What GOES Around COMES Around

Update June 2, 2014-  On 8/26/2013 I blogged about a great new website market place for handcrafted arts and crafts items.  The site was called Craftinest.

Unfortunately Craftinest is now no longer online.  No one knows what happened.  Though Craftinest did post on their facebook page that a fire had destroyed much of their sites equipment and they held out a promise to us that they would repair the damage and get the site back up and running . . . that promise is yet to materialize.   As I update this post is has been about 9 months since anyone has heard from Craftinest. Craftinest has not bothered to update their facebook page nor notify any of their many shop owners as to what is going on. All our emails are returned as undeliverable. We have pretty much given up hope that Craftinest will repair the fire damage and reestablish their website. 

Personally I believe that they grew too quickly and the inundation of so many artists and crafters overwhelmed them and their sites capacity to handle such an influx of shops and traffic.  The loss of Craftinest is sad as it held forth so much potential . . .  but sometimes things are simply not meant to be. 

Below is my old blog post of 8/19/2013 -

*********** 

We've all heard about Paying it Forward and the old saying of "What goes around comes around".  It's something to do that helps make our world a better place and spreads human kindness and generosity around.
 
Today I've been promoting for a facebook photographer Karen Adams, who has just applied (with my encouragement) for her own Craftinest shop.  Karen also has a lovely etsy shop but like myself, she is looking to expand in order to get more online exposure. 

Karen was like I was about applying, very timid and not sure that she could make it to 100 votes but decided she had nothing to lose so jumped in with both feet.

When I asked all my wonderful family and friends to vote for me, I was impressed that Craftinest did not require their voters to first register with their site - a truly big bonus as no one likes to come up with a user name and another password in order to cast a vote. 
 
Karen's voting page can be found at

http://www.sell-handmade.com/1492/thistle-and-thyme-photography/   

please if you have a moment just click on the link, take a peek at her photo samples and give her a 5 heart vote.

I know that a few of you have already cast your votes, via my facebook post for Karen, and I want to thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart - I know I would not have been able to get my required 100+ votes had it not been for great friends like you.  :)

The Whys and the Wherefores

hand embellished Sodalite Pendant necklace

For the past few days I've been trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of Etsy.  Why do some shops find almost instant success while others languish, floundering in a sea of invisibility ?   Why is it that 2 shops selling almost the same items will have such disparity when it comes to views and sales? 
I've been trying to build up my shop inventory as I've heard that the more items you have the better are your chances of being found by search engines and therefore found by potential customers.  But seems that the past week or two, as I've added more items, my views have fallen from 30 or 40 views a day to about 10 or less a day.

 

I made the black nylon cord adjustable so necklace

can go from very short to very long

 

I recently listed this Sodalite stone pendant that I embellished with sterling silver wire work and sterling silver beads.  The cord has my handcrafted  sliding, macramé clasp on it making  it very adjustable. 

 



After listing I tried promoting, yes  used all the old standards that I could think of :   facebook, teams, etc.   Now, a day later, I find it has a total of 5 views and 9 admirers (meaning  that 4 people must have given it a heart without even clicking on its etsy link).

In the past I tried opening a shop that was just for my jewelry and one shop for other items but found it spread my attention too thin and neither shop was profitable.  This time I had some of my soft textiles listed, such as the pair of crochet potholders-trivets-dishrags.

 

Above trivets etc. in hot pink-red and white are about 9 inches across

Below trivets in crisp white on dark apple green and white on tomato red.

 

 

I also listed some of the cute Ruffled Boas that I made.  My daughters loved the ones I gave them at Christmas and said I should put a few on my etsy shop - they thought they would

sell quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 They got a number of views and hearts for awhile but have dropped down to zero lately.  So much for my daughters' intuitions.  :D

 

I feel like I'm neglecting so much lately trying to crank start my old etsy shop.  Granted etsy has far more shops now and a lot more unscrupulous resellers selling their items way below market value.  Trying to rid etsy of these shops is like a never ending game of "Whack a Mole".  They "conk" one out and a dozen more pop up.

