ephemerala
September 25 - October 7, 2006
New Items
Gift Certificates
We are now offering Ephemerala Gift Certificates in values of $5, $10, $25,
$50, and $100. Just in time for the upcoming holidays--give someone the
gift of gemstone baubles! Please see more information about this in the
"News & Stuff" section below.
New Eggs
Sodalite - Good strong dark blue with brilliant white
calcite marbling. Nice mid-sized (small chicken's egg size) eggs.
Pakistan Onyx - Incredibly beautiful earth tomes banding
in these large, heavy eggs. Each one is unique.
See them all on the Large Eggs page:
Gems in Boxes
We already have our Faceted Gem Bags, which are a great seller, but several
customers expressed a desire for a little more control in stone selection.
We now have a lovely deluxe faceted gemstone collection. The stones are
still variable in shape, but each collection has a specific set of nine
different stones, including the precious Sapphire, Emerald, and Ruby. Each
collection comes in its own large round gem vial. Beautiful!
Gem Collection w/ Diamond
The exact same collection as described above, but with the inclusion of a
2mm round Diamond in each set.
Bird Calls
Audubon's classic bird watching tool. Spin the cylinder and hear a
variety of bird sounds. My kids love these!
Boomerangs
G'day, mate! Have a Captain Cook at these bonzer wood
Boomerangs. Nothing shonky about these thingos; they are the fair dinkum
article, without costing big bikkies. Get yer cobbers together and give it
a burl.
(In other words, here are some cool Boomerangs.)
New Incense
We've added 15 new fragrances to our collection, for a total of 50
fragrances. We have also discarded the practice of selling them by the
stick, and now instead offer them in bags of 10.
New Fragrance Oils
We have added 20 new fragrances to our collection, including some super
holidayish scents like Pumpkin Pie, Candy Cane, Sugar Cookie, and Rum Spice,
among others. We now carry over 115 fragrances. I personally LOVE
fragrance oils burned on a light ring. I have a huge collection of oils
myself, and one of these days I might figure out how aromatherapists actually
use the different scents. For now, I just pick what smells right at the
time and let it rip! A few drops of oil on a Light
Ring, placed on a lit bulb, will scent the entire room for hours. The
Light Rings don't need washing--you can use them with one different oil after
another and you'll never get mingled scents--and they provide a pure fragrance
without the smoke of incense. I highly recommend fragrance oils for
wonderful home atmosphere. And, as a special incentive, I have reduced their price by fifty
cents!
Pure Essential Oils
A few customers asked if we could get some pure Essential Oils. These
are different from fragrance oils in that Essential Oils are derived from plants
and are much stronger. We only have a few, but we may get more if the
response to these is good.
Coming Soon
New Beads:
(But I'm not sure yet what they are. When we get things cleared up
around here, I'll pull them out, dust them off, and list them for your beading
pleasure.)
Tons of New Chip Beads:
Purple Shell, Sky Quartz, Seraphinite, Bronzite, Chrysocolla, Chrome
Diopside, Gem Silica, Herkimer Diamond, Imperial Topaz, Larvikite, African Green
Jasper, Bauxite, Clay, Tektite, Brown Zebra Jasper, Gaspeite, Fossil Coral,
Black Water Jasper, Green Prase
Bone Perfume Bottles
Assorted Beaded Bracelets & Necklaces
Stone "Egg" Rings
Mood Rings
Bamboo Wind Chimes
Large and Tiny Herkimer Diamonds
Fossil Shark's Teeth
Selenite Wands
Quartz Crystal Points
Solitaire Boards for Marbles
Mahogany Wood Masks
Bamboo Walking Sticks
Educational Toys
(Such as weather stations, crystal trees, cricket clickers, Jacob's
ladders, puzzles, DNA kits, and those little wire teasers you liked when you
were a kid)
Wood Xylophones
Crystal Rock Candy
(Yikes. We've got some serious listing to do.)
Stone Fun Facts
Iolite
** Iolite is a generally blue-violet stone, but
shows extreme pleochroism, which means it looks different colors when viewed
from different angles. In a cut Iolite gemstone, the stone looks dark when
viewed from above (down the crystal axis), and lighter when viewed from the side
(across the crystal axis). In a cube-shaped Iolite, it may look as dark as a
sapphire from one side, clear as water from the other side, and honey-yellow
from the top.
