Call for Artwork!! (And Happy Holidays!!)

So, first and foremost, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!  Whatever you celebrate, or don't, I hope this time of year is filled with peace, love, and joy for you and yours :)

I have been BUSY this season, and I'm loving every minute.  Recently, I premiered some brand new pieces in my shop: Etched Copper and Brass Cuff Bracelets.  I'm really excited to be offering these pieces.  They've been a blast to make, and I am just in love with how they look and feel.  Apparently I'm not the only one either--about 5 minutes after listing my favorite wide cuff in my Etsy Shop, a very nice gentleman from Georgia snatched it up.  This is my current favorite, a brass cuff with an organic crackled texture on the surface:

Brass Cuff

My plan is to make many many more, which brings me to the main point of my post :)

CALLING ALL ARTISTS!!

I want to feature your artwork on one (or more) of my cuff bracelets!

I don't care if you draw, paint, or make graphics on the computer.  I'm just looking for some awesome images to transfer onto metal.

Here's the skinny.  I use a process called acid etching to make the cuff bracelets.  Part of the process is transferring toner rich images from paper to metal to act as a resist.  All the areas of the metal covered with toner (or paint, or wax, etc, etc...) will be protected from the etching solution.  All the exposed areas will get cut away, creating recessed areas and awesome texture.  In the cuff above, all the bright brass areas were protected from the etching solution, while the dark areas were exposed.  Pretty cool, right?

I've managed to come up with some pretty cool designs that I really love, but now I'm interested in what you all might come up with.  Just about anything you can think up can be used; the only real requirement is that the image has to be black and white.  JUST black and white, no gray areas.  The black areas are what will protect the metal, and gray just doesn't hold up.

Crisp images like this one are perfect.  There can be a lot of detail, or not, so long as the black lines are strong and dark, and the white areas are crisp and clean. 

Images like the one below won't work because the gray shaded areas won't be protected well during the etching process.  Thin black lines are also not an ideal fit for this project.

Getting the idea?  I hope so.  Anyway, anyone who wants to is more than welcome to submit artwork.  I'd prefer high quality digital files since the crisper the image, the crisper the transfer, but I can generally make whatever you want to send in work.

What size should the image be?

• Full size cuffs are made from strips of metal that are 6 inches long, and from 1/2 to 2 inches wide.  

• Half size cuffs are about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long, and approximately 1 inch wide.

• Ring stock is about 3 inches long, and 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide.

• Earring stock is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, and can be up to 2 inches long.

It'd be awesome if you could size your images to fit these dimensions, because if I resize them, they could become less crisp, which would be a big bummer.

What do I get in return for sharing my super cool artwork?

Everyone who submits a piece of art work (whether or not I use it) will be entered to win a gift certificate to use in my shop.  And if I end up using your art, I'll credit you in the item description, on FB, and on the care card that's included with the piece featuring your work.  I'll also give you first dibs on whatever jewelry I make using your design.

Sounds great!  Where do I send my stuff?

Email it to me!  Send all submissions to jewelry_gal85@yahoo.com

Please put "Artwork Submission" in the subject line so I know you aren't spam.  Also, include your name, email address, and website (if you have one) with each submission. 
Just about any file type should work, but I'd prefer a .jpeg  or .png file.  PDFs, Word documents, and high definition scans of hand drawn images are fine as well.

The Fine Print

I'll be drawing the gift certificate winner on Friday, January 25th, 2013.  You can submit as many images as you'd like, but your name will only be entered into the drawing once.

If you're sending me artwork, it must be your own.  Seriously, don't steal images from the web and say it's yours, that's called copyright infringement and it's against the law.  Plus, how would you feel if someone stole your stuff?  So, original work only, please.  You CAN use open source materials, but original is (almost) always better.  By submitting artwork to me, you are certifying that you have the right to use and distribute it.

By sending in artwork, you are agreeing to allow me to use (or not use) the image as I see fit.  This means the image may be re-sized, reshaped, or re-purposed as needed to fit the project.  It also means you are giving me the rights to sell any and all projects featuring your artwork with no financial obligation to you, other than what's mentioned above.

Submissions constitutes a binding contract for non-exclusive rights to your image(s).  You may sell, distribute, and otherwise share your image(s) however you like, though it'd be great if you didn't go handing them out to other jewelry artists.

And that's that.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with!  Be sure to stay tuned.  I've got a TON of exciting new projects in mind for the new year!

Happy Holidays!

-Heather

Little Hill Jewelry

The Holiday's are Here

So, once again, I've been terribly neglectful of this poor blog.  Eventually I'll get with the program and remember to post here more than once every month or so.  Honest, I will.

Thought I'd post a quick update on how things are going.  The holiday season is most definitely in full swing, and my Etsy business is doing fairly well for its first year out.  Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales more than doubled my in shop sales in months prior.  I went from 12 to 29 sales in 4 days :)  And one of those orders was fairly large, which is always nice.

