A Look Back At 2014

As December speeds us towards a New Year, I find myself thinking back over the last few months.

2014 started with CreationsByRobin still on hiatus. I really had not considered making more sea glass jewelry. The ocean had yet to offer up anything substantial and it seemed like my favorite hobby was dying a slow, painful death. Finding thin pieces of Rolling Rock green glass or Budweiser browns, was not going to be worth the effort...these pieces don't even age nicely...even when rounded by the tumbling in the ocean, these pieces of glass are very thin and when frosted, the glass is dull. Without the sea glass, going to the beach lost a little of it's luster...I mean, if I have to endure the bennies (ok, they're not all that bad) the least I can have is the excitement of possibly finding a nice piece of old glass washing up in the surf.

One one trip, we found something a bit older. Yea, it was brown, but it was thick and well frosted...an older piece of glass that somehow found it's way onto the beach. All of a sudden, the mediocre pieces were looking good (the thin, ugly pieces remained, just that...thin & ugly...lol) and we found ourselves heading to the beach a little more often. I'd like to say, seaglassing started picking up from that point. I would. But it wasn't the case.

What used to be a bad seaglassing day at the beach, was now a pretty good seaglassing day at the beach. A bad day was getting shutout totally...and that did happen often. But there was one other occurrence....the fires were getting stoked. I started fooling around with my sea glass again. It started when we moved into a new place and I wanted to decorate differently. I went with a beach theme. Driftwood, sea glass, pictures of the ocean and beach, lighthouses, etc. When it cam time to decorate my bedroom, the first thing I did was cut-out an area where my crafting table would go.

And just like that, I was back.The shop was reopened, I made new creations and some sales. As fall turned into winter and the vacationers and snow-birds headed for home or warmer climates, we found sea glass. The Atlantic still isn't turning out jewelry quality pieces on the beaches that I frequent, though there have been several that I could consider using for decorative creations. But I and my hubby (my hubby mostly) has been finding colors and unique pieces. Just before Christmas, he came home with 3 cobalt blues and two days later found a cornflower blue and part of an old white bottle top.

Somehow, the glass is finding it way back and knowing that the ocean tosses a few pieces onto the beach before she reclaims them in the next tide, will keep me dreaming of coming across the perfect piece of sea glass. And in the meantime, I will share some of the more special findings with anyone who loves what I create with these vanishing ocean treasures.

Looking ahead to walking the beaches in 2015. I'm excited to see where it will take me.

Happy New Year!

'til next time...
R

My Trip to the Beach

For those who have never had the chance to follow my sea glass blog, just a little background info...

This blog was originally started as a way to introduce sea glass collecting and my sea glass jewelry creations. My blog entries were a sea glass diary of sorts and a way to promote my sea glass jewelry that I sold on Etsy.com and at various craft fairs, shows and local retail stores.
Currently, my shop on Etsy is closed and my jewelry-making days are just a hobby that I struggle to find time for. Sea glass collecting is something that has fallen by the wayside also, as trips to the beach have been rare since Super Storm Sandy. Since Sandy, sea glass on LBI has been rarer than my trips to the beach.

Until yesterday. For those that have followed this blog in the past, you may recall me blogging about an area my DH refers to as "cobalt beach". Cobalt beach is actually a stretch of beach, maybe 3-4 blocks long that has turned up an unusual amount of cobalt blue sea glass, along with several other uncommon colors.

So anyway, after a few disappointing trips to LBI, trips that left me and my family sad about the aftermath of Sandy, yesterday we headed back to stretch of beach that had once been our sea glass goldmine. The one time we visited this stretch of beach since Sandy, we only found a couple browns-not jewelry quality and not the type of browns that I hope to find, but brown sea glass nonetheless.

This trip to the beach started out no different... a large piece of brown that was finished on the outside, but the shard appeared to have been broken recently, so the inside needed more time for the ocean to finish the job. My DH referred to this piece as undercooked, so we found a safe area to return it to the sea. What I did find encouraging was this piece had some thickness to it and that could mean it was an older piece of glass.

For most of the day, I almost regretted returning that undercooked brown because there was nothing else to be found anywhere. Even the stretch formerly known as "cobalt beach" came up empty (again). As the crowds began leaving and the tide started pulling out, we gave it one more walk thru before we called it a day.

Despite several decent sized shell beds, cobalt beach was a disappointing bust... there was nothing to be found other than a few recently shards from recently broken Budweiser bottles (that were picked up and thrown into the trash bin). So we turned and headed back to our chairs and my son wanted one last dip n the ocean. While I kept watch, my DH continued on (in the opposite direction of what was once cobalt beach) & after a few minutes, my son and I went off in his directions where we found several large shell beds containing a lot of small shells, broken shell pieces and lots of stones and zero pieces of glass of any kind.

