied over for a couple of days. It's a custom order I finished up a couple of weeks ago. Pretty, huh?

And here's the comments:

"I have received my necklace-it is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much!"

Wanna see the latest custom piece?

I've been awash in custom orders lately. And it's just so fun. First of all I get to talk to the people ordering the pieces instead of just sending out an order to jkl1132@yahoo.com.

It's kinda lonely having a web based business, you don't get to meet the people browsing around your shop. So, doing the custom stuff is fun.

Anyway, this is a piece of montana agate I just put the finishing touches on. The photo doesn't come close to doing justice to the piece. But, yeah, it's a gorgeous stone.

I offered to take it off my customer's hands and keep it for myself, but darn, she really likes it. Oh well, I'll just have to make one for myself.

Looks cool, huh?

And I so love getting these emails in my inbox:

"I got my necklace the other day and I just wanted to say that you were right, the pictures didn't do it justice and I just absolutely love it. It's beautiful and unique and it's phenomenal. Thank you so much!!"

Wahoo - no more diapers!

Devera's gotten with the program and has figured out the whole potty training thing.

I heard a saying a while ago - start when they're 2 and they'll get it at 3. Start at 3 and they'll get it at 3. Well, we did the latter, and holy cow it worked!

12 years from now I can imagine she'd be completely mortified that I'm talking about this on an open web site, but right now she's prancing around the house telling anyone who stops to listen.

So, I made a promise to allay my guilt for going with disposable diapers instead of cloth ones to plant a tree when we were done with this whole thing. I'm sorry, but any instructions that involved the words "poo" and "swish", I just couldn't do it. So, hey, if you've got any suggestions for good charities to donate to that do tree planting or something like that, let me know...I'm all ears.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Times a Million - This guys's a great writer

It's pretty cool to have smart, succinct marketers who aren't working for Philip Morris or Exxon. Check out this post on why every little bit helps. Seth Godin's just a smart guy. I hope a bunch more people jump on his bandwagon.

I've been waiting YEARS for this thing to bloom!

Dave says it's been 4 years - but I'm sure it's been longer. It almost got the boot (or the yank) last summer but we decided to give it one more year. Maybe it got scared straight because it's got the most amazing flowers on it. It's called a passion flower, and you see them growing every so often around here in the Pacific Northwest. Unreal, huh? I have no idea why, but they look biblical to me. Maybe I saw them growing up the side of a church or something. Wierd how you make associations to things, huh?

Hey - Payment #2!

Yay! The women I made the microloans have paid back month #2 - I think they've got 14 left.

Lotufaamanatu and Lolofa

Want to see what I've been working on?

Well, I was going full bore on these for months until Lucky Magazine happened to give me a call, then I got sidetracked by my old favorite love, picture jaspers. But, before I was so rudely interrupted (I'm lying - thank you, Lucky!!!), I was deep in the middle of making these beyond cool porcelain roses. I'm really excited by how lifelike these have been turning out. And it's such a nice, tactile project for me to sit down and do. I get into a zen-like state making these. Anyway, these are eventually going to make their way into some bridal pieces like combs, pins, and tiaras. Cool, huh?

And here are the offending ruffles.

I'm dry heaving just looking at the thing. But she's just so happy.

My daughter is a girlie girl!

And she sure didn't get it from me!

So, I'm in desperate need to find a bathing suit for Devera before our trip to Detroit (which, if you want to get completely grossed out by bugs, check out Dave's blog). And I'm in the kid's section of Marshall's completely paralyzed with indecision.

I'm holding in my hand a frilly pink bathing suit emblazoned with all the Disney princesses. I'm trying not to dry heave looking at it, but I can't put it back because I know it will make her sooooo happy. And it's the only bathing suit and it's her size.

Good lord I'm condoning this stuff! I haven't worn makeup in a good 6 months, and I think Devera's got more high heels than I do (and more fairy wings tooo).

