Tefi Says I

Recently a friend asked me for some advice on starting her own artsy business. I very humbly replied with this caveat emptor: I did it all the D.I.Y. way without any formal training. No animals were harmed in the making of this D.I.Y. business. Made in U.S.A.

(At least I don't think any animals were harmed. You never know. I think I had to kick George off of my work table a few times in an effort to keep cat hair off of my sterling silver wire.)

So I thought I would impart, piece by piece, the lessons I've learned on my own. Maybe you'll glean from these little tidbits something that will help you launch your own D.I.Y. business. Or perhaps you'll think Whatever, I'll do it my own way. Either way, more power to ya sister!

Tefi Says I
Don't spend what you aren't willing to lose.

Some people spend their extra paycheck money on shoes, DVDs, clothes, a nice car, eating out, etc. I spend mine on beads and jewelry-making components.

It's a hard truth to face, but if you have a lot of debt, don't launch a business. Get your finances in order before you jump headfirst into a venture that will most likely sap a lot of money and time. That's not to say that you can't launch a business if you have debt. But if debt is consuming you, launching a business wouldn't be the best thing to do.

Right now I don't have any debt other than my mortgage. My ghetto Toyota is paid off, I live fairly frugally, and I never spend what I can't pay off at the end of each month. Now, I don't deny myself a few splurges here and there, but I keep my focus on my passion - handmade jewelry - and that keeps me from overspending on crippy crap I don't need. This is key to running a successful business: Focus.

I know from experience that having personal debt is hard enough. Adding business debt to that can be very stressful. If you are drowning in debt, esp. fluff debt like overshopping and charging to your credit cards, get that in check first. Chances are, there are other forces at work here. Find out what the void is, stop charging, get your debt in order, and focus on becoming self-sufficient. Expect this to take a few years. It took me nearly four years to pay off my credit cards. But in the meantime, hone your craft and learn new techniques. Prepare yourself for the day when you can say - I don't owe you anymore money!

Tristan + Isolde

Let me spew some hyperbole before I launch into a real blog entry: OMG, Tristan + Isolde is one of the bestest movies EVER. Seriously, it's super fantastic almost better than Romeo & Juliet oh my I can't believe I just said that I hope my English degree is still in good standing.

Whew.

What a great movie. The story is as tragic as anything and there's fighting for independence galore. There is just something great about people who fight to be free. I put it up there with one of my all-time favorites, Braveheart, and I don't even like Mel Gibson. Sometimes the story is greater than its individual parts.

But the individual parts - i.e. the actors - in Tristan + Isolde are fantastic. The men are beautiful, the women (well, Isolde) is striking. She reminds me of Kate Winslet, whom I think is one of the prettiest women I've ever seen. And at the risk of sounding like a twelve year old boy, the sword fights are really cool. It's like a visit to Medieval Times without all of the cheese.

I've yet to see the Wagner opera, but I hear it's, well, long. There was a recent production of Tristan + Isolde at the Dallas Opera that was 5 hours long. The original opera, if I understand correctly, was written to be 8 hours long. That's a whole work day of sword fights and unrequited love!

Here's a necklace from my Pottery Shard collection that I appropriately dubbed "Tristan & Isolde." I sold it last week and miss it already!

My New Favorite Outfit

My obsession over necklaces causes me to plan my outfits around what I want to wrap around my neck. I recently splurged on a top from Anthropologie - one can only use the word "splurge" when shopping at Anthropologie - and paired it with my new favoite pair of red shoes. I topped it off with one of my Spring 2007 designs et voila! This piece is for sale on my web site, but I'm secretly hoping it won't sell just so I can keep it. But seriously, you can buy it here.



Necktie tee from Anthropologie



Isabelle red patent shoes by Rampage



Caribbean Sea, necklace by Tefi Designs (me!)

Whoop, whoop (Arsenio-style)

I'm very liberal with the shout-outs. I figure, you can't give too much love. But when I'm the focus of the shout-out, I feel life has come full circle in a "pay-it-forward" kind of way. So I'm going to repay it forward, or rather, return the forward payment, er...pay it forward forward...um, well, you get the picture.

As many of you know, I had a blast at the Urban Street Bazaar this past weekend. I sold a ton of handmade jewelry, met some really great people (customers and crafters alike) and generally enjoyed myself, rain notwithstanding. So imagine my joy when I stumbled upon a shout-out directed squarely at Tefi. Check it out: http://snapshotsunmade.typepad.com/snapshots_from_an_unmade_/2007/05/the_arts.html

What's funny is both of the other stories she mentioned (which we both happened to catch on NPR) have what I consider to be more interesting topics than my little ol' necklaces. I mean, 18,000 nekkid people in D.F.? Well, I'm not complaining. She rocks!

Here. A little something to titilate ya:

Goodbye Girls

I'm being totally ridiculous right now. I'm actually crying over a TV show.

I learned this afternoon (about 6 days after the fact) that my staple Tuesday night event is ending. And next week no less.

Yes folks, Gilmore Girls is about to become a thing of reruns. While I watched last night's episode that Jason had recorded (I was busy kung fuing), it hit me. I savored every bit of it, and didn't get emotional until the end when they showed a preview of next week's episode under the banner "Series Finale." I sort of got the weepy eyed thing going at first - you know, where the corners of your mouth turn downward and little tears begin to form. Then I got to thinking of seven years ago when the show started, when my addiction started. Cue the waterworks.

