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We use them every day of our lives, but now we can adorn ourselves with them: the humble alphabet. How would we do the crossword? Texting? All great uses for letters. Until now.

Wooden Letter Blocks Ring by Glamour Twinkles Jewelry

Wooden Letter Blocks Ring: created with the idea of children’s letter blocks. I know they’re only small letters and don’t exactly bring toy blocks to mind but that was my thinking as soon as I saw the bag of beads sitting in the bead shop.

Alphabet Necklace by Glamour Twinkles Jewelry

Alphabet Rainbow Necklace: I so badly wanted to call these Sesame Street Necklaces. But I didn’t want the wrath of CBS or NBC or whoever brings us the letter T and the number 5. A few years ago a school painted an old toilet block, to brighten it up. They used a terrible looking reproduction of Donald Duck. SOmehow Disney found out and demanded the remove it. Donald has gone. I don’t want Glamour Twinkles to go out like Donald Duck did.

Pink Purple Green ABC Alphabet Earrings by Glamour Twinkles Jewelry

These are my ABC Earrings. They’re bright and colourful and lightweight. I just didn’t have enough ABC’s to make a big bunch of earrings so I started doing EFG earrings as well.

With Alphabet Jewelry you will never be lost for words.

Blue Green Pink EFG Alphabet Earrings by Glamour Twinkles Jewelry

Etsy Gift Wrapping - Glamour Twinkles Jewelry

Using words one does not know the meaning of is entirely irresponsible. I am shamed.
Now back to me. The wonderful iPhone has a giant technical flaw – I can’t login to websites. I’m stuck in App Land. Not to worry, most sites have apps and the one I’m excited about is Tapatalk. It allows me to conversate with the fiendishly friendly folk I’m discovering at Attack of the Craft. Gotta say I. Love. This. Site. It’s like having my real life friends – only they’re into craft and they live thousands of miles away.

Violent Orange Tropical Necklace - 19 February 2012

Unfortunately the Etsy app doesn’t allow me work on draft listings.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the app it’s just that  iPhone doesn’t have a work around.  Hey, if you’re reading this blog and you work at Apple can you tell me how I can log into US and UK sites?  I just get stuck in login + password + working… login + password + working… login + password… working……  You get the drift.  I can still login into Trade Me which is great.  Glamour Twinkles now accepts credit cards.  Well, she will once I get a bank statement containing an activation code.  I love Trade Me.  They are the site you can trust.  Reputation is everything!

Other news: I’m still stuck on a witty/quirky marketing tag line (Cryptically Cute? Dashingly Different? Handmade Jewelry) for my marketing e-course. But we all know that inspiration strikes in the most unlikely places.  I’ll probably be performing heart surgery or accepting an Academy Award when the perfect slogan will pop into my head.

Baby Blue Pink Tropical Necklace -19 February 2012

I’ve been struggling to stick to my new routine this week. I’d completely forgotten that feeling of satisfaction in ticking off my Things To Do list like I did the week before.  Instead I had to cram a bunch of work in on Saturday.  Hence the photos that have not yet been loaded onto Etsy.  Sorry…

Blue and Purple Accented Glitter Charmed Cocktail Ring - now available in my Etsy shop

Blue and Purple Accented Glitter Charmed Cocktail Ring - available from Etsy

How these little twinkle-twinkles beckoned me when I spied them in Living and Giving (would you believe). They were cunningly disguised as wine glass identifiers. You know those little thing-a-ma-gigs you stick on your wine glass when you’re at something. I don’t really know anyone who uses them but they must be popular somewhere…

Purple and Blue Glitter Ice Charmed Ring

So the original idea was to make a super blinging ring for my Sis for Xmas. A coouple of days after Xmas she came over to visit me and spotted another style Charmed Ice ring that I’d made. She took a liking to it and her presto, we swapped rings. Ironically, the ring she preferred I was keen on the ring she [referred and actually had is ready to pull apart and make something different with the components. How funny life is…

My Gothic Pagoda Earrings by Glamour Twinkles

What a feeling! I have had the most unboring, go-go gettum week.  I diligently stuck to my routine and oh boy, does it feel GOOD! It makes me wish I’d done this much sooner.

