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

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving weekend Coupon codes

I hope everyone had a safe Thanksgiving Day. Getting my footing back in Etsy has been difficult and getting back into the swing of operating an online business has been challenging. There has been some significant changes since CreationsByRobin was last active, both on Etsy and with my sea glass supplier. I'm very thankful that the ocean is once again sharing it's treasures with me and I am thankful to once again have the opportunity to share my creation thru Etsy.

Once again, it's been quite awhile since my last blog entry. I have been blogging on my other blog,
Sea Glass CreationsByRobin ( creationsbyrobinseaglass.blogspot.com ) and there are several images of new creations listed in my Etsy shop, new creations that will be listed soon and new pieces of sea glass that I found on the beach over the last few months (ok...my hubby found them, it's too darn cold for me...lol)

My Etsy shop has 2 discount codes available...one is a 15% for total purchases under $30 and the other is a 20% off for purchases over $30...all purchases come with free shipping. These codes remain in affect thru Cyber Monday (12:01 am on 12/2)

I also have a special blog discount set up.... "Sea Glass By Robin" this is an additional 15% off your remaining total after you apply the Etsy shop discount. To receive this discount, select your purchases, apply your

Etsy shop discount and then send me a convo on Etsy, with the blog code in the subject. I will adjust your total due by an additional 15% and send you a return convo to let you know your order is adjusted.

That is what's new with me. Hopefully, my DH can get to the beach tomorrow and see if anything new has been offered up by the ocean.
There are several new creations for me to list, a few more that need images and a few pieces waiting for me to make into a handmade piece of jewelry.

If you stop by and don't see a new entry, please add my other blog to your list and check there. I try to add something new there at least once or twice a week. Stay safe and enjoy the holiday weekend!

'til next time...
R

Dreaming of Sea Glass

Raining and overcast today on the Jersey shore. Saturday is change-over day and the traffic getting to and on LBI is going to be stop and go, so going to my favorite stretch of beach is probably a crazy idea. Instead I will add a new piece of jewelry or two to my Etsy shop, work on my blogs , pour myself a cup of coffee and dream of finding that elusive piece of orange sea glass. Or a few more like the piece below... : )

'til next time
R

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...

It's Been A Long Time

I have been away from this blog for quite a long time. Sadly, Superstorm Sandy has changed the face of seaglass hunting on the beaches I often frequent. Long Beach Island beaches were torn apart by Sandy. Even though the island has been successfully pieced back together, it appears that it may be a long time before my favorite sea glass hunting grounds begin to yield great pieces (and those great pieces were few and far between in recent years) Though we don't frequent the beach as often as we once did, we hope to get to the beach more often towards the end of the summer as the tourist season begins to grind to a close. Speaking of grinding to a close... my shop at Etsy.com has been closed for the time being. The joy of finding sea glass on the beach, spurred the idea of creating handmade jewelry with those finds. Sandy essentially closed the my favorite sea glass store and while, the store has reopened (the beach, the towns)the shelves remain barren. Maybe one day things will change...I'll keep looking and hopefully, I will have some new finds to post soon. 'til next time, R

Sea Glass Anklets & New Creations

For quite some time, I have received many requests for sea glass anklets.

Creating them didn't seem like a big deal, but my first pieces, like the image above, resembled some of the sea glass bracelets that I made in the past and I wanted something different for the anklets. I wanted to "introduce" a new line, with a new look. I wanted a bigger piece of glass, something bold. Most of the sea glass I find in the US is flat and rather than drill two holes and connect the sea glass on two sides to the sterling silver, I wanted something different.

I have several gorgeous pieces of English sea glass that are just too big for me to consider using them as the focal bead of a necklace. These pieces resemble marbles or are egg-shaped and would be very tough for me to wrap. I decided to drill these thicker, bulkier pieces right down the middle, from top to bottom and use them for my anklets. English sea glass, for those of you that aren't familiar, is also referred to as end-of-day glass. Before plastics replaced glass in many commercial uses, there were many glass factories in the UK and several were located near the ocean. At the end of the day, all the excess was dumped into the ocean. Several different jobs might get mixed into the same barrel and into the sea it went, where it would spend the next several decades, tumbling about and turning into some of the most beautiful examples of sea glass. It is truly amazing how mother nature can take man-made garbage and turn it into something so very beautiful.

