I’m all set up and ready to sell at the Tea For All Reasons 2009 Fall Open House.
I’m in a different room this year. I usually had the family room, which is a much larger room. But this time I’m in the parlor, which is just off of the front door and also connects to the kitchen. Good traffic either way.
I’m looking forward to the weekend. We’re expecting large crowds. I hope they come ready to spend money!
I have been busy creating in the past couple of months as I gear up for the annual Tea For All Reasons Open House. Sadly, this is the last TFAR Open House since my parents are moving away from this area sometime next spring. I know that my mother’s loyal customers are deeply disappointed to hear that news as much as I am.
Anyhow, I’ve been busy. Here are a few of the new items that have already sold in my Etsy shop:
The Agate and Jasper Necklace
… and matching earrings
Vintage Rhinestone Shoe Clips
Vintage Thai Princess Ring
Recycled Hand in Time 2 Necklace
There are other items sold, too. More than I remembered!
It’s been a pretty good fall for sales so far, considering the many months that I let things languish at the end of my pregnancy and soon after my daughter was born in late March.
… And I wish you and yours a very happy new year.
Big changes coming in 2009 for me.
1. First off, I’ve decided to take the “move the shop” plunge at Etsy. Beginning Jan 1 (actually, I’ve already got stuff listed and had one sale), my shop will be found at BeadWire.etsy.com. It’s way more professional than jenspeaks and there are personal reasons for doing away with that handle in my business anyway.
Related to the move is a rebranding. I’m very excited about my new look! It’ll be the same basic color scheme, but with a lovely, more elegant touch.
2. Second, more personal than business is the coming of our second child in the spring. I’m heading into the third trimester, which is hard to believe really. Just about 90 days go to until this baby arrives. We won’t know the sex until birth because the baby didn’t cooperate at the final ultrasound. So we’re working on two names to have ready on the big birthday.
3. Third, there’s the possibility of a job change in my future with my full time job. I’m excited about the possibility, but wondering how it will affect my business. Considering the guy I’d be working for, I don’t think it will have much impact - he’s a great guy.
I’m excited about 2009 and all of the potential for expanding and learning new things.
I am a regular vendor at my mother’s annual fall open house now. It’s kind of nice to have regular customers who come back excited to see what new shiny things I have to offer.
I had low expectations for sales this time given the economy. However, I did have a number I was hoping to reach and I mainly wanted to unload some inventory. Both goals were accomplished!
The most exciting sale was for a necklace and earrings I made just a couple of days before the open house. The necklace was not like anything I had made previously, but I got great feedback on it and it did sell. I have terrible flash pictures from my display table that I need to download and will put on the blog soon.
[Added 11/17]: Here are the photos of the Blue China necklace and matching earrings that sold at the open house. Please forgive the quality of the photos.
I’m now considering an online open house - sending out an Evite to my mailing list for folks to shop my Etsy shop for Christmas gifts. I can’t do an actual open house in my home this year, which is a bummer, so maybe that can be a way to remind them that I still have pretty things available for their gift ideas.
My happy bride’s mother bought jewelry for the wedding as well. I’ll be doing a necklace and earrings to match her dress. We have discussed ideas and I’m just waiting for my supply order to arrive to begin work.
In other news, three items sold in the shop this weekend, which was a nice surprise.
My happy bride is back! She wants me to do her bridesmaid jewelry now, which is awesome. And her mother loves the jewelry so much that she took it to her work to show off and now also wants me to do her jewelry for the wedding.
This makes me very happy. Not just for the profit side of the business, but because it means they really do like my work. Gratifying in every way.
I never really imagined that bridal jewelry would become my bread and butter, but it looks like that may be the case. Time to learn new skills like knotting, wire wrapping, and weaving, I think.
I’m finally getting back into the crafting swing of things after the vacation. I made two gifts this weekend - one is a bracelet for my friend’s daughter who is graduating from high school this week; the other is a similar bracelet (different colored pearls) with matching earrings for a friend whose birthday is coming up.
