Happy New Year

Happy New Year !!

In 2018 I plan to make some personal life changes, not likely to impact RainbowMaille on Etsy . . . too much.  ~LOL~  

I want to shift focus somewhat, while I plan to continue making and selling chainmaille and the wire trees, I plan to take up painting.  I am actually excited about this prospect, I bought the easel and stuff months ago.  I did a few test projects over the summer Franken-Art and I really like how they turned out.  I have so many ideas of different things I want to try.  💫

I'm not sure if any of them will make it to the store for sale or if my walls will just end up covered in it.  Art is so subjective just because I like it doesn't mean anyone else will and it doesn't mean anyone will want to pay for it.  ~LOL~  I do know that the ones hanging in my hallway in their little shadow boxes are never going to be for sale because I'm attached to them.  💖

I am leaving the "gift wrap" option available in my shop all year round, since most of my ribbons are solid colors and not really "Christmas-y" I think I can keep it holiday neutral. 😉

Pinterest. . .

I've started using Pinterest for RainbowMaille, but since I've never been a "pinterest" person prior to this I'm finding the whole thing a bit odd and somewhat annoying.  ~LOL~  😄  

However, Etsy's new social media tool includes Pinterest so I thought I'd give it a go.  I have created multiple boards because I like to organize and keeping my cats separate from my art seemed like the thing to do.  https://www.pinterest.com/RainbowMaille/ 

I don't know how to get followers, unlike instagram where I've made it over 160 followers in the last year not exactly a huge following but better than the 2 on pinterest.  ~LOL~  😄  Short of paying for advertising and doing the facebook "boost" post thing I'm not sure how to get my stuff seen on pinterest.  😖  Worse yet, I am paying to promote some, so I've gotten some views and a few re-pins/saves but over half of them are mis-labeling my stuff. 😕  Like my wire trees which are clearly called out as wall art and home decor but people keep saving them to jewelry boards.  😟  My chainmaille has been saved to beaded jewelry boards in spite of the fact that there is not a single bead on it.  😵  It's making me nutty, it's not OCD compliant at all. ~LOL~ 😄

I'll keep trying and keep posting but I'm not sure it's doing much good.  I know all social media stuff takes time to build a following and be effective but good grief. (and yes that's a Charlie Brown impersonation)  😉

Happy Holidays to all . . .

It has been a good holiday sales season thus far, as Christmas comes and goes I realize my work is never done.  While many others will spend the holiday weekend blissfully lazy and enjoying family gatherings with days off of work, I will be once again editing all of my shop's listings.  😏  

Changes to tags, keywords, holiday, occasion, etc. as I shift from Christmas to Valentine's Day and re-work the gift wrapping description to apply all year round.  

Yep I have to edit all 140 listings. . .again, this is a continuous thing shifting focus with the seasons.  Happy shoppers are completely un-aware of the work on the backside of a business, they search, they find they buy, it seems to easy to them.  ~LOL~

Christmas is creeping closer. . .

We are in the grips of a winter storm and for once I'm glad to not have orders  😇  as I'd really rather not drive my shiny new car in this muck. ~LOL~

I've re-created the mini rainbow trees, I've made a new gold and pink super cute tree with fancy new butterflies that just got listed yesterday.  😉  Today I'm planning some new chaninmaille, we'll see how far I get with my plan. ~LOL~  

I've been working on establishing a Pinterest presence and it's an odd place I haven't quite figured out.  I post and pin and link back to my listings and I have seen some traffic from it, but I'm not sure how to get more people to save and re-pin and share. 

Pinterest is a bit like this blog I keep trying but it doesn't seem to have much of an audience. ~LOL~

Happy Holidays. . .

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪  

I've had several orders recently that I know will be gifts.  😇

I did a holiday craft party with a library youth group. 😊

It snowed last night, just a little bit but the green grass is now covered in white. 😉

I am somewhat surprised that no one has added the gift wrap to their orders, but it's ok. Etsy has continued to change and re-write things so I'm not even sure how many people get to see the gift wrap option.  To combat the Etsy oddities in layout and hiding things, I went ahead and created a listing to add gift wrap, it's the same $3 price point with the same sample photos and I made it a "featured" listing on my shop page so at least people can/will see it.  Ironically the gift wrap listing got favorite'd.  😄  

I am re-making the mini rainbow trees since they just keep selling. Plus I really need to get other new stuff made I'm back down to 138 listings and apparently 141 is my magic number.  After sales last week I was down and I found chainmaille rings that weren't listed yet so I added them and that put me back up to the 141 but then more sales. (not a complaint I'm ecstatic)

I am also noticing that whatever wire tree I put up as a "featured" listing sells.  I've had to change that row 3 times, the tree sells I pick a different one then it sells.  LOL  So I'm going to have to start paying attention and rotating things through there more often. 

Holiday weekend sales. . .

I have been trying an assortment of promotions, sales at differing %, free shipping, posting on assorted social media.  Doesn't seem to be doing much though, it's a bit disheartening, honestly.  😡

CYBERMONDAY17 coupon code click to pre-load 
take 25% off orders over $10.00 (discount applied at checkout)

Sales currently running include 20% off orders over $30.00 and FREE Shipping on orders over $60.00

You would think I would have had more than one sale.  😩

Ok who broke it?!?

Facebook is broken, it's semi-functional, functional enough that the average user probably doesn't realize how badly it's broken.  You may have noticed some page lag, slow loading, failure to load, site unreachable timeouts that seem to correct when you refresh the page.  