Some of my customers are loving my new anklet creations. And some of them want to wear them as a bracelet, while others say they will wear it both ways. I think they look great as an anklet, and that is how I wear my piece. And I'm now on the hunt for an knock-out piece of English sea glass to create another one-of-a-kind treasure for myself. While I'm posting images, check out this bold and brilliant piece of dark red sea glass....

'til next time... R

Craft Show- Tips and Trends

At my most recent show, my hubby pointed out several things he observed during the show. Some of these observations were trends he noticed before and in the next few events they seemed to prove themselves as situations I wanted to create or avoid. Hubby is a people watcher and he'll often at shows, whisper to me that a certain person is going to buy something. The most bizarre thing is, he does it as the person is leaving my display and more often than not, he's correct because they come back and make a purchase!

The observation that he finds that often leads to a sale is- a crowd at the display and the bigger, the better! When I have several people standing in front of my display tables, it seems that more people see the crowd and get drawn in, like moths to a porch light. Others become curious and just have to see why there is a crowd at my display tables. Because two pieces of sea glass are rarely alike, my jewelry creations are essentially one-of-a-kind creations. And large crowds at my display make those right in front a little antsy, especially if they "love" one of my items. I have watched people have conversations with each other, almost justifying a reason why they are going to make a purchase... upcoming birthday, Put it away for a Christmas present, this is her color, etc. Sometimes it seems like the person feels that this could be there last chance to make the purchase and if they walk away and come back, "their" piece of jewelry will be bought by someone else. So crowds, especially a large and getting bigger crowd, will often facilitate a purchase and there is nothing better than a large group of people seeing someone make a purchase. I rarely make jewelry at a show. It's often just too hectic and I never liked the pressure of doing it in front of people. At my most recent show, I pulled out some jewelry-quality pieces of sea glass and decided I would try to wrap a couple. The foot traffic at the show was good, but sales were slow and hubby has always encouraged me to make jewelry at the show, "on-the-fly". With my hubby and two boys at the tables to talk with anyone who came to my display, I was able to start wrapping without interruption and just got lost wrapping jewelry. I had a nice flow going and after turning several pieces of sea glass into pendants, I looked up to find I had a large audience off to the side of my table, all watching me do my thing. Several inquired if I would consider making jewelry with a piece of sea glass they personally found on the beach, took business cards, and a couple of them made purchases. One person claimed that after they observed the process of how I chose to wrap a piece, it became more personable watching "the artist" create it right in front of them (wow, I'm an artist in somebody's mind!) Crafters, if you can preform your craft live at a show, seriously consider it- it goes back to my first tip- it draws a crowd to your display and that often results in something positive for you. Business cards are a must and if you feel comfortable, jot your phone number down on a few to hand out to those you feel may be a future customer. I went through a lot of cards in my last show and if only 10% of those people contact me in the coming months, that show will go from "above expectations" to "HUGE!!!" Credit Cards- I always accept credit card purchases and have only been burned twice in several years (both for small amounts, but it still gets me angry because sea glass is one-of-a-kind and I'll never find another piece like the one I just "gave away") This last show, I noticed that about 60% of the sales were credit cards, and that most of the mid-range price-point items were purchased via a cc. The lower end price points were cash purchases and the high-end items didn't sell. If you can, bring all of your inventory to the show. I sold a piece that I have had in my inventory for a couple of years. I know that there have been shows when this piece wasn't included in the inventory, but you can't sell what you didn't bring and luckily, this piece has found a new home...and the new owner was thrilled because it's her favorite color!

I'm happy that some people seemed to be in a purchasing mood at the show and I have made a couple of recent sales in my shop. But I am still pessimistic about the economy. I hope things are taking a turn for the better and that sales and future shows (for you and I) prove to be successful. Perhaps these tips will help you make a few sales and maybe attract a couple repeat customers for your products and business. Looking forward to see you on the show circuit! '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

Back Again

Well, it's been a long while. Since my last post, my blog was removed for suspicious activity (guess no activity is suspicious...lol)and I really had not been doing much with my jewelry-making. Last winter's storms wreaked havoc at the beach and the coastal towns were forced to rebuild the beaches and dunes. Great for the home owners and summer beach-goers, not very good for seaglass collectors. Not good at all The economy has also wreaked havoc on the crafting industry- at least in my area of crafting. For a while it seemed like people just didn't have disposable income for sea glass jewelry. When it comes to items that people "need" for everyday life, the money is there, but when it comes to a "want" item, I still think there are many people who can't afford small luxury items. I have several ideas for new posts. Some will touch on seaglass, some on my crafting, and on crafting in a shaky economy. My next blog entry will be about the show I did recently and how it's re-energized me to continue to do what I love - looking for, talking about and making jewelry with sea glass. 'til next time, R

Friday's Thoughts....

