EtsyNJ Street Team-- We received a grant from Etsy!!

The EtsyNJ street team received a grant from Etsy last week and pending Etsy's approval, the NJ street team will be running a full page ad in Weird NJ. The ad will run during the October issue, which is just in time for the holidays.

The ad will feature several of the NJ members and have a link to a in-progress web page that will feature links to all participating members. All participating members will agree to a little special for any purchases made from this ad.

The team unexpectedly received more support from our members than originally thought. So it looks like another ad featuring the team is in the works and probably several more to follow.

It's great to be a part, albeit a small part, of the EtsyNJ team. They are so involved in the promoting of the team with a daily promotion in the Etsy forums, a Yahoo group (where we share info with each other) a couple of team websites and who knows how many treasuries each week (I believe I'm currently in 3 or 4 treasuries) It always great to run into team members at craft shows and to meet many of the members I only know through Etsy's forums or our yahoo group.

EtsyNJ ROCKS!!

Okay now to my personal Etsy happenings... My JOB has been beating me up a bit this summer. After taking it slowly for much of the summer, I'm now trying to play catch up. I have a show coming up in a less than 2 weeks and I really need to bear down and spend some quality time with my creating-table.

I did put in a few hours this past weekend, putting together several sea glass pieces and then a nother couple of hours taking photos, downloading, cropping , etc the images to be listed on Etsy.

Of course out of the 6 I listed, half of them have already sold and I have a pending inquiry on another piece. I'm very thrilled for the sales (Okay, I'm more than thrilled-- I scream YAY---to myself ) but I almost don't want to list anymore pieces before the show. I'd really like to have a couple of pieces of sea glass jewelry that will WOW the customers, as I do a show in this town later in the fall.

It would be great to continue to establish myself as one of the sellers in the area to see if you're interested in buying sea glass jewelry. My s/o and I often have people stop by my table to chat about sea glass and pick our brains on where we look for our gems or how I make the jewelry. It's always fun to sit and listen to their stories about their best finds (my s/o always make a mental note when people mention exactly where they always find a lot of sea glass...and never gives up our secret little stretch of beach where we continue to find rare colors and the odd jewelry quality piece)

Just another quick thanks for the EtsyNJ team... with so many member promoting the team, it really does wonders for all of our stores and I'm so very glad to be a part of everything we are involved in!

til next time...

R

PS- The above sea glass bracelet is the next to go into my Etsy shop.... or perhaps I'll hold onto it until the craft show (tho I'd like to keep it for myself...lol)

My 100th Etsy Sale!

Yay! I made my 100th Etsy sale earlier this week! When I first started selling on Etsy, my goal was to make a hundred slaes. I never thought that I reach my goal before the end of my first year on the site.

Sale #100 went to one of my favorite customers....okay, all of my customers are my favorites : ), but this particular customer has come back to my shop a few times, so it was nice to reach my milestone sale with this customer!

Okay, my rant for the day.... Sea Glass

Not only have the prices sky-rocketed over the last 6 months (I call it the Etsy-factor) because the supply just doesn't meet the demand, now there are many people looking for these ocean gems on the beach.

It used to be that I would find a couple of people out on the beach early in the morning, looking to see what the ocean offered up overnight. Now it's more than a couple people, much more than a couple.

Now some of the things these newbs are doing to get beach glass is just wrong, in my opinion. Yesterday in NJ on LBI, there were two women with large nets, dragging the the shell beds in the ocean. Once they collected as much as they could carry, they walked out of the water and dumped the nets just beyond where the tide could reach it.

They sifted through the piles of broken shells, seaweed and pebbles, looking for and pulling out all of the sea glass in the piles. They even took pieces that were clearly not finished and with the exception of a few very jagged pieces that were no where near ready, they took their sea glass and walked it to their chairs. The piles were left behind, including those jagged edge pieces of glass (perfect for a child playing nearby to step ot even worse, fall on... not to mention the piles of broken shell, many with sharp edges)

Hopefully these net-pullers, aren't looking to sell these pieces to an someone who thinks they are getting authentic sea glass. In my opinion, these pieces weren't finished, lacking the beautiful frosting and the small marking that tumbling around for decades in the ocean will cause. To finish these pieces, more time is needed, but for those that are greedy and need nets to rob the gems of the extra time that they need in the surf, I can see these unfinished pieces spending some time in a rock-tumbler.

Disclaimer... CreationsByRobin will never alter any sea glass. I use only 100% authentic sea glass and when the Atlantic Ocean doesn't produce enough of the pieces I like to use in my handmade creations, I will buy from only the most reputable sea glass sources. These sources are all members of the North American Sea Glass Association (many are board members) The members of the NASGA are passionate about sea glass and would never think to alter a piece of glass for profit. It's either 100% authentic or it's still a piece of discarded glass/garbage.

I hope the net-pullers are on the beach today. My s/o is planning on bringing a couple of my nicest pieces of glass ( a red and a lavender) and with each one, he's going to show it to them. He'll tell them it just washed up right by his feet. That should drive them nuts...lol!

til next time...

R

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

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

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

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

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

Show Announcements-

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

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

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

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

til next time...

R

On the Front Page of Etsy!!

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

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

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

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

til next time...

R