Crema Coffee - Nashville TN

Crema, originally uploaded by Karen Alisa.

Have you been to Crema yet?

It's kind of made me think of Starbucks as sub-par. It's kind of made every other coffee shop I've ever been to seem sub-par.

Crema serves finer coffee and espresso and has a menu full of things you may never have heard of before. The first time I went there, I went there two more times in the next three days, and it's not down the street or anything. Well, it's sort of down the street - I take Nolensville until it becomes 4th and go through the mini-ghetto on 4th Ave. But when you get there all thoughts of ghetto-ness are gone as soon as you walk in and are welcomed by the yummy smell, the friendly service (suck that Bongo!) and the amazing menu full of so many different inspirations that you feel like you have to come back the next day to try another new one. I like the iced Cuban but it's an indulgence (condensed milk is all I'm saying). They also have some tasty summer specials up at the moment.

Crema Coffee
15 Hermitage Ave
Nashville TN 37210
http://crema-coffee.com/

Magic Bean Buyer's Brides & Grooms

the whole wedding party!, originally uploaded by magicbeanbuyer.

I love this girl's etsy store - I am the proud owner of only one of her creations, but if you ever need a little gift idea, her little sculptures are adorable!

Visit Magic Bean Buyer's Etsy shop!

New website features!

A friend of mine suggested that I create a web page for all of my color options a few months ago and I could have smacked myself on the head for not thinking of it sooner! Now you can go to one place and view all of the gemstones and pearls that I currently have on hand! Seriously, how did I not think about this before?


This will now help you decide what you would like on say, a Lula Lariat? Or a Little Leap necklace?

Another exciting yet totally simple new feature on my website is found on the Necklaces page. I have so many necklaces to choose from now that I have created subheadings with anchors to more easily navigate the page. I had no idea what that meant until a few days ago but was so psyched when I learned how to do it!

It's the little things in life, right?

Lauren Rolwing @ Nashville's Smallest Art Gallery

Lauren Rolwing @ Nashville's Smallest Art Gallery, originally uploaded by d_box.

This modern and whimsical collection of art is currently on view at Nashville's Smallest Art Gallery, but you can also view them online! Visit their website.

Marketing Thoughts

business card by oh young designer

I've been trying harder to promote Freshie & Zero these days after a slew of unsuccessful shows. I've recently updated my Trunkt portfolio, as you can see in that groovy widget above. It's a pretty cool site but if it had a better search engine and a more user-friendly uploading style it would be perfect. I paid for it and have never directly gotten any sales from it, but maybe someday...

I've also delegated the maintaining of my facebook page to Greg. I added a group a while back, but then decided a page would be better, but for some reason it's hard for me to figure out how to run it well. Greg (my awesome husband)
is a facebook/internet master and he will be so perfect at helping me make the most out of it! We may eventually do some facebook ads and see how that goes... In the meantime, become a fan (pretty please!)!

I was also talked into joining this website called FGMarket - only because the salesperson on the phone was so good, I literally could not say no. So far, it's been a big waste o' money and I should have known better - look at this listing, for goodness sake - tons of distracting text ads on the side, and I've singled out my listing but it really gets lost in the searches. I tried to search for "handmade jewelry" and not one thing came up. Their website is really disorganized - there's no jewelry subheading under "Artisan" - HELLO!

Anyway, all to say I've spent all this money on shows, marketing, and other pursuits that I should have known better were not going to pan out. That's becoming the phrase for this year - "I knew better than that!" Sometimes you forget to listen to your gut, and I've learned the hard way the past few months. It's made me a little more careful in how I spend my cash on the biz. I've been looking at some things I'm paying for that may not be necessary or ways to save on them - not really something I do by nature. My philosophy has always been the more I put out, the more I get back but that may not be so true any more...