It’s amazing what one can do with an extra day! Not only did I create something, I’m actually posting on here! My apologies for my disappearance. With opening another Etsy shop, I’ve been a bit distracted.
Spending far too much time on Pinterest, I was determined that I wanted to make a spring wreath . Christmas wreath still out and I trashed my old summer wreath at Christmas. I gave myself one hour for this project in hopes it would keep me from getting distracted. Too anxious to hunt a great supply bargain, I purchased all of the items at my local Hobby Lobby.
I’ll just give you a quick glimpse of the process… there are plenty of Youtube videos for that!
Supplies:
- 18″ Straw Wreath – $4.99
- 21″ Fabric Mesh – $9.99
- 4″ Fabric Mesh – $4.99
- Silk floral stem – $9.99
- Ribbon – $3.00 (half off on the day I purchased it)
- Floral pins – $4.99 (for the giant 1 lb. bag)
- Total receipt with tax – $39.21 (breakdown of actual items used at end)
I think I spent the largest amount of time trying to get the crazy plastic wrap off the straw wreath. Once that was accomplished, I cut off a random long lengthy of the 21″ mesh. I folded it in half twice, making a 4 layer piece. I wasn’t precise, just trying to give it some thickness. Using the florist pins, I pinned the folded piece in 3 places for security on what would become the back of the wreath. Then I began wrapping it (and none to carefully) to cover the straw wreath base. Many use the Styrofoam base, but I chose straw because if some of it showed, it wouldn’t bother me as much as green floral styrofoam. I ran out about half way through so I just added some more, again pinning it on the back.
In the end, I was still a litte short, but I just started the “fluffy” pinning on the back and wrapped it around one more time. This is just taking about 12″ lengths of mesh and pinning it every several inches (this is where Youtube is helpful). This is what it looked like after adding the “fluff” of the main green color.
Then I pinned the 4″ pink mesh on the back, pulled it to the front. I went over one loop and under another and I pinned in the valleys of the green (where the green was already pinned).
Fine and dandy, I could have probably stopped here, but NOT ME! I’m more of a “more is more” kind of a girl. I pulled three flowers off of the silk floral stem like this:
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, I used the pins again and pinned close to the center of the flower just through the bottom couple or 3 petals. I wanted to catch enough that the petals wouldn’t be too stressed from the weight of the flower and tear off. Then, using the same process as with the pink mesh, I added the plaid ribbon only this time, I made it point to get it on top of some of the green “poofs” so it was more visible. I’m still not sure I’m done, but I’m done for now. :)
This one is for my hubby… just wanted to prove that there actually IS some time when we could eat our table… it’s just too bad that I’ve moved on to another messy project by the time we’re ready for the next meal. I just wanted documented proof for the world to see.
Summary of expenses:
Total at check out: $39.21
- Straw wreath – obviously none left over – $4.99
- 21″ mesh – less than 6″ left, we’ll call that used entirely – $9.99
- 4″ mesh – at least 2/3 of roll remains – used $1.66
- Ribbon – bought 4 rolls, used less than 1/3 of $3.00 roll – $1.00
- Floral pins – $4.99 for bag, used maybe 1/10 – $.50
- Silk flowers – $9.99, used 3 of 8 – $3.74
Total (with tax added on) – $25.31 and about 50 minutes (even with stopping to take photos)
Next project – beg hubby to paint front door and shudders black so my wreaths won’t clash.
A little fun for the upcoming holidays. Created with wonderful finds created by my friends on STATTEAM!
‘Gift Guide for the Mrs. Claus in Snow White and Rose Red’ by sassyspark
Gifts for the girls in festive holiday colors! StatTeam weekly treasury!
 50% OFF SALE – Set of s… $49.50
|
 Dangle Earrings-Tomato … $10.99
|
 Christmas Poinsettia E… $18.00
|
 Beanie Flower Hat Girls… $8.75
|
 CO-515-Christmas Tags V… $5.50
|
 Pie in a Jar Cherry, St… $7.50
|
 Red Glass Earrings, Chr… $24.00
|
 Upcycled Juice Lid Orna… $10.00
|
 RED SHAWL Flower Flower… $75.00
|
 Collapsible Travel Fitn… $40.00
|
 Glam red necklace, crys… $22.00
|
 Christmas Dishcloths Re… $15.00
|
 Christmas Red Heart Whi… $30.00
|
 Fine Art Food Photograp… $15.00
|
 Red and White Christmas… $65.00
|
 Red and White Japanese … $115.00
|
Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.
I don’t know about you, but my favorite Etsy enhancement since I’ve been on the site is the ability to save draft listings. As an “arsty-fartsy” it was so difficult to sit down and create a listing each time I wanted a new item to appear in my shop. I love being able to gather up my creations from the week, photograph them, and “draft” all of my listings at one time with the ability to publish them later.
Wow! – I can save my listings without making them “live”"
Woe – The only feature that would enhance this further is the ability to set a “publish at a specific time/date”. However, I ain’t knockin’ it. I can usually hop on my computer or phone a few times a day to get items posted.