Once again, it's been a while since my last blog entry. My recently crazy work schedule, craft fairs, servicing my consignment shops, and keeping my Etsy shop somewhat stocked, has left me with very little free time, and my blogs have suffered.

I have jotted down a number of subjects that I had hoped to blog about (and still may) but since my schedule book is still overflowing with need-to-do's, it may be a good idea to throw out some random thoughts on these subjects.... and call it a blog entry : )

The first subject is the pros & cons of promoting off of the Etsy site.
There is an obvious need for promoting. But when off-site promoting results in several hundred views, (in less than 48 hours) do Etsy shoppers begin to wonder why the item hasn't sold?

I've been using a few sites to help promote my new listings and I have found that either there are a lot of people on one particular site that like sea glass jewelry, or the members love to look at handmade items. Either way, I'm no longer stunned when one of my new items receives 500 views in less than 12 hours! Some of my items have 750+ views in the first 24 hours. But I wonder what Etsy shoppers think when they see a large number of views...and very few hearts. A perfect example is the last item I listed, earlier this week.

After listing the item, I had to run out to get my sons off their school buses and didn't have time to promote. Shortly after getting them settled into their homework mode, I promoted in the Etsy forums a little. In the first 90 minutes, the new listing had 11 views, and 2 item hearts (wow 2 hearts from 11 views...very cool!) So I promoted off the Etsy site... in the next 6 hours my item had been viewed over 600 times (and still only 2 hearts) and by the end of the night, the item had been viewed more than 800 times!

Perhaps because of listing the item (on Stumble Upon) several of my other items listed there also received views, with one item (now up over 1,100 views and just one lonely item heart) adding another 100 views for the day...and I haven't promoted that item on Etsy in several days.

Is it a good thing that my items are being viewed by so many? I'm not sure the number of views on some items is a good thing...and I wish the feature was hidden from buyers and only available to my eyes... but I also think that some of my sales can be contributed directly to promoting off-site. There have been days where I added an item, failed to do any promoting on Etsy, but did promote off-site and the item sells within a few days....and often to someone who just joined Etsy that very day! Still, I'm not sure what buyers make of a new item with hundreds of views, but no takers.

Another thought on promoting... My hubby uses traffic exchanges for his various "things" and he has promoted my shop on several of these exchanges recently...some with little to no success, but the results according to Google Analytics on a few others were quite startling!

On one particular exchange, out of 175+ visits, I had a bounce rate of 58%. But those that did look at my shop, really looked! My overall stats were more than 2.4 pages per visit and the time spent in my shop was over 90 seconds per visit...and more than half of those visits left immediately...so those that stayed, really looked around! And what is best about this one particular site...the numbers have not dropped off terribly on subsequent campaigns.

I just asked hubby if he could please promote my shop a bit heavier this weekend and I might have to look into joining one of those free sites myself, just to promote my shop on a daily basis. The numbers matched up well to those from Stumble Upon...so who knows, it may be worth the effort. (not the number of views, but the bounce rate, time on site and pages per visit.. hubby doesn't promote a particular item, only my store page, so views are not skewed)

My final thought for today's blog is ... the sea glass supply is slowly drying up. Yikes, I have a niche market and now no one is dumping their garbage in the ocean anymore... what is up with that! And worse yet, no one uses glass bottles anymore. Everything is now plastic.

My recent trips to the beach have been total busts. I've come away with very little sea glass and zero pieces that I would consider jewelry quality. And unfortunately, the conditions were perfect for sea glass hunting... no one on the beach, low tide, lots of shells...but sadly, very little sea glass.
We even had back to back to back weeks of tropical storms off the coast or strong winds from the east and still almost nothing.

I wonder if sea plastic is the next rage : (


'til next time...
R

Has The Holiday Shopping Season Begun??

I don't really pay much attention to the financial news, but I've been told that the economy is turning around a little. People are beginning to re-invest in the stock market and retail companies are doing better...that's what the latest financial indicators are saying .

