It's not that I'm unmotivated...

For the past couple weeks I've promoted and tweeted less about my jewelry. I haven't even listed new anything until this week. Of course the less I focused on it, I made 2 sales and got tons of views and included in a treasury. Talk about frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I love the sales, views and treasury love, but how come it doesn't happen when I'm focused and busting ass trying to promote myself?

I will continue to make new things and list them, I will continue to twitter, blog about my shop and blog about my team shops. I will attempt to create treasuries - BUT, as of October I'm going back to school. Nursing. So we'll see what I can accomplish on the jewelry front while I'm in school. I'll keep you updated!

Etsy Twitter Team - Shop of the Week: Glitzy Events

The first thing anyone sees when it comes to your wedding is the invitation. The look of your invite goes a long way in telling an guest what to expect from your special day. Something beautiful, unforgettable and customized to what you want is every bride's wish, as everything about that day is about sharing the day with the bride and groom and learning about the people they are and why they belong together. And yes, this all starts with the invitation.

I always say I wish I had known about Etsy when I was planning my wedding. I would have bought as much handmade as I could, including the invitations you can find at Glitzy Events. Below are some of my favorites!

This invite has a rhinestone buckle detail, totally appealing to me as a jewelry designer because I just love pretty, sparkly things!

For this one I love the look of the delicate swirls of black damask with the vibrant fuschia border. It's such a memorable, classy and clean look!


You can even do a folded invitation like this one. You can pick all of the elements such as font and color. As with everything else, Glitzy Events works to make your order exactly what you want for your special day!

You can also order matching place cards and table #'s and other customized items like Unity candles and wedding programs. Please visit Glitzy Events on Etsy! There are so many more items to see besides what I posted. I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for.

Go Green with the Etsy Twitter Team!

Coming July 21st-27th, Etsy Twitter Team's Go Green Event! The Etsy Twitter Team will be featuring recycled, upcycled and eco-friendly items. Going Green is everyone's responsibility, and every little bit helps!

Check out the Go Green Treasury featuring the Etsy Twitter Team!

More details to come soon. In the meantime, you can also follow the Etsy Twitter Team blog for more information!

Etsy Twitter Team - Going Green Event!

July 21-27, the Etsy Twitter Team is featuring and selling items that are upcycled, recycled, organic, earth-friendly, eco-friendly...you get it.

I have no idea what I'm going to do! I recycle, I use recycled goods where I can, I bring my own grocery bags to the store and I just learned what upcycling is. I'm thinking about it...in the meantime, watch for more updates on our Going Green Week, as well as links to my teammates items!

Sales...

My sales have not improved. I'm not discouraged though. I've only just started to network, market and promote. I'm blogging, facebooking, twittering... A friend bought a couple items yesterday which is nice, and now I'm at 39 sales. Right now I'm promoting my 40th sale - if you're the 40th you can choose another item at equal or lesser value for 50% off. Not bad! I think =)

I also post on forums or reach out to other etsy sellers in conversation if I think there's something I have to offer as far as advice or help. For instance, tonight I convo'd another seller who is doing her first show this weekend. I have some information for her that I think will be helpful. Whether she wants it or not, I figure the good karma that results from just offering it to her is something, for this life or next!

I do have some non-etsy orders to complete. A set of 4 necklaces for some family friends, a keychain for a regular customer and a custom necklace for a good friend that I finished today. So thank you, Universe. Etsy sales may not be there (yet!) but at least I'm still in business! Just like with everything else in life, you need to appreciate what you have and not complain about what you don't.

Love&Luck,

Sam

Woo!

I met Ashley Paige the bathing suit designer and reality tv show star last August on the way to Vegas. She was really nice to me and my friends, and liked the jewelry we were wearing (made by me!), so I sent her something after we came home.

This pic is on her website.

Etsy Twitter Team's Shop of the Week: Rocki's Supplies

What a GREAT shop this is! As a jewelry designer, I do know how to make my own findings, but her's are AWESOME! As I perused her site I almost started marking faves then realized 'crap, I like them ALL!'

You can find her site at:
Rocki's Supplies

And her blog at:
RockisRocknBeads.blogspot.com

Some of my faves are:
Gold Organic Heart Clasp with Jump Ring

and

Gold wire wrapped twisted bail

There's SO much more! The quality is amazing and the prices are right. Her sales # speaks for itself.
You can also follow her on Twitter, @RockisMetalwork

Check it out!




All photos copyright to Rocki's Supplies/Deb "Rocki" Adams

Check it out!