 

Anyway, like so many mornings before, I took my mug of coffee and went to check on my etsy shop.  There were no orders and I noticed that I had garnered all of 1 shop view since I had turned off my computer yesterday.  How, Why, What ?  Just a whole lot of questions and I haven't an answer.

Summer Time - Summer Rhyme

 

Finally the end of the week

And pleasure is all that I seek

Please let it be sunny

And spent with my Honey

So come Monday I'll be at my peak.

;)

 



I'm keeping it short and sweet - love you all and may your week-end be a glorious one.

 :)

Something New and Different -

Had to share these with you.  Hope I don't turn anyone off because I'm hyping my jewelry, but  . . .  well I am just so tickled with these that I had to show them to you all.

I made these hoops using 20 gauge sterling silver wire and lots of Bali sterling silver coiled spacer beads plus sterling silver round beads.  They turned out amazing and I am usually not one to toot my own horn.

 

I just listed them in my etsy shop AlmostPrecious and these, being all sterling are more than almost precious they are totally precious. :)

photo above and below are taken on my broken display bust.  No she's still not fixed, but I wanted to show how nicely these earrings hang so I cropped off the part of the photos where the cracks show.   It works - for now.

  I know it's a bit different from what I usually create and I would love your critique and feedback.  What do you think ?

Day of the Damned part I

This is the project I was working on. 

We've all had them, those days when nothing we do goes right, those "Days of the Damned". A week ago today I had my day of the damned. It started with a project I wanted to complete but no matter how much I tried it just would not come together in the way that I had envisioned. It was reminiscent of watching a repetitious sports video replay: rewind (take apart) and replay (redo).   Rewind . . . replay . . . rewind . . .  replay.

On my 4th or 5th attempt I decided it was finally starting to work out but I would have to consider the piece I was working on as a prototype or a practice piece and start afresh with a new length of nylon beading thread as the old piece of thread was showing signs of fraying. 

Normally I keep my works in progress stashed on individual trays and usually my work bench will harbor at least two or three stacks of these trays. Without thinking, I lifted a stack of these trays in order to reach my bobbin of thread.

(These were not the trays that I had to move.  The top tray in the stack I moved held several little pots of teeny seed beads - size Delica #10's and  #11's  and Toho #15's - hundreds of seed beads in each little pot.)

 Naturally the top tray slipped off,  came crashing down on the floor and scattered teeny, tiny seed beads throughout my work room.  They probably would have gone much farther than my work room had it not been for the 4 walls that helped confine them, otherwise I sure some of them would be in Cucamonga by now.

 The next hour or two were spent on my hands and knees picking up seed beads. During this endeavor of hunting for wayward beads there were a few pieces of furniture that had to be moved in order to retrieve beads that were hiding behind or beneath them.  One such piece of furniture was a rolling storage unit. 

(Yes, I confess it usually does have that much clutter on top of it.)

I pushed it out as far as possible, which wasn't very far, and then I squeezed in behind the cabinet to collect the handful of beads that had found their way there.  As I attempted to extract myself from behind this cabinet I somehow, someway managed to snag an unfinished necklace that had been laying on top of it. 

Exactly how it happened I'm not sure, perhaps Gremlins, but the necklace shot off the top of the storage unit and most of the beads were propelled like buckshot across the room.  The beading cable, with only a small fraction of the beads left on it, dropped pathetically to the floor at my feet. So, back on my hands and knees to pick up more beads all the while hoping that I could remember the order in which they had been strung.

By now I realized that fate had not intended me to complete any of the many unfinished projects which cluttered my work bench, at least not today, and therefore I decided to divert my attention to photographing some of my finished pieces of jewelry instead.

Since it was a bright sunny day and my camera records colors more truthfully outside in bright sunlight, I proceeded to set up a temporary photo studio on my back patio. Dragging out a wooden, folding TV table, I began bringing out a few earrings, some props, sheets of different colored paper, a ruler (for size comparison) and of course my camera.

