Etsy, My first Year, EtsyNJ, making crafts for the fall/winter season

So my one year anniversary on Etsy.com has come and gone. It was very nice of Etsy to pick up my fees for the month, as an anniversary gift (yea, right-don't I wish...LOL)
Looking back it is very funny to see the items I listed in the beginning. I started with scarves...in August! 90+ degrees every day and I listed scarves.
Then I moved onto making earrings, everyone loves earrings! My problem was I had a camera that couldn't capture ANY detail and close-ups were just a blur. My immediate solution was to
SCAN the earrings (okay, I'll wait until you've stopped laughing).......
Yes, scans. Now I was able to capture some of the details at the expense of the colors.
So it was either blurry, very colorful digital pictures that hurt your eyes or fairly detailed scans with washed-out colors. And yet the Etsy community took pity on me and bought some of these earrings. Okay, the earrings really weren't sooo bad, but there were so many shops with brilliant images of their creations, I really don't know how I sold as much as I did.

When the Gift Guides came out around the holidays and I wasn't in any of them, I knew it was because my images were holding me back. So late in November I bought a real camera. I'd like to say that the camera made all the difference. But my sales didn't improve and November and December sales were big disappointments. After the fall/winter show schedule and endless promoting on Etsy, I was thinking about a short break in January, just to re-charge the batteries and step away from my crafting table. For the first time, going to my table was becoming a chore and I began questioning if the amount of time I spent promoting was really worth the effort. A short break was in order...but there I go thinking again.
2008 started slowly, but by the middle of January my items started selling, with minimal promoting. And they continued to sell going into February, like every couple of days!
So back to the creating table and back to the promotion forum. I was excited that things were selling, but it was still a grind to create and especially tough to want to promote. I didn't want to lose the momentum my shop had, but I was feeling a bit burnt-out.
Then the economy fell apart and so did my momentum. I guess I was a bit disappointed when it slowed, but looking back, I should be happy to average a sale a week during March, April and May. I know I was happy for the break from my craft table. With my s/o doing most of my promoting, I was able to go on Etsy when I felt like it, promote whenever I wanted and with the exception of a couple of custom orders, I did little else.
June started slowly, but finished well and the shop picked up the momentum into July. And I found it fun to once again sit down at my table and create. I'm enjoying being back at the table again and find it therapeutic once again (after working all day at my J-O-B)
With a year under my belt, I guess I have an idea of what to look forward to and maybe this time can pace myself better to avoid burning-out
At least that's what I think....but I know what happens when I start thinking : )

EtsyNJ
I'm very excited about the EtsyNJ team. We have a grant from Etsy to run an ad in WeirdNJ (which comes out next month) and hopefuly I'll have some New Jersey type items, along with Halloween and holiday creations ready to go when the issue hits the stands.
One of the team's leaders has put together a craft show for the end of October and I hope I'm one of the vendors selected (there's already about 40 applications from the EtsyNJ team, plus whatever she receives from local crafters) The show will be held in Medford, NJ on the 25th of October. The show is called the Handmade Faire and the first show was held this past spring (I didn't do the show, but I know I paid for quite a few of the vendors show fees...it was an awesome show and I know I'll need my s/o with me to hold the money or I'll go into debt buying everything at the fall show!)
The team is planning on more advertising and have several more ideas in the works. It looks like everything we do will only help promote ourselves and promote Etsy outside of the site. More to come, along with a banner for the Handmade Faire show!

I'm so busy looking for supplies for the upcoming holiday season and planning my creations for upcoming craft shows and Etsy (along with the above mentioned EtsyNJ happenings) I wasn't very prepared last year to do Halloween and I really didn't think there was much of a market for handmade Halloween items. Of course, there I was thinking again. Halloween was indeed a great opportunity for sales and I hope to have a bit more ready to go by the beginning of next month.
I'm already to begin creating my autumn line of jewelry and I'm starting to build up inventory for the fall/winter craft show season (at least this time I think I'm ahead of the game....did I just "think"?)

No new creations this time around, but I'll be back in a few days with a craft schedule (for my non-Etsy friends ) a few new creations and the banner for the Handmade Faire

'til next time...
R

Sea Glass Neckalce Image

Going to try and load the "Ocean View Stacked Sea Glass Necklace" one more time.

Okay, it worked this time...yay! This bracelet is currently listed in my Etsy.com shop, but it's listed as a custom order and reserved for one of my customers. I should have a few more pieces ready to go into my shop shortly.

Craft Show, New Items, Etsy.com, etc....

This past Saturday, I did the craft show that was tied into an Annual CrabFest in Forked River, NJ. Originally I had thought about only bringing a couple of large umbrellas to give my table a bit of shade.
But when the weather for Saturday was forcast to be in the 90s with a lot of humidity, I changed plans and opted for my tent. And it was a very good decision.
There was a steady rain early in the morning and the vendors that didn't have umbrellas were trapped in their vehicles, while I was able to get my tent up before tha hard rain began. Once the tent was up, I was able to set up my tables (yes I went from one table with umbrellas to the tent and 2 tables) and by 10:00am start time came around, the rain stopped and the sky's cleared and I was ready to go.
Customers were a bit slow to show up, but I had a few minutes to relax, sip some coffee and tweak my displays. Other vendors were just getting started, but the EtsyNJ contingent were prepared to start selling.

