Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Twitter Tree 09-30-15


The Twitter Tree© will be hosted by a different shop M-W-F.
 


Instructions:

  1. Only 2 Items per person
  2. Each Tweet must contain the hashtag: #CCFRNDS
  3.  Only 1 other Hashtag may be used.
  4. Please include a brief description of your item in the tweet.
  5. Keep your Tweet under 140 Characters (including spaces).
  6. No Mature Items
Tweet Every one’s listings. (It is not fair to others if you do not fully
participate. Team Leaders do watch who is tweeting and who is
not.) 
 


Limit of two (2) hashtags



Today's Tweeting Items Are:     

 

Ready to Ship! Blue Green Aqua Terra Jasper Gemstone Bracelet by ElunaJewelry http://etsy.me/1UrrA7W via @Etsy #CCFRNDS #Shopping


Handmade Silver Hoop Earrings by @elunajewelry on @artfire http://ow.ly/SyIFv  #CCFRNDS #Shoppping

  

Pictures 

 

 

 

 

 







get the InLinkz code



Friday, September 25, 2015

Actions That May Be Costing You Money At Craft Shows - Pt 3


Today we will be looking at the number 6 and 7 biggest habits that may lose you money at craft shows, based on my recent survey.

The number six and seven money loser: Books and Cell Phones.

When asked 22% of respondents admitted bring a book to read while they were at a craft show. And 45% of respondents mentioned talking and texting their friends while they were at a show. Customers will try not to disturb you if you are engaged in any activity other than selling your work. When you bring a book to read, you project an air of boredom that customers do not want to be around.



When you talk and text on the phone, you are telling customers not to enter your space. You are in a private conversation, and customers take that as a hint to stay out. Also many times when we are on the phone, we make comments that others overhear. Something as innocent as, it has been a bit slow this morning, will turn a customer off from entering your booth. At one show I did, a lady beside me had her son come out to relieve her for a few minutes. During that time, he was on the phone cursing at a “Friend” (sports thing I think.) Not only did he scare off her customers, he also scared off mine. You could see them literally give her space a very wide berth. She spent the rest of the time complaining that she had no customers.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Twitter Tree 09-23-15



The Twitter Tree© will be hosted by a different shop M-W-F.
 


Instructions:

  1. Only 2 Items per person
  2. Each Tweet must contain the hashtag: #CCFRNDS
  3.  Only 1 other Hashtag may be used.
  4. Please include a brief description of your item in the tweet.
  5. Keep your Tweet under 140 Characters (including spaces).
  6. No Mature Items
Tweet Every one’s listings. (It is not fair to others if you do not fully
participate. Team Leaders do watch who is tweeting and who is
not.) 
 


Limit of two (2) hashtags



Today's Tweeting Items Are:     

 

New and Ready to Ship, Perfect for Fall! Fancy Jasper Bracelet by ElunaJewelry on @Etsy http://etsy.me/1MIr954  #CCFRNDS #shopping


Handmade Silver Hoop Earrings by @elunajewelry on @artfire http://ow.ly/SyIFv  #CCFRNDS #Shoppping

  

Pictures 

 

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/247220708/fancy-jasper-bracelet

 

 

 









get the InLinkz code


Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Large Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings by ElunaJewelry





These are our favorite large sterling silver hoop earrings and we think you will love them too! These large sterling silver hoop earrings are designed to slide comfortably through the back of your piercing until the knot catches at the back, creating the illusion of a full hoop without the clasp.

These elegant thin large hoops are lightweight and designed for a standard piercing. This means they will not tear or stretch your earring holes during normal wear. This style of hoop earrings is known as a reverse hoop earring.

Handmade from sterling silver wire and flattened, these shiny delicate large sterling silver hoop earrings will have your friends drooling. They are so comfortable you may forget you are wearing them.

My large sterling silver hoop earrings have a diameter of 2.0 inches or 5.1 cm. Other sizes of sterling silver hoop earrings are available. See my store for details.

~Won't they fall out?~
I have been asked this question a lot. I have found that this design of hoop earrings stays in place better than even my post earring.


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If you would like to see these large sterling silver hoop earrings demonstrated, you can watch my video here: http://youtu.be/p9FRWrmuC1M
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See More Artisan Jewelry at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElunaJewelry

Silver Reverse Hoop Earrings: http://etsy.me/1cnYnGl
Gold Reverse Hoop Earrings: http://etsy.me/1RvHxFe
Copper Reverse Hoop Earrings: http://etsy.me/1BuLuRr
Niobium Reverse Hoop Earrings: http://etsy.me/1HXvSun

Sterling Silver Butterfly Ring by ElunaJewelry






You have found the perfect spring gift; a sterling silver butterfly ring.

