We started our Etsy shop on April 3, 2007 and our first sale was May 24, 2007. We tweaked and posted more jewelry, we worked our home parties and handed out our Etsy shop cards. But, no more sales :( In total frustration I listed some of our stash. Some miscellaneous beads and findings. Sales, we got sales!! 18 sales in the first week!! I called Mom (she still lived in Virginia at the time) "Mom we are selling our beads, send me what you got!" She sent me some of her stock. I took photos - with our huge light box! It was great, we found our niche!! Supplies, jewelry supplies! We had tons of them. Mom and I had been designing and making jewelry for over a year and we had stash of everything :)
Yeah us!! We already had wholesale suppliers so, we were set to switch our gears. Mom and Dad were still in Virginia which put a load on me to list, sell and ship our merchandise. They put their house up for sale and Dad prepared to retire. The plan was to retire and move next to us!! Not just for the business but, because we - my family wanted them to live next door.
Now...we wait for the house to sell. We waited and waited...Stay tuned for the adventure of selling a home.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
The HeartBreak :(
Next in our adventures, we had frustration and more frustration. I started listing, and listing, and listing. For those familiar with Etsy, we did get views and hearts but, no sales. I was on the forums looking for clues as how to get more - well, ANY sales. I got up some courage and posted a "Help Me" question. I asked for a shop critique. Ahhh...what had I done!! I posted and ran back to my shop to see if I could find what was the problem. I must be missing something!
Sadly, I went back to the forums and looked at the post to see several responses. I read and read, the majority of them said my photos - they put it nicely but, said they stunk. One of the post said to get or make a light box for the photos. So, mini-side adventure into "Photo Box" making. My hubby to the rescue :) We went and purchased the material to make our own light box. It was fun, me and he building a huge and I do mean huge light box. I think we could have taken photos of babies in our light box. But, I just re-shot the necklaces, earrings and bracelets and re posted the photos.
Finally, six weeks after we opened, our first sale!! Please, don't get to happy for us. Weeks went by and no more sales. Lucky for us we did home parties and were selling our jewelry but, not online.
Was our online dream going to die a miserable death? Would we be able to make a go of our Etsy shop, CarDon Creative Design? Keep watching for future adventures!
Sadly, I went back to the forums and looked at the post to see several responses. I read and read, the majority of them said my photos - they put it nicely but, said they stunk. One of the post said to get or make a light box for the photos. So, mini-side adventure into "Photo Box" making. My hubby to the rescue :) We went and purchased the material to make our own light box. It was fun, me and he building a huge and I do mean huge light box. I think we could have taken photos of babies in our light box. But, I just re-shot the necklaces, earrings and bracelets and re posted the photos.
Finally, six weeks after we opened, our first sale!! Please, don't get to happy for us. Weeks went by and no more sales. Lucky for us we did home parties and were selling our jewelry but, not online.
Was our online dream going to die a miserable death? Would we be able to make a go of our Etsy shop, CarDon Creative Design? Keep watching for future adventures!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
CarDon Creative Design Year End Sale
We are having a year end sale in our CarDon Creative Design shop. You will find great prices on a wonderful selection of jewelry making needs.
Check out our Sale Section - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5113198§ion_id=5083916
* Mother of Pearl Coin Beads
* Gemstones
* Findings
* Watch Faces
* Pendants
* More...
Friday, December 26, 2008
Trade Necklace
Ever trade? Well, it's lots of fun! I found a person who wanted a necklace made with a pearl cross we had in our shop and I saw a fabulous crocheted scarf in their shop. Thus, a trade was born.
A Sample of Our Designs
This is first and only design Mom and I collaborated on. We had a great deal of fun working on this fabulous piece. In the list of awesome supplies, we used turquoise donuts, turquoise nuggets and heishi beads. Also, used were carnelian nuggets, clear crystal chips, keishi pearls, sterling silver beads and much more! I wire worked the earrings to match the necklace.
We have step by step pics of our designing this piece but, we are in our jams, no make-up, and our hair is a mess so, you won't be seeing those :)
The Adventure Continues!
OK, for all of you who are waiting for the adventure to continue here we go!!
We left you last at my dear hubby bringing up selling on the Internet!!! Well, as I said, I went into a panic. INTERNET, isn't that space, like the unknown place people get sucked into and are never see from again? Alright, I was a bit dramatic ;) But, I really didn't have a clue how or where to start and was happy not learning. My extent of computer knowledge was shopping for our supplies and was really good a playing "Diablo" with my sons. Here again, my hubby was great at searching for useless info - for the most part. He loved looking up the facts about how many penguins lived at the Artic Circle and where cheese came from...OK, I'm really just kidding. He did find a great site for our made jewelry though, Etsy.com.
New chapter of CarDon Creative Designs.
So, I took a look at Etsy.com and it was a great fit for our business. I took some Prozac ;) and jumped into the process of setting up a shop. First issue was our name, CarDon Creative Designs would not fit into the allowed Etsy space so, off came the "s". Now, as CarDonCreativeDesign - no "s", I started listing our jewelry. Oh wait, first I had to figure out how to take photographs of our jewelry :p I have never been a camera person. We would go on vacation and on the last day go back to all the places we had been just to get pics to show we were really there!!
