Ampersand Designs

Winter 09 Collection Preview!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:18:00 +0000

Ready for this guys??? It's gonna be a big one :D

AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 1ST, 2009 ONLINE (Click here for our store!)

MyBusiness Magazine just featured us!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:44:00 +0000

This past week we've had an influx of sales and we had no idea why until our customers started stating that they'd read about us in MyBusiness Mag. Well, you can too if you just go here: Ampersand Designs featured in "MyBusiness Mag".

Michelle and I are hard at work on our new collections on opposite sides of the country. The funny thing is that neither of us are going to get to see each other's jewelry until a couple of days before we launch it on our site (November 1st, mark your calendars!) so we'll be as excited as you are! Good stuff is coming my friends and just in time for Christmas!!!!

New beginnings...

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:14:00 +0000

A little over a month ago I made a decision to move to Atlanta as I had been having a hard time in California finding a job. It was a painful decision seeing as Michelle and I had lived together for four and a half years and the one question everyone asked was, "What are you guys going to do about Ampersand?!" Well, have no fear, this business is alive and kicking. We're looking at it as a coastal expansion, getting the Ampersand name out there for both the East and West coasts and continuing our online prescence. Normally we would have had a collection out on October 1st but because of us packing up and moving out there was no time. Therefore keep your eyes peeled for our Fall/Winter collection, available November 1st just in time for all of your Christmas shopping.

In the meantime, we were recently featured in Sydney's Kanchi magazine. Click on the image below to go and read about us and other fabulous items!

Custom orders and new items this week!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:54:00 +0000

Curiouser & Curiouser Couture Bracelet - Custom Order for $55.00

We are big advocates of the custom order. The reason we started this company in the first place was to provide jewelry that was affordable and that would make the wearer feel special because they were wearing a handmade, one of a kind piece. So we get really excited when someone contacts us for a custom piece. In this case, one of our followers convo'd us and requested a piece made just for her based on her favorite charms throughout the "Curiouser & Curiouser" line. The greatest thing? We add just $10 to our standard prices for a complete custom piece (which includes research if you are asking for specific charms or images). So, why not get in on the action!?!? Email us at info@ampersanddesigns.com with any ideas you might have and we'll send you pricing within one business day.

In the meantime we'll be posting new pieces this week so scroll down and make out your shopping list!

Painting The Roses Red Long Chain - $38.00

Keep Calm & Carry On Signature Necklace - $25.00 (Available in multiple colors)

Harlequin Alice Signature Necklace - $25.00

Falling Alice Signature Necklace - $25.00

Tattoo Fish Sterling Silver Earrings - $15.00

Thriving Ink Trunk Show recap, Photoshoot, and Blog giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:53:00 +0000

The Thriving Ink/Ampersand Designs Trunk Show took place on Monday, July 27th and we sold a few pieces including a couple of exclusive pieces that won't be available in our store until October. With the fabulous support of our friends and Thriving Ink (located 55 W. Angela Street, Pleasanton, CA) we are hoping to do another trunk show in the future.
We'll actually be returning to Thriving Ink on Tuesday night for our photoshoot with San Francisco photographer, Eric Millette. This will appear with an interview in the flashy pages of the Oct/Nov issue of My Business Magazine (www.mybusinessmag.com), a national publication that goes to small business owners across the country. Can't wait!

And finally, Ampersand Designs is being featured in a giveaway on "The Veater Family Adventures" blog. Click on the image above to enter to win one of our "Fairest Of Them All" signature necklaces!

OC Look Event 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:12:00 +0000

Last night was the Orange County Magazine's "OC Look Event" and Ampersand Designs was prominently featured in every gift bag that our fabulous business partner, Gifted, Inc., organized for us. Hopefully we'll get lots of business from it!!!

Check your newsstands!!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:34:00 +0000

National Examiner is doing a giveaway of Ampersand Designs' Dove Earrings to 3 lucky readers! The issue should go on sale this weekend and has Kate Jackson on the cover.

Beverly Hills here we come!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:49:00 +0000

EXCELLENT day. We just received an email from Stanton James, a Beverly Hills boutique that was just featured in People and In-Touch and Ampersand Designs is all set to become a part of their family!!! We're both a bit in shock to be honest and this is an amazing opportunity for us. Click on the image above to be re-directed to their website (and excuse us while we jump for joy around our apartment) :)

Ampersand's new fall collection has arrived!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:04:00 +0000

Little Cupcake Earrings - $15.00
We've just released our Fall Collection and are extremely proud to announce the "Angelic Violence" and "Curiouser and Curiouser" lines now available at www.ampersanddesigns.com - our newly rehauled website.
Alice's Tea Party Couture Bracelet - $45.00
The "Curiouser and Curiouser" line incorporates all aspects from "Alice in Wonderland" in jewelry ranging from simple earrings (all $15) to couture bracelets (ranging in price from $35-45) and necklaces (ranging in price from $25-75). Tea Parties, We're all mad here and of course the Dodo all make an appearance :)
Tenth Circle Long Couture Chain - $38.00
The "Angelic Violence" line is for any girl who's balancing that fine line between good and evil. This line begs to ask the question "Are you heaven sent?" and is apparent in every piece of jewelry featuring both pistols, grenades, and handcuff charms to angels, wings and doves. You decide :)
In addition to our new lines, the Rockstar and Princess line is now on sale for 25% off the original price. Just click on "Sale" in our store to view all of the remaining pieces (sale ends July 28th).