Shell bed after shell bed yielded nothing. Then my DH doubled back to showed me two pieces. The first was a clear white piece and it was nearly perfect. Well-weathered and frosted, only a recent chip in the edge kept it from being perfect. The 2nd piece was better. Another white, this one perfect and it's jewelry quality (rare for NJ). As a white piece of sea glass, it wouldn't fetch much as a piece of jewelry...but this piece has a tinge of amethyst coloring in it (I'm hoping now that it's been rescued from the sea, it will continue to turn color) Both of these pieces were found within 2 feet of each other, so we went back to the area and I found 2 pieces...one a frosty white- nothing to get real excited and the second a pale blue tear-drop shaped piece...weathered, slightly frosty and without a doubt, jewelry quality. One of the nicest jewelry quality pieces I have ever found on LBI. This one will become a charm for a necklace.
The craziest thing about both of these pieces, is they were found within 10 feet of those that my DH found and before we left the area, a thick chunky amber piece washed up!

30 minutes before we leave, the ocean presents us with a couple of the nicest pieces of sea glass that we ever found on LBI...and all 5 pieces were found with 10-12 feet of each other and there was nothing to be found anywhere else on the beach...go figure!

Hopefully, I can get images uploaded to the blog and show off my finds!

'til next time

Been A Long Time....

Wow! Nearly 11 months have passed since my last entry.

I recently received a couple of emails about my sea glass jewelry and both of my sea glass themed blogs. I haven't done much creating recently, but I received an invite to be interviewed on another crafter's blog...lol.

I doubt my responses would make for an interesting interview, so I declined. But I am hoping my trip to the beach today yields a piece (or three) of sea glass treasure worthy of a jewelry creation!

I miss my blog and would like to thank the hundreds of visitors since my last entry. Here's hoping today's trip to the ocean leads to a blog entry tomorrow!

'til next time...

Review- The 2012 Beach Plum Festival

If you haven't been following my recent blog entries- a quick catch-up... The economy has really affected my small handmade jewelry crafting business and with one of my favorite shows approaching, I decided to make a personal investment. Best case scenario, it would be a good show and I'd make my money back (and hopefully a decent profit) or worse case, I would have replenished my inventory and would put everything into my Etsy shop and gear up for holiday sales.

The Festival- for those that live in the NJ area, the Beach Plum Festival is held every September on Island Beach State Park (near Seaside) The park is gorgeous, the beaches very clean and one of the few beaches in NJ staffed with lifeguards after Labor Day. The Festival attracts several handmade crafters, displays featuring local non-profits and food vendors, along with many displays featuring the topic of the day...Beach Plums (the ice cream and jellies are outstanding, BTW) The show is very well run and receives quite a bit of local media attention. For crafters considering this event, the show always attracts a great deal of foot-traffic- many who plan to hit the beach and stroll in find a great festival in progress. If you have a beach-theme craft or business, this should be a must-do show. An overview of how the festival went for me personally would be- better than expected. I really didn't know what to expect because I was not selling much out of my Etsy shop and other crafters had reported below average sales over the summer. With many fellow crafters cutting back on shows, I didn't really know what to expect. The show started out slowly sales-wise. There was a large crowd right at the start of the festival (perhaps beach-goers) and I had a lot of foot traffic, but very few people looked to be making purchases anywhere. The traffic continued to pour in and I decided to find a few pieces in my collection to make into pendants for necklaces. I began wire-wrapping several pieces and that seemed to draw a small crowd and that seemed to change the "luck" for me, as I starting selling a few pieces. By noon, it was clear I would cover my expenses and make a little money. I'd love to say this was my best year at this venue, but it wasn't. But with the expectations I had coming into the show, I have to admit that I am so happy to have made the investment in myself because it seems that people are beginning to feel good about the economy. And they appear to be looking to buy something different and unique.

I'd love to find another show to do before the holidays, but realistically, I'm probably not going to find a better match for my product than this show. Island Beach State Park's Beach Plum Festival and my handmade sea glass jewelry just seem to be a perfect match for me. But I'll keep looking for the right spot. After the show, I sat with my hubby and discussed how the show went and realized there were a few trends on my sales and a things that helped me make sales that I hope to blog about soon. A few of these are ideas that I will continue to do at future shows and these thoughts might help fellow crafters make a few extra sales at their shows in the future. 'til next time, R

The Economy and Crafting

"May you live in interesting times" is an old proverb that comes to mind when I think of the current economic unrest in the world today. I try not to dwell on it much, but there are many times that the economy has forced me to re-evaluate what is happening with my crafting business.