She and I have a long standing argument on who the princess in the blue dress is, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. I've shown her that the ABC's on her purse with that princess on the front of it say Cinderella, but she's not going with it. Dammit it's Sleeping Beauty. I remember my mom and dad had a long standing argument on wether it was Carribbeeean or Cariiiibbean. I don't think they resolved that one either. At least I know I'm right.

Out for the next couple of days

Hi guys, just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that I'll be out of town for the next couple of days. I won't be able to grab any emails. So if you're desperately waiting for email from me at least you'll know that I haven't disappeared on you. See you Sunday.

Hey, Lucky Magazine thinks I'm Lucky!

And I think I agree with them. If you happen to see the July issue lying around, flip through it. This bad boy... ...one of my picture jasper necklaces, hiding in there. It's funny, everyone who's seen this piece keeps asking me, did you draw that? Is that a real rock?

Rock dork me, my instant reaction is to go into a 3 hour discussion on how what where and why this stone is so cool. But my semi-good sense takes over, says yeah, it's real, and then sends them over to this page on my site. The only guys who can talk about this stuff longer than I can are the 90-year old rockhounds I get my materials from.

Anyway, check out the magazine!

My microlendees made their first repayment!

Well, that's pretty cool. The budding captains of industry that I lent a whopping $50 to made the first repayment on their loan. (If you're confused, here's my first post)

So, I guess Lotufaamanatu bought her parcel of land and Lolofa has a new roof for her workshop.

This will be fun to watch - I'll keep you guys posted too.

An Inconvenient Truth - Want to read it?

Let me know if you do. My copy is just sitting here collecting dust, and it seems like a good book to keep in circulation.

If you want to read it, shoot me an email. I'd be happy to send it to you and even pick up the postage.

Happy Reading!

Chocolate Jealousy

Ever have a conversation with a friend that just hits the jealous button hard?

I ran into a really fun friend of mine at the Farmer's Market this weekend. He's retired and dabbles in all kinds of fun projects (he was actually instrumental in setting up the market in the first place).

I hadn't seen him in a while and I asked him what kind of trouble he's been getting into these days. He said he'd just finished certification to become a master chocolatier. I don't know, I hear mouseketeer when he said it first and all I could think of was the mouse ear hats.

So, now I'm so jealous! He's going to open a chocolate shop in our neighborhood, and play with chocolate all day. Doesn't that sound like loads of fun? I kept telling Dave the rest of the day, "I want to be a Chocolatier!" poor Dave.

In my oodles and oodles of spare time...yeah, I guess I can't fit it in. Maybe when I retire. Someone else do it for me and tell me how fun it is: ecole chocolat.

Give money or lend money?

Hi Guys - I'm back, and amazingly not sunburned. Devera is a little fish now, spending a good 18 hours a day stuck to the side of the pool like a little snail. She thinks she's a mermaid now.

Anyway, I wanted to share this cool site with you. It's called Kiva.com and it's a micro-lending site for disadvantaged people across the world. I don't know if you've heard about micro-lending, but here's my take on it...so, some woman in Somalia with 6 kids sells drinks by the side of the road to make enough money for her family. She knows she can really hit it big time if she can buy a bike so that it doesn't take her 4 hours to get to where she needs to go.

Good lord, I can loan her money to buy a bike. I could just give her the money and call it a day, but I like the idea of a loan, because it teaches you a little money management in the mean time. She's going to make enough to pay me back over a period of time.

Cool concept, huh? I think the guy who won the nobel peace price did because he set up a microlending network in like bangladesh or something. So, I think I'm going to start investing some of my tobyDESIGN profits in Kiva.com and see if I can spread the joy a little. Right now I'm investing in a Taro Plantation and a Mat Weaving business in Samoa. We'll see what kinds of captains of enterprise these women can become. I've got my fingers crossed for them.

Hi Gang...I'm out for the rest of the week

Hi there...just so you know...I'm out of the country until Wednesday (soaking up some sun as we speak). So I may be a little slow getting back to you, but I promise I will. Have a great week!

Make your money count, organically

Treehugger, that I am...I subscribe to a really cool online newsletter, Organic Bytes.

