Weekly update. . .Merry Christmas and Happy new Year!

Well, I've been looking at the calendar and because I normally post my "Weekly updates" on Sundays, this will be the last one for this year. 😇 Seriously, next Sunday is Christmas eve and the one after that is New Years' eve so this is the final update of 2023. 

I would normally post about my etsy "year in review" and while they did still do the shop personalized "y-i-r" thing I found no joy in my incredibly sad low numbers. 😏 

 I have never really liked the "splashy" graphics and contrasting colors they use for these things most of the time it is just tacky.

This was my favorite and best review of 2023, so at least they pulled something right. 😏

But like I said it was a very pathetic year otherwise, I am not surprised by it really. I sort of expected some decline because I let most of my listings expire and moved all the paintings and wire trees to other platforms.  I turned off all etsy ads and changed all my social media links to goimagine too. So again, I am not surprised by the decline in my etsy numbers, I literally gave up on it. 😅 However, if etsy was so great and had so much built-in traffic then my changing my links should not have had this effect. Plus looking at my etsy stats historically the art had very little in consistent views or purchases so removing the art should not have tanked every metric either. 😐 

The year-end total books won't be as bad as last year, no thanks to etsy, because I have 3 platforms and did multiple in person events. I have already started on the year-end books, it's basically lists and a little math. 😉 I only have one more monthly sales tax report, maybe next year Georgia will allow me to move to a quarterly or annual filing instead of monthly, I doubt it but it's worth asking. 

Weekly update. . . well that was fun!

My final scheduled vending event of the season was here in my new hometown, and I really enjoyed it. 😊 After weeks of being sick and being disappointed in the previous event it was really nice to arrive at a well-organized event and have a great space. 😇 I do love a good corner and this is my favorite corner in town, literally that's the Library on the left (which I love).  Also, I was on the end, which can be good or bad depending on the event but in this case, it was great it made load-in and out easy, plus with the parking over there even this end was an entry-point. 😉 

My biggest disappointment of the day was my own forgetting of my RainbowMaille sign 😅 which I could have gone home for (it was a mile from my house) but I chose to just use one of the abstract flags. The business name is still on the front of the art crates and with the short 3' racks I didn't have a good place for the large, framed piece anyway. 😉 I was pretty happy with my booth set-up, my tent my be a 10'x10' but the spaces were 12'x12' and with the fabulous weather it meant the racks and magnet board could hang outside the tent.  

I passed out many goimagine info cards. 😎 I had multiple people take my business card for various reasons, possible custom orders later, to show a friend, to get me to vend at their event next year. The good thing about that is even my own RainbowMaille business cards have goimagine info on the back now. 😉 I am hopeful that doing this event will open up more local events, now that I've met the organizer and she has seen my work. My husband has suggested that next year RainbowMaille should have a small float in the town Christmas Parade. 😅 I am not sure about that plan, but I will definitely be back at the Mistletoe Market next year. I am thinking about having a professional fancy banner made for my booth but I hate spending money on such things. I know it is "an investment" but I'm not sure it will pay for itself, I mean it's just a sign even if it's pretty and you can see it from space, I'm not convinced it will generate more sales. 😏 

Today I get to unpack and restore my shop. Last night I did my inventory reconciliation and deactivated the wire trees that sold. 😁 Later I get to assess my chainmaille inventory and make a list of things to remake. 

Weekly update. . . It's December

Holy Cow! It is December already. 😦 This year is almost over and honestly, I don't feel like have accomplished much, but I've recently been told I'm too hard on myself. 😏 I have one show left this year and I have spent very little time and effort thinking about it, again for the sake of honesty I've been a bit distracted and I'm still sick. 

The kitten is growing and has another vet appointment coming up, which is good because he still has worms and I think we need to change meds. I have a dental cleaning coming up and unfortunately, it's the same day as the kitten appointment, I think there is enough time to get from one to the other but only just and mainly because my town is so small. 😅 My plan is to just show up at the vet's office early and tell them I need to get to the dentist after. 

Merlin is adorable, handsomely marked and up to 3 pounds. 😇 

I am sick of being sick and extremely tired from the concept of "holidays" I could use a monthlong Rip Vanwinkle nap, but I'm not likely to get it. 😏 I am however, not having "sales" or over-promoting or over-worrying about the business this season, I just don't have the time or energy with other things going on. I have to do the end of the month bookkeeping for November and then prepare and start on the whole "year-end" bookkeeping for tax filing. 😒 It's not fun but I have system so it's fine, just time consuming. 

