Holiday Sales, Cyber Monday, Crafts Shows & Sea Glass

So the big shopping weekend has come and gone. Once again Etsy's promotions forums were quite busy during the holiday weekend. Lots of shops promoting sales, free shipping, etc and many, many new items were listed.

I listed a couple new items and really struggled for views. Even after hitting the promotions forum a couple of times, I could only manage to garner 6 views on one of the items and 10 views on the 2nd item.

Working the forums didn't prove to be a waste of time, as I had better holiday sales in 2008 than I did last year, but it really is tough for potential buyers to find your work. My Cyber Monday sale was included in a EtsyNJ member's private Gift Guide that was posted on the EtsyNJ site. (and our team site was heavily promoted by several team members and received a few hundred views on Cyber Monday)

My Holiday Craft Show schedule is winding down to the last 2 shows over the next 2 weekends.

Tomorrow night, I'll be at the LEH Winter Festival show. It's held at the George J Mitchell School on Rt 539 in Little Egg Harbor, NJ. The show hours are from 4pm - 9pm. Santa will be there posing for photos (photo packages available) It's a fun show and it gives some of the town's students a chance to do a little Christmas shopping for teachers, family members and school aides.

Next weekend, on Dec 14th, I'll be at the Holiday Village at Smithville Park event. Smithville Park is located in Easthampton, NJ. There will be many wonderful activities planned for families and I'll be at the Crafters Village with many new sea glass creations.

This should be a fun show and I'm looking forward to bringing my whole family and having my sons take part in the holiday activities.

Speaking of sea glass, there's a big beachcombing opportunity coming next week during the New Moon. This past week a couple of planets lined up with the moon and next week, the moon and sun will be closer to the earth than normal. The tides should be rather severe and that may lend itself to the sea leaving behind a few more pieces of sea glass than usual. My hubby will be there early, in his favorite spots, looking for a few choice pieces that we can work on through the winter.

Hope to see you at one of the shows!

'til next time...

R

Thanksgiving Day, Holiday Weekend Sales, Cyber Monday

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope every one's Turkey-Day was happy. As we do every year, we went to my hubby's Aunt's house for Thanksgiving, watched football, gorged ourselves on lots of turkey and all the fixings & played board games (actually Apples to Apples was the choice) It was a lot of fun, but since I work in retail, I had to get up early the next morning and go to work.

There's nothing quite like Black Friday. It's great to see everyone in the Christmas frame of mind... trampling over the person in front of them, so they can get the last hot item and save a few dollars.

It wasn't as bad as the WalMart that made the news with an employee getting trampled or shoot-out at ToysRUs, but it really is insane to think these people were standing in line for several hours, waiting for the store to open, all while I was tucked under the warm covers of my bed... dreading the thought of having to go out so early.

Black Friday online was was also insane. My hubby did a little promoting and I left him with a few items to list and promote for me. The first item had zero views after 45 minutes and another batch of promoting in the forums lifted the total number of views to 3. The next listing was done later in the afternoon... a whopping 7 views in the first half hour, followed by another 2 after I promoted before calling it a night.

It wasn't much better today, but at least the promoting insanity seemed to slow down a bit and I did pick up a few views early this morning, along with a few more with each short promoting session I had during the day.

For the whole weekend, I have but one sale (made on Black Friday) to go along with a sale the day before Thanksgiving, so it hasn't been a total waste of time... but I hope that your sales have been a bit better than those in my shops.

On Monday, several members of the EtsyNJ street team will be offering a multitude of promotions. Everything from sales, to free shipping, to gifts with purchases, etc. Check out the banner at the top of this blog for more info on the shops taking part and what each shop is offering (shameless plug.... I already have a Cyber Monday Sale category with a few items listed...all at 20%+ off... and I'm offering free shipping and a gift w/ ea purchase on any item in my shop... more items will be listed for the Cyber Monday sale tomorrow and Monday)

Come check us out...it's going to be an awesome sale!

My holiday craft show schedule is grinding towards it's end ...

Dec 5th, I'll be in Little Egg Harbor, at the George Mitchell School for their Holiday Craft Fair. The show is from 4pm- 9pm and the school is on Rt 539 and easily accessible from the GS Parkway & Rt 9.

I have a pending show in Easthampton on 12/13, and I hope to have further info during the week.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and I hope to see you on Cyber Monday!

'til next time...

R

The image above is one of my Cyber Monday sale items!

Holiday Shopping, Sales, Cyber Monday and New Items

Well another holiday season is upon us and it's once again time for the insane holiday shopping season. Unfortunately, I'll be at the store on Black Friday (because I work in retail) but I don't plan on doing much shopping, if any at all, this weekend.

Of course, selling handmade items online is part of the shopping craziness and promoting on Etsy.com at this time of the year might just be more insane than waking up early Friday morning to stand on line for a shot at a great buy at the stores.

However, it is so convenient to shop online. I can stay in my warm house, sit with a hot cup of coffee and browse Etsy looking for some of the great bargains that the handmade community is offering this holiday season. As a seller, I'll have my own sales going over this holiday shopping weekend.

Starting with Black Friday, I'll be placing items into yet to be created category... Black thru Cyber Sale. I'll also be offering free shipping on any item in my shop, along with a gift with purchase (mention my thread in this blog and you can receive free shipping on any item right now!) My Black thru Cyber Sale category will have sales on some current items and I'll listing new items, right into the category at a sale price. There will be something new going into the sale category everyday and I think some people will be surprised at some of the sale prices.

The EtsyNJ Street Team has planned a big sale on Cyber Monday (click on the banner at the top right of this page for more info!) and I'm very excited about clicking on all of their shop's and buying handmade gifts for the people on my list this year. Come check out our sale... there will something for everyone on your shopping list this year!

The picture above is a new listing to my Etsy shop. It's one of the nicest necklaces I've made to this point and it was my most talked about item at this past weekend's craft show. Hopefully, by the weekend, I'll have a couple pairs of cobalt blue sea glass earrings ready to add to the shop, along with a holiday necklace made with sea glass.

Hope I see you at the sales!

'til next time...

R

My Best Ideas Are In Boxes and Jars....

They start with a thought or an image, captured in my mind's eye... and then the process begins... how am I going to create this?

The process is always so much easier when I create with glass beads, semi-precious stones or polymer clay. The brief idea is quickly turned into a finished product as the pieces of the puzzle are more readily at hand and the perfection of the piece quickly reached.

It's not nearly the same with sea glass. The pieces of the puzzle to my best ideas have yet to reveal themselves and so my best ideas remain unfinished in boxes and jars.

There are many days when I'm on the beach, wandering about while I see what the tide has left behind and I'll sometimes find myself staring at the ocean wondering when it will deliver the next piece of the puzzle.

I know what I'm looking for is out there... somewhere... lying on a deserted beach... waiting for me to pick it up .... or waiting for the tide to come back and reclaim it.

My best ideas remain in boxes and jars...unfinished pieces of work.... just waiting for the final pieces of the puzzle.