7 Tips to Manage a Creative Business and Still Have a Life!

It is a challenge running a business and trying to have a life. Even though you love creating jewelry and are addicted to beads you must do a few things to keep in this for the long haul. 

1. Set a schedule but allow for creative diversions. 

If this is your 9-5, make it a 9-5 and have hours you don't work. If you sneak your bead time in after everyone has gone to bed and you've already worked a full day at your JOB, be realistic about what you can accomplish.

Have a plan for your creative time, but allow time for your muse to play if that's what you need to keep going!

2. Schedule "me" time and art dates.

No, that isn't time hunched over your phone scrolling through Pinterest. You need time in nature, you need time to move, you need time to fill the well. 

What well? Your creative fount from whence forth all your amazing ideas spring. Go to galleries, museums, gardens, sacred spaces. Drink in and fill up. 

3. Sleep. 

For real. You need more sleep. I don't know a woman who thinks she gets enough sleep, do you? 

Try out a set bedtime routine, work with your natural body rhythms. Do less if it means you get an extra hour of sleep. You will get more done if you are rested and it's scientifically proven you will be more creative if you've had your zzz's! 

And let's just give a nod to all facets of self-care here; eating better and managing stress, move every hour, stretch. You know what to do. Your health first, okay? 

4. Prioritize.

At the end of each work day make a "6 Most Important Things" list for the next day. 

This is just like it says, the first 6 things you need to get done the following day. Attack that list before you do anything else. 

Notice it's not the "99 Most Important Things" List. Focus on breaking tasks down into bite size chunks instead of having a never ending to-do list. Plus it's super fun to scratch things off your "6 Most Important Things" list.

If you are a list girl, make a list for each big project you have going on and add those tasks to your 6 list each day.

5. Set Goals.

Plot your course and steer your ship toward your dreams. Don't just let the storms of life toss you about.

Pick a tangible goal that is within your reach but stretches yourself. 

Have a deadline for your goal.

Create smaller steps to achieve it. 

6. Delegate something already. 

No one can do it all. It might be time to hire a house cleaner, an accountant, a web designer, a photographer or a babysitter.  You know where you feel like you are drowning!

Get a virtual assistant to help with online tasks. Get your family to take over making dinner or doing the laundry. 

Barter with someone, exchange jewelry for their skills. Get creative if money is short.

What tasks suck up your time, what tasks can someone do better and quicker? What tasks can you delegate so you can focus on work that brings in money for your jewelry business? 

You could do the laundry or you could send out an email to your customers. Which one can someone else do? It's time to start asking for help. 

7. Be mindful with your time online.

Have a marketing calendar - Google one to print and fill out.

Spend more time making connections and less time consuming media.

Read or listen to one thing everyday to improve your business. 

Schedule and spread out your posts on your blog and social media. 

Set a timer if you tend to get lost when you go online.

So that's my words of wisdom for today. And they may just be reminders for myself! 

How do you juggle it all? What tricks have you learned to keep a balance between life and work? Any of these tips speak to you? I'd love to hear from you! 

Pinning You a Merry Christmas

Do you sell jewelry online? Have you created a Christmas or holiday pin board featuring inspiring images and your your jewelry? You should. Like today! 

Here are a few different holiday pin board ideas

• Pin holiday images and your jewelry that fit your brand (like my goregous nature-inspired Humblebeads Christmas board.)

• Pin holiday outfits and your jewelry. You can find outfits on Pinterest or create some on Polyvore. You can name your board Holiday Style or Holiday Outfits. 

• Create different types of holiday gift guides and include your jewelry. Like a Stocking Stuffer Gift Guide or a Gift Guide for Nature Lovers or a Gift Guide for Sisters, etc. Include items that compliment your brand that would fit in the gift guide. These are fun to make! 

• Create an all handmade gift guide featuring your favorite makers and your jewelry. Or create a holiday gift group gift board with several different types of makers. 

• Niche holiday boards - have jewelry that fits a certain niche? Create a board just for it. I did this with my pet holiday ornaments and we created a cute board that mixes the ornaments with adorable holiday pets in the Paw-fect Holiday board (warning: cute overload!). 

