Valentine's Day Designs - Request for Submissions!

2009 Valentines Day Video Submits
If you're an independent jewelry artisan and would like to join me in the 2009 Holiday extravaganza video presentation for Valentine's Day, please submit your pictures! Keep reading!Your photos need your website location. You can add those to the description if you like, and I'll add them to your photos for you!DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS JANUARY 18TH,2009 - up to 5 submissions allowed per artistThe photos will be reviewed during my live radio talkshow event on the afternoon of January 18th!So having your information available for sharing with the audience will be very important if you want your work to be found!
Send your photos to me at: mhair@pdq.net with VDay Submission in the subject line of your email. In your email, include your name, city, and state so that I can announce them during the Live presentation of your submissions!
Photos need to be at least 300dpi resolution and no smaller than 450 x 450 pixels. Larger is better. I can always resize. Pictures need a nice border of surround so that they may present well in video form.
As I mentioned, submissions will be reviewed "LIVE" for my on-line radio talk show audience, which ranges between 3000 and 8000 listeners every Sunday afternoon. The video will be posted to YouTube, and a copy will remain as free soft advertising in my broadcast room until after the Valentines Holiday! There will be two copies made of the video. One with background music and one without. The broadcast room has music playing almost 24/7 so I use silent videos in the broadcast room. You Tube Fans get cranky when there's not music or background, so I make one for them as well, with sound! Please Join me in this wonderful soft marketing adventure!
Warmest Regards,Mona
****To review videos of previous events visit: www.youtube.com/mona77401 The Holiday Videos we produced for the Christmas Holiday Season of 2008 were a huge hit and did impact sales at websites in a very positive way! The submissions were so numerous that we produced Volume 1 and Volume 2 for this event!
To visit the home page of my on-line radio talk show The Jewelry Connection visit here: www.nowlive.com/mona77401
To visit the broadcast room visit here: www.nowlive.com/showid/63074 Slide the Open Audio bar to the far left upon entering the broadcast room. Hit F5 on your keyboard to reset the broadcast room if videos won't load from the media files. F5 usually fixes anything that isn't functioning properly for you! Click on the media tab at top left in the broadcast room to open a double panel of videos and pictures that are already viewable there!
Mark it on your calendars! The show will "GO LIVE" on January 18th at 12pm PST, 2pm CST, or 3pm EST depending on where you are in the US. In the Broadcast room of The Jewelry Connection - link listed above. You can watch and listen to the show without doing anything except showing up. If you want to participate with live text chat, you'll need a user id which takes less than 30 seconds, and can be acquired at www.nowlive.com/support It is also possible to phone into the show if you want to call in to comment, by clicking on the Call Show button and following the system instructions. Please remember to turn down your computer audio if you call in! Thanks!
This presentation is occuring on the deadline date for submissions. The finished video will be released during the following week and will appear at www.youtube.com/mona77401 It will be available in the broadcast room and at Youtube until after Valentine's Day. I'll hosting a review of the finished video in the broadcast room on January 25th, just before Dr. Gail Devoid starts her tutorial presentation.

The Calendar of Events for The Jewelry Connection

I've created a yahoo group called "The Jewelry Connection Now Live" to manage events scheduled for The Jewelry Connection - radio talk show for and about independent jewelry artisans! The location is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TJCNL/
I have to approve requests to join in order to keep the spammers out. Please pardon me for that! I initially want to leave this as an open group but that doesn't work.
There are rare emails out of this group. A couple a week. The calendar of events is open for you to review when you wish, but I also have special events set up so that reminder notices go out five or six days in advance of an event, and then again 24 hours before the event.
You're welcome to join this group if you want to stay updated on what's going to be going "LIVE" in the broadcast room and when!
Best to All!
Mona
Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection

An Invitation - The Jewelry Connection Says Farewell to 2008 and Hello to 2009!

Wrapping up 2008 and Launching 2009 at TJC
Date:Sunday December 28, 2008
Show Time: 12pm PST, 2pm CST, 3pm EST
Type:Meeting Location: www.nowlive.com/showid/63074

You're invited to join The Jewelry Connection in wrapping up 2008 and find out what's coming in the New Year! Thankyou's and announcements. The broadcast room may be reached directly by cutting and pasting www.nowlive.com/showid/63074 into your browser window or clicking on the link above.
F5 on your keyboard is the reset button for the room to correct anything that isn't working properly(video playback or anything else). It completely resets the broadcast room for you. It doesn't effect it from my end!
Slide the open audio bar to the far left upon entering the broadcast room or after resetting with F5. This will correct distorted streaming sound feed!
Happy New Year to All!
Mona
Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection

The Valentines Day Collaborative Project

The Holiday Christmas Jewelry Extravaganza video was a big hit so I'm planning to do it again for Valentine's Day.
You are invited to submit photos of Valentines Day romance themed jewelry for the new video. Submit up to five photos per person! If there are enough pictures, I'll produce more than one video. Make sure your website address is embedded on your picture in bold letters that do not encroach on the jewels.
Submission deadline is January 18. Release date for the video at Youtube is January 25th. This will allow for early exposure and allow for potential clients to hook up with those who have submitted work, order their Valentine's jewels and receive them in time for the big day! The video will be featured in the broadcast room of the Jewelry Connection. On January 18th the program will be devoted to announcing the video and a review of submissions will be done during the show.Minimum size on photos in jpg form must be at least 450 pixels. If they are larger, please don't resize. I prefer to do it myself in order to put jewels at their best advantage in video form.Looking forward to collaborating with you on this!
If you don't know how to add text to your photographs, send me the pics with your website and full name. I'll do it for you! No fees are involved in this collaborative project!
Send your submissions to mhair@pdq.net

Happy New Year!
Mona
Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection at www.nowlive.com/mona77401

For the 2009 Calender of Events at TJC

I'm looking for independent jewelry artisans to present as featured guest artists at The Jewelry Connection for the 2009 Calendar of events! Live Shows present every Sunday afternoon at 12pm PST, 2pm CST, or 3pm EST depending on what part of the country you live in! I offer a script prior to the show for you to fill out and return to me! Contact me, send me pictures, return the script, and be there for your show! The interview may be conducted by telephone at the very least, or by webcam and headset with mic if you have a user id at www.nowlive.com!
To get a user id visit www.nowlive.com/support
To review the home page of TJC visit www.nowlive.com/mona77401
To visit the broadcast room go to www.nowlive.com/showid/63074

F5 is the reset button for the broadcast room and will fix any issues you are having with loading videos or with sound there.
The open audio slide bar needs to be moved all the way to the left to cure any looping sound.
Please contact me if you are interested in joining me for a spot as featured artist!
Happy Holidays to All!
Mona

What the Heck is Twitter? An answer for????

Imagine, building a network of people that you can share with instantaneously! Search for people with similar interests! Share comments, ideas, triumphs, failures, family news.
I recently signed up over at Twitter hoping to share news of my on-line radio talk show and bring new viewers/listeners inn to hear interviews and reviews of work with independent jewelry designers from around the globe.
After a couple of days of Twittering my head began to digest the ramifications of what I was observing there.
1. Yes, networking possiblities exist
2. Marketing possibilities...I don't know. I hate spam and delete delete delete regardless of it's venue of entry into my life. I prefer to seek out what I want. I despise being hammered continuously with people shouting buy here, buy here, buy here! Media hammers me enough already. A couple of promos per day I can tolerate and may even find interesting, but more than that and I believe I'll be inclined again to delete delete delete...and stop following. It's not always a numbers game. It's a matter of having something of value to offer, and helping seekers find what they are searching for...not pounding them with it until they run for cover.
3. Outside of commerce and it's dubious possibilities through this venue other ideas began to digest. What is this a symptom of? People from around the world twittering and sharing even subtle things in their lives...like I'm making coffee, I'm sick, my child is ill, I just got a paper cut, I'm making a new jewelry design, I'm blogging on how to be successful....the content runs on and on....some personal, some business related.

What does this mean?
Has the world become so productivity oriented that we, as people, have become lonely for human contact? Do we need interpersonal relationships with tweets that are missing in real time because we are so damned busy trying to make a living? Is our society so productivity oriented toward success, money, prestige, competition, appearance, pretention, having stuff, doing stuff, that we no longer have time to walk down the street and converse with the neighbors? What are the names of your neighbors? Not of the entire street! Just the ones to your left and your right?
How about getting together with friends for a dinner? Inviting folks over for a pot luck? Meeting with pals for Coffee and Brioche on a Saturday morning?
We are hungry for people....not just for sales. We want to talk about even the mundane with someone who will listen objectively, supportively, and reciprocate in kind.

I see Twitter as an avenue for sustaining those of us who are obsessed with success. To be successful requires 24 hour dedication and leaves no time for socializing. I have to actually work at it to find time to interact with friends and loved ones.
Working 16-20 hours per day leaves no life remaining to Be.
Twitter is a fast fix communication with some super fine people who have similar interests! It's a fix ... an injection of relationship, friendship, human interaction, into an otherwise lonely day.
Someday, if I ever become successful enough that I don't have to work so hard, I have dreams of moving back into a world where people do things outside of a studio, office, garage, where all of my hours of the day are consumed today. While I love what I do....I am lonely. Twitter makes me feel better and that's a good thing.