Unfortunately Mother Nature would not comply.  She was in a windy mood and her brisk breezes keep blowing the papers off the TV tray.  When I placed a pair of earrings on the rim of the glass she insisted upon jiggling them about mercilessly. Hard to get a sharply focused photo when the object won't be still. 
Then there was the sunshine, the sun kept playing hide and seek with the clouds. First it would be brilliant sun light, then slowly the light would darken and everything was in shadow. Time and time again the sun taunted me, darting in and out from behind the clouds until I finally admitted defeat and began bringing all the paraphernalia for my photo shoot back inside. 

I vowed I would try again in the late afternoon, perhaps then the wind would die down and maybe there would be less clouds. As I picked up the glass,  I forgot I had a pair of earrings still clinging to its rim and suddenly I heard the heart dropping sound of an earring as it clinked to the floor of the concrete patio. Looking down I expected to see it laying at my feet but it was no where in sight.

 

 

Yes it was one of those days ! I spent at least another 30 to 45 minutes searching for that earring.  It had dropped and taken an impossible bounce, landing under the bushes that bordered the patio. Not only was the little devil under the bushes but it had buried itself under the leaves that covered the ground under those bushes.  So I was shifting through leaves and had almost given up hope of ever finding it when I suddenly caught sight of a faint sparkle.  Gently I brushed aside a few leaves and there it was. Well I had found it so at least one thing had gone right.

I will stop at this point and post part two of this horrid day tomorrow as this post is already far too long.   But if you've ever had one of those days please do leave a comment and share it with us.

I Really Need To Know . . .

Anyone who has made jewelry for the purpose of selling, probably knows just what I am talking about.

You fuss over an idea, fidgeting with components, tweaking things to get it just right and once it's done, it's lovely. . . or so you think. You put it out for the world to see and nobody bothers to take even a glance at it.

It doesn't matter if the piece is displayed in an online shop or loving arranged on a display in an arts and crafts show booth. There are some things that just catch people's eyes and other things that people just ignore. But why?

I'm sure many have asked that question before and I am not the first to have it rattle around in my own little skull.

 

Recently I fabricated these long, swinging dangles.

It would take several paragraphs explaining all my design decisions, so let me just say, the finished product may look easy-peasy,  but looks are deceptive. 

It required more effort and time than I ever imagined; from making the earring hooks by hand, to hand reaming the holes in the "swinging" magnesite beads, plus I used more 14 k gold filled components than I intended to. All you jewelry makers out there know how very cheap 14 k gold filled wire, findings and beads are - right?

 

 

Once finished, I thought they were perfect, so sassy looking and with incredibly smooth movement. Surely they would do exceptionally well on my etsy shop. Wrong !  

 

I've second guessed myself many times on this design. 

Maybe I should not have used the 14 k gold filled components, perhaps that made them too expensive? 

Maybe they are too long? 

Maybe they are too dangly? 

Maybe watermelon red is totally out of fashion? 

Maybe no one appreciates magnesite? 

Maybe gold is out of favor ?

 

After listing them in my etsy shop  I did tout them on facebook, promoted them on Craftori, I Support Handmade, Handmade Saturday,  Handmade's facebook page and even went into all of my teams to post  them as my latest listing.  According to Google stats, in the last 7 days there has not been one single, solitary view on these earrings, they sit there with a big fat zero, zilch, goose egg, 0, nada !!!  Not even one accidental, "Oops, I didn't mean to click on that !" view.  I cannot believe it!

 

I really haven't a clue as to what could be the reason and would be most grateful to hear your comments or feedback as to what I could do to perhaps generate a sale on these or a least some views. I realize my photo's are not spectacular and the pretty watermelon red, which is more pink than red, only shows up in photos that were taken outside under bright sunlight.  Inside, the beads photograph as just plain old red. I tried taking my mannequin outside to take photos on but - well that is another story for any post. :)

 

 

Clicking My Needles

 

Photo above - my handmade felt "Welcome Bear" goes up on my front door ever Christmas.

Okay, blogger is going to give me headaches so guess I'll just have to work around it until they find and fix the problem (or until I pick up a new browser such as Firefox).   I have uploaded photos from my PC to Picasa Web Albums and then I've uploaded them from there to here. Sort of like going around the block twice to get to your next door neighbor's house. :D

Christmas was an enjoyable time at our house as Wendi, our daughter in New York, came down and spent a couple of weeks with us. It was wonderful to have her here and I hated to see her go. I also did not have to worry about filling Christmas orders from my etsy shop Almost Precious as for the months of Nov - Dec  I only had one order for each month, both were for a pair of my Christmas earrings.