My etsy is still dead, they are punishing me for replying "late" to a message, I missed the 24 hour window by less than 1 hour over a weekend. 😖 And because I get so few messages over there, there is no way to make up for it and it gives me a big fat ZERO% preventing me from getting star seller for 3 months over 1 message that was replied to "late" in their opinion. Not that it matters or that I care that much it's just crappy and part of why I have come to dislike etsy so much. 😒

In other annoyances USPS's tracking is malfunctioning, I have sent multiple packages and I cannot check on the location of any of them because I just get this "we suck" message. Really?!?! people a crash of the tracking system right at the beginning of the biggest shipping month of the year!?!  What the actual hell on earth?! 😕😵

The tracking numbers are valid, they worked earlier in the week but the last few days when I went to confirm delivery, I cannot get anything but this crappy message on multiple tracking numbers. 

Weekly update. . .its been a week

Well, it is "weekly update" time, but it has been a rather boring week of blowing my nose and being sick. 😕 I cannot say I have accomplished a "lot", but I have managed a few things. I did unpack and reorganize and file my sales tax return and fix my flattened display tree. 

unwrapping the beads, lights and garland to re-fluff the tree while it was being constantly attacked by the kitten was fun 😅 he's so cute when he's "helping" 

He is growing and learning to sit still . . .but only for a minute at a time unless he's asleep. 

I did manage to cook awesome Thanksgiving dinner(s) including pumpkin pie and many sides. We successfully had company for dinner. I basically skipped dealing with "business" for the holiday, no posts, no specials, no deals, no sales, while it resulted in no orders it did give me a peaceful holiday weekend of not worrying about things. 😇 I am ok with my decision it was quiet and less stressful than many past holidays with no alerts or notifications or interruptions. 

Yesterday I decided to work on my MakerPlace shop a bit, I added 5 new listings for the chainmaille Christmas ornaments. This morning I woke up to a message there about a custom color bracelet, I'm not saying that being active and having activity are connected it's just interesting timing. 😉 On the flip-side of that is my etsy where I was slow to reply to a message at the beginning of the month and my whole month is down 80% compared to last year. 😒

Actually, etsy currently has the lowest monthly views of my 3 online shops. Whereas, I have found recently Micheals using one of my listing photos in an aol ad. 😯

Also, I'd like to point out that goimagine is spending $ on ads for me, because there are cpc clicks in my analytics and I am not currently running ads anywhere. 😁

I have one more in-person event coming up on December 9th and I am working (thinking) on my booth planning, it will be outdoors so limited to the 10'x10' tent canopy. Although, the tent canopy does give me some good hanging space for larger trees and art 😎 not that I plan to take a lot of art for this one. This final event "Mistletoe Market" is very Christmas focused so the tree, wreath and ornaments will be the main focus with the jewelry in gift boxes. Lucky for me it's in my own town so no extra travel and if I forget something it's literally only blocks away. 

Weekly update. . . I'm sick

Well, it is weekly update time but this one will be incredibly short. I'm sick, I think I have the flu which is annoying since I did get a flu shot weeks ago. 😑  

My last event was a disappointment, I have not made anything since, but that is because I have guests and got sick. 😒

Due to having company for the holidays and currently being sick, along with my printer deciding to be a dysfunctional pos, I am actually planning to skip the whole concept of holiday sales and black Friday specials this year. Normally I would make a bunch of graphics and schedule posts and discounts and do a bunch of stuff, but I just don't feel up to it right now. 😔 I haven't been able to breath thru my nose in 2 days and I think I might lose my voice today. 😕

In other happier news the kitten is adorable and growing, but the only way to get a photo of him is when he is sleeping as that is the only time he actually sits still. 😅

Weekly update. . .exhausted

 So, this weekly update is technically a day late because I was so busy recovering and unpacking yesterday. 😏 Saturday was a long, tiring and somewhat disappointing day if I'm honest about. I like the fairgrounds, it's a nice building but apparently it was a bad day for an event with too many other events and football games going on, so not a lot of traffic or sales. 😞 However, this is my own fault for not doing better research before registering and for being new to the area and underestimating the whole football thing, live and learn. 😉 

I was fairly happy with my display and Christmas-y decor. 😇

I put a Santa hat over the rainbow on the end of my sign. 

