Prettiest Girl on the Block

The best thing about offering custom work is getting to see all my customers' ideas! Often times they are ideas I would have never thought to offer on my own.

My most recent custom request was for a Tattoo Portfolio Book. Much like a photo album, but I got to engrave a piece of the artist's work on the cover of the book!

Isn't this drawing just beautiful! That's why I titled this post the Prettiest Girl on the Block :)

And the font the customer chose is very cool as well! I like how it ties in with the tattoo theme and looks classy all at the same time.

 Now my mind is thinking of other portfolios I could make. How about for someone who makes cabinets? Or handmade wood furniture? Thinking about businesses opens up another option!

Wordless Wednesday - Ready for Winter

More Jewelry Questions

First I want to say Thank You to everyone who gave great input and feedback about my earring photos I posted a couple weeks ago. I still haven't gotten any of my jewelry listed as I'm still stumped on a few things.

*I'm debating whether to sell things in earring/necklace sets or separately.

*And I'm rethinking the chains I've been using for my pendants.

Here are two current pendants I have in stock. One has a colored cord and the other has a suede-like brown cord. They're very basic (and kind of cheap) cords. They allow me to keep my prices affordable, but I also don't want to sell cheap crap!

When I wear one of my own butterfly pendants, I usually put it on a silver chain like this. I really like how the butterfly looks on here and am thinking about selling all of my pendants this way. This would raise the cost, but probably not too much.

I'd love your thoughts on this. Do you think the colored and brown cords look okay, or would I be better off to list them with the nicer silver cords? I know I could offer both, but I'd rather have a consistent look.

I don't want to take a bunch of photos with the cheaper cords and change my mind and have to redo them all!

Thanks again for your help :)

What a Weekend!

 The past few days have been a little crazy around here! As some of you might have noticed, I missed my Friday Features post last week. On Wednesday night, the software I use for my laser quit working. First some of the functions quit working, then when I tried to fix it, it completely quit! The program wouldn't even open...yikes!

This was totally me!

Thursday morning I went about the task of installing all my software on my desktop (I usually run off my laptop) and getting things set up for my laser there. This meant not only finding my software CD, but also a cable to run from my computer to the laser (my laptop ran wirelessly) and then figuring out how to install the print driver again as well! By mid morning I was back in business...thank goodness! I was in nervous breakdown mode for sure!

Jesse also had last Friday and today off work because things are slow at his job right now. It's good he got some time off...he does need it. But this always throws my schedule off and by Friday morning, I realized I didn't have my blog post ready...and I didn't even have a theme in mind!

I tried a new display idea for my jewelry, but I'm not sure I like this either.

Saturday I had one of my biggest shows of the year. I'm happy to report that the show went really well! It's my best show so far this fall! I sold a lot of beer mugs and key chains as well as took several custom orders. I always find it funny to see what sells and what doesn't. I didn't sell a single piece of jewelry...not one! And I only sold one of my premade word albums! I did have a boutique owner ask about selling my jewelry, key chains and magnets at wholesale though, so that could be a great opportunity. She would like to get an order in before Christmas too!

I can always find PINK wherever I go :)

Sundays are usually our slow days as Jesse usually works that night (his Monday's start at 11pm Sunday night). But with him not working, we had another full day. We got our passport photos taken, went to a car show and spent time with his dad.

Now today I can finally get back into my routine and start getting caught up on orders from my show and Etsy.

How was your weekend? Any nervous breakdowns about happen...lol?

Treasury Thanks

Welcome to another edition of my Treasury Thanks! Each week I like to thank my treasury curators from the past week by featuring their treasuries as well as an item from their shop. Please help me in thanking them by clicking on their treasuries and checking out their shops :)

Debbie of ThePhotoImpression featured my Carved Tree Guest Book in her Sittin' in a tree, K_I_S_S_I_N_G Treasury!  Their stunning Fall Foliage photo is great for fall decorating and would fit in this treasury very well :)

Eugenie of MulberryWhisper featured my Etched Champagne Flutes in her A Village Wedding Treasury! Eugenie's Bobbin Lace Collar would be a beautiful addition to a wedding wardrobe!

MizCreatrix featured my Ideas Notebook in her Fall Creative Inspiration Treasury!

Mel of BloombyMelV featured my Peacock Guest Book in her To Everything, There is a Season ~ The Byrds Treasury! Mel's Peacock Locket would look so great in this treasury!

Jenny of ABirdInTheHandArt featured my Woodland Photo Album in her Pumpkin Spice Treasury! Jenny's Brown Patterned Bracelet would look great with your wardrobe during the fall season!

 

Mirian of WickedlyBeautifulArt featured my Drink Me Wine Bottle Stopper in her Drink Me Treasury! Mirian's Pink Cupcake Ornament Set is adorable!

Thanks again to my curators! You've made my week!

Wooden Photo Albums - Point of Purchase Sales

With craft show season fully upon us, I've been coming up with more ideas for point of purchase items. Online I make most of my sales on personalized items. People know they will have to wait for their item to arrive, so why not wait a couple extra days and have it personalized! But at shows, people want to take their item with them. They want it now and they don't want to wait on shipping.

Knowing this, I've starting adding new items to my show inventory and started adding them to my shop as well. I blogged about my new recipe book designs last month and these have done well. I've sold a few online and I hope to sell more at my shows as well.

My most recent line of  point of purchase items are my Wooden Photo Albums. I've added three new designs so far and, as always, have ideas for so many more! My Woodland themed books have done very well, so I thought a photo album would be a good next step. I've sold these mainly as baby albums, but I think they'd also be good for camping photos or just fun photos.

I'm really excited about the Grandma's Brag Book. It's an item I've wanted to make for a while, but hadn't come up with all the pieces yet. I love that the wood covers make it ideal for grandma's with grandsons and daughters. No pink or blue to choose from...it's perfect for everyone :) I'm thinking I need a Grandpa's brag book next.

I also added a Holiday Memories book as well. Christmas is one season where we always take a lot of photos, so this book would be great! I might need one for each year!

 Some other ideas I'm throwing around are Disney photo albums with autograph pages as well. And wedding photo albums that can be bought as a point of purchase item or personalized as well. I love that the ideas are endless with these!

Wordless Wednesday - My View of Fall