Where did the time go?

I remember a month or more ago starting my summer vacation and making promises to myself that I would post on this blog more often. It did not happen. I have managed to fill my time with other more important (and less important) activities and ignored my blog. I couldn't even remember my password to log in! Hopefully, I will remember the new one I just created.

So, now that I am feeling justifiably guilty, here I am ready to make up for lost time.

My latest designs incorporate my own lampwork beads. In the past I have created and sold a few items with beads that I made, but this is the first time I have crafted many items from my own beads. And, I have already sold one of them on Etsy! Yay! I enjoy creating these colorful, attractive necklaces with sterling or Bali silver and a variety of Czech fire polish or seed beads. They are simple but keep the focus on the lampwork focal. With a chain extender, they measure between 16 and 18 inches. Check out some of them in my Etsy mini.

10 New Items Listed and Etsy Showcase Coming Up

It seems I haven't posted in this blog for a couple of weeks. That's to be expected--I was dealing with the end of the school year at my day job. It takes a lot of time and energy to finish up a year and prepare for summer. I have spent days handling books, dusting shelves, and cleaning my office. And now I have to do the same at home!

Today I devoted the afternoon to listing 10 new items in preparation for the Etsy Showcase I am scheduled in tomorrow. Actually, it should be happening in a few more minutes, since it starts at midnight EDT. I had created all these new items in between filling last-minute orders for jewelry for people at work during the last 2 weeks. I am so glad I thought about getting them ready to highlight in the Showcase.

After the two previously mentioned sales, nothing much has happened. No new hearts, no new sales. I've been spending too much time in the Forums and not enough time on other matters. I vow to spend time in the next week or so getting my linking up this blog with other Etsy bloggers and promoting by networking.

It's really hard to continue to believe in my jewelry without the sales to back it up, but I do know how much I've sold in the past and I just need to be as patient as I can. My oldest listings expired today and that was a shock--that so much time has gone by.

Just to cheer myself up and show how great my designs are, I'll post a photo here of my newest necklace "Touch of Gold." Lovely goldstone stripes brighten each of the furnace glass chubs in this necklace and add a touch of sparkle. Matching earrings are also available.

Things Are Looking Up

I've had two good two days--yesterday and today. I made a sale yesterday and today a pair of my earrings is in another JET Treasury. I can see that joining that particular street team is making a difference in how much exposure my jewelry gets. Now I'm starting to think about re-doing some of my photos to make an even greater impact. That will be a lot of work, though.

I am still confused about the new postal rates, although I read the info on the post office web site, read the info on PayPal, and talked to someone at the main post office. I like to mail in bubble envelopes--the 5" x 8" ones. I'm still not sure whether they are considered first class parcels or large envelopes. Have you ever tried to measure the thickness of a bubble envelope containing a pair of lampwork bead earrings? It's not the easiest thing to do!

I wanted to try out PayPal to print the label, but I kept getting an error message that my envelope/parcel needed to be a minimum of 1 ounce and I had only .8 oz. I ended up at the post office and paid $1.13 for the first class postage and $.75 for the delivery confirmation. I hope I can get PayPal to work next time because it's only $.17 or $.18 cents for delivery confirmation. I'll look at a couple of sites I bookmarked and see if it becomes any clearer. I did raise my shipping and handling $.50, which should cover any increases.

I'm looking forward to the weekend so I can spend some time working on photos and new listings for my shop. Hope my good luck continues!

Looking Forward to an Etsy Showcase

Things are looking up a bit. One of my pairs of earrings has been in a JET Treasury. Personally, I would have chosen another pair, but exposure is exposure. It seems that joining a street team is very worthwhile. I'd like to get a Treasury for JET myself , but these days I don't have time to stalk one. Thank goodness summer vacation is coming right up!

So, anyway, I bought a Showcase for June 2, which is a Saturday. I have no experience with Showcases; I just picked a date when I thought buyers might be shopping. I'm hoping it might generate a few sales. That would make me really happy and encourage me to list some new things that have just been sitting around. Last time I created earrings, I think I made about 25 pairs, listed them all on eBay at least twice, and sold maybe 3 pairs. By that time, I was feeling very frustrated with eBay's steep fees and how my sales had fallen off. I investigated Etsy and the rest is history!

Making lanyards is keeping me busy and I've been thinking maybe I should list some in my Etsy shop. I'll check out the competition first.