Rising costs in gas and silver directly impacted my business. People just didn't have money to spend on the pretty necklace they found on my Etsy website or show display. The "I want that" draw that often led to spur of the moment purchases, had turned into "I'd like to have that" and eventually to "I wish I could afford that". My business is not one of necessity. Seaglass jewelry is not an everyday, must-have item. But for someone that lives the lifestyle of using handmade items in their ever day life, they will find a way to purchase an item such as handmade soap- if only because it is better for their skin, or it's because it's eco friendly (or higher quality than many of the massed produced, chemical laden "stuff") So not every crafting business is affected the same way. Some will continue to flourish, while others face stagnating sales because of diminished purchasing power. My sales are way down. (as in WAAAAYYY down) I did a show recently and had to invest some of my own money into my business (a QE of sorts)to be able to afford the show. You'll have to checkout my next blog installment to see if it was a wise investment... but I'll leave you with a "it was encouraging". 'til next time, R

Busy Weekend,...New Creations...

With no shows on the calender this weekend, I've been trying to play catch-up. I made a few new items and put them into my Etsy shop, as I try to get my inventory numbers back up to a comfortable amount.

I woke up early, not of my own doing, but because my youngest son had a nightmare, climbed into bed with us and then proceeded to stretch his arms out....across my throat. Fearing possible suffocation, I climbed out of bed at 4:30am, made a pot of coffee and sat down to do finish some wire wrapping I had started the night before (see image above) for a custom order.

After breakfast, we dropped the boys off at their Aunt's and headed to LBI to add a few new pieces to my consignment collection there...only to find a couple of my necklaces were looking dingy. I cleaned what I could, and brought the rest home to clean up.

We headed up to Barnegat to another consignment...The Gold Duster. I brought a few new jewelry displays with me, in hopes of grabbing another shelf in this beautiful gallery...and lucky me, the curator (Karen) had one available for me...and even better, a check for a sold piece (don't you love when that happens!!)

We got back home in time to get the boys to a birthday party, and then ran them up to my younger sister's home for a sleep-over with their cousin...went home and passed out : )

Now I'm hoping I can get hubby to do a little early morning sea glass hunting and out to breakfast...maybe. Coffee is done brewing, I'm off to pour a cup and get hubby out of bed.

Enjoy the day!


'til next time...
R

Business or A Hobby Part 3

In the 3rd blog on running your handmade shop as a business as opposed to a hobby, I wanted to talk about how important it is to network at craft fairs, and how to use this information to plan future shows.

When I first began doing shows, I sat behind my table quietly...almost sheepishly, like my creations weren't worthy. Well several shows later, I've learned how much time I wasted at these shows... even though I thought I had a decent show, I missed out on so many opportunities. Opportunities like networking with some of the more experienced sellers, missing chances to sell my services for possible custom work, etc.

In my opinion, networking with other vendors is a huge key to doing a show. Finding out what shows these vendors do every year and more importantly, which shows they do very well at and which shows are over-rated is info worth it's weight in gold (especially the shows that are over-rated!!)

The street teams on Etsy can be very valuable in the show info sharing department. The EtsyNJ team constantly provides show info and I can't stress the importance of being part of a strong team. The info has saved me from having some horrible shows, and steered me to shows I would have never known existed...I currently have stacks of applications on my desk for late summer/autumn and winter shows, along with a semi-full calender of shows I've already been accepted to. I'll turn to my team members for feedback on some of the upcoming shows before mapping out the remainder of my 2009 "show circuit".

A big plus...as soon as you know you've been accepted to shows... create a flyer to let your customers know where they may find you in the future. Not everyone likes to by online yet. Some don't like paying for something they haven't held in their hand, while others don't want to pay for shipping when they can find you at a future show. I have several specific areas where I have a small "following" and I try to let these repeat customers know when I'll be back in the future.

I also make sure to book a few to several shows in these areas throughout the year. If it is a good area, there's no harm in booking a return show 2, 3 4 weeks later. If that's where your business does well, then that's where you need to be! On the other hand, if a show has not lived up to your expectations... well there's no sense in beating a dead horse (or maybe fool me once, shame on you, fool me... I just had to use one of DH cliches...lol)

In my last installment, I also mentioned how finding my niche made my handmade "business" a bit easier on me. While I love creating, sitting at the table, thumbing through a Fire Mountain supply book to purchase beads was always a bit boring. Going to the local craft shop was okay, but also time consuming and it took up so much of my creating time. But turning to something (sea glass) that had been a passion of mine for decades made this venture fun again. And now I have help : )

My hubby is also quite passionate about sea glass. He knows rarities, is very good at evaluating sea glass and he's very good at locating jewelry quality pieces. DH knows what I like to work with, probably knows sea glass values much better than I do and he keeps me fairly well stocked all year long. And that allows me more time to create or take a much needed break from the business when I feel burnt out after several weeks of working, coming home to create and then a long day at shows.

