Crafty Business

Thursday, October 08, 2009

I have a Twitter account, but I don’t use it much.

However, I discovered the awesome power of Twitter as advertising tool for my shop. Now I need to find the balance between spamming my followers and gently reminding them that there’s pretty stuff they can buy.

Follow my business on Twitter - BeadonaWire.

Monday, August 10, 2009

I discovered this cool website this weekend - Make and Takes. I heart M&T. It’s an awesome resource for parents (I was going to say moms, but there are dads who get into this kind of stuff with their kids, too, so I didn’t want to discriminate) who love to do fun things with and for their kids.

For instance, the newest post is for Star Wars Felt Fingerpuppets. Click over to see the cute picture - I think Princess Leia is spot on.

I plan to make these today - we’re eating a ton of granola bars in our house recently (me for the galactogogueal properties of oats, Jesse because they taste good). Beau is buying the ingredients that we do not have while at Wegmans this morning.

And one day, I hope to make one of these for each of my kids - how cute!

[UPDATE]: Here are photos of the finished granola bars. I made note of the problems with the first attempt in the comments.

The first picture: the scored bars cooling in the pan.
Second picture: the crumbly bars on a platter.
Third picture: the aftermath - someone had to clean up the pan, so I did.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

I’ve been awake since about 2am. I got up at 3am. Here’s what’s in my head this early morning.

I blame the recent stresses in my job. When I woke up I was having a weird dream about the last time I went on maternity leave. And then I lay there thinking about all of the things that I need to do to get things in order before I am out. And then there’s the other position that I put in for that I still haven’t heard about - if I end up leaving permanently, then there are a host of other things that need doing to get my office ready for my replacement. I’m sick of thinking about my job all the time and worrying about my back up. I don’t need this. Although I will say that my back up has done an excellent job on the things I’ve given to her this week. There seems to be one major mind-block item and it is the most confusing thing about the payment system. So I’m feeling better about her, but still I really do not need this to hang on my mind 24/7.

In other news, I have completed our taxes and we’ll get a lot less than we did last year, but that’s because my business was very successful in 2008. I basically doubled my profits in year 2 over the first year. That’s exciting. What stinks is that I doubt I’ll even match year 1 profits this year because of the baby - I’ve pretty much stopped making new items and I haven’t taken on custom work since before Christmas. I was planning to participate in my mother’s spring open house next month, but since I’m not making anything new it’s pointless to be there. That said, Mom offered to display some key items on my behalf, which will be nice. I’m not sure how much will sell that way, though. Because of the baby I don’t expect to get back to the crafting table until well into summer and if I do start a new position post-maternity leave, then that may push it back to the fall. So it will most likely be a pretty lean year for my business. But that’s life as a small business owner, I guess. I just hate to lose the momentum.

That said, let me self promote a bit. Don’t forget that everything in my old shop is 40% off. Then there is a bit of new inventory in my new shop, too.

My son is too cute for words. And I think that speaks for itself. I love him to pieces.

I’m getting excited to meet the new baby. I’m looking forward to holding the little wiggly thing. And I do mean wiggly - this baby moves almost constantly. It is without a doubt the coolest part of pregnancy and I love it.

I have the most wonderful husband in the world. Really. I can’t say enough about how much joy he brings to me daily. I love him to pieces, too.

Two days into the new diabetic diet and I have to say I’m noticing a huge difference in how I feel. Turns out it was my carb consumption that was making me more tired and more susceptible to queasiness. Now I wonder why they wait so long to test for it in pregnancy. If I had been tested for this months ago a lot of misery could have been avoided, I think. Of course, I’ve also boosted my iron intake, so that could be contributing as well.

OK, I guess that’s it.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Since I’m moving my shop, I decided that rather than relist the old inventory in the new shop, I’d offer a huge moving sale.

If you’ve had your eye on anything in the past, now is the time to buy. Prices are definitely bargains!

Friday, January 02, 2009

The wedding we were supposed to go to tomorrow was called off, but we’re heading to West Virginia to visit Beau’s friends this weekend anyway. So I’m working a half day here at home and then we’re loading up the car and heading out in order to beat the bad weather (there’s supposed to be a wintry mix in the lowlands, but his friends live on a mountain) and dark. It’s a short visit - we’ll head back home tomorrow evening.

My parents get back from London this afternoon. I’m looking forward to hearing all about their vacation.

My new shop is up and ready to go - BeadWire.etsy.com. I have my new logo/branding and everything. I love the new logo a lot. Now I just need a bit of dough so that I can buy new business cards and product tags to switch out the old. Most of my inventory is still in the old shop, but I’ll slowly be moving things over for the next few weeks.