They had a great tip that I thought I'd share:

TIP OF THE WEEK: SHOPPER'S GUIDE - BUY ORGANIC & AVOID THE "DIRTY DOZEN" FRUITS & VEGETABLES According to the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) analysis of data from over 43,000 tests on pesticides in conventional produce, over 90% of ingestion of pesticides in foods can be eliminated by avoiding the most contaminated foods. The "Dirty Dozen" most contaminated foods are peaches (97 percent tested positive for residue), apples (92 percent tested positive), sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes. The "Consistently Clean" are onions (90 percent tested negative), avocados (90 percent), sweet corn (90 percent), pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli and papaya. "Federal produce tests tell us that some fruits and vegetables are so likely to be contaminated with pesticides that you should always buy them organic. Others are so consistently clean that you can eat them with less concern." Says EWG Senior Vice President Richard Wiles. Download your wallet-sized shopper's guide here:

I know it's really expensive for some people to buy organic foods, but maybe this helps you spend wisely. Happy Eating!

Woo Hoo, the scales are tipping!

It's so cool to see more and more people talking about sustainable living these days. Or maybe I've found my niche and tune out everything else. I ran across a great post on Seth Godin's blog: Noimpactman Makes Quite an Impact If you're looking for some good reading on marketing and advertising in general, he's got a really great take on how the world works. He's a breath of fresh air in a world where companies are trying to push Disney Princesses and Chuck E Cheeze down my little kid's throat.

The Little Brute Family

You have no idea how excited I am. I was at the library checking out some books for Devera when I spotted it...my favorite book from when I was a little girl...The Little Brute Family. I've been searching for a copy of it for years - it's been out of print for like 20 years. But the library had 2 copies. It's the sweetest little story. The little brute family are just a bunch of grouches...always fighting and snarling. They never smile, their kites never fly and they always sink when they swim. Until one day baby brute finds a good feeling fluttering over a patch of dasies and puts it in his pocket...long story short...they end up changing their name to nice. I used to think of that book whenever I met grouchy people. You know, I'm a big believer in karma...I wonder if this book had anything to do with it?

Now, if I could only get my hands on a copy of Father Fox's Penny Rhymes...

My favorite tree in Portland

My favorite tree in Portland is blooming these days. The cherry trees are blooming around here and there's one that I drive by every day. I swear the trunk's a good 3 feet wide and it is just a huge puff of pink. I got stuck in traffic the other day right next to it ahh..the one time I actually enjoyed being stuck. Hey, it's getting to be gardening time around here. I found a cool site with umpteen gazillion organic gardening tips. Happy reading (and gardening!)

Kermit's singing us a lulaby

I love this time of year. I've got the windows open for the first time in forever. And while I'm writing this there's a little tree frog in the back yard that's just singing his little heart out. You can just hear him saying, "Hey, baby!...Hey, baby!" Hopefully he finds his Ms. right and leaves us some more tadpoles to watch this summer. A couple of weeks ago Dave and I were sitting in the back yard with Dave's sister on an unbelievably sunny day. Dave's sister was getting really indignant in part of the story she was telling. And while she was telling it, the little frog in the bushes was croaking "You, tell it, sister!" at just all the right times. It was a little surreal. Hang in there all you guys suffering with ice storms...this weather will head your way too.

A sure sign of Armageddon - Toby joins a soccer team

I could see the horsemen of the apocalypse racing around the perimiter the whole time I was on the field.

Here's a little background for you. Dave is a HUGE soccer fan. How many of you guys had an Italian flag flying outside your house when Italy won the world cup? Yeah, we did. He plays twice a week, and yeah, he's really into it. I, on the other hand have always been extremely vocal about how incredibly BORING soccer is to watch. I mean really...it's really really boring. Well, I partly do it to annoy Dave.

Hipocrite that I am, when I was asked to join a soccer team full of newbies, I thought, What the hell! You only live once. So, this is the first organized sport I have EVER played. Well, there was bobby sox softball for about 3 weeks when I was 8.

