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.