January 23 - February 5, 2006
SAD LITTLE NOTE ON THE LATENESS OF THIS
NEWSLETTER:
This newsletter is occasionally a day late, but this week I have a sad
reason for it. My 5-year-old son's hamster died on Sunday. My
husband thought she was just hibernating, so I spent several hours rubbing her
in a towel to get her warm, but it was no use. So I was doing other things
on Sunday instead of finalizing this message! Ewan is a really responsible
pet owner, especially for being only five years old, so we hope to get him
another small mammal soon. (But he is currently hoping for a kitty!)
So anyway, this is why the newsletter's a day late. But now back to
business...
In This Installment:
** New Items
** Coming Soon
** Stone Fun Facts
** News & Stuff
** Fortnightly Sale
** Insider's Sale
** Last Fortnight's Top Sellers
New Items
Amethyst & Quartz Crystal
Clusters
These are some of my favorite items. When you break open
a large geode, you get slabs of beautiful crystals on a solid rock base.
Here are small sized clusters of crystals of Amethyst, Ametrine, and Smoky
Quartz. These are all second-quality items, but despite the pale colors,
they are all just beautiful. We also have a special selection of
"irregular" clusters--those of weird colors, sizes, crystal formations, and
whatnot so that we can't really sell them at regular price. These are
ideal for the folks who like to take a chance! Finally, I have created a
Value Pack for these as well. Check them out on the Rocks
page:
and the Value Packs page:
New Stone Pendants
We've had these assorted pendants for a while now, and are
just now getting around to listing them. There are all sorts of new
designs--a little something for everyone. Bear in mind that most of these
items are "singles" (only one of each), so if you want multiple quantities (for
example, if you plan to make earrings), write to us first to ask if we have more
than one of the one(s) you want.
Zuni Buffalo
A stylized Zuni fetish. Various sizes are
available. The larger ones in the picture are about 1 1/2" across, and the
smaller ones are about 3/4" across.
Scarab Pendants
Beetles and Spiders. Pretty cool.
Leaf Pendants
All sorts of shapes. These would be nice to string
together on a necklace. We've got a LOT of the Amazonite ones, in various
shapes.
Donut Pendants
Assorted sized donuts with bails on them for hanging on a
chain. Nice and simple.
Disc Pendants
These are simply flat circular discs of various sizes.
If you get there quick enough, you might be able to snag the one with the happy
face on it!
Wedge Pendants
An interesting shape for a pendant--simple and elegant.
Many stones to choose from.
Tongue Pendants
A limited selection of pendants in a very simple shape.
(The rutilated quartz one is exceptionally beautiful!)
Geometric Pendants
All the leftover shapes that couldn't be categorized
elsewhere. Triangles, diamonds, rectangles, weird strange
things.
Coming Soon
New Beads:
Purple Shell Chip, Orange Chalcedony Chip, Blue Tourmaline Chip, Iolite
Oval, Rhodonite Round, Turquoise Cube, Red Aventurine Cube, Multicolor
Aquamarine Rondell, more Faceted Beads, Chip Sticks
Bone Perfume Bottles
Rock Pebble Candy
New Eggs & Marbles
Didgeridoos
Onyx Animals
Incense
Stone "Egg" Rings
Worry Stones
Agate Tealight Candleholders
Stone Fun Facts
Moss Agate
(Please see general information on Agate HERE.)
** Moss Agate is a clear to milky-white form of Quartz with impurities of
hornblende growing in fissures in the stone. Technically, it is not a real
Agate. It has the same chemical composition as Agate, but the design
occurs in pebbles and fissures rather than in layers.
** While the impurities do resemble moss, this is actually NOT where the
name came from. It was first made popular near the seaport of Mocha (Al
Mukna) in Yemen, and so it was called Mocha Agate, which later got changed to
Moss Agate.
** Crystal healers use Moss Agate as a cooling stone--to reduce fevers and
inflammations, to quench thirst, and to ease stomach acids. It helps to
alleviate the symptoms of colds and infections.
** In some cultures, powdered Moss Agate mixed with water was thought to
cure insanity.
** Moss Agate is thought to bring peace and patience to those who have
extra chaos and stress in their lives. It balances male and female
energies when they become extreme, and it helps the wearer achieve personal
growth.
** Moss Agate is thought to help in the growth of plants, and is known as
the Gardener's Stone. Place some in your garden to enhance plant
growth.