Photo of Candy Cane beaded earrings sold on Nov. 11th 2012

 

Can't say as I was swamped with business, LOL, but at least it allowed me to enjoy time with Wendi. 

Photo above of Holly Berries earrings sold the week before Christmas 2012

Also on a joyful note, the person who purchased the lovely Christmas "Holly Berries" earrings emailed me to let me know that the earrings arrived safely and were everything she hoped they would be. Her only down side she said, was that she would not be able to wear them all year long. :)

 

Over the past couple of months I've done more knitting and crochet work than making jewelry. This fuzzy scarf is so soft and warm that it almost makes me wish I lived in a cold climate . . . almost ! Wendi loved it and thinks it is adorable and as soft as a baby kitten.  Now I need to make one for her as this one is going into my etsy shop - guess if it doesn't sell then Wendi will have two "Lulu" scarves to keep her warm during NY winters.

Lulu?  Yes I named this scarf  Lulu.  How did I come up with the name "Lulu" ? Well most of you are far too young to remember a comic book character, of many ages gone by, called Lulu and the comic books were titled "Little Lulu". Little Lulu had her dark hair fixed in springy, coils and it was the spiraling fringe on this scarf that reminded me of Lulu's  hair-do.

Wendi and I think this fringe is both cute and novel. Hope others do too and that some sweet soul will purchase the scarf.   I have it listed on etsy but etsy has rapidly been getting a reputation of cheaply priced items - I've even heard people refer to it as "Etsy Yardsale" - "etsy-bay" and that etsy is just another version of Craig's List -  now I'm wondering if maybe my stuff is too expensive for those who shop on etsy?

I was recently on another site that had posted suggestions on where one could go online to sell their creations - the first site mentioned was, of course, etsy. It was eye opening to read so many comments that denigrated etsy. Several said that etsy was getting old; others said there were too many resellers and too many tacky craft items on etsy; a few bemoaned that etsy allowed venders to copy the creations of other venders and sell them as their own. I suppose when a site becomes as big as etsy is, it become hard, if not impossible to police things (though that never seemed to slow them down when it came to the forums and shutting down threads - LOL).

What is your opinion about etsy and do you think there are any other sites that are as good or even better than etsy ?

Florida Sandhill Cranes

 

 

Today I looked out of our dinning room patio doors to see this sight.  A Florida Sandhill Crane.

Not wishing to frighten the bird I took a few photos through the glass (and also the screening of the patio), so unfortunately the pictures are not very good.

In the dark photo below I took the picture from another window and you can see how the bird towers above the top of our patio table, which is the dark mass in front of the crane. 

 They are big birds and this one was with a mate, probably a female as she seemed to be busy preening for the camera. 

Now that she has all her feathers in place she poses and looks directly at the camera. 

Here's a few facts about our Sandhill Cranes:

 

Males and females look alike, males are larger than the females.

Height 2.6 to 3.9 feet (80 to 120 cm)

Average weight males 10.1 lb (4.57 kg) females 8.9 lb (4.02 kg)

Wing span 5.4 to 6.9 feet (1.65 to 2.1 m)

 

For years now I've been hoping that Santa will bring me a new camera, one that I could capture decent photos of the wildlife that frequent our rural area. But each Christmas all I get is a lump of coal. Guess I need to start being nicer and a lot less naughty.

Later in the day the Sandhill couple decided to visit our neighbor's yard, perhaps they were expecting to visit with the Canadian Geese who've been away for awhile now . . . We think they went to visit relatives in Canada for the Summer. 

