Prouds Jewellers? A Little Less High and Mighty if You Please!

One of the only pieces of jewellery I regularly wear not made by myself is my add-a-charm bracelet purchased from Prouds Jewellers Australia, it is also the only piece of jewellery that falls apart at least once a year. Originally purchased in october 2008 it has fallen apart 3 times already. The first time it needed a jump ring, the second time the clasp needed to be repaired or replaced, and today again it was a jump ring.

Obviously I can repair this jewellery myself, but on principle I have not in the past, I think the onus is on them to take care of their customers and make amends for the poor quality of their products.

Today when I popped in the shop I was completely astounded when they told me it would be $3 for a new jump ring! Ridiculous! I have never paid before and certainly won't now.

From their conversation with me they know darn well how easily this jewellery falls apart, they admit the jump rings are not strong, and can even break in winter when people wear wool and the bracelet snags.... one girl who works there told me she gets all her jump rings soldered to prevent falling apart.

Excuse me? Shouldn't you sell the jewellery with soldered jump rings so that it doesn't fall apart?
I paid enough for my bracelet and did the right thing buying it from them and not the $2 stand at the beading and craft fair! I expect for the price I paid that the jewellery is sold in good faith knowing it is adequate for the intended use which is daily wear.

The intentional sale of weak and breakable jewellery is not satisfactory.

I was lucky none of my charms ended up in the toilet bowl!

I am absolutely seething, I have contacted the HQ already (snail mail.... they really don't like sharing their contact email!). Whether or not they assist me I certainly won't be caving in and paying $3 for puny jump ring, I will fix it myself on principle!

In the meantime I have found a great website, called not good enough www.notgoodenough.org
this is a great place to vent your dissatisfaction and learn from others who have had dealings with the same comany of government department you have had trouble with. I see their are other Prouds complainees, and many many Telstra (Australian phone company... we all know how that goes!)

By the way for my fellow aussies, I recently signed up for the class action against the banks, it was very easy and did not take long, and if you don't know how many times you have had the excessive fees imposed it does not matter, sign up now, and they do the research later, or you can get bank statements re-issued.

I need to take a lunch break from venting now! I don't want this to become a complaints blog but I had to get it out of my system.

My Boycott of Marmaduke Movie and Mission to Save Great Danes from Ear Cropping

Could you honestly turn the puppy above, into the dog below? Could you stand by while someone cropped his ears simply to make them stand erect? No? Then help me to do something, please...

The current movie Marmaduke, opening in Australia on July 1st is a great starting point. I am boycotting this movie, dvd rental and sales, all merchandising, and any fast food tie ins because this beautiful animal has had his ears cropped.

We in Australia do not crop the ears of our great danes, neither is it common in Europe, where the breed originated, only in America do breeders habitually crop the ears of this beautiful, gentle breed. It is not done for any medical reason, it is simply aesthetic to make the dog look fiercer and more intelligent.

The American Kennel Club breed guidelines for the showing of pedigree great danes prohibits the showing of dogs that have had their tail docked, but allows for cropped ears. An animal that has not had its ears cropped can be shown but will be in the minority. If an animal has had its ears cropped but they are not nice and erect and matching, they will not be successful and will be useless except as a breeding animal or pet.... it will have gone through this pain and suffering for nothing!

If you ask me, all this pain and suffering is in vain. The animal is a beautiful, healthy animal as it arrives in this world and requires no alteration.

The most important thing you can do is contact the American Kennel Club and pressure them to prohibit the showing of dogs with cropped ears. I am currently trying various methods of contacting them via their website and facebook page. It is also essential to contact the Great Dane Club of America www.gdca.org and I will also be expanding from their to contact as many American breeders as possible to see whether they crop their dogs ears or not and whether they will help to extinguish this barbaric practice.

As for the movie, I am boycotting it which you can do too, I will be contacting as many of the people or companies below to explain the reason, otherwise they will just think their movie is a dud, and never know that this issue has hurt them financially and socially.

The film is being distributed by 20th Century Fox

The studio which produced the movie is listed as Regency Enterprises Davis Entertainment

The producer is John Davis, I hope he is contactable through the company above.

The director of the film is Tom Dey

Key actors in the movie include Owen Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, and William H Macy.

I am currently working on finding the very best routes to contact the involved parties as of course they are not very accessible to mere mortals such as I. I will let you know of any very good email or web addresses I find, but of course the most important are the American Kennel Club and GDCA as they have direct influence over the cropping of ears.