Here are the 2 most popular items so far:

Mixed Set of 4 Silver Stacking Rings

Set of 3 Textured Copper Rings

I did the math on Tuesday and realized that if I kept selling at the same pace (2-3 sales/day) I would have over 100 sales by the end of the year.  But, naturally, that volume of sales doesn't seem to be in the cards for me, so I've set a goal of 50 sales by year's end instead.  That's only 31 more sales.  Totally do-able.  I hope.  You know what they say about shooting for the moon...

Even with all the activity and excitement in my shop, I've been spending a lot of time working on new projects.  I haven't decided if I'm going to launch these new items before or after the holidays, but either way I'm wicked excited about them.  I recently taught myself how to etch on metal, and I'm totally in love with the results I've been getting.  I thought etching would be a big complicated process, but as it turns out, it's actually really easy to do.  With some copper and brass blanks, a laser printer, and some etching solution, awesome things are possible.

Post Etching

 This is a brass blank that's destined to be a cuff bracelet by the time I'm through.  In the photo above, you can see the piece fresh from the etching solution.  The black marks you see are the resist--the material applied to the metal to protect it from the etching solution.  The areas that don't have any black marks become recessed areas, which you can see much more clearly in the close up photo below.

Close up before cleaning

Close up after cleaning

 In the picture above, you can see the raised areas still bright and shiny.  These areas are where the resist protected the metal.  The lower areas have a neat texture to them, as well as a slightly different coloring.  The picture below is a ring blank fresh from the etching solution with the resist just cleaned off.

Copper Ring blank post etching

 And then, with a little magic, a little soldering, and a little wax, this is what I decided to use the ring blank for.  After forming the ring, I used a sharpie marker to color in the recessed areas, bringing a little more depth and definition to the awesomely cool texture.  Then I cleaned things up and buffed the whole ring with a little bit of Renaissance Wax.  The wax will help keep the ring from tarnishing, and from turning peoples skin green.

Copper Wide Band Ring using the etched ring blank

Angled Front View of the "All You Need is Love" Copper Cuff

And last but not least, here's one of the finished cuffs.  This was the only cuff I attempted to put any writing on.  It says: "All you need in love."  I wish I had left the metal in the solution a little bit longer to give the writing a little more depth, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Angled Right View of the "All You Need is Love" Copper Cuff

As with any new project, I still have a few kinks to work out, but I'm really excited with how things are going.  I've had so much fun experimenting with new techniques in metal working, and there's still so much more to try.

Since I'm notoriously terrible at remembering to update here very often, I end this post by wishing you all happy holidays from Little Hill Jewelry!

On Facebook

These FB changes are definitely a bummer, and they have a huge impact on who gets seen where, and how often.  I read an article the other day that only something like 14% of the people who've liked our business pages see anything we post.  14 percent.  Seriously.  That means that if you have 100 likes on your page, 14 people will see your post.  To get 100 people to see your post, you would need over 700 likes.

So, we can still use FB for free, but we have to work exponentially harder for the same returns.  That's not always possible, I mean, we're small businesses, and we have lives offline.  But there are a few things you can do to get back some of your reach on Facebook.

1) Post relevant content often. 

• That doesn't mean fill people's news feeds with spamy pointless posts, it just means posting a few times a day.  Each time you post, a different percentage of your followers has a chance to see you pop up in their news feed.  Pictures are eye catching, questions are engaging, and status updates are informative.  This kind of posting engages your fan base, and keeps your name in their mind, which can translate to sales.

2) Be sure to link to your Etsy shop often to drive traffic that way. 

• Announce new listings each time you post one (unless your listing more than 3 things at a time, then announce sparingly).  Consider including a link to an item in the photo caption.  Promote sales and coupon codes.  Even if you just include a link to your shop in an occasional regular status update, that could potentially translate to traffic for your shop.

3) Consider running "referral" contests. 

• Encourage followers to share you photos and updates.  Be active daily on FB.  And the same rules apply--the more people who like your page, the more people see you.  It's totally worth it to work for those likes.  If you haven't yet, consider taking advantage of FB Ads that are free for first time users (up to $50 I think).  That will boost your page likes quickly, and help you reach more people.

It may be a lot more work to get seen on FB these days, but social media is still one of the best ways to connect to customers, and potential customers.  The changes they've made definitely make things harder on us, but not impossible.  It's not like they're charging us to even sign up for Facebook.  At least not yet...

Shame on Me for my Poor Social Media Skills :(

I have been so terribly lax in updating my blog.  Seriously, it's been months since I last wrote a word.  I'm starting to understand why people pay other people to do this sort of stuff.  Honestly, I've spent so much time in these last months working on the business aspects of things that I've hardly had any time to create new pieces.  (Note, I said hardly any time.  Like business-y stuff could keep me away from my work bench.)

And so, that's why I've been so horribly, terribly missing from the blog sphere.  I know, I know.  I'm awful.  I'll do better.  Honest I will.