Well it might be true! My indicators seem to be mirroring what the financial markets are saying. In my last entry I blogged about how the last show I did exceeded expectations. During the week, I noticed a little bit of added traffic to my Etsy.com store and over the weekend, my numbers (according to my shop analytics) hit a couple all-time highs for visits and page views, with Sunday's numbers going over 1,000 visitors for the first time.

Another indicator for my store is in the "hearts" I am receiving in my shop. I have always found that a positive indicator was to see buyer-only hearts and the last 10 shop-hearts I received, 5 of those are from buyers-only. So buyers are visiting Etsy and surfing the site. (when I refer to "buyers" I mean registered Etsy members that do not have a shop on Etsy) A couple of my individual items have also been "hearted" recently by Etsy buyers.

One of my upcoming craft shows has a blog that includes the vendors and those with websites are back linked. My Etsy shop analytics have shown visitors from the shows blog to my site, and this weekend, I received a handful of visitors from the blog.

Maybe last weekend's show was than just a better than expected show. Perhaps people are beginning to purchase gifts for the holidays earlier and spreading out the cost of their holiday shopping over a few months, rather than a 5 or 6 week period of time. Maybe we are just beginning to see a light at the end of this horrible economic tunnel.

It is certainly something to consider as I start getting my inventory geared towards the holidays. The "indicators" seem to be telling me I need to step up my plans for the remainder of the year and try to take advantage of what seems to be many buyers coming back to Etsy.com.
Hopefully the worst really is over and we all get to finish the year off with a couple solid months of sales.

'til next time...

R

Summer Shows, Economy Woes & New Sea Glass Necklaces

I was hoping for a great show this past Saturday at OM Baby in Pt. Pleasant. The weather report was for mostly cloudy skies and no rain. (two days before the show) The day before, the weather called for partly cloudy skies... the day of the show was... sun, sun and more sun. Not a cloud to found in the sky... and abundant sun in a beach town usually doesn't bode well for lots of traffic...except near the beach.

The traffic flow was resembled a leaky sink. People dripped in every once in awhile.... that doesn't mean it was an awful show... far from it. Doing a show with 20+ EtsyNJ vendors is always fun. I had not had the chance to talk face to face with some of the members before, so it was great to put a face/faces to the shop. There was quite a bit of future show info being shared, lots of show stories being shared, etc. It also helped that Kim, our show's organizer, brought in a jazz guitarist for a bit a flavor.

In the afternoon, the beach started clearing out and we did see a bit more traffic. Many tables did see a bit of customer action, a couple sales at the end of a show are usually a great way to end a show...no matter how well you've done during the day.

Some insight into buying habits at this show... It certainly appears that the slow economy is on people's minds. Disposable income seems very limited and in many cases non-existent. I watched several people walk away from a vendor's space empty-handed, even in spite of raving about a product that they loved. I also noticed that the vendors that accepted credit cards, were using their knucklebusters during the show. IMO, accepting credit cards is an absolute must when it comes to doing shows...at least at this point.

This show was the first where people seemed to be buying items for themselves, rather than buying items as future gifts. In all, I think I need to re-think what makes a show successful. For me, the benchmark for a good show used to be 8x-10x table fee. I think in this economy, that number needs adjusting. And marketing/promoting my shop with potential customers at shows needs to be paramount. Buyers have so many quality handmade items to choose from, so getting them to stop at one of my online shops after a show has become more important than ever.

My new silver order was delivered today, so I'll have several new items over the next few days. The images of my latest Etsy listings are above.

'til next time...

R

Back from vacation and I have a show in 3 days

There's nothing quite like a Disney vacation to make you wish for another vacation (or even a long weekend) to recuperate!
I really thought my long treks on the beach, looking for sea glass, would have me ready for all the walking at the Disney parks. No such luck... but I did lose a few- 10 pounds with all the walking, 90+ degree days and high humidity.

I considered bringing my laptop with me on the trip, but decided that this vacation would be a no-promoting, (other than wearing some of my personal sea glass jewelry) no Etsy vacation. After arriving home and getting the boys to bed, I checked my shop and now wonder if that was really a great idea.

Even with no promoting, I made a sale, have an item in a treasury and received 4 convos. It sometimes takes a month or more for me to receive 4 convos...lol. Maybe on the next vacation, the laptop needs to join us.

It's supposed to be sunny later today and I hope to have a few pictures of some of the new items I created before my vacation and the creations I make today. Above is an image of one I created and listed on Etsy before I left.

