branding for 2013

One of my goals for 2013 is to maintain consistency for my craft fair booth and my business in general. I ran through most of my business card stash at the end of the 2012 holiday season. It seemed like a good excuse to get a new logo together and develop new business materials with it.

Some of you have already seen the first image on Facebook. I posted a couple different versions of it in progress. It was extremely helpful to get feedback from family and friends on this design. Thank you! This final version here is very close to the last one that I posted there. I also developed the second more simple version for some round stickers that are approximately 1" in diameter.

I ordered everything except my notepads and shopping bags from Moo. I did not get any sort of endorsement to mention them in this post, but I do love their products. I was very impressed with everything that I got this month. I can't wait to start distributing these cards. They are so many times more impressive than my old cards.

I ordered my shopping bags through ULine. I didn't shop around a lot for bag prices, but I know a number of sellers and shops who use their bags. I order a number of other products through ULine and have always been impressed with their quality. The bags didn't disappoint. I decide to order the stickers separately because it was considerably less expensive than getting the bags printed.

I'm keeping the same jewelry boxes for 2013. I've been printing my own stickers with text only for the boxes the past year or so. I decided it was time to step it up and get stickers printed that match my other new materials.

I like to include a handwritten note in my Etsy orders. Since I got back into making greeting cards, I've sent a lot of handmade cards. This simply isn't cost effective for me. Ordering printed folded or flat cards wasn't a very cost effective option either. I ended up settling on a note pad. I ordered this through Vistaprint. As you can see, the alignment is a little skewed. It won't be hard to cut off that extra white strip. It's a little irritating but not a big deal.

For the past year or so, I've been including free shipping and contact information cards with my Etsy orders and in my craft fair purchase bags. I've been printing these myself and backing them with card stock. With the number of shows that I plan to do for 2013, this isn't cost effective. What you see above is the front and back sides of a single card that I can use for both Etsy packages and shows. Moo offers two sided printing at no extra charge for all business cards so I spent the same on these cards as I did for my new business cards.

Adjusting My Shipping Costs

I've had the same shipping rates on Etsy since...2009? I was long overdue to update them. Ordering all of these materials was a good wake up call for me to reevaluate and adjust accordingly. I know that a lot of Etsy sellers keep their packages to a bare minimum and as such, as able to offer really low shipping. However, I truly believe that the extra touches are worth it. Hopefully customers will think so, too.

I did my shipping adjustments before I found out about the new increased shipping rates and ended up making a further adjustment for international rates. If you haven't checked out those rates yet and you ship any kind of packages on a regular basis, I highly recommend checking it out ASAP.

Finally, if you haven't taken advantage of the free MOO cards for Etsy sellers offer yet, it's still going! Check out all of the details right here!

Have you ordered new materials for 2013? Share your plans!

new business cards, finished bargello cuff

I got my business cards from Vicki's giveaway early this week, but I didn't get around to taking a picture of them until this weekend. I'm very pleased with the way that they turned out, though. Again, these are from OvernightPrints if anyone is interested in getting any for themselves.


I finished my first bargello cuff yesterday and photographed it today. This pattern was so much fun! I highly recommend that any fellow bead weavers who are reading this considering purchasing it. You can get it from Carol's (SandFibers) shop here. I'm debating whether or not I'd like to upgrade to a commercial edition of the pattern. I already have several more ideas for color combinations with it, and there are only so many versions of it that I need for myself. Any thoughts? While you're considering that, check out my cuff.




Yes, this bracelet is very short. I have small wrists. And yes, the button is another one of Lisa Peters's creations. I decided that I didn't want to part with this one. :)

I also made my first pair of earrings this weekend in the same greens that I used in my bargello cuff. Pictures coming soon!

leafy modern

I won digivickie's word art's giveaway for 500 business cards from Overnight Prints! I put my order in on Thursday. I can't wait to see them in person.

I listed my newest leafy design today. It's the leafy series - modern, as part of my new neutrals kick.



I used four lamp worked beads from Jen (blueseraphim). They're part of a whole set I got in beautiful shades of caramel. I still have some other rounds as well as a bunch of mini ruffled discs.

I'm pretty sure that I'll be remaking my purple/pink and turquoise leafy designs next. I'm not sure which one I want to make first.

I finally finished my red striped peyote cuff today! I first posted sneak peak pictures of the base back in early December. My original embellishment technique didn't work, though. It was too tight, and I kept breaking the base beads. I ended up taking the whole thing apart. I had a hard time coming back to it, but I'm so glad that I did. The new embellishment technique worked really well. Once I started the embellishment, I finished it in a few days. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of it tomorrow.

I'm going to delve into my green delicas collection next. :) I'd like to make another flower cuff like this one, and I'm going to finally bead up one of my Sand Fibers's patterns.