See I thought I was in facebook jail being punished for complaining but now I'm pretty sure facebook is just broken.  11 days ago I wrote the post Thanks a lot Facebook complaining about my business page blanking out years worth of historical activity data. I thought it was a glitch or server brain fart but it has never come back, apparently it's not likely to either. 😩  I thought I was being punished because 4 days ago I posted a link to one of my instagram posts and it got no views, literally its been 4 days it has 1 person reached so obviously it was never served up to my 100+ followers. 😒  In October I was averaging 40-170 people reached per post now in November it's 2, 15, 1, 10 ridiculous.  So the instagram share post with it's pathetic single view I was considering "boosting" but the button says "boost unavailable". 😮  I clicked the link and tried to figure out why but it doesn't seem to make any sense none of the reasons listed seem to apply.  😵  

So I posted a fresh post yesterday about the layered sale in my shop, actually wrote the post on facebook not a shared post from somewhere else.  It seemed to work better, it gave me a boost button but when I tried it failed, it gave me some error.  It looked weird it wouldn't give an estimated audience like it normally does and it error-ed and failed.  I tried 3 times yesterday and after it would fault out I would get a notification from facebook encouraging me to boost my recent post "page admins boosted similar posts. .yadda . yadda." . 😫  Why keep telling me to do a thing that is clearly not functioning?!?!

So this morning I tried again and again and I think it finally went through but popped up a box that they received my request and my ad would be reviewed and could take up to 15 minutes to be approved. 😕 This is weird, I've had the page for over 2 years this is not the first time I've advertised, my payment method is confirmed and unchanged, it's jewelry nothing offensive to be reviewed.  Previously it's been about 30 seconds between clicking the submit and getting the notification of approval not 15 damn minutes.  So I checked and it now says approved and I never got the notification of approval.  

Something is very wrong with Facebook.  I complained to my husband about the weirdness over a week ago and he admitted while "facebook jail" is real and facebook does punish people who complain or cause problems it's not likely that that is happening in my case as my page is such "small potatoes".  However, he told me of a much larger problem with extreme and prolonged cyber attacks on the backside of facebook, for about 2 weeks they have been jedi style cyber battling and it's all hush-hush no one is supposed to know or talk about it. Hey I just got the notification of my ad approval.  I hope they get this under control soon because it's starting to get ridiculous.  I got a 1 notification on my page but when I clicked it and went to the notification page there is nothing there, literally the most recent thing is yesterday nagging me to boost the post not even the ad approval shows. 😐  Although, it clearly has been approved because when I look at the page the post shows it as an active promotion.  Also it went from 11 people reached to 51 people reached in a matter of a minute after a page refresh so now I'm questioning if that is actually valid and accurate.  😵  It's just weirdness and inconsistency that I'm not used to seeing on Facebook and it's been going on for a while now.  I hope they get it together soon as it is normally one of my best advertising options for my etsy shop but not if it's not functioning. 😩

Thanks a lot facebook. . .

So this morning I log into facebook, and there is a notification on my RainbowMaille page but when I clicked on it, it went to a blank empty page that said no new notifications.  Now the numbering being a lying misrepresentation of new activity would have been bad enough but it was a TOTALLY BLANK page as in no historical data for the page. 😞  Seriously 2 plus years worth of activity data just gone.  WTF?!?!

Facebook shit the bed on me, I don't know if they are having some sort of internal problem or server problem or whatever what I do know is my business page currently has no history, no data, no record of activities at all.  This is troubling since I post regularly and just recently did a "boosted" post that netted fresh likes and followers, and multiple clicks of the shop now button, you know lots of activity.  Finding a blanked out page with a suggestion to promote my business makes me want to choke someone.  😒  I did promote my business but now I can't even look at the data because facebook forgot. ?!?!?

Business confidentiality. . .

I often wonder how many "etsians" are actually business savvy and daily I am disappointed in the low percentage that are.  😡  

Today someone posted a thread about the possibility of Etsy changing the fee structure, this entire discussion is based on some second-hand information and guess work because someone's friend got a survey asking about fee structure.  Now it has been pointed out by someone else who received said survey that there was a non-disclosure clause and confidentiality agreement before the survey but apparently the person who posted thinks it's ok to go ahead and quote questions and give out private information because she was not the one who took the survey, not understanding that their friend is violating a legal agreement by sharing protected information and that she is in fact violating said agreement by proxy by publicly posting private and protected information that should not be being discussed in a public forum.  ~sigh~ stupid is as stupid does 😒

Yet they all get so offended if you point out to them that they are not real businesses, that many of them are not licensed and have no idea how to properly collect and remit sales taxes, they do not understand even the most basic concepts of business management, actually annoyingly many of them seem to have no reading comprehension or understanding of the meaning of words such as confidential. 

is it a coupon or a Sale ? ? ?

Language is meant to make communication clear and easy however, in today's world we have reached epic levels of failure in that department.  Many people do not communicate clearly and a lot of it is because people seem to have forgotten that words have meaning and are not interchangeable.  I know I'm a crazy picky grammarian stick in the mud, who's all caught up on the semantics at times but that's because people have become so imprecise with their use of language that words are beginning to lose meaning. 😕

It is both sad and somewhat scary because it makes communication difficult and it means that very often things are misinterpreted or misconstrued because the party reading what was written applies their own meaning to words and that is likely not what the person who wrote it actually meant.  