I'll be in Point Pleasant this Saturday, at OM Baby for a show with all EtsyNJ vendors... if you're near the Jersey shore this weekend, stop by OM Baby and say Hi!

'til next time...

R

Sea Glass Everywhere...New Items, & Finalizing my Summer Show Schedule

Sea Glass everywhere...well not on the beach, there hasn't been too much in my favorite hunting spots, so far this year...but I'm hoping that an early morning trip to the beach turns out to be an adult Easter egg hunt.

I've been matching up pieces for future projects, so my sea glass is spread out on a few tables. I've been pulling pieces for future earring and bracelet creations and I've pulled some not great pieces to practice a few new wire wrapping techniques on. To this point, I've kept my wrapping to what I would term "very basic".

Very Basic is my preferred style because I really don't like to take away from the beauty of the glass and I definitely don't want to drill a hole in some of the nicer pieces that can be used for pendants on a necklace.

These larger, well-rounded shards are becoming very hard to find and to drill a hole into it would be a shame...it's just my opinion and personal preference... I guess when I create, I create what I would be excited to wear myself and that preference is what shows up in my finished pieces. I guess I would drill a hole into a larger piece if that's what the customer preferred (or do a more involved wire wrapping on a piece, if the customer so desired)

So anyway, I'm looking to create a couple of 4th of July items and as usual, I'm a bit stuck on the red pieces... reds are the most sought-after of colors, so it's not at all unusual. I think I have enough for a pair of Red, White and Blue earrings and if I can get away with using only one red piece for a bracelet...lol

It is a lot of fun playing mix and match with the sea glass and I can spend hours sitting at my craft tables looking at/for possible matches.

The above pictures are my newest items...the forest green necklace sits in my Etsy shop, while the beautiful soft seafoam green necklace is a new entry in my ArtFire shop.

I have a couple of pending dates for my summer show schedule, along with a definite show and one that I'd like to do.

First off...the definite...

July 11th, OM Baby in Point Pleasant, NJ- This is a EtsyNJ team event and there will probably be anywhere from 20-25 team members present for this beach resort show!

Pending dates...

June 7th- Barnegat Bay Festival- This is the 12th annual show and they often have thousands of visitors at this show. I haven't received the word that I'm accepted, but since they cashed my check... : )

July 18th- The 2nd annual Handmade Faire- Still waiting to hear if they were able to get permits.This is another EtsyNJ team dominated event and one of the best shows in NJ...last fall's show saw over 90 vendors and lots of traffic before the tornado/hurricane- like weather moved in. The show is juried and they do a great job offering variety...vendors from several states come to do the Handmade Faire!!

I'd like to add a show in Cape May for the month of May. There's also talk of a show at the NJ Museum of Maritime History, where I have some of my sea glass jewelry on display. This show is a work-in-progress and we'd like to try the month of August for this show...we'll see how everything shakes out.

So that's my summer...hopefully, I'll find some time to do a little sea glass hunting and boogey-boarding with the boys. Now off to the museum to bring in some jewelry!!

til next time...
R

Yesterday's Craft Show, New Sea Glass Jewelry...

Yesterday's show went fairly well. I wasn't expecting much from the show and while it was a bit slow, the people that did attend were spending money. All of the vendors at the show seemed to do ok and I sold a few pieces of sea glass jewelry yesterday... 4 or 5 pieces sold from my Etsy shop and 1 of my Art Fire creations also found a new home.

It's good to see that while people are being cautious about spending, they are opening their pocketbooks. It is even better to see that people have continued to support the handmade community and also have continued to buy handmade gifts for others. I think it's a great sign for our community going into the spring and summer months!

So it's back to the crafting table. I wrapped several pieces of sea glass and will be taking pictures shortly and I think I'm going to give in and place one of my 2 red sea glass wrapped necklaces in my Etsy shop. It won't be the piece that I listed in my previous blog... instead I'll opt to place the beautiful red nugget that was found in Puerto Rico. I'll have a couple necklaces and one or two of my new sterling silver sea glass bracelets to add to my shops.

I'll post a few images (probably on my other blog... creationsbyrobinseaglass.blogspot.com) later today... off to check the lighting for my product shoot : )

til next time...
R

PS- image of my 2nd red sea glass necklace added!!

Craft Show On Saturday, GoodBye Blue Sea Glass Heart...