Then it’s time to work on taxes. Fortunately, I managed to keep up with the accounting each month, so it won’t be a marathon like it was last year. I’ll be curious to see what the bottom line is from this year, especially since I basically took the summer off from the business all together - no sales and no new inventory in that time. I think I’ll end up in the black, but you never know until the numbers are all crunched.

Speaking of crunched - that’s the word that put me over the top in points to beat Beau in Scrabble on New Year’s Eve. We were playing with 9 tiles to speed up the game, so I didn’t get the bingo bonus points. But that word netted me 51 points. I actually ended up with the Q, X, and Z as well, which helped with the points.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The White Elephant party was fun last night. The folks in my parents’ small group are great and our group blended with them quite well. We took home a t-shirt that was given out at church sometime this year in size small - this will be regifted at some point - and a lovely handmade scarf that matches my barn coat quite nicely so I’m keeping that one. I almost came away with cute elf slippers that light up, but they got stolen from me by the single dude who plans to give them to his girlfriend. Whatever. The funniest gift was the coconut monkey. I can’t even explain it - just know that it is awesome.

Beau brought Jesse dressed for bed in his Christmas red jammies. He charmed the whole group, of course. The amazing thing was when I asked if he was ready for night-night, he said, “Night-night, OK,” and headed for the stairs. OK, then. So we put him to bed (in the pack-n-play to minimize room destruction) and while he chattered for about 20-30 minutes, he stayed pretty quiet until he fell asleep.

In the busy, I’ve been surprised by pretty consistent sales in my shop this month. It’s been a nice reward for very little work and I’m happy to be clearing out some older inventory. I’m planning to move my shop to a more professional username with Etsy in January and I also want to rework my branding a bit before ordering new business cards and product tags. And I have a couple of other jewelry orders to complete and get out this weekend (Barb, I haven’t forgotten your lanyard!).

Monday, December 15, 2008

1. I have my next prenatal appointment around lunchtime. I’ll post to TG later with the report. No ultrasound today - just the normal check up that includes listening to the heartbeat, which is pretty cool.

2. The weekend was generally good and busy. At this moment I cannot remember what we did on Saturday, although we opted not to go to church since Jesse’s congestion and cough seemed to relapse a bit. Speaking of that…

3. Jesse scared the crap out of us on Friday night. We were watching a movie (Out of Time with Denzel - 2 stars out of 5) when all of a sudden we heard this weird coughing in the monitor. It wasn’t like normal coughing, so Beau and I took off to head upstairs. Beau got there first, of course, and when I got there I saw Beau holding Jesse over his arm and sort of patting his back. My thought had been that Jesse coughed hard enough to make himself puke, so I expected to see (and smell) vomit, but there was none.

“What position was he in when you got here?” I asked. Beau said he was on his hands and knees and making choking sounds. Dear Lord, help us. It seemed that Jesse was still mostly asleep - when the coughing stopped, he just leaned into Beau’s chest.

Then the debate began about what happened and whether or not to cover him back up when we put him back into bed. Since I was still dealing with my cough, too, I hypothesized that phlegm probably collected in his throat and caused him to choke a bit and then the coughing and because he’s still learning how to cough he didn’t know how to take the deep enough breaths he needed to really clear things out. I have woken up with a choking feeling and coughing jags in the middle of the night. Turns out he did fine the rest of the night, poor little guy.

4. Anyway, back to Saturday ... I still can’t remember what we did during the day. I know that Beau went to the store for me to pick up the last things I need for prepping the food for the Christmas lunch at my office tomorrow. I think I worked on business stuff while he was gone. I do remember that Beau and I played a marathon game of Scrabble in the evening rather than watching TV or a movie. I was losing for most of the game and then I got a Z and snagged the lower right corner Triple Word Score with ZEAL - 69 points - to take the lead and win the game.

5. Sunday morning was Beau’s morning for parking lot duty at church, so Jesse and I headed out to Walmart to pick up some things we needed. And it helped me to keep him occupied without having to expend a lot of energy chasing him and yelling No every 30 seconds. He does great in the shopping cart, so that’s a blessing. We got home and he went down for his nap shortly after. I then went to work on some jewelry custom orders that had backed up and managed to get them all done. Then I decided that the necklace I made to match a bracelet and earrings I had given to a friend for her birthday would be interesting bridesmaid jewelry, so I started taking pictures for the listing in my shop. Unfortunately, my camera seems to be dying. So when Beau got home we discussed it and my early Christmas present from him is a new camera - I ordered it online yesterday. What stinks is that I have some new jewelry pieces that I was hoping to list in my shop today but with no camera, that isn’t possible. So I’ll have to wait until the new camera arrives.

6. While watching the Survivor finale (I

my sister, too. What stinks is that I discovered that I had no tissue, which seems odd, because I know I had a ton last Christmas. And bows, too.

And I think that’s enough for this morning.