The supplies I ordered for the new bridal set arrived this morning so I’ll begin a “draft” of that necklace for the bride to approve tonight and also a couple pairs of earrings for her to choose from. I’m excited about the possibility for this set. It’s simple but different from what I’ve done previously.
I have an unofficial commission for a long necklace for a friend from church. I’ve back-burnered this project while I collected interesting beads and thought out a design for her. She said there is no rush and I haven’t been paid yet, but I know that she’s good for it and even if she changes her mind the beads collected are cool and totally usable for other projects. I’m thinking about making this one more in a rosary style than simple stringing, but it will involve a lot more work to make. Fun, though.
OK, I need to go get my son, who is supposed to be napping, but is playing in his crib instead.
Hey, Mom. You need labels. Here is a possible solution for you since they offer all kinds of food and beverage labels in addition to their Bottle Labels. What grabbed my attention was the Wegmans label they show as an example - mostly because I love that store and that they buy their labels from Label World means something.
And they’re geared for large printing orders, which is what you need now that your business is growing exponentially. They could be what you need for your scone mixes and might offer a better product than what your local printer could.
It’s worth looking into, at least. Thought I’d share the link and the love.
For my 2 regular readers, I am alive and working. Just not working on my business lately - still in vacation mode.
That said I have been working on it some:
1. I bought new storage containers for my beads. I bought two, but I think I need at least 3-4 more. Crazy! I definitely like how they look lined up on my craft table. It’s much cleaner and easier to find the beads that I want. And because the drawers come out completely, I can rearrange them easily.
Next up: a label maker so that I can mark the drawers and really get the beads organized.
2. I’m still waiting for the supplies I ordered for the new bridal set. I’m excited about this one because it’s a different style from the others that I have made.
3. My good friend’s youngest daughter is graduating from high school next week. What’s crazy is that when I first met them, this child was 9 months old and amazingly cute with white hair that stood straight up like a baby chick’s. She is now a very lovely young lady and still light blonde. Where does the time go?
Anyway, I was trying to come up with a creative gift idea and then it hit me - jewelry! She’s a girly girl who loved every second of helping to plan her older sister’s wedding (I helped as coordinator). As her sister made decisions, she would whisper into my ear the things she would like for her wedding when she gets married - all were much more formal and traditional. Since I know this about her, I think I’ll do something in pearls for her - a bracelet and earrings. Although I think her ears are not pierced, so I need to check on that with her Mom.
4. My mother is still selling well with her Etsy shop. I spend more time on her shop these days than my own. New teas have been added and she has some teas newly discounted as well, including some she is closing out. So go check them out and buy now because when those teas are gone, they’re gone.
5. The PayPerPosts have dried up. While I was on vacation my Google PageRank sank from 3 to 0. So now I don’t qualify for most opportunities that get listed which makes it hard for me to increase my chances for better opps. So you’re spared from blatant advertising for a while.
6. It stinks because I was really hoping to earn more side money to pay for our trip to California. At least we didn’t spend as much at Disney, so we have that leftover money available. And we found a hotel for half of what I had been seeing, so that’s a huge money saver. My husband is now planning our touristy things for that week, one of which is a trip to Monterey (one of the places I lived when in high school - it’s one of my favorite places, too) where I want to go to Cannery Row and the Aquarium.
7. I still want to feature other Etsians here, so I’ll get to working on that…
I have another bridal set to work on - necklace and earrings only. Just sent the invoice and once she has paid, I will order the supplies I need (she wants pure white instead of the cream rose pearls - I have a plethora of cream rose in all sizes; I only have a few pure white in 10mm, which are too large for what she wants), and then begin work.
This set will be different from the previous ones in style - she wants a simpler look to go with her really lovely dress. Pictures to come when I’ve got it done.
So I’m thinking that I should learn some new skills to increase my repertoire in bridal jewelry. Simple stringing is working well for me, but it might behoove me to learn harder things to increase my marketability to the bridal market. There is a small part of me that doesn’t want to get pigeon-holed into doing bridal jewelry almost exclusively, so I hesitate a bit. But I do like working with brides to come up with the accessories they desire for their big day.
