Bracelets and Bangles

I posted some Bangles and Bracelets that I made sometime ago.  I have local customers that have been asking me to put them in my shop... so after some procrastinating a bit I did it yesterday.  It makes me want to make more! So take a look :)

Handmade Buttons

Here are some lovely porcelain buttons I made.  I keep making them.  I wish someone would give them a good home because they are purty!

So if you know anyone who loves funky chunky handmade button please direct them to my store and help give these little fella's a home :P

Etsy Treasury's

I finally figured out how to do a treasury on Etsy. As always I made it harder than it was. I do find it a little more ungainly than the Artfire Collection maker, but maybe I just need to fool around with.
Licorice Whips and Peppermints

Posting Crazy in my Shop

I  feel like I have a good routine going with my picture taking (finally!) and I my editing is going nicely too.  I wish I could  be one of those people who set a nice stage for their products but really that just doesn't work for me.  Maybe some day ....

My next big tackle is shipping and learning to tag and that whole seo oh boy makes me anxious and get all overwhelmed by it .... baby  steps.

I really feel like the bead sets are working out nicely and  they are selling well. Maybe because they are what I love best of all.  It makes me happy when I know that a bead lover bought my beads because I know they went to a good home. So more beads will be a coming!  I have made bead sets out of most of my stash and have been posting them almost daily.

The little Shop that could

Quick post here.  My little Etsy shop is slowly gaining ground.  Made a nice sale to a return customer sold some of my new bead sets and really made my day! I also sold  a little pendant to a new customer.

But it does take a lot of work I have been trying to keep up with posting new stuff and taking better pictures.  I hope to get out and take some more pictures later today or tomorrow.  I wish wish wish my poor little Artfire shop would start selling too!

Beads Beads Beads!

I just posted a huge amount of my beads in my shops.  I had a huge bag of them and because the beads are my favorite I had been hanging on to them.  Well it was time to let go! So grouped up a bunch last night and this morning I took pictures and have been posting all morning.

If you know anyone who loves handmade beads or would like to add something earthy and beautiful to there work, please have them stop by!  My Artfire Shop  My Etsy Shop.
Thanks

Artfire $5.95 Get in before it's too late!

When I got the email telling me that I could go pro on Artfire for only $5.95 I signed up the second I got through reading it!  How could I pass up such a great price?
 I felt terrible for having to downgrade my account do to being layed off.  But heck  $5.95 for a month and I could post items all I WANT!!!  Shoot Etsy just costs me much more in posting and renewals..   I am not knocking Etsy.  I love it but I would like to expand my selling options .

I am so excited to get started in my Artfire shop again I can't wait for October 1rst!

Handmade Brigade

I made some coupons for the Handmade Brigade goody bags and coupled them with my business cards.  The coupons are Buy one get one for half off type dealio.  I am also planning to put together a variety of items to give away in a drawing. I have not decided how I am going to do it yet, maybe having people write their names and emails down and put in a bowl.  In the past I have put samples of my items in the goodie bags.  My samples being little charms that I sell for 3 to 5 dollars each.. Well I did the math and it was not in my favor!  So coupons it is!  Which I think is a great idea.

I have been working non-stop it seems, I have shows every weekend until July!!!  I have been rakuing and stringing up necklaces and making bead sets, hand making copper clasps and putting them on leather cord.  I am having my husband design and board that will sit along side my table about chin height where I am going to hang all of my pendants. Tons and tons to do, good thing I love it!

Through all this mad mad rush I have been neglecting my poor blog and my poor Etsy shop! But my Etsy shop has been very good to me even though.  I have been featured in three treasuries and a few sales plus my first International sale to Norway!!! Yippeee!!

I do love doing what I do!!

ArtFire: Going Pro!

Well after hemming and hawing for a few weeks I have decided to Go Pro! On Artfire that is. One thing that caught my eye was their etsy importer, also they have more options for you to design your shop the way you want to. When you list an item you can tell your creative story behind that item. Super nifty. I had also read that you get more views from search engines than lets say if you make it to the front  page of Artfire. I had just gone pro a couple of days and I have had way more views than my Etsy shop. You can have a blog on site and join a guild with their own forums.  I think or hope that it will catch on like Etsy. So I will keep you updated.

