Busy Week For Me..

Busy week this coming week. I have orders to fill from our sale on our bird forum, Avian Avenue and now to get ready for my last craft show this coming weekend! I will be working on my new website in the coming weeks so check it out and let me know what you think about it so far.

Who would have known, almost a year to the day I posted that last post on my blog that my wish would come true! I lost my Accounting job unexpectedly on August 12th, for no good reason other than I was one of the higher paid employees and that was "their idea" that this was going to make a difference to their bottom line. Of course I was angry at being treated like this after almost 21 years of dedicated service. My husband, the most wonderful man on the planet, told me to take a couple months off and get things done around the house that I had been wanting to get done. It was the FIRST time I had any time off in the summer. I sat outside, I started a journal, I enjoyed time with my parrots and my dogs. I found myself again!! My love for cooking, working out, my crafts...all the things that took a back seat to my hectic life of working 8-5 Monday through Friday came rushing back into my life. I have to say I have never been happier. I have gotten things organized in our home, spent time looking inward, started pouring over my recipes and making new things for dinner, it has been an amazing time for me. I am trying to grow my jewelry business so hopefully I can work part time while pursuing my real passion...my creative side. I have just launched my website http://www.mangogyrl-designs.com and am so excited as this has been on my list of things to do for so long. I have one more two day craft show next weekend and then it is time to relax and enjoy the holidays with my husband and our pets! No year end to worry about for the first time in several years!! Losing my job was the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time and I count my blessings that my husband has a good job that allowed me the time I needed to heal and move forward. I am looking forward to 2012 and know it will be a year full of wonder and amazing new opportunities.

My Update

I sure wish I had more time to blog, I really am going to try. Well I have been selling online now for just a little over a year and boy have I learned a lot. I have grown so much as a crafter over the past year. My skill for taking pictures, new designs and new techniques. I want to thank Tara from Graphic Design By Tara for all the help she has given me over the past year. Her help has been invaluable to me. I am doing less bead jewelry and more glass tiles, rings and soon I am going to start working with polymer clay. I have been wanting to try polymer clay now for a long time. I am still doing local craft shows and this will be my first year doing them alone so I am excited to have my booth be entirely my design and setup. So I look forward to the coming fall shows and meeting some new people. Hope to be blogging more about my new techniques as I try new things.

I'm Still Here!!

I sure have neglected my blog over the last few months. With the holidays, craft shows and work I just was so busy. I am excited with my new jewelry I have been working on and will post some new pictures soon. Just wanted to at least post that I am still alive and kicking!

Tara is at it again!!

So Tara as in Jewelry By Tara has been a busy girl since she has been back from her holiday vacation! Check out her new items in her store! I am loving these new rings she has, arent they cool? She has tons of new items. Stop by her store and take a look.

New Custom Glass Tile Pendants!!

I have been working on some custom bird glass tile pendants and I am now ready to take orders for them. I started out with bird pendants because of my birds but these pendants can be made for any pet. I have three sizes you can get them in. I have 1" square, 1 3/8" square or 1 x 1 7/8" rectangles. You can get just the pendant or have me make a chain to go with it. I have sterling silver chain or silver plated chain. If you are interested in getting a custom pendant, I am going to be selling them in my Artfire Studio. When you get to my studio, go to the gallery tab and you will see the custom glass pendants, click on "request similar item" and that will give you a box to type in your request which will come to me as an email. Then we can work out the details and I can give you a price! Looking forward to making these as well as the other glass tile pendants I have started to make.

Free Shipping in My Artfire Store!!

Starting today through 12/23/09 receive FREE SHIPPING to orders shipping in US or Canada!!

Time to Get Into The Holiday Spirit!!

I am in a craft show next weekend, so this weekend I was busy making some last minute items to add to my show. I really was in the holiday mood when I made this batch of earrings. I will be posting them in my Artfire Studio and in my Etsy Store as well. Happy Holiday's everyone!

New Youtube Video!

I have heard that Youtube is a great place to advertise your jewelry so I made a short video about my jewelry today. Let me know what you think.

Are Your Sales Down on Etsy?

I am new to Etsy. It seems like a lot of people are saying their sales are down. Is that true for most people, or only some? What can we do to help each other grow and have our stores seen? I am all for helping each other so what can we do to help each other? I do think featuring each other on our blogs brings attention to what we do. Is anyone interested in maybe starting a feature ring, where we organize a few people who are interested and take turns featuring each other on our blogs? I would be interested. How many people have Facebook Fan Pages? I do get hits off my Facebook Fan Page almost daily so if you dont have a fan page, I would recommend it to help bring traffic into your stores. The showcases on Etsy do seem to help with your views, but spending $7.00 a week to make one or two sales just doesnt seem too cost effective. I would love to hear what others are doing. Lets try to help each other be successful with our stores. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Welcome New Followers!!!!!!

Hey I just wanted to say hi to all my new followers! I have to admit my blog has not had much attention as of yet but I have a great mentor..Tara as in Jewelry by Tara and she is teaching me the ropes so I promise a more exciting blog in the near future once I get through these darn craft shows!! I will follow all of your blogs too. Thanks again and happy selling everyone!!
Pat

New Bird Forum!

Dont know if we have any Parrot Lovers in the house but I am proud to announce the opening of our new bird forum Avian Avenue, where I am a Super Moderator. If we have any parrot lovers as well as artsians here please come over and check us out!

http://forums.avianavenue.com