Closing In On My 1 year Etsy Anniversary and A Milestone #

With less than a month to go before my first anniversary on Etsy, I'm closing in on a milestone I never thought I'd be talking about just yet.

Despite many fairly slow months on Etsy during late winter and the entire spring, I'm closing in on sale #100 (last night I made sale #99 Yay! picture to the left)) My 99th sale was made to a repeat customer and she has asked me to create a pair of earrings for her, to match her new bracelet. So it's possible the earrings will be #100!

I've had so much fun during my first year with Etsy. I was turned onto Etsy by one of my managers at my JOB, who was so excited about the chance to start her own online business and maybe retire from work a year or two early. Her excitement didn't last very long and she never got around to opening an Etsy shop, but she is very happy Etsy has worked out well for me.

There have been many people who have helped me with ideas and suggestions...too many to even remember everyone. But many thanks to Etsy members KimberQuinn, SouthPacificBody, CapturingLife, the entire EtsyNJ street team, Etsy admin for my shop critiques (which made a big difference in my shop's appearance) and the list could go on and on.

Show Announcements-

I will be doing the craft show at the Forked River's annual CrabFest on August 2nd. The show draws between 400-500 people every year and this year they will have 2 local radio stations broadcasting from the festival. The craft show will FREE for the public and we'll hopefully have nice weather and many walk-up customers.

I was also contacted about doing a show the following week in Lavallette, NJ. I'm waiting to hear back, for more info, but I'd like to get a 2nd show in before the end of the summer.

My fall schedule is filling up quickly and I'm already looking to commit to shows at Monsignor Donovan (in Toms River) and Southern Regional Craft Show (Manahawkin) and the people putting on the Forked River Craft Show are looking to have a November show just before Thanksgiving. These shows would probably fill up my November calendar.

So with all that being said, I better spend some time tonight at my work table. I have a lot of creating to do!

til next time...

R

On the Front Page of Etsy!!

I check my Etsy site early Sunday morning and noticed one of my Sea Glass bracelets had a significant number of hits. Upon checking the buyers who hearted the item, I noticed it had picked up 6 hearts on Friday and Saturday.

But when I checked in at the EtsyNJ street team site, I then found out the real reason... the team had a treasury selected for the front page!! It seems one of the EtsyNJ team members, ShutterKate, who just happens to be a superb Etsy treasury builder (she's had several front page treasuries and several more that were front page-worthy) created an EtsyNJ team treasury and it was selected to appear on the front page of the Etsy site. My bracelet is the first item in the second row.

After reading through the street team's blog, it seems many of the items had over 100 views (I think my bracelet, which had been in another treasury last weekend also, was between 100-120 views)

Thank you to the members of the EtsyNJ team for creating beautiful items and a standing-ovation for ShutterKate for putting it all together... it was a fun way to start my morning!

til next time...

R

Father's Day, Summer, Beach Glass and more....

Summer is here... well almost, but living in south-central New Jersey after Memorial Day means it's summer. Seasonal rentals begin in June and since it's been pushing 90 degrees every day for the last week, the "bennies" are here for the next 3 months.

My s/o took a beachcombing trip early this morning in search of some beach glass. We haven't gone to LBI searching because the severe storm we had about 5 weeks ago, really took it's toll on the beaches and the beaches were pretty torn up. The beach crews really did a great job putting the beaches back together in time for for the early beach visitors.

The beach glass however, has been buried, perhaps until the next big storm. This morning's search for beach glass was pretty much a waste (but my hubby thinks someone beat him onto the beach. He said there were footprints along the washed up shell beds) and even though he came home with a handful of sea glass, it was mostly browns and ambers. He did find an olive green piece that just isn't good enough to be considered "jewelry quality".

Hopefully, we'll stumble upon a couple of jewelry quality pieces in one of our future trips.

I haven't had much time to sit down and create to many new pieces, but I do have a couple that I need to take pictures of. Of course today was hazy to overcast and I just couldn't get the lighting correct...maybe the sun will come out long enough tomorrow for me to get my hoop earrings and a sea glass bracelet onto Etsy.

I'd like to wish my hubby and all the Dad's a very Happy Father's Day!! Enjoy your day Dads!!

The May Recap, General Ideas, And Coming Soon...

A couple of late May sales saved the month from being my worst on Etsy, but that late momentum carried over into June with an Etsy trade with fellow EtsyNJ team member CreationsByDanielle. The trade was followed up with 2 sales late this past week (one being my favorite bracelet...a pretty turquoise sea glass creation. The pics didn't do the bracelet justice, as I just couldn't get the lighting right)

My last few sales have been for pieces with soft shades of blue, so I might be back to my craft table later today to make a few new pieces in Teal and Turquoise.

Sea Glass continues to be very hard to locate. Jewelry quality pieces are now selling for a premium and the harder to find colors are rarely found for sale. Authentic sea glass jewelry has become popular in Central and Southern New Jersey, especially in the summer months and trying to keep up my inventory has become a challenge.

I do have a few nice pieces of sea glass ready for creating and hopefully, I can get to those pieces during the week.

Besides the sea glass items that will be added to my Etsy shop soon, I just added a couple new bracelets and have a few pairs of earrings waiting for pictures.

No new shows are planned currently, but I'd love to find a good show for the end of this month or early next month, before concentrating on my Etsy shop and building inventories for the Fall and Winter craft show seasons.

til next time...

R

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