New Aspirations in 2015

Today's Silver Price: $18.33/t.oz.

I've recently relocated to sunny Florida. I've said goodbye to the cold grey skies of Long Island, NY. I am currently settling in to Palm Harbor, which is in the Tampa Bay area. While I am enjoying the blue sky and the warm sun, it's also time to focus on developing my business and creating higher quality jewelry.

I've just signed up for a jewelry metalworking class with Dunedin Fine Art Center (www.dfac.org) and I'm so excited! It starts February 24th and there will be a 3 hour class every Tuesday night for 6 weeks. So now, instead of buying components and putting them together, I will be able to fabricate my own components! The class teaches soldering, stone setting, piercing, forging and hammering. One of the biggest things I am looking forward to learning are the finishing techniques like filing and polishing. Also I need to find out how to keep copper from tarnishing. I've made some copper cuff bracelets in the past but they get dull very quickly.

I'm aiming to create more artisan quality jewelry this year. I want to move away from the silver-plated pieces I have been making, and get back to sterling silver jewelry. 

New skills and a greater focus on social media marketing (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) will hopefully lead to a prosperous year! 

Below are some of my recent designs:

Ciao for now, and Happy New Year! 

Goodbye 2013!

Today's Silver Price: $19.49/t.oz.

2013 has been interesting, but I'm looking forward to 2014. I hope to start selling paintings and entering some gallery shows in the next year. I have some new jewelry design ideas as well that will be coming to my Etsy shop very soon!

Sales in my Etsy shop have steadily increased in the last three years. I hope 2014 blows all of past years totals out of the water! Seeing as I only started using Twitter and Instagram over the summer, I think I can drastically increase my sales for 2014.

I believe 2014 will be an amazing year for me creatively. A new chapter begins tomorrow!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's Eve celebration, and I hope everyone has a joyful, successful and amazing 2014! 

Latest Photos

Today's Silver Price: $19.69/t.oz.

Some of my photo collages and an Instagram pic of what I'm currently working on. Can you tell I'm having fun with the InstapicFrames app?? LOL

The last pic is a set of three wood bead bracelets i just made. I haven't posted these on Etsy yet. I always sell a bunch of these at craft fairs, so lets see how they do online! 

Holiday Shopping

Today's Silver Price: $19.55/t.oz.

My Cyber Monday sale seemed to generate a ton of traffic in my Etsy shop. I didn't actually get any sales that day though. What's interesting is that I had an order placed right before the sale started, two orders placed the day after, and another order today. So in summary, my 20% OFF sale increased shop views, but did not get me any orders on Cyber Monday!

I've been trying to stay on top of my social media marketing lately. I read recently that Facebook is one of the best ways to promote an Etsy site, and that you should include a photo in every post. 

In an effort to create interesting posts with interesting photos, I've been playing with some photo collage apps on my iPhone. The picture below was my first attempt. I used an app called *Collage*. I wanted to show the creative process of making wire hearts for a necklace, and wanted to include all the steps in one photo. I posted this pic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Then I found a better app called 'Instapicframe'. It has more options. This was the updated pic:

I used 'Instapicframe' again this morning. I wanted to show several images of my yoga jewelry in one picture:

So far I am enjoying making these collages! Hopefully they will help to increase traffic in my Etsy shop! 

Cyber Monday Sale!

Today's Silver Price: $19.93/t.oz.

I'm currently running a Cyber Monday sale in my Etsy shop. 20% off all items with coupon code CYBER2013. Sale ends at midnight tonight. The coupon code must be entered at checkout. 

This is the first time I've had a sale in my shop! Lets see how it goes! 

Social Media Blitz

Today's Silver Price: $23.78/t.oz

I've recently started using Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to promote my Etsy shop. It's probably been a few months now, and I've seen an incredible jump in views of my shop. And the results are immediately seen. When I post on Twitter or Instagram, I see an increase in views that same day. On days when I haven't posted anything new, my Etsy views are often zero. Even small blurbs on Twitter can lead to shop views. I believe the social media posts have led to purchases, however I cannot be sure as there is no way that I know of to track how a specific buyer came to my shop.

I've read that in order to use Twitter and other social media sites to successfully promote a webpage or business, you must post often. Regular posts keep people interested in your feed. This type of discipline is something I've struggled with in the past and will have to overcome. Even when I'm lazy and don't feel like posting, I need to post even a tiny snipet, inspirational quote or a photo to try and hold the attention of potential customers. This obviously applies to blogging as well, so I will do my best to post here regularly.

Today I updated my LinkedIn profile. I figured that promoting my Etsy shop through this outlet can't hurt. When I created the account, I didn't think I would use it much as it seems to be a site for business connections. However I've come to realize that if I want to pursue self-employment, I'd better start promoting myself as a creative entrepreneur. I've chosen to list myself as an artist. I have always shyed away from identifying myself with this term, but now I feel that I can embrace it and live it. I am a designer, I am a painter, and overall I am an artist.

I've become fed-up with my 9-5 office job, so I am now intent on developing my business and working towards self-employment. My very wise aunt says, if you throw enough mud at a wall, eventually some of it will stick. So I'm determined to throw as much social media mud on the internet wall as I can!

Below are some of the recent items I've listed in my shop, and at the bottom is a photo of my creative process!

Silver Plated Bracelet

Sterling Silver Ring

 

Double Strand Silver Plated Necklace

Vacation is over...

Today's Silver Price: $19.42/t.oz.


Time to get back to work after an awesome vacation in the Florida Keys last week! It was heavenly... we stayed on Long Key, did some snorkeling, standup paddleboarding, kayaking, and of course relaxing!

Anyway... I'm looking for some new bracelet designs. I was Googling this morning to find some inspiration, but I didn't come across anything. I have some ideas brewing in my head so I may just work on developing them. I want to create some big bold bracelets. The bracelets I currently have in my Etsy shop are mostly simple, thin, one strand bead bracelets. I may experiment today with wire links and see what I can come up with. They need to be BOLD!

I also have yet to use the knot component that I learned to make a long time ago. It's super cool, I just haven't figured out how I want to use them. I think they are too bulky for bracelet components so they'll probably end up in a long necklace.

I won't work too hard today... I made a promise to myself that I would get outside as much as possible this summer! Maybe I'll play some tennis with The Hubbie. Ciao!