Monday, November 17, 2008

It’s been a while since I mentioned my side business, but here’s a shameless self promoting post for you. I took a long break from it while I was so ill with morning sickness. However, in the past month or so, I have been working on a few new things and I did participate in my mother’s annual fall open house last weekend. Sales were slow, as I expected given the economy, but I did well considering.

One of the new things I made that I was nervous about was this necklace and matching earrings. But the cool thing was the instant feedback when the ladies first saw them - all seemed to think it was a pretty necklace and I had several interested in buying it. Ultimately, they did sell, which was very fun.

The other new thing I’m offering is glass lockets. I love these things. They are double-sided, so you can put two pictures in them. They’re easy to open, with a little screw at the top near the clasp. I sold one round one at the open house and I plan to list them in my shop today I have listed them in my shop. They are custom pieces - you order the shape you want and length of chain you want (16”, 18” or 20”) and I’ll put them together for you. You have to do your own photos, though.

I also took on a few special orders from the open house - resizing a ring for a woman who has the tiniest fingers imaginable, a tea infuser, the locket, and a necklace to match a bracelet and earrings.

If you have jewelry needs for Christmas gifts, please remember my little shop. I’ll try to add new items in the next couple of weeks and I plan to mark down some of the older inventory, too.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

I was driving to the library on my way home from work last night when I noticed a new hobby shop in one of the strip malls on the way. Let’s not talk about the enormous late fees I paid off at the library - it was depressing to turn in unread books and pay them money to boot.

But about the hobby shop. Specifically, it is a yarn shop and I wish I could remember the cutesy name, but at the moment it escapes me. Immediately I thought of Deb and Fluid Pudding, my two favorite blogger-knitters/crocheters. And then the random thought crossed my addled, nauseated brain that knitting/crocheting is something I can do when languishing in bed when I’m still so ill and then maybe later if I happen to end up on bed rest.

Yes, I think of the possibility of bed rest already. I know. Nothing is wrong - yet. There’s still time.

I can’t work on jewelry when in bed. So I’m not working on jewelry. I miss it. And I had to cancel a custom bridal order (and refund the deposit - ouch) because I just can’t function, especially after a day at work. I am participating in my mother’s open house in mid-September and I don’t know how I’ll do it - I won’t have any new inventory to show and that makes me sad, and I don’t know how I’ll endure the customer service part of the open house when I’m feeling like puking for most of the day.

Anyway, back to the knitting/crocheting idea. It’s crazy, really. I don’t need a new hobby, especially when my current hobby is a fledgling small business. I need to stay focused on that. Even though the idea of having something to do with my hands while languishing in my bed is nice. Instead, I’ll continue to admire those who do knit and crochet with such amazing skill. I’m proud to say that I own creations from both Deb and FP and I hope to own more from their talented hands in the future.

Monday, May 05, 2008

I made this over the weekend and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out for a first attempt.

More info and another ring here.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

So Etsy has this new (although it isn’t really new, it’s old but it went away for a while, but now it’s back!) feature called Alchemy.

In an historical sense, Alchemy is the pursuit of transforming common metals into valuable gold. In an Etsy sense, Alchemy is the pursuit of transforming your creative ideas and designs into tangible items.

Alchemy is a space on Etsy where buyers can post requests for custom items. Sellers then bid on the opportunity to make the item and win the sale. It’s your opportunity to collaborate with a crafter or artisan to get exactly what you’re seeking.

I check the listings several times a day to see what kinds of things people are looking to get. Most are the typical things like a specific kind of dress or necklace or display or business cards or whatever. And then I saw this.

Head scratcher.

I love my kid, but I’m not ever going to wear his poo around my neck. And if he were my daughter, she wouldn’t wear her poo either.

What’s amazing is that she has a bit on the request.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Early close out this month since it’s the end of the quarter - hence the quiet here. Today is “push the button” day, but that won’t happen until something this afternoon.

We had delicious BBQ pulled pork from the new crockpot last night - on Beau’s handmade hamburger buns. Seriously - make your own buns. So much better than store bought.

Our babysitter skipped crew practice yesterday because of her homework load this week. So we benefitted by that since she arrived earlier than normal. Woo! It was nice to arrive at small group on time and to be able to enjoy the hang out time before we started our study. Our hostess made a wonderful chocolate cake for my birthday - from scratch and super chocolatey. Her birthday is in early April and I plan to return the favor. She wants a chocolate cake with caramel frosting so I’m on the hunt for a good recipe.

Beau is taking me to the movies tonight for my birthday. Marmie and Pop are watching Jesse, but that will be easy, since he goes to bed at 8pm. We’re going to see Vantage Point. Review tomorrow.