Once you have your boards created, share them on Facebook, Twitter, and in your emails that go out to your customers. You can also create contests and encourage your social network to pin your images to win a gift certificate or prize. 

Keep a good ratio of other pins mixed in with your jewelry and try to capture a feeling or mood in your boards instead of just going to town pinning whatever - be a good curator and give your followers high quality images and content. 

Know your audience and get creative with your boards. This board is more crafty than ones that feature my jewelry because it's more geared towards makers and those who would be interested in my beads.

Increase Your Views: 
You can use #hashtags to help increase your chances of being picked up by Pinterest's search. Make sure they are relavenat and only use 2-3 hashtags. If you include the price on your items they will show up in the Pinterest Gift Category.

Best time of day to pin? 9pm -1am. We all must lay in bed and scroll through Pinterest trying to fall asleep. I thought that was just me!

Images that are vertical get repinned more often. As always, make sure your jewelry photos are top-notch and pin-worthy!

Giveaway:
So your assignment - create a holiday pin board with your jewelry. Go on, promote your work in clever and fun ways - it's good for you.

Visually Branding Your Jewelry Business

I'm super excited to be hosting my first webinar for Interweave today. Just like the title says I'll be sharing all my tips and tricks for visually branding and promoting your business. 

The live webinar starts at 1PM EST today, so there is still time to sign up and join us. During the live webinar you get to ask questions and then after the webinar the recording version is sent out. So even if you can't make it today you can sign up and listen in later this week.  

Register Here 

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• How to create a mood board to help tell your story visually
• Use the power of branding to grow your jewelry business
• Learn what formats and sizes to create your images for the different social media platforms
• Explore unexpected ways to visually promote your jewelry
• Discover how to stand out with your printed materials

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

• Jewelry designers just starting to sell their jewelry.
• Seasoned designers who want to improve their online marketing skills.
• Designers who feel lost at promoting their work online and could use a few guidelines.
• Jewelry designers who want to stand out at shows.
• Designers who are ready to get more attention online without feeling pushy or invasive.
• Jewelry makers who want to wow their customers with creative yet affordable packaging.
• Designers who aren't sure if they are a brand but would certainly like to sell more jewelry online and off!

In the webinar I'm going to talk about defining your dream client and thought I'd share my blog post on who my dream client is that I wrote a few years ago and now use as my guide for creating jewelry and marketing my business. Read Thoughts on My Target Market here. 

Better Time Management for Creatives

I've noticed the last few Mondays have been a challenge for me.  Too many things on my to-do list, not enough hours. It's a difficult day to get through with a weekly appointment that takes 5 hours out of my day after the traveling.  It  leaves me feeling resentful about not having enough time.  

This morning I woke up dreading the day and the pressure of everything I need to do.  So what do I do when I need a mental break? Head to Pinterest, of course! I went with the intention of finding a snarky quote to commiserate about how much I hate Monday.

But then I thought, wait - my days on this planet are too short to spend time and energy not looking forward to one on a weekly basis. 

So it was time for some soul-searching and pulling out my calendar to make some adjustments.  Why in the world would I pile up a huge list of difficult and time-consuming tasks on a day when I wake up feeling overwhelmed and know time is short?

That's just silly because hello, I'M THE BOSS!!!! 

I rearranged my schedule.  Monday is now for playing, exploring, creating for fun.  It will be a day that I look forward to because it's my day to grow and try new things.  It's not a waste of time or dilly-dallying.  When you are a creative and your job is to come up with new ideas, you have to make time to fill up your well.  You can't throw in a bucket and expect to get the good stuff if you don't make time for it.

I'm officially declaring Mondays are no longer a day for to-do lists and deadlines for myself.  Those can happen Tuesday - Friday.  There is plenty of time for everything I want to do, just not all in one day.

And why am I writing this in a blog post? Because it's hard to give myself permission to play.  Even if it's very well-intentioned and productive play. Notice I even had to calendar it in so it feels like 'work'?

I'm off to do what I love today, it includes pulling out some paints this morning and working on a few new bead prototypes this afternoon.  And it's a luxury to have this time, but also a necessity because life is just too short to go around hating on Mondays!

Need help managing your time better?  Here are a two helpful articles to get you started.
Creative Time Management
Time Management Tips from Lisa Jacobs

Click on the photos above for their links on Pinterest.

