Accepted at Meridian Urban Market

I am so excited I've done a few shows, some real bombs, and one decent 4th of july show last summer I applied to the local farmers markets and weekly markets but was put on the waiting list because they all had too many jewelry vendors. I started making some magnets for fun and tried selling some at my christmas show. It was my biggest seller. With these tight times sometimes people will only buy a $3 item. So I added it to my items to sell that and cell phone charms and bookmarks. I sold one piece of jewelry and $100 worth of magnets, cell phone charms and bookmarks so I decided to expand those products. Then Lately I added Magnet boards and different magnets and I keep getting more ideas in that area. the latest is adding magnetic pegs to my magnet boards to make a jewelry organizer, and adding tin containers to store stuff. So Even though I won't be selling jewelry at least at first until they have room for more jewelry i will have a booth full of new items I've made. I teach jewelry classes in meridian and if nothing else I might get a few new students for my local classes. I am so glad I have been getting a lot of rejections lately and I know it is beacause there is way to many people selling jewelry right now so I will take what I can get and I can still use those beads for things other than jewelry. And I still have classes to sell them at. I'm not giving up just expanding my horizons. The best thing about the market is it is on Thursday Evenings. So I don't have to give up all my Saturday mornings to sell. My hubby will be very glad about this I hope because Saturday is really the only day I have to spend with him that we can do something. I will still do some other shows this year but now that big pressure to find something is off my back. whew. Now I just hope that it all goes well and my stuff sells well. I teach classes in the same area on Tuesday Nights and it is totally dead so I hope this brings people back downtown or I might be groaning about this whole thing in a few months.

Happy New Year My resolutions for this year

Happy new year. All the kids are sleepy and getting up slowy and all headed to the movies leaving mommy a little time to reflect on this last year and to start planning for the year ahead. This year I have accomplish alot. I started selling at shows in July and to date have sold at 5 shows this year. Some were a complete dive and a few were really good. July was the best and my home show which I forgot to count came second. I didn't do the best job at marketing and this year one of my goals is to get better at marketing and letting everyone know about my shows.

The second big thing is a new camera in the works I am moving from a Kodak easy share way up to a Canon SLR camera. I am really excited about this as picture taking has been a major headache. I have ordered the camera body and now I need to research and save up for the lens. So my next resolution is to learn about my new camera and learn to take fabulous pictures which will hopefully lead to more online sales.

My third resolution is changing the direction of my business I am taking a break from teaching as my hubby is working such long hours I too often have to scramble to find a babysitter so I am going to put my efforts into selling jewelry online and locally.

I have also opened 2 new stores one butterflyjewelrysupp.esty.com to destash all that extra supply of beads and stuff I have to teach classes and all those tools. The other is called Expressyourfaith.esty.com and is where I want to sell handstamped, bottle cap, scrabble, and more jewelry that relates to my Christian faith. I feel like God wants me to use my talents to Glorify him and this is my turning my jewelry making in that direction. It also gives me a nitch that I have been lacking.

I am moving up from using cheap wire, beads and findings and selling off all the silver plated stuff and cheaper beads and moving up to beautiful gemstones, sterling silver, gold fill and nice stuff. I still have way too much variety in my jewelry and too many types, but not sure if I want to quit that. I love to create and my mind goes from this to that I have a new idea every week and different type of jewelry I want to create each week. I don't think I would feel happy making only one type. I may open a few different stores online to sell each type so my stores at least will be consistant. We will see.

So look for lots of new stuff come visit my destash store often as it will grow daily with every kind of goody from tools, to beads, and what ever I find hiding in my studio.