My pet peeve of the day is now "coupon sale" because a coupon and a sale are 2 totally different things. 😒  A "Sale" means that prices are temporarily lowered for instance a "Labor Day Sale" would mean that Labor day weekend prices were 20% off regular retail.  Whereas a "coupon" is a contingent discount that requires the use of the "coupon" to get the discount for instance you have to have the piece of paper for the clerk to scan or in the case of Etsy you must enter the code in the shopping cart to apply the discount.  "Sale" prices are automatic at checkout while "Coupons" must be applied. TOTALLY different things. 

This is only one of a million things that make me concerned that we are in fact going backwards in our evolution, when words lose meaning and language becomes meaningless we end up back to pictographs and grunting at each other. 😟

I have in the past offered "Coupons" and very few people actually remembered to put the code into the shopping cart. 😔  So my "Free Shipping" in November is a Sale and should (provided that Etsy functions properly) be automatically applied to qualifying orders at checkout.  I still have active coupons so if you have a "thankyou" coupon or a friend code you can still use those, they will still work.  😉
  

~YAY~ I got it . . .

Etsy has made the "gift wrap" option available for sellers to set up. ~yay~  I turned it on and set my price $3 and uploaded my photo of "sample" packaging, writing the description was not easy due to the limited number of characters they allowed.  I'm not used to the twitter-esq 150 character stuff, it makes full sentences and proper grammar difficult to say the least. 😉

Unfortunately, I can't see what it looks like because it's still in set up and preview mode so buyers can't see it yet.  😕  It should be fully rolled-out by the end of the month and it includes multiple changes.  "Gift wrapping" as a new option for a fee, "gift messages" which are free, and a new "packing slip" so when things are marked as gifts or include gift messages it will print without prices and messages will be included on the packing slip.  The last time I had someone mark something as a "gift" and include a message it went in the "notes to seller" box which does not print on the packing slip so I had to copy/paste it to notepad and print it out separate.  Not a big deal, to me, honestly it's not like I'm swamped with orders. 

However, I am considering for the holiday season that I might not always use the packing slip option for gifts mainly because it will likely say what is in the pretty box making the concept of gift wrapping pointless.  So if it were a "Gift" and included a gift message and was being shipped straight to the recipient I plan to print that message on one of my hand-colored Christmas cards and not use the official packing slip so as to not ruin the surprise. 😉

 They are nice heavy card stock paper and I colored them with gel pens so they are all shiny and glittery and super pretty.

 Also the hand colored every one is unique thing really fits with my whole shop being handmade and unique items.

I am all set for the season with pre-wrapped gift boxes, pile of pretty cards, plenty of inventory on hand.  I really hope I get some orders that choose the "gift wrap" or "gift message" option so I have a chance to use this stuff.  😇

Available soon. . .

Etsy has said the "gift wrap" option would be available before the end of the month, so in my head I'm like tick tock, tick tock, I wish I could set this up already.  

I spent time the other day practicing and actually pre-wrapping some of my gift boxes in a way that they are really pretty but the contents are still accessible.  ~yay me~

By keeping it simple and not using actual wrapping paper I was able to decorate the boxes in a very "present" gift-y looking manner without actually sealing the boxes.  😇

So one can order items "gift wrapped" but still be able to check, confirm, and examine the contents and put it back without effecting the look of the gift wrapping, at least for most things.  I still have to figure out a solution for trees 7" inches and up, I have gift boxes that will fit the 3", 5", and 6" versions it's just the larger ones.  I bought some boxes like standard shirt boxes that will hold the larger trees but they are all rectangular and over-sized so may require some modification or extra stuffing of tissue paper to hold the tree in place inside.  😏

I can't wait to get this set up. . .I really hope I have orders this holiday season and someone opts for gift wrapping, otherwise I have 8 over decorated boxes. ~LOL~ 😜

Gift wrapping for the holidays. .

Finally an announcement about a new Etsy feature I can get behind. 😇  

GIFT WRAPPING FOR THE HOLIDAYS !!! 

I am not only OK with this being an option I kind of like it.  

I have always liked wrapping presents, I'm actually pretty good with wrapping paper and ribbons, I have plenty of supplies on hand.  Heck I already pack most of the jewelry in little gift boxes so a ribbon on the outside is no big deal at all.  The wire trees would take a bit more effort but I like a challenge and the little 3" inch ones fit in the bracelet boxes anyway. ~LOL~  

Looking at the screen shots in the announcement I really like that they have added some definition/expectation to the "mark as a gift" option.  I am really liking the "add a gift message" and that we will be able to print those on separate page. I've only had 1 person ask me to add a note to a gift package but she put the note in the order in the notes to seller section which doesn't print on the packing slip so I had to copy/paste it into notepad and print it out separate, it was kind of a pain with all the extra steps so simplifying that will be great.  I also bet with the holidays coming people will like the perks.  And since we can set our own prices for this additional service I am really fine with it and plan to make it available in my shop. 👍

I've seen some other sellers not so thrilled with the idea afraid it will not be profitable for them, concerned that the extra gift wrap adding weight and increasing shipping cost, blah blah.  I use priority usually flat rate boxes so a few ounces of weight will not effect my shipping costs at all. 😇  

I can't wait for this to become available so I can get it all set-up, they are teasing me with "hey look at this cool new thing you can't have yet".  😏  So I'm passing that on. 😛

Tick tock. . .