I still select all my silver components, but when it comes to sea glass, DH is my source. Since he shares my passion for sea glass, he has no problem going out on awful weather days to hunt at the beach for some new inventory. He actually looks forward to the possibilities of what might be waiting for him to scoop out of the surf.

Of course, his knowledge is also helpful at my show table. Since eliminating glass bead/semi-precious stone jewelry (which he knew zero about) he can give me long breaks at shows. For the most part, he knows where the sea glass was found and if it's not a local piece, where the piece came from. Creating a niche category has allowed me to spend time with DH at shows and has made him my show partner. He finds the sea glass, drills holes for the few pieces I need drilled and I make the finished product. It works well for both of us.

Our niche jewelry category works in the area we live in. Being near the beach, we have many customers stop at our display to talk sea glass. It is something that people remember from their childhoods, something they want to share with their children and my sea glass jewelry is a way to keep that memory alive.

Of course there are people who see my creations and move onto the next jewelry vendor to buy something, because sea glass means little to them. So in that respect, some people walk away as fast as they came. In the past, that wasn't a problem because I something for everyone with my glass beads jewelry. But focusing on just one medium...sea glass creations... is much easier to me than worrying about what the market is bearing for several types of jewelry.

I've always believed that stagnation is very dangerous selling handmade. I think you always need to create something new, something to catch the eye of your customer. Since I enjoy working with sea glass, I have incorporated some old ideas into some new creations. This new line is still a work-in-progress, but I hope to have a few pictures of my new creations in the next few days.


I hope you have found some useful info in this 3-part blog and to those that have asked me for a couple of suggestions, I hope this has helped. Successful craft shows can be very important to your online sales and your handmade business as a whole. Building a following/repeat customers are what will help you to be successful.

'til next time...

R

New sites, New Opportunities & Hope that the Show Season Finishes Strong

First off, a Happy B-Day wish to my 12 yo son Eric!!

So things have become hectic over the last 5 or 6 days. It started with a phone call asking if I'd be interested in a space at a craft show last weekend. I had been a bit hesitant, because recent shows have been a bit disappointing (and I was all set for this weekend's show) and almost turned it down.
I accepted and I'm very happy I did. The show went well, I met a few sea glass enthusiasts-which turned into at least one wire-wrapping job (and possibly a couple more to follow) and perhaps a few of show's customers will find their way to my Etsy shop.

I spent Sunday taking pictures and trying to replenish my now depleted Etsy shop and scrambling to build up inventory levels. I had forgotten that this weekend's show is a 10x5 space and not a 6 foot table, which means more displays and of course, more inventory than I planned for. I may have to break out my scarf display and load up whatever scarves I have (which may not be a bad idea as the temperature has turned cold very quickly in New Jersey)

I was not only taking pictures for my Etsy shop, but also for a new site that has been running for a short while... 1000 markets. ( http://www.1000markets.com/users/creationsbyrobin )
Of course with a new site comes all the fun of adding an avatar and banner and getting used to navigating a different site.
I like the site at 1000Markets, it's a fun site and looks nice. It doesn't have the ability (as of yet) to promote items on the site, so it's going to take a lot of promoting and word of mouth to drive new traffic there. Since items can quickly get lost on Etsy, especially this time of the year, this site is much smaller and it may offer a viable option to Etsy or at least another avenue to sell my creations. Of course, Etsy is still my main site and will remain so, but it's nice to have a second option, even if it is a little more work.

Speaking of other avenues, today I received an email on the 1000Markets site about another possible opportunity. It seems this new site is geared more towards fashion, but it does have a jewelry category and it didn't seem to overloaded. I'll take a better look at the site later this week and see if anyone I know is familiar with the site... hopefully in my next couple of blog installments, I'll have some good news about this site.
I've also been invited to display some of my jewelry at an upscale boutique this spring and summer at the NJ shore. I'm really going to need to build-up my inventory to do this because I'm pretty sure they are mostly interested in my sea glass creations. (hopefully, the next "spring tides" wash up many jewelry-quality gems!) The boutique is located in one of the more ritzy areas on the Jersey shore and from what I can tell, the boutique looks very nice.