Adventures in Marketing for Independent Jewelry Artisans

In November of this year (2008) I had a brainstorm ...again! LOL I approached several independent jewelry artisans about creating a video of one of a kind wearable art devoted to the "Holiday Season". The response was overwhelming! The project moved from the development of one video to TWO videos and embraced the work of 33 independent jewelry artisans from across the US, Canada, and Portugal. Background music was provided by my dear friend Ed Rambeau and turned out very very nice as a first try at this type of collaboration! The videos provide a gentle and unpressured marketing experience through the home page of my on-line radio talk show and over at You Tube as well! You can visit all videos I've created for featured guest artists of the show at this link - The Videos
November 23rd I did a three hour show at the broadcast room where short bios were read on each designer, still shot pictures of their works were reviewed, holiday music was enjoyed, and we had drawings for prizes! It as a really fun show to do. I've had limited response from designers regarding success in this little marketing adventure as yet...it is still a bit early, but the response has been favorable with some artisans noting that traffic for their websites and their sales has improved!
Life is not easy for artisans who do one of a kind or limited editions of work. We cannot go to market and offer buyers thousands of pieces of the same work for resale. This is my attempt to help promote artists, get exposure for hand crafted work, and offer recognition of the importance of their work. Creating is a noble endeavor, especially when it is related to items that we will intimately embrace as worn ornamentation that is NOT MASS PRODUCED! Happy Holidays to all with lots of love, Mona of Mona Designs, Producer and Host of The Jewelry Connection

Videos and Live Broadcasting

Wow! It's been a while since I added anything to this site! It's been a very very busy year for me! In January of 2008 I began hosting a live on-line radio talk show at the link provided in the title of this blog! The broadcast is The Jewelry Connection at www.nowlive.com/mona77401 . I've been interviewing and promoting independent jewelry designers from across the US! Programs broadcast on Sunday afternoons at 12pm PST, 2pm CST, or 3pm EST depending on where you live. The range of mediums that the artists work in is amazing! Chain maille, polymer clay, french beaded floral work with jewelry application, fine beaded work, lampworked glass in jewelry design, fine metal and gemstone work...it runs the gamut in content! There's a pod caster there to replay previous broadcasts and the site is loaded with pictures videos, music files...I even have the good fortune to have a professional singer donating music for the website and I am delighted to have an opportunity to promote him there as well! Ed Rambeau, of www.edrambeau.com has been a tremendous contributor of musical entertainment for the program in the form of videos and MP3s. Ed's a veteran performer! As a singer, song writer, and actor, Ed has played broadway. Ed's been in the entertainment business for many years and is just as vibrant and shining today as ever. He released a new cd about 2 weeks ago and is almost finished with another one! He's also one of the warmest, friendliest, kindest, and most talented people that I have ever had the pleasure to get to know. Please visit his website! His list of cd's is quite impressive! A link to his fan club is there as well! He's the kind of person everyone is always very pleased to know. A genuinely fine man with an equally genuine talent!

It's been a great learning experience for me and a wonderful way to promote my peers in jewelry design! In the process of all of this broadcasting business I have discovered I have a talent for putting together some very nice video presentations by beginning with a lot of still shot photos, then panning and zooming the pictures to add "life" and motion to them! I'll post a few here so that you can get some idea of what I am talking about! These are some of the presentation videos that I created for guest artist for my live broadcasts! If you're an independent artist that produces one of kind inspired design work, I would love to interview you at the site! Email me and I'll tell you all about how to do it.

There are several things that prevent a solo artist from becoming successfull.

A few of those things are abscence of name recognition, inability to travel to shows, and prohibitively expensive advertising.

Several things about the process of doing these interviews aides in all of those problematic areas. First, the videos for the guest artists are posted at youtube.com in advance of the scheduled program to encourage visitors to the broadcast. The videos also provide long term soft advertising for the designer's websites because the point of sales web address is included in the credits at the end of the videos.

Second, the broadcast is audio archived to a podcaster that may be picked up and embedded any place that anyone might one to share the broadcasts with on personal website pages or anywhere else on the "net" that one might wish to place a podcaster. Those podcasters go Live during the Live broadcast, and then the broadcasts appear on the podcaster by date, as replayabe archives.

Third, the artist and the producer (me)promotes the upcoming program, notifying everyone he or she wishes to, about the upcoming live broadcasted interview. I also send out about 60-80 invitations for each broadcast to people that I already know want to attend these types of programs. I also announce the upcoming events at my blogs and other sites where I have a stream of public contact! So, in this brief nut shell description, you can see how this might promote fresh new traffic to an online designer's shop site, develop some name recongition, and develop a continuos soft sale advertising via continuous interest in the videos posted at youtube.com! You can visit all of the presentation videos at www.youtube.com/mona77401

The best part of all is this. Independent jewelry designers are fascinating people with fascinating creative minds. They pour their lives into producing inspired work that is very worthwhile of notice. Their inventive creativeness is a very fine expression of what is best in human beings.....to create, with contemplated, inspired, artistic expression. They make beauty...they create! They move society with inspiration, beauty, and entertainment. These are noble deeds and independent jewelry designers are not recognized nearly often enough! That's the primary reason why I launched the idea of an on-line radio talk show. The public deserves to meet and get to know who these talented people are and to discover what it means to create with vision, inspiration, and technical skill.