Tweet, Tweet

Twitter is quite the animal. I recall seeing a prediction a while back that Twitter would prove to be a major component in a fundamental shift in how the internet will be used. I'm not 100% convinced of that, but it definitely is a movement that keeps growing. Not everyone understands it, but they'll still play with it. Those that do understand it do more than play with it.

I'm not going to bother defining Twitter ... if you're reading this blog, you've probably already have it in your head what Twitter is all about. I find some opinions about how to use Twitter to be very interesting. I've read several comments for very web-savvy folks that if someone uses Twitter only for promotion, they would tune out (stop following) that person. They want to see some of the personal behind the person. But I'm not too sure about that ... most of us are living in the moment (even though we are aware of our past and planning our future, we still live in this moment) and most of our moments are rather mundane. No matter how exciting life can be, most moments are still mundane. I couldn't care less if you just washed and dried 3 loads of laundry. Even if you're my mother (Hi Mom!) or a good friend (Hi Jenn!) I couldn't care less. Now if your washer or dryer broke down and you found a great service guy who came to your house in less than two hours and charged you an unbelievably low price for an excellent repair job ... THAT I would care to hear about, IF you can talk about it in 140 characters or less.

So I won't bore my followers with my mundane life stuff. I will tweet, when I remember, about going to a local network meeting. I will tweet when I find something intriguing on the web. I will tweet when I made an amazing discovery (that hasn't happened in a while). But my usual forms of tweets are promotion and they happen automatically because of the beauty of TwitterFeed. You can feed anything that has an RSS feed to your Twitter account. Both my blog and my Etsy shop have RSS feeds. Blogger makes setting up an RSS feed really easy, nearly automatic, just be sure you have your "Site Feed" which you will find in your SETTINGS section turned on to either "Full" or "Short" ... not "None."

After you set up your account with Twitterfeed, you can add any number of feeds to automatically post to Twitter. All you need is the URL of your feed, and each one is different. That was the most confusing part for me, but I fumbled around and found out what they are.

After you click "Create new twitter feed" you'll be given a new page with a form to fill out. The user name and password are where you will enter your Twitter info, and be sure to click the "test twitter authentification" to make sure you've entered the correct data.

If you are a Blogger/Blogspot user, your RSS feed URL is as follows:

http://yourusername.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

You'll need to replace your actual user name before the .blogspot part.

I found my Etsy RSS feed URL by clicking on the RSS widget, as if I were going to subscribe the the feed. The URL displays on the browser, just copy and paste the address in appropriate box in the Twitterfeed set up. You can find any of your RSS feed URLs this way.

Another way to determine the RSS feed URL is to right-click the link and select "Properties" from the right-click menu (this is how it works with Windows, I don't have a clue about Macs!) and find the link address (NOT the image address!) which you can then copy and paste.

Go ahead and hit the "test RSS feed" to make sure it's going to work.

You'll have a few more things that are preferences you'll need to fill out to finish up the feed set-up. Give some thought to the update frequency. If you do a lot of listing in your Etsy shop at any given time, you may want to experiment with the frequency so that you don't send a feed for every single listing which could be considered spam by the Twitter community and your followers. You do not want to lose any of those precious followers! Keep in mind that this feed cannot tell the difference between a new listing and a relist.

Also give some thought as to what you want in the "prefix each tweet with:" box. I simply say "Just listed:" for my Etsy feed and "Blog update:" for my blog. The form only allows up to 20 characters, but each one counts towards the 140 maximum allowed. I use the "Tiny URL" option.

The tiny URL link generated for the Twitter feed is a "no follow" so don't get your hopes up that this will help in search engine optimization. In fact, it appears that all links in Twitter are "no follow." Oh well. Guess we still need to get our coveted links the old-fashioned way ... beg or buy.

Hope this is clear and understandable. Let me know your thoughts.

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Now for the LinkyLuv for those taking the time to read and comment:
Getpalmd * Storybeader * Leah * Anna * Meekiyu * FeeFiFoto * CassieMarie * BlackFeatherFarm * Kerri Slade * Lynne * Abigail * Leslie * Angie * Michelle {{hug}} * Laurie B * Casto Creations * Avenue 7 * Shinade * Zen Ventures * Fidget * Swapna * Terrie * Raymond * Lois Lane * Jenn {{{{big hug}}}} * Petula * Lily * Elizabeth * Annette {man, I miss Skwiggazine!} * KML * Rachel (I hope I got the name right!! Memory ain't what it used to be...) * Tammy * Duni * Michelle * iWalk (love the cow graphic! How y'all manage to draw pictures with a keyboard amazes me.) * And last but NEVER least, Leet!

Whew ... this post took forever!! But may all your page ranks rise because y'all helped my bounce rate to fall. I should take a lesson from The Turnip and concentrate on getting the bounce rate down. Which could mean "bye bye" Entrecard. But that's another meditation. My eyes are really tired now.

It's Sunday ...

... and time to feature a good buddy from Skwiggazine! This week's featured artist is Corinne Sullivan of Daydream Art Studios! Corrine also has the sweetest blog. While you're checking out her Etsy shop, be sure to visit mine, too.

