Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Sea Glass Neckalce Image


Going to try and load the "Ocean View Stacked Sea Glass Necklace" one more time.
Okay, it worked this time...yay! This bracelet is currently listed in my Etsy.com shop, but it's listed as a custom order and reserved for one of my customers. I should have a few more pieces ready to go into my shop shortly.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Craft Show, New Items, Etsy.com, etc....

This past Saturday, I did the craft show that was tied into an Annual CrabFest in Forked River, NJ. Originally I had thought about only bringing a couple of large umbrellas to give my table a bit of shade.
But when the weather for Saturday was forcast to be in the 90s with a lot of humidity, I changed plans and opted for my tent. And it was a very good decision.
There was a steady rain early in the morning and the vendors that didn't have umbrellas were trapped in their vehicles, while I was able to get my tent up before tha hard rain began. Once the tent was up, I was able to set up my tables (yes I went from one table with umbrellas to the tent and 2 tables) and by 10:00am start time came around, the rain stopped and the sky's cleared and I was ready to go.
Customers were a bit slow to show up, but I had a few minutes to relax, sip some coffee and tweak my displays. Other vendors were just getting started, but the EtsyNJ contingent were prepared to start selling.

The show over all was pretty good for me, but some sellers didn't do well. And many vendors never even showed up. All in all, it was a fun show for me and I enjoyed meeting with the EtsyNJ crew, chatting about upcoming shows, plans that the NJ group has in the works and meeting a couple of new members.

As usual in Forked River, my sea glass creations sold well and a few of my favorites sold, as did some of my inexpensive earrings (they always do well at the shows... they aren't huge $$ makers, but they help pay for the fees and supplies)

I have a few new items ready to go into my Etsy shop. The sea glass creation above is called "Ocean View Stacked Sea Glass Necklace" and it really is beautiful (because of internal server problems with the blog site, I can't upload the image at this tiem, I will try again after posting this blog). During the show, many people claimed they thought the dark brown piece of sea glass looked red in the light. It gave the necklace a red, white and blue look. The necklace may not ever make it to Etsy... well maybe as a Reserved Custom Order... a couple of customers at the show showed a lot of interest in the necklace and I was contacted earlier today by an Etsy customer who liked what she saw, so we'll see. The only thing I can say about this necklace is, it looks so much nicer in person than the photos show.

Before the show, my shop was well under the number of items I like to have listed on Etsy. But now, after the craft show, my shop is pretty wiped out. The pieces that were all ready to go into my shop, sold...of course (one of which I had a lot of trouble getting the type of photos I wanted and all that time spent was for nothing...LOL)
I'll be trying to take photos this week and adding an item or two each day until I get my shop to where I like it.

It doesn't appear that I'll be doing any more shows before the end of the summer. This weekend's show was draining, the heat and humidity just wiped me out and I really need to focus on getting my shop back up to speed and begin building my inventory for the fall and winter shows.

My next scheduled shows are...

October 25th-
The Handmade Faire in Medford, NJ This show is pending, for me. It's a juried show and it will feature many of the EtsyNJ team. The Handmade Faire had a spring show in Barnegat this past spring and it was by far the best show I ever attended in this area. The overall quality of the vendors was just incredible. The show's organizer does an incredible job of promoting her shows. I'll be there hopefully as a vendor, or as a customer... the show is not to be missed!

October 26th-
Forked River, NJ -The Lacey High School puts on an excellent show and they are gearing their show more towards handmade items first. I've done this show before and they do a nice job promoting and the locals do come out to support the show. (This show is also pending)

November-
I have a few shows with apps in and I'm waiting for other locations to announce dates. It looks like I'll be doing the Southern Regional High School show on the 15th of November. I've done many of their shows in the past and they've been fairly well supported by the locals.
I also have a pending application for Nov 8th in Toms River NJ and an invite for Forked River on the 22nd of Nov.

I don't have anything scheduled yet for December. I'm trying to convince my s/o to do a couple of shows (by himself) while I do another show, but we'll see how my Etsy sales go and if I can keep up with my inventory.