I spoke with a few non-Etsy crafters and they all have been mildly surprised with their recent craft shows. It seems that as Thanksgiving edges closer, the people are looking to buy handmade items, even if they are buying at the middle to lower end of the price scale... they are buying and that is an improvement over what I experienced and had heard during the month of October.
Maybe it has to do with having a new president. Maybe it's because people feel better that our President-elect is being open with the country, or people are feeling a bit better about the economy. Perhaps people are just looking to make this a nice holiday, while cutting back on their spending.
Whatever it is, I hope everyone doing craft shows the rest of this holiday season have terrific shows. Would having more than expected sales online be too much to ask for too? : )

'til next time...
R

Does the Sluggish Economy Carry-Over to Crafts and Craft Shows?

Going into my first craft show (this past weekend in Eagleswood- Country Fair) I have to admit, I was a bit concerned about how the economy would affect the early Autumn shows. After having a decent summer on Etsy and an okay late summer craft show, I was prepared to see my little business "kick it" into high gear for the fall.

When September proved to be very slow, I chalked it up to back to school and thought perhaps that a late September rush would occur. A couple of late September sales bouyed my hopes. However October sales on Etsy have remained sluggish and I had fears going into last Saturday's shows.

Like many other crafters/artists, I have prepaid into many shows for the fall and I'll average 2 or 3 shows a month until Christmas. Clearly the economy has had much to do with the sluggish sales on Etsy (I know I'm no the only seller that has felt the crunch in the economy).

The show I did this past weekend isn't a craft show, but actually a Country Fair. Cheer gyms were performing, there were antique cars, pony rides & games for the children, pie-eating contests, etc.

So I went into the show expecting a poor showing and hoped that I could promote my Etsy shop and maybe make a few show sales and future online sales from the show. As it turned out, I handed out quite a few business cards, spoke with a bride-to-be about possibly creating sea glass jewelry for her wedding and ended up with a custom order for another customer, along with promoting a few of my future shows to people who live in those areas.

Overall, the show did better than last year's figures and wasn't a waste of time. Not that it would've been... my family came to the show with me and my sons were able to partake in all of the activities and really enjoyed themselves. This was the one show that they are able to come to without being bored after 30 minutes.

I had hoped to match last year's figures and I ended up exceeding those numbers (if only slightly) but I think I'll have a few repeat customers at a few of my future shows and hopefully this show will lead to a few online sales also.

The jury is still out on how the economy is going to affect my craft show schedule. This show will give me a reason to have a bit more of a positive outlook as I head into a few of my big shows later this month.

But I'm still hoping the economy regulates a little more, so people feel a bit easier about spending money in the very near future.

til next time...

R

PS- my first attempt at wire-wrapping...this beautiful frosty white piece of beach glass was found this summer on LBI, in NJ and will go into my Etsy shop shortly. Watch for a Sea Glass blog later this week!

Craft Shows, New Items, Craft Networking...

My first craft show of the spring season was yesterday. It wasn't a very good show, turnout wise. The cloudy, rainy cold weather we've had along the Jersey shore recently had much to do with the turnout. After a cloudy, rainy, WARM Saturday, the sun finally made an appearance on Sunday. While it was much colder than the previous day, it was still nice enough to get outside and do things outside the house. There were sooo many people going out for walks and exercising (my hubby took the boys for a beachcombing trek and there quite a few people walking on the beach, fishing, etc) so, I think the nice day became a huge factor in the weak turnout.
The show also had many vendors selling jewelry. As a seller of jewelry, it's nice when shows limit the amount of jewelry they allow in the show. The promoters of this show didn't and there were some customers complaining about all the jewelry. So while I didn't have a good show, I did make back my table money and made a bit of a profit, but it certainly wasn't worth my time and effort. It could have been worse, but I think I'll have to pass on this spring show next year.

I made several new items for this show, including a bunch of new sea glass creations...bracelets, necklaces and earrings. One of the necklaces sold, along with a necklace from my Etsy shop (that had about a dozen hearts) and I sold a couple pairs of beach glass earrings. My beach glass items did draw a lot of attention and many of those people took a business card, so hopefully I make an Etsy sale or 2 from this show.

Craft networking... this is an interesting topic and one that I read quite a bit about in the Etsy forums. Networking outside of the the forums and does it work? It's worked for me, as I've made a few sales through these forums and discussed crafting, shows, Etsy. It's way to discuss things on a more personal basis than the Etsy forums, where sometimes you can end up talking with 20 people. Some of these social networking sites take up a little time each week, but they really do work and can often result in a new Etsy customer or three!

