Posts tagged ‘christmas’

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The twelve deals of Christmas: week two!

16 November 2010

This is week two of my Christmas deals – each week in the lead up to Christmas I’m going to be offering a special deal on two pieces of handmade jewellery in my range for one week only. This includes some of my most popular pieces.

I will post the deals on my blog every Monday until Christmas. You can also bookmark the ‘special deals’ pages in my Australian shop and international shop.

For week two the deals are:

Butterfly wing earrings


To create these eye-catching earrings, an intricate butterfly wing design has been cut out by hand in sterling silver.

The silver is given a brushed but shiny finish and the earrings are finished with handmade sterling silver ear wires.

One of my own favourite designs!

Sulphur crested cockatoo earrings


These cufflinks were inspired by the many lovely sulphur crested cockatoos I see around my home – birds with a lot of personality!

The silhouettes of two slightly different cockatoos have been cut out by hand in sterling silver which has been given a brushed satin finish.

The cockatoos are backed by hammer-beaten panels which are finished with sterling silver swivelling cufflink findings.

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The twelve deals of Christmas – week one!

9 November 2010

Each week in the lead up to Christmas I’m going to be offering a special deal on two pieces of handmade jewellery in my range – so twelve pieces in total.

Each piece will be discounted from its usual price, but for just one week only! This will include some of my most popular pieces.

I will post the deals of the week right here on my blog every Monday until Christmas. You can also bookmark the ‘special deals’ pages in my Australian shop and international shop and check back weekly.

So to kick off the very first week I’m offering special deals on the following pieces:

Butterfly wing pendant on chain with gold and gemstones

This is the deluxe version of my butterfly wing pendant – one of my most popular designs for the last few years.

The wing has been intricately cut out in sterling silver and is suspended from a delicate sterling silver chain.

Hanging next to the pendant is a small ring of 14ct gold with two faceted ametrine and one amethyst gemstone beads, all of which are suspended from 14ct gold pins.

Leaf and bud earrings

These earrings were inspired by a beautiful leaf I photographed at the lovely Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens not too far from my home.

Each leaf is cut out by hand in sterling silver which has been hammer beaten to give it an organic texture and shape. The pendant has a satin finish.

Suspended from a sterling silver headpin in front of each leave is a lovely hand cut pear-shaped faceted garnet which has a deep wine colour.

The leaves are finished with curvy handmade hook ear wires in sterling silver.

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Earlybird discount!

5 November 2010

Running an indie business at Christmas can be a very frantic thing – especially as the day itself looms large and people remember (finally!) to go shopping!

Not that I’m complaining, of course, but it’s always nice to try to spread things out a bit.

So for a few days only I’m offering an earlybird discount to those of you who would like to get in early this year!

To take advantage of the discount, simply enter the code earlybird10 when you checkout and you’ll get a 15% discount on your purchases from my handmade jewellery range.

You can use the code in either of my shops:

The code will expire at the end of Monday 8 November, so be quick!

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Earlybird holiday discount – get in quick!

18 November 2009

Mock orange blossom brooch - sterling silver.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.

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Christmas is coming!

16 August 2009

I seem to get in a panic about Christmas earlier every year! But the reality is for many indie designers, the festive season is generally insanely busy and difficult to keep on top of. Early preparation is a must … but it can be hard to find the time to do it earlier in the year too when you’re running a micro business.

Photograph of handmade jewellery findings.

Yesterday I had my first ‘OMG it’s almost Christmas!’ moment of panic. This year part of the issue for me is having just taken on a major web project which will tie me up for much of the next six to eight weeks … and then suddenly it will be October and handmade jewellery sales are likely to already be picking up considerably and things probably won’t really slow down again until around March.

To try to ward off the panic I decided to make findings! I handmake most of the findings I use and always see making them as being a bit of a chore. It’s a major pain to run out of them – even more so during the busy season when there is so much else to worry about. Also making them in very small quantities is really inefficient so a chunk of time needs to be set aside to make a pile of the things.

And above is the outcome of my labour – fresh out of the tumbler this morning. It’s of course nowhere near enough to see me through to the end of the busy season, but it’s a start. I think I need to set a bit of time aside regularly to keep adding to my findings stash from here on in.

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Season’s greetings

26 December 2008

Christmas pudding.
I’m a day late, but I would like to wish all of my friends, customers and anyone who happens across this a happy festive season, whatever it is that you may or may not observe.

I’m spending the season with my family in rural South Australia. Above is a photograph of my family’s traditional Christmas pudding, as devoured after a long roast turkey lunch on Christmas Day. The pudding is a bit different to the regular ones as it’s quick and easy to cook, can be made on the day and – being a recipe from clearly poverty-stricken times – it has no eggs, no suet and cold tea for flavouring rather than alcohol. And, oddly enough, it’s delicious – especially when smothered in brandy sauce!

As the new year looms I hope all of you have a wonderful 2009. I’m certainly hoping for some major improvements on 2008, which has been a very difficult year for me personally.

Succulents and a bird tap in my parents’ garden.
Some succulents in my parents’ garden and their lovely bird tap – taken on Christmas Day.

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Are we there yet?

16 December 2008

Picture frame pendant by Simone Walsh. Well, nearly – Christmas is almost here! And once it arrives I shall be collapsed in a heap after a few very busy weeks involving lots of jewellery making.

I thought I would provide a quick update about festive season shipping for those of you who are still shopping for gifts.

