Carmella's Recovery From Distemper

These are pictures documenting an amazing cure for Distemper developed by Alson Sears, DVM using Newcastle Disease Virus Vaccine (the LaSota strain).

My dog, Carmella, adopted from an animal shelter in early July 2008  wasn't expected to live through the weekend when I brought her to the vet and she was first diagnosed. I searched on Google to find a way to save her life and located a treatment that has rarely been attempted but is the only thing that actually kills the Distemper virus.

My vet figured it couldn't hurt to try the treatment since Distemper is almost always fatal and it just might save her life. He did an IV and within only 2 days she began to improve! His staff all call it a miracle. Today she looks almost as if nothing's wrong with her, except that she still needs another injection of the substance into the spinal canal because she has myoclonic jerking in the right, front leg.

" This second picture shows how her paw pads looked 1 week after treatment.

The third photo shows her paw pads completely healed in only 2 weeks after treatment with NDV!

My vet called UGA and Tuskegee schools of Veterinary Medicine and neither would consider treating Carmella with it in the Central Nervous System nor applying for grant money for clinical trials. I even called the University of Florida and they wouldn't do it because it's considered still "experiemental". Vets should be really excited about this! It works! Who cares if it's already been published! Somebody should be publishing either Carmella's story as a case history or doing clinical trials and publishing those findings.

(It looks as though I may have finally found one vet now who is interested. He's in contact with Dr. Sears and I hope to have it confirmed sometime today!)

This is likely the only existing cure for Distemper.

The proceeds of sales obtained through my etsy store are going to pay off Carmella's vet bill. If you'd like to help her please consider doing your holiday shopping early; http://Giftbearer.etsy.com  and/or go to my other blog at http://artlifenewsblog.blogspot.com and make a donation or buy a $5.00 ad there through Scratchback.

I am planning a new line of PMC jewelry featuring Carmella, landscapes, and botanical designs. I'm having custom stamps made and hope to have some new jewelry ready in the next 2-3 weeks.

We are moving right along on the 90 Features in 90 Days Challenge, and despite a few people who dropped out we now have 54 participants of the 91 total we need.

If you sell on Etsy or if you sell your artwork somewhere else and have an Etsy buyer's account we welcome you to join. If you don't have any account on Etsy it's simple enough to start one, and well-worth it to get in on this innovative new marketing plan for the holidays. Just think how much more traffic you could drive to your site and how many more people will get to see your art items! Some are already reporting sales from brand new buyers who just signed up!

Members of the challenge have hooked their blogs up to a number of tools designed to maximize traffic, and we are hoping that this will be a great buying season and that shoppers out there will buy from "the little guy" this year instead of going to the mall and spending their cash in big department or chain stores.

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Apparently when I attempted to activate Technorati before it didn't take, so I'm trying it again.

If you'd like to add this blog to your Technorati favorites, click on the link below:

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     Get your art or fine craft featured 90 times in 90 days! Want to know how? Here's the deal; post on Etsy's messageboard on this thread; http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5276160 (if you don't have an account you can easily open a free buyer or seller account at http://etsy.com in order to post there), and agree to swap features with me and however many others also post on that thread there as you want. If you have either a blog or a website that you can use to post pictures and 1-2 paragraphs complete with link to that person's online store on each feature you swap, you can do this! If not, and you would like to participate, you can easily start a simple and user-friendly blog by going to; https://www.blogger.com/start and set one up in a matter of just a few minutes. I was well into my 40's before I ever knew what a blog was and I picked it up very quickly.

     The 90 Features in 90 Days Challenge came about as a way to increase sales in my own business, but it occurred to me that the group and even others outside the AJC could utilize the same method to increase their number of sales, based on the law of averages. Just imagine being front page news every day until Christmas, the biggest gift-buying time of the year!

     I figured if I could swap features with 90 people and do one feature per day between the time I get 90 participants and Christmas, that should create a large enough internet splash to have a noticeable impact on number of sales. The results of many blogs reciprocating, when combined, would be like advertising in a much bigger venue. The impact of such a marketing challenge will make whichever sellers do this extremely visible all over the web; the more people you swap with, the more visible both you and they are. You can also increase this exposure two-fold by linking to your feature stories.

     The end result should eventually be increased sales because you have reached a larger number of potential buyers of your work, and because not all the participants are working in the same medium, there is great potential for cross-promotion, such as handbags with jewelry, or clothing with jewelry, and with only about 10 minutes a day invested in posting your features. So this holiday season not only raise a glass, why not raise your odds, and maybe even… your income!

Strange and Wonderful Space Orbs-Jewelry of the Future

     I will soon be listing these unique and beautiful necklaces in my Etsy store (the second one is listed already). They range in price from $125-$140 and are part of a limited edition line of only 3. They definitely are "out of this world".

It only takes a few minutes to set up a buyer account, and it's free, safe, and secure.