I'll be providing FREE SHIPPING for all Cyber Monday sales! I'll be furiously stocking overnight. Here's a sample of available prettiness:



Oh, and some linky luv for my recent commenters!
Storybeader Take a stroll through her lovely blog.
Beadsme aka Mandy Harvery, a very talented jewelry artist.
Savey Spender ... you'll save a buck or two!
Leslie of Unique Charm and another fellow Estian!
Always Amy ... always da bomb! (BTW, I signed up for ArtFire and mentioned you as the referral, but I signed up with the wtong e-mail so I have to get my registration straightened out! Here's to our mutual success!)
Anna of A Rose By Name and one of the phenomenal beadweavers. I so admire your skill, patience and talent.
Viv of Creative Minds is another fellow talented Estian. Etsy is stuffed full of talented people!
Kala Pohi Studio ... another talented Estian ... I'm feeling extraordinarily humbled.
And last, but never least, my two partners in the Skwiggazine madness, Michelle of Michabella Creations and Annette of Under the Loupe.

May all your page ranks rise!

My Favorite Flower

From my favorite finds on Etsy ...

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade hiljohn.etsy.com

Stumble It!

Well, hello Dolly!

It fascinates me that the unseasonable clouding, and the humidity that comes along with it, over my little ole spot of Texas is brought to us by what remains of a hurricane many hundreds of miles away! I even got rained yesterday when going into my local grocery store. I came out after the rain stopped into a literal sauna. The temps were in the high 90's yesterday and all the rain did was create a huge bubble of water vapor ... so much that I found it hard to breathe when heading back to my car. Now I think I know what asthmatics are feeling when their air passages close up.

Ron Jackson, Channel Fox4 news weather meteorologist is on right now telling us to expect temps as high as 100F today. Woo hoo!

In keeping with the "rule" that blogs with pictures are appreciated more than text-only blogs, here's a detail photo from my Malachite Splendor necklace, still available at my Etsy shop. This piece gets a lot of attention, both on-line and at my local shows, but I still haven't found the one woman to whom this piece belongs!

I'm still enthralled with making chainmaille pieces and there will be a number of new items coming out for fall. I hope copper and brass are still the "hot" metals of fashion because I personally like the look they add to jewelry pieces. Even if they're not hot for fall, I'll still use them because they should be timeless! In our toughening economy, these "less precious" metals are more appealing than ever. I think they offer a rugged look to elegance ... hopefully that's not too oxymoronic!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday! I'm looking forward to the hubby's bar-b-qued ribs that will be cooked over at Son #1's house. Playtime with the grandbabies!

I should be working on other things

P1010706
Originally uploaded by hiljohnqu

... like ID badge laynards. So I'm forcing myself away from the computer, I'll finish the other project I have on my studio table, then knuckle down and do what I SUPPOSED to be doing.

Or maybe I should hide under a rock.

I did list this on Etsy yesterday and you can find it here at a great price ($16). It worked up easy and fast and the rings are gold plate, not gold fill, so the price is very reasonable.

Amazonite Eggs

Amazonite on Champagne
Originally uploaded by hiljohnqu

This is one of my favorites of all the photos I've taken of my product. The birds seem perplexed. How did they get all those eggs? And what are those funny champagned-colored things littering the nest?

I feel the need for Spring. Actually, I feel the need for consistent weather. It's been a roller coaster here in north central Texas. We were up to 80 degrees less than a week ago. This week, two days of snow/sleet/ice and chilly weather.

My daughter was so hopeful for either a day off from school, or at least a delayed opening. Not this district! They are hardy folks.

I don't mind cold and snow. I grew up in Montana so I'm very familiar with cold and snow. But 50 degree shifts in temperature in a 24-hour period is a little crazy.

At least I have Spring in my studio. I'm working on ID laynards today. Oh, and if you want to see what this necklace looks like when it's displayed more like a necklace, it's in my Etsy shop here.

Coming soon ...

Amazonite and Coral chain
Originally uploaded by hiljohnqu

... to an Etsy store near you. Ha. Sorry for the droll humor. It's still early, around 4:30 am. I have a show today at an office building so I'm up early to tend to my on-line business duties.

Don't you think this combo is pretty? I saw the InStyle spread a couple months ago with turquoise and red featured together. We'll probably see it in our stores in a month or two. But I lean towards the softer side of life, so this is my version. Salmon-colored coral and pale aqua amazonite.

Amazonite ... another feldspar. Named for the Amazon River even though no deposits are found there. How did that happen? Maybe a speciman reminded the name-giver of the river. Who knows. It's pretty, though.

Well, hope today's show goes well. I've been in this building before. Last time, my handsome young son came to help out. I figured he'd charm the ladies. But 4 out of 5 people who walked by were men. He didn't charm the men, although he politely greeted everyone he saw. A few ladies stopped, some purchased, but one lady warned me that particular building is a dud for jewelry sales. She was right!

Oh well, I'm committed, therefore I go. Call me crazy, I need to be committed.

Mobius MOP of Beautiful Pastels

Mobius MOP Bracelet
Originally uploaded by hiljohnqu

I loved working these bracelets up! The colors of these mother of pearl coin beads are so soft and pretty. For the Etsy listing, I used the pale mauve bracelet and earrings, but I like this photo the best from that shoot. I'm using this photo in both the bracelet and earring listing to show the color choices available.

The soft colors play against the hardness of the chainmaille florettes. I'm having fun with this mobius weave.

Bracelets and earrings available at my Etsy shop.