Thank you, Etsy, for this brilliant addition for sellers!
What do you love about Etsy? What improvements would make your life easier?
What’s right? What’s wrong? Is there a definitive answer?
Being a wine-drinker and melter of liquor bottles, I appreciate the respect that aging gives an item. Having been fortunate enough to inherit many of my Nana’s miniature tea sets, porcelain items, and china, I GREATLY appreciate the care that was given to the creation of even every-day and nearly mass-produced items in times gone by. Just because there were many made, doesn’t mean they weren’t created by true artisans. To give care to creating items en masse is thing of the past… or is it???
Just because isn’t old, just because isn’t quite one-of-a-kind, doesn’t mean that there wasn’t great care given to its production. This is why I love Esty. It’s okay to make more than one of an item and still not be a factory. It’s great to create more than one-at-a-time and still have a unique flavor to each piece. Etsy allows artists to create at a level possible to achieve “a living” without forgetting “the art” or the “the artist”. It’s the human factor that allows artists to connect with their customers. It’s not a big-box store, even if you can find almost anything under the sun on one website.
I enjoy the vintage and supply sellers on Etsy as much as the artists. We are a community and those who embrace the handmade way of life make an effort to seek out goods from others on the site before seeking them elsewhere. I can’t find every supply on Etsy, but I look there first. It gives me joy to support those that support me.
Do you Etsy? Do you try to shop Etsy for your supplies, gifts, or everyday needs before shopping elsewhere? Are there other sites that offer the same sense of community? In a virtual world, where do you feel at home?
As I was packing up a melted bottle, I realized there must be a million things to use as packing material. Because my melted bottles are glass, I try to make sure they fit snugly in the box to minimized shifting and possible breakage during shipment. And since the bottles are recycled, I try to be conscious of packing in a “green” way as well.
Currently, I wrap the bottles in bubble wrap or other shock absorbent material that I save from things I have ordered. So far, I’ve never purchased bubble wrap. Then, to insulate the bottle in the box, I use wadded up plastic grocery bags. Before sealing the box, I hold it closed and give it a shake to make sure there isn’t much shifting. So far, it seems to be a pretty effective packing method.
What are your favorite packing materials? Do you make an effort to recycle or use “green” products?
Hooray! It’s the day I get to thank someone for including me in a treasury. A huge thanks to 1treeyoga for putting together this jaw-dropping, beautiful honorarium to purple. Oh, and I know it’s Saturday as of this post… a temporary Etsy malfunction prevented me from posting yesterday.
‘Drink from the purple bottle’ by 1treeyoga
 Luuki New Spring dress $64.00
|
 Sacred Witches Power Potion … $39.95
|
 she just wants to dance $100.00
|
 Purple Hand Painted Dotted P… $63.50
|
 Set of 2 Vintage Purple Glas… $104.00
|
 Chunky charm bracelet – Purp… $24.00
|
 Amethyst Allure – Fused Dich… $32.00
|
 Dolphins in Blue $45.00
|
 Violet & Teal Sherbet Rose H… $10.00
|
 Kate’s Wish Limited Edit… $10.00
|
 Tiny Bottle of Seaglass Pend… $60.00
|
 Lucky Star Pocket Luck – Shi… $4.00
|
 Blown Glass Miniature Vessel… $47.00
|
 The Aida Necklace $20.00
|
 Oatmeal Lavender Bath Soak $19.00
|
 Amethyst Reign Dragon Cameo … $16.99
|
Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.
Think twice before employing this strategy. I am aware that there are plenty of artists that make items similar to mine, but I also make every effort to keep my items in a similar price point.
Think of it this way… I can try to sell my items for less than other similar artists. Maybe they drop their prices to compete with me. Someone new comes along with similar items and again undercuts the current price. Everyone drops price again or potentially loses sales.
The horrible spiral this creates leaves everyone working for nothing and no ability to work out discounts for multiple-item or wholesale orders. I love working with individual customers, the one-on-one is what gives me joy! However, the wholesale orders are more of the bread-and-butter for many artists and crafters. If the effort is to establish a good balance of individual repeat customers and wholesale relationships, it may be best to hold the price in line with the market and STAND OUT with the service offered, a unique twist, or finding a way to personalize the item.
While we may feel a need to compete with the perceived competition, it seems to work better for me to focus on what I might be able to do improve the experience for my customers to draw them in. There’s more than price involved when selling handmade and we should use the “personal connection” to give our customers more than what the mega-marts could ever offer.
P.S. I’m still not an attorney, but please don’t collude, conspire, or in any way make an attempt to set prices with others who sell similar items. It could be considered a violation of anti-trust laws. That’s what my years in board meetings at a trade association got me… a healthy fear of the law. Set your prices based on your cost of supplies, time, packing materials, and your own belief in what the market will bear for your product.
