Great Big Mushy Thanks

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Elaine

The Alberta Street Team is a pretty awesome street team and one of the very awesome things it does, week in, week out, is to do a thorough critique of member shops. Yesterday was my turn. Most of the critiques are of newer members but we managed to find a nice little stack of polishing tasks for my bead shop on Etsy.

So my great big mushy thanks of the week has to go out to Joan of ASecondTime who is the host and ringmaster of the weekly circus.

What sort of items did I get suggested? Add a little bit of personality to my shop announcement, a bit about my years of experience to my profile, more navigation links in my descriptions and to include additional photos, perhaps using completed pieces to show scale and examples. We discussed advertising, promotions and how to market better. It really is easier with a little help from your friends.

The Shop: Canes on Etsy

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Elaine

I am on a cane making kick – probably as avoidance for the bead making kick I should be on – and was pretty proud of the latest batch of blue morpho butterfly. Find these all in my Etsy shop or soon (tomorrow morning I’m betting) in my ArtFire shop.

Stocking Stuffers

Posted on October 25, 2009 by Elaine

Everyone wants beads in their stockings right? I mean, I can’t really think of many better stocking stuffers for myself – pretty, inexpensive, small and low calorie.

So why the heck did I have so much trouble figuring out how to photograph it for the IndieNorth gift guide? Geez. In the end I used this and one other image for my first toe-dip into paid online advertising. The first picture is a mass of beads and the second is a restrained, monochromatic pair of beads (the picture on this listing in fact).

Productivity

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Elaine

It seems that posting often – for me that would be most days – is good for my productivity. And since I like taking photos and talking about what I’m working on, we have that rare double bonus.

Today being Saturday we had the usual errands but I got some sweet, solid time in at the clay table as well. First up were a few blends – the one that will be a lavender rose and daisy, the one that became the blue to white of that butterfly-in-progress and the white to off-white one that is in the already reduced white daisy on the right.

A friend popped in and helped process and roll out the bead bases for the next few days so I’m all set!

How’s the creative production going for you?

My Bowl Overflowed

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Elaine

I meant to bake these and photo for yesterday but time got away from! So here we go before noon today, on their way to the tumbler:

There are some new designs in that which I will snap some better pictures of once they’ve gotten their pampering done. It seems the best way for me to get fresh, fun, new ideas is when I am crazy busy cranking out the regular stuff in a big production run. It never fails.

I did make sure to stop and do them though. I’ve learned not to ignore ideas because sometimes the little idea bunnies hop on to friendlier places.