January updates, craft shows, what's new

Well it didn't take long before I broke my New Years Resolution about blogging several times each week. Burnout from the holiday craft season and the holiday season itself, left me wiped out and I needed a break to re-charge my engines.
While I don't have any craft shows at this time to prepare for, I have been busy over the last week to week and a half, creating some Valentine's Day gifts for my online shop at ETSY.com. The creations have been well received to this point and my magnets continue to garner a lot of views.
So far the New Year hasn't been as slow as I thought it would be. I have several sales this month, along with a reserved order listed on the ETSY site ( custom made order for a customer who saw one of my bracelets!) I've been pleasantly surprised by the flow at ETSY even after the holiday season.

I'm still patiently waiting for Volume 2 of Handbook to Handmade (produced by Timothy Adams, an ETSY seller and now book publisher) I have 2 pages in the issue and I can't wait to see which pictures were used and how the book turned out. Okay, I really ran out of patience about a week ago...but I'm trying to play it off --ya know, whatever- on the outside, but "is it here yet" every time I go to the mailbox on the inside...LOL

Looking at a craft show possibility for the tail end of February, but it's the weekend of my sons B-Day, so I don't know if I'd like to do it. I did hear there were only 5 jewelry tables as of last weekend. Tempting...very tempting! (especially if I have my handmade book to put out as advertising!!!)

Okay, let me go get my little hand-held flags and flag down my mail-person...LOL

til next time...
R

Featuring "Ribbon Craft Boutique"

My first feature of 2008, I'm going to feature a new Etsy shop owner from my home state, New Jersey. Jenna, a stay at home mom of 3, opened her shop Ribbon Craft Boutique , http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5409699 in November of 2007. The former teacher enjoys hobbies but never stuck with one very long, until there arrival of her daughter, the youngest of her 3 children.

Looking at all the girly items, Jenna found herself drawn to a long-forgotten crafting bug and she became interested in creating her own pieces. With no prior crafting experience, Jenna finds her inspiration comes from her daughter and "a love for pretty things."

Jenna says she's "learning as I go and coming up with ideas as I go along and see what different materials are available." Looking at her shop, it appears that she's a natural and it won't be long before Ribbon Craft Boutique makes their first sale.

2008 Resolutions

For this New Year, I hope to follow these "resolutions"...

1- No last night hectic creating, completing or designing of new items. I also hope to have all new items for all craft shows underway more than 1 week in advance and no more 1am nights the week before a show.

2- Spend more time with my family and work more efficiently this year.

3- More quality promoting on the ETSY forums.

4- More Blogs, especially features on fellow Etsians and suppliers. I'd like to have the time to blog 4-5 times each week.

5- More quality items, even if they come at the expense of items that sell well, but offer
a low return on my time and investment.

I think if I can stick to these resolutions, I can easily accomplish everything I plan to do this year. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out Etsy last year and I think I have a basic understanding of what will work for me and my shop. I hope to continue to offer my "wearable art" creations and offer new items that visitors to my shop will find exciting and different.

Later tonight, I'll be sending out questions to 1 supplier and one new ETSY seller and the 1st response to the questions will become my 1st feature crafter/supplier of 2008!

til next time!
R

Closing out 2007...

So we say goodbye to 2007 tonight. It was a fun year, I started my online shop in August and followed up shortly after with my blog. Now there are picture hosting sites, clubs, craft sites, etc etc. It really is amazing that I can remember all of them... well almost all of them.

We had fun doing craft shows this year. The sales weren't exactly what we expected, but they weren't bad either. I'm analyzing the shows with my s/o and beginning to plan out next year's shows already. I'd like to add 1 or 2 more to a few of the shows that had quite a bit of traffic. A few of the shows, I applied late for, didn't get the best location and I think I can do better next year with earlier applications. A few other shows, I'll have to think twice about, especially when there seems to be a better opportunity elsewhere. I'd like to do about 7 shows between October and mid-December, along with 1 or 2 Spring shows. I'd consider a summer show, but my location and summertime usually means the beach unless the weather is bad.

Etsy.com proved to be a nice find. I was able to sell more than I expected (but my expectations weren't very high) and my last creation sold today. I listed it in the early afternoon, noticed it had 19 views almost immediately and then I received the email, my piece sold less than 30 minutes after it was listed! Very cool and I wish I had a similar one, as it picked up a few hearts before it sold.

My shop, CreationsByRobin, is one of the 40 featured shops in volume 2 of the Handbook to Handmade. I'm not sure what pictures are being used (I haven't heard anything back yet and probably won't for a few more days) I'd love to have one of my creations on the cover page- I think 10-12 pictures are used for the cover- and I'm excited to see how it comes out!

2007 was a lot of fun, I made so many new friends through Etsy.com and I'm sooo looking forward to 2008 and everything it will bring. To all my friends and readers of this blog, I'd like to wish each and everyone of you a healthy and safe New Year!

Happy New Year!

til next year...

R