Time is running out on the Birthday Sale it ends on the 22nd, better get shopping before you miss out on the 10% off everything. 😇

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RainbowMaille

Shifting focus. . .somewhat

So after last weeks somewhat whiny post I actually got a sale for a piece of chainmaille. LOL  Wish that worked every time, I'd whine more often. 😏  

I have noticed I sell more of the wire trees than actual jewelry so I think I'm going to back off making more chainmaille and make more art instead. 

I think I'm going to set up the easel and try painting again.  Not sure what I'm going to paint, I like the space-scape I did last time but I'm considering a simple wild flower meadow so I can ribbon embroider over some of the flowers and add that 3-D effect.  Although, my husband has some really cool glow in the dark powder paint stuff so if I do another space scene I think I'll try out some of it to make glowing stars. 😍  

I'm not giving up on RainbowMaille and I'm not changing the name I'm just shifting my crafting focus a bit.  😉  It's not the chainmaille is going anywhere, I have a ton of it already made and all the rings and supplies to make just about anything anyone could ask for.  I'm just not going to spend my time making more, more patterns, more styles, more colors, I have a million ideas but limited storage.  LOL

Of course, if I paint a bunch of canvases and they don't sell then I'll have a whole other storage problem.  😛

up hill battle. . .

I'm so sick of fighting the up hill Etsy battle and getting no where.  

I have redone photos, I've tweaked listings to all grade A SEO, I've added listings regularly, I've done everything they say you should do and it still gets me basically no where. 😟 I've got this blog but no one reads it, I've got an instagram but it's hard to get followers and even harder to keep them and no one clicks through to the Etsy, I've got the Facebook page I even pay for ads but zero results zero sales.  😩

I am actually depressed and I am seriously considering just giving up, not that anyone cares. 😑  It's really frustrating, I don't know what else to do, considering making everything $5 just to try to get rid of it.  😖  What else am I supposed to do with hundreds of pieces of  jewelry?  

Etsy Sale. . .

Etsy has finally done something right.  😄  Joking but only a little, Etsy has added the ability to have a "sale" not just coupon codes.  I have over the years tried to use the coupon code option, but try as I might no one ever used them I would create them and publish them and promote them on Facebook and elsewhere and yet no one ever used them. 😩  Literally like 1 person once in 2 years, so sad, the most ineffective promo system.

The new "sale tools" allow for automatic price changes, you can do individual listings, sections or the whole shop, you can run multiple "sales" at once so different things can be discounted at different levels. You can still have/use coupon codes but the system won't allow double discounts it will automatically use which ever give the best discount.  So if one were to try to use my "THANKYOU" code it wouldn't work right now because the shop wide sale I'm currently running is 20% which is more than the 15% coupon code.

I set up a "SALE" to test the new stuff, to see what it looks like, how they would note the discount, display other info, etc.  While it's not exactly perfect it's not bad either, it does the strike-through so it shows the original price and the discounted price if there is a direct set amount.  I think the signs could be brighter, flashier but they did add a filter feature to search to look for things "on sale". 

Currently I'm set up for 20% off any order over $20, I was just testing things in the settings and that's where I landed.  

Etsy has encouraged sellers to set up "Labor Day" sales because they are doing a big site promotion for the holiday, I set up a tiered sale for that.  So the shop wide 20% off will end soon and the "Labor Day Sale" will kick in, which will be 10% off wire trees and 15% off select chainmaille jewelry.

So seriously take advantage of the 20% off now because it ends on 8-30 and I will not likely offer this much of a discount again for quite some time. 😉

Of course they just released this new feature so if there are any bugs or you have any problems please let me know.  😇

Back to what I do. . .

I have set aside the Franken-art for now, although I'm still thinking about it.  I am back to making things for the shop, like new trees and more chainmaille.  

This is the most recently listed wire tree and I think it's adorable.  I didn't label it as "bisexual pride" but it's the colors.  I also went ahead and created the listing for the "Pride Flag" colored bracelet collection even though it's not really all of them.

I am working on another small silver wire tree with pink Swarovski crystal beads, it's going to be fabulous and likely added to the store on Monday.  😇

Really Etsy ?!?!? come on. . .

In typical stupid cart before the horse Etsy fashion Etsy has decided to once again fuck with more stuff.  😩😫  

Ahh the joys of ignorant tech junkies fucking around with live code on the platform I'm trying to run a fuckin' business on.  😠😤

And by joy I obviously meant annoyance and frustration because seriously it's like every other day they are fucking up something else.  Myopic little code monkeys who have no clue about running a business or making sales they just want to play around in their code and see what happens I swear half the time they don't even have a damned plan or a goal. 😧😵

So for anyone who tries to purchase and use a coupon code please let me know if it doesn't work and I will try a manual workaround, which is basically a partial refund in the amount the coupon should have discounted.  😇

Franken-Art . . .

YES !!!  Crazy artsy art has ensued, I'm calling it "Franken-art" because much like the fictional monster made of parts these incorporate multiple styles and techniques.  😄 I've learned a lot of craft techniques and assorted skills over the years but most of what I know about painting came from watching Bob Ross pain "happy little trees" when I was young.  In other words painting is not really a solid skill for me, I've never been that good at drawing either, there are many many things I do much better.  😉

Still I think I did pretty good as these actually turned out really close to what I was imagining.  😏  They are far from perfect and I'm pretty sure I can do better but you know what they say about practice. 