Mossy Display Makeover

Do you have some tired old necklace displays and want to breathe fresh life into them?  With a little bit moss and a handy glue gun you can give your displays a makeover in minutes.

We used Supermoss Moss Mat that we picked up at Hobby Lobby.  They are thin, flat sheets that can be cut with scissors.  Lay down some newspaper before you start for easier clean up.

 

Step 1. Cut the moss 1" larger than your displays.

Step 2: Fold the moss sheet around to the back of the board.  Pull the moss sheet tightly and glue it down. 

Step 3: Go back along with edge of the moss with another bead of glue to secure the edges.

Step 4: For the corners, trim the excess moss and glue the edges of the corners to the display.

And that's it! You'll want to give it a few taps on the table to shed some of the loose moss.  I also recommend wrapping these in bubble wrap when you are packing for a show to protect them.  

(Jess created these, I was merely the art director. Add display and prop guy to his job title!)

You can do the same technique with fabric.  I've used some lovely silk on some of my displays.  You could even try paper, although that would probably need some Modge Podge magic and that's beyond my skill set.

You can fill little bowls with Styrofoam and glue some of the moss on top for coordinating displays.  Just make sure to balance all this mossy goodness with other colors and textures.

Bead Bundles, Production and Designing for Wholesale

Just a quick note to let you know that I am having a little sale in my Etsy shop.  I just put up 10 Bead Bundles that are listed at almost wholesale prices.  It's a great way to pick up some sweet Humblebeads.  This is a special sale and once they are gone, that's it. 

I also have some new leafy beads in the shop - fall is sneaking up on us, poking it head around the corner even here at the beginning of August.

I have been working between bead orders and prepping for the show.  Above is my handiwork from last night. I love mixing ceramic work with my beads.  They add a nice weight to my light-weight polymer and our finishes work so well together. 

I like to work in assembly line fashion with a design, changing out a piece here and there but keeping it the same formula.  It's an easy way to whip up six pendants in a half hour!  And speaking of assembly line fashion...

I have been working on samples and designs for my wholesale line.  One thing I've been working on is the idea of creating collections.  So I'll have a design motif and see how many different ways I can work it into a series of jewelry.  It's a lot unlike working on a series or body of work when I was in art school.  I've found that when I'm working on the designs for wholesale it is a completely different mindset than working on one-of-kind designs.  I have to ask myself:

1. Can I easily reproduce this?
2. Are the materials affordable? (If I work with net 30 terms am I going to have to invest a fortune to fill an order?  I certainly don't want to!)
3. Is this design keeping in my price point that I want to offer to wholesale customers?
4. Can I make it quickly and can I train others to make it too?
5. Is this design cohesive with the entire collection?
6. Is this is a seasonal design, should it wait to be released until later in the year?

Now, I'm moving in a completely different direction than even what I offer at say a local art market. I'm thinking much more in terms of how I can produce these in quantities and offer them to a larger market.  It's a bigger kind of thinking than I've done before and a slower process. 

Would you like to see some jewelry collection samples?  Check out the wholesale shops at Trunkt for inspiration and quite an education!

Etsy Success - 4000 Sales!

I took a little break from Etsy last week as we stock piled beads.  In the midst of handing a little family crisis, I didn't realize the milestone that had passed.  My 4000th sale.

So how does one get 4000 sales on Etsy?

1. Create a unique product. Not easy, I know - but trust your gut, do some research and find what makes your muse sing and dance.  That is where your success lies.

2. Create new products often, expanding your line.  I try to offer new beads every month. 

3. Offer a variety of price points.

4. Advertise outside of Etsy. For me that includes blogging, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, getting published in magazines and keeping up with an email mailing list/newsletter.

5. Connect with people on Etsy - friends, teams and circles are good.

6. Take the very best photos you can.  (This is actually the best selling tip and should be the second thing you do, first thing is #1.)

7. It's easier to sell the same thing over and over - production can be your friend if you can handle the mundane task of making the same thing 200 times.  Of course, it beats the mundane task of asking "Do you want fries with that?"  "Paper or plastic" or "Do I email the report or fax it to you?"

