Cyber Monday?

Unfortunately, Cyber Monday wasn't the big rush of orders I was hoping for. Maybe by this time next year, I will have gotten the hang of promoting and I will hve a much larger customer base to pull from and I will have a monster Cyber Monday 2008. This year, I will just have to content myself with all of the shopping that I managed to do!

Some orders you have to love to hate...

Around Seattle, one of our favorite pastimes is the old University of Washington Husky vs. Washington State Cougar debates. Alums delight in sporting team colors and team gear and arguing over who has the better team for whatever sport hapens to be in season. Around Thanksgiving, the debate always rages around the Apple Cup. My husband says that you can have a great 1 and 11 season, as long as you win the Apple Cup.

I am a died in the wool Husky. Two degrees and 6 years later, I had better be. One of my work-mates is just as big of a Cougar nut. That work mate just commissioned me to make one of my favorite pieces, a Jelly Bean bracelet, in Cougar colors. ACK! Luckily, it turned out absolutely beautiful. Now the Huskies have to win tomorrow so that I can rub it in just a little with my friend!

Go Huskies!

EtsyRain Sampler Bags

I had a great opportunity this weekend. I was a part of 10 great artists who all contributed items for a sampler bag that we are all posting in our Etsy shops. You get a chance to get 5 items from 5 different, extremely talented, Seattle-area artists. The shops include:

• livewire.etsy.com
• emmakat.etsy.com
• sweetpeacardsgifts.etsy.com
• kimberlyatstir.etsy.com
• scarywhitegirl.etsy.com
• kneek.etsy.com
• wovenchains.etsy.com
• imakecutestuff.etsy.com
• baublesbyhand.etsy.com
• wiretree.etsy.com

Each shop gets to break up the 10 items however they want, so each Sampler Bag has the potential to be different. Also, we all decided to post them as Mystery Samplers, so I'm not going to post any pictures and spoil the surprise.

Enjoy!

Whatever you do...

Don't pack up early at a craft show!

It is really tempting sometimes, but I don't think it is ever a good idea. My hubby and I went to a craft show today, and it was extremely slow all day long. The show opened at 9 a.m., and by 3:30, we had sold $10 worth of goods. Many vendors, including the show coordinator, were starting to pack up. Travis, my husband, gave me this look, with his eyebrows raised, that I knew meant, "You want to throw in the towel, too?".

That was when I said, "I don't ever like to pack up early. I have made too many of my best sales in the last 10 minutes of a show." Those words came back to haunt us in a very good way. Right before the end of the show, a lady came by and ended up buying two of the most expensive bracelets on my table. It is my best single sale to date! What a great end to the day.

So...the moral to the story is, the early bird may get the worm, but it is the patient bird who makes the sales.

I Love Custom Orders

I just finished making and packaging up an order for another Etsy sller, and I have a bracelet in the tumbler for one of my colleagues. I wish that I could get enough custom orders going that I could do that exclusively, and give up the production work!

I like all of the parts of a custom order, but I think my favorite part is working with the customer to figure out exactly what they want, to make something that is going to suit the recipient to a "T." Then I get to bring that vision to life. What a rush. I like working that way better than making something for some person out there who may or may not like what I have made. I guess I will have to work harder at imagining the perfect person for the jewelery that I make every day.

Here's to many more custom orders!

Photography Class

I had another good day, professionally speaking. Marlo M has been giving Photography Workshops at her studio to fellow ETSYRain members, and I was finally able to make one of the classes today. Cheryl was also in the class with me.

We learned all about great things like depth of focus, F-stops, white balance, the "macro" setting, reflected light, and so much more that I'm sure I'm forgetting all about right now. I can't wait to set up my little tiny light box and use what I learned today to take photos that show off my jewelry in a much better light.

My pictures certainly need more work at this point, and I have a lot to learn with GIMP, but I'm sure excited about the progress I have made.

Woot, I'm official!

I made my first wholesale sale (boy, that sounds funny) to a brick and mortar shop in my hometown. I got a tip from a customer who stopped by my booth at a holiday show last weekend and when we stopped into this cute little store, she snapped up three pairs of earrings, I have an order for several more, and she wants to meet with me to look at all of my work to pick out lots more. I am so excited. It is the first real interest I have had from someone here locally. It makes me feel very good about everything I have been doing and extremely optomistic for the future.

Wish me luck!

Flowers are Blooming

I have just finished making these earrings, and I really like them. They are really out of character for me, much larger and more dramatic than I am used to making. The people who saw them at my last show (where they "debuted") really seemed to like them. Maybe I will have to start working on a whole line of bigger, more dramatic, over the top earrings to go along with my itty-bitty, teeny-tiny earrings that I like so much.

Oh, well, I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.

ETSYRain -- Buy Handmade, Buy Seattle-Made

Fairly Recently, I went to the Etsy Teams home page, actually looking for a Jewelry Street Team of some sort to join, and I noticed that there was a Seattle Street Team -- ETSYRain. I immediately joined, and haven't looked back since.

The opportunities have been many, varied, and wonderful. I have been to an Art Show at Stir, a gallery in Pioneer Square in Downtown Seattle as part of First Thursday Art Walk; I am going to participate in a gift bag exchange (two of the gift bags will be available for sale on my Etsy site with 5 different talented artists work inside at a discounted price); I am going to be donating some earrings to "The Sampler" (I'm not quite sure how that works, but I hear it is great); and today was the deadline for the 2nd ETSYRain Challenge, with a theme of "Autumn." I made a pair of great earrings, inspired by my favorite part of fall, the changing leaves. Enjoy!

Oh, No, Christmas is Coming

I sold at my first Holiday Craft Fair of the season today, and it went better than I was expecting. I had a good day for sales, and so many people took cards and wanted to talk later about custom work. Hopefully some of those will pan out into orders. Several things really made the day special, though. First, I got to see Ken and Karen (who make beautiful beaded jewelery) and Ellie and Ellen (who make fantastic necklaces and bracelets from semi-precious stones). They were my selling buddies all summer at Farmer's Market in Kent, and I have missed them a lot since we closed up shop for the summer. Second, I got the offer to be in two more holiday shows, right there at the Craft Fair. And Third, Kimberly, another ETSYRain team member showed up, totally out of the blue to visit the Craft Fair.

I find I enjoy selling to real people who I can visit with much more than I enjoy on-line selling. I hope these opportunities continue to be plentiful and profitable for me.

Addicted to Love...Knots, that is

I'm not quite sure what the attraction is for me, if it is the simplicity of the shape, or the size, or the fact that I can put them together quickly, but my favorite earrings to make are most definitely my "Love Knots." Currently I have 7 different styles: one in bright, vibrant colors; two different sizes of sterling silver; one in gold-fill; one in copper; one in sterling and gold-fill ; one in sterling, gold-fill and copper; and I am working on a special version for the holidays that is sterling mixed with color.

Not only are they my favorite to make, they are also my best sellers -- which is a good thing for me. I just hope I get to keep sharing the Love...Knots, that is.