Some really quick updates:

1. I was accepted into Art in the Park!!

• Art in the Park is a local juried art show.   It's been around for like ever, vendors and customers come from all over, and it's this whole big thing.  I applied for the first time this year and got accepted.
• I attended the August show with much success.  Well, maybe not MUCH much, but I made enough to cover what I'd spent to attend, plus enough to cover the October show.  Which is fast approaching.
• I'll be attending the October 6-7th show.  For more info, click HERE

     2. I finally (FINALLY!) at long last launched my very own website.

• You should most definitely take a moment to check it out.  It's pretty great if I do say so myself.
• Visit www.littlehilljewelry.com 
• Oh, and sign up for my newsletter while you there.  I'm now sending those out about once every other week

     3. I'll be attending the Sept 22nd ONE Art Market in Burlington

• I'm pretty pumped about this event.  It's a little smaller than Art in the Park, and indoors, but it should be a lot of fun.
• If you're interested in attending, it takes place on Saturday, September 22 from 10-3 at 294 N. Winooski Ave in Burlington, VT.  Parking is available on site free of charge and there is a CCTA bus stop right outside the front door to the studio.
• Check out their Facebook page for more info 

I guess that's all for now.  Oh!!  Be sure to check out my Etsy shop today!  It's my birthday, and I'm not gonna tell you how old I am, but I am offering a coupon code for 27% off your purchase TODAY ONLY!!  Use coupon code 27BDAY at check out.

There's some great new stuff up, so be sure to stop by, even if it's just to look around.

Happy Wednesday everybody!

Sunshine and SEO

So it feels like it's been forever since I posted last.  Sorry for slacking my dear readers.  It's just that the weather here in Vermont has been so nice and sunny and I've kinda thrown myself into this whole SEO project...I know, I'm terrible.  Naturally you've all been wondering where the heck I've been and why I haven't updated (at least that's how the story goes in my head, so hush).

Since my last post, I've been doing a lot, and I do mean A LOT of work on search engine optimization (SEO).  That's the thing where you work on titles, tags, keywords, item descriptions and so on, making them more relevant and easier for search engines like Google to find and rank. 

Honestly, if they offered a class locally on this sort of stuff, I'd totally sign up, because it seems like there are about a billion million things to consider.  And if I had the money, I'd probably pay someone else to do it for me, because even after you think everything is just right, you're supposed to go back and tweak things every now and then to see if small changes make any difference.

You know, I say that, but the truth is I wouldn't want someone else to do it for me.  I feel this awesome sense of accomplishment after I've tweaked an item top to bottom and I see it show up better in searches and it gets more views.  I like knowing that I'm the one putting in the work, and that my hard work actually makes an impact.  It really is a great feeling seeing things improve and knowing that I did that.

This SEO stuff has taken up a ton of my time lately, but fear not, I haven't completely abandoned my right brain activities.  I've made a few fun new pieces for my summer line like these bracelets:

Natural Agate and Smoky Quartz Chainmaille Bracelet

Rainbow Fluorite Gemstone and Chainmaille Bracelet

Both these items will be available in my shop  starting June 1st.  Which is fast approaching.  I have so many more pieces I wanted to have ready for the "launch" of my summer 2012 line.  Guess that means I have a bunch more work to do :)

In other news, I've also been working on some promotional/branding material.  First up, the earrings cards.  Ones that I designed and printed and folded and punched.  The only way I could have been more involved in the process is if I made the paper myself and hand printed each card.  Which I would never do, because i totally don't have the patience for that. Here's a picture of the finished cards:

Homemade Earrings Cards

Oh, the earrings are a new design as well.  I think I really like the leaf and the font I used here--pretty sure that's officially my logo.

I also took advantage of a promotion through Etsy to get some free "mini moo" business cards from Moo.com.  They're smaller than regular business cards, thus the name, but they're just the right size for a simple picture on one side and the basic info on the other.  Check out the ones I got:

Mini Moo Business Cards

Sorry for the slightly out of focus photo--but you get the idea, right?  And I mean, how cute are these things?  They got here wicked fast too, I wasn't expecting them until June 4th, but the arrived first thing this morning (May 26th).  Pretty great.  And hey, if this inspires you to go out and get some Mini Moo cards of your own, or anything from Moo.com--please, pretty please click here 10% off first purchase

I earn points for referring people and you get 10% off your purchase.  Everybody wins!  :)

I think that's all for now.  Oh, it looks like I won't be doing the local farmer's market this year--they're all full up, and apparently have been since like, February.  I had no idea people signed up so early, so while I'm a bit bummed that I don't get to participate, I figure oh well--I'll know better for next year.  I think I'm going to do Art in the Park though.  At least I'm going to try...it's a juried event, so I'm at least going to submit an application.  We'll see how it goes.  It'd be so very cool to be accepted.  It's one of the premier craft shows in Vermont and people come from all over to shop and browse and meet local artists.  Even if all I did was make some great new contacts and pass out a whole bunch of business cards, I'd feel like I was a success.

I think that's all for now.  It's super hot here today, and the sun is shining.  I think I'll spend some time outside enjoying the beautiful weather.  Hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!!

