Arts + Crafts

With today being a beautiful warm September day (and football season starting) I decided to get out of the house and go for a stroll. Like all my strolls I never have any destination in mind. Today I discovered a small artists consignment gallery in downtown Burlington's Village Square called Artist Walk : Arts + Crafts.
I met a wonderful girl named Robin who told me all about how I can display my jewelry there. She also told me about craft shows they set up, one coming up in December. 
All art displayed there is for sale and open to the public.  Another perk: its focused towards local artists like myself. Another perk: there is no cost to have the items displayed (just a % of my sales goes towards the shop)

Who knows you might see some of my stuff in thia gallery?

Business Cards!!!

Business cards are in!!!! They turned out better than I could have expected!!

Over Coming a Challenge: Etsy shop reality

Its been a month since my etsy shop has opened. Although I have had about 175 views... I havent had any sales. Its dissapointing. When I sat there early august setting up my account, uploading pictures, writting out my descriptions, shop details and polices I had high hopes. Here I am a month later feeling a sense of dissapointment. 

I realize its only been a month since setting up shop. And I keep telling myself and others that I'm not in it to make money (thats just an added bonus). I want to create jewelry that people want... that people can wear with pride and excitment. That being said, my lack of sales online has hit a soft spot. But I wont let that get in my way. I've only been making jewelry for over a year now. Im still new to this. Everyday I'm discovering new techniques and styles which I then adapt to my designs. Inspiration is all around me. As I grow my business will too!

As for my Etsy shop, I am thankful for my tough "can do" attitude. I love a challenge! Ive done some research and found areas of improvement. This weekends project is to rephotograph my items, write a more detailed description... but is that enough? How else can I increase my views and hopefully generate sales?

You can follow me on Etsy at etsy.com/ca/shop/recycledbeauty4u.

Autumn is here

September is finally upon us. We can already feel the change in the weather. The air has a refreshing crisp to it. Im planning on dusting off my boots and fall coats. Bring my pants, sweaters and dark clothes out of storage. I keep my cheerful summer clothes separate from my dark depressing clothes (yes I have two closets in my condo... my boyfriend has come to terms that thats just how it is).

With the beautiful fall among us I'm looking to make some jewelry to help make the autumn fashion attire fun. I'm looking for lots of inspirational colours... golds, ambers, reds, browns and oranges... with hopes to make jewlery you'll be excited to show off.

I'll be making an appearance this month at hamiltons Blues Explosion at Hamilton Place Friday September 27th as a vendor.

Photoshoot

Spent my sunday afternoon photographing my pieces. With the help of my boyfriend Adam and his fancy nikon camera, I got some great shots!

Networking

Just had a great conversation with a coworker about the crafting network in Toronto.  She gave me great links to the toronto bead society, the upcoming creativfestival in October (its full of classes, seminars and booths for vendors), and some tips and ideas for packaging my product.

I had no idea she was into all of this great stuff!! I love learning about peoples hobbies; especially ones I have experience with.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

My Etsy Shop is finally open!!

http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/RecycledBeauty4u