Inspiration. . .

Creative inspiration comes from all sorts of places for different people, I'm not always sure where mine comes from. Sometimes I just imagine something, a picture just pops in my head, or I'll see something interesting and then think of other ways it could be done differently. 

Lately I've been dreaming up all kinds of things I want to do, literally.  The weird thing is it's not just a new chain pattern, or a new idea for the wire sculptures, I'm actually thinking about Art.  Like art Art like painting on canvas and mixed media ideas of painting with ashes combined with ribbon embroidery incorporating jumprings.  😍  

So many ideas, I have a list of earring styles and patterns I wanted to get made up and added to the Etsy shop but I'm distracted by the swirl of other ideas.  I have tons of supplies and a variety of "skills" and I'm really dreaming up some crazy stuff.  BUT if these things turn out anywhere near as cool as they look in my head the OMG they will be fabulous. 😋

I have to go ship some orders and do some shopping but I am seriously contemplating diving into a whole new vein of crafts. 

new listings. . .

Custom orders are as finished as they can be for now, I am still looking for more bells.  😉  I have moved on to making new stuff just to add to the store, new trees, new color combinations, more Celtic wings.   I realized I only had 1 bracelet and earring set and 1 bracelet listing with multiple colors, making the Celtic wings a rather underutilized pattern.  So I have added 2 listings so far, 1 for a full rainbow anklet and a second set.  

The color combination on the new bracelet and earring set is based on the bisexual Pride flag, and I really like how it turned out.

I was thinking I should do a set in all the versions of Pride flags but I looked up a guide and got a bit overwhelmed.  Seriously depending on where you look there are anywhere from 9 to 30-ish versions. ~sigh~  😱  So while I may do more versions I will likely not do "all".  ~LOL~  

awww crap. . .

I know some Etsians have long wanted more than 5 photo slots per listing but I was never one of them.  😩  Seriously, I've often had problems using all 5 slots, how many angles can you really get on a bracelet?  Doing the EtsyRank thing it downgraded listings that didn't have all 5 photo slots filled. I had to go back through all my listings and re-shoot new photos and extra photos, it was a total pain in the you know what but I did it.  Ok, I at least tried to do it, there are a few listings where the newer photos didn't turn out well enough to use so there are still listings that don't have 5.

So I am really not among the happy people with this new roll-out of 10 photo slots. 😒

Crap do I really need to go back and re-shoot new/more photos for all my listings?!?!?  😱  Again?!?  I am well over 100 listings now so lets just think a minute on the volume of photo work that would entail.  135 active listings currently all missing at least 5 photos, not every photo is going to turn out usable so to get 675 "good" photos I'd probably have to take more than a Thousand. 😰

I think for now I'll just try to have more photos when I make new listings going forward but good grief! I feel a bit like charlie Brown, they keep moving the ball.  

I need more bells. . .

Sadly of all the bells I ordered I am disappointed in most of them, the one was a size too small, two of them are too shiny/too silver, one of them turned out to be poorly plated and discolored badly when it got wet.  😱   

So of the 5 orders I only have 1 serviceable option and those are perfect in every way but one, they were limited quantity.  😡  Go figure I spend days of online searching for bells and 1 one that works best is a vintage discontinued version I could only find in an Etsy shop.  I bought all they had but that was only 20 and I'm making anklets so I'd really like more than 10 each.

It's hard to work out the spacing it just does seem to be coming out evenly, it would be easier with even just a few more bells. ~sigh~

I'm off to scour the internets for more dark grey anodized aluminum 9 mm jingle bells.

waiting on the bells. . .

I have finished the pair of matching rainbow anklets but now I am stuck waiting on the bells I ordered.  They are supposed to go on these anklets but I'm not sure any of the ones I ordered are even going to match or work.  😳

In the meantime, since I'm at a standstill with that custom order I will go back to making new wire tree sculptures.  😇

so many ideas. . .not enough time

I have had many sales recently and my wire tree inventory has dropped quite a bit, not to mention I have a list of new earring styles in various colors I want to make.  😵  I have too many ideas and not enough hours to make everything that I'm thinking about. 😱  

I am keeping a list so that I don't forget and hopefully I'll get to them all eventually.  😇   First, I have to finish the custom orders I'm in the middle of then I can get back to making random things.  

It has been 2 years already that RainbowMaille has been on Etsy.  😮  It's amazing how time flies when you keep busy. ~LOL~   

In celebration of this milestone I am offering a special coupon : 

ETSIVERSARY this code will give anyone 15% off any purchase of $10.00 or more goo through the month of July. 😉

one thing done. . .

I have one custom order thing done so now I'm on to the next thing on the list.  

I do think it turned out quite lovely and interesting, it seemed like a bit of an odd combination but somehow it all works together.  😇

Now to start on some chainmaille.  😉

custom orders. . .

Yeah, I do custom orders and right now I'm working on more than one.  😄  A Family tree for a friend, a keepsake tree for someone else, a pair of chainmaille anklets which I haven't even started because I had to order special bells which I am still waiting on.  

The friend's Family tree project is still in the design stages, we have a rough plan, and birth stones are covered but still contemplating and selecting other charms. 

