Octber 2008

Welcome!

Great New Pieces for Fall

We're always getting new merchandise, but with the major change of season just around the corner, we've added a multitude of wonderful new pieces to our temporary collection for your permanent one! Many great designs for any time of year, but some wonderful new colorful pieces that will really shine when the weather turns a little cooler and we go back to longer sleeves and higher necklines. We've got a lot of beautiful new gemstone designs from our "old favorites" and some really beautiful new designs from some new artists we're pleased to represent. New merchandise will be appearing in our offerings every week (sometimes every day, as we're able to get it out), so be sure to stop by if you haven't visited with us recently.

Rising precious metals market leads to exciting new designs in alternative materials!

We've written in the past about the precious metals market—gold, silver, and the platinum family metals (platinum, palladium, rhodium, etc.) have risen in price this year in response to the "unsettled" economy and oil prices. We always strive to keep our pricing competitive, and we (and we believe our customers) feel we're doing a good job. We still have a limited stock of "pre-volatility" sterling silver jewelry on which we haven't raised prices.

We and the artists we work with have risen to the challenges of the new market trends and have begun procuring and producing jewelry in a variety of new-to-us materials—steel, bronze, and even recycled aluminum (you have to see it to believe it). We'll continue to look for new opportunities in materials and methods we haven't dealt with or carried before, and we're really excited to see the challenges of higher material costs result in greater creativity and innovation.

We are, of course, continuing to carry sterling silver and other precious metal jewelry, and we're even working with a new artist who crafts her jewelry out of .950 silver—sometimes called Mexican or French Silver, it is 95% pure silver (compared to .925 Sterling—92.5% silver). Of course we also visit regularly with our "old favorites" to bring their latest designs to our customers, and some of our designer friends are branching out into other precious and semi-precious gemstones they haven't worked with much in the past.

End-of-the-Season Specials!

There is still some warm summer weather left, and our more summery items—toe rings and anklets—are on special sale. Of course, you can wear these items year-round (most of our anklet and toe-ring fans do!), but most people think of these items as more traditional warm-weather adornment, and as the seasons winds down, we wanted to offer that last little bit of summery enjoyment while it's still shorts-and-sandals weather.

Of course, we always try to reward our regulars and our new customers with our usual (we hope!) excellent customer service and always-free "little favors" like jewelry cleaning, minor adjustments, and no-obligation special orders (and for those who don't know, we also do layaway!). In addition to that, we're continuing to run weekly sales and special offers —some earrings, pendants, and bracelets are all on sale for as much as 30% off.

We'll continue to branch out into more unusual and beautiful materials—come see our line of protected-harvest coral, teak and ironwood, shell, and bone jewelry, with gorgeous sterling or gemstone accents, either at the weekend market or directly, by appointment. It's also a great time to book a show of your own!

Home and Office Shows

As the temperature (slowly) starts to fall , our busiest season approaches, so if you're considering booking a home or office show, now would be a great time to drop us a line—we may have some exciting new developments this fall and winter that could lead to us being even busier than usual.

Click here to get the scoop on our hostess benefits, and if you're interested in hosting a charitable event to raise funds for whatever your favorite good cause is, drop us a line in email for more information on how we can arrange that.

We are still at the (year round) Arlington Courthouse Flea Market, every Saturday and Sunday

As some of you know, the "old market" in Georgetown has reopened on Sundays, taking with it some of our fellow merchants (who have come to be some of our dearest friends). We wish them all the best "over there" in the Georgetown Market, but we (and many others!) have elected to stay in the Arlington Courthouse area both Saturday and Sunday, as we feel more "at home" there, and are fortunate enough to have even more dear friends in our Sunday market customers. As always, the market will remain year round, so we'll be in our usual locations both weekend days.

We're there from 8:30 AM until at least 4:00 PM, sometimes later, in all but the very worst weather (we're die-hards, as some of our rainy-day and cold-weather customers can attest to!). Just look for our red canopy, and click here for more details.

In addition to our lovely Kalinka Malinka jewelry, there are still many other great art, antique, and collectibles merchants on both days there, live music, and of course the Farmers' Market on Saturdays, all right in the heart of a great shopping and dining district in the Courthouse neighborhood of Arlington.

We're just steps away from Courthouse Metro, minutes from Georgetown, and with free parking within a one minute walk, a quick visit couldn't get much easier. Drop by, say hello, check out our jewelry and everything else the flea market has to offer, then maybe head off for dinner and a movie (there's an eight-screen theater about a hundred yards from our location). Click here for directions and a map on the official Flea Market website, or call or email for directions or details.