Small but Mighty

I made this little thing today.  I love it.  I have it for sale in my shop, but I may keep it....*love*

New from the bench...

A stunning rose cut citrine set in dark antique finish sterling silver.  A custom piece. 

More Earrings and other things.

I have collected these fun vintage pieces for over a year.  I've decided to use the remaining pieces and make earrings. Yay. They are so fun and very summery.

I've also added to my "looking glass" necklaces.  They are bigger and in different shapes.   

New From the Bench

That's all.  Spent most of the morning working on customs but got a little in for my creative side.  I finally got to use the GOR-JUS faceted aqua chalcedony squares.  Just a sweet little necklace in my shop now.

I also made another set of these for a customer and re-took the pictures.  I think it makes all the difference!  They were chosen for a treasury right away!  I almost deleted them from my shop last week because they hadn't sold or gotten much attention.  I'm glad I waited and I think the new pictures will be much better.  I only have stones for two more sets though.

Look!

 

 
As we speak these are on their way.  I am too excited.

New Rocks are on their way!  I like to call them rocks instead of gems or stones because...well, I want to.

I may offer custom orders from these, I'm not sure, but as they are one of a kinds I like to leave the designs open ended to my customers who may want a necklace instead of a ring, or vice-versa. But, some I already have designs for some that are swirling around in my head.  oooh I can't wait.

I will be watching my mailbox intently this week!

Sunday Shopping...for those that are more crafty than I.

I want to share with you the most amazing shop I found this week. It is LITERALLY a treasure box of wonderful things.

(click to go to their shop)


This is what they say and they can say it much better than I.

"We've gathered together a wide assortment of embossed Victorian paper scraps and Dresden trims from Germany, blown glass Christmas garland beads from the Czech Republic, plush velvet ribbons and ric rac, fancy fabric trims, lace and buttons, hand made miniature paper flowers, mushrooms and fruit, traditional gilded paper from Florence, Italy and various vintage treasures and supplies to enhance your everyday and holiday projects."

Take a look at these photos~ This is just a sample of the 54 pages of items in their shop! You will find 10 times more in their shop as well as each item in a rainbow of colors.










They also have a website (www.32DegreesN.com) where they sell advent calendars, decorations and kits! Look at these!




You can follow their blog ( http://32degreesn.blogspot.com/) where they will share with you new items, wonderful information about their products as well as a sneak peak into their world.


I encourage you get a cup of tea and a comfortable chair and begin to take a look at their wonderful sites. You won't be disappointed. I am seeing at least one advent calendar and that tree kit in my future!

Merchandising is Important

Merchandising goes under the header of "things I didn't know I needed to know". It isn't hard to figure out, but it does take a little work. And, I am not someone who knows proper business terminology so if my terms don't jive with what you learned in college, sorry, just bear with me.

The "merchandising" I am talking about is putting your items out there in a way that connect with relevant and current topics that are out there in the world.

Take this necklace for example. I made this necklace a few months ago before the Sherlock Holmes movie came out. Since it reminded me of a monacle or a magnifying glass it tagged it with detective, Sherlock Holmes, magnifying glass, novel, mystery. I also titled it "Watson Magnifying Lense Necklace". I also included a quote from the novel in the listing description. When the movie was being promoted and after it came out I was included in several treasuries and front pages with this theme.

Now, fast forward a few months. The Sherlock Holmes movie is over and Alice in Wonderland is the new up and coming movie. Last week I changed the title of this necklace to "Looking Glass Necklace". I changed the tags from the Sherlock Holmes theme to the Alice theme, cleaned up the description and left it.

Today it was featured in a "Down the Rabbit Hole" Etsy Finds Email here. How exciting is that? Would the EXACT SAME necklace had been featured if I hadn't changed the title? Nope, I can say definitely doubtful.

Etsy provides is with all the information we need to merchandise our items. They tell us what type of treasuries they will be looking for, the themes they will be using, holidays they will be highlighting and much more information. Another plus is that they give us a month's heads up so we can plan ahead. See this week's article here: April Showers. You can find more articles on the Storque Blog, under the "Selling" side bar header.


Some imagination is necessary, but we all have lots of that don't we? Think outside the box and read the articles. It may give you some inspiration and ideas.