The Keepsake tree is about half finished, the person had a very clear vision of what they wanted which in a way makes it easy for me to know which beads, the color of wire, how to position tags, and vial, etc.  However, it's also a bit intimidating when someone seems to know so clearly what they want because I'm afraid that my finished piece won't look like they envisioned and that they will be disappointed.  As far as I know none of my customers have ever been disappointed, no one has ever said so but that doesn't mean they weren't.  OK, so that sounded a bit paranoid, I heard it that time.  ~LOL~

I think it will, in fact, be beautiful when it is finished, which should be this weekend.  😇  Then I will start on the matched pair of anklets, hopefully the bells I ordered will arrive soon but even if they don't I can add the bells after the anklets are done. 

So if you were wondering if I do custom orders the answer is yes all the time. 😉

I'm back. . . .

I am back from vacation and I really need to get back to crafting, but I managed to get some sort of awful cold complete with a sore throat.  🙁  

Sales were good and seem to be continuing, Yay!  However, that just means things are disappearing and my listing total is dwindling.  I photographed and listed the 3 sets of Hogwarts house colors mini trees and relisted the rainbow mini with the last one I have made.  I did the mini trees as 3 separate listings because the "roots" are different so there is one listing for the bookends and one for the half and half and one for the alternating, that way I got to put individual photos for all of them. 🙂

Since there are 5 photos per listing I did one group shot and then the 4 individuals it was the easiest time I've ever had with using all 5 photo slots.  ~LOL~  I have to get over this cold and then I have a couple of custom items to work on but I swear I will get back to crafting new stuff soon. 😉

Vacation. . .

Going on vacation for a couple of weeks, I'm leaving the Etsy shop open for business and any orders received will still ship quickly. 😇

Part of the joy of RV vacationing is that I can pack my inventory into a box and throw some shipping supplies into a cabinet and still conduct business even while on the road. 😉  It does put a slight crimp in my creating new stuff but I get to visit my Momma so it's worth it.  💓 💕  

work work work. . .

I've been working on the shop, tweaking listings, shifting tags, but for all the time I spend on it it's invisible work.  I mean it shows to me when revised listings get more views but it's not obvious to anyone else. However, the lovely new banner I made the other day is a rather in your face obvious change. 😊

I think I really like, I tried to pick good photos but include the leather, chainmaille, and wire sculptures to show the variety.

Everyone thinks they're a Gryffindor . . .

I so love the Hogwarts school crest trees, they were a brilliant idea and they look really cool and any Harry Potter fan would like it. 😍

So it should come as no surprise that further brilliance has occurred and I decided to make 3" inch mini trees for individual houses.  😇  Small, minimalist, single mascot charm in the center, super cute.   

Predictably the photos have generated a lot of likes and attention, but so far everyone who has requested one wants Gryffindor. 😏 I have made 2 "complete sets" because silly me was thinking that it would make a nice "group" hanging display.  LOL  I have started to make several extra Gryffindors, but hopefully not everyone who wants one will continue to want the same one.  

Next. . .

I am getting ready to add the next wire tree listing to the shop today. 😇  It will make 51 of them listed for sale and a total of 143 active listings available in the RainbowMaille Shop.  I am actually quite proud of myself, especially since many of the chainmaille listings have several colors available.  I have made a LOT of stuff in the last year.  I have learned new chain patterns, I have developed new styles and techniques in the wire sculptures. 🖒  My crafts keep improving and expanding, I have accomplished a lot.

Now if only Etsy would stop mucking about and let people shop normally, or perhaps fix the fudged up nature of their search, or somehow stop people from mis-tagging their listings and manipulating search. ~sigh~

it's so pretty . . .

I really love how this one turned out, the beads and the wire are so close to the same shade of blue.  The beads were a very small pack and the only one like it I could find in the bin so all of them are on one tree which is odd but it just means I have no way to re-create this version.  😏  

There is a reason there is a warning in my shop announcement that the wire tree sculptures are one of a kind and some of the beads and supplies are only available in limited quantities.  😇

it took all day. . .but it was worth it

I love making the wire tree sculptures but storage and transport has always been an issue.  Last year taking some to an event was kind of difficult and I at the last minute just used what I had on hand which was a 3 ring binder with page sleeves.  It kind of worked ok for some of them, but the largest ones didn't fit in the book at all and the pages drooped from the weight.  ~sigh~  It was ok but not ideal, the clear page sleeves allowed you to see the trees but the beads and charms started to scratch and scuff the plastic sleeves and made the whole thing look kind of cheap.  

I have just been hanging them about the house for lack of a better solution, but then when one would sell there I am wandering from room to room trying to remember where I hung which one. ~LOL~  So I have been trying to think up a better solution for months now and suddenly yesterday it hit me. . . hanging folders.

You know those storage boxes for hanging file folders, I know it sounds odd but if you think about it it makes perfect sense.  I had this plan to use these cheap junky jumprings that I would never ever use in jewelry.  I bought the pack on a whim just because I wanted to test the larger size in a new pattern but they were too soft (and the wrong size).  I was going to just twist them around and turn them into mini S hooks to hang the trees in the folders.

I ran off to the walmart found a nice clear plastic tote version of hanging folder box and got some folders to go in it and rushed home all excited.  Only problem was after I got home and got the folders hanging in the box and went looking for the previously mentioned junky jumprings I was stymied and frustrated when I couldn't find them anywhere.  I searched high and low through my craft room, all my supplies, totes, toolboxes, I wasted considerable time looking.  I got so frustrated I wrote a facebook post about being frustrated.  ~LOL~ 

That's when  fabulous friend of mine mentioned I could just use wire. . .duh I have tons of wire and can bend it into just about anything.  So I then spent a good while cutting little snips of wire and bending up my own little S hooks.  Then I dove into my project of converting the book into the box and collecting them from all over the house and getting them organized and labeled in the box.