As always, thanks for reading :)

Thoughtful Thursday

So this week marked the end of my first 30 days on Etsy.  I think for my first month I did fairly well--I had 3 sales in total.  I'm told that's pretty good.  Honestly, I'm excited I even had one, so I think things are going great.

Purple Crystal Anklet--new in my Etsy Shop

I'm working hard on my summer line that I'm going to make available in my shop starting June 1st.  At least that's the plan.  I can't wait to see what people think.  I've really had a lot of fun pushing myself outside my normal design/comfort zone to create these pieces.  When I first started making jewelry, I was kind of obsessed with wire and metal work, but shied away from it because I really had no idea what I was doing.  Even after I bought and read some books on the subject, both concepts stayed firmly in the "I want to try that...someday" category.  Because of this, it's been pretty interesting watching these new pieces take shape.

I'm using a lot of hammered metals, a whole lot of copper, some freshwater pearls and the occasional gemstone.  I think the designs still have a similar feel to them as other pieces that I have available in my shop, but they're a step up from what I've been working on.  I finally got brave enough to break into the sterling silver and 14K golf filled wire I bought way back when.  I was so afraid to use it, I mean it's sort of expensive and I was scared that I would mess it up and waste it.  But it turns out a solid design plan and PRACTICE really make life easier and I haven't wasted any pricy materials yet (knocks on wood).

Wire Wrapped Gold and Pearl Ring--Now available in my Shop

This week I was featured in my first ever Treasury over on Etsy.  For those of you who don't know what a Treasury is, it's basically a user curated display of other people's work.  An Etsy user goes on and picks up to 16 pieces to feature, then publishes their choice in a section of the site dedicated to Treasuries.  Being featured is a great way to gain exposure and draw in potential customers.  I was really excited to get the little note telling me someone had chosen me for the Treasury.

Being featured actually inspired me to create my own.  I haven't spent much time on Etsy exploring other shops, at least not just to browse.  Most of the time I've spent on there has been working on my shop, or promoting my shop, or interacting in the Teams and such.  Well last night, I spent some time poking around.  I put together a Treasury of other jewelry artists, mostly people who's look and materials were different from mine.  I'm actually pretty pleased with it.  It's not something I think I'll do a lot of, because it kinda takes some time, but it's definitely something I'll do again.

One last thing--I've been using Facebook and Twitter a lot, I mean they say that social networking is a great way to promote your work, but I didn't really think I would garner a sale FROM either place.  I kind of thought both places were a great way to build a relationship with customers and to do a little advertising, but last week I got a custom order from someone I'm friends with on Facebook.  She saw a ring I made, asked if I could make one for her in silver, and said she'd pay whatever I was asking because it was so beautiful.  How awesome is that?

I feel like things are on the right track, and I really can't wait to see where they go from here.  Hope everyone is having a great week!  Thanks for reading :)

First Sale!!

I'm super excited to announce that I got my first sale in my Etsy shop yesterday.  I sold this bracelet:

Kinda bummed that the matching earrings didn't go at the same time, but I'm so excited about my first sale that I don't mind.

I learned a lot from my first sale, like that I need to remember that Etsy AND PayPal assess transaction fees and that I need to account for those in my pricing.  I some how missed that PayPal would be snagging 2.5% plus $0.30 for each transaction.  My pricing formula was pretty basic, and it most definitely didn't take the transaction fees into account.  I was going to try and figure out how to adjust my prices so that I would net the prices I had already figured out.  Does that make sense? 

For example, I had an item listed at $25.  That number is what I want to walk away from the sale with, so my challenge is trying to figure out at what price I should list the item so fees are covered and I put $25 in my pocket.  That seems like an awful lot of math though.  It's been suggested that I just adjust my prices upwards by 10% across the board, which would easily cover the transaction fees. 

I'll probably hold off on making adjustments until after I attend the Etsy lab Etsy Success: The Basics of Pricing with Danielle and Michelle on May 10, 2012 from 3:00pm to 3:30pm.  I'll see what I can learn there and then sit down and re-work things.

In the mean time, I'm going to get back to designing and creating pieces.  I feel like I've been spending a huge chunk of my time promoting my shop and fooling around on social networking sites and what not.  And while it seems to be paying off, I mean I actually got a SALE (!!!), I would much rather be making pretty new pieces for my summer line. 

That's all for now.  Hope everyone's having a great week!

New Projects

So the other day, I promised I'd post some pictures of the projects I have in the works.  I really meant to post sooner, but the camera I prefer to use to take pictures of my jewelry some how made its way to Washington D.C. with my parents.  Not one to be deterred however, I dug out my old, clunky digital camera and snapped a few photos.  Actually I took a lot of pictures, but I really only ended up with a handful worth saving, and none that I feel like are good enough to use in my shop.

I usually only use this camera for taking pictures of landscapes and oceans and nature-y like stuff.  It has a fairly low pixel count and I've yet to take an up close picture that didn't come out all blurry.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good solid camera, but, if I'm remembering right, it's about 8 years old.  Practically ancient by technology standards.  But I have a hard time letting it go.  It's been pretty faithful all these years, captured some great memories.  And it has a lithium ion rechargeable battery, which I'm pretty sure has saved me a fortune in battery costs over the years.  It has lots of great setting and it works wonderfully outdoors, just not so much when it comes to taking pictures of fine detail.

