Love. Coffee.

 

Coffee love for your locks. Only available at Coffee By Design by Little Eye.

Ooh-ee!  Valentine’s Day is just two weeks away and lucky you, there’s no need to stress about what to get your loved one.  If you’re anything like me and my boyfriend, holidays that make people extra lonely or feel like they need to propose give you the creeps… but you still want to make a little gesture to show that special someone that you really, really like them – hey!  Maybe you even LOVE them, and you’ve been listening.  You know what makes them tick.  Caffeine.

Coffee By Design and Little Eye partnered in June of 2010 to create a line of unique, handmade Java Jewelry pins, magnets and jewelry.  These little gems are available at all four retail locations in Portland and Freeport and, for you cyber-folk who are joining me far from the North East, they are available at their website, as well.

Java Jewelry designs come in six unique images:  latte rosetta, latte heart, CBD logo, coffee cherries, coffee flowers and coffee beans (some of which contain real beans in the epoxy!).  Each image comes in the following:  magnet, pin, hair clip, ring and necklace.

Little Eye has a long, loving relationship with Coffee By Design having slung lattes for three years as a barista and manager before venturing elsewhere.  Next time you’re in for a fix pick up something sweet for the one you love!

 

Latte Love. Like looking in to your mug for the first sip. Only available at Coffee By Design by Little Eye.

Day 5 of Giving: Surprises!

This picture will be used appx. 3,267 times before Dec. 25th, I am sure.

This one’s quick, because we just finished shooting the Coffee By Design Holiday Party at Empire (p.s. it was awesome).  I found this on a friend’s Facebook page yesterday and was struck by the wonder these people created just using the element of surprise to the umpteenth degree.

Surprises are great because they make normal things special.  A candy bar?  Not that special if you’re buying gas and do an impulse buy at the counter.  However, if your coworker shows up with your favorite candy bar, that’s special!  Going to see a choral concert with a friend?  Nice, but not totally strange…  Sitting at the food court in the mall and having the chorus come to you?  Surprise!  So special.

P.S.  I cried a little every time the camera panned to a little kid watching this.  They have no idea the world isn’t like this normally!  If that ain’t some Xmas magic, I don’t know what is.

Day 4 of Giving: I spent 4 bucks on you!

Whoa!  What a day.  I tried my hand at barista-ing again after a few month hiatus at Coffee By Design on Washington Ave. today.  There’s really nothing like a short shift in a customer service position in a neighborhood of people you think are great.  Today I talked to Colleen from Silly’s, Ernie, my landlord, Tiff, Marnie of Red Eye Vintage, Jan from WMPG’s “Local Motives” and so many more.  Then I walked down Congress St. for the East End Stroll stopping off, getting stamps, spending little bits of money that were easy to part with and finally entering my raffle in the box at the Yoga Studio at 72 India St.

My window shopping/under $5 spending afternoon got me to thinking about another really easy way to give.  Spend $4 or less on someone you love!

Here are some ideas:

At the coffee shop, people were treating each other left and right to coffees.  Ask a friend to meet you at your favorite cafe and when it’s time to order, foot the bill!  Better yet, if you know a friend’s favorite drinks (Kate loves mochas, Jason loves red eyes, etc.) then on your way to see them, pick one up!

Needle Felted Wool Star Baby Sula by moondogfarms. Click to view Etsy listing!

I landed at the Portland Fiber Gallery on my roundabout walk back home, and for under $5 you can get an ounce of wool and a felting needle.  The woman there was so helpful and didn’t make fun of me at all when I kept on liking wools that were not good for felting.  Woops!  She showed me a good one and I think I’m going to try my hand at making a snowball.  If I do alright, I might make a snowman.  So if you have a crafty friend who has never tried it before, what a nice way to say:  “Here…make something for me!”  😉

Little Eye pins custom made for Metal Feathers (band). Click to view all pin listings at my Etsy shop!

PINS!!  I bought one at Ferdinand for $.50 and felt so good giving Diane my money and at the same time being able to put something cool on my sweater.  It’s so much fun to root through pin baskets in stores and at craft fairs to find pieces that are perfect for people you didn’t even know you wanted to give a little gift to!  Even better that pins are normally under $4 unless they’re a brooch, in which case it’s totally fine to spend more, because they are so classy.