Quickie Look ...

......At some items fresh from the kiln this week! Also the hubbie made me a new light box and we are giving it a whirl! I am going to post a whole bunch of new items this week in my Etsy store but for now just pictures! Fun stuff! See you all soon I am off to make brownies and play Dragon Age ;p

Etsy,Artfire,1000 Markets ...Oh MY!!

Arg! yeah maybe not an appropriate way to start a blog but sheesh what a morning! I had been posting my stuff in different selling venues all morning..

First off is Artfire which I am not sure is worth it if I don't go to their pro lvl which is 15.95 a month..... And from what I read they give pro first choice in the whole search option. Not sure what I am going to do but I do need to read up on it more. The forums though have a section for posts about Artfire in the Etsy forums... kinda weird I thought.

Second is 1000 markets which listing stuff there is painfully long and I think stupid... they make you jump through hoops for tagging and the don't have a jewelry section under ceramics and pottery, and they don't have a ceramics tag under jewelry and you can't type it in.***
***Actually Artfire doesn't have those sections either..... arg.

The 3rd one is Zibbet which I have not even got to. I had signed up for a premium account with them for 8 bucks a month. I am going to post jewelry there that I make that isn't from my ceramic charms and pendants. That is if I can find the time to take pictures of the stuff.

So back to Etsy ..... I posted two items there so fast and easy it was a satifying experience after a hectic morning... although I do feel a bit dirty for straying from Etsy hehe.

I am throwing up a picture of my earrings and necklace I just posted in Etsy.

Laid Off

So I talked to my boss yesterday and he says he is closing down his office and won't be needing my services any longer. While I am upset about the job loss I completely understand his decision. I do the billing and payroll so I see what is coming in and it's been really slow for the past year. I know he has been hanging in there in hopes that business would go back to normal but it has been bleeding him dry. I was upset when I got home but I rubbed some vodka on it and I feel better today.

Today I organized my beads... I didn't really get finished. I have quite a mix of them.. boxes and boxes plus I have a ton of seed beads too. I use those little black trays with the velvet liners when I am working with them. You can fit a lot of beads on those trays and pretty soon they are overflowing. When I can't find any of my tools and there are bead trays strewn about on almost every flat surface in the house it's time to clean up and organize my beads.

Midway through my bead clean up I ran out to the mail box to see if my new Etsy purchase was in. Oh boy it was! Woohoo it lit a fire under my ass to clean faster so I could play with my new beads I purchased from Artebella Surplus. Such beautiful beads, oh the colors so perfect. Anyhow check out her store.

Today I posted some cute little Polka Dot Heart Earrings. I got a bisque fire going too! It is full of little cupcake charms, some little fruit charms, some shells and I made these bell shaped flowers. I will post the results as soon as I get the little suckers glazed.

Picture Perfect

Well I have been trying to take pictures of my stuff again and man it is harder than it looks! I really need to build a light box or something. In the meantime I am using the edit program in picnik which is easy to use and quite handy oh and best of all FREE!! I still have a lot to learn about taking pictures... but I guess one step at a time.

Honestly I don't get how people work, have a family, and do the etsy thing. I am determined to figure out how the heck they balance it all out.

Oh at this moment I am trying to post this and cook veggie tacos... Juggle juggle!

P.S. Potato and Pasilla Pepper tacos with pinto beans and this lovely salsa they have a trader joes in the cold section, especial? I think it is called and oh boy so yummy!

Made my first Etsy Sale!

Yes, my first sale! How exciting! This is the baby that sold, Hurrah!
I am really enjoying this moment, because I had been terribly afraid of the whole online selling thing and put off listing anything for literally 2 years!!! I had made my shop in July of 2006, while I had not started up my ceramics as of that time, I had plenty of hand made items to sell. I have been a seed bead artist for over 20 years amongst many other trades I have dabbled in so I have quite a bit of handcrafted items tucked about my home, but I kept putting off listing anything and let myself become intimidated by it, I just put it in the back of mind of things I should get to. That empty shop haunted me so finally I just decided to do it. Now I am excited and want to learn more on how to make your shop better and how to take pictures that are flattering to your wares. Woo hoo go me!