So dear readers, a promise is a promise, and I said I'd share some pictures by week's end.  Well here it is Friday night, so I suppose I best post a few pictures.  Please forgive the quality.

These are a pair of earrings I made for the woman who won one of my gradient pendants in the contest I ran over on Facebook.  I sent her a coupon for my Etsy shop along with her prize, and she wrote to tell me she was very much interested in a coordinating pair of earrings.  These are one of the options I've come up with.

And these are another pair of earrings kind of along the same lines that could be paired with the black gradient pendant 

Now, neither of these earrings are outside of my design comfort zone.  Despite my photo taking difficulties, these earrings were relatively easy to make and came together quickly.  They aren't the exciting new projects I've been talking about.  The pendant to the left and below are however examples of my latest adventures in designing.

It consists of some hammered copper wire bits, with a fresh water pearl attached to the wrap wires, and it all hangs from a length of brown satin cord.

I really like this pendant.  It reminds me a little of coral and the beach and by default, summer time.  I like th earthy look of the copper contrasted by the pale delicacy of the pearl.  I've got a few similar pendants in the works, one in sterling silver and the other in a combination of sterling silver and 12K gold.  I think I'll be hanging both of those on black satin cord.  I'll be making earrings to match, and as soon as i can, I'll be picking up some soldering supplies to I can make some rings.  And all of these things should be available in my shop by mid-June.

Of course, if I don't make a sale in my shop before then, I might skip listing them and take them to the craft fair instead.  I don't know, it's something I'll have to think about.

I'm working on a few other projects too, one involving some wire work, another mostly bead weaving.  I get on these bead weaving kicks and get super enthralled with one specific weave.  Last month it was right angle weave, and led to the creation of my gradient pendants.  This month, it seems to be the herringbone stitch.  It's been a lot of fun learning and exploring.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Until next time, thanks for reading :)

Next Steps in Social Networking

Just a really quick post, I promise. 

I've finally taken the next step in my social networking to promote my jewelry and Etsy shop.  I have officially just joined Twitter.  I now tweet.  I keep hearing great stories about how Twitter has brought a lot of attention to other Etsians so I went ahead and signed up.  I avoided it for a long time, cuz it seemed kind of like an exercise in narcissism.  But now I'm on board.  I've been doing the Facebook thing for awhile, I figured it couldn't hurt to branch out.  If you'd care to follow me, please do.  I'll return the favor, naturally.  To find me, I suppose you can just follow this link or type www.twitter.com/jewelry_gal25 into your address bar.

Oh oh and before I forget!  If you haven't already gone over and "Liked" my Facebook page, you should.  I just posted a special Mother's Day coupon for my Etsy shop, available to all my fans on Facebook

That's all for now.  Hope everyone had a great first day of May!!

Ads, Prizes, and Design Challenges

I know, I know, I promised that I'd update Wednesday, and while it's well after midnight, I haven't been to bed yet.  So in my little corner of the world, it's still Wednesday :P

In my last post, I mentioned that I had paid a bit for some advertising space over on Etsy.  Nothing huge, just a few bucks to see my work listed at the top of the Pendants page.  I was hoping that it would bring in more views and maybe even a sale or two, but alas, no such luck.  I actually saw less shop/item views on Tuesday than I have in almost 2 weeks.  I purposefully didn't do any other promoting that day so I could see how effective (or ineffective) the feature was, and, well...the drop in views was pretty telling.  I'm not sure I'll use that option again any time soon.

But it was kind of exciting to see my work at the top of a page.  I took a screen shot just to share it on here...

Whew!  That was a process and a half, uploading that picture lol. Anyway, there I am, my Black Gradient Pendant featured in a sort of obscure section.  The more research I do, the more it sounds like searches on Etsy are more text based rather than clicking through sections, so in the future, this whole being featured in the "Sponsored" section probably isn't something I'll try again.

In other news...Sarah, the lucky winner of my Facebook contest, sent me a message to let me know she'd received her prize today.  Now, I did a sneaky little bit of self-promotion and tucked a little note with a coupon code for my Etsy shop in with her necklace.  I couldn't decide if it was a good idea or not, but it turns out that it paid off, because in her "thank you" email today, she asked if I would make a pair of earrings to go with her necklace, and that if I could, she'd absolutely buy them from me. Of course I sent her back a message saying I would get on making a pair of earrings just for her.  I'm so excited! This is the necklace I sent her:

I have another one really similar to this one, except it's strung on chain rather than organza ribbon.  You can find it here

I hope I'm able to come up with something great for her.  Today was a little frustrating for me on the design front.  I have a really great idea for a pair of earrings that I've spent some time sketching out and considering, and I started working on them today.  I've got all the separate component pieces figured out and most of them made, but I have no idea how to bring them all together.  I know I just have to keep working at it and I'll figure it out eventually, so I'm not worried.  But it's super frustrating to be able to see what I want the end piece to look like, and not know how to get there.

