These Days, These Daze

Saturday was the best day we've had at the flea market -- only by a few dollars but it was nice to be increasing! We also tried out our new earring racks and they worked beautifully -- and were the envy of the couple next door who thought they were very creative and professional.

I sold my first necklace! It was one of the new designs I worked on last week. So nice to have a hit! The necklace is very simple, and it doesn't take long to make so I'm going to be able to make it COD ("custom on demand") at shows and markets. It's also my least expensive necklace design so I'm expecting it to be a great seller -- if Saturday is any indication, I'm off to a great start! The customer also bought earrings so it made a nice sale.

I'm still trying to figure out how to market my Etsy site. Yesterday I sent off 40 business cards to a gal in SC who is putting together little goodie and sample bags to give away at some craft shows she will be attending. Today, I committed to sending a couple pairs of earrings to a lady in Texas who is selling her work at an anime convention and plans to raffle a gift basket every day. She isn't planning to sell the tickets -- she'll give them away -- but the tickets will feature all the participants of the baskets. She expects to give away hundreds of the tickets. She will also feature the sellers on her blogs. Her work is very interesting and she is an established Etsy seller so I'm hoping that this will be an effective connection.

This week, we are working on a new idea for displaying necklaces at shows -- if everything works like we think, it should make everything easy for us as well as being quite professional looking. I've tried a couple different ideas for necklace display but haven't been satisfied with the look. I've also tried putting sets together in a box, but I haven't really liked the way they looked and I have so many neat earring designs, I think it's better for the customer to choose their own pair. But, having tried other options, I think we're going to get it right this time. I've been unhappy with displays -- a couple of my necklace designs really need an open oval, rather than hanging them, or putting them in a box -- because the style looks a bit odd and unnatural unless it's on a neck. On a neck, they look wonderful! And we don't really have the space for bunches of busts -- so we think we've come up with the perfect idea. If it works, I'll post pix later.

I also have another idea or two for necklaces -- I'll keep playing with those thoughts and see what happens.