Since this is a far as the zoom on my Mickey Mouse camera will get me (and I have cropped the photos as close as I could before they got too grainy)  I  found a photo online that allows one permission to use its images freely.  The photo below is a magnificent one of a Sandhill Crane and its chick.  The little ones are so adorable. :)

 

 

Photo from the files of Wikimedia Commons

 

The Photographer is Dawn Huczek

 

TROUBLE - TRIP and TURKEY

Well, to start off with I'm going to be away for a while.   About 3 months ago I broke down and finally made an appointment with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.  So we'll be off to Jacksonville where,  hopefully, I may get some answers as to what's going on with me that my local doctors can't figure out.  I have put my etsy shop on a temporary vacation and will reopen it  when I return, if all goes as planned  I will also be listing a number of new pieces in my shop, AlmostPrecious.
Troubles?  Yes I've been having them lately with electronics.  Maybe I'm DC (Direct Current ) while everything around me is AC (Alternating Current ).  All I know is it seems that I've been frying a number of electrical things lately.  Most recently it's been my Cannon Printer.  About 3 months ago it ran out of black ink - we replaced the cartridge - then it began printing pictures with strange horizontal lines running through them and the text wasn't sharp and clear either.  Just this past week the 3 month old black ink cartridge died - normally (with me) they last at least 6 months.  Again we replaced it but then the printer would not print anything in black.  Okay now an email is sent off to Cannon tech help.  We are instructed on how to perform a "Deep Cleaning" of the inking apparatus and are told to do this not once but 4 times to thoroughly cleanse the device.  And, they said, if that does not cure the problem then the  printer needs repair or we need a new printer.  Well after 4 deep cleanings there was still no sign of black ink on the test page.  Guess I need a new printer.  :(

Yesterday as  I breezed through the living room I glimpsed out the window and caught sight of something.  It was outside of our front yard just on the street side of our chain link fence.  I stopped and focused hard on it to figure out what it was.  It appeared to be a bird, a really big bird, but it wasn't the Canadian geese, or a large crane or heron, nor was it a hawk or a vulture.  I called my hubby, John, to come take a look.  He too was baffled but thought it might be a feral peacock.  Upon closer inspection - through a pair of binoculars - we found it to be a wild turkey.  John called our neighbors, Mike and Linda, who are avid bird watchers.  They know that wild turkeys are native to Florida and even to our part of Florida, however they had never been seen in our neighborhood before.  I wish I could have gotten a photo of the bird but it was rather timid and when we went outside it flew off into the tall trees at the back of our property.  Early the following morning we saw it again but only for a short time.  It, being very skittish, took flight when a little Cattle Egret landed in the yard next to it.  We've no idea where the turkey went, hopefully it headed out to less crowded country and won't become someone's Thanksgiving's Day feast.

Okay - enough said.  I'm off to do some laundry.  Sort out what I need to take with me and start packing for the trip to Jacksonville.   Sigh - if only they had  Dr. Gregory House at the Mayo Clinic, I'd be sure to get some answers.  :D

You all take care, be happy and healthy and enjoy each day of your wonderful lives.  Until I return, I shall miss you.

What's Life Worth ?

Photo above ... The Meditation Pond at Our Lady of the Angels church.  A place I perhaps need to visit again as I've much to think about.

Not long ago I began visiting a website that touted they had great SEO advice and by utilizing this information one could excel to top pages in searches.  With sagging sales at my etsy shop, lack of new followers to my blog and a need to acquire more in-depth knowledge on the care and feeding of SEO, I bit upon the opportunity.  The information was good though not any well kept secret known only to privy insiders.  I'd seen most of it before, just in a different context and in different words.

Today I revisited the site and a question was asked about what our pain-point was and so I commented:

"I think my biggest pain point is that it all takes far too much time to constantly be promoting and getting backlinks and keeping everything up-to-date and current … from blogging to facebook to websites. It leaves me with little time to create and even less time to just have a LIFE ! Maybe nothing truly worthwhile is easy but does one really have to sacrifice their life in order to be a success on the internet?"

 

The reply by the author of the website :

"Does one really have to sacrifice their life in order to be a success on the internet?

Yes…"

I'm having a difficult time with this summation and am questioning if the end really justify the means.  The whole idea of being a success on the Internet is to achieve a better lifestyle so  this contradiction has me torn.  Does the end truly justify the means?  Is it really worth the sacrifices of time, the forfeiture of one's life to gain monetary advantages?  I suppose that all businesses require an inordinate amount of time, devotion and self-sacrifice to grasp and sustain success.  Am I willing to sacrifice so much?  Life is far too short!  So what's the answer?

