Thanksgiving Day, Holiday Weekend Sales, Cyber Monday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'til next time...

R

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

Holiday Shopping, Sales, Cyber Monday and New Items

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope I see you at the sales!

'til next time...

R

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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