I came across this site about a month ago.... http://home.bigcrumbs.com/RideTheWave
I often surf Ebay for items or supplies I can use in my crafts. Some of the most-respected sea glass sellers sell jewelry quality pieces on Ebay and the link above, allows me to get cash back on my Ebay auction purchases!
I also just order a crafting magazine from one of the other sites affiliated with this program and my final cost for a magazine that I have purchased from the store fro $3.99 an issue... 1 year/8 issues for $9.90 after receiving my cash back rebate! (the subscription cost $12.00 minus a $2.10 rebate!) I get cash back when I buy from 230+ well-known company sites!
I'm doing nothing different, except getting cash back now....Very Cool and it's totally FREE!

Til next time...
R

Spring Craft Show Season, Etsy, Spring blog

So Spring is under way, though you wouldn't know it on the Jersey shore. It continues to be cold, windy and quite cloudy. The weather hasn't made it much fun to do a little beachcombing and for the first time in many months, I didn't head to the beach after a full or new moon to see if the sea presented any wonderful items.
Part of the reason, I didn't go was my youngest son had a bad chest/head cold and so did my his dad-and my beachcombing partner. Another reason has been that despite the weather, there has been quite a bit of competition on the beach... it seems like everyone is looking for beach glass, driftwood, unique shells, etc.
The prices for beach glass from reputable sellers on Ebay has more than doubled and in some cases tripled or quadrupled for what I was paying just 6-8 months ago. I call it the Etsy-effect. Beach glass creations sell for so much money on Etsy, that many people understand what a jewelry-quality piece of beach glass is worth. Many Ebay listings now sell pre-drilled beach glass, something that was rarely found on Ebay more than 6 months ago! I'm convinced that Etsy's popularity has something to do with it (and perhaps the lack of quality pieces showing up on the beaches factor in also)

My first craft show of the season is the Sunday, April 13th. The show is held at the Forked River High School, in Lacey Township and I'm excited about the advertising the promoters have been doing for this show. Huge (yes, HUGE!) signs have been posted around town and I've have seen some media advertising. The fall craft show always draws large crowds and with inclement weather predicted for this weekend, hopefully this show will get a nice turnout.
Over 200 handmade vendors will be there and spots are sold out!

My next show will be the first Sunday in May, in Manahawkin, NJ at the Southern Regional High School. I'm currently looking to add on more show before Memorial Day Weekend, hopefully local, before taking the summer off to enjoy the beach with my family, concentrate on my Etsy shop and gear up for the Fall/Winter show season.

I have many new creations, not yet listed on Etsy and I may wait until after this weekend's show to get them online. But, if the weather cooperates and Iget a nice day to take pictures, I'll try to preview some of the pieces in my next blog entry!

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

5 shopping days until Christmas, Etsy and international shipping

Wow, the shopping season is about to come to a close. Etsy has added a link for buyers who may still be looking for a last minute gift... "shopping local", which is a good idea. But for myself, Thursday orders will need to ship Priority Mail to NJ, eastern PA, Delaware and the southern most parts of NY to have any chance of getting there in time for Christmas.
Many of my customers this year on ETSY have been on the west coast and I can no longer be 100% certain a package shipped at this point will reach them in time.

So, my ETSY shop has gone international! I shipped this year to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and most recently to Ireland.
It's time to get the boys a world map, so they can track all countries that Mommy has shipped to! They think it's so cool and I'm happy they like to be involved (they really helped a lot at my last craft show, with the set-up and breakdown of the table and my 4 yo handed out business cards like they were candy... who's gonna refuse a cute 4 yo ...LOL)

So as my 5th month on Etsy is slowly coming to a close (well it'll be 5 full months on Jan 6th) my December wasn't bad, though I did expect a bit better, but with 12 sales ( and 2 being custom sales, that received terrific feedback write ups!) I really can't complain. The December craft shows were okay and overall I did much better than I ever expected I'd do when I started this whole little business. I still have 12 more days before the end of the month and there may still be a few more sales!

I just found out that my sweetie bought a spot in a Craft Book featuring 20 or so crafters. The spot is 2 pages and I need to submit 4 pictures and a small writeup (between a couple of sentences and a paragraph) Many of my nicest pieces of beach glass jewelry are long gone and so are my nicest hand-painted pendants ( I gave them as presents to friends for the holidays) and I have to come up with 4 awesome pictures over the next few days...yikes.
Luckily I still have some of the photos of a few sold items, and I guess if push comes to shove, I can still submit those.... I wish he would have discussed this with me first...LOL-- I should complain- I'm lucky my family supports me in this endeavor.

Well, in case I don't make it back to my blog in the next few days...
A MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY HOLIDAY to all!!!

til next time...
R

When a favorite item sells....