How do you feel about this and how much are you willing to do for and give up to be a success?

We Are All Valuable Resources...

Recently I've had the honor of working with a very imaginative and creative Etsian by the name of Ros whose shop, designsbyros , features her handcrafted wire work jewelry.

Photo above...One of Ros's lovely chain and wire worked necklaces. Love the colors in this masterpiece!

Ros was interested in a set of my handcrafted beaded beads that I call, BubbleBeads. Which I will discuss later, now however I wish to focus on Ros. As I mentioned she is a very imaginative young lady and she came up with an amazingly brilliant idea: She would make a pair of her hammered wire, handcrafted earrings with my BubbleBeads and place a link in her etsy shop announcement to my etsy shop and I would place a similar link to her shop and the earrings that she created using my beads. What a lovely win win situation !!! Sometimes the simplest and most effective means of promotion is right in front of us and that is using each other as resources. Each of us are indeed valuable commodities and excellent resources for both information and promotion.

Photo above...Ros's hand hammered wire holds my lemony yellow BubbleBeads making for a sweet and fun pair of dangly earrings.
Photo below...My BubbleBeads. These are in pale lemony yellow but I also have some in pale light green.

Photo below, and another view...

The design of the BubbleBeads is not of my origin. I'm sure anyone can go online and find many different version of this little bead, unfortunately the instructions I came across must have decided that this tiny piece of art would only be looked at, never worn, never handled. My first attempts at creating my first few beaded beads were less than stellar...the beads fell apart almost instantly. I understood why but had tried to have faith in the instructions which were...shock and disbelief...WRONG !!! Anyway I adapted and did what was necessary to create a structured and strong beaded BubbleBead. I love them and when they are topped with a jaunty Bali sterling silver bead cap...well what can I say but that they are adorable.

Photo below...Shows different beads capped by beautiful Bali sterling silver bead caps. These lovely caps always remind me of flowers and the dangles pictured below feels like a garden of fantasy flowers.

Ultimately I think we should all keep in mind the high value that each of us has and the vast potential that we can offer one another. Ros of designsbyros I thank you for shining that light my way. :)

TO VISIT DESIGNSBYROS CLICK ON ANY OF HER LINKS ABOVE OR CLICK HERE: http://www.etsy.com/shop/designsbyros

Santa Barbara Mission...Santa Barbara, California

Photo above...Scenic mountains of Santa Barbara, California. Just above the Santa Barbara Mission.

The one draw back with traveling is that it can be difficult to find Internet connections, especially while one is confined inside a moving vehicle. My little cannon camera has clicked away at a number of photographic sites but they remain on its memory card until I have sufficient time to label and post them. Guess what this all boils down to is that I am now in Bend, Oregon and still have pictures from California yet to blog about. Always a day late and a dollar short!

Photo below...Many of the homes in Southern California feature Spanish architecture. Here, in the area near the Mission, stands a cloister of mission style homes which seem to adapt well to the California landscape.

Photo below...The front of the historic Santa Barbara Mission with its interesting architectural details.

Photo below show close up of the detailing on mission pediment and the cross. The mission entrance is flanked by twin bell towers.

Photo below...another perspective of the front of the mission, this time sans tourist. Unfortunately we were not able to view the interior of the mission church as there was a wedding in process...lucky couple to have such a gorgeous place to have their wedding.

Photo below...Mission plaque stating some of the chronological history of the mission.

Photo below...Panoramic view of mission or as panoramic as my tiny camera can get.

Photo below...Santa Barbara hillside dotted with mission style homes and gardens, and an amazingly clear blue sky.

Photo below...One of the bed of roses in the mission park rose garden.

Photo below...Me and my hubby in front of the roses. Was surprised that I didn't break the camera, LOL.

Photos below...more of the rugged but beautiful California mountains.

I will have to post more later, but at this time we are about to leave to go to the cemetery and take care of John's mother's remains. Bye for now.