The show over all was pretty good for me, but some sellers didn't do well. And many vendors never even showed up. All in all, it was a fun show for me and I enjoyed meeting with the EtsyNJ crew, chatting about upcoming shows, plans that the NJ group has in the works and meeting a couple of new members.

As usual in Forked River, my sea glass creations sold well and a few of my favorites sold, as did some of my inexpensive earrings (they always do well at the shows... they aren't huge $$ makers, but they help pay for the fees and supplies)

I have a few new items ready to go into my Etsy shop. The sea glass creation above is called "Ocean View Stacked Sea Glass Necklace" and it really is beautiful (because of internal server problems with the blog site, I can't upload the image at this tiem, I will try again after posting this blog). During the show, many people claimed they thought the dark brown piece of sea glass looked red in the light. It gave the necklace a red, white and blue look. The necklace may not ever make it to Etsy... well maybe as a Reserved Custom Order... a couple of customers at the show showed a lot of interest in the necklace and I was contacted earlier today by an Etsy customer who liked what she saw, so we'll see. The only thing I can say about this necklace is, it looks so much nicer in person than the photos show.

Before the show, my shop was well under the number of items I like to have listed on Etsy. But now, after the craft show, my shop is pretty wiped out. The pieces that were all ready to go into my shop, sold...of course (one of which I had a lot of trouble getting the type of photos I wanted and all that time spent was for nothing...LOL)
I'll be trying to take photos this week and adding an item or two each day until I get my shop to where I like it.

It doesn't appear that I'll be doing any more shows before the end of the summer. This weekend's show was draining, the heat and humidity just wiped me out and I really need to focus on getting my shop back up to speed and begin building my inventory for the fall and winter shows.

My next scheduled shows are...

October 25th-
The Handmade Faire in Medford, NJ This show is pending, for me. It's a juried show and it will feature many of the EtsyNJ team. The Handmade Faire had a spring show in Barnegat this past spring and it was by far the best show I ever attended in this area. The overall quality of the vendors was just incredible. The show's organizer does an incredible job of promoting her shows. I'll be there hopefully as a vendor, or as a customer... the show is not to be missed!

October 26th-
Forked River, NJ -The Lacey High School puts on an excellent show and they are gearing their show more towards handmade items first. I've done this show before and they do a nice job promoting and the locals do come out to support the show. (This show is also pending)

November-
I have a few shows with apps in and I'm waiting for other locations to announce dates. It looks like I'll be doing the Southern Regional High School show on the 15th of November. I've done many of their shows in the past and they've been fairly well supported by the locals.
I also have a pending application for Nov 8th in Toms River NJ and an invite for Forked River on the 22nd of Nov.

I don't have anything scheduled yet for December. I'm trying to convince my s/o to do a couple of shows (by himself) while I do another show, but we'll see how my Etsy sales go and if I can keep up with my inventory.

My one year anniversary is this week on Etsy.com and I'm thinking about a little special sale and maybe a blog give-away for everyone that follows my blog. Check back in a couple of days!

til next time...
R

Gearing up for an Outdoor Craft Show

This Saturday, in Forked River NJ, I'll be doing an outdoor craft show at Lacey's Annual CrabFest. The show begins at 8am (the CrabFest at 11am) and Saturday's weather is supposed to be HOT and Sunny... did I mention HOT? Local weather is guessing the temp to be in the 90s.

Now the CrabFest is a huge event , with hundreds of people attending (with 1,000 being expected this yr) and all traffic needs to pass through the craft show. The event will also have 2 radio stations broadcasting from the show/or appearing at the show.

Hopefully the am hours won't be too hot and we'll get the usual early morning crowd that shows up to all the Lacey shows. Heck, if I do really well, I can pack it up early and grab some fresh Crab for lunch : )

As July winds down, it seems the Etsy traffic has picked up. After starting off slowly, the back end of this month has shown improvement. There's been a lot of interest in my sea glass creations, with a few listings finding new homes. I have a few new sea glass items made and if they don't sell at this weekend's show, they end up in my Etsy shop.

I also have made several new bracelets and I think a few of them will certainly sell at the show, if the crowds are there. There one or two that I'd love to keep for myself, but I have about 10 more bracelets than I really need as it is. I don't often list many items the week before a show, but I'd love to add a black and lavender glass bead bracelet that I just finished.

It really is very pretty and I don't think it'll come home with me from this weekend's show. (if I get the time to do another blog before the show, I'll add an image of the bracelet)

But I will add an image of the sea glass bracelet that I'll be adding into my shop sometime tomorrow : )

til next time...

R