Treasury Time

Woo whoo!  I made it into another treasury on Etsy - that's 2 for this month.  I'm not sure how long the list link lasts (try saying that 3 times) but it's fun while it's there.

I really like creating treasuries but I hardly ever catch it when a list opens up.  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, a treasury is a photo collage of items arranged around a theme.  They're fun to put together and the challenge is to have your list get "hot" enough from people looking at it to get your treasury featured on the front page.  I've never made the front page, but there's always a 1st time.

Happy Spring to everyone!

Artfire Rapid Cart

How cool is it?  You can buy directly from my Artfire store without an account, just by clicking a link on the rapid cart.  Artfire has some amazing features for sellers as well as buyers.  I love "tweeting" with the owner and the staff members, it's a really friendly place to be on-line.  If you've never checked it out, you should give it a try.

There's also a special being run by several sellers right now - the Artfire Stimulus Package - the sellers are offering some really great low priced deals.  I have a couple of my ring bases listed, just $6.  Normally, the base would be embellished with stones and more work, but they look pretty awesome just by themselves.  They're copper, which is supposed to help with arthritis.  I wear them when I'm working on jewelry, pliers are hard on your hands!  I don't have arthritis, but I do seem have less fatigue when I'm wearing them, could just be a placebo affect.  

So try Artfire today and do put "AFSP" in the search box to see what you come up with - consider it an adventure in handmade!

Updates

Made my 50th sale on Etsy - yeah!  The buyer didn't even know I was running a special, so much for promo's.  Also made my 1st sale on Artfire, the 1st is always the hardest.  It was a pretty little ACEO acrylic painting that I was tempted to just keep for myself.

Feeling it rather appropriate that Calif. sales tax goes up 1% on April Fool's.  Much anger on not only raising taxes, but using our kids as pawns.  We've been running hot and cold as our little school district has been trying to deal with "proposed" budget cuts, which the State won't confirm until after our budget has to be adopted.  The State likes to threaten even larger "cuts" to the schools in order to get the average Joe to accept higher taxes to save our schools.  The kids are caught in the middle and it angers me to no end.  If you are in California, please vote no on Prop. 1A, which extends these ridiculous taxes for 2 additional years, information which doesn't appear in the voter guide or in most newspapers.

Trying to balance getting taxes done, working more at my husband's business, kid stuff and creating.  Unfortunately, creating ends up coming in last.  Well, not quite the very last - housework holds that place in my life.

Good karma to all of you!

Milestones

I hate milestones, especially for birthdays.  After you hit 21 and can drink legally, what's the point?  30, pfft, 40-the over the hill jokes start, 50-you may as well be dead, 60-well, retirement is near, or is it???, 70-glad you're not dead yet...

But, I do have a milestone.  I have 49 sales in my Etsy store.  I like the number 49, it's a nice number, but I'm looking forward to 50.  If you're the 50th sale in my store, you'll receive 50% off any 1 item.  Just buy, pay and once I verify you're number 50 I'll refund you half of the purchase price (not 1/2 off of shipping, it is what it is).  Really easy!  If you're 51 or 52, you'll get 25% off.  

So help me get over this milestone!  Bold jewelry - Vintage Finds

Twitter for Dummies (Like Me!)

If you haven't started a Twitter account, I'll let you know that it should come with a warning: " Twitter can become addictive, do not start unless you want to spend hours on your computer."  It's a new wave in social media, more concise than Facebook or Myspace, and more of an everyday thing than updating your blog.

I started by hearing about it on Etsy, 1 of 2 handmade sites I sell on.  At first, I pretty much listed links to new items for sale, a plus if you want your items to get views.  We also spend a lot of time cheering each other on when sales are made.

But, as I started following more people, total strangers started following me.  I customarily read their bio and check out any links they have.  If they sound interesting, I follow back.  And these people started listing links to all kinds of things that range from quirky, to serious, to hysterically funny, to political.  As you reply back (easy to do by hitting a funky arrow button next to their post) you can often find yourself flooded with their followers suddenly following you.

As a WAHM, my socializing is limited to the 15 minutes I go early & hang out with other kindergarten moms as we pick up our kids at school, so Twitter has become my link with the outside world.  Snowstorms on the East coast, I'm playing devil's advocate & posting my 75 degree weather.  Breaking news from the reporter in Chicago, I'm waiting for the updated posts.  There's even a novel in progress that comes in batches of 5 tweets at a time.  A pretty big challenge considering you're limited to 140 characters per post.

So if you haven't Tweeted, give it a try.  You can click on my link at the bottom and read some of my posts (although, they may seem pretty boring).  You can then click on the names of anyone I've replied to and see what they have to say.  Once you start following the threads, you'll be well on your way to being addicted too.  I warned you! 

Special special!

It seems I'm always running behind on the holidays.

So, in honor of Valentines Day, I'm offering free shipping on all my jewelry until 2/14.  On Etsy, the shipping is already set to 0.00.  For my Artfire shop, I can either send an updated invoice or refund the shipping price when I process the order.

Either way, jewelry is always a great gift for yourself or others!  And what's better than something that's one of a kind and handmade.

Tulip earrings with fluorite, "Hint of Mint" necklace, Tender Wisp sterling ring.

Internet Connections

I have fallen in love with posting on Twitter.  I've visited some great blogs, seen some great shops and feel like I've met some great people (tweeples).  The internet it great for us WAHM's.

Having a web presence really puts me in touch with so many things.   I recently exchanged emails with a gal who made a purchase from me.  Marie is the educator for a wonderful organization that is a sanctuary to exotic birds that just aren't suitable as pets.  They have over 600 birds in their sanctuary in Arizona.  Please stop by their beautiful webpage and see the cute photos of their residents.  While you're there, they have a $1 donation campaign that could use a little love.  I'm sure it takes quite a bit of money to care for that many birds.  Kudos to the Oasis for their great work!