My one year anniversary is this week on Etsy.com and I'm thinking about a little special sale and maybe a blog give-away for everyone that follows my blog. Check back in a couple of days!

til next time...
R

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Gearing up for an Outdoor Craft Show


This Saturday, in Forked River NJ, I'll be doing an outdoor craft show at Lacey's Annual CrabFest. The show begins at 8am (the CrabFest at 11am) and Saturday's weather is supposed to be HOT and Sunny... did I mention HOT? Local weather is guessing the temp to be in the 90s.


Now the CrabFest is a huge event , with hundreds of people attending (with 1,000 being expected this yr) and all traffic needs to pass through the craft show. The event will also have 2 radio stations broadcasting from the show/or appearing at the show.


Hopefully the am hours won't be too hot and we'll get the usual early morning crowd that shows up to all the Lacey shows. Heck, if I do really well, I can pack it up early and grab some fresh Crab for lunch : )



As July winds down, it seems the Etsy traffic has picked up. After starting off slowly, the back end of this month has shown improvement. There's been a lot of interest in my sea glass creations, with a few listings finding new homes. I have a few new sea glass items made and if they don't sell at this weekend's show, they end up in my Etsy shop.


I also have made several new bracelets and I think a few of them will certainly sell at the show, if the crowds are there. There one or two that I'd love to keep for myself, but I have about 10 more bracelets than I really need as it is. I don't often list many items the week before a show, but I'd love to add a black and lavender glass bead bracelet that I just finished.

It really is very pretty and I don't think it'll come home with me from this weekend's show. (if I get the time to do another blog before the show, I'll add an image of the bracelet)


But I will add an image of the sea glass bracelet that I'll be adding into my shop sometime tomorrow : )


til next time...

R


Thursday, July 24, 2008

EtsyNJ Street Team-- We received a grant from Etsy!!


The EtsyNJ street team received a grant from Etsy last week and pending Etsy's approval, the NJ street team will be running a full page ad in Weird NJ. The ad will run during the October issue, which is just in time for the holidays.


The ad will feature several of the NJ members and have a link to a in-progress web page that will feature links to all participating members. All participating members will agree to a little special for any purchases made from this ad.


The team unexpectedly received more support from our members than originally thought. So it looks like another ad featuring the team is in the works and probably several more to follow.


It's great to be a part, albeit a small part, of the EtsyNJ team. They are so involved in the promoting of the team with a daily promotion in the Etsy forums, a Yahoo group (where we share info with each other) a couple of team websites and who knows how many treasuries each week (I believe I'm currently in 3 or 4 treasuries) It always great to run into team members at craft shows and to meet many of the members I only know through Etsy's forums or our yahoo group.


EtsyNJ ROCKS!!



Okay now to my personal Etsy happenings... My JOB has been beating me up a bit this summer. After taking it slowly for much of the summer, I'm now trying to play catch up. I have a show coming up in a less than 2 weeks and I really need to bear down and spend some quality time with my creating-table.


I did put in a few hours this past weekend, putting together several sea glass pieces and then a nother couple of hours taking photos, downloading, cropping , etc the images to be listed on Etsy.


Of course out of the 6 I listed, half of them have already sold and I have a pending inquiry on another piece. I'm very thrilled for the sales (Okay, I'm more than thrilled-- I scream YAY---to myself ) but I almost don't want to list anymore pieces before the show. I'd really like to have a couple of pieces of sea glass jewelry that will WOW the customers, as I do a show in this town later in the fall.


It would be great to continue to establish myself as one of the sellers in the area to see if you're interested in buying sea glass jewelry. My s/o and I often have people stop by my table to chat about sea glass and pick our brains on where we look for our gems or how I make the jewelry. It's always fun to sit and listen to their stories about their best finds (my s/o always make a mental note when people mention exactly where they always find a lot of sea glass...and never gives up our secret little stretch of beach where we continue to find rare colors and the odd jewelry quality piece)


Just another quick thanks for the EtsyNJ team... with so many member promoting the team, it really does wonders for all of our stores and I'm so very glad to be a part of everything we are involved in!


til next time...

R

PS- The above sea glass bracelet is the next to go into my Etsy shop.... or perhaps I'll hold onto it until the craft show (tho I'd like to keep it for myself...lol)