** Iolite is one of the most difficult stones to cut; not
because of its hardness, but because of its pleochroism. The stone must be cut
in a certain direction to take the best advantage of the color-change
properties, and this can be hard when the shape of the rough stone doesn't flow
well with the pleochroism.
** Iolite has a very important place in history as
the world's first polarizing filter. Viking mariners would use it in their
journeys as a rough compass. The stone's pleochroism enabled them to determine
the sun's location on overcast days. Looking through an Iolite lens, they could
tell the position of the sun (the lens would look bluest at 90 degrees from the
sun).
** Iolite is also known as "Water Sapphire," a reference both to its
color and to its ancient usefulness at sea. Today, it is thought to protect the
wearer on marine journeys.
** The name "Iolite" comes from the Greek
ios, meaning "violet," and lithos, meaning "stone." The scientific
name is Cordierite.
** Crystal healers use Iolite to help in dealing with
addictions. It assists in detoxifying the body and squelching impulses.
**
Iolite is also thought to enhance curiosity, and to help in building
relationships.
** Iolite is used as a gemstone for the 21st anniversary.
Please see our Stone Fun Facts
here:
News & Stuff
Secret Santa Program
A couple of years ago, eBay had some fun little Secret Santa thing whereby
we could enter our names and wish lists, and they'd assign the lists to the
"Santas" at random. I had a group for Friends of Ephemerala, and the dozen
or so people who participated seemed to have a fine time. (I still have
the beautiful garnet necklace that my Santa gave me!) Years later, it
occurs to me that there's no reason we can't do this again, this time without
eBay's involvement. Thus was born the Ephemerala Secret Santa
program! Everyone is welcome to join up, submit a wish list, and enjoy
shopping for a fellow Friend of Ephemerala. Details and instructions can
be found on the application site. Feel free to share the page with anyone
you like.
Gift Certificate Redemption is Now
Possible!
For years I have been wishing that my website host, CityMax, could allow us
a way to redeem gift certificates and coupons. The other day I was
wandering backstage on my site, looking at the features, and discovered that
they have added a redemption feature without telling me! I have tested it
out and it works perfectly, so now we will be able to issue gift certificates as
well as return customer coupons that are more specific than "Get $2.00 off of
shipping." At this point I am still sending out the generic coupons, but
eventually I will change them to something more interesting. In the
meantime, here's how it works. When you check out, your shopping cart will
feature a coupon redemption box. Enter the code of your gift certificate,
and click "Update." Presto, your total is reduced by the amount of the
gift certificate! I am looking forward to the possibilities and ease of
this new feature.
Inventory Causing Delays
The last few weeks have been a blur of sorting and recording inventory, and
as a result, some orders are talking a little bit longer to process and
ship than they should. Please be patient while we sort things
out. We expect to have things up and running smoothly again by the end of
September.
Fortnightly Sale
$2 Off Power Bead Jewelry!
Power Beads are IN, and we got 'em. This fortnight we have taken $2
off the cost of all of our Power Bracelets and Power Necklaces. Choose
from over 25 great stones.
This Fortnight's Sale is good through October 7,
2006
Penny Sale
Every two weeks, I hide a new special offer somewhere on my online
site. This listing will offer a certain product for ONE CENT, with any
purchase of $10.00 or more. The item and its location will change every
two weeks, so be sure to look often. Simply go to my online store
site:
and browse until you find the hidden listing. Add it to your cart,
along with the rest of your $10.00+ order, and it will be included for just a
penny. Happy Hunting!
(Recent keen-eyed customers got a VELOUR DRAWSTRING BAG for
a penny. What will you be able to get this week?)
Insider's Special
5% Off Your Entire Order!
Oh why not? Now that we have this cool coupon redemption thingie, I
am going to take it all the way. For the next two weeks, you can take 5%
off of every order you place during that time. Please enter coupon
code:
5insider
in the coupon redemption box and get 5% off of your order. Use this
code as many times as you like through the applicable date.
This Fortnight's Insider's Sale is good through October 7,
2006
Last Fortnight's Top Sellers
(You know you want to be just like everyone
else!)
1. Gemstone Marbles
2. Carved Stone Pendants
3. Gemstone Eggs
4. Quartz Round Beads
5. Moonstone Round Beads
6. Larimar Chip Beads
7. Moonstone Tube Beads
8. Sandalwood Bookmarks
9. Emerald Chip Beads
10. Amber Chip Beads
That's it for this issue. Talk to you
again in two weeks.
--Suzanne Dallapè
eBay user ID: ephemerala
Visit my online store:
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interested.
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