** Moss Agate is the gemstone for the 14th anniversary.
Please see more Stone Fun Facts
here:
Good Grief Guest Book!
A few months ago, I reported having to remove my
Guest Book from my site due to excessive spam. It appears that people were
using the book to advertise their pay-per-click websites selling everything from
Viagra to Las Vegas trips.
So I logged in to my CityMax account, and
clicked, "Hide" for that page, so it would no longer appear on the sidebar of my
website. Figured that after a few weeks, when regular spammers couldn't
find the page, they'd give up and stop trying to post stuff there. At
which point I would re-install it. Good plan, huh?
Well, I went to re-install it today. And
silly me, I didn't realize that simply "hiding" the page doesn't mean the page
itself could no longer be accessed. Meaning that any legitimate browser to
my website would NOT be able to find the page, being that it was no longer
showing in the sidebar, but anyone who already had the URL could still see
it! FURTHER meaning that the spam continued while I was in ignorant bliss
for two months. The only difference now is that they paid attention to the
warning at the top of the page to write something valid in your post, so now
many of the messages begin with a bogus greeting about how much they like my
site (as if they even actually looked at it).
When I went to look at the site today, I found
over 200 spam messages, including one with over 320 lines of URLs to sites of
all subjects imaginable. (Because when I am shopping for gemstone-related
products, I am eager to find new sites on Natalie Portman and maternity
bridesmaids dresses.) It's unbelievable. I started to remove some of
them, before realizing the sheer volume of the spam messages. I realized
it might be less time-consuming to simply transfer the VALID messages over to a
totally different page. I hate to lose the nicer messages, and I like the
idea of a Guest Book, but if it means having to remove hundreds of spam
messages, I might just eliminate the page altogether (and I DON'T mean just
removing it from the sidebar!).
Here is something I have to wonder.
Speaking for myself alone, if I happen to glance at a business's Guest Book, if
I find a bunch of posts like this, I get disgusted and hit the back
button. I had this attitude even before it happened to me. My
question is, is there ANY legitimate browser of a business's Guest Book who sees
these ads, goes, "Wow, I can get cheap Tramadol!" and goes to the site?
Seriously? Do the people posting these messages truly believe that
spamming random Guest Books across the web will get them more sales?
Anyway, go ahead and take a look at the most
recent madness:
If anyone has any ideas on how to stop this problem, please let me
know!
Fortnightly Sale
3-For-2 Gem Chip Bottles!
This week, for every two (2) Gem Chip Bottles you buy, we will include a
third absolutely FREE. The free bottle(s) will be our choice. Limit
of ten (10) free bottled per order. If you are into collector's display
items, this is a great time to get a good variety of Chip Bottles!
3-For-2 Gem Bottles Offer is good through February 5,
2006
Penny Sale
Every two weeks, I hide a new special offer somewhere on my online
site. This listing will offer a certain product for ONE CENT, with any
purchase of $10.00 or more. The item and its location will change every
two weeks, so be sure to look often. Simply got to my online store
site:
and browse until you find the hidden listing. Add it to your cart,
along with the rest of your $10.00+ order, and it will be included for just a
penny. Happy Hunting!
(Recent keen-eyed customers got a set of BINDIS for a
penny. What will you be able to get this week?)
Insider's Special
Free Shipping on 3 Value Packs!
Normally, if you purchase ten or more Value Packs, you can check the "Free
Shipping" icon when checking out. This week, my extra-special customers
will get free shipping when they buy only THREE Value Packs. Place your
order of three or more Value Packs, then go ahead and use the free shipping
option. (International buyers can contact me for steep discounts on their
three Value Packs.)
Value Packs Free Shipping Offer is good through February 5,
2006
Last Fortnight's Top Sellers
(You know you want to be just like everyone
else!)
1 Gemstone Marbles
2. Gemstone Eggs (2nd fortnight)
3. Garnet Chip Beads
4. Coral Chip Beads
5. Chip Strands
6. Spessartine Chip Beads
7. Stone Point Pendants
8. Gemstone Stud Earrings
9. Sunstone Chip Beads
10. Chrysoprase Chip Beads
That's it for this issue. Talk to you
again in two weeks.
--Suzanne Dallapè
eBay user ID: ephemerala
Visit my online store:
Please pass this newsletter to anyone you think might be
interested.
Feedback
-- 3931
Positive transactions
to date...
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