Treasury - A sampling of the more eclectic side of Etsy

I recently joined the "Treasury Friends Team" on Etsy and it's grown to be quite a large group, now over 200 shops. While we have our share of jewelry shops, soaps, knits, photography, and the more populated category items on Etsy, there is a good cross section of sellers with things you just won't find anywhere else.



I made this treasury collection last night to feature some of my favorite. The dinosaur-terrarium seems to be a popular hit.
I found the four-leave-clover pendants yesterday, in the shop AsLuckWouldHaveIt, and I just had to include Cineloh's print with her little swinging birds.

7 days away.....

It's almost that time. The window for online shopping seems to be winding down. I can't complain at all! I've done about double the business in my little shop for December vs. November so far, sent many little packages everywhere to be gifts for friends, wives, partners, nieces, and I'm sure a few "self-gifts" as well.

Now I need to relax, and make a few things for my Mum (a few weeks ago I gave her some smoky quartz earrings... it took her all of 8 seconds to say "would you happen to be able to make a matching pendant..."), and my Sister (her birthstone is April which is technically Diamond so that's not viable... not sure WHAT to make for her just yet), and a few new things for my shop for the after-holiday buyers. But for the next few days I'm going to finish up holiday shopping and decorating! My gemstone ornaments that brought a lot of traffic into my shop sadly didn't sell as much as I'd hoped - no worries they will go on my tree, and in stockings for my mum and sister too!

New Gemstone Earrings - ready for the holidays

I've added some new designs lately. A mix of simple and more detailed pieces. Hope you like them! All are up in my shop now, you can visit them and everything else I have at AeridesDesigns

A custom earrings & necklace request - from Facebook

In addition to my blog, I also have a Facebook page for my shop to share new designs with friends and customers. (here) I was found by someone new this week, who liked my avatar earrings, (you can find those here:), and she posted on my wall asking if I could make them in Citrine; she was looking to treat herself for her birthday - November's birthstone is citrine and one of my favorite gems.

Luckily, being a bit of a Citrine collector, I had plenty of stones on hand to recreate the design for her. She liked the look so much she then asked for a matching necklace - which I modeled in the same stones, but similar layout to a Garnet design I had already made. I like how they turned out - a custom set, but not too "matchy". 

The experience was great to "share" on FB as this sort of exchange creates more visibility than just a simple sale in my shop - the "impressions" Facebook recorded of the posting of the new earrings was up to 800 as of today.

Hopefully Michelle is as pleased with the results as I am when they arrive!

12/3: Update - Yup she loved them! Posted lovely comments on my FB, and Etsy feedback pages as well.

Garden in Bloom (gotta love November in South Florida)

We suffer through July, August and September - even those well acclimated to 95F/95%Humidity - day in and day out. Our poor gardens struggle. While our friends up North enjoy summer blooms, we have only the hardiest of bushes willing to bother with a flower or two.

But "Fall" in Florida is our time for the pretty bedding plants - just as the rest of the country starts to prepare for their first frosts, we are rewarded!

Roses recover:

And orchids begin their favorite season:

Etsy on GOOP

Gwyneth Paltrow posted an article for holiday shopping on her GOOP website, endorsing shopping for personalized, "made for you" items. Included in her recommendations was an Etsy seller - No not me, hah! VOHandmade: Gwyneth featured her recipe cards - VO also makes invitations, greeting, and business cards.

Click here for the complete GOOP Article

And Click Here for VO's Shop

Congratulations!!! (I hope Gwyneth gave you a heads up to prepare inventory for the in flux of great business!)

Etsy follow up on "CoralGate"

Etsy put up a new article last night featuring responses from two jewelry designers who are very active in the Etsy forum community: DesignedbyLucinda and LeeOhio.

Took a while, but I'm glad to see the other side get the same exposure as the original post.

(see my october entry on controversy for the original article and info if you like).

A little Etsy controversy for a fun weekend on the forums!