Oh well.  It's all part of pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  I might be frustrated right now, but that just means when I finally finish the project, I'll feel like I really accomplished something awesome.  Creating something beautiful from is really rewarding, and it seems like it's doubly rewarding when I have to work for it.

I suppose that's all for now.  Hope everyone's having a great week!

Quick Post

I just wanted to write a quick little post this dreary Monday afternoon.  I spent the weekend sketching (or attempting to anyway) some ideas that have been floating around in my head for awhile.  I've been really focused on beadwork lately and have kind of moved away from what got me interested in jewelry making to begin with: Metals.  So now I have some really great concepts in mind for a "summer line" of jewelry that's a little different than the stuff I've been working on lately.  It's more organic, more earthy.  Think hammered metals, pearls, and sea glass.  I'm really excited. 

The things I have in mind are a little bit outside my comfort zone, which is kind of thrilling in itself.  I figure I've got a pretty good grasp on the basics, and I've been designing a lot more on my own...it's about time I start to push myself and see what develops.  So stay tuned!

In other news, I made kind of an impulsive decision late last night and purchased a Showcase on Etsy.  For those of you who don't know what that is, Etsy offers some really great advertising opportunities, one of them being something called a Showcase.  For a small fee, you can purchase a space at the top of a specific category page for 24 hours.  I bought myself a space in the Jewelry>Pendants section.  Starting tomorrow and running for 24 hours, the pieces I selected will show up at the top of the Pendants page.

I've had some fairly good traffic in my shop in the week I've had it up, but I wanted to see what I could do to increase traffic and maybe even get a sale or two.  How exciting would that be?  I can't wait to see what happens.

And that'll do it for today's quick post.  Be sure to check back on Wednesday when I'll post about the success (or lack of) resulting from my impulsive advertising purchase.  And maybe I'll share a photo or two of some of my newest ideas (:

Until next time...

A Week of Progress and Surprise

This past week has been super productive for me.  I'm excited that things are coming along like they are.  On Monday, I announced the opening of my Etsy shop.  I have been working hard all week to photograph items and get items listed, and while I still have a good deal of work to do, things are really moving forward.

A few things this past week have kind of surprised me.  The biggest being how time consuming listing an item has been.  It's actually not difficult at all to list an item on Etsy, you just upload a few pictures, come up with a great title for the piece and provide an accurate, engaging description for your customers.  Then you set a price, input shipping costs, click a few more places and you're all set.  Easy, right?  Except I find myself stumbling at a few points in that process.

I have the hardest time writing item descriptions.  I don't know if I over think it, or if I'm obsessing or what, but it takes me a few tries to write out a description I'm happy with.  You would think that with my writing skills, it would be really easy to just describe the item in the picture.  But I feel like I need to do more than that.  Want to really.  It's important to me that my descriptions are a bland recitation of facts.  I really like the idea of engaging a prospective customer.  I start of with a solid description, but it never feels like enough.  So I've been adding in a short little blurb about how I relate to the piece.

For example, with this Pink Puffy Heart Pendant, this is what I wrote:

This heart shaped pendant is made using 4mm Swarovski crystals and teeny tiny silver colored seed beads. The heart is actually made up of three different sections. If you look closely, you can see the overlapping flower shape that makes up each one. The heart has a pretty unique texture and it's puffy, like a little crystal pillow. This pendant is strung on a silver plated chain that measures 18 inches. The chain IS included with this item.

All my pieces are really fun to make, but this one really stands out for me. I was still really new to jewelry making when I first made this, and I didn't have a lot of experience with bead weaving. I found this cute little pattern on a blog and decided to jump in head first. I used the pattern as a guide as I created my own unique piece, modifying as I went to adapt the pattern to my vision. This adorable little heart shaped pendant was the result. Now that I have more experience under my belt, this isn't as challenging of a piece to put together, but it marks a milestone for me; moving away from following a pattern and into designing on my own.

I like the idea of letting potential buyers in on the back story of a given piece.  When I'm reading item descriptions, I'm always looking for the part that tells me what is so special about the item, what separates it from other, similar items?  I feel like sharing a "fun fact" about the item adds that little something special.  Maybe I'm crazy (:

Anyway, adding that little personal touch is what takes the most time and is the biggest challenge for me, which surprised me.

The other thing that's surprised me this past week was the support from other sellers on Etsy.  If you're unfamiliar with Etsy, you should really check it out because there are some really great people selling some really great stuff on the site.  There is a whole community of sellers, sellers in direct competition for business, but there is no "dog eat dog" mentality.  Instead, a lot of sellers reach out to other sellers to offer help, advice, and friendship.  It's a very "help thy neighbor" atmosphere. 

