I'm trying a new product as soon as it's delivered to the studio.  It's called Dichro Slide.  If you're not familiar with Dichroic Glass, it looks like this:

That's just a small sampling of pieces of Dichroic Glass, but it's brilliantly colored and gives a serious WOW factor to any finished product.  A lot of glass artists use it to make jewelry and as accents on larger pieces.  It is a sheet of glass (about 1/8" thick) with a Dichroic coating on it.  So what is this Dichro Slide stuff and why's it innovative?  It's because it's the Dichroic coating without the glass!  The inventors figured out how to put the Dichroic coating on paper which you can then transfer to the glass of your choice ... much like those temporary tattoos we got as kids from the little vending machines at grocery stores at the entrance.  Because it's on paper, you can use hole punches, scissors, decorative scissors, and craft knives to cut it into any shape you want.  It's also nearly completely flat (instead of being part of the 1/8" thick glass), which means you can add layersBeing unrestrained by a medium is both exciting and terrifying to me.  If I'm only limited by my imagination ... only I can limit the awesomeness of my projects.  What if my muse goes on holiday and doesn't tell me?  That's why it's scary, but not so much so to run away and never try or keep trying.  :-)  I can't wait to get my hands on this stuff!  I already have a couple projects lined up on my desk, just waiting for the goods to arrive.  Since it's coming from the other side of the country, I don't expect to see it before this time next week.

I've had an iPhone 4 since they came out.  This phone has been resilient even through all the flying leaps I put it though over the last few years.  But when it came to being time to upgrade, I did some quick research.  I found a company that buys old cell phones for a fair price (in my opinion for this transaction).  Assuming the USPS doesn't destroy the phone on the way to Gazelle, they will give me $150 for my old phone.  Through AT&T, I was able to find the same model for $0.99.  Of course, there's a $36 activation fee, but ultimately getting a new phone is going to result in a $113 profit for me.  I'm OK with this!  I'm also OK with sticking with the old model of iPhone for my business because I don't spend a lot of time on the phone and it allows me to use Square for purchases made by folks using credit cards.  I quite enjoy the simplicity and speed of Square.  I know other credit card processing for smart phones have come out since Square, but I haven't had any issues with Square to date so I haven't bothered to look into the other services.  Technology has really revolutionized the way I do business.  Before smart phones and Square, there was no credit card processing at craft shows.  It was just too cost prohibitive.  But now, depending on the show, over half of my sales could be credit card.  That's a huge increase in revenue!