Hello Savannah! I found one of the cutest sites for all kinds of indie (college student) designer stuff at the Savannah College of Art & Design! Definitely worth you time to check out all the sections but "The Nest" or home as most of us think of it (personally I like "The Nest") is especially worth perusing. Here are some of my favorite finds.

Melamine Dinnerware - Working Class Studio

Tiffani Taylor Drawer Pulls - Tiffani Taylor

Tea Time Tiffani Taylor

Position Plurals Industrial Wool Rug - Ashley Byer

Lovely little finds wouldn't you agree? Merry Christmas! Amy & Sam

Yes, that's right "pin cushions"! These aren't the old tomotoe cushions your mom has in her sewing basket but instead a lovingly highly crafted little pillow of luxury for your pins and needles. Why am I practically oozing with love for a simple pin cushion? Because the designer of these lovelies I bought at Etsy makes the most amazing pin cushions.

At first I thought they were a little pricey for a tiny pillow but I'll eat my shoe now! Each cushion is about 5" in diamer and probably 5+" high. Hand sewn with PERFECT stitching and absolutely beautiful! They would sell in a gift shop for twice what you are paying in her Etsy store. Seriously!

Her store is http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=3988 and the name is "loosestring". I personally own a birdy cushion but she has some lovely owls, leaves, ladybugs and if you look in her sold items you'll see some wonderful flowers that are so detailed you won't want to actually stick a pin in them.

Quick go buy one, you won't regret it! Oh, and they make the most beautiful gifts!

Cheers!

A significant portion of being in business is spending time on things such as branding, marketing strategy, ad campaigns and about a thousand other things similarly related.

I've been thinking a great deal about how Charming Sam is perceived by our customer base and how to appeal to new customers. Much of that is figuring out who your core demographic is and then inserting your company into places where that demographic frequents.

I can say with confidence that Charming Sam has sold items to many types of customers from all walks of life, economic status, age and personal style. However, I think after spending hours and hours analyzing where people are clicking through to my site I can say with confidence that I am getting closer to my core customer. And she is me. Or should I say, she is I? Either way you look at it the places I enjoy on the Internet, the magazines I read, books I buy and things I do are extrodinarily similar to what is developing as my core customer.

With 2007 I am going to continue to work on introducing Charming Sam to beautiful women. So, with that said I'd like you to meet a few blogs I love and I think you will too.

First meet Holly over at

Next, meet Joy at Oh Joy! She's got great taste, finds amazing things on the Internet and a great site for finding things you want but never knew where to find.

And just because I love to cook, you gotta check out this site. www.deliciousdays.com

Today is a rushed day but I wanted to share some of my favorite Charming Sam pieces. These are things I wear every day or nearly every day.

I call these my Door Knocker earrings. They are very dainty but somehow they just reminded me of an old ornate door knocker. The stones at the bottom are wire wrapped around each other making for a very pretty contrast in colors with the dark green tourmaline, lavender chalcedony and the Carribean Blue Swarovski crystals.

I actually wear several other earrings often including these lovely turquoise, and also these emerald earrings. I like the simplicty both offer so I can wear them anywhere.

One of my favorite everday necklaces is called Cherished & Worn. I wear it with t-shirts, blouses, sweaters...just about anything. It's made from beautiful blue peruvian opals that have been hand wired together with a very delicate gold filled wire. The necklace is very light weight but the colors are so pretty.

It's so hard to choose just a few things for me as the pieces on the website are really all things I love. Tomorrow (December 14th) is the last day to order using UPS Ground Delivery so get your orders in soon. Use code NOTTOOLATE for a 25% discount!

Happy Holiday Shopping!

Amy

Feeling a little crafty today? Want to whip up your own wristlet, scarf or maybe even for you more daring girls a cute little skirt? Well, I've found another site with fabulous fabric and all kinds of other little finds.

First checkout purlsoho.com. They have just about everything for knitting, sewing, patterns, notings, crafting and whatever else you might want to do. Great site, fun fabrics. Extra cute for Spring '07 is the Liberty of London Tana Lawn line.

So, why am I on a fabric thing lately? I'm working on some fabric covered beads for another release of spring '07. Here is a little sneak peek! Of course I don't know for sure if this design or any of the other fabric one's will make it into the line, these are just prototypes. Once I get several designs and put the whole collection together to make sure if flows will I then make the final decision of what is in or out.

Sorry so short today but I'm off to work on some marketing campaigns to drum up more business for the holidays. Fun, fun, fun!

Cheers!

Yes, I realize Louis Vuitton(LV) and/or Marc Jacobs (MJ) are not indie designers and instead float in the stratosphere of "high fashion." However, I think its important to talk about a few of the Spring '07 ready to wear shows. Not couture, I said "Ready to Wear'. That means us "poorer" folk can hope to buy the pieces shown on the runway, unlike the couture lines which are seriously made for the love of the art form, the "uber" rich and as promotional pieces. I'll get into couture another day.