It took me nearly all day but it was so worth it.  I am so pleased with how it worked out it's not perfect but it is much better than it was.  The largest 10" and 12" still don't fit and I am keeping the 3" ones in the book because I can do 5 per page but the book fits in the box and there are only a few of the largest sizes. 

When my husband came home I proudly showed him my fabulous solution, he admitted it was genius and looked not only functional as storage but OCD compliant in it's organization and labeling. 😍  

Then I pointed out to him that I had collected all of them from all over the house and stored them in the box he looked around and made a sad face as apparently he had gotten used to seeing them all over and he really liked seeing them.  ~awe how sweet~  

I understand, I smiled every time I walked by one but they are product for sale and hanging about getting dusty is not proper storage for inventory.  I then pointed out to him that there are some still around that are ours, some of the first ones I made are hanging in the windows on either side of the front door, there is one over the bar in the living room, there is one in the downstairs hall bath, and of course I am keeping MY Hogwarts house crest.  😇  

I feel special. . .

I love when I get favorites  😇  I really do, it's nice to know that people like my stuff.  Sometimes when I get a notification of a new favorite on my phone app it will show me who favorite'd and what else they have favorite'd.  It can be a good thing to see that they have lots of similar things in their list, it can help me judge my prices against similar items without having to go search for my "competitors" and give them false stats.  

Although, I must admit I feel more special when the person has fewer favorites.  Seriously, some people have like 100,000 favorites so what are the odds that they will ever buy any of them, plus it kind of makes you think they are not very discriminating they seem to like everything.  ~LOL~   BUT when someone who has been on Etsy for a couple of years and has less than a 100 favorites decides to drop a heart on something it somehow has more meaning.  Honestly, I am super picky I have only ever favorite'd about a dozen things and I have bought 2 of them so far. 😏  

Favorites are not sales and do not always (or even often) lead to sales but it's still nice.  😇   

Red White & Blue summer. . .

I am working on a new collection of jewelry for summer Fourth of July patriotically inspired Red White & Blue through and through.  

Literally I am making bracelets with red, white, and blue rings in every pattern I can make the ring sizes work with.  😇

I made the first 4 over the weekend.  I started with my favorite helms chain and then did a simple Celtic.  I moved to European 4-in-1 variant next, then did a 4-in-1 with mixed size rings.  I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't get the Aura pattern to work with the rings sizes. 😏  But there is still 4-in-1 in 2 sizes and then 6-in-1 probably mobius twist rope, maybe boxchain. 

Although, 9 patterns may be a bit much since I wanted to do matching earrings and possibly necklaces.  Not all patterns hang right in earrings though and I'm low on wire hooks.  Necklace lengths just take so long to make them so long.  🙂

Maybe it should just be bracelet and anklets.  I am also debating putting all the patterns in one listing, just make the single Red White&Blue collection listing and use variations with set pricing for the different patterns.   It's kind of the opposite of how I usually make multiple colors of the pattern and list by chain pattern but who knows maybe it will work better. 😏

go to the source . . .

I have seen others complain about Etsy's tracking being wrong, behind, not properly updated.  I didn't think much of it at first but I think it has gotten worse recently.  The last 3 packages that I shipped have showed "label created" on Etsy until the day they were delivered.  😆

So buyers on Etsy who go to Etsy and try to track their packages are given false and outdated information, making it appear that orders have not been shipped when they have.  

The order I mailed yesterday still shows "label created"on Etsy at 9:30 am even though actual USPS tracking shows it scanned into my local post office, scanned again hours later at the city sort facility and again "in transit".  USPS tracking shows it's expected delivery date is tomorrow and yet Etsy's tracking still just shows "label created".  😆

This cannot be good overall when customers think that sellers aren't shipping on time when we are.  The annoying part is that there is literally nothing I as a seller can do about Etsy's delayed updates.  I added blurb to my shipping policies that Etsy's info is often behind and recommending customers go straight to USPS.com for real time info.  BUT it's kind of buried and I'm not sure anyone will ever find it or read it, I am considering adding it to my "thank you" note section too.  

Would you as a buyer be bothered by tracking that doesn't update?  Would you blame the seller or Etsy or USPS?

Making a few adjustments. . .

I have noticed on my last 2 orders that Etsy has notified the buyer that it will be 5 days before I ship. 😆  I know for a fact that I set my "processing time" on all my listings as either 1-2 days or 1-3 days.  

The first time I noticed it I assumed Etsy added the extra days to my processing time because we were going into a weekend, which ok but not necessary. 

This week it did it again and it was at the beginning of the week so no weekend excuse this time.  It struck me as weird and I don't really like Etsy telling my customers that I will take a week to mail something that is a finished good and will most likely be mailed the next day.  

So I am going through my listings and double checking my processing times and making them all 1-2 days and hoping Etsy stops with the adding extra days just for fun.  

BIG NEWS !!!