This weekend, Etsy (the marketplace for handmade and vintage sellers - including me!) featured a post on their blog "The Storque" by Temple St. Clair. TSt.C is a jewelry designer - high end fine jewelry - found in Saks and other similar venues. Needless to say, not handmade, not a company needing Etsy's promotion (vs. a few thousand on-site paying Etsy Jewelry designers).
TSt.C posted an anti-coral article, which may have some merits but left out a lot of things, including balance... but either way, a lot of sellers are alarmed at Etsy's venue being given to a non-Etsy seller and promotion of their website. Comments were eventually locked, but I got my point in around 8:55pm last night (10/16)

Etsy Storque Article 10-15 by Temple St. Clair re Coral Usage

"Apparently Etsy couldn't find any actual Etsy Jewelry designers to interview, and bent their own TOU to publish and link to an off-site seller?
Regardless of the opinion stated, its validity or not, there are so many talented, amazing artists here to feature .... and yet.....oh such a waste of an opportunity...for shame."

Much follow up fun on the Etsy forums all weekend...

Back to Basics - New Earrings!

Back to creating designs - new uploads coming today/tomorrow to my shop, hope you like!

Dramatic Red Garnets in Sterling Silver

Simple strands of amethyst with silver on french hoop hooks

Delicious Smoky Topaz with a teeny deep red Garnet

Orchids! (that's where the name Aerides came from)

It might be Fall, technically, but in South Florida it's just barely dipping under 80 - my orchids tend to bloom mostly over these next few months - here are some that are making an appearance.

Aerides is a species of orchid, also known as the cats tail orchid. The literal translation is "Of the Air" and I kind of like the sound of that.

Here's a couple of shots from around the garden:

First up Brass. Nodosa - a lovely fragrant white flower that blooms for me a few times a year:
I picked up this large vanda (it's about 4' tall) at a show, very cheap, this past winter. It's not labeled but I'm very happy with the first blooms - lovely big and dark purple reds.

You can show me all the fancy species, but these simple white dendrobiums get me every time. Love the pink accents on the tips.

Trying to get pricing right - my first sale experiment!

Another Etsy seller, KathyPanton recently posted a thread on the Etsy forums about her goals to increase business and get to a goal of 3 sales per day. I've been watching her shop and her sales really picked up - the primary change she made was a simple "buy 2 get 1 sale". Kathy creates artistic prints, entirely by hand using cut painted paper - very unique.

So I figured why not? I'll give that a try - I put up my own "buy 2 get 1" to run through Monday as an experiment. Depending on how it goes I can do it for longer or again - kind of fun knowing that I don't need anyone's approval to change the rules as I go! If few new customers find me as a result - great!

Beginnings

I started this blog to share and showcase my efforts at starting my own business - in the world of handcrafted jewelry. In looking for places to market myself online, I found Etsy - a 5 year old site with thousands of shops run by individual artisans, crafters, and vintage sellers. There's also a dynamic forum community and a lot of helpful tools - a nice place to start out. You can find my etsy shop at AeridesDesigns



But enough about me for now - plenty of time for that!

Here are some other shops I've found in my short time on Etsy that have particularly caught my eye:


EnergyShop - Jewelry Designed to Fit your Dreams
I first found EnergyShop when the owner posted her strategies for a successful shop after her first few months on Etsy. She sells primarily gemstone bracelets aligned with different energies - I always feel more positive after browsing through this shop.





UrbanHeirlooms - Handmade Handbags, Leather Wallets, Cuffs, Antique Keys
Really unique leather wallets and messenger bags, tons of other things, this seller often makes it to the coveted "front page" - her items are just so unique and interesting.






TrafalgarsSquare - It All Begins with Once Upon a Time
I found this shop when putting together a Treasury list of "woodland" themed items and found her original artwork. I wish I'd found this shop a few years ago - were my niece just a little younger she would have loved this print on her wall:






That's all for now.

Welcome to my Blog

Just getting started around here, for more, for now, visit me on Etsy:

http://AeridesDesigns.Etsy.com