Pinterest is Addicting

I joined Pinterest a couple weeks ago but hadn't really looked into it until I got an email that I had a follower. How the heck can I have a follower when I hadn't pinned anything? lol. So I checked it out and the follower was actually someone I knew from elementary school (she's actually my little sister's classmate). While I was there, I looked at some things "pinned" by other people.

Then, I decided to pin some stuff myself. Oh my god, pinning is addicting. You can't pin just one I'm telling you.

Pinterest was recommended on a promo discussion thread that I was reading...and guess what, somebody pinned one of my earrings. Yay!!!!!

So far, pinterest is just another thing to take up my time, but at least I can do it while I'm doing other things that take up my time (online christmas shopping, fantasizing about my dream vacations, looking up easy recipes...yadda, yadda)

You all should check it out.

www.pinterest.com

Beware, very addicting.

Free Promo Videos Website - Animoto

I was in the Etsy Forums discussions and someone mentioned a site where you can make free 30 second promo videos. So I decided to check it out and I have to say, I was very impressed with their setup. It was so easy to upload photos for your video and you can either upload your own music or use their wide selection of available music.

For a free subscription, you can make a limitless amount of 30 second vids (which is all you really need for a promo video). You can upgrade your account for what I thought was a nominal fee and have access to longer videos.

I've only made one video so far but the possibilities are endless as far as what you can create with a little time and planning.

Definitely visit: www.animoto.com and check it out.

To Craft Fair or Not To Craft Fair

I've been seriously thinking about doing some craft fairs this Holiday season. Craigslist is actually a great place to find small craft fairs that don't require you to be juried. I located a couple and contacted one in McMinnville which is about 20-30 minutes away from my house. Not that far. It appeared to be in an enclosed area and they provided you with a table and chair. Those were my top concerns because I don't have a craft fair appropriate table. The bonus was that they had an email address so that I could obtain an application and get additional information about the fair.

I really want to participate because of the all the pros (booth fees were really inexpensive too - only $25) and they provide you with a table and its indoors. I've just been worried about how to display my earrings. I think I have the signage down and the price structure will be very simple to make it easier for the buyers.

I've been online and searched tons of places...I think I can DIY a great display for the craft fair. We'll see how it goes, the fair is in December...wish me luck!

New Idea for Earrings

I've been rocking on with my paper earrings and pumping out designs, but I've been thinking about using transparency plastic in making some of my earrings. So I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but I used a gradient for the paper part of the earring and printed a swirly design on the transparency portion and overlayed it on the paper gradient portion. I really like the result. I think the overlay makes the swirls stand out more than if I had just printed them onto the gradient.

We'll see how they do, but I love them, going to be rockin' a pair to the market today.

Crafting Bender

Last night or should I say this morning, I went on a bender...a crafting bender. Made earrings from midnight to about 7 am. Sometimes, when that creative feeling hits you, you just have to ride it out. It was awesome, when I did finally fall asleep at about 7:30 this morning, got up at about 11:30 but felt refreshed and awesome. Love it.

Tree of Life Pendant Tutorial

I am always attracted to tree of life pendants and earrings. I have purchased many tree of life charms for my earrings. The tutorial featured today is how to make your own tree of life pendant with beads. Sometimes making things from scratch is way better because you can use the colors you want and as many or as little beads as you want to make the design you've envisioned in your mind.

The tutorial for the first picture can be found here:

http://www.beadstudio.com/info.php?a=613

If you attempt this, shoot me an email or leave me a message and I'd love to post a picture of it.

Hello...Macy's...you called?

Work, work and more work. It's what I do nowadays. I think to myself that in a year to two years. All the time and effort that I've been dedicating will pay off. Macy's is going to call me up and say - Hello, we want to sell your inexpensive, fabu earrings in every Macy's store in America!

Whoah, daydreaming! Lol. I don't really think that Macy's will come a-knocking and I'm ok with that. I'd like to keep creative control of my crafting universe all to myself, thank you. Sorry Macy's, I can't be bought...well...I mean I can't be bought for one mill...but maybe for 3. Joking. But, if any Macy's purchasing rep is reading this...hit me up. lol.

Ebay Selling Update

As I already mentioned, I went back to selling on Ebay because of the 50 free promo. And you know what, I think Ebay has managed to turn my opinion around. I actually don't make it to the 50 free a month mark, but manage to usually use up between 35-40. So far, Ebay has managed to be pretty good for me in the selling department. It has actually been the most successful for me between Etsy, Artfire and Ebay in actually generating sales. I'm loving it because I am getting my items out there for potential future buyers because they also get one of my promo items as well.

On average I make 3-4 sales a week there and I post about 5-8 items a week. That is not a bad turnaround. I also learn which of my products are the most appealing to customers and can turn my creative focus to products more along those lines and which products I may consider a reduction or abandonment of.

So as of this post...EBAY - thumbs up!

Not the Typical Halloween Mask

With Halloween fast approaching, costumes are on the mind of most people. Most festive people that is. Am I festive? Sometimes. This year, I'm just...not quite yet in the Halloween mode. It is only the first week of October so as the time draws nearer, I'm sure I'll get with it.

