I’d love it if you felt so inclined as to vote for me in the first ever Poppies - a series of indie design awards being run by the lovely Jan at Poppytalk blog.

You can vote for my handmade jewellery right here.

Just scroll down to check my name and then a bit further down to click on ‘vote’ … and that’s it!

I’m thrilled to be in the running and have my fingers crossed for a happy outcome! Winners will be announced on 5 February 2010.

Good luck to everyone else in the running for a Poppy too. View all of the award categories and get voting for your favourite indie designers!

Well, finally it’s all over and a fresh year is underway. Hooray!

My festive season was even more tiring than usual, having lost about two months worth of preparation time after a major project ran behind schedule a bit earlier in the year. So I felt like I was on the back foot throughout the season in terms of my handmade jewellery business. But I survived it, which is the main thing!

I also had my entire family come and stay for several days - they all live in another state. Given that I was hosting Christmas it meant a lot of preparation for the day itself, as well as for having numerous extra people in the house for some time, including two children. Exhausting!

But they have all gone now and things have slowed down, so it’s time for taking stock and spending some time getting myself sorted out for a new year - and my first full year of full self-employment.

I plan on spending much of the next few weeks doing some serious business planning and analysis. But also looking again at the fact that I continue to work far too many hours and don’t have enough of a life! It will be good to take a long hard look at all sorts of bits of my life to make them work a bit better.

So here’s to a happy and successful 2010 for all of us!

Just a little note to update you about delivery details for Christmas.

It’s really getting a bit late now for non-Australian orders to arrive in time for the big day, however, sometimes airmail can be surprisingly quick (especially at Christmas), so feel free to take your chances! But be prepared that your order may not arrive in time.

Australian orders being sent by regular post should be placed by 20 December at the latest. Again, orders placed after this time may still arrive in time, but they may not. I strongly suggest you order immediately to be sure your item will arrive in time.

If you’re in Australia and wish to have your order sent by Express Post, you should be safe if you place your order by the morning of 22 December at the latest - or by the evening if you live around Sydney or in the ACT.

Really the main thing is to order asap to avoid disappointment. I am turning orders around as fast as I possibly can, but the more time you have between ordering and Christmas day, the better!

I hope everyone is surviving the insane season so far. I am! But only just.

Yes, it’s that time again! Can you believe it?

I thought it would be a good idea to give people an idea of cut off dates for Christmas delivery from my handmade jewellery shop.

If your jewellery order is to be sent outside of Australia and New Zealand, you should place it by 16 December 2009 at the latest. The earlier you order overseas deliveries in particular, the more likely they will be to arrive in time for Christmas, so don’t delay.

Orders being sent by standard post to Australian addresses should be placed by 21 December 2009 at the latest to arrive by Christmas eve. However, the earlier you order standard post items, the better.

Items sent by Express Post to Australian addresses can be placed as late as the night of 22 December Australian EST, provided the address you are sending to is within a guaranteed next business day delivery area. Learn more.

Orders to New Zealand should be placed by 20 December at the latest.

If you place an order later than these times it will still be posted as quickly as possible.

Orders placed from Christmas onwards may be delayed due to public holidays, but I will still be sending orders out on business days as usual. They will continue to be sent from just outside of Sydney as I will not be going interstate for Christmas this year.

Note that dates listed above are based on Australian times.

Christmas pudding tokens

If you’re looking for my Christmas pudding tokens (an English tradition still celebrated in UK, along with Australia and some other places), you can find them in my international shop and in my Australian shop.

Even I think it’s still a tad early to start shopping for the festive season! However, as someone running a micro business I can tell you that having everyone go shopping in the last few weeks tends to result in a Christmas day where I’m so exhausted I just want to fall over!

Not that I’m complaining of course, but I thought I’d offer people a temptation to get shopping in earnest a bit earlier this year.

I’m offering a 15% discount across my entire range of jewellery for purchases made before 28 November. Just enter the code earlybird09 when you checkout to receive your discount.

Feel free to pass it on to friends and family - especially if you’ve got your eye on something for yourself, of course!

Also make sure you check out my new range of handmade jewellery. I’ve added a few more pieces in the last couple of days.

Note that this discount is valid in both my international handmade jewelry shop and my Australian and New Zealand handmade jewellery shop. It is not valid in other outlets.

Finally today I’ve managed to do something I’ve been meaning to organise for ages - I’ve written an environment and ethics statement for my shops, plus I’ve added a carbon offset contribution which buyers can purchase along with any jewellery they buy from me.

Every business has an environmental and ethical impact and a micro business run by an indie designer is no different. Don’t believe anyone who claims that an indie business is somehow green or socially responsible by default purely because it’s indie!

Of course buying handmade and from indie businesses does come with a number of plusses in terms of moving away from mass-production, but there’s a lot more to it than that.

My business makes its mark on the environment in terms of having a web presence, an internet connection, hardware, tools, materials, shipping, chemicals, lighting, paper … and more.

Of course being a jewellery maker comes with its own special array of environmental issues, such as in relation to the mining of precious metals and gemstones (both have serious ethical issues as well), the use of sometimes very toxic chemicals and so on.

I do what I can to minimise the impact of my business on the environment, but there will always be something to offset when it comes to greenhouse gases. Given that customers ultimately have to pay the cost of such offsets (a business has to pay for itself, of course), I’ve decided to be transparent and give my customers the option to contribute voluntarily.

So there is now a small carbon offset available for purchase in both my Australian handmade jewellery shop and my international handmade jewelry shop.

The contributions I collect will be donated quarterly to Carbon Neutral, a non-profit carbon offset organisation operated in Australia.

I’ve also written an environment and ethics statement to outline how I try to minimise the negative impact my business might have on the environment and the world in general.

Plus I’ve now identified the handmade jewellery I make which is specifically designed to help me recycle some of the scrap silver which is leftover from other pieces, meaning that only small pieces are set aside for refining. View my recycled jewellery.