We were also featured in the designer spotlight on MyShoppingConnection. Click on the image above to read the interview!

Aaaaaaaaaaand finally, Thriving Ink (located at 55 W. Angela Street #105. Pleasanton, CA) will be throwing us a trunk party on July 27th from 7-9 p.m. so if you're in the area please stop by for some awesome shopping, great music and refreshments.

Go check out the new collection on ampersanddesigns.com and become a fan of Ampersand Designs on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ampersanddesigns). Happy Shopping!

Meeeemorieeees...

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:02:00 +0000

I was digging through our files and came across a set of pictures from our first foray into creating our charms. Oh it seems so long ago...

The eve of our Ampersand Design's Fall 09 Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Sailor Star Earrings from the Fall 09 Ampersand Originals Line ($15)

Alice's Tea Party Couture Bracelet from the Fall 09 Curiouser & Curiouser Line ($45)

Violent Candy Couture Bracelet from the Fall 09 Angelic Violence Line ($45)

Michelle has been photoshopping all day, I've been posting pics to various social websites and updating our Facebook page. And through all of this we've been looking at our jewelry images that took three months to create. We're both REALLY proud of the "Curiouser & Curiouser" and "Angelic Violence" lines and we hope that you love it like we do. New Ampersand Originals will also be added over the course of the next few weeks. We'll be adding a piece from all three lines per day for the next 20 days so you'll have to keep checking in to see the new stuff!

As an added bonus we've also put our previous collections, "Rockstar" and "Princess" on sale for 25% off through the end of July. After this month they'll disappear forever so get Ampersand's Summer Collection while you still can! Visit www.ampersanddesigns.com to see our new collection.

And now onto ideas for the new collection ;)

Simply Stacie - Publicity

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:06:00 +0000

Stacie was kind enough to do a review for us on our "Fairest Of Them All" Signature Necklace (still 2 in stock!!!). Click on the image above to read the review!!!

Back from vacation!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:59:00 +0000

So, I got back from Atlanta last night and Michelle will be home from Mexico tonight. I'm thinking after the past week and a half both of us will be plowing full steam ahead on our new collection (due out July 1st, 2009!!!). As for what's been going on, we were represented quite well at the "16 to Life" movie premiere...

...and were featured on Shopping By Mail's "Our Finds." (click on image to see!)

Thriving Ink, our fabulous style cohorts have also had a big week, teaming up with Design By Humans and is increasing their online prescence. Ampersand Designs will be a part of that to give you, our loyal fans, another outlet to see our jewelry!!! If you're on our mailing list keep an eye out this week for a discount coupon!

Ampersand Goings-on

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:49:00 +0000

It's been a little bit of a busy week for Ampersand starting off with the photo shoot we had last weekend. Our fabulous cohort, Jennifer, had organized a shoot for us at Too Short's recording studio in Fremont and we were more than happy to see what our jewelry would look like against a professional background. Even better was getting the photo disc in less than a week - WHOO!!! Michelle's going to manipulate them so we can feature them in our upcoming ad campaign for our July 2009 collection but let us know what you think!!!

In other news, we are now both officially laid off which is really sad but in other ways extremely good for our business. Everyone always ask us how we juggled full-time jobs AND did this as well and we often reply "with great difficulty." So, in addition to our ongoing quest to find a job in California's crappy economy, we're also ramping up our efforts across the board for this upcoming collection. July 1st is our tentative date and be on the look out for new jewelry construction as well as the two "hush hush" themes we'll be working on. More news to come on that soon.

We were also interviewed for the publication MyBusiness Magazine (URL HERE!) on Thursday and felt quite professional on our business call. Once we receive the interview in proper form we'll post it on here for your enjoyment!

Our partnership with Thriving Ink is going splendidly well also and we're hoping that the personalized "Thriving Ink" jewelry we made for them will sell like hotcakes! This has been a great experience for us and we're hoping that all shop owners are as cool as Brenda and Jenelle Dronkers!!!