Although I'm not yet in the Halloween mood, I did recently come across a treasury with these beautiful masks. This is not your typical plastic mask with the hole at the mouth and eyes, that is for sure. This one is a showstopper and you will definitely stand out. Now, I wish there was some kind of masquerade ball or something that I could justify getting it. Or maybe I should wish for the gown that would accompany a mask as intricate and beautiful as this.

This Etsy craftsperson has many masks as beautiful, if not more than this one. You should check their pieces of art out:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77650305/black-venetian-luxury-metal-mask?ref=v1_other_2

In my mind, this mask is called Naughty Secrets. It's what I think of when I see it. I christen thee.

Overusing the Word Awesome

I realize, as of late, I have been grossly overusing the word awesome. I don't know why. I didn't even realize it until my little nephew (who is 3 going on 25) said, "Aunty, why do you always say awesome?" I told him I don't always say it and he said "Yes you do. You said Optimus Prime was awesome yesterday. And today, you said angry birds was totally not awesome."

Wow, busted by a pre-schooler. Definitely NOT awesome. I'll try to refrain from using the a-word again in his presence.

We'll try to use...fabulous. Yes fabu is now replacing the a-word. Until I overuse that and then it will be overuse of the f-word. ;P

Sucker for Food

I am a total sucker for things that are not food but look like food. Take these super cool earrings for example. I mean, don't you want to just bite into these earrings! That bacon looks yummy delicious...mmmm bacon. Bacon makes everything better.

Found these cool earrings on Etsy by Coralines Accessories. You can find this and other awesome food stuff (she makes alot of super cute food items) at this link:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75411320/eggs-and-bacons-earrings-set

One of these days I'll figure how to backlink a picture in a post but haven't reached that level of blogging awesomeness yet. Check her stuff out, it's awesome yumminess that you can wear!

Always Carry Business Cards

I learned a very valuable lesson this weekend. I was in a creative slump as I mentioned earlier and so decided, I'm just going to do something fun this weekend. No thinking about Etsy, Artfire, crafting, promoting for one night. As my bf and I discussed what we should do, I thought, hey, let's blow some money we don't have and decided to go to Spirit Mountain casino. Spirit Mountain is the largest casino in Oregon and pretty nice. It's not The Wynn Hotel by any means, but all in all, a pretty nice casino.

I decide, I'm going to wear one of my creations, the peacock feather inspired earrings. While we're there spending our hard earned money, a lady sitting next to me is staring at me. You know how you can feel someone looking at you. I was starting to feel a little freaked out when she says "I was just admiring your earrings. They're beautiful. Where did you get them from?" When I told her I made them she looked very surprised. She said, "You should sell those." I should sell those. :sigh: If I had a business card, I could have just handed them to her and said, "I do" and then not have to get into this lengthy discussion about where and how. Instead of trying to get into the whole thing and explain to her where I sell...I just blanked out and said, "Thanks." Smooth, very smooth.

Did I mention I was the worst salesperson ever? Later my boyfriend says, "You should have given her a business card." Well, duh. Thanks honey.

Lessons learned - at any time and at any place can your next sale could be lurking around the corner and carry the dang business cards with you at all times.

Peruvian Woven Earring/Pendant Tutorial

I've always seen earrings like this and have wanted to make them but by just looking at them, it seems so complicated. I came across this tutorial one day while kind of browsing earring making tutorials hoping to find something new and interesting and happily I found this step by step tutorial on how to make these fabulous woven earrings/pendants.

I haven't tried this yet, but I do have an order for the frames. The tutorial tells you how to make them but my wire wrapping skills are pretty hilarious (horrible) so FMG sells the frames for these...and the teardrop shaped ones are on sale right now! Score! It's like $1.00 for 10 frames. I already have the embroidery thread because at one time I thought I would try my hand at doing some hand sewing of felt which never really went anywere beyond a weird square thing that looked like...a weird pink square with yellow thread badly sewn.

This pretty informative step by step tutorial can be found here:

http://www.jemlibrary.com/jewelry-making/jewelry-making-tutorials/0093-woven-earrings-and-pendant

The frame can be found here:

http://www.firemountaingems.com/details.asp?pn=H206402FY

I'll be sure to post some pictures if my attempts don't come out to horribly.

When Inspiration Hits You!

I always wonder where people get inspiration for creating their items. I never really thought about it before because things would kind of just come to me or I would just put things together that I like or would wear. I was kind of in a creative slump so to say. I felt all creative juices had dried up. I emailed one of my friends and said HELP!!! I need some inspiration. Tell me what you like or kind of jewelry that appeals to you, yadda yadda. She responded with an answer that sounds like it could have been me answering. On a side note, no wonder she's my friend, we like the same things. lol.

Then I was watching animal planet...or the bf was watching animal planet on some special about the Amazon and BAM! It hit me. They were showing scenes of some beautiful colorful macaws in the branches of the Amazonian trees. I was thinking wow, that's beautiful! And all of a sudden I felt inspired. It was like a huge creative spurt that caused me to make like 25 earrings in 1 1/2 hours. I was in the zone. I had tunnel vision. And it must have been so because the bf asked me a question and I didn't even respond and he had to repeat himself and roll his eyes. Lol. He said I was obsessed...and so what? Maybe I was, but as the saying goes, "Strike while the iron is hot!"