The ASPCA would also be a good group to contact as they frequently run campaigns on key issues effecting the health and safety of animals in America. I am waiting for a response from them.

I would truly appreciate any involvement you can make, and assure you our dogs in Australia have the best of health and happiness with no ill effects from not having cropped ears, they are as God made them, and truly the greatest friends you can have.

My Cat Does Downward Dog Every Day, Why Don't I?

Hi, just returning after a time of illness.... nothing serious, but I'm relieved to feel much better. As someone who has gathered a lifetime's worth of health and healing knowledge, I am surprised to see that I have some borderline areas of health. Its not that I don't know better.... but this is all due to caffeine.

I just had a bone density utrasound and I am at the very bottom of the 'medium risk' category (my dot on the graph is actually touching 'high risk') and its not that I don't eat a healthy, high calcium diet.... its that my day is littered with caffeine in the form of tea or coke zero. The thing about caffeine is that it not only destroys the nutrients in your digestive system at the time of consumption, it is also capable of destroying your body stores of some nutrients. I've always known this.... but I love to have my dinner with a glass of coke zero, and let's face it, often my lunch as well.

I also have iron issues.... and iron supplements are not always very effective for me because of the caffeine issue again. That is why I have had iron infusion.

All I have to do is carve out a time in my day that will be sufficiently caffeine free, and for all practical purposes it needs to be my meal time so that those nutrients aren't wasted.

So, I've been looking at my cat.

My cat eats his meals with water.

My cat has the reputation of sleeping all day... but he always gets up and moves around, just as we are told to not stay in one position too long at our computers or desks. We should stretch, we should walk a little, we should switch from standing and walking.

There is no chance I'd be low in Vitamin D if I copied my cat's example and spent a bit more time out in the sun.

My cat is 17 years old and though he is a bit stiff in the hind legs, the rest of him remains limber, I should be stretching like he does, I should do yoga or pilates, if he can do the downward dog on a daily basis, so can I!

I have had pets over the years, that if you give them their daily ration in one hit, they will eat it in one hit. But not my Roman, he only eats what he needs, when he needs it. Yes he will come running at the sound of the biscuit bowl rattling, but he does not 'clean his plate', he will leave even the most miniscule amount of food behind if it is excess to what he needs at the time. I will come along and see three, five, even ten tiny biscuits left behind for later.... where many humans would not leave such a dissatisfactory amount for later.

So, I don't know about you, but I'm going to follow my cat's good example from now on.

Venting: Computers! Banks! Computers Some More...

For some reason, one morning this week, I turned on my computer, and my google toolbar was gone. I was mystified. Where did it go? Why did it go? How could it leave me? And why, does the google search box on the google home page not work nearly half as well as the google toolbar search box? Not even a quarter as well, I mean lets face it, I type in the same stuff, I get completely unrelated results. I type in madeit.com.au and instead of the Australian handmade market in the mode of etsy (where I have set up another shop) I get listings for australian strippers, ebay, and all kinds of crap....

So a bit rushed for time, I thought I'd look for my google toolbar under my internet browsers toolbar under tools, under toolbars, and saw google toolbar listed without a ticked box next to it. So I clicked on it, only to be asked if I'd like to disable my google toolbar. No, you demented computer, my toolbar has been disabled though I don't know how, when, or why, or why you seem to think it has not been disabled BUT IT HAS!!!

Being busy, I gave up, and added the fast search toolbar for my chosen internet browser. It worked about as 'well' as the google homepage search box which is to say NOT VERY. However on most ocassions over the next few days the actual site I would be searching for would appear in the top 10 search results so I made do with that.

Today, I had a spare half hour on my hands, so I decided to go back to the toolbars menu and disable the google toolbar officially..... so that I could use the google homepage search box to look for the google toolbar to install from scratch. Not even with the google homepage search box do you find google toolbar in the top 10 results..... all manner of other toolbars beats it in the search!

Anyway, I got it, installed it, and watched in awe as it returned to the top of my page as it should always have been. I don't know where it has been, but it remembers me, it remembers that when I type blogger.com into it that the first suggestion is for me to create a new post on this blog, without signing in, it just takes me straight to the page to start my post! I love you google toolbar, will you have my baby? Don't ever leave me again!

