What's Up Wednesday

What's up Wednesday

upcoming events, news, and interesting tidbits

Last night I remembered exactly why I make beads.  Money?  Nope.  Fame?  Nope. Power? Nope.  Happiness? YES!  Making beads makes me happy.  And what's even better than that is when my beads make someone else happy!  I got a convo on Etsy last night that brought tears to my eyes.  The customer was just so sweet  and so excited about my beads that she made me get excited about them all over again! I'm very fortunate to have had many customers like this over the years, and each time I hear from them I go back to the torch with renewed enthusiasm.   Well, the kiln is heating up, so I'm off to the torch to work on her special orders and maybe try a couple of  beads from the Motivation Monday post.  Before I go I would just like to offer a heartfelt  thank you to all the wonderful customers out there who make it possible for me to do this.  THANK YOU!!

Motivation Monday

                                     Motivation Monday

Things that inspire me, color combinations I love, the music that rocks my studio and anything else that makes me want to jump up and make a bead!

I've been hanging out on pinterest again ~(imagine that!)  and I'm finding manicures surprisingly inspiring. I totally wish I could do my nails like this, but I suck at nail polish; so I'm hoping for beads.  :)

I'm actually pretty excited to try these this week.  I'll make sure I share pictures (good or bad) next week.

Enrique Iglesias  is rocking my studio this week (between Spanish language instructions) thinking I can do two things at once, but we'll see! :)

Thanks for stopping by and stay motivated!


If you still need more motivation check out all the pretty flowers in KTBelleCrafts garden!

Featured Friday

Featured Friday

Cool Handmade Stuff From Artists I Admire

Happy Friday!  There are now 16 shopping days til Christmas ~ and just a week left to make sure online orders reach you in time!   

I know I always have at least one guy on my list who is really hard to find a gift for ~ I think I just found an awesome solution!  Bath products from PlunkSoap.  Pair this great bar of stud soap with a bacon flavored lip balm for a perfect guy gift.  Bacon lip balm, I'm still laughing!

Need something special for anyone in the office?  Boss, secretary?  I love the stained glass business card holders from MoreThanColors!

 I hope we are all shopping at small, local and/or artisan businesses this year.  Big box stores will not care if you spend $100.00 with them, but that same $100.00 could mean everything to a small business. And you get the benefit of better customer service and more meaningful gifts!

Thanks for taking a peak at these great shops ~ and check back next Friday for more fun handmade finds!

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday

I recently posted a question in the Etsy forums asking whether a single or a bulk picture should be used first in a listing for one bead with more available.  The majority of the responses critiqued my photographs and as this is the first time I've ever received constructive criticism on my shop,  I really appreciated it!  

So this week I've been working on retaking the pictures for all 152 of my Etsy listings.  At 4-6 pictures per item that's over 750 pictures!  Considering that I haven't found a reliable light source that's anywhere as good as natural light for showing the true colors on beads, this is going to take a long time. I have about a 1 hour window of time when the sun is up but not blocked by the fence or the trees in my yard at this time of year so I just have to hope that happens to be the hour there isn't any cloud cover! Anyway, here is a comparison

New picture

Old Picture

There is a HUGE difference!  I didn't realize how bad my pics were before and I'm extremely grateful to the people who took the time to critique me.

As to the original question: I decided I had to do what felt right to me, which is to use the single bead as the first picture.  It's not as dramatic, but I also don't feel like I'm being deceptive.  In the end, being able to sleep at night is more important to me than the number of sales.

Motivation Monday

Motivation Monday

It's Monday again already ~ where did the weekend go?  It's cold out there this morning!  22 degrees and I am in need of some warmth!  So today's motivation is going to be flowers.

There!  That makes me think of islands where it's warm and sunny every day!

And now for a little warm music: Michael Franti - Sound of Sunshine

One of my favorites, and I just made it my alarm clock ring tone. For the three minutes I lay in bed, snuggled in my blankets, I can pretend it's going to be a sunny day!

Thanks for checking in ~ and stay motivated!!

Featured Friday

Featured Friday

I have a very special featured artist today ~  My daughter opened an Etsy shop!  KTBelleCrafts  She does a variety of crafts including some incredible paintings with spray paint, recycled glass crafts and blown eggs.  She opened her shop on Tuesday and she's already had 2 sales.  Congratulations KT!!!  This is one of the eggs (it's reserved but she'll be listing more in the next day or two)

These are so cute!

And here's one of her spray paint paintings:

                            

Can you believe that's spray paint?  I love it!

Thanks for taking a peek ~ and check back next Friday for more fun, handmade finds!

What's Up Wednesday

What's up Wednesday

Most important things first.... COUPONS! I woke up to about 30 emails on Monday from stores offering their Cyber Monday sales, so I decided to go ahead and have a sale too.  Since I did it on a whim, late Monday morning, I also decided to make it good until December 1st.  Use the code CYBERWHIM for 10% off everything!!  Ok, I realize that's not as good as getting a giant TV for $10, but I also promise you won't get pepper sprayed! (and I'm not spamming your email!)

That's the big news, other wise not much.  I survived hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my house and more importantly, so did everyone else!  After that little mini vacation I really had to get it in gear at the torch!  I've been making beads non-stop since Saturday. Well, not exactly non-stop. Occasionally I take a break from the torch to post an Etsy listing, make some jewelry or blog. :)    These were from the weekend.

Lots of new listings are available in my Etsy shop, so stop by and see what you need

 (and don't forget your coupon!)

P.S.  A quick note to the Universe ~ I would love to sell all the beads I make, move to Belize and lose 30lbs.  Thank you!