Back to LV & MJ. Marc Jacobs has really out done himself with the Spring 07 LV line. Not only is it feminie, pretty and wearable it is simply a beautiful show with beautiful ACCESSORIES. Here we are, accessories...someone actually included more then shoes and purses in their spring show. (For those of you who haven't been paying attention jewerly on the runway has been just about non-existent for almost a year, maybe a bit more.) MJ not only shows some very fun jewelry (necklaces & bracelets) for next summer but he also does it up on the hair accessories. Yes, I am ready for hair accessories and have been lamenting about them in my brain for about 3 months. Should I add to the Charming Sam line? If I do add some hair accessories how do I focus them and integrate them into the collection? blah, blah, blah....

As a general note I am not a LV handbag fan. Yes, I know everyone owns at least one but I don't and I can't say that the Spring '07 handbags have done anything to make me want to rush out and buy one. The clothes on the other hand are simply fabulous and I'll be looking for some key pieces as soon as they hit the stores...which should be about February. In the meantime I've added a few pics of my favorite pieces, enjoy!

Check out the full runway show at www.style.com

Cheers!

Tomorrow I am going to talk about some new designs I am working on and I "may" even review a couple of Ready To Wear shows for spring 07. We'll see.

In the meantime though I wanted to share some graphically interesting things.

First, Amy Butler Designs. She designs awesome fabric. Yes, if you've never really thought about it there are designers/artists out there who spend all their time designing fabric. Then they sell their designs like Amy Butler or in some cases they license their designs to manufacturers. If you are interested then Google "surtex", it is a show in NYC for graphic designers of all types including fabric designers.

As for Amy Butler her fabrics make me want to learn to sew so I can make myself cool things. However, while I've taught myself to do lots of things over the last few years I just don't see sewing being in my future. So, for you craftier girls and boys out there if you make something from any Amy Butler fabric let me know.

Now for paper. I love paper, almost any kind of paper. I think it goes back to my love of books. I love to read, just ask my husband who endures endless trips to the bookstore, hours of me reading random writings on the Internet and stacks of magazines that reach from my house to China. I hate to throw away paper and am one of those people who saves all types of paper. My mom is the same way and she even has ORIGINAL Banana Republic catalogs. It's true. If you've never seen them they are awesome with hand drawings of Safari wear along with little stories. Can you say "J. Peterman Catalog"?

Anyway, I found Vera June on Etsy today. Very nice, beautiful clean graphics. Modern but not cold modern...more contemporary. If you are looking for some nice scrapbook papers, patterns, etc. that isn't the same 'ol, same 'ol then check her little patch of heaven out.

I'm off to see what Sam is up too. I wonder what cool and interesting things she has found today?

Cheers!

In preparing for the upcoming holidays I've been forced out of my studio and into the real world. Generally, I try to keep out of the real world - it just makes my life easier to be in the studio. I'll go into all that another time.

I did however get to meet Mimie of Mi-Spa yesterday as I helped her out in SanFran with the Association of Craftswomen's holiday craft show. Great show and I enjoyed meeting Mimie and she has some killer products. Remember my lotion thing? Well, here we go again. This time though its Shea Butter (mmmmmm!) The Mi-Spa "Body Butters" are so amazing that they melt into the palm of your hand when you first put them on. I'm not kidding, they are amazing and the scents are killer.

DO NOT ever buy from the grocery store, the bath store, the department store for this stuff. First all of Mimie's products are 100% natural and second you are contributing to the work of an indie business...AND let me pull my AMERICAN card here. It is American made, in America. You are supporting our economy 10x by buying from indie businesses.

Now, to get down to some specifics about Mi-Spa. The scents are fantastic. If you like foodie type scents then you should try the Brown Sugar & Spice or the Cafe Mocha. They both smell just like the name implies and are rich and buttery on the skin. The Gardenia Whipped Monoi Butter and Lavender Butter are both delicate florals and everyone who is a fan of the Gardenia or the Lavender is not going to be disappointed. Even if you are a bit sensitive to scents these two are easy on the nose. She also has Saki Whipped Butter (my personal favorite) beautiful fresh scent and no you don't smell like you just left a Geisha bar with one too many Saki's under your belt.

The other interesting thing she makes is Dry Perfume Roll-on, which is highly concentrated and literally rolls on dry and smells just like their respective namesakes. I tried the Chocolate Truffle and I'm not kidding....it was a French chocolate shop on the rue de rivoli for about :05 seconds.

Yuzu is a Chinese Grapefruit scent and very citrusy and pleasant where as the Green Tea smells like well....Green Tea. You immediately have visions of Japanese Tea Ceremonies with the steam wafting into your nose and the heady smell of luxurious green tea filling your lungs.

Last but not least the SOAP. Bars of soap and not just any bar of soap. First, you can see all the "flavors" on her website. But let me just take a moment to tell you about the Brown Sugar and Spice...ahhhhhhhh! Mimie's ground up bits of nutmeg and sprinkled on the top just for a little extra "oomph!" Smells amazing!

If you are looking for great Spa products for your home and/or as a gift then give Mi-Spa a try. You won't be disappointed!

I'm so excited. Sometimes the things that are right in front of your face are the things you totally miss. I've been working with Liz over at WickedlyChic.com for several months now and L-O-V-E her and the site. First let me say that Liz is fab to work with BUT she also has one of the most loyal reader bases of any zine I've come across on the web for indie products. Which means you have to check her out at www.wickedlychic.com .

I could go on and on about how wonderful I think the site is but I'd rather you just hop over and visit Liz.