Sunday, October 23, 2011

This week: Etsy and Harry Potter

Yup, it's Sunday night and I'm up choosing just the right photos to post in my etsy shop and then I'm off to put the finishing touches on my son's Harry Potter robe.  All you sewers out there (you know, people who sew, not the contraption that collects waste),  you rock!  I was foolish enough to think that slippery costume satin would be easy to sew. Doh!  Boy was I wrong.  I was also wrong in thinking that making a robe with lining would be easy. Wrong again!  Oh well, I was just reminiscing about all the time I spent last year setting up my Etsy site and about how much easier it is this year.  It's still very time consuming, but I'm just not stressed about.  The whole jewelry making/promoting process has become so much more streamlined and I can finally say, "Aaaaaah...this is rewarding and relaxing!"  By the way, what do you think of those glass snowflake flower earrings?  Cute, huh? :)

Friday, October 21, 2011

Here I am, one year later






It's hard to believe that it was about one year ago that I quit my day job and plunged into the world of crafting and handmade work. Last winter  I did my first crafts fair, learned how to market my product, decided what my "product" actually was, made business cards, put up my etsy site, and actually sold a fair amount of my hats and jewelry (thanks to a lot of very supportive and amazing friends). I sold my hats and jewelry in the local studio and even made my first international sale.  I donated a pair of antique button cufflinks to a local non-profit's auction and started my year-long yoga teacher training program.  This fall I used all of my "crafty" connections to help pull together a local community festival.  Thankfully, it was a success and I even sold a few things:).  My company has undergone some changes though.  I love making my hats, but I think I may be delving more into the button jewelry this year instead of the crochet hats (although I will be taking special orders this winter).  Fortunately, my jewelry sold very well at the fair, which only reconfirmed my decision to take my business in the button direction.  I've always known that I love the hunt of  finding unique, quality buttons, setting them as jewelry, and researching the history of the buttons, yet I just didn't realize how much I loved the interaction I have with the customer!  I had a blast telling people about the buttons and sharing my interest in history and buttons.  People seemed to be genuinely  interested in the jewelry and very happy with their purchases. It was such a rush. This year I plan on participating in two fairs and have just sent in my application to do a pretty huge crafts fair in the area.  The fair  will happen in mid-December and I'm really looking forward to it.  In the meantime, I bought 3 books on button collecting and I'm busy creating new pieces. I'm busy, but very happy! Thanks for reading and I'll keep you updated on any more fairs in the future.