I finished both books in the At Bat section of the sidebar this week. Lost Light by Michael Connelly ended with a surprise that had me tearing up like a sentimental fool 4 stars out of 5. Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts is typical of her supernatural pulp. I’m sure I’ll read the other two to come for the trilogy, but only for closure. 3 stars out of 5.

I think I have another bride on the hook for her jewelry - a custom order. She’s been sending me messages via Etsy‘s internal mail and sounds like she’s ready to buy. That’s exciting. Meanwhile, Mom has opened her tea shop on Etsy as well.

And now I have to get back to work!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A bit of random:

1. The open house last weekend was very successful. I posted about it at my business blog. I also have a couple of new custom orders. I’ll be busy for the next couple of weeks on my growing list of custom pieces. And I made a tidy sum to add to the Disney fund - the total receipts were more than I had prayed about (I prayed about a ballpark figure, nothing specific), which is awesome.

2. Beau got another internal email sent to the PHC faculty about the acceptance to their offer for the Government position. So now we just wait to hear about the Poli-Theory slot. And we continue to pray hard for God’s will - it would be nice if God’s will fits our desires, of course, but if not then we’ll deal with the disappointment.

3. I’d love to petition my congressmen about abolishing this crazy Daylight Savings Time idea. However, I know it won’t go anywhere since Congress just lengthened DST last year. Neither my dog nor my kid are clock watchers so they are not on board with the time change yet. As far as the dog is concerned it’s actually a good thing since it moves the early morning barking to later. But it makes Jesse’s bedtime challenging since I want to put him down at the usual time, but his body clock thinks it’s too early.

4. I’ve got a hankering for Indian/Indonesian food, so I’m on the hunt for some good recipes. Related, we got Thai take out a couple of weeks ago and the lemongrass-peppercorn pork was delicious. I’m looking for a recipe for that, too. Also, with St. Patricks Day next week, we’re doing the corned beef and cabbage thing with my parents on Sunday. I can’t wait!

5. Survivor Pool - Somehow I’m still in the game. And mirroring the show, our game has also switched up the tribes, so I now have tribemates who are completely unaware of my plea to be voted out. Of course, there’s the chance that one of the people who stayed on my tribe spilled the beans, but I think I’m safe for a bit because I’m the highest point person now. My ally is on the other tribe now, so I have someone after the merge, if we make it that far. And I’m working on a new alliance with a couple of people who came to my tribe in the switch.

I think that’s about it for now.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

[X-posted from Bead on a Wire Blog]

The spring open house is tomorrow. I’ve still got some things to do to prepare, but I’m basically ready. I’m excited to see the women I met at the open house in November - this time I’ll have my guest book ready to get them on my mailing list.

So here are some tidbits leading into the weekend:

1. My mother, the tea merchant, gave a sample of her Lucky Charms blend tea to my husband and me the other day. I could smell the luscious chocolate and mint through the baggie! We brewed the pot that day and it was wonderful. And we loved the little green clovers!

2. I bought some soap samples from SoapDeli at Etsy.com to give away as promos to customers when they make a purchase. They arrived yesterday and they smell so delicious.

3. I bought new shopping bags from Nashville Wraps. I had been using their white gloss bags with handles, but I was low in inventory and afraid that I’d run out, so I ordered more. This time I bought burgundy kraft bags with handles (I got 25), which match my branding/logo and also white merchandise bags (like you get at card shops) for small purchases.  They only sell them in lots of 1000, so I think I’ll have those bags for years!

4. Tonight I need to finish the repair job for the proprietress of Uncle Sam’s Niece, our open house hostess, so that I can take that to her tomorrow. And if I can manage it in the evening, I’d like to make at least one pearl necklace to have in my display along with the pendant necklaces I already have ready.

One last thing - all of the items in my Etsy shop will be invisible for Friday and Saturday since I’ll be taking everything to the open house. So if you have your eye on something, please buy it today because it may not return to my shop on Sunday!

Saturday, March 01, 2008

The printer, that is.

I was printing my jewelry hang tags when the printer stopped and the ink light came on. So I called Beau, who was out running errands, to ask him to buy ink, too. He did, I installed it, and the printer still won’t work. We replaced both of the ink cartridges.

I think I killed it because I use Avery business cards to make my hang tags. And I print them double-sided. But the extra perferation that Avery uses now, means that when they rolls through the printer the second time, they get hung up by the overhanging cover. So I was propping up the door a teeny bit to ease the paper through. It was working fine until the third page.

It’s an older HP hand-me-down from my parents, but it worked great. Actually, we had a bit of trouble with it a few weeks ago when I was working on my accounting/taxes stuff.

We really can’t afford a new printer. Of course, we can write it off our taxes next year as a business expense since I use it almost exclusively for the business at this point. So I’m on the hunt. Any recommendations for a good color printer that’s under $100?