A coupon will also be sent out to Friends and Family of Ampersand Designs in the next week so if you would like to be added to the mailing list, please email us at info@ampersanddesigns.com

Oligoville Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:46:00 +0000

So I'm doing a bit of dual-posting right now seeing as I'm writing music stuff for Oligoville but also having them give away our "Rock & Roll Signature Bracelet." Even though it's a fairly new webzine it's jam-packed with great articles about music and fashion. CLICK HERE to be entered!

Thriving Ink Opening

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:01:00 +0000

Thriving Ink had their opening tonight and it was teaming with high school kids. High school kids=disposable income which is a fabulous thing. Apparently when we got there we'd already sold two necklaces. For being in business less than year it's actually really nice to take some of the heat off of us and have someone else sell our pieces for once. And the way we did it? We were listed in our local business directory and that's how they found us. For all of you people starting your own business, get your local business license and get listed. Great things come from it :) We'll keep you posted as the weeks go on as to how well we're doing. Our goal (or at least my goal as Chief Marketing Officer)? Get in 10 boutiques by the end of the year - I'll let you know how it goes...

SEEKING DESIGNERS NEWSFLASH!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Seeking Designers' newest newsflash featured our new collection announcement. Click HERE to be re-directed.

ALSO! Thriving Ink, the newest and coolest boutique in downtown Pleasanton is having it's grand opening tonight from 8-11 p.m. Ampersand Designs jewelry will be sold from here so please, if you're in the area come and show your support! Thriving Ink is located at 55 W. Angela Street in downtown P-Town. Hope to see you there!!!

It's here!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Our Summer 09' collection is finally here!!!

Also, check out our new revamped Ampersand Designs website!!

Unusable charms...

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:30:00 +0000

Because we've ordered tons of charms from many different sellers we sometimes end up with free charms that the seller has inserted in the package. Michelle is definitely a waste not, want not type of girl and will not rest until these charms have been used. There's a little section of our storage that's dedicated to these random charms: an origami swan, glass turtles AND the "Buy American" charm. Buy American? How the hell are we going to use that? Michelle won't sleep until we come up for a use for it (and we've had it in one of our boxes for almost a year) so anyone have any suggestions?!?!?! Something that might actually sell on our store? We look forward to your comments :)

Helloooooooooo Zeichen Press!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:25:00 +0000

Besides the publicity that we received from our Oscar Gift Bag venture, we also got in contact with this fabulous company called Zeichen Press. Their hilariously snarky cards got my attention and so, being the mouthy girl I am, I immediately contacted them to see if they wanted to enter into a joint venture with us. The coolest part was that they said yes! So, this week in our store you can own your very own piece of Zeichen Press and Ampersand for a mere $20!!! A bargain if I ever I saw one. Click on the images above to enter into our store and also check out Zeichen Press' blog: zeichenpress.wordpress.com

Sneak Peek

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:40:00 +0000

It's Friday, I'm feeling in a generous mood and figured I'd offer a sneak peek at one of the "Rockstar" pieces from our upcoming Summer 2009 collection (available in our store April 1st, 2009. Both the "Rockstar" and "Princess" collection are close to completion and Michelle and I will be having our photoshoot tomorrow - fun with makeup will ensue...oh, and jewelry too! Have a great St. Patty's weekend everybody!!

Splendicity!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Splendicity featured us in their gift section yesterday. Star Stevenson emailed to say, "Keep up the fabulous work, all your designs are a breath of fresh air!" We can't help but agree :) Click on the image above to be redirected to the review.

Blog giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 03:25:00 +0000

We were featured on "A Disney Wedding" blog today and you can enter the giveaway! Just click on the image above.

Hollywood press? Yes please!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:04:00 +0000

The MMPA Oscar luncheon gift bag that our necklace was featured in has sprouted legs and publicity is all over the place. That's the "Fairest" necklace down at the bottom of the image. The response has been nuts and we're super excited to get our name out there. Click above to be redirected to the site!!!

In the meantime we have a jewelry party to set up for this Saturday and the final components for our Summer 2009 collection will be arriving this week. The website is also going to get a slight redesign and we're really excited to see what you guys think. Also, email us at info@ampersanddesigns.com if you want to be on our mailing list. Happy Wednesday!

Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Dramatic Annie) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:31:00 +0000

These giveaways are getting harder. I love it when our fellow bloggers set rules for winning our necklaces, especially seeing as it makes people look at ALL of our pieces for sale on Etsy :) Plus it's great feedback for us because we can find out what pieces you like! Anyway, this current giveaway is available on The Dirty Shirt (click on image above to be redirected) and she gave us a fabulous review (I especially liked the fact that she said this piece brought her back to her childhood :) ) but we were also referenced on Maria's Space, Sweeps4Bloggers, All Things Bloggy, twittered about...again... and again...and again... and finally:

I love cross promotional marketing. It appeals to my geeky sensibilities :)