There have to be a thousand ways to show someone you were thinking of them without breaking the bank.  Which is good, because just a week after Christmas and it will be *dun Dun DUN!* tax time!

Vendor Spotlight: Beadin’ Path

When I moved back to Portland a full grown adult with dozens and dozens crafting and art-making needs, I was quite overwhelmed with the many suppliers in the area.  While they all had great selection, my allegiance always lies with the greatest overall customer service experience.  Every now and again I’ll be sharing these happy places with you so we’re giving credit where credit’s due.  🙂

Today I’d like to point out the amazingness that is Beadin’ Path in Freeport, Maine.  Right across from the fire station.  Searching, searching, searching for a very specific item: ring backs.  Who had it?  They did.  And what’s more — who had it and made a point of communicating with me via phone and email when I made an inquiry?  They did.  And when I went to go pick the items up the in-store service was friendly and thorough as always.

The vintage ring backs I love and use for my bottle cap rings are adjustable and have a really excellent industrial feel.  I know I’ve been Java Jewelry happy lately, but really who shouldn’t be?  So here is a Java Jewelry ring using these awesome rings:

i love big chunky rings

side view

I would definitely recommend signing up for their mailing list on the website for news about classes, contests, new product and much, much more.  I get the emails about once a week and they are superdeeduper.

Java Jewelry at Coffee By Design

The biggest business news of 2010 for Little Eye Designs is the launch of Java Jewelry at Coffee By Design.  When they approached me at the beginning of this year about an exclusive line of jewelry for their website and four amazing locations in Portland and Freeport, Maine, I was tickled pink.  I had worked at CBD wearing various hats for three years and could not be more excited about tailoring a line of bottle cap jewelry to the company that I know and love so well.  (P.S. The biggest personal news of 2010 is that I became an aunt.  That little girl is a spitfire.)

The fruits of these labors can be seen here, at the Merchandise page of their snazzy new website.  Seriously, Tugboat Creative have outdone themselves.  The java jewelry features six images, my favorite of which is the flowering white Caturra plant from Jardin, Colombia, the prettiest stage in the coffee consumption process (other than maybe the part where we get jazzed up on caffeine and make art!)  This is the picture:

Installation of jewelry cases and necklaces, hair clips, rings, magnets and pins happened at the end of last week in all three Portland locations.  To see these epoxied confections in person check Coffee By Design’s website for directions.   You can also order the jewelry online for the non-Portlanders out there.  Hint:  you can also buy a pound of Coffee By Design’s micro-roasted which basically gets me through early mornings, late nights, after-lunch snacks and pretty much everything else without falling asleep.  I recommend the Costa Rica La Minita which is not only delicious, but coffee from an estate whose philosophies you can feel good about.  I think one day I’d like to visit them to take the creative process one step further and photograph my own images of cherries and flowers…something we’re a bit wanting of here in the cold North East.  Cameras and Costa Rica?  Why, yes, thank you very much!

I think it’s safe to say any time I begin a new, challenging undertaking (like whipping up dozens and dozens of these necklaces!) new ideas are formed and add to the overall craftsmanship of the work I do.  Because I didn’t want beer brands sullying the purity of the coffee images I decided to make some attempts at finishing the backs in CBD’s signature orange, white and black color scheme.  Well, I thought it was so great that now all the Little Eye Designs bottle cap jewelry will be sporting bright colors with splits and splats and gradiants of all colors.  Some experimenting with paints, sealants and finishers guarantee that none of this stuff will rub off on your decolletage!

Annnd if I do say so myself these are pretty much the perfect gift for coffee lovers everywhere.  Matching latte art hair clips, a ring with a big ol’ coffee bean in the middle of it, or a set of magnets for the fridge or pins for your messenger bag.  To boot, the folks at Coffee By Design have decided to make it easier for you to stock up and are offering 10% off of 4 or more magnets or pins.  Perfect!

So excited to share with you this new development after two months of hard work and creativity.  I love coffee, I love staying busy and I love doing custom work so this was truly a pleasure.  Please share any feedback or questions you have about the product or the process!