     After many months of saving and planning I was finally able to purchase some tools and supplies with which to start my new fine silver line of jewelry. For those who are unfamiliar with the medium I used Art Clay (sometimes referred to as PMC or Precious Metal Clay which is actually just another brand name). The material isn't actually clay, but it feels like it in the hand, as it is pliable and you can do with it most anything you can do with ceramic clay and polymer clay. The material is fired in a kiln, with a torch or on the stove, and the binder burns away leaving a slightly smaller piece of .999 fine silver ( a higher purity than sterling which is .925 pure).

     Having worked extensively in wax for casting, I found the process of painting organic material such as leaves and vines pretty logical. With wax you run the material from solid to liquid, and with clay slip the process is just in the reverse although it operates basically on the same principles of flow. The material acts amazingly similarly. It was not long before I got the hang of it and could attempt some more advanced methods. I found that most pieces painted with slip require 15 or more layers in order to be thick enough for firing, and that each layer dries relatively thinly once the water evaporates from it.

     This vine bracelet shown below took me approximately 2 weeks 8-hour-a-day work to complete, and it had to be fired several times in steps to attach all the bezels, and shape and refine it the way I wanted it. (I am a perfectionist). I sanded and filed before and after firing. When it and the other pieces were fired and the final sanding was done, I used liver-of-silfur on the bracelet and the leaf (which is a patinating agent used to create either an antiqued look or other colors on the surface of the metal). I never used to like patinas on metal. I didn't see the point of using a precious metal like silver, copper, or gold and then covering it up, but in recent years some uses of it have grown on me and I think if used appropriately it can actually bring out the character of a piece. On these two I dabbed on just enough to get the feel of the natural items they represent. I used a Q-tip to apply just enough to get into the veins and grooves and to give the whole piece overall a bronzy-gold look. On the leaf near the bottom I even got some irridescence which looks really nice.

     On the vine bracelet I put a slightly lighter coat so that in certain places the silver would shine through giving it a shaded effect.

     I can hardly wait to order more clay and make some more! I'm working on getting a kiln so I can make hollowforms that are deeper/broader, such as vessels.

     Keep an eye on my Etsy shop for more coming in time for Valentine's Day. If you really want to impress your significant other, one of my pieces is definitely worth the investment!

Early Budding Vine Bracelet- fine silver hollowform with 8 5 mm. Chrysoprase cabachons set in it to resemble buds

Soul of an Oak Leaf Immortalized- fine silver slip painted in over 15 layers onto a real leaf, then binder burned away. (Leaf has a 5 mm. Pink Tourmaline set in it at the top). Note: This Piece Sold for $365.00 w/bali sterling woven chain in place of the leather cord.

Fresh Evergreen- fine silver evergreen sprig earrings w/sterling beads and leverback hooks, and spearmint green pearls.

Forevergreen- fine silver evergreen sprig earrings w/sterling beads and leverback hooks and pink pearls.

For more information and/or to purchase these or other pieces of my work please go to my Etsy store at; http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=3855

New Line of Jewelry- Message-In-A-Tube

I recently made a necklace for the EtsyCraft Contest that has an innovative design. It is different from my usual style, but I think these might be popular because they are customizable. If you'd like a necklace, bracelet, or earrings with your name on it or any other special message (up to 4 or 5 words per bead), please contact me at my Etsy store, www.Giftbearer.etsy.com  and I'll give you a price quote. I am very willing to fill custom orders. Most will have one bead per necklace or bracelet as centerpiece, (two per earring pair), but if you want a longer message on several beads side-by-side I can do that. It would just cost more, as each bead is really made from scratch. At this time I'm not selling these as components; only in finished jewelry, as they are a very unique design.

The ones I made for the contest say "Craft:". See below;

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I'm looking forward to the contest being held collaboratively by Etsy and Craft magazine. The challenge is for artists to design something that has the Craft logo in it, a representation or reinterpretation of it, and judging will be held on August 21st. Staff of both sites will choose 4 items to be featured by both Etsy and Craft, and winners get other nice perks as well. My first of three entries is posted now and I've been just thrilled with how many hits it's received. The contest entries page is acting like the front page in many respects, drawing alot of traffic from the Etsy Blog, the Etsy Garden. I have two more innovative pieces in the works, each different. You can see my first entry by going to my etsy store. It's the first item on my list and it's sort of tongue-in-cheek. www.Giftbearer.etsy.com

Revolutionary New Softies (TM) Line- Apparel and Jewelry Merge

Be bold, be fearless, be a trend setter in your community! This new line is quite adventuresome and stretches the boundaries between jewelry and apparel. Using textile and beads together, the results are that of comfort, cutting edge style, and in some cases a pleasing sound as the dangles tinkle like windchimes in the breeze with every movement. Imagine a soft blanket on your wrist that you can take with you to work or school, or out on a date. This is likely the most comfortable bracelet you'll ever wear (and necklaces are coming soon). I have to say that I rarely wear bracelets because they often feel as if they get in the way, but I put on one of these and I liked it so much I didn't want to take it off even when I went to bed that night!

Priced at  $20.00 - $75.00 each, these are worth every penny. I make them in both standard and non-standard sizes recognizing that women's wrists come in all sizes.  Feel free to contact me through my Etsy store if you'd like to put in a custom order  for a certain exact size and/or color(s). To purchase the one below, go to http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=337197