Butterflies grow up from ugly little caterpillars to become one of nature's most beautiful and delicate creatures. The butterfly is story of transformation and this ring symbolizes the metamorphosis of ourselves as we grow into our own skin.

This ring features a thin gauge silver band that had been finished with a sterling silver butterfly. The buterfly itself is approximately 0.40 inches across. Check the variations to see what sizes are available.

This listing is for 1 sterling silver butterfly ring. This ring is made to order.

Come see more of my rings at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ElunaJewelry?section_id=14635723&ref=shopsection_leftnav_10

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See More Artisan Jewelry at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElunaJewelry
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


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Monday, September 21, 2015

Leopardskin Jasper Bracelet by ElunaJewelry




Eluna Jewelry's Leopardskin jasper bracelet is composed of 8mm leopardskin jasper beads and copper seed beads. This bracelet will fit a small-medium sized wrist (approximately 7.5 inches) and is closed with an antiqued copper toggle clasp.

This rust-colored bracelet would look wonderful paired with your favorite warm chunky sweater. The autumnal colors will act as a pleasing reminder of all your fall fun!

Eluna Jewelry offers affordable, modern jewelry solutions. Each bracelet is handmade with love to celebrated the inspiration of the natural beauty found within us all.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Actions That May Be Costing You Money At Craft Shows - Pt 2

Today we will be looking at the number 8 biggest habit that may lose you money at craft shows, based on my recent survey.



The number eight money loser: Got my booth fee done, so if they want it let them buy it.

Very rarely does our work sell itself. Most times art needs abit of help to get sales. Would you just hand your money over to see a movie you have never even heard of? The same is true of any art. Customers need to know something about it to prompt them to buy. If you want to make more than you booth fee on a regular basis, you need to put some effort into selling your work. Nuff said.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Twitter Tree 09-16-15


The Twitter Tree© will be hosted by a different shop M-W-F.
 


Instructions:

  1. Only 2 Items per person
  2. Each Tweet must contain the hashtag: #CCFRNDS
  3.  Only 1 other Hashtag may be used.
  4. Please include a brief description of your item in the tweet.
  5. Keep your Tweet under 140 Characters (including spaces).
  6. No Mature Items
Tweet Every one’s listings. (It is not fair to others if you do not fully
participate. Team Leaders do watch who is tweeting and who is
not.) 
 


Limit of two (2) hashtags



Today's Tweeting Items Are:     

 

NEW Handmade Beaded Bracelets with Free Shipping by @elunajewelry http://ow.ly/R5nA7 #CCFRNDS #Fashion


Look at these Handmade Hoop Earrings by @elunajewelry http://ow.ly/RnfMX #CCFRNDS #Shopping

  

Pictures 

 

 

 









get the InLinkz code


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Large Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings by ElunaJewelry

Large Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings by ElunaJewelry
 
 
https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/79597770/large-sterling-silver-hoop-earrings?ref=rss

Become the goddess of your fairytale with these large silver hoop earrings. Lightweight, comfortable, and clasp less; these unique large sterling silver hoop earrings are one of my best sellers on Etsy since 2009.

Sterling silver is known as the metal of the Moon Goddess. Silver symbolizes pure feminine energy and is a mirror of the soul.

Created with comfort in mind, these large sterling silver hoops were created to slide comfortably into the rear of your piercing. To wear these silver hoops, you will insert them into your piercing and then gently tug them until you feel the circular catch on the back of your earlobe.

These elegant thin hoops are lightweight and designed for a standard piercing. This means they will not tear or stretch your earring holes.

If you would like to see a demo on how these hoops are worn, please visit my video demo! http://youtu.be/p9FRWrmuC1M

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See More Artisan Jewelry at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElunaJewelry
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


~~The Metal~~
These hoops are made of solid .925 Sterling Silver wire. By using sterling silver, my hoops are durable, fashionable, and timeless. Unlike silver plated hoops, the sterling silver will not flake off over time.

~~Delicate~~
The delicate hoops are created to be the same thickness as a standard earring post. These awesome large sterling silver hoop earrings are made from 20 gauge sterling silver wire and then hammered flat.


~~The Size~~
This earring has a diameter of 2.0 inches or 5.1 cm. Other sizes are available.