My B&W Feather Earrings by Glamour Twinkles

Highlights of my business week:

Media Monday: Had me actually reading the Handmadeology blog posts and discovered the joy of Hootsuite.  You probably all know about this incredible system where you can have all your Twitter lists, WordPress, Tumblr, Flickr and Facebook all in front of you at the same time.  Incredibly I’ve only just now experienced this.  Love…

Trade Me Tuesday: Listings ahoy.  I’ve some new items to my listings, and paying more attention to the categories I’m using on our little Kiwi auction site – where you can auction off your pesky Kiwi’s (hardy-har-har)

Etsy Wednesday: With my new skills in Hootsuite I now have a buttload of scheduled Tweets extoling the virtures of buying Glamour Twinkles Jewelry on Etsy. You know the routine…

Attack of the Thursday:  Actually, this didn”t work out so well but it wasn’t through any fault of mine.  It was the slow downloading Internet service that had me frustrated and resulted in me …. switching off my Netbook (shakes, cold sweats, turkey cold).  It was a very odd night.  I ended up doing a form of “market research” by reading old tattoo magazines … for researching where I could feasibly advertise Glamour Twinkles Jewelry (and get a new tattoo…..)

Photo Friday: Hello Internet, how I missed you my darling.  Lets never fight again.  Now this was a bit of a cheat.  I’m supposed to be updating Flickr and Facebook photo albums but after Thursday I wanted to catch up on the work I couldn’t do so I finally finished editing the 20 new pairs of Tattoo Earrings I’d shot months ago and never got around to finishing,   Plus darling Picnik is closing in April so I’m using that as a handy excuse for not strictly following my own new rules.  Hey, I’m a rebel, man.  Business or not!

Edit Saturday: This is a pretty vague day.  I mean editing?  Edit what?  Well, whatever I want.  It was the earrings photos… again… I have so many of those digital fiends. But I’m glad I’ve finally finished editing them.   The next step was sticking them into Etsy listings, as well as editing said listings to add to my scheduled Tweets so it all meshes together quite nicely.

Blogging Sunday:  Well, you’re reading it.   I’m also spending the day prepping draft Behind The Twinkle blog posts so I can “activate” them while I am work on Wednesday morning through my iPhone.  Man, how did the caveman ever manage without the unstoppable mobile phone?  And we were worried about Skynet.  Tisk tisk humanity. Ironically enough I’ve deleted virtually all of my iPhone reminders because having my Little Red Business Book at home and Little Black Business Book at work has been far more effective.  Sorry iPhone.

Strangely enough my new attitude is carrying over into my 9-5 corporate job (well 8.30-5.20pm actually).  I’m pretty busy there as well and achieving mucho taskology.  Added that so you’d know it’s still me writing these posts.  I mean I’m still me.  Just a more efficient me.

Warning: Unintended Offence May be Caused.

Welcome back to Wednesday’s Behind the Twinkle post, featuring my latest Etsy shop listing – Brown Rosery with White Cloisonné Cross Necklace

Brown Rosery with White Cloisonné Cross - by Glamour Twinkles Jewelry

I love rosaries.  I love the Y-style design, the pretty crystals, the ornate crosses, everything about them.  However, I’m not Catholic, and I do feel a little bit guilty calling my latest listings “rosaries”.  (Huh, guilt = Catholic, sorry I couldn’t resist) So I’ve called them Rosery – the Rosery That Isn’t a Rosary.  As a listing title that is quite a mouthful – and somewhat unnecessary.  I’ve tossed and turned over the description for these pieces, and I have around 6 or 7 of them sitting in their sealed plastic baggies waiting for a good home – or neck, as the case may be.  But these Rosery’s look so pretty and are a good seller at the craft shows I’ve attended. Just think of the fantastic little story you can tell your friends when you buy this pretty little trinket.  But don’t show your children the unintentionally topless mannequin shot.  It was the only way to show you the length of the necklace. I gotta do what I gotta do.

Cutie Pie Milkshake Bracelets by Glamour Twinkles - orange, pink and green colours

Oh silly girl, you shouldn’t have done that. I went and checked the lists I was listed on in Twitter. And aghast, I see @glamourtwinkles on a “They Follow” list. I do not think so! Okay, so it might seem like I just follow people randomly if they follow me.  It reflected how I’d been using Twitter in the past.