It’s now getting very late in terms of delivery outside of Australia, but it’s not yet impossible that your gifts will arrive in time as I find the post office to be very efficient at this time of year. However, as each day passes it becomes less likely. If you’d like to take a chance, visit my handmade jewelry shop to make your purchase asap.

For Australian customers, you should be fine to order by standard delivery until around 17 December. From then on I strongly recommend that you upgrade to Express Post, which you can do when you checkout from my Australian handmade jewellery shop.

Note that my suggested cut off date for Express Post within Australia is for orders to be placed by the end of Sunday 21 December. After the following day I will be away in an area where overnight delivery is not guaranteed – I can still post your items, but it’s not certain that they will arrive in time.

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Earlybird holiday discount

27 November 2008

Handwritten text pendant by Simone Walsh.The festive season is heading our way faster than a speeding bullet!

This year I’m hoping to encourage people to shop early to avoid too much of a last minute rush.

So if blog readers would like to purchase any of my handmade jewelry for Christmas, place your order by Monday 1 December 2008 and use the code early to receive a 10% discount.

Visit my handmade jewelry shop to use the discount code. The code is also valid in my Australian handmade jewellery shop for Australian and New Zealand customers.

Those of you in the US can think of this as a Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale, of course!

Festive season deliveries

The earlier you place orders for Christmas gifts, the more certain you can be of the items arriving in time. However, I suggest customers keep in mind the following dates:

  • Australian customers: order by 17 December for regular post and by 21 December for Express Post
  • New Zealand customers: order by 17 December
  • Other customers: order by 14 December

Orders placed after these dates may still arrive in time, but they may not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note to wish all of my US readers who celebrate it a very happy Thanksgiving!

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It’s Christmas!

23 December 2007

So this is Christmas … almost. Sales have finally slowed after an extremely frantic month or so and I have come to the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia (where my parents have unexpectedly moved to!) in order to celebrate Christmas with my family, but also to try to recover from the last few months – really from the whole of 2007, which has been truly exhausting all up!

Port Broughton.
View over the inlet at Port Broughton, including the jetty.

I’m staying in the little town of Port Broughton, which is about 150km north of Adelaide – so, yes, it was a very long trip to get here from Sydney with almost two hours flying time and over two hours driving time – not including the taxi trip to the airport through very busy Sydney traffic!

Normally it would be extremely hot here at this time of year, however, since I arrived we’ve had quite a bit of rain (to everyone’s surprise – the ‘worst drought ever’ is seriously bad here) and today it’s a very pleasant 19C (66F) – about half what I’d dreaded it would be! But while some of you will be having a white Christmas, I’ll be having a mostly brown one!

View over the water to Port Broughton.
Looking back towards Port Broughton from the other side of the inlet over some farmland and the water.

Yesterday we went driving around the general area and I took some photographs, which you can see on Flickr. Unfortunately I forgot to pack my proper camera, which is a shame as I’d love to have taken some better photographs.

As for Christmas, we’ll be spending another two hours in the car on Christmas eve to travel to my brother’s home on a property in a little town near the Barossa Valley (you may have had wine from there!). I’ll be spending Christmas day with my little nieces which should be fun – and exhausting!

Once I return to Sydney in a little while I’m very much looking forward to getting my head around the challenges of a new year. Of key importance is clawing back my health, which is now very much worse for wear given that I have a few health issues that respond rather badly to working 100+ hours a week!

So, yes, I need to find a way to work less and look after myself more. However, I have lots of exciting ideas about how I might do that which I’m very much looking forward to exploring. I’ll tell you more about those soon.

Season’s greetings to all!

I’d like to wish everyone who I’ve been in contact with in one way or another (and any casual readers) a very happy festive season and a prosperous 2008. Thanks in particular to all of those who have supported me in one way or another during the past year – it’s very much appreciated.

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Holiday shopping & shipping

7 December 2007

Forget me not pendant on red silk by Simone Walsh.Yes, Christmas is almost upon us! And things are rather overwhelming at Simone Walsh Central (aka my place!). But I thought I’d take a quick break to fill you in on shipping deadlines and more re my handmade jewellery shop over the next couple of weeks.

Shipping

Orders outside of Australia: The earlier the shop, the more guarantee you have that items will arrive before Christmas. However, if you order by 14 December then you should be fine in terms of delivery. After that date, orders may well still arrive, but you will be pushing your luck!

Orders within Australia: You will be fine to order up until 20 December for delivery within Australia. However, from 17 December at the latest you should select Express Post to ensure your items arrive on time.

Find out more about shipping.

Gift certificates

If you do run out of time or you’re really not sure what to get someone, I now have gift certificates available in various amounts.

If you purchase a gift certificate I will email it to you as a PDF that you can print out in either colour or black and white to give to the recipient – so you can buy them as late as you wish.

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Life = work

20 November 2007

I pretty much have no life at the best of times. But at this time of year I really have no life at all. My existence pretty much entirely involves working, sleeping a bit, working some more, eating hurried meals, working again, etc..

Components and finished pieces after a few days of hard work.

Funnily enough, I realise that I could probably get more done more efficiently if I worked less. But because I work too much I have to keep working too much because I’m less efficient than I should be because I work too much. I’m sure that makes perfect sense!

Anyway, I thought I would share the above photograph with you after a few days of hard work to catch up on handmade jewelry stock for Christmas. I did actually get a bit more done than this, but some was put away already and other pieces had already been sent to customers.

And now … back to the grindstone!

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