Newbies

After many months of eyeing these retaining/retainer (not sure which it is) rings, I finally broke down and rewarded myself for not purchasing anything on Etsy for a month. I think they were well deserved. They sat on my desk for about a week until inspiration hit.

I think they fit well into my shop and I'm quite happy with their outcome. Now, provided I can find a good spot to photograph my jewelry tomorrow, I'll list them in my shop by tomorrow evening. I only have two things working against me - my camera has died and I'm using The Sweet Boy's camera (note the learning curve) and I've moved away from the PERFECTLY worn window sill that I was using before.

Picture taking may never be the same.

Promotional Items Finished? Check.

I worked very hard and was very focused tonight on the goal I gave myself this morning. I was to create a promo item to send off for the goody bags and to make 20 of them.

I did that. If I really wanted to, I could make 20 more, but I think I'll stick to this. Of course, these aren't what I sell in my shop BUT it might entice people to go to my website and since my business cards have photos of my items on them, I think I am giving potential customers a good idea of what I sell.

These are small, wire wrapped pendants with a scrabble tile as the canvas. Scrabble tiles are fairly inexpensive and are easy to work with. These things make them GREAT for promo items, freebies, or low cost items in the Etsy shop or at the craft fair booth. I'm not including a way to hang them around your neck - that would make the cost go up significantly. After all, these are going to be free, so you take what you can.

Let me know what you think.

This evening I have allowed myself to take a break from the knitting and candy/cookie making marathon that today turned out to be. By marathon I mean that I spent all day doing those things and still didn't finish. Aren't marathons supposed to end with finished products? I know I'll finish the brother and nephew gifts before Christmas, but they still hang over me, mocking my every move, taunting me with their words "I'm sitting here... unfinished... you can't wrap me and put me under the tree unfinished...".

I'm still enjoying my break, even if the unfinished projects loom over me. One of my brothers made it into town from Minneapolis in time for dinner this evening, so my sweet boy and I went out to the catfish place to eat with my mom and brother. I had plans to come home and do some more Christmas prep in the kitchen, but I didn't. I curled up on the bed with my cat for a while, checked out the Etsy forums, took a LONG and very HOT bath, checked the Etsy forums again, and realized that I have a lot of Etsy work to do once the new year gets here.

My Etsy goals for the new year:
Streamline my pictures - make them look alike and get rid of the bad ones
Get new earrings in my shop (similar to the style at left)
Add a couple of wrist warmers and neck warmers to my shop
Post something new every three days (that won't be too hard to follow... will it?)

That is all I'm going to commit to at this point. No need to set goals that I'm not going to follow. The new year will also bring thoughts of my spring gardening, so I need to make sure and leave time for that.

I'll leave you all with something gorgeous. The UPS man came to my house today with a package from Kerrville, TX - home of James Avery Jewelry (started in 1954 by James Avery and while it's quite the operation now, I think it's still handmade stuff). These amazing earrings were a Christmas present from my best friend. I can't wait to wear them and I can't wait to make some ear wires similar to the ones on these.

And these go to...

These earrings, just made tonight, go to Dancing Mooney. I found the Pay if Forward idea on her blog and therefore she gets a handmade goody from Idyll Hands. I added the spiral on the end of the wire to these and I think I'll do that one some other earrings. I like it.

I still have one spot left... don't miss out one some hand made goodies.

Speaking of hand made goodies, I found a blog the other day from an Etsy seller and artist in Southern France. Lineanongrata has a very charming shop full of her illustrations and purses. I'm quite keen on the designs and her illustrations are completely charming. Aside from her shop, her blog makes me want to move to France (but I've always wanted to move there... perhaps just a bit more now). She is having an advent calendar giveaway this month and I was the recipient for day four. I cannot wait to receive my goody. The sneak peek from her website is this...

it's a bit of a surprise... isn't it?