Armed with these two websites below I am now all the more Twittier:

Now instead of automatically following everyone who follows me I have a 2-step process.

Firstly, I logon to Tweepi and check out my new followers.  From here I can view their profile, and when they last tweeted – which is very handy for sorting the quality from the spam (or porn).  If I don’t see them fitting into my Lists I don’t follow them. And, yes, I’ve gone through virtually ALL of my followers to check for any bad company, so to speak.  I’ve cleaned up my own “following” tweeters.  i no longer follow anyone who randomly tweets words of wisdom EVERY MINUTE. Come on, no actual human being can realistically do that!  I don’t follow anyone who only tweets listings of whatever they are selling. I appreciate they have a business to run and I don’t mind the occasional listing tweet. I do this myself. But here’s the thing – I actually like reading tweets. I get inspired to work after reading someone’s tweets.  An endless procession of Etsy listings does not make for very good reading.

And lastly, armed with Twitlistmanager  I’ve got most of my followers sorted into lists.  I’ve made my lists private, mainly because of the quirky names I’ve used, along the lines of: “actual humans”, “makes my business look good to follow”, “blogging bloggers”; “Supposedly Famous”, etc. BTW, none of those are the actual names I use.

So, if you see my name on a “They Follow” list and automatically assume I will follow you, just remember I will check you out.

Cutie Pie Milkshake Bracelets by Glamour Twinkles - orange, pink, blue

I put together the cutest bracelets ever.  My sis gave me these brilliant little cuties for Xmas.  I finished putting a bunch of bracelets together over the weekend. Unfortuateky it’s been too sunny to shoot any photos for my Etsy shop but they’ll be appearing there post haste.   It’s my homage to the glam-fabulous @beibadgirl (discovered many moons ago on Twitter).  Check her eyeliner-riffic gals on her blog BeiBadGirl.com.

Feather Stars Eighties Earrings - Out with the Old

Oh what a freaken surprise, another New Years Resolution List.  Yadda yadda yadda, am I right? But this list will be the most magical, incredible list I have ever listed because this list I will actually be completing throughout the month.  And I hate making New Year’s resolutions.  In fact I slept through the wonderment of the midnight bells a tolling the death of the old raggedy year’s final minutes.  Now, I haven’t made a resolution in absolute years but I’ve had these little gems on my mind since November.  Thusly, I present to you my New Year’s Resolutions for the month of January:

Image representing YouTube as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

1. Create a video advertising my Glamour Twinkles Jewelry

I am going to create a clever little YouTube ditty that shows off my jewelry pieces in an arty-farty manner.  I have an idea of what I want to do, and I’m not setting high hopes, we’re in talks with some pretty big names (Spielberg, Lucas, Geffen – shhhhh tho).  I think it will be a fun little venture for me during my Xmas/New Years’ Vacay.  I’ll be posting progress updates on my Facebook page to keep you all informed of my “proactivity”.

Coinage - Chunky Charm Bracelet by Glamour Twinkles

2. Spend actual money on some online advertising.

Yeah, yeah, I’ve talked about this before.  But I’ve continued doing secret research and I have decided to try my luck with a couple of places.  Etsy have advertising now.  I haven’t actually looked into this properly but Etsians have acknowledged my jewelry presence so I’m going to run with the idea.  There are a couple of other Etsy related blogs that I’m looking at.   I’m talking to you Handmadeology…

3. Jazz up this blog

I love checking out successful blogger’s blogs.  They’ve created a brilliant little empire that cries out for return visits.  It’s not just about the posts with these gals, its the whole ensemble.  Current favorites are:

The Glamourai

LLYMLRS

Red Velvet

Bluebird Vintage

Twitch Vintage

4. Set up an Etsy shop for my sister’s supercalifragelisic (insider joke, right Sis?)portraiture

5. Regular posts on my Sparkling Candy Tumblr blog

I have certainly neglected my Tumblrinos.  I want to create 365 posts in my Tumblr que so I have something posted every day.  Now that I know how to actually blog pictures from other websites I have the world as my very own oyster.  And everyone wants the world to be their oyster – for some weird reason…

Gothic Pagoda Earrings - The Making of...