Within the Etsy community, there is something called Teams that people can join.  There are teams for everything from Etsy Success to Shop Help to a Made in Vermont Etsy Street team.  I've joined a couple of these teams, and I'm really excited to see the support going on within each of them.  At first I was really skeptical about these groups, I mean it's so contrary to business practices I've witnessed in real life.  Competition is fierce yes, but not in a "my stuff is better than theirs" way.  People just work really hard to create really outstanding things, and let the work stand on its own merit without tearing others down.  It's madness, right?  But it works!  It really works.  And in case you can't, that really surprised me :)

Anyway, I think I've carried on enough for now.  If you haven't had the chance yet, head on over to my shop and check it out.  You can find me here or just type Little Hill Jewelry into the search bar on Etsy.com

I still haven't come up with a pithy way to end these entries, so for now, you'll just have to pretend I said something clever and funny.  Thanks for reading!

Contest Winner and Etsy Shop Update

Well I officially held my drawing last night for my little Facebook contest.  34 people entered the contest, and the combined total of entries was 116.  For my first time out, I thought that was a pretty decent reach.  A lot of the contestants were people I know personally, but I did have a handful of entries from people from all over the country.  The winner is actually from New Mexico.  It was really neat to see the reach of the internet play out right in front of me.  I never really thought I'd be able to reach and interact with someone from clear across the country this early in the game.

I've sent a message to the winner letting her know that she's won and asking if I can mention her in my blog.  Since I haven't heard back from her yet, I'm going to withhold her name for now.  I decided on one of the gradient pendants as the prize, but I did tell her if she really had her heart set on something else, I'd consider it.  Naturally, I want her to win something she'll actually wear and enjoy :)

Now that my contest is over, I am doubling down on my efforts to get my Etsy shop up and running.  I've listed an item or two thus far, and over the next few days I plan on adding a good deal more.  I want to spend some quality time taking some new, fresh photographs to really showcase my work.  It was funny, last night when I was going through all the pictures I've already taken, I could really clearly see the progression in my photography skills.  My goodness, I was terrible when I started out.  Check out one of my early pictures:

I guess it's passable, but it's also terribly plain and it doesn't even begin to convey the exciting sparkle of these earrings.  Now check out a more recent picture.  This one was taken with a better camera, in natural afternoon light.

This picture has some depth and the colors are really bright, crisp and clear.  If you look really closely, you can see the reflection of me and my camera on each of the pearls, which I think is pretty funny.  This is one of my favorite pictures because I feel like the lighting really accentuates the design and the photo as a whole conveys the feel of the piece really well.  If I saw this on the home page of Etsy, I would be drawn to it and I'd probably click it just to check it out.  I think that's called "clickability"  and it's a trait I want all my photos to have.

So over the next day or two, I plan on spending a lot of quality time taking new photos of my jewelry.  I think I've got a pretty good feel for what I want my photos to look like, so I don't think it will be too difficult.  And once I've got a good portfolio of images, I think it'll be easier to figure out what I want my shop banner to look like.

If you want to check out my Etsy shop, here is the link Little Hill Jewelry on Etsy  Just keep in mind it's still a work in progress :)

As always, thanks for reading.  Stay tuned...as soon as I have a working number of items in my shop I'm going to post a coupon code for all my blog readers (cuz I know you're out there, some where).

Until next time :)

Final Hours--Call for Last Minute Entries

Just a reminder, today is the last day to enter my End of Tax Season Jewelry Giveaway contest.  The drawing is tonight at midnight, and I will announce the winner at some point tomorrow.

If you haven't entered yet, but would like to, head on over to my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Jewelrygal26.  Every "like,"  "share,"  and comment will get you an entry.  I'm already amazed at how many entries there are...over 100 so far!!

Anyway, today's you're last chance to enter.  And who doesn't like free stuff, right?  I think the piece I'm giving away will be one of my gradient crystal pendants.

Creating a Storefront...online

So back in March I listed a few items on E-bay to sort of test the waters.  My chief complaint at the time was that E-bay really isn't set up for selling things like handmade jewelry, or really any handcrafted work.  The bidding system is essentially a gamble as there's no real way to ensure the final bid will be enough to allow you to break even.  I mean, yes you can set a minimum bid, and I might experiment with that later, but when I look at minimum bids that are over $5, I tend to avoid the item.  Maybe that's just me.  Anyway, I knew when I signed up for selling on E-bay that it would likely not be the ideal venue for me.

Which brings me to my next adventure in online sales: Etsy.  You may already know of this site.  It's a great resource for crafters and artisans to get connected with potential buyers.  It's main focus is handmade, and it has a reputation on the whole as being a safe, reliable place for customers to spend their money.  Using an established "front" like Etsy and E-bay are, in my opinion, an excellent way to make a name for one's self.  So I'm officially working on setting up an Etsy store front.