OMG!?!  Etsy has finally launched "guest checkout" that means you no longer have to have an actual Etsy account to buy stuff there. 😇

This is super fantastic and totally amazing, I am super thrilled. When I found Etsy years ago I clearly recall being annoyed at having to create an account to purchase what I wanted.  I know for a fact that I have friends who would like to buy a wire tree but they didn't have Etsy accounts and didn't want to have to set up an account and remember another login.  So this is perfect!!

I knew they were working on it but I didn't want to say anything because I didn't know how long it would be before they actually launched or if they would actually launch after all these years. 😏

With the launch of Studio, the new shop manager, changing everyone to Etsy payments, the combined checkout, attributes upgrade, there has been a lot going on but I an so glad that "guest checkout" did not get lost in the shuffle.

So everyone should go browse and shop Etsy now.

It's a good thing. . .

I just love waking up to find fresh new orders. 😇

Although, it does sometimes make me a bit sad that I was sleeping and missed the cha-ching.  I mean the app's cha-ching sound is so cool, cute, fabulous to hear.  I know they are really training us all like Pavlov's dog but I always smile when it cha-chings.  

Also it makes me wonder sometimes what people are doing shopping at 2 am.  ~LOL~  But I guess some people do work nights or weird shifts so to them 2 am is not the middle of the night like it is to most people. 


RainbowMaille on Instagram  I've been working on building up an instagram following and I finally broke 100, which would be woo-hoo territory but everyone else seems to have several hundred if not thousands of followers.  😏  Not sure how the do that, but my pics do get likes and the occasional comment so it's genuine interactions at least.  I wonder how many of those that have tons of followers actually accrued them organically or if they did some of that pay to play, "get a 100 followers now" kind of things.  

Right now I have to go print an invoice and a postage label so I can get this latest order off to the post office.  

new trees. . .

I really like how this one turned out, blue and gold is not a normal color combo for me but I like it.  o:-)

I spent days trying to finish this next one.  From the time I laid it out until it was actually finished until it was photographed and listed this morning was nearly a week.  ~sigh~  I kept getting distracted by life's little disruptions, you know having to stop to fix dinner, weekend RV re-modeling, the usual.  ~LOL~

This one has beads in the roots and along the trunk, I've never tried that before and it definitely changes how I have to handle the trunk twists and makes it kind of hard to do the flattening.  However, I do like the way it looks finished so maybe Ill try it again. 

pluggin' away. . .

So while Etsy screws up one thing after another and shoots itself in the foot for the 3rd time in less than a year I will just ignore the mess and keep pluggin' away with my little shop.  

I don't actually shop there much so I didn't have a hundred items in my shopping cart when they screwed everyone with the combined checkout.  I feel for all those who have a ton of stuff in their carts, just like I understand the new layout makes it difficult to comparison shop.  However, Etsy doesn't care they wanted the pay for everything at once it's an integral part of the new "Studio" stupidity, could they have implemented it better of course, could it be improved of course. Will Etsy improve it? Probably not.  :-/  Can I do a darn thing about it?  Nope.

I know lots are upset by the "forced" acceptance of Etsy payments but as someone who always had direct checkout I don't care.

They are jacking around with search results, what's new.  Stats are wrong, like that's a big surprise.  The new shop manager is glitch-y, well of course it is, it's new and they are fucking around with live code.

I'm just going to making shiny pretty things and hope one day Etsy settles the fuck down and keeps their promises about guest checkout.

buh-bye. . .

I understand that people don't like change, hell I personally don't like change either, however, everything in the world is in a constant state of change.

When I started RainbowMaille on Etsy I had no choice about payment method/options it was direct checkout with integrated paypal.  I personally despise paypal and would never have accepted paypal if it wasn't already integrated into my direct checkout.  I don't use paypal, I don't like paypal, I didn't want to accept paypal, I refuse to shop at places that "only" have paypal.

So I have always been baffled by some etsy shops only having paypal and stubbornly defending and sticking to their standalone paypal no matter what.  I like the fact that direct checkout allowed the buyers lots of options.

Now Etsy has decided that all shops in eligible countries must add etsy payments allowing more payment options for customers and some of the etsy old-timers that are fixated on their paypal are having fits.  Etsy's notification email was pretty blunt get set up or get shutdown, yes it was a bit rude, pushy, and unprofessional but that's how etsy seems to handle everything.  Let's face it the company is run and managed on a daily basis by a bunch of code monkey most of which use txt spk more than complete sentences and sometimes it really shows in their bad grammar and very poor communication skills.

I personally don't care and actually have little pity for most of them, as someone who never had the option that they have enjoyed and taken advantage of for so long.  

I understand that many are upset with the "threat" of closing their shops but I don't understand the resistance to accepting other payment methods.

Now with multiple threads about how they are all closing their shops and looking for new venues, every time I read one I think buh-bye don't let the door hit you on the way out, more sales for the rest of us, thanks for getting out of the way.

I know it sounds mean it's my menopause showing and my patience fading, I'll have to work on that.  LOL

Just keep trying. . .

Ok, so back in February when I had multiple orders and a custom project I really thought my Etsy shop was picking up steam and in true Etsy fashion they ruined with multiple poorly planned and badly executed changes.  :-( 

So I have spent 6 weeks now trying to figure out how to get my views back up and get some sales.  I have redone photos, updated and edited listings, I have been tweaking keywords.  ~sigh~  I am intsagram-ing, making new things, and I did add shipping to Canada on almost all my listings.  

Yet sadly still no sales.  :-(  I keep writing this blog, and trying different things but it doesn't seem to be doing much good at the moment.