I did the Christmas tree of ornaments on its' own table complete with gift wrapped "presents" as decoration and pre-wrapped gift sets of ornaments. 

 I did put quite a lot of effort and thought into this, but then ended up with an XX'large space and had to re-think everything once on site. I used more tables and racks than originally planned so I ended up short on some of the decor stuff. 😏

I did get to take almost all of the art. I usually only take 1 or 2 crates and a dozen to hang up, but I took all 4 crates this time. There were several people who looked thru the art and I got a lot of compliments, but sadly no sales. 

I did pass out some goimagine flyers, so the day wasn't a total loss. 😇

Weekly update. . .welcome to November

Welcome to November, there has been a shift in weather all over the country but down here in Georgia the cold did not last. 😎 You just can't keep those 80's away. I have the big WinterFest event next weekend. I call it big because it will be big for me, and I should have a "big" 10'x15' booth. 

I'm not really ready, I don't feel ready. I had so many plans, but life got in the way and most of it I am just letting go. 😏 Although, the "letting go" is not easy, I have been planning for this event for months.  I am making a few things and I will do something about the pendant display even though I don't know what yet. 😅 It may sound weird but my biggest worry at the moment is "what am I going to wear?!?!" I don't own an ugly sweater, I have a few Christmas sweaters, but they are actually nice. So, I am definitely not winning the ugly sweater contest, and probably not the booth decorating contest either, but I will at least try for that one. 😉

I am working on decorating a wreath with the star ornaments to use as display, it's not done yet. 😉 I am almost decided that I will take my mini-Christmas tree.  I keep going back and forth because it's bulky and awkward to pack but it will make great decor and display. 😐 Stars on the wreath, balls on the tree, looking very Christmas-y, add a Santa hat on the sign and some "snow" blanket on the shelves and it should be a pretty "winter" looking "holiday" display. 😁 In my head it looks great, so we'll just have to wait and see if I can pull it off.  

Weekly update. . .1 down 2 to go

I did the first of my 3 scheduled holiday season events yesterday and I am exhausted. I got up so crazy early, to make sure I had plenty of time for the drive and set-up, that I was literally unloading and setting up in the dark. 😅 

I wasn't super thrilled with the uneven grassy area for set up, it made things difficult, my wire racks need level ground. 😐 Plus I watched several older people pause, look, speak from the pavement but it was like they were afraid to step off the pavement into my booth and I don't blame them. 😞 However, that type of thing is always a risk with outdoor events, especially ones you've never been to before. 

Overall though it was a beautiful day weather-wise and there was a good crowd, so sales did happen. 😉 Bye-bye Fire&Ice painting, see you never again little bird's nest tree 

Now the countdown clock resets for the next event, which I am not as nervous about because I have been to that venue before. 😏 I do have stuff I am worried about, like how to display the Christmas ornaments and re-doing the pendant display, but the earring tray displays seemed to work out yesterday as I saw several people touching them looking thru and picking up earrings. 😁 

Weekly update. . .freaking out

Less than a week left before the first event and my anxiety is going through the roof and I'm starting to panic that I'm not ready. The Boston event is outdoors so weather will be a factor, I find myself freaking out over how much art to take: part of me is like don't take much, art is a hard sell, I don't like exposing it to excessive sun or heaven forbid other even less friendly weather. 😟 BUT it should be a really good crowd and you cannot sell what you don't take so. . .😕 Then there is the display itself, I haven't set up a 10x10 outdoor booth in a couple of years, so while I have a couple of standard layouts, I have no way of knowing which way my booth will face in relation to the sun, which determines side-wall which can affect the rest of the setup. 😐 There are always too many unknowns with a new event.

I bought a couple of new and different things for jewelry displays, like this board with the embedded hooks. I had originally been thinking of using it for the pendants, but the leather cords don't hang neatly. 😞

Also, some of them were just too long and it became obvious that it was not going to work, at least not for these. However, I'm stubborn by nature and since I already bought it I wanted to use it for something, so I decided to try the actual chain necklaces and they look awesome! 😁

 

So, the pendants have been relegated back to their original board for now while I work out another idea for them, but in the meantime, I am pretty happy with the chains.  Although, I think I do need to rearrange them so they are in order of price, currently they are just kind of in the order I grabbed them because I was just testing how they would hang and if they would all fit. 😉 

I have checked my tent canopy, located and packed my sidewall, have my tables and shelves lined up, but most importantly I found my sandbags. 😎 I need to work out the last of the displays, select the art and start packing.