8. Create a series and up sell.  I create beads that go together: accents with focals, earring beads that go with pendants, etc.  I arrange my shop to inspire shopping for more than one item.

9. Get help.  I have a full time helper, my husband.  I couldn't handle my Etsy shop by myself.  Teenagers, collage kids, a lonely neighbor can all make great part-time help. Think through your process, what parts can someone else do that would free up your time? My husband drills beads, paints, sands, prints things out and packages orders.

10. School yourself - Etsy actually gives you all the tools and tips you need to succeed.  So spend some time each week learning the ins and outs of making your shop the best it can be. Check out the Etsy Seller Handbook.

Thank you to everyone who supports me.  I couldn't do this without you!  

Along with Etsy, I have my own website and suggest the same for anyone serious about their business.  Etsy is a tool, a platform and one egg in a large basket. 

www.humblebeads.etsy.com
www.humblebeads.com

Submitting to Magazines

You'll have to check out the May issue of BeadStyle magazine to see the cutest woodland charm necklace by designer Jamie Hogsett!  She combines Green Girl Studio connectors and a clasp with my little hedgies and disk beads.  They also show a sweet alternative featuring my gnome.  Guess what I'm making more of today!

Remember, if you have work published in a magazine send me an email and I will send you a $25 gift certificate to my website. 

Here are some links to magazine submission guides.

  

Stringing - Currently accepting for Winter 2011, deadline is June 17th.  Submitting bracelets & earrings to this publication is a great way to get your feet wet in the world of magazines.  You don't have to write the step by step directions for bracelets or earrings - just design something amazing.

Bead Trends - They are currently accepting work for their October issue, deadline is April 25th.

Bead Unique Magazine - Currently accepting submissions for October 2011, deadline is April 15th.

Jewelry Affaire - Next deadline is May 15th.

Belle Armoire Jewelry - Next deadline is April 15th.

Step by Step Wire

Beadwork

Bead & Button Magazine

BeadStyle

Lori Anderson wrote a great article on Tips of Getting Published in Magazines.  And Lorelei Eurto also shares some tips on her blog for getting your work in magazines.  Tips on submitting to Stringing Magazine from Editor Danielle Fox.

Basically:

1. Design something you love and want to share with the whole world.

2. Decide which magazine it would best fit in - each magazine has it's own slant.

3. Follow the submission guidelines and send it in!

Rights & Compensation - Read the contract carefully - some magazines ask for all rights and may publish your design again and again without further compensation.  And make sure you ask if you can still teach a design if you publish it in a magazine, for some all-rights contracts the answer is surprisingly no.  If you are a beadmaker and publish as an advertiser you can retain all rights to your project, but you also most likely won't be compensated.  Some magazines will ask that you not have a piece online until after it's published. In general, magazines can pay anywhere from $0 - $300 for a project.  It depends on the magazine and the rights you are giving away.  For magazines that don't pay, ask if you can have a copy of the high resolution photos to use for your promotions and website.  Sometimes having your work professionally photographed and being able to use those photos on your website is worth more than you would get paid for a project. 

You won't get rich submitting your work to magazines - but if you are building a career in the bead world it is a great stepping stone.  It can increase your clout as an instructor, it will impress your customers and it can lead to new sales. 

Married + Owning a Business = ?

Okay, no more waxing poetic.  What is going on with me this week?  Well last Friday Jess was laid off - again.  We have gone through this song and dance at least a 1/2 dozen times over the last 4 years.  It's getting old. 

The first time it was scary and Jess found a new job within days.  Relief.  But after the 3rd time he found himself unemployed due to cut backs in his field, cheaper labor available and companies no longer hiring employees but rather contract labor, we decided to try having Jess work for me.  And it did work for a time.  But after a few months I asked Jess to go find work again, it was too stressful for me to carry the whole load and quite frankly back then my business wasn't what it is today.   

But this time it is different.  It's no longer scary to face unemployment.  Our faith allows us to trust that we are provided for no matter what the circumstances.  My business is in a different place and I have been out-earning Jess for the last year.  None of his jobs have offered health insurance, so no loss there.

More importantly this lay-off has given us time to pause.  You see Jess is an artist.  Like a super-way-more-talented-than-me kind of artist.  And I have let him slink away from his dreams of living a creative life.  Instead of helping him face his fears about selling his work I have relied on the false security of his day job. 