The blue sea glass heart-shaped necklace I listed last weekend sold this week (image in a previous blog post) and shortly after I revised my Facebook Etsy-mini, I was contacted on Facebook about the necklace and the piece was purchased the following day. Facebook is a new promoting outlet for me and I use the site to catch-up with old friends and keep in touch with family members, so I'm happy to see that it can also be successfully used for promoting my handmade sea glass jewelry.

I'm doing my first show of the year tomorrow in Waretown, NJ. The "All About Waterfowling Day" show is held at The Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education and it's a growing family event. Hopefully the weather turns out as predicted...sunny and low to mid 50s, rather than the cold rain which turned to snow earlier this morning.

I've cancelled all of my spring shows this year, hoping to wait for bigger summer opportunities to vend at. This was a last minute decision... it's local and it's for a good cause...plus there will be a few fellow EtsyNJ members at the show and that alone is a great reason to do a show! If you are anywhere near southern Ocean County tomorrow, stop by with the family...there will be much to do and the grounds are beautiful.

I'll be showing many new creations that are targeted for future shop listings and for consignments and at tomorrow's show, these pieces will be offered at the lowest price you'll find them at for the rest of the season!

Hopefully, I'll have some info about where my handmade sea glass jewelry will be during the summer. I'm still ironing out some details, but by next week I should have everything ironed out and can start mentioning which boutiques and gift shops will carry my sea glass creations.

The new image above is slated for one of my B & M shops this summer and will be available at tomorrow's show. It's my first ever red sea glass necklace and it was so very hard not to keep it for myself... SO very hard...lol

til next time...

R

Planning the Spring /Summer Calendar, Building Up Supplies, Meet & Greet With Organizers...

It's funny how trying to build your business takes so much time away from doing the actual crafting! Besides being the only therapeutic part of the process, it also takes the least amount of time. When I'm not trying to meet a deadline, I still love to sit at my craft table and get lost in my work.

The after-holiday slow down brought a much needed break from what was a furious holiday rush. For the most part, I've been able to step away from my table and really plan out my next moves. Because this past holiday season wore me down, I needed the longer break and chose to not do my usual spring craft shows. With a slow economy, it just didn't make sense to do the shows this year, when in past years, my success at these shows were marginal...at best.

The first move was to concentrate on building up my sea glass supplies and talking with some of the bigger sea glass collectors around the world. I've picked up several great tidbits of info from these long-time collectors and found that many of them also make sea glass jewelry (and their collections and creations are incredible) Along the way, I receive an application to be a vendor at the North American Sea Glass Association's 2009 Festival. Just to be considered is quite an honor, but I don't believe it is something that I'm ready for (unless I share table space with another vendor...or two) My sea glass collection is not nearly as vast as many others and the sea glass I find on the New Jersey beaches is often not jewelry quality.

I've made several purchases and a trade or two with/from some well known collectors. My hubby and I currently have sea glass covering our dining room table. We are going through the pieces to eliminate shards that are not prime pieces, planning out what I feel the better pieces can be used for, making a large pile for future bracelets (which means hubby gets to fire up his drill and flirt with electrocution ...lol) and trying to figure out which pieces I'm going to keep for myself : )

The reason I'm starting my summer plans in early March rather than mid-April stems from a long meeting I had yesterday with a facility where I'll be renting space for my sea glass jewelry. The opportunity to sell on one of the major NJ beaches is something I've been contemplating all winter long and the selling opp that presented itself this past week far exceeds what I had hoped for. When all the small details are hammered out, I'll announce more...but I'm very excited because this feels like a great opportunity, though it may prohibit me from looking for a 2nd location.

This selling opp also comes with a possible summer craft show that has huge potential! Along with the another possible beach/resort show in July and a pending application for an early June show, my limited summer schedule could be filled already. It appears that my summer could be very busy!

Now back to the table to play with my sea glass and then off to my crafting table...I have some work to do : )


...til next time...

R

Spring (and beyond) Plans

A sluggish economy has forced me to reconsider some of my late winter /early spring plans for shows. I've decided not to move forward with the shows I had penciled into my schedule, deciding to hang onto the funds I have earmarked for show fees.

Instead, I'll hold off a few more months and wait for some of the bigger shows and festivals held in the late spring/early summer. Historically, the warmer weather often sparks the economy in a sluggish economy.

During these economic times in the past, people abandon plans for extensive travel and tend to stay near their hometowns. Local resort areas like the beach tend to become more crowded during these times, and a lot of overflow from people staying near home, spills over into local events...like craft shows and local festivals.

