A New Life in our Family

We have a new baby in the family.  I am a grandmother of a beautiful baby girl born last Friday. My daughter gave birth to her first child.  That is truly a remarkable experience for a grandmother.  I never would have dreamed how emotional and wonderful this would be.  And think, I live 800 miles from my daughter and have not seen the baby in person yet.

So we got on the internet and used our web cams last night, and I got to see my adorable grandbaby.  She stretched, yawned, cried a little, and fell asleep in Mommy's arms.  I will go out to spend a week with them in a few more weeks.  I am so thankful for modern technology.... webcams, cell phones, digital photography.  It is great!

Getting Re-energized

I need to keep working my jewelry business. I find myself researching how to be successful, but not enough time putting into practice the things I learn. Not only that, I haven't even listed many of my pieces on my websites.

I've made lots of flower earrings, but only have about 6 of them posted for sale on one of my venues. How about other jewelry artists? Do you spend more time trying to figure out how to sell your jewelry, or marketing it than you do designing and creating?

Here are my newest listings of flower earrings.

Yellow Flower Earrings

Green Flower Earrings

Orange Flower Earrings

I Joined 1000 Markets

Are you familiar with the new venue, 1000 Markets? It is one of the most inspiring and professional markets for handcrafted goods that I have seen.

1000 Markets is an exciting place to be. The structure of the sight and the diversity of the artisans contibute to the feeling that you have stepped into a live bustling open air market, and that new experiences that delight the senses wait for you at every corner. Just like in a large open air market, you can spend hours letting your fingers stroll from one shop to another, never sure of when you will have seen everything. Yet you can also use all the technical aspects of the modern day internet, and key in specific searches to find just the item you want.

I am so honored to be accepted as a seller there. I spent a lot of time looking at the various markets and shops there, and studying what made them good. The quality of work, the quality of the photos, and the unique banners all contribute to this high level of professionalism. Please take a few minutes to visit my Plum Beadacious shop at 1000 Markets.

Do You Use Facebook?

I read somewhere the other day the use of Facebook by women over the age of 55 has increased 175% in something like the last six months. Can you believe it? I suppose I am one of those women. I never used it much because I couldn't figure out what to do with it.

Now I am getting into the groove and using it to show my newest jewelry. Another idea I saw for use of Facebook is to provide special discounts to those who visit my page and become a fan. I am going to try that too.

Social Networking is not easy for me. It does not come naturally. Still and all I am determined to get the hang of this because I love making jewelry, and I thoroughly enjoy learning all the new things that I come across on the internet. I am so fortunate to have this opportunity to market my work without having to physically travel all over the country.

Let me know what your experiences are. Do you have some tips? If so, please submit them to me for consideration to post here with a link to your shop.

Oh! By the way, become a fan on my Facebook page. See my newest jewelry there, and I will offer specials there for purchases through my Etsy shops.

Here's my newest posting on my Plum Beadacious Etsy shop.

Purple-Blue Czech Glass and Pearl Bracelet

This exquisite bracelet features Czech glass beads that blend from a dark blue-purple to a light green. These beads are faceted on the sides and flat on the top and bottom and they reflect the light beautifully. Oval freshwater pearls in shades of purple and green are interspersed among the Czech glass beads. Tiny clear Swarovski crystals, sterling silver spacers and a gorgeous sterling silver clasp complete this wonderful rich looking bracelet.

Length of bracelet: 8"

Matching earrings are also available at my shop, Plumbeadacious.

Beads and Bow Necklace with Copper Chain

When I first saw this sweet copper pendant featuring a bow on a heart shape, I just knew I had to make something with it. The bow is engraved to look like it is a gingham check fabric, and there is a sweet daisy where the knot of the bow would be. I added five dangles of purple Czech glass flower beads, teal colored faceted Czech glass beads, and tiny purple Swarovski crystals to the pendant. The warm copper is complemented by the cool purples.

The copper chain from which the pendant hangs is 17” long. The pendant itself with the beaded dangles adds an additional 2” drop to the necklace.

Rosebud Czech Glass Crystal Necklace

In keeping with spring and Mother's Day, I am featuring this soft feminine design.

Roses are a classic favorite flower and the rosebud Czech glass crystals in this necklace will make this one of your favorites. This is a classically elegant necklace with just a touch of whimsy. The glass crystals are cut in the shape of a rosebud and are a firepolished luster pink. The pink goes through part of the glass and the rest of the glass is clear with a hint of soft green. These unique crystals are separated from one another with small smooth sterling silver beads and small freshwater potato pearls in a complementary rose color. I chose very smooth beads to enhance the carved look of the rosebud beads. It is entrancing to watch the light play off of the rosebud beads.

Flower Earrings for Spring

Girlie flower earrings are fabulous! I bought lots of lucite flower beads on Etsy, and have been creating flowers for the ears. It is quite uplifting and makes me feel like spring is here. Not only that, but the St. Louis weather has cooperated with the spring theme. Temperatures have gotten up into the seventies, and the sun has been shining! What more could a jewelry making girl ask for? Here are the newest flower earrings that I posted on my Filigree Romance Etsy site.

Valentine's Day Jewelry Live Event

I am so pleased that I have been invited to submit photos of some of my Filigree Romance jewelry to Mona Hair for her Live Event broadcast on NowLive. This is an internet based video broadcast, and you can listen to it at http://www.nowlive.com/showid/63074. Please join her on January 18 at 12 pm PST, 2 pm CST or 3 pm EST. She will be featuring a number of jewelry designers on this show. You will need a userid to join the broadcast. Go to www.nowlive.com/support to sign up. You can also call into the show to comment by clicking on the Call Show button and following the system instructions.

Mona may be featuring some of the following pieces from my Filigree Romance shop.

Jewelry Marketing Successes

Sometimes I have trouble seeing how far I've come because I can see how far I still have to go to meet my goals. Does that ever happen to you? If you are creating handcrafted jewelry and selling it, do you feel like you are succeeding at what you want to accomplish?

When I look at the numbers and all the time I put into trying to sell my jewelry, I sometimes get discouraged. So I decided to stop and look back over 2008 to see what I did in the last year. I was pretty surprised!

• I doubled my overall jewelry sales last year from the year before. This was combined online, craft show and word of mouth sales.
• I started this blog.
• I redesigned my website, www.plumbeadacious.com and now publish it via a different web host.
• I redesigned one of my Etsy shops, www.leallyson.etsy.com to focus on Filigree Romance jewelry
• I joined ShowMeEtsy, an Etsy street team, and participated in one of their craft sales.
• I've tried a little bit of social networking.

What are your successes? Please leave comments to share them. Celebrate your successes!

A few items I sold this last year:

We're Walking for Health this New Year

It's that time of year when we all resolve to eat right and exercise to lose weight and get fit. I am finding that I enjoy walking. My daughter gave me an IPod Shuffle for Christmas, and what a fabulous gift that is for me. Now I walk down the road or on the tread mill and listen to my favorite music. It's great!

I'm looking forwards to the spring when the landscape starts to get green. That is when I really enjoy taking my walks outdoors. I designed these earrings with the colors of the grass and trees in mind. They are called Down the Road.