It's time to make our way together as artists.  Jess will be helping me a few days a week with getting orders out the door and working on some administrative stuff that will free up some of my time.  But a few times a week Jess will be working on his own projects.  We are still trying to decide if I will sell them in my Etsy shop or if we will keep his shop.  Or we may decide to start a new shop.  Lots of things to work through over the next few weeks. 

I can tell you though, it's already like a heavy weight has been lifted off our necks.   We are facing each day light-hearted, working happily side by side.  I'm looking forward to seeing Jess make his way as an artist, getting back in touch with his most authentic self.  It's exciting times, I will tell you that!

We've claimed Friday as a play day in the studio.  Today Jess has been making these teeny-tiny charms.  Next up we will paint them.  They are so sweet!

Wish us luck, keep us in our prayers and look forward to getting to know Jess more as he dips his toe in the world of online social media.  He's such a charming and clever guy - I know you are just going to love him and his creations!

Balancing Family & Creating

I'm often asked how I find the time to do everything.  The truth is, I don't!  I struggle just like you with balancing family and running my business.  But I have always worked my creative business along with raising my girls, from the time I would do craft shows with our newborn in the stroller and beading away when she was taking naps!

I am very fortune to have a family that completely supports my business.  Most of the cooking and cleaning are handled by Jess and my girls. 

I was in the terrible habit of working all day and night for a few years, but have scaled back this year.  I stop working when the girls get home at 4:30 and spend time doing family stuff until they are in bed at 9:30. When they arrive home from school I devote that first hour to listening and chatting them with about their day. I use my time in the evening to sketch, read and jot down ideas while we watch TV or hang out together. I don't get on the computer or spend time in my studio during that time.  This has been good for all us, and good for me - we can't work 24 hours a day! (Now if I could only pry the Ipod from my hands during TV commercials. Shh, don't tell on me.)

Here are some tips that I shared on my facebook page for mom's who were struggling with finding time to create:

• Do you have another mom you can exchange babysitting time? I used to do that with another homeschool mom when I homeschooled. We would trade a day so that we could work on our creative businesses.
• I still get up before everyone so I can have an hour or two of quiet time. Is that what you do now? I find I'm more creative if I wake up early rather than staying up way too late.
• Maybe you could do a family creative day once a week. Feeding your creative soul may not involve beads at that time, but you will all enjoy the break from the everyday! We would take the girls to museums, art shows, take our sketchbooks to the park, etc.
• And then there is the reality that when we are raising kids we can't do it all - there are only so many hours in a day.  Don't be hard on yourself and set realistic goals.

I also found this great round up of tips for maintaining balance with work and family - it's a must read!  Couldn't have come at a better time.

Create Super Easy Rounded Photo Corners

I've been working away on redesigning my website.  It was looking a little dated and I knew with just a bit of photo magic I could really make the pages pop and hopefully inspire shoppers.  This is the homepage with nice rounded photo corners for the main categories.

On the Bead Shop page instead of a long list of beads to scroll through, I separated the beads into categories for easier shopping.  I love this page with the photos all jazzed up.  It sure makes a big difference.  I even rounded the edges of my banner to create a consistent look.  A few other tweaks included updating the banner on my blog too and changing the background colors on my website so that it matches with the blog.  Going for consistency with my visual elements here.

You can create rounded photo corners in 5 super easy steps with no expensive software required.  Head on over to http://www.picnik.com/ to make with the photo fabulousness.

Step 1. Upload your photo.

Step 2. Your photo will be transported to the editing tab.  Here you can resize your photo to suit your needs.

*For blog or Etsy photos go with 600 pixels wide.  I wanted a smaller catalog image and went with 300 pixels.  

Step 3. Click on the Create tab.

Step 4. On the top of the website, click on "frames".  On the left-hand side you'll see the "Rounded Edges" function, click that.  You can adjust how large you'd like those corners. Hit the 'apply' button when you are done.

Step 5. Click the "Save & Share" tab.  Save the image to your computer. 

You can also share it on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and more - depending on what you were using the photo for.

All roundy-mcdaisy.  How easy is that?  Go give it a try, you'll soon be fancyin' up all your photos!