Another Week with No Sales

I have spent some time this weekend updating my shop items to reflect the new postage increase and adding JETT to the tags to show that I am a member of the Jewelry on Etsy Team. I also added some new earrings, which have been viewed a few times. I still have not sold anything aside from one pair of earrings some weeks ago and I'm starting to feel like I should have chosen another craft instead of jewelry.

I have been selling some of my beaded lanyards at work and they are keeping me busy. If not for selling several of the lanyards, I would be very disappointed with my sales. I don't want to go back to eBay to sell my jewelry because the fees are so high, but at least I had a customer base and could sell several items every month. This was enough to give me the encouragement to keep creating and selling. I guess I thought Etsy was going to be so easy that I would hardly have to work at it.

I couldn't have been more wrong. It's not enough to have great stuff, if no one buys it. I'm not losing a lot of money, but I am losing my enthusiasm. As soon as I have time this summer, I will try to find more ways to promote my shop and interest buyers in my jewelry. I know it is beautiful and well made, I just have to convince other people. That's my goal for summer: get people interested in my items and sell as much as I can. There have to be buyers who would love to wear my earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. I just have to bring them to my shop.

I know I can do this!

JET Treasury Earrings

I couldn't take a screen shot of the treasury that my earrings appeared in, but I can post a photo of them. I love the look of the pink and aqua stripes contrasting with the black. And the freshwater pearls complete the look. There's also a matching bracelet, which shows off more of the furnace glass beads.

My Earrings Are in an Etsy Treasury

I need to spend more time in the Etsy Treasuries. Just by chance tonight I found out that a pair of my earrings is in an Etsy Treasury. A couple of days ago I expressed interest in a new Street Team called JET (Jewelry on Etsy Team) and one of the organizers created a treasury of JET members' jewelry. The treasury is about to expire in a short time, but it's still a thrill to see one of my items featured.

I must admit I think something else from my shop must have been featured in a treasury a couple of days ago, but I never saw it--just triple the number of views on that item. I guess I'll have to make sure to check out the treasuries more often. I have been lucky and created 3 treasuries myself since I became an Etsy member. It takes time to read the Forums, check out the treasuries, create jewelry, photograph it, list it.....etc. It will all be worth it once my jewelry starts to sell.

It is so hard to be patient.

Photos

Great photos are so essential for selling jewelry online. After all, the buyer can't pick up the piece and check out the details or try it on to see how it looks. That said, taking good photographs is a time consuming process. I just spent over an hour trying to manipulate photos with Photoshop Elements and I found it very frustrating! I'm about to stop and do something different--something that will make me feel more successful. Sometimes I think the best thing to do would be delete all the photos I have so far and start all over again from scratch. Maybe I'll be able to work on that in a few weeks when I'm on summer vacation. Sounds like a plan!

Finding Out About Blogs

I started this blog last weekend and then didn't know what to do with it. So, I asked the folks at Etsy to give me some ideas and they really came through. What a nice bunch of crafty people!

It looks like I should just be myself and write about things that interest me and about my creations. That shouldn't be too hard--I love to talk about jewelry making and torching lampwork beads. Not that I'm an expert, far from it. But I do like to write/talk about techniques and how to sell and good sources for quality materials.

What's really on my mind these days is why my shop on Etsy is so slow to take off. I've been selling on eBay for several years and had been doing well until recently. The last few times I listed multiple items, I was lucky if one sold. I'm just a small home business and I can't afford eBay's fees if nothing sells in a week. Then I don't even recover the expenses of listing. I turned to Etsy because of the low listing fees and the opportunity to have my own shop where my jewelry can be on display for a few months at a time.

I'm hoping I will develop a following on Etsy because I know that I make good stuff, which I have sold to many people here in Tucson. I have created several earring designs that are original and show off the beautiful colors and smooth surfaces of furnace glass beads. My lampwork techniques are continually improving and I am proud of the items I've listed using the best of my lampwork beads.

I must admit that I haven't had a lot of time to promote my shop, but in another three weeks school will be out for the summer and I'll have time to create, list, and promote. Woohoo! I'm really looking forward to it.

Am I ready for this?

I looked at someone else's blog today and decided on the spur of the moment to create one of my own. It was really easy. Now I have to think about what kinds of things I will post on this blog. I'm not sure, but I'll probably use this space to showcase some of my jewelry and talk about making lampwork beads, since these are my major interests. It will evolve over time. Maybe I'll get ideas from reading other blogs. I'm just glad to be here.