…. off the soap box now. :)
Today I received a sad note that one of the items I shipped was broken in transit. I knew it would happen eventually. It’s almost inevitable that with shipping as many glass items as I do that sometimes one will break, but this was my first broken bottle. But it got me to thinking. What’s the right policy? I have a policy stated in my shop that says “I am not responsible for damage that occurs during shipment. If you want insurance, please let me know”. Needless to say, this particular item was not insured (to be fair, for the dollar amount involved, I wouldn’t have requested insurance either). Even though my policy states otherwise, of course, I offered to either replace the item and I would ship at my expense or I would refund the purchase price of the item. Six in one, half dozen the other, it’s about the same cost since it was a pretty heavy item.
Here’s my dilemma… what about the shipping cost? Who has responsibility for it? I mean the initial shipping charge that I treated simply as a pass through since I don’t mark-up the shipping cost. Obviously I shipped it, so I did incur the expense. It’s one thing to offer the refund of money that went into my account, but the shipping fees I handed over to the U.S.P.S.
What’s your policy? How do you handle returns whether for broken items or for other reasons? Do you refund shipping charges? If you expect the customer to return the item, do you make them pay return shipping (I found out that many companies do)?
How the hell am I supposed to do that when my “forte” is making stuff out of glass? It probably doesn’t matter what my strength, if I don’t know marketing, I don’t know it. Same for bookkeeping or insurance or so many other possible aspects of our business.
Thank goodness for so many wonderful resources on how to learn these skills (or at least make a novice attempt at understanding them). Social media… I know, I keep grumping about it, but for me it’s truly overwhelming, but it’s a low-cost strategy for adding to a marketing plan if the time is available to invest. Of course, I will include other more traditional marketing activities, but as for social media I’m focusing on 3 venues, which is still probably too much for me.
Social netoworking:
- Facebook – I had a serious gaming addiction a while ago, I’m comfortable here, but still not at ease with asking friends or fan page “likers” to take action
- Twitter – Spare me the lecture. I know it’s cool, but I still don’t “get it”. It doesn’t lessen my desire to understand and try to get involved.
- Blogging – if you’re here, I guess it’s working. I tried this once before, but failed to tell anyone I was doing it. Needless to say, I received only ONE follower. As with all things “social” without telling anyone, it’s like not doing it at all.
Strategy:
- Find free or low-cost ways to promote myself – social networking is core to this, this website is a close second
- Promote to people who want to buy my products. – seems obvious, but sometimes it is difficult to find the right venue to really appeal to the people who appreciate my art (handmade glass jewelry and beads, in my case). I haven’t much for an advertising budget, but since I sell on Etsy, who better to target with my few advertising dollars?!??! I currently spend nearly all of my advertising budget on Etsy renewals and listings. If I ever make a profit, I will consider other outlets like Adwords, paid blog advertising, etc. Until then, in my marketing-less mind, it seems to make sense to keep myself in front of those who already appreciate what I do.
- Get help by helping others – it sure is easier to ask for “re-tweet” or “like” if I’ve already extended that courtesy to someone else. I’m not suggesting doing it to a point where the day is spent promoting others, but if a Twitter Follower or Facebook Friend has something I truly appreciate, I’m going to comment, reply, re-post/re-tweet. Not to the extent that I plan to take names of who I’ve helped, but just because it’s great to succeed, and even better if that success is shared with others. It’s core to who I am and it works for me. I’m a “karma” and “what goes around, comes around” girl, so this suits my personality.
That’s as far as I’ve made it in “the plan”. There are so many details to add, I may never finish, but I suppose that’s point. Addition to the plan: keep adding to the plan.
Do you have a marketing strategy? What is working for your business? Had any “pricey” flops that will spare others the agony?
Such fun creating treasuries for the STATTEAM Saturday Challenge. Please come visit the actual treasury on Etsy to view the full-size images.
‘Secret, Secret… I’ve got a secret’ by sassyspark
I am the MODERN man. (thanks, Styx)Not modern in the strict definition, but I’m captivated.STATTEAM Treasury Challenge. Open to all! Details here: http://statteamartistsonetsy.blogspot.com/2011/07/statteam-saturday-treasury-challenge-is.html
 Black, White and Red Polymer… $5.00
|
 Scalloped Tags in Shades of … $2.25
|
 Black Onyx meet Turquoise ha… $27.00
|
 Winter Scene – Fine Art Phot… $25.00
|
 LOVE IS GONE Original drawin… $75.00
|
 Zebra Red Rose Ring $20.00
|
 Lady of the Moon II Cup $24.00
|
 Modern Colourful Solid Wood … $16.00
|
 Wonderful black flower barre… $5.00
|
 Black Lava Stones Handmade N… $30.00
|
 Hemp Barefoot Sandals Thongs… $13.00
|
 Black and White Water Lily -… $30.00
|
 Wood Fine Art Sculpture Mode… $79.00
|
 Black and White Stripes Acry… $35.00
|
 Boudoir, Black and White, La… $25.00
|
 ACEO Acrylic Painting Art Ca… $15.00
|
Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.