Etsy Advice

An old family friend emailed me today asking for advice on starting on Etsy and I thought I'd share my advice with you too.

The two most important things are learning to take amazing photos and listing new items in your shop frequently. I would plan to list 12-15 items one weekend to set up your shop and have a 'grand opening.' After that, listing at least something once a week is a good idea. (I would suggest everyday for bead or jewelry makers) It's really hard to sell from an empty shop, so make sure you have inventory to sell and get it listed as often as possible.

A street team would be helpful to someone new on etsy. I know there are teams for almost any medium, style and interest along with teams based on your city or state. I would join a local team first. A team is a group of shop owners that work together to promote each other, each team is different.
http://help.etsy.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/332

Check out the Etsy handbook for tons of great articles on everything you need to know about setting up and running an Etsy shop.
http://www.etsy.com/storque/seller-handbook/the-etsy-seller-handbook-all-our-how-tos-about-selling-2383/

And subscribe to the Etsy Success newsletter, they always offer great information. They are doing a series on shop makeovers right now with lots of great photo tips and weekly assignments.
https://www.etsy.com/mailinglist/

You don't need a website if you have a blog and an etsy shop. You can set up your blog as your website. If you don't have a blog, work on that too. You have to connect with the online creative community if you are going to sell online.

It is a lot of work to succeed selling online. Finding a niche in your medium will help you stand out from the crowd and increase your chances of success.

Good luck,
Heather

Notes to Myself

1. Don't try to keep up with anyone but yourself.

2. Don't compare yourself to others - relish in your uniqueness.

3. Don't worry about coming up with new ideas. They will happen when you give yourself time to play.

4. Dream bigger than you have before.

5. Focus on what you can offer, not on what you don't have.

6. You will not fall behind everyone else, you are doing exactly what you should be at this moment.

7. Don't be too guarded, life brings amazing things when you are open to new possibilities.

8. It's not a competition, it's a journey. Fellow artists are not competitors, they are travel companions.

9. You have 8-10 hours to work a day, not 12-16. Your business will not fall apart if you work humane hours.

10. Water will not pour from an empty jar, make sure you fill your soul with inspiration and give yourself time to relax.

Photo Redux

Morning all, thanks for popping by.  I've been recovering - from a computer crash and some health issues, not a good combo. But I'm back.  Working again like a little mad elf before the holiday rush.  Since most of what's been going on has been catching up and production work, I thought I'd share some before and after photos with you and some photo tips. 

The before shot - too dark.  The composition needed work - too much metal in the foreground took the focus away from the earrings.

The updated photo - better lighting and cropped closer to the subject.  I like the little addition of the sprig from a bush out of my front yard.  This pair of earrings sold the day after I changed the photo. 

Wowzers - way too dark and did nothing to flatter the earrings.  Bleah, bleah, bleah.

Now there is the stuff - love the lighting - nice diffused sunlight.  You can see the sparkle of those crystals and the flowers (from MissFickleMedia) much better.  Hmm, same composition as the photo of the other pair of earrings - that must have been working for me that day.  With the new Etsy photo dimensions of 500 pixels wide, horizontal pictures seem to work better for the first photo.

I photograph with diffused daylight next to a window. I have white sheer curtains to filter out harsh shadows. Another trick I have been doing to improve the lighting is holding a piece of vellum above the jewelry while I'm photographing it, the light reflects off the paper and seems to help the camera adjust better to the lighting.  (I'm not a techie camera person, I'm sure there is a reason for that little bit of magic.)

I use the window seat in my studio and stack up some books so that my photography area isn't at a back-breaking angle.  A trusty tripod is a must for good photos.  Simple backgrounds and props add some interest, they relate to my nature-inspired brand and hopefully they don't distract from my items.  And where would I be without photoshop to crop my images, sharpen them and adjust the brightness if needed. 

My favorite background for my photos is an old piece of slightly rusted metal that Jess found.  Other things I've used for backgrounds include scrapbook paper, old books opened and closed - love old linen covered books - embossed ones are even better.  A painted canvas with white crackle paint has been fun but works best as a background for small objects/beads. 

If you want to improve your photos - this is a must see!