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Amethyst Bracelet by ElunaJewelry

Amethyst Bracelet by ElunaJewelry

https://www.etsy.com/listing/247220982/amethyst-bead-bracelet?ref=rss

Eluna Jewelry's Quartz Amethyst bracelet is composed of delicate amethyst beads and small silver seed beads. It measures approximately 7.5 inches and will fit a small-medium sized wrist. The bracelet is closed with a crisp silver plated toggle clasp.

Luscious purple amethyst has a classic appeal. This mouth-watering bracelet will look alluring with your favorite little black dress or stunning with your plain old t-shirt and jeans.

A stone of spiritual protection, amethyst helps to remove negative energies. It helps its wearer to uncover the root causes behind cyclic destructive behavior.

Eluna Jewelry offers affordable, modern jewelry solutions. Each bracelet is handmade with love. Each piece of jewelry made by Eluna Jewelry designs is a tribute to the natural beauty within

Friday, September 11, 2015

Actions That May Be Costing You Money At Craft Shows - Pt 1.

First I want to thank everyone that participated in this survey. Without you, none of this would be possible. I realize some of these questions may have been a bit confusing as to what I was asking. In the future I will try to be more concise in my questions. These questions were designed to look at what actions maybe costing you money at craft shows. I am by no means an expert on marketing or selling, but I designed the questions based on observation and research.

Over the next few weeks I will be publishing the results in reverse order starting with number ten and working my way to number one. So here we go. Today we will be looking at numbers 9 and 10.

The number 9 and 10 money losers: Sarcasm and irritation.



Let’s face it, customers ask us really dumb questions sometimes. And you will hear the same question dozens of times. It can make you want to scream. But if we respond to those questions with irritation or sarcasm, we will lose the opportunity to sell our work. And what is worse, we may lose more than one opportunity, if any potential customers overheard us. Even if someone did not overhear, some of us carry that aggravation with us, and may accidently take it out on future customers.

When asked questions like “Did you make all this?” You may want to respond “Well why else would I be here selling all this stuff?” But a better answer would be “Yes! I made everything here. Each piece is handmade using the finest (insert materials here.)” ect. When customers ask us questions that will drive us batty, it is simply because they are looking to learn more about us and our work.

What about when people cannot make up their mind? Take that opportunity to explain to them which piece you feel would work better for their goals. During my last show, I had a lady decide to pick out a pair of my reclaimed glass earrings for a friend of hers, but she got lost in the choices. Together we narrowed down the choices to a pair for her friend. I started by asking favorite colors, to which she did not know. Then we went on to discuss what type of a lady was her friend, girly girl or tomboy? That lead us to choose colors and sizes. The customer chose to buy not only the set we picked together, but also got a pair for herself, which she had not intended to do. But not getting irritated, I made not one sale, but two.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

The Real Price of Handmade



It has happened to all of us. We go to a craft fair and spot "THE PERFECT" thing-a-ma-bob.

"Oh it is perfect!" "It is so beautiful!" "I want it! I want it! I want it!"

Then you glance at the price tag and almost drop it!

You think "What? Why is this so expensive? I can get something similar at Walmart."

Lets clear this up right now, yes you can find a cheap, low quality thing-a-ma-bob at Walmart any day of the week. That is not why you went to the craft show. You wanted to find that perfect, handmade, high quality thing-a-ma-bob. Not the same one that twenty of your closest friends will buy from Walmart next week!

But that does not tell you why it is so expensive, does it?

Well I am going to take a minute to try to break down some of the costs involved in pricing for craft shows. Lets look at this Labradorite Pebble Necklace that is marked $75.00.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/197627790/labradorite-jewelry-labradorite-beach?ref=shop_home_active_9
The entire piece took me about 10 hours to make, that includes 6 hours to cut the stones used to make this piece.  So if you break down the price of $75.00 over that 10 hours, you will see that I made $7.50/hour. Less than minimum wage.

Opps, we forgot to subtract the cost of the raw materials used to make this piece. To make this simple, lets say I have about $15 of raw materials in this piece (that is pretty close, I think it was somewhere like $17.34). That would bring my hourly rate down to $6.00/hour.



I also have to pay sales tax on the final price of the piece. I include it in the total price to make it easier during check out at a craft show, since I really want to offer you excellent customer service and not make you wait for me to calculate the tax at the show.   In my state the sales tax is 6.75%. So on a $75.00 piece,  that is $5.06 that goes to the government's pocket, rather than my pocket.