For those that have read my blog before, you already know of my love for Beach Glass and more specifically Cobalt Blue beach glass. I had a cobalt blue necklace in my shop for about a month and it had a bunch of views and even a few hearts, but no takers. I really wanted to keep it, but since the cobalt gem wasn't one of my personal finds (purchased from a co-founder of the North American Sea Glass Association) I promised myself I'd try to sell it.
I even bought a new camera (finally) and took new pictures of the piece and re-listed it on ETSY and again, lots of views, a few more hearts, but no one looking to pull the trigger and buy it. Craft show after craft show, lots of compliments and lots of beach glass lovers ooh-ing and
ahh-ing but no takers.
Until this past Friday night's craft show. I marked it down a bit because this show was a Santa's Secret Workshop and it was really a lot of 12 yo and unders looking to buy Christmas presents for teachers, parents, family members, etc.
So about half way through the night this young boy, maybe 8 or 9 years old comes up to the table with his Mom and while I'm chatting with her, her son is looking at some of my jewelry, beach glass pieces included. After a few minutes they stroll on to the next table. About 10 or 15 minutes later, back he comes with his Mom and strides right up to the beach glass, points out the Cobalt piece and says she'll love it.
This sweet little boy is buying the necklace for his older sister (says the Mom, who looked so very proud of her son) who loves the color blue and enjoys walking on the beach looking for beach glass... and she has never found a piece of blue.
As sad as I was to see the necklace leave, I wish I could be a fly on the wall on Christmas morning when his older sister opens this treasure and knowing it was picked out by her brother, makes the story all the better.
I hope she thinks of him every time she wears the necklace with her 1st piece of blue beach glass and I'm so happy that the story that goes with it is so sweet. Just seeing the looks on both the little boy's face and the proud look on his Mom's face, I know this creation has gone to a good home.
Now if I can just falling in love with my beach glass creations....

til next time...
R

16 Shopping days until Christmas.... craft shows, etsy, etc

Wow, the holiday season is seriously upon and I'm only about 50% finished with my holiday shopping. I know that some people still have a ways to go before they're finished, but at this time of the year, I'm usually just looking for 1 or 2 presents and my boys are always finished (with the exception of some of their stocking stuffer gifts)

Well, my craft show schedule for the holiday season has come to a close. The 2-day show was pretty good, with Friday night being the better of the 2 days. The Saturday show was a bit over-shadowed by a bigger show at the Seaport and a smaller Church Bazaar only 2 or 3 blocks away.
I had originally picked the Seaport show as my final show of the season, but their website was vague on table info and it's an outdoor show, under tents. At $100 for a spot, adverse weather would've drove the people to the other shows in town and I didn't want to risk that kind of money on the chance of bad weather.
But no complaints. Next year if everything is scheduled on the same days, I may only do the Friday night show and take my creations to another local show for Saturday ( or maybe I'll tell my hubby, he's going to run one show on Saturday and I'll do a different show!)

Knock on wood (as I knock on hubby's head) but Etsy continues to remain somewhat busy. I picked up another custom order tonight from my shop and every couple days, I've received a small order or 2, so we've made a few trips to the PO this month (and hopefully we need to make a bunch more before the end of the month)
I continue to ship internationally, this past week saw packages to both the United Kingdom and Australia ship from the post office. My sons are very interested in the international shipping and I think we're going to buy them a decent-sized world map and let them mark off with push pins, where Mommy's packages are going.

Okay, it's off to bed. I have a small knit showing tomorrow and a couple small jewelry showings this week. In both cases I have to travel 25+ miles, so I hope I'm not wasting a lot of time... time I could be spending finishing my holiday shopping.

til next time...
R

PS- This coming week, if I have the time, I plan on featuring a yarn shop, Catalina Yarns and hopefully a seller the following week.
Tomorrow's blog--- my Cobalt pendant/necklace is around someone's neck & it's not mine : (

Less than 30 days until Christmas... Craft Show updates

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we're rapidly heading towards December. Less than 30 shopping days until Christmas and I'm about 35% finished shopping for everyone. Okay enough dreary news... on to the good stuff.

Etsy has remained slow, though I did make a sale since my last blog update. It was to a member of the Yuwie site I blogged about a month ago. (it's like myspace, but you can make money by viewing pages...lol, I'm on a 5 year plan before I extract my 1st check) A new online friend bought a pair of earrings, so the extra work I put in at the site has started to pay off and since I'll be shipping her earrings tomorrow, hopefully she'll love them (don't you always keep your fingers crossed that the buyer loves your item when they have it in their hands?) and post about the great earrings she bought from ETSY. Hopefully, we'll get even more customers shopping at the site!
Speaking of ETSY... my sweetie and I invested in a camera...finally! I'm still in the process of photgraphing the entire shop and editing the pictures, but take a look at the difference! It was well worth the money.