What Is It?! Product Photography from I Heart Art: Portland on Vimeo.

What is your favorite background for your product photographs?

Earring Inspiration

I love making earrings! I can't believe how many different things you can do with the same basic bead shape.  The silver wire ones were inspired by projects in Denise Peck's 101 Wire Earrings.  Still one of my favorite books.

When I do shows I make up 5 or 6 different designs, like the ones shown, and do them in 4-5 different colors.  It's a quick and easy way to come up with a collection of earrings in a hurry.  Oh how I wish I had a craft show to do!  Well, I mean an artist's market because me and craft shows are not good buddies.  My customers shop were art is sold and not country crafts.  You can be at the busiest craft show in your city, but if you sell work that is more urban, artsy and targets a different market, you'll find you have very frustrating results.  In general if paintings are being sold at a show, I know it will be a good place for my work.

The earrings above feature my Branch Disk Beads.  Other great earring beads that I make include the new Willow Disk Beads, Petal Disk Beads and my handy tiny Spacer Beads.  You can also find an earring bead grab bag in my Etsy shop and save a little green.  The grab bag beads sets are ones I made up for Bead & Button and there are just too many to photograph individually.

Thanks for visiting today! 

Photo Redo

So I whipped up some headpins over the weekend and photographed them. I was happy with the photos and listed them in my shop. And then I looked at my shop and realized that the photos were dull and not eye-catching at all. Blah. I quickly realized I didn't have enough light. So this afternoon I pulled out the camera and tried again. You can see the first photos on the left and the updated ones on the right. I took these photos in the same area with the same camera settings, the only difference? I took the better photos during the middle of the day and the other ones too late in the afternoon. It can make all the difference. Do some experiments during different times of the day and see if you can find better natural lighting.

So how important is that first photo in your Etsy shop? Which one would grab your attention and deserve a click through? Which ones are more likely to end up in a treasury or on the first page? Let the photos work for you!

And now for some props! Here you can see the original photo in the lower right-hand corner. The raven was okay as is, but I didn't feel the photograph captured this little guy clearly or with enough personality. With a few strategic props this listing is much more of an eye-grabber than before.

I also wanted to give this little guy more attention because I went crazy making them last week and have about a dozen more than usual in stock. So they are on sale in my Etsy shop, yep you can save a whole buck. And with that dollar you could buy yourself a little chocolate treat and celebrate Halloween 4 weeks early. Yep, that sounds like a plan!

Join the Book Club

Do you crush on beads?  Is that too weird?  I'm crushing on these little books from Jubilee.  They are so sweet and tiny and have little dog-eared pages - yes, it's definitely puppy love! 

I so badly want to do a holiday market or two - but I'm just not able to find one that fits me here in SA.  I should look into some places in Austin - but of course, it's probably already too late.  Sigh - oh well Etsy may have to be my craft fair this season.  I have several lines of jewelry planned, like the little Book Club pendants above - I love thinking up the titles!

Are you starting to plan out your holiday selling season?  Etsy has a boot camp you can join.  Here is the 1st newsletter and checklist.

Bead & Button Prep

Okay folks, the countdown has begun!  I have a new booth number for Bead & Button, #1212.  I like that!  There are so many little details to think about along with making beads and making beads and did I mention making beads? 

I designed postcards, business cards and two banners for my booth.  I ordered the banners from Vista Print.  I hope they turn out.  I ordered them early enough that I can come up with a back up plan if they don't.  That is my banner design above.  I also did a banner for the Bead Cruise. They are 3' x  2.5'.  I use Vista Print for postcards all the time, so hopefully the banners will rock.

How cute is this?  They put the image on all sorts of products and ask if you want to add them to your cart.  And why yes, yes I did.  They also had it on a coffee mug and journal and that has me thinking about opening a little zazzle or cafe press shop with some of my bead images and inspirational quotes.  I mean, I know you like Humblebeads, but I'm sure you'd rather have some nice little saying on a bag or journal rather than my business name!

Okay, you've read this far - let's have a nice giveaway today.  I will pick on random winner on Friday to win an egg bead.  All you have to do is answer this question - what Humblebeads would you like to see at my booth at Bead & Button?  It's okay if you are only dreaming about going, I'd still like to hear from you!