6. Blog responsibly.

Create “pillar posts”  Search engines love pillar posts and I want them to love me right back.  A pillar post is something like a “how to” post.  I’ll need to find pieces that can be recreated by you, my audience of billions.  It may even become a monthly activity.  Oh, imagine the fun we could have.  You could make something using my how to instructions and then send me a picture.  Wow, now I see why the search engines like ‘em.  Thanks Google! I also want to include more Before and After posts, and have more photos of my new tidy workstation.

Gothic Pagoda Earrings - Red and Yellow by Glamour Twinkles

Like little gothic pagodas, I have a few new creations for my Etsy stable.  I’m so happy with how these earrings have turned out.

Gothic Pagoda Earrings - White and Green - by Glamour Twinkles

I had them in a different incarnation on Etsy when I first opened my shop but they didn’t complement the rest of my jewelry pieces.  Don’t get me wrong, they looked pretty and people liked them at market stalls but no one was buying them and to be perfectly honest – I didn’t actually believe in them myself.  But these pagodas I love.  Plus they look like the kind of thing that my latest fashion obsesh DG would wear (and say: these aren’t big enough).

Originally purchased in the form below, I’m thinking of bying another pair so I can make myself a few variations to add to my own personal wardrobe.

Original Pagoda Earrings from Diva

Alphabet Earrings by Glamour Twinkles.

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You’ll need gold plated earring hooks

20111120-181036.jpg
Medium size black jumprings

20111120-181130.jpg
Large gold plated jumprings

20111120-181255.jpg
Coloured plastic letters

Attach the hook to the black jumpring

Attach three colourful letters to the large gold plated jumpring

Attach the large jumpring to the black jumpring with the hook and now you now have a pair of snazzy new earrings.

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Or you could buy some from my Glamour Twinkles Etsy shop. Whatever, it’s up to you.

Components for Tattoo Earrings - prepping for Thorndon Fair

My tiny empire consisted of key business components strewn around my little house – bubble wrap stuffed into the back of the wardrobe, organza bags snap locked into a seldom used handbag, completed Glamour Twinkles jewelry carefully bagged and stored into a box that came with a pair of knee-high boots. But that wasn’t good business utilisation.  Customers like yourself, want to know that my stock is sitting in a safe place, carefully packed away from dust and tarnishing.  Well now it is. In keeping with my new-found serious small business owner attitude I have created a space-saving business storage area in my tiny inner city apartment.

Brand new storage containers, thank you The Warehouse!

I have created a pyramid of plastic. I picked up a set of white storage boxes from The Warehouse - where everyone gets a bargain – and now I too, have gotten a bargain.  I spent last night pulling together the various packaging and business supplies hidden in various places in my flat and packed them all into my Pyramid of Plastic.

Pyramid of Plastic

And, as an extra bonus, whenever I need to travel to a stall at a craft fair I can simply pick up the smallest box containing my all important Glamour Twinkle stock, taking with me every item that is already organised and nicely packaged.  Clever, thy name is Twinkle.

Business minded books - keeps me on the straight and narrow

My friends at Fishpond delivered a couple more savvy business owner books to my humble establishment.  Yes, more business books.  But these are from everyone’s favorite range of Books for Dummies.  I’m the proud owner of Starting an Etsy Business for Dummies and Social Marketing for Dummies (6 books in 1).  I’m mildly alarmed at how quickly I get my thinking back on the business track by having these books in the house.  What with my big organising blow-out, I now have them sitting right next to the DVD player.  Regular readers of this blog know that I’m not a keen tv watcher, but DVD’s are always on the go in my house.  But with my bossy business books right there reminding me that I should be earning and learning, I’m no longer distracted by that boring old paranormal story.  Ghosts are dime a dozen, but knowledge can get me big bucks!  The almighty dollar still spells Success!

Below are the beginnings of my continued range of Tattoo Earrings. They’ll be all ready for selling at Thorndon Fair.  I love having new jewelry to make – yipee for me!

My Etsy Shop

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