Camera!! Well, as luck would have it I did have a good digital camera. I bought it to take pics of our then 8 yr old playing football. Now to find a place with good light and background to take these "Fabulous" pictures of our jewelry. My dinning room table was a nice start and the wall behind it made for a good backdrop. Click,click, clicking I went. But, that was not the end...now I have to "EDIT" all of those pictures. Oh please, I am back to no clue again!! I could go to the help tab and see how to do this "Edit" thing or wing it. You guessed it, I winged it :) I was pretty happy with the results and was now ready to list the jewelry.
It is the day after Christmas and I need to go and put away the gifts and check out our new vacuum - it sucks up dog hair!! See our slideshow and you will see we have sweet dogs but, they shed like no tomorrow!!
Stay tuned for the next installment of our adventures..."HeartBreak"!!
We left you last at my dear hubby bringing up selling on the Internet!!! Well, as I said, I went into a panic. INTERNET, isn't that space, like the unknown place people get sucked into and are never see from again? Alright, I was a bit dramatic ;) But, I really didn't have a clue how or where to start and was happy not learning. My extent of computer knowledge was shopping for our supplies and was really good a playing "Diablo" with my sons. Here again, my hubby was great at searching for useless info - for the most part. He loved looking up the facts about how many penguins lived at the Artic Circle and where cheese came from...OK, I'm really just kidding. He did find a great site for our made jewelry though, Etsy.com.
New chapter of CarDon Creative Designs.
So, I took a look at Etsy.com and it was a great fit for our business. I took some Prozac ;) and jumped into the process of setting up a shop. First issue was our name, CarDon Creative Designs would not fit into the allowed Etsy space so, off came the "s". Now, as CarDonCreativeDesign - no "s", I started listing our jewelry. Oh wait, first I had to figure out how to take photographs of our jewelry :p I have never been a camera person. We would go on vacation and on the last day go back to all the places we had been just to get pics to show we were really there!!
Camera!! Well, as luck would have it I did have a good digital camera. I bought it to take pics of our then 8 yr old playing football. Now to find a place with good light and background to take these "Fabulous" pictures of our jewelry. My dinning room table was a nice start and the wall behind it made for a good backdrop. Click,click, clicking I went. But, that was not the end...now I have to "EDIT" all of those pictures. Oh please, I am back to no clue again!! I could go to the help tab and see how to do this "Edit" thing or wing it. You guessed it, I winged it :) I was pretty happy with the results and was now ready to list the jewelry.
It is the day after Christmas and I need to go and put away the gifts and check out our new vacuum - it sucks up dog hair!! See our slideshow and you will see we have sweet dogs but, they shed like no tomorrow!!
Stay tuned for the next installment of our adventures..."HeartBreak"!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Let's Get Started
Well, here we go on another adventure!! Blogging :O Just 2 days before Christmas and we're off on another project. Didn't someone say "No time like the present."?
Okay, we will start at the beginning of our mother, daughter partnership. Our first business was about 26 years ago. Mom and I started a printed tee-shirt business. Remember the shirts with "Gag me with a Spoon", "Grody to the Max", "Valley Girl", okay enough of those. We did fun pics and so on. We did a party plan for sales and had tons of fun. But, Mom and Dad moved, I got married and moved to Syracuse NY.
23 years flash by!!
Mom and Dad are now living in Virginia and I still live in Syracuse NY with my hubby and 2 sons :) Mom the forever crafter has done just about everything ;p and said "I think I'll do some jewelry making." Great, I thought!! Something else I can't do. But, while on vacation in Virginia, Mom and I hit a couple of craft stores and bought a few (well, lots) of jewelry supplies. Wow!! Who would've known, I love it, I can design. My hidden talent has surfaced.
Mom and I jump into CarDon Creative Designs - jewelry parties!! Mom makes her style of designs and I do mine. She mails me her jewelry and I do parties here in Syracuse area. A year or so pass all is going well and my hubby says "How about selling online!" Oh, no not that...I panic. I don't know much about a computer, how can I run an online shop......
Well, I do have tons to wrap and cooking still left to do. Check back after Christmas and I will continue on our adventure :)
Okay, we will start at the beginning of our mother, daughter partnership. Our first business was about 26 years ago. Mom and I started a printed tee-shirt business. Remember the shirts with "Gag me with a Spoon", "Grody to the Max", "Valley Girl", okay enough of those. We did fun pics and so on. We did a party plan for sales and had tons of fun. But, Mom and Dad moved, I got married and moved to Syracuse NY.
23 years flash by!!
Mom and Dad are now living in Virginia and I still live in Syracuse NY with my hubby and 2 sons :) Mom the forever crafter has done just about everything ;p and said "I think I'll do some jewelry making." Great, I thought!! Something else I can't do. But, while on vacation in Virginia, Mom and I hit a couple of craft stores and bought a few (well, lots) of jewelry supplies. Wow!! Who would've known, I love it, I can design. My hidden talent has surfaced.
Mom and I jump into CarDon Creative Designs - jewelry parties!! Mom makes her style of designs and I do mine. She mails me her jewelry and I do parties here in Syracuse area. A year or so pass all is going well and my hubby says "How about selling online!" Oh, no not that...I panic. I don't know much about a computer, how can I run an online shop......
Well, I do have tons to wrap and cooking still left to do. Check back after Christmas and I will continue on our adventure :)
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