So, my friends and I played our second game last night. I'm sure we looked like a bunch of 4 year olds swarming the ball, with the one super clueless player in the corner picking their nose. We got CREAMED, but we're a good natured group, and most of the time we couldn't figure out where the score was posted anyway, so we didn't care. I found out that I like playing defence. I like that it kind of freaks guys out to see a little girl running full force towards them. It throws them off just enough to get my little foot in there and every so often get the ball out. The girls though, yeah, no fear.

Yeah, so maybe you should start...start...what are you supposed to do to prepare for Armageddon? I should ask some of my religious friends, cause I think it's around the corner.

Good god, I'm part of the problem!

I get so agravated when I get 99.9% of the way through an online purchase and get an "ERROR - Card not found 998833762xxbb" makes me say "#&*@^!!*#&#!" Well good god, my site's been doing that too! How embarrasing!

My site's been giving people errors when they get to where they have to pick their shipping. How frustrating. To make it up to everybody, I'm offering free shipping for all of February.

If you were having problems with my site, shoot me an email and let me know. I'll make it worth your effort somehow. But please, be honest, I've already been taken for a ride over some Christmas orders. So much for the Christmas spirit! Downright Grinchy if you ask me.

Oh, and I fixed the shipping error - let me know if you see any other funkiness. Somebody emailed me a couple of weeks ago asking if the price for one of my necklaces was really $3,700. I wrote her back that the piece she was looking at had a chain handmade by pixies from pure unicorn hair, thus the exhorbitant price. Yeah, it was supposed to be $37. Oh well!

I love my Subaru!

So, we got a solid dusting of snow a couple of days ago...enough for Devera to stay home from school for the last 3 days. The really bad day I had to drive in the snow...there were people in the ditches all over the city...but not my trusty little grasshopper!

I used to joke when we first moved to portland that you were assigned a dog and a subaru when you move here. And I resisted for soooooo long - I'm not really a conformist, you see. But there's a reason that every 3rd car around here is a subaru - because we're the only guys not in ditches when things get slippery!

Be safe out there!

Here's a good cure for the winter blues

It's cold and dark around here these days. Uggh this is just the worst part of the year here in Portland. But I found a great way to kick the S.A.D. ... I bought some clay a couple of months ago and a book on making sugar flowers (like the kind on fancy wedding cakes). And ta daaaaa - the first fruits of my labor. Can't you see these on a bridal tiara?

Let's see what else I can come up with - there are a whole bunch of different flowers in here. Maybe I'll have to start baking some cakes now.

Hey - free beads

You'd think I'd read my husband's blog a little more and know what's going on! He was as touched by an Inconvenient Truth as I was - check out his blog and maybe get some beads.

The 2 month trudge

Ok, Portland is the greatest place on the face of the planet...that is, if you can make it through this 2 month trudge. I swear, it takes like 12 cups of coffee to survive January and February. It's sooooooooooo dark and cold and rainy, and did I say dark? All I want to do is hibernate like a bear. But if I can make it through these 2 months, the rest of the time it's about as wonderful as you can get. I've already had my latte this morning (it's pretty funny - there are just about more dogs in the coffee shop these days than there are people - last weekend there was even a cat - go figure). But, yeah, already caffeinated, and I'm ready for bed. If I can just make it 2 more months...let's see...60 more days...how many more minutes? I think I can stay awake that long.

Happy New Year!

Looking for a good way to eat healthy this year? I found this great site: Local Harvest. It lists the farmer's markets and locally grown foods in your area. Pretty cool, huh?

So, we spent New Years Eve watching An Inconvenient Truth, now there's a happy way to kick off your new year. It was a really good movie, though. Good old Al, has a good way of simplifying the ideas that have always seem pretty convoluted and Carl Sagan-ish to me (although he did quote Carl-the Cosmos guy-a lot in the movie, which brought back some bad middle school science heebie jeebies!).

Any way...good movie...interesting stuff, and you can go their web site for some good ideas on how you can help. Seems like the best things you can do are to watch the movie and vote...seems simple.

Ok, off my soapbox. Happy New Years, everybody. Hope the hangover's not too bad.