Seven years ago was when I took the leap into teaching. Then I met Jason. Then 9-11 happened. Then Jason and I moved in together and began a new phase in our lives. I suffered a miscarriage, semi-adopted Ketchup, then later adopted Oliver. My grandmother died, my stepmother died, my grandfather died. I spent four years teaching in the public school system and lived to tell. Each summer I watched episode after episode on my newly delivered GG complete season DVDs (thanks, Amazon). Jason and I went to Colombia and he met my family. I began a new career as a grant writer and later launched my own jewelry design company. I bought a house. I watched seven years of Gilmore Girls.

Those close to me know that on Tuesdays nights I am out of pocket. They know I don't answer phones, emails, doors, smoke signals, or SOS's. They know that if I do happen to pick up the phone during commercial breaks, I'll simply say, "Watching Gilmore Girls," and hang up. They know not to take it personally.

So ends an era. I've got all the DVD box sets on call, ready to feed my addiction - to give me the jolt I need when I feel an emptiness on Tuesday nights. It seems silly, but when a ritual ends, whatever it may be, it's a loss that is felt deeply and immediately. It's just really sad.

Aaaaaanyway......*sigh*

A Burst of Color

In the wake of my immensely successful studio tour last weekend, I have been furiously creating new and mega-fabulous designs. I completed my inventory for Shambhala Body Gallery, and now have more than enough for the upcoming Urban Street Bazaar @ Farmer's Market this weekend. Some of the pieces I plan to unveil are just bursting with color - all bright and vibrant. Visit www.tefidesigns.com to purchase. See the colors for yourself here:

Caribbean Water: $88

Rock Candy: $42

Sea Turtle: $42

Sweet Apricot: $42

Easter Egg: $40

They say it's going to rain all week, and should subside by Friday. Hope, hope, hope. I'll be under a small tent at the Farmer's Market both Saturday and Sunday, putting in 11 hour work days. If it rained that would mean no business for Tefi, and no business makes Tefi a sad designer.

Here's the flyer (front and back) for the Bazaar. Hope to see you all out there. Don't forget to wear your wellies!

www.TefiDesigns.com

My mom, the artist

I'm still reeling from last night's Kenny Loggins performance. It was a-freakin-mazing. And he fell in love with my cousin, so that was just the cherry on top. The cherry on top of that cherry was hanging out with Kenny's guitarist, Gene, and drummer, Chris, who also drums for Pat freakin Benetar and perhaps, just maybe, he'll get to putting us on the list when she comes to town in July. Love is a gol'darn battlefield!

(Oh, and we taught Gene and Chris two Texisms: "muggin' down" and "tumped over." Don't know what those mean? Move to Texas and you'll soon find out.)

Despite all of the crazy goodness last night, this morning I'm draggin' like a catfish at the bottom of Lake Lavon. So imagine my delight when I got this in my inbox this morning:

That is not a photograph. It's a drawing my mom did recently of her cat, Katy. Isn't it wonderful? My mom's been taking a drawing class at Richland (ain't retirement great?) and this is her latest triumph. Here's another particular favorite of mine that she did in pastels:

Who new all of us kin were so darn artistically inclined?

And did I mention Kenny Loggins *hearts* my cousin?

OCA Studio Tour Nerves

Surprisingly, my nerves have been rather calm this week considering the fact that I will soon have complete strangers tromping up my driveway, onto my deck, and into my sunroom to (let's hope) purchase tons and tons of Tefi jewelry.

Being the anal shebang! that I am, I created a calendar of "To Do" items for this week, and so far I am on track. Tonite I will finish passing out invites and brochures to my neighbors, and I will get all of my jewelry out on the tables and lookin' purty. I took some pics just for you.

This is where I will hang the majority of my lesser-priced Pottery Shard pieces, as well as display some CLEARANCE items in an attempt to reduce my bulging inventory (tilt head to side):

Here's one of the three main display tables plus the old sewing table I found at a thrift store. I bought and stained the wooden top myself and have yet to screw it on so it just sliiiiides around. Another unfinished project is that red and blue carry-tote-thingy on the sewing table. It displays my Escapulario collection - some pieces are hanging from the handle and some are lying in a bed of uncooked rice. Rice makes an excellent display element! (I will have a tutorial blog entry once I get around to decoupaging and sealing the tote.)

This here is a little table that normally houses my indoor plants in the sunroom. Right now it's exploding with trendy chandelier earrings!

This is the center table - yes that's my dining room table, and yes I carried it all by myselfs into the sunroom. Kung Fu has made me one strong mutha! We will leave the sofa in the room for the time being and have the telly tuned to some background muzak.

Okay, do the head tilty thing one last time to see the pretty-in-pink table that will house Tefi's signature Juicy Fruit pieces. Just to the right of this table is the large step leading into the kitchen and the rest of the house. The Hukills let me borrow a four-panel screen that will go up right there to keep the lookey-loos from roaming around the pad.

Now why aren't the hyper links working? you may ask. Good question. I'm about to take my site off line to keep customers from double-buying pieces that I will have for sale at my studio this weekend. Want to buy a Tefi piece now because you can't come to the Studio Tour? No problem. Just email me. God, I love you.