I joined another Etsy team! This one is called Etsy Twitter Team. It's a team made up of 105 wonderfully creative artisans who have shops on Etsy. The Etsy Twitter Team's mission is to bring Etsy sellers together who use Twitter to become the authority on Twitter for all things handmade. Everyone tweets about themselves and our teammates, promoting shops, new items, blogs and treasuries.

This month's featured Shop of the Month is RoseBush Designs, found http://rosebushdesigns.etsy.com/. Some of my faves from her shop:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16241581

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22092174

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26317485

All my faves have to do with drinking, either coffee or alcohol....shocking, huh?

Anyway, go check out her shop! There's a bunch more fun things to shop for. You can't beat a handmade card for any occasion...it just makes it that much more special.

You can learn more about Etsy Twitter Team and the other team members, who I will also be featuring in my blog, at http://etsytwitter.blogspot.com/

Happy Friday all! Enjoy your weekend!

Check out the pink on this baby!

Just listed this item today. The pink is so amazing. I've had this stone for so long and never made anything with it because it's my last one and I just LOVE the color!

Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26557712

Hope you all have a great day! I'll write another post if anything comes up.

Not bad for a Monday!

Had a really nice day today, even though some of it was spent at the doctor's office then x-ray waiting room with my son. He was just getting a re-check to make sure he's all clear from his bout with pneumonia a couple weeks ago. I'm glad his doctor is that thorough.

My aunt, uncle and cousin, fresh from the Philippines, just moved in - literally like, an hour ago. They got here 3 weeks ago and have been to this house and that. I'm trying to keep them from having to move around too much more by letting them stay for at least a month. I've been told they'll be here for just a month, but I don't mind if they stay longer. They've basically uprooted themselves so right now, family is all they have besides the clothes they brought.

Jewelry-wise, I listed 2 new items today and renewed 9 that were expiring soon! Here's the new item links as well as pics. I named one after my good friend Bee and the other one is actually an entry piece for the Etsy Team I just joined. They do a monthly challenge and this month's theme is "Summer of Independence".

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26516470
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26516891

Here's my June entry, Glory:

And here's Bernadette:

The team I joined is California Crafters Club of Etsy (aka CCCOE). So far everyone is really, really nice. I joined mainly for the cameraderie, it's nice to be able to talk to other Etsy people about Etsy :) The feeling of support is important for any crafter selling her creations, whether it results in sales or not.

Hope you all had a nice Monday like I did! Here's to a great Tuesday!

~sam

Extra post for the day!

So I'm on Etsy's Forums and the problem (sort of) with this is my discovery of new shops that make me want to buy things.



I found an AMAZING shop where I can buy my martial arts teacher her birthday gift in August, as well as a thing or two for myself, once I can decide what to get, as I want it all!

The shop is called Fanciful Form, http://fancifulform.etsy.com/

Here's what I want:

As well as some of her mini pendants, hairpins, earrings, etc. I'm so excited for Christmas this year.... ! Please check her out, totally worth it. And to form each of these pieces by hand... that's some serious talent.

And since I'm mentioning favorite sites, don't forget to visit the one I mentioned in my earlier post: http://polestar.etsy.com/ - I LOVE her style! One of my current faves besides everything in her Luxe Petite line are these earrings:

Look at that shine =)

One more feature because I bought these late last week from http://fulyayaba.etsy.com/:

OMG. Gorgeous. I am going to wear these with everything, even my pajamas.

Have a great weekend!

Must promote more!

My sales aren't great, and I know that it's because I don't put out enough effort with promoting and marketing. My pieces are beautiful, I know this and I've been told a LOT, but I don't put myself out there. Before it was because I was afraid of rejection, afraid of people telling me my stuff was "cute" but their face would say "not really." Some of it is laziness and some of it is lack of ambition. I just suck all around when it comes to trying to better myself. Please don't see this as a pity thing, I am well aware of my shortcomings and have no problem talking about them. My problem however, is fixing them.

This week I've been on Etsy a lot, commenting on Treasuries, but just lurking on Forums. I really need to start posting there. I have gotten about 5 more hearts for my shop and a lot of views on my new listings after I posted them on Twitter. I bought some items from people and even participated in a BnR so now I'm in a Treasury - first time! I totally don't mind having bought my way in. I am constantly inspired by http://polestarjewelry.blogspot.com, she's had lots of sales - I even bought earrings from her, gorgeous! - and she has 2 kids at home with her, just like me.

