More Opportunities as Spring Approaches...plus new Etsy Creations

After a busy weekend, most of it spent away from my craft table, discussing the possibility of consigning items or renting space in a busy Long Beach Island gift shop, another opportunity presented itself.

On Monday I received an email about contacting a reporter for the local newspaper. He is researching info about Etsy and he was looking for a few crafters in the readership area to interview. Abbie (from http://www.Abbieroad.etsy.com) gave me a heads-up about the possibility of being contacted and sure enough...

I called him back and did the interview over the phone, while discussing my Etsy shop. His angle appears to be how the internet is influencing crafter, specifically those with Etsy shops. He mentioned Facebook, Twitter and seemed very interested in how the EtsyNJ team communicates through team websites, our yahoogroup and the Etsy forums. We talked about sea glass, how eco-friendly plays a big part of many Etsy member's lifestyles, etc.

It was quite exciting to have this opportunity. About 50% of my craft shows are in the area covered by the newspaper and it's actually how I find out about many of the smaller, local craft shows. Hopefully, if the article is published, he'll send me a heads-up so i can buy the paper : )
(tho a link to the online paper would be better...lol)

I did get to my crafting table on Sunday and made several new sea glass necklaces, a couple of which have already found their way into my Etsy shop (the above image is the new Pale Seafoam necklace) I also created another Teal, a light blue piece and my first ever red sea glass necklace.

I'll be adding a few pairs of earrings during the week, and plan on cleaning up my Art Fire and 1000 Market shops a bit for the weekend. Both shops have been neglected and I'd like to see if a few new items would bring some momentum to these shops.

Not much on the craft show schedule... tho I did add a show in Waretown for March 21.
The Waterfowling Day show should be a fun show, with quite a bit to do for families. The show is held at the Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education in Waretown, NJ.
The grounds are beautiful and eco-friendly event should be a lot of fun...come check it out if you're in Ocean County on 3/21!!

'til next time...
R

Planning the Spring /Summer Calendar, Building Up Supplies, Meet & Greet With Organizers...

It's funny how trying to build your business takes so much time away from doing the actual crafting! Besides being the only therapeutic part of the process, it also takes the least amount of time. When I'm not trying to meet a deadline, I still love to sit at my craft table and get lost in my work.

The after-holiday slow down brought a much needed break from what was a furious holiday rush. For the most part, I've been able to step away from my table and really plan out my next moves. Because this past holiday season wore me down, I needed the longer break and chose to not do my usual spring craft shows. With a slow economy, it just didn't make sense to do the shows this year, when in past years, my success at these shows were marginal...at best.

The first move was to concentrate on building up my sea glass supplies and talking with some of the bigger sea glass collectors around the world. I've picked up several great tidbits of info from these long-time collectors and found that many of them also make sea glass jewelry (and their collections and creations are incredible) Along the way, I receive an application to be a vendor at the North American Sea Glass Association's 2009 Festival. Just to be considered is quite an honor, but I don't believe it is something that I'm ready for (unless I share table space with another vendor...or two) My sea glass collection is not nearly as vast as many others and the sea glass I find on the New Jersey beaches is often not jewelry quality.

I've made several purchases and a trade or two with/from some well known collectors. My hubby and I currently have sea glass covering our dining room table. We are going through the pieces to eliminate shards that are not prime pieces, planning out what I feel the better pieces can be used for, making a large pile for future bracelets (which means hubby gets to fire up his drill and flirt with electrocution ...lol) and trying to figure out which pieces I'm going to keep for myself : )

The reason I'm starting my summer plans in early March rather than mid-April stems from a long meeting I had yesterday with a facility where I'll be renting space for my sea glass jewelry. The opportunity to sell on one of the major NJ beaches is something I've been contemplating all winter long and the selling opp that presented itself this past week far exceeds what I had hoped for. When all the small details are hammered out, I'll announce more...but I'm very excited because this feels like a great opportunity, though it may prohibit me from looking for a 2nd location.

This selling opp also comes with a possible summer craft show that has huge potential! Along with the another possible beach/resort show in July and a pending application for an early June show, my limited summer schedule could be filled already. It appears that my summer could be very busy!

Now back to the table to play with my sea glass and then off to my crafting table...I have some work to do : )


...til next time...

R