I love having employees!

I would like to congratulate my best friend Joie on being my brand new photographer!

The one thing I hate the most, is taking pictures of my items. This in only because I SUCK at it. All I can do is white backgrounds, white to me, are very boring. They work, but don't show the item in it's intended context at all.

So, thanks to my wonderful friend, I no longer have this job. My only job is to list and to create, which are the things I like doing the most anyway.

The best part is, that now we have the means to save for our vacation - together. She and I have a wonderful road trip planned from here in Massachusetts all the way to Vancouver, Canada in my fantastic 1975 Dodge Dart Sport (Hang Ten Special Edition). Our favorite show, Supernatural, is filmed there. And, because we are HUGE dorks, we are going to travel there in the fall. With an old car, and two weeks worth of traveling planned, we need to save - fast. So what a way to work together to do it!

So, now you can look forward to more things hitting my shop faster, with better pictures, and no price increases.

I'm so excited!!! BTW - if you haven't seen Supernatural and you are looking for some wonderful eye candy to enjoy, you should totally tune in. Thursdays on the CW at 9 pm. Be there or be square (God I'm old!)

I now live in Massachusetts

Today is my first day in the state of Massachusetts! My best friend and I spent 14 hours driving from Michigan to here with a dog and two cats in the car. My Maine Coon cat (aptly named Sasquatch by my husband) we had to drug, twice, to make sure she survived the drived. She still freaked out a couple of times and cried for most of the trip, she even molted some of her fur. I felt really bad about that. We had to stop every two hours to let my huge yellow lab go to the bathroom. The only quiet one was my little calico cat. She only meowed when she wanted a little attention and then would roll over and go right back to sleep.

Today my moving truck comes, so that I can now unpack everything I just fnished packing two days ago. I'm waiting for them to come out with teleportation so that I can just teleport all my items over instead of packing and unpacking everything.

My inlaws finished their ginormous basement off for us to use as our apartment, which is really nice of them. I don't know how long we are going to be staying so I told my husband that I'm only unpacking what we need. Depending on how lone we stay we can unpack things as we go. But I'm not unpacking everything just to repack a bunch of crap we didn't use. And if we don't end up using it after awhile we should really question whether or not we even need the stuff. And that's after gave away over $2000 worth of stuff to a local charity. $800 of which was in clothes that I had never used, but were really really nice.

So, with any hope, I'll be able to keep my shop up soon. My best friend is a photo major and might start taking all my pics for me and helping me list so that I can just concentrate on actually making the stuff. I would split the profit with her, which I would happily do out of just the convenience of not having to take pictures. I would rather spend my time creating.

Anyway, look for more updates soon. One day I will actually start a cool routine with my posting so that it's more helpful for everyone who reads. But sometimes life is crazy!

New Local Currency in Detroit!

I saw this on the news this evening and I thought that it was really cool.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090323/BIZ/903230389/Detroit+cash+keeps+hometown+humming

Some local business in the Detroit have come up with a way to keep money local by printing their own currency. They took the idea from the Great Depression. The money is only good at participating locations, but I think it's awesome that the community is banding together to help each other and the residents out. I think this is a great way to remind us that shopping local is VERY important in tough economic times and that we need to stick together. I think it's also a great way to get people out to know their community and who's in it. I hope that other areas start doing this. If I weren't moving I would totally participate and go to those places that offer this. Most of them are local bars and clubs, which is where most of my money goes anyway when i'm not spending it on beads. I hope Boston starts up something like this.

Thanks so these people for taking some initiative and some responsibility to those places that you live. Awesome!

My favorite item so far, ever!

Finally! I had a chance to actually list some stuff. The best of which I think is the best lanyard I've ever made. I found some beautiful maroon glass pearls at my favorite bead store a couple of weeks ago. I had no idea what I was going to put them with, but while making another piece I realized I could use the same teal pearls I was using for that with the maroon pearls. It was such a wonderful combination, but it wasn't sparkly enough. So, I went back to the store with my pretty pearls and found some awesome Icodite Swarovski crystals that matched awesomely. They didn't have the same crystals in a smaller size with a satin finish, so I went with blue zircon. They were a close color and added a little bit of a dimension to the design by being slightly lighter. To top it all off, I used square spacers between the large crystals, and large ribbed balloon spacers between the pearls.

So far, this has been one of the best lanyards I think I've done. My mom bought the other one (of course). I just listed it today, and it's a little expensive, but hopefully someone will love it enough to snatch it up quick!

What a load of crap!!!

I'm sorry, but I have to take a minute to vent about something totally ridiculous.

So in the past 6 months I have been completely ditched by two of my best friends. Why? Because they are lame.

Both have been friend for a really long time. One since high school and the other since early college. Both have recently got married and stopped talking to me - without telling me they don't want to be friends anymore! When I confronted them, one said that his fiance at the time was jealous of our friendship so he had to stop talking to me. I've never even met her! She doesn't know anything about me or our friendship! Does she has that many trust or self esteem issues that her husband can't keep an old friend? WTF is that?

