more upgrades/improvements

Thank you to everyone who replied about my new banner and avatar!  I really appreciate your honesty.  I put together another new banner and avatar earlier tonight.  Taking some advice, I included full shots of my pieces on the banner.  The avatar is a partial shot like my old avatar was, but it has better detail than the one I made yesterday.  I also incorporated sheet music more prominently.  Hopefully all of this will help!  You can check them out here.  The new avatar is also on other sites like Blogger and Facebook so you may have already seen it tonight.

I got a postal scale today.  Thank you to those who gave me advice in that area as well!  From here on out, I will provide tracking information for all orders that ship in the USA and are paid for through PayPal.  While I was thinking about packaging/shipping today, I decided to take pictures of my packaging (while I got my raffle winner earrings ready to ship) and put together a packaging image for Etsy listings and whatnot.

I updated a couple more listings with new pictures tonight.  The first one is my Winding Road with checked border peyote cuff.  This is one of the first peyote cuffs I ever wove with delicas.

The second is one my black and silver right angle bangle.

I did get both of my raffle winner packages in the mail today (as well as a couple more used book Amazon packages, woohoo!).  I worked on Father's Day cards tonight instead of my Art Beads piece.  I may still sit down with it for a little while before I head to bed.

continued upgrades/improvements, looking for some advice/feedback, this week's progress

I made a new banner and avatar for my Etsy shop tonight.  Please check it out and let me know what you think! The old ones were all right, but as I started redoing my blog design and considering other changes that I should make to my Etsy shop, I decided that they needed an upgrade, too.  My work does continue to change, and I think that my shop and blog should reflect my more recent work.

As I've been going through all of my listings that I did not complete before the Arts Festival, I've been uploading new pictures to my Flickr photostream.  You can check out a handful of items that aren't up on Etsy yet as well as work in progress and craft fair pictures that you may have missed on here.  I will continue to edit and upload all of my button stud pictures on Flickr.  I'm debating listing some of my button studs as grouped listings: i.e. three button stud earrings for one price.  It doesn't seem worth it to list them all individually, but I think that they could sell on Etsy.  If anyone has any thoughts on this, please let me know!

In another effort to boost my Etsy sales, I think that it is way past time to get a postal scale and start offering delivery confirmation through PayPal.  Many many Etsy sellers offer it, and it's one thing that I could do to make my shop more competitive.  I would be able to use it for some of my used book sales on Amazon as well.  I don't need a scale that's equipped to weigh textbooks, but I could use it for the smaller hardbacks and all of the paperbacks.  For all of you out there who do use postal scales, let me know if you have any preferred brands or if you were able to find good deals at any specific stores.  The general advice on the Etsy forums seems to be that most smaller models are more than adequate, but it's always worth getting a second opinion before purchasing.

I've been working on the earrings for my Arts Festival raffle winners this week, which are green designs that I've made before.  I'm making additional pairs that will be for sale in my Etsy shop at some point in the near future since green does continue to be a very popular choice for earrings.  After I get those done, I really need to work on my Art Beads summer piece.

new banner/layout, trade, rainbows

Thank you so much to Talina of ripperarts who designed my new banner and avatar for me! She had designed my previous banner and avatar as well. I liked them so much that I decided to ask her to make these newer ones that reflect my current work, and she was so kind to do so. I changed my layout on this blog to match the colors and have gotten a couple compliments on it already. I created a new Entrecard to match as well. Anyone who approves one of my ads tonight or later will see the new card.

I completed a trade with Stationarycreations this week. She sent me a dozen of her Holy Night Christmas cards in exchange for one of my bracelets. I got the cards today, and they are beautiful. I am already looking forward to sending them this year (not that I need much to get me excited about sending Christmas cards!). She is interested in another one of my bracelets as well. She may make me a set of thank you cards to match my business cards for it.

I have been working on a couple different rainbow designs this week, one new and one remake. Here is the bowl of seed beads that I put together for my rainbow work.

sale and new listings

The new avatar is now up and running! Thanks again Taliana!

My friend Lindsay (who first introduced me to Etsy over the summer) bought 2 bracelets today - a blue button charm bracelet and two-button explosion charm bracelet. I made her one very similar to this button bracelet back in the fall as a thank you present for not only introducing me to Etsy but being part of my inspiration to open my shop there. I'm really glad that she liked it so much that she wanted more! I will see her Tuesday and will give her the bracelets and get her payment then. I will definitely be making another blue button charm bracelet, seeing as how it's proved again to be my most popular item. I will probably make another two-button explosion at some point, too.

All of creative energy is going into finishing my temptation piece as the deadline is quickly approaching (March 5). These are the last new listings that you're going to see from me until temptation is done: