Craftyfolk Round Robin

This beautiful lady has been travelling the country as part of the Craftyfolk on Etsy team 'Round Robin'.  As she goes round, each crafty person adds a little adornment to what will eventually be the prize for the next team giveaway.  She already had beautiful hair, a lovely printed top and background and a felted flower and vintage style brooch by the time she arrived at my house.

I love her colour combinations of purples and pinks, and as there were butterflies in the background print, I thought I might add to the theme with a dragonfly charm necklace with some colourful drawbench glass beads.

I hope she likes her additional adornment.  By the time she has got round the others in the team, she will be well and truly accessorised!

Further updates on the lady's progress of this poster will be posted on the Team Crafty Folk blog here.

Alison x

Celebrating two years of online selling

I am three today!

OK, so if it is the dog's birthday, that means it is also an anniversary for my Etsy shop, the first one I opened online, and means that I've now been selling online for a full two years.  I don't claim to have any special insight, but I must admit that hanging out in the Etsy, Folksy and Dreamaid forums, I've seen so many people start off with great enthusiasm and then realise how hard getting noticed is and fade away, that I do feel like a bit of a veteran!

It all has been much more complicated than I thought when I started out - I had that basic "I'll put it online, people will see it and buy it, job done" sort of idea.  I had never really thought about the competition for SEO, the complexities of pricing, how much time social networking would take etc.  Then there are the off-line tasks - photos, listings, business cards, packaging.  It really is a full time job, on top of a full time job.

This week's earrings

My advice to anyone starting out would be don't start unless you are really happy to spend more time on the business of selling than you are on making things.  This works out OK for me, as most of my jewellery is quick to make, and if I spent as much time on that as promoting, this tiny little house would be bursting at the seams.

I enjoy the selling, but the making is still the best part for me. I've moved on in terms of crafting skills as well, and I hope this shows in my work.  There is so much more material available now in terms of interesting and colourful gemstone and findings - as many of you know, I'm as much addicted to buying beads as making things!

And another pair of earrings!

I have five online shops (Folksy, Etsy, Dreamaid, Zibbet and Stylistic Gallery), but my main focus is Folksy, as it gives the best value for money in terms of SEO and that's really what gets online non-crafty customers to your shop.  I've nothing against crafters of course, but I want to reach the real magpies in the population who adore gemstone jewellery but don't want the hassle of making it themselves.  I've been very lucky with around 117 online sales across the shops in the 2 years, and only about 5 of those sales have been to other crafters or handmade shop owners.  Thanks to all my customers, as well as those folks who have given great advice over the two years - I literally couldn't have done it without you.

Other sales in the 'real' world have boosted my total to around 150, thanks mainly to colleagues in the day job, and it's great that they and some online customers are now regulars.  I don't sell to friends and family so if they admire something, I tend to end up giving it away (one of the many reasons why I'll never be a millionaire!) but I have inflicted a number of items on them as birthday and Christmas presents - poor things!

Enough rambling.  In the spirit of onwards and upwards, I'm celebrating this anniversary by launching my own website www.blueforestjewellery.com  Two years ago I could never have dreamed I'd be able to do this, so allow me a proud moment, please!  It is in it's early stages, though, and I'm still on a steep learning curve, so please pop along if you have time and do please send any comments you have.

A blog about not blogging

Coming soon to a Folksy shop near you...

Just a quick blog to apologise about the lack of blogging!  I know, I might as well have prepared a proper post in the time it will take me to type this, but hey, I never said I was logical!!

Amazonite reminds me of the sea.. 

Just to prove that I'm not spending these long summer evenings doing absolutely nothing, I'll let you into the secret that I'm preparing the all-singing, all-dancing Blue Forest Jewellery website.  I've set myself a target of having it ready for the 4th August, the two year anniversary of starting to sell online, and incidentally, the dog's birthday.  Progress is slow, however, as every time I enter a new element, I then have to change my mind about 60 times about the look of it.  Good job no-one is paying me to do web design.

Sunshine in a bead!

Yesterday I had a parcel from the lovely Cathy of Headpinwear on Etsy - part of a little bead swap we arranged.  She was very generous and there are lots of things there that are just a little bit different from what I would normally use, so expect something a little bit different.

Suitable for the Queen of Sheba

And there is the new range of jewellery in antique bronze.  It was a mistake to get started on that - now I'm using the excuse that I need to see all my designs made in silver and bronze to buy more beads and findings.  Cunning, eh?

 And before I go, I must confess to smelling nice now (too much information?!) thanks to my friend Chrissy's lovely birthday gift of bubbles and body lotion. And of course, a beautiful card too!  So lucky to have such good friends.

World Book Week: Folksy and Etsy picks

It's World Book Week, did you know?  I only caught up with this yesterday.  Wanted to put a link here, but couldn't find one that worked.  Apparently, the big event is focused on encouraging young readers, but there an additional Book Night on Saturday for the grown ups.

So here's a selection of Folksy and Etsy treasures which support reading.  Click on any of the pictures to go directly to the shops.

Love this Eqyptian inspired portfolio by ValSainsbury on Etsy - ideal for ideas and jewellery sketches, I think.  I have a Kindle for reading novels now, but there's no substitute for drawing my designs on paper, and this one is full of recycled, handmade paper so kind to the environment too.

An ideal present for a female reading friend, this brooch from Bookity on Folksy is just too cute!  And I'm sure I'm addled by now...

Not, as I initially thought, an instruction book, but a squared paper journal for you, perhaps to record the progress of your shop?! By Champignons on Etsy

A very short story, for when you're very short on time.  Comes with a free song.  What more could you ask?  By H.Ireland on Folksy.

Carry this notebook when you want to discreetly meet with other Mills and Boon fans... By InterAlia on Etsy.

And encourage the little ones to love books with this A3 poster print from Strawberrykitten on Folksy.  Bears need books too.

There are more book related UK items in this Etsy treasury.  Why not pop along and comment?

Guess what link these lovely items and sellers on Etsy

'Something links these items...' by BlueForestJewellery

...I bet you can guessAnyway, even if you can't, they're beautiful!And all these sellers were good enough to feature my shop in a treasury recently. Thank you folks :-)

Flower Crochet Hat 2t Turquo... mystichintime $7.50	Cherry Blossom Branch vinyl ... OffTheWallExpr... $39.00	Flower Engraved Coral Pendan... ElizabethMD $16.00
Orange and Green Vintage Flo... Rotifera $4.00	Topsy Turvy Turtle toy anima... fluffandfuzz $2.25	Swarovski Air Blue (Light Bl... HeadpinWear $24.00
Fabric Flower Wall Hanging-w... JamisyJo $18.00	Handmade Black Flower and Pe... JewelryByJayne... $92.00	Red and Bold Vintage Style W... ZurDesigns $24.00
Little Peeps (I Heart Spring... beckorama $37.00	Cobalt Garden Wire Wrapped S... TUTreasures $40.50	Red and white lily barrette msformaldehyde $7.00
Soft lavendar headband with ... turquoiseangel... $6.50	Silver Heart Charm Necklace ... mysticwynd $22.50	Earrings sterling silver Cze... natashaaloha $22.00
Sapphire Czech Glass Vintage... Jewelrybynala $19.75

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

BESTeam feature October54Gallery on Etsy

 Winter Trees

Beautiful, isn't it?  This is an example of the stunning photos you can see at October54Gallery on Etsy, this week's BESTeam featured shop.  Anne from Whispering Pines, NC (I bet that's a lovely place!) is responsible for these works of art, and it's no surprise to learn that her work is on display at many local venues too.

I've chosen just three of my favourites from this shop, so as to have them shown to best advantage.  Regular blog readers will be able to see the themes of nature in the ones I've picked.  Click on any of the photos or captions to go directly to the shop and see more.

 Live Oak

Anne says that art has always been a part of her life, and living all over the USA as well as time in Costa Rica, has also influenced her artist's eye.  Anne also makes block prints and writes. 


Anne's work has a strong positivity for me, so it was a pleasure to find this quote from Walt Whitman in one of her listings:

Happiness not in another place, but this place...

not for another hour, but this hour.

 The Beach, South Carolina

I love this quote too from Anne's blog:

"The afterthought is good, but forethought is better."

(Norwegian saying)

You can visit Anne's blog here:
http://october54gallery.blogspot.com/

Why should humans have all the fun on Valentines day?!

Check out these little friends on Etsy...

'Just the two of us...' by BlueForestJewellery

Animals are so cute!

Swan Love WildLittleGoos... $25.00	Removable Vinyl wall st... walldesigner00... $58.00	We are together ( two S... ialbert $25.00
Personalized Wedding gi... fancyprints $24.00	Nightowls - 25 Personal... Exlibrisstudio $15.00	Two Little Squirrels Va... SophieParker $2.30
Just The Two Of Us Hipp... CapturedDivine... $10.00	Two Cute Cats Heart Lov... decaldelightco... $16.00	Two Birds Magnet (2.25 ... SickOnSin $4.50
Goat and Pig Love Print... CrowBiz $12.00	Dove Birds YdnarImaging $25.00	Two Little Lovely Rabbi... RaineStyleHome $25.50
The Perfect Two JanPalomboDesi... $44.00	Zen Brush Valentine Two... ZenBrush $20.00	I GOT SOMETHING TO SHOW... blobhouse $54.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com.