While I am looking at the total costs, I also need to account for my operating costs. This includes items like marketing materials, bags, tags, displays, tools, electricity, and transportation costs. All of that has to be factored into the prices.

According to a paper by Sageworks.com, the average overhead for a private retailer is approximately 22% of their sales. So for this piece that would be $16.50 in overhead.



So where are we on hourly rate now? Lets see.....

$75 (price) -$5.06 (tax) - 16.5 (overhead) - $15.00 (materials) = 38.44/10 hours =$3.84/hour

But there is one more piece of the price puzzle. The show fees.

You may not realize it, but artisans and crafters have to pay to sell at craft shows and fairs. A great show can run upwards of $1000/day. However you can find a relatively good show for about $100/day in my area.

To cover the costs of the show, the fee is split among each item sold. If I sold twenty items during a show, each item sold covers $5.00 of the fee.

So my final per hour cost would actually be $3.34/hour. Not close to minimum wage or even a living wage (currently touted as $15/hr).

If I were to charge a living wage to make this, it would actually cost $214.89. Wow. Was that $75 really that expensive after all?



Comments Shopper Say

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I found this cute video meme about the stuff craft show customers say.

I have heard most of these over the years, and I would bet you have too. And I expect to hear more over the next few months as the holiday season ramps up.

Enjoy my fellow artisans and artisans at heart


Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Twitter Tree 09-09-15


The Twitter Tree© will be hosted by a different shop M-W-F.




Instructions:

  1. Only 2 Items per person
  2. Each Tweet must contain the hashtag: #CCFRNDS
  3. Only 1 other Hashtag may be used.
  4. Please include a brief description of your item in the tweet.
  5. Keep your Tweet under 140 Characters (including spaces).
  6. No Mature Items
Tweet Every one’s listings. (It is not fair to others if you do not fully
participate. Team Leaders do watch who is tweeting and who is
not.) 




Limit of two (2) hashtags



Today's Tweeting Items Are:     

 

Free Shipping on NEW Handmade Beaded Bracelets and Earrings by @elunajewelry http://ow.ly/R5nA7 #CCFRNDS #Fashion

Free Shipping on Handmade Hoop Earrings by @elunajewelry http://ow.ly/RnfMX #CCFRNDS #Shopping

  

Pictures 

 

 

 






get the InLinkz code



Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Labor Day Weekend

This has been a very productive holiday weekend! 

I started Saturday by going out to a gem and mineral show. While I was there I picked up 7 new cabochons! So excited to get to work with those!! (Photos are not great, sorry)

Blue and Red Pietersite

Gray and Red Dinosaur Bone

Russian Amazonite

Unakite Jasper

The rest of the weekend I spent cleaning the house/yard (boo!) and making new pieces of jewelry (yay!!!).

I made five new beaded bracelets 

Four new Sterling silver cuff bracelets


And a slew of new Sterling silver earrings!



As I said, my weekend was productive! How was your weekend?

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Sterling Silver Flower Ring

Sterling Silver Flower Ring, Made to Order Daisy Ring by ElunaJewelry
 
 


You have found the perfect gift; a simple sterling silver daisy flower ring.

This ring features a thin gauge silver band that had been finished with a sterling silver daisy. The flower itself is 0.30 inches across. Check the variations to see what sizes are available.

This listing is for 1 sterling silver daisy flower ring.

Come see more of my rings at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ElunaJewelry?section_id=14635723&ref=shopsection_leftnav_10

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
See More Artisan Jewelry at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElunaJewelry
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Twitter Tree 09-02-15


The Twitter Tree© will be hosted by a different shop M-W-F.




Instructions:

  1. Only 2 Items per person
  2. Each Tweet must contain the hashtag: #CCFRNDS
  3. Only 1 other Hashtag may be used.
  4. Please include a brief description of your item in the tweet.
  5. Keep your Tweet under 140 Characters (including spaces).
  6. No Mature Items
Tweet Every one’s listings. (It is not fair to others if you do not fully
participate. Team Leaders do watch who is tweeting and who is
not.) 




Limit of two (2) hashtags



Today's Tweeting Items Are:     

 

Free Shipping on Handmade Beaded Bracelets and Earrings by @elunajewelry http://ow.ly/R5nA7 #CCFRNDS #Fashion

Free Shipping on Handmade Reverse Hoop ElunaJewelry by @elunajewelry http://ow.ly/RnfMX #CCFRNDS #Shopping

  

Pictures 

 

 

 






get the InLinkz code