Craft Shows-

Nov 30- Eagleswood, NJ Firehouse 6pm -10pm Free admission.

Dec 7- Little Egg Harbor, NJ- Middle school (directions to follow this week) 4:30pm- 8:30pm
Dec 8- LEH Middle School 10am- 2pm- The 2 shows are sponsered by the PTA and are very well attended.

til next time!
R

My article about ETSY was published !!

I recently wrote an article about how Etsy has taken over Ebay's marketshare when it comes to handmade items (I've notice alot of little ads when I'm on Ebay about "sell your crafts on Ebay", so I guess they've also noticed the drop-off)
If you get a chance, click on the link and check it out...feel free to comment/rate the article and pass the link along to anyone who you think would enjoy it.


www.associatedcontent.com/article/424772/move_over_ebay_make_room_for_etsy.html



I also wrote this article about my favorite pastime when at the beach... hunting for beach glass...

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/418088/beach_glass_trash_or_an_antique_gem.html


Thanks for taking a look!

R

Autumn, Holidays, crafting project and shows

Halloween is rapidly approaching and I'm crossing my fingers that I may get a show for this coming weekend. It's the show I so wanted to do, but heard it had been filled. Last week I heard there may be a few more openings (there were a few tables last yr that were not very prepared... low stock and not much of a display and apparently the mgrs of the show didn't want this again this yr) and I sent in an application after my sweetie spoke with them. I included a few pictures of my table display and some of my items, along with my business card. I've always received compliments about my table displays at the shows I've done, so I'm hoping I receive word early this week.
My holiday line is coming around and I put a couple items on ETSY last night, to see how they would do. One item sold within hours (WOOHOO- thanks Capturing Life!) and the other pendant is featured in my shop and should be on the right border of this blog, in my ETSY mini. I've been experimenting with some prints of my personal photos on pendants and ornaments made from polymer clay and I finally found the right combo of clay, paper and finish (the above picture is the Grand Canyon and I'm going to make it an ornament. I also have a couple pictures of lighthouses, sunrises and the beach, along with decorative Holiday prints. My family members will be receiving ornaments with pictures of my 2 boys and I may offer to do some custom jobs at upcoming shows (and maybe at ETSY, if time allows) for personalized ornaments.

My Yuwie crafters group is now up to 13 members and I received another message from a "friend" that they visited my ETSY shop and they said they'll be signing up, looking for Xmas gifts. Hopefully they stop by my shop for a couple of those gifts : )
If you'd like to join the club, you can join by using this invite.
http://r.yuwie.com/creationsbyr The site is free and resembles myspace (but w/o the spam) but you may find that everyone wants you to be their "friend". It's a good thing, as you get paid for page views and another place for me to advertise my Etsy shop. I spend about 20 minutes a day there, accepting all my friend requests and I've viewed about 1,900 pages (I guess repeat views on pages count) It may take me awhile to earn enough to request a cash out, but it's totally free, so what the heck (especially if it results in a sale or 2)

Sorry, the picture of the Grand Canyon item isn't coming up, the blog site is having difficulties with the upload section of the site. I'll try again later.

Til next time...
R

Autumn weather finally reaches the Northeast

Finally, the summer-like weather has pushed out and more seasonable temps have moved in. The leaves in the trees are still mostly green, but the tops of the trees are showing some color change. The acorns look to be much bigger than the last few years and hopefully, it's Mother Nature's way of taking care of the squirrels when it's going to be a bad winter.
At the show I did last weekend, there were a couple of crafters with knitted items and we all had a lot of people looking at the scarves, it was kind of tough for anyone to even think about spending money on a knitted scarf when it felt like it was 90 degrees.
I don't know how other sellers of knitted items are doing on Etsy or the craft shows, but this weather had me working on other projects instead of gearing up for Autumn and Winter.
My pendants seem to be doing well, I have a custom order to make 2 pendants that have already sold thru my Etsy shop and another custom order that includes a few pieces of jewelry and a hand-painted pendant. I'm tempted to do some custom work as gifts for the holidays, but I'm leery about losing the creative control and getting swamped by orders and not having enough to inventory for my future shows.
Speaking of craft shows, I'm looking to grab a table in about 2 weeks for a Saturday evening show and I'd like to see about sneaking in a show for the 1st weekend in November, before my 2 bigger shows in the middle and end of November. I have 1 scheduled for December and I'd like to try for a 2nd, but it's going to be tough inventory wise.
I'm still working on my beach glass items and should have a couple more pieces ready for my next show.
Til next time...
R