My next computer gripe is about temperamental live links made in my bigblog site.... I have a link to my new madeit store www.madeit.com.au/Starzyia listed on the side of my page there where it says 'favourite links', I also made a link in the post where I first announced to my Aussie blog friends that my shop was opened, and a link yesterday in a post announcing my new store banners (yes! finally I look more professional!). Well what is the big deal? Simply that all three links are typed exactly the same (I have proofread them all) and the favourite link works, the link from the first blog post works, and yesterday's link DOES NOT. Not only that, but this problem arose immediately before I restored my google toolbar so when I typed the link into search box it did not seem to exist on any plane of the cyber world. What is with this inconsistency? Is my computer messing with me? It is isn't it, its some kind of game surely?

Also, you may remember I am trying to save $5000 for out of pocket surgical expenses.... today I went into my bank and deposited $750 only to be given a printed slip stating my new balance was $661. Not only was that amount less than my deposit, but I had already saved at least TWICE that amount in the account. The account is used for saving for my surgery, but is also my Visa debit account which I use online to buy craft supplies and pay my etsy fees... all via Paypal so I feel secure, but still, what was I to think but that somehow I had been the victim of fraud? I was shaking, nearly crying as the teller checked out the situation for me.... He didn't say much, at one point he told me the account had been overdrawn. Impossible! At long last he gave me a slip with my correct balance of over two thousand dollars on it, and the matter was settled, without apology or explaination I might add. I don't ever want them to scare me like that again!

On a happier note, I would love for you to check out my new store banner which you can do at either my etsy or madeit store, I admit I spend too much time looking at it when I'm on site.... how could I not have gone to the designer sooner (wingsdove on etsy if you are curious, she is brilliant!). If you want a 20% discount on completed jewelry type in 'blogbuddy' in message to seller at etsy checkout or paypal checkout for either store, and I will refund your discount ASAP (excludes shipping cost) ends JUNE 20!

How have you been? I must get around and check you all out, I am flitting around like a butterfly on here now I have my google back! Its like getting my mojo back!

Breathing New Life - Look How I Converted My Prom Jewelry

Obviously I don't need to tell you that is my before shot! The hair, the make up, it all screams style nightmare.... The earrings were gold discs with black tassels hanging off them. What a hoot!

Well I've recently started a craze of converting the junk jewelry I have lying around and these earrings were one of the first in line. Behold, the 'new' earrings....

So my first job was to remove the tassels, they are not going to be used in jewelry but could suit book marks.

I used wire cutters to remove the surgical steel post from the discs, I then had to use a metal file to smooth down the sharp stump on the back of each disc. This was the most time consuming and painful part - hand cramp!

From my treasure box I found the two ivy leaf charms, and from my bead spice rack (spice rack where all the jars and bottles are full of beads!) I selected the four green cloisonne beads.

Then I simply had to assemble the new jewelry, I used eye pins to connect the leaf to the cloisonne bead and made a loop to hang it from the disc. For the top I used an eye pin to connect the disc to the cloisonne bead, finished off with a loop, and put a small jump ring and french ear wire to complete.

But my favourite converted jewelry is a pair of my dad's vintage cufflinks that I cut and filed the cufflink attachment off to make cabochons which I set into a bracelet settings, I get one, and the other is available in my etsy store www.starzyia.etsy.com

Sweet Tweet Suncatcher

My heart was singing a song of joy when I created this suncatcher, the elements and symbols combine to promote joyful communication and contentment. From bird - who sings her messages - to amethyst for positive communication and upliftment, to crystal which captures and spreads energy in the form of light from the sun.....

The bird and flower charm is 10cm long, and is a brass that is lovely and bright like the top picture. The crystal is very effective, cut in an octagon shape, I have had it in my personal collection for a long time. The chip beads are genuine amethyst.

My only problem is getting this creation to fit into a tiny etsy lead pic...

Pearls of Wisdom, Baroque Drop Earrings

Fresh add to my store, www.starzyia.etsy.com Pearls of Wisdom, created to promote wisdom, happiness, female health and fertility in accordance with traditional lore. Pearls are also the birthstone for June and the traditional gift for 30th wedding anniversaries.

My Mother's Day shipping deadlines have passed, but you can still get free shipping for all completed jewelry until May 10th.

I spent a lovely afternoon researching whether the scroll designs on the focal beads are baroque or renaissance.... it is extremely close call, I am going with baroque in the title, and renaissance is tucked in the description.... sometimes a scroll is a scroll!