I know that if I just focus on it, I can be an Etsy success story too :)

In the meantime with my writing, I'm actually writing my first short story in years. I'm gearing towards the YA genre. I may even start a new blog to post them, a la Corey Doctorow, a very talented writer whose agent is one of my friends from high school. Corey's site is http://www.craphound.com. Read "A Place So Foreign" http://craphound.com/place/Cory_Doctorow_-_A_Place_So_Foreign.txt - I really enjoyed that one.

As soon as I have a good draft of my story, I'll post an excerpt.

Have a great day and a great weekend!
Love and luck to you all =)

Kinaree Jewelry Supply

http://kinareejewelrysupply.etsy.com/

As you know, I started selling some of the beads that I've collected over the years because as much as I love them, either I won't use them or I bought so many that I could keep some and sell some. I've also listed my handmade PMC pendants...we'll see how they do. Each and every one of those pendants is near and dear to my heart, since I made each one by hand. It's different when you're selling "supplies" and when you're selling a piece you created. On a great note, I opened the shop about a week ago and I've already made 3 sales =)

Some of the items in the shop are pictured above. Fun little tidbit, I used a very large throwing knife and my eskrima sticks (Filipino fighting sticks) as props!

Let's not forget my other shop, http://camarilladesigns.etsy.com

That's where I list my finished pieces, RTW jewelry. I need to figure out some promotion and marketing. If I could make even 5 sales a week I'd be thrilled. Gravy baby!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day....

Obviously I've sucked at keeping this updated. I'm really going to try to be better (heard that before? I'm sure you've even said it before!). Anyway, I finally quit my day job. Most people quit their day jobs when their side business is doing so well that they can. That wasn't the case for me. At 36 I'm still soul-searching on what I want to be when I grow up. Well, the two things I've been good at in my life are making jewelry and martial arts - in no particular order. I don't want to teach martial arts, so jewelry making it is :) Of course in order to stay home and do this I have to take my son out of daycare, but if I do this right, I'll still have time to run both of my etsy pages AND take care of my boy - who is very close to potty-training! Well... maybe.

You might have noticed I said *both* of my etsy pages. That's right, I started another store. There's my main store which carries my finished, handmade pieces: http://camarilladesigns.etsy.com. I've also started a shop that sells supplies - mostly beads. I went through all my inventory and found I had a LOT of stuff that I wasn't using. I started http://kinareejewelrysupply.etsy.com to sell it all. I'm even considering taking it a step further and buying strands to specificially sell on that site. We'll see about that.... I have to finish listing what I have at home.

For the month of May I'm going to update both shops and clean my house and HOPEFULLY when the boy is home with me all I'll have to do is some maintenance and upkeep. New items will be listed and orders will be packed during nap time. That's the plan, but we'll see what really happens :)

...and away I go!

New Stuff

I posted some new pieces in my Etsy shop. If you look to the right you'll see them. I also made FIVE of this pendant the other day, because my friends liked it and wanted to buy it. It says "Alis Volat Propris" - Latin for "She flies with her own wings." Very empowering for a female, and isn't the typical "believe", "courage", "faith" and "strength" so often seen out there lately. Of course I've used those words in pieces myself, and will continue to, but this one is unique to me. A lot of the women I know are strong (read: headstrong) and amazing women, and this fits pretty much all of the females I know. If you know me at all you'd know I wouldn't surround myself with anything less.

Anyway, back to the piece, I've also had it done in gold plate for a friend who usually wears silver, but wanted to symbolize new beginnings in 2009 by buying and wearing something she usually wouldn't.

I wear one myself...hopefully it's a piece that does well. More women should fly.

New Year....

I really don't like resolutions, but recently I came up with goals I want to accomplish in 2009, and somehow I don't think I can avoid calling them anything but RESOLUTIONS.

There are only TWO things I want to do this year.
1) Lose 20 lbs.
2) Grow my jewelry business

The first one will require discipline, etc. etc. I know what I need to do to achieve it. It's the doing it that is going to be the hard part.

The second one was stated in four words but requires a LOT of things on my to do list. I want to have a website created, I want to learn how to better market my jewelry, I want to do at least 3 shows this year, I want to hire a sales rep and get my pieces in at least 3 boutiques, and last - and this is something I JUST thought of while I was typing this, I want to have a piece featured in a magazine.

I don't think that's asking too much :)

I'll try to start blogging here more and featuring more pieces as I make them, and I'd like to learn how to take better pictures. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Hope you all had a great New Years, and that 2009 is prosperous for you and yours!