What Happened to the Day?

This morning, I said I was going to design...just make jewelry and get some things photographed.

Now, towards the end of the day I have one bracelet and one pair of earrings completed. Huh? What happened?

Well, I decided that my website needed a little attention, then I washed dishes and some clothes, made lunch, washed dishes again, folded the clothes, went to the post office to mail Etsy packages...and now it is 5:00 P.M.

The day is gone. Lots got done, but not what I planned. Tomorrow is another day!

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Brace yourself for a hodgepodge of stuff in this post...

First, I wanted to introduce my upcoming blog feature entitled "Friday Favorites." Each Friday I will post about an Etsy shop that has it together - great items, great photos, and all that. This Friday, July 18, will be my first feature...drumroll, it will be a candle maker on Etsy, but you'll have to wait until Friday to find out who it is!

Secondly, I wanted to share some interesting links about gemstones. More frequently, I've had customers interested in the folklore...the potential, mystical qualities or healing properties of gemstones. Whether or not you believe in all this, it is nonetheless interesting! Here are a few of my favorites:

Emily Gems
Crystals & Gemstones
SobrietyStones
Gemstone Magic

Enjoy!

It's all in the Details

From time to time I like to step back and think about how my jewelry design is different from what else is out there. Goodness knows there is plenty of jewelry out there! Today I concluded, "It's all in the Details."

For example, the earrings I listed today have a few special features. I actually came up with the name "Salsa" before I ever designed them. This was after reading about the continued tomato, pepper, salsa food poisoning scares going on right now. (Yes, it's true -- you never know where you might find inspiration!)

Anyway, I wanted the earrings to be contemporary, bright, and still feminine. So I started by mixing metals -- copper and sterling silver. And instead of stopping with a straight, stacked, linear earring, I added an extra rope ring dangle of gaspeite to add a bit of dance to this pair. The floral beadcap for the turquoise...that's the feminine part!

What makes your craft, customer service, or promotional energy different from the rest? How do you stand out? I think this is key to being a successful seller -- if you don't know what you are exceptionally good at, how will anyone else? Leave me your comments, and happy crafting!

DLPom Handcrafted Expressions on Etsy

Renewed by Vacation

Ahhhhhh... A change of pace can do everyone some good. And I think this is especially true for creative people -- artists and designers in every medium.

My recent vacation knocked the cobwebs out of my brain. I had been stagnate with my jewelry making for awhile...nothing was really inspiring me to grow, create, or experiment.

But I am back! With fresh ideas and a renewed sense of interest in my "art." So stay tuned for some new jewelry beauties and some new soap scents, too. If you can get away to the Caribbean, I highly recommend it!

The top photo is Trunk Bay on St. John, U.S.V.I, and the bottom photo is Morningstar Beach on St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Both locations are paradise on earth!

DLPom Handcrafted Expressions on Etsy

When Jewelry Collects Dust

I know many jewelry designers who are continually taking apart jewelry they have made to salvage the components and design something different with the pieces and parts. Why? Because they haven't sold in a "reasonable" amount of time...and how much time is actually reasonable to wait for something to sell?

Well, I don't do this. A case in point are my last 6 sales on Etsy. Three of them were jewelry items I've had in my inventory for over 24 months! That's over two years!

These pieces would have been disassembled by most beaders in this amount of wait time. But I am a firm believer that what I design is quality work, and it is just a matter of the right buyer coming along to fall in love with it.

I don't "buy in" to this notion that if it is stale, it won't sell. Jewelry trends and different customers come and go. For me, it is a supreme waste of time to disassemble perfectly good jewelry designs. (Something that is flawed is obviously another story.)

So I make this blog post as food for thought. How much time do you spend taking jewelry apart?

Happy jewelry designing -- the first time!

http://dlpom.etsy.com/

The Perfect Scent

Soapers are always sniffing. Sniffing to find the next perfect scent for the next batch of soap. Yes, I have my tried and true favorites: Rosemary Mint, Gardenia, Lavender, etc...but springtime evokes a whole new blooming bonanza that should be duplicated in fragranced soap scents!

My favorite of all favorite scents is my Texas Mountain Laurel. It blooms just once a year, beginning with the first few days of warm weather in south Texas. Yes, we have already had some very springy days here, but the weather still has a tendency to turn bitter cold for a few days too!

I can't resist going to my Mountain Laural tree each day to inhale the grapey-waxy scent. I have to take advantage because the blooms last only about 10-14 days, and once they are gone, I have to wait a whole year! Today, the honey bees were enjoying the blooms, too.

So my challenge is to duplicate this scent in soap. It's intoxicating. And since I can't bathe in the actual blooms, I hope I am successful...I've already got a few great leads for infusing this scent into my soap making process. Stay tuned...I will report back!

Other scentsational soaps:
Soap, Soap, Soap Section on Etsy

Dana
DLPom Handcrafted Expressions
Website

The Value of Time Off

On Etsy we are always chatting about "What have you done to promote?" "Have you listed anything new lately?" and "Did you love your blog today?" Sometimes, everything everyone says you are supposed to do is quite overwhelming.

And for me, a full-time business, crammed into a part-time work schedule, mostly on the weekends...well, sometimes you just have to have a life!

So, I took last Sunday off. Just walked away from the photographing, listing, description writing, promoting, advertising, blogging, creating -- and my husband and I went to have a cook-out with some friends visiting from New Mexico who were camping at a nearby state park.

It was the best thing I could have done. Now mind you, my friend is into silversmithing for her jewelry endeavors, and we couldn't help working on a few things she had brought with her. But there was something about slowing down, just for a moment, that was theraputic.

We noticed the birds, wildlife, and flora just getting ready to burst into spring. We absorbed the sun and gave thanks to the cool breeze -- the perfect weather combination! We ate some awesome grilled food that just tasted better because we were eating at a picnic table with plastic utensils! We caught up with each other's lives.

Just like the body needs sleep to perform, our creative talents and endeavors need a rest to be refreshed for another day. This weekend has been twice as productive because of a little time off.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

I've just been dabbling today... I created a new poll here ------> about favorite earring beads, wrapped soap, relisted a few items, got myself organized for the EtsyBead Street Team's Scavenger Hunt (see flyer in previous blog post to win prizes!), and setup a "Plug Me" board on my website.

The "Plug Me" board is an awesome idea for advertising your shop! I'm still tweaking my GIF file just a little, but I think the eventual outcome will be pretty cool. Visit http://www.plugme.net/ to get your own board, or just build an 88 x 31 GIF image and drop by my website to plug yourself: http://www.dlpom.com/PlugBoard.html Handcrafted items only, please!

Off to get some snacks ready for the SuperBowl!