I think I've finally settled on a name for my business.  Little Hill Jewelry.  Sort of a play on Hillside (the street I grew up on) and the Green Mountains that all my friends from out west refer to as little hills (in comparison to the Rocky Mountain Range).  I think it's cute, easy to remember (and spell), and it means something to me.  Now I just need to work on creating graphics and what not to go with the name.  For my Etsy storefront, I get to create a banner for people to see when they first come into the shop, and this is what I've come up with so far:

 

I think I like the top one the best, but there's something missing.  I've also not been able to come up with that catchy little marketing phrase that so many companies have.  I thought about "Little Hill Jewelry...Uniquely Yours"  but I think it sounds stupid.  So I'll be doing more brainstorming on that front.  Everything else aside, I'm really happy with my color scheme :)

I'm also working my way through the process of setting up a Business Tax Account with the state so that I can legally fulfill my tax obligation.  I debated briefly not bothering to collect sales tax, I mean as a primarily online business, I didn't really think it was necessary.  But after doing a lot of reading and considering all the potential venues I might want to participate in locally (at which I would need to collect sales tax) I decided I may as well get it done and out of the way.

Now I just have to decide what items I want to list on Etsy, because once they're listed there I think I have to sell them through Etsy or wait for the listing period to expire.  I also really need to work on focusing the style of my jewelry.  I have quite the eclectic collection, and while it can be broken down into groups (like pearl jewelry, wire work and bead weaving)  there really is no unifying theme.  I think a lot of my stuff has a sort of organic feel to it, like this wrap bracelet:

and this silver and gemstone drop bracelet:

 

 Even my pearl jewelry has a kind of alternative, organic feel.  Like this bracelet and these earrings:

 I suppose it will all work itself out in the end.  I think I kind of shy away from defining my style "boundaries" because I find it limiting.  I'd rather just create and see what I come up with.  I'll worry about organizing the finished product into acceptable categories later.  (Lol, yes I'm aware that that's just avoiding dealing with the issue at hand, but I'm too excited about setting up a storefront to mind).

I suppose that's all for now.  Oh!  My little promo contest over on Facebook is almost over with.  It worked out pretty well.  I got a lot of new likes, and my weekly reach for the past few weeks has been in the triple digits!  People are talking about my work and sharing it with their friends, which is really SO awesome!!  I'll be doing my drawing on Sunday at midnight, so stay tuned, I'll announce the winner first thing Monday morning.

I still haven't come up with a pithy way to end these entries.  So for now, thanks for reading. 

Experimenting with E-bay

So people have been on me for ages to get some of my stuff up on E-bay or some other online shop.  I've put it off for so long, but last night I finally decided to get my act together and get some stuff up.

I chose E-bay for its simplicity.  I'd really like to set up an Esty shop, or something similar, but for now I'm doing a trial run on Ebay.  The only problem with Ebay thus far is that it's not really set up for artists and crafters.  I love the idea of having people bid on my jewelry, but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to take the chance that someone might win with a really low bid that doesn't cover my costs.  So for this little test run, the few things that I put up on Ebay this weekend are listed at a fixed price with free shipping.  If you're interested, you can check them out by following the links below the pictures.

Purple Gradient Pendant

Concentric Circles Bracelet

Pale Pink Pearl and Ruby Crystal Chainmaille Bracelet

Depending on what happens with these items, I may list more in a similar format or I may really start to explore my options for selling handmade jewelry on the internet.  We shall see.

Just a reminder, if you don't already know, I'm having a little contest over on my Facebook page to promote my jewelry.  The winner will receive a one of a kind piece of jewelry made my, of course, me.  For details, click here to be taken to the blog entry with all you need to know.

I keep trying to come up with a pithy way to end these entries.  For now, you'll just have to pretend I said something clever. 

Until next time, thanks for reading :)

End of Tax Season Contest Info

April 15th is fast approaching, and with it, the end of another tax season.  If you haven't filed your tax returns yet, well...you should probably get on that.  Anyway, to celebrate the end of tax season, and to boost my jewelry's exposure on the web, I've decided to run a little contest on Facebook.

Here's the deal: I'll be giving away a piece of handmade jewelry on April 15th.  Entering is easy.  All you have to do is like my jewelry page, which you can find here: Custom Made Jewelry on Facebook and then share one of the pictures of my jewelry.

You will receive an entry for liking the page plus an additional entry for every time you share one of my photos on your news feed.  You will also receive an entry for each friend you refer to my page.  Just make sure they like the page and be sure to ask them to give you credit for referring them.

You can share as many photos and refer as many friends as you like, and really, the more the better, however each contestant is limited to 10 entries per day.

So on April 15th, 2012, a winner will be chosen at random.  The more times you enter, the greater your chance of winning, obviously.  I haven't decided what the prize will be; I'm thinking I'm going to make something special just for this contest.  I'll post a picture of the prize in the next week or so, I promise.

To Enter:

• Like this Facebook page

 

• Share photos on your news feed

• Refer your friends (sorry, no graphics for this one.  I'm sure you'll figure it out :])
• Repeat as often as you'd like

And that's it.  Easy as pie. What are you waiting for?  Go on, get over to my page and start sharing.  You know you want to :)

**Update**
It looks like some people are having trouble sharing my photos on their wall.  If you are unable to share a photo, maybe you can share the link to the contest entry instead.  On my wall is the announcement for the contest and there should be the option to share the link right next to where you click to Like or Comment.  Each share will get you an entry.  Sorry for the confusion.