And the other was fine with our friendship until his wife had baby, now he refuses to talk to me. He won't even respond when I ask him what's going on.

You know, if you don't want to be my friend, fine. I get it, things change, people have lives. I'm not that self centered to think that the world revolves around me. But I don't deserve to be ignored. I think I at least the respect of being told what's going on rather than being treated like I never existed. I'm not a piece of trash that you can just throw out and forget about.

I told my husband when we got married that my friends are my friends. And if he doesn't like them then he better learn to deal with it because I wasn't changing things for him. And I would expect him to say the same thing to me. We are who we in part because of our friends and I would always treat them with the utmost respect and love because they are a part of me. So I don't understand why I don't deserve the same.

But, even after all of this, I know that if they said sorry and came back I would probably take them back, because that's the kind of person I am and I know that love makes some people do really stupid things. I probably wouldn't have the same amount of trust for them. I would always be worried if they were going to pick up and leave again. But everyone deserves a second chance.

I hope they live happy lives. After I hit the "post" button, I'm going to do my best to forget about them as much as they have apparently forgotten about me.

It's about time for some new stuff!

Ok! Finally! I found the time list some new items after I went on a creating binge.... which did not do wonders for my wallet, let me tell you. But it's ok, because now everyone else gets to enjoy them instead of just me.



This is one of my favorite book clips. It is made with a shell charm and big blue faceted glass bead. I like it because it's simple yet interesting.



I have lately made some of my book thongs with larger charms. This one is a good example of that. It has to large interlinked star charms. It uses the same blue bead as the shell charm, but it also has some yellow glass beads and a pretty faceted acrylic teardrop at the other end.


More to come soon! I'm just glad I finally got around to getting something up.

This Week's Featured Seller - poetsummer

I had some time to browse the Time Machine function in Etsy the other day and came across something absolutely wonderful - poetsummer's shop. The amazing variety of jewelry she had was great and the designs were totally unique. I looked through her sales to see how her business was going, and I wasn't disappointed. Lots of people seemed to love her creations as much as I did.

I contacted her to see if she would like to do an interview to be my weekly seller and she kindly
obliged.


Where did you come up with the inspiration for your designs?

My inspiration is nature of course and anything I hold dear to my heart. I love old romantic movies and old post cards (I have thousands of them). It's almost like looking into someone's life, someone here long long ago and it's their way of connecting with you. When I am making a Marilyn Monroe bracelet I can almost hear her whispering "That's right darling tell them how fabulous I was."

2)How did you get into selling on etsy?

I started my business on ebay and after 5,000 sales there one of my customers sent me a link to etsy. My customers have been so wonderful and they almost direct my business. Long before I was making steampunk pieces I had emails asking me to make them.


3) You have TONS of sales in the year and half you've been on etsy. What do you find are the best ways to market yourself and what advice would you give someone who's just starting out.

I give away. Giving back is very important. To my family and friends I give them my jewelry to wear and a pocket full of my cards. They hand them out to everyone and they are my biggest cheerleader. I also refer my sales over from ebay to etsy because etsy is where my heart is. At the holiday i hand out flyers at the L stations in chicago and months after I have had a sale I will send a card or a pair of earrings for a holidaiy to my biggest customers. Ir reminds them you're around. I also don't give out feedback immediately. I like to sit on it awhile so when I do give it it once again reminds them you are still around and draws them to look at what you're doing "these days."



4) Is this your day job, and if so how did you make the switch? If not, would you like it to be?

It's my day, night and weekend job. I work far more now than I did when I worked in the corporate world. About 2 years ago I had a major heart attack due to my valve not working correctly. At the age of 40 I had to heal and to figure out my life and I knew I didn't like wearing a suit every day and as my son was about to go off to college I knew I had prepared well enough to try something new. So, I purchased a box of junk jewelry on ebay and took it all apart and put it together the way I saw it working. I have sold over 10,000 bracelets since then and haven't looked back. I quit my job a month into it, sold my little condo and purchased a big house in the burbs with a studio space and haven't been this happy in my entire life. I can't imagine doing anything but jewelry now, although I do paint on commission and I love to garden.


5)What are some things that you do in your free time for fun?

I play the violin. I work out marketing strategies for my little business. I paint, garden, collect rejected cats, decorate my house, but the most fun thing? I love to spend time with my best friend goofing off, reading together, having a pic nic, and playing a little game we called "7 days to fix your life." It's an eye opening view of how someone close to you looks at your problems and how to solve them. It almost always involves ignoring the bossy republican boy toy in my life.


6) Is there anything else you'd like to say or would like everyone to know about you?

I am just a girl trying to figure out her little portion of the world. I know what brings me joy and sharing that with other people doubles that joy. The first time someone called me an artist I couldn't clean the smile off my face and it only motivated me to hear it again and again. Do I always do the right thing? No, of course not. I have an artist's temper and I am always trying to "let it go."



poetsummer - I'm so glad that I found your shop and your lovely things. One day I hope that my shop will be as successful as your and my life just as fulfilling.

This is one shop visit that will not leave anyone disappointed.