Despite my online shop showing total sales increases for both January and most likely February, I've noticed an alarming trend of low numbers of new visitors to my shops and a steadily decreasing number of overall visitors. I may be wrong, but I really don't think it's a good time to invest the time and money into March shows... at least not based on the numbers I've been seeing.

So, I'll focus my attention to future shows and continue to work at improving my craft and product line. Besides maintaining my online shops, high on my craft to-do list, is placing my handmade sea glass jewelry in a few local boutiques and I've already set the wheels in motion on getting into a B & M shop.

I also have a stack of spring /summer applications to local area shows & festivals that I'm researching and I hope to add several new shows to my summer schedule.

Now if the ocean would serve up several choice pieces of sea glass the next time I'm there... a girl can hope, can't she?


til next time...

R

New Listings, Valentine's Day Items, and More Sea Glass...plus New Year's Resolutions

As a new year is ushered in, I was finally able to get my Etsy listings back up to 20... only another 8-10 before I finally feel comfortable with my Etsy shop again. The new 2009 listing was a very pretty, quite rare, teal sea glass necklace.

Hopefully I'll have a day or two of sun over the next three days, so I can take pictures of my finished creations. I still have a wonderful Citron sea glass necklace, along with a beautiful, light gray necklace, a few greens and a pretty sea glass bracelet all waiting for images.

The Valentine-themed listing above is just one of two newer pieces that have been listed for Valentine's Day. Of course all my jewelry could be Valentine's Day gifts... but the other piece that was created for the next "holiday" is a pair of copper heart/pink-ish flower cup earrings... very pretty & feminine.

I'm also working on a bracelet or two, where a piece of sea glass shaped like a heart, will be the focal bead on the creation. It's still a work-in-progress, but I hope to have it finished in the next week.

As I usher in a new year, I once again have some CreationsByRobin resolutions (I did pretty well looking back at last years!)...

Once again, I'd like to work more efficiently and spend more time with my family. I also hope to add a couple more craft fairs to my 2009 schedule, both in the summer and fall/holiday seasons.

Smarter promoting and probable print-ad advertising is in my plans for 2009 and the one resolution I kind of failed on last year... blog at least 2 times each week.

Thank you to all of my followers, both from Etsy and those that follow me at my shows. I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2009 and i look forward to having the opportunity to meet and serve you in the upcoming year!

'til next time...

R

The Holidays are Almost Over...New Creations, Sea Glass

Now that the gift-giving holidays are almost over, it's time to build up my shop inventories. Today I added a new pair of sea glass earrings, along with a Czech glass copper earring set that is perfect for Valentine's day... copper filigree hearts and pink flowers... and oh, so pretty!

I also have a really pretty sea glass necklace ready to list in my Etsy shop tomorrow. The piece falls into the color category of soft green, but it was very tough to photograph. Depending on the lighting source and backgrounds, it looked anywhere from soft green, to light aqua to baby blue.

A very intriguing piece indeed!

I also have a few more pairs of Valentine-ish earrings to add to my shop over the next week, along with the pieces I created in the photo above. I know the photo quality isn't very good, as I shot this late at night, with little lighting, but... these are some of the nicest pieces of sea glass I've ever worked with and I would seriously like to keep 3 or 4 for myself.

The lavender piece is just exquisite, the citron gem is stunning and the turquoise or dark aqua is a piece to die for (and that one may find it's way into my jewelry box) Even the the frosty white/clear pieces are the nicest examples I've ever worked with to this point. They are absolutely flawless, perfectly smoothed by the surf, egg-shaped, with beautiful personality... showing the coveted "C" markings inside the glass (which indicates an older piece of glass that the ocean has kept to itself - until it was a perfect specimen) & even pieces with inner bubbles.

They are my finest sea glass necklaces to date and most will find their way into my Etsy shop, with 1 or 2 going into my ArtFire shop and another to 1000 Markets. I've been excited by individual pieces before....even to the point where I held a piece back for several days rather than list immediately because I wanted to look at it a little longer... but this collection of 12+ necklaces has me very excited... to the point that I'll be sending out my first ever email to my sea glass customers to alert them to the pieces that are about to debut in my shop.

Of course, I'll have to make a decision about which one (2?) I'll keep for myself : )

I'll add images as each piece is finished...

'til next time...

R