Weekly update. . .tick tock

No, not the social media app the clock in my head that is counting down to upcoming events. 😉 I am officially less than 2 weeks away from the Boston, GA Mini-Marathon event. 

I am both excited and growing nervous. This always happens, my anxiety builds up before an event but in the end I'll go and everything will be fine. 😇 I am just making lists, planning displays and trying to decide what to take. 

I have also continued to try getting photos of the Christmas ornaments and have declared this batch good enough for now, because I just needed to get them listed. 😎 Last night I added multiple listings, for the different star styles and 2 sizes of balls. I am pretty pleased with myself now that the Christmas Ornaments page is full and most of the listings have coordinating photos. 😁

Check out all the new listings. 

Weekly update. . .what a week

If you follow the facebook page or instagram you've probably seen the photos and videos of the tree removal and trimming that went on, well let me tell you the few things I posted do not begin to cover the Days of work they did. They completely removed 4 trees and trimmed 14 others, so giant boom truck, often dueling chainsaws, mini skid loader for hauling the logs to the trailer, stump grinder, what I'm saying is it has been nerve-wracking-ly noisy around here. Add on top of that some sort of stomach bug making me miserable and it's kind of surprising that I managed to finish anything this week. 😐 However, the pile of ornaments continues to grow and I managed to finish a bracelet and another cross. 

While making the 4th cross, I was reminded that sometimes even the micro-difference between anodized colors can effect the tightness of the weave. The previous 3 colors all had some wiggle in the bottom section but the shiny gold was so tight I didn't think I was going to be able to finish it. 😐

Now I only have one more color I want to try before I start round 2, but I probably won't make a second of the shiny gold unless it sells. 😅 Just watch it become the most popular, that happens sometimes, the thing I like least everyone else loves. 😆 

I have 3 weeks until my first fall event, so it is time to start making lists. I need to get my canopy tent out and set it up to make sure it's good to go, find my sidewalls. 😏 I haven't used the canopy in 2 years, but I pull it out last year and check it so it should be ok, provided it's not moldy or buggy from being out in the garage. It is only a 10x10 booth, so I'll have to decide what to take, because I have too much stuff. Selecting which 20-ish paintings out of the 100+ to take is always hard. Looking at the advertising for the event I don't think I'm taking the Christmas ornaments, plus with the small booth I won't have anywhere for the tree display. 😅 

The fact that there are only 2 weeks between the first and second event is making me a bit nervous. I have high hopes for the first event, but if it is good sales, I won't have much time for rebuilding inventory. 😐 Heck I still need to replace the Japanese Lace bracelets that sold back in June. 

Weekly update. . .scheduling events

I started making my Christmas ornaments in August this year so I would have lots of them available. 😎 I have spent months searching, researching, contemplating events, trying to decide which ones I want to sign up for. There are a lot of things to think about when considering events aside from the booth fee and space. Is it an established event, does it have good attendance history, what kind of crowd is it? 

I tend to do well at craft shows and family events, I have a variety of products that range from $5 braided leather bracelets to $100 fancy necklaces, from jewelry to paintings so there is plenty of stuff to look at for each age range in a family. 😇 So, I have selected a long running family event, a large craft show at the venue I did well over the summer, and a Christmas specific downtown event. 

Now I have less then 30 days to make sure I'm ready. The good news is the first one is not holiday themed, so I don't have to have a lot of extra "Decor" for the booth just my standard set-up. However, it will be outdoors so I will have to take my tent and sandbags and all that jazz. 😏 Probably stealing my husband's truck instead of using my little car that way I can take the 6' tall racks. I am planning to change up displays for the holiday themed shows, including a small tree to display the ornaments on, new earring displays and a new display for the pendants. 

I've had this spinning rack for years but it has issues, it blows over at outdoor events, the hooks are badly spaced, some of the hooks have broken off so it doesn't hold as much as it should, but worst is people don't spin it around to see everything. 

I'm playing with an idea and made a test version the other day, using recycled plastic trays, I think it's pretty cute. It holds a dozen pairs of earrings in a small footprint, in a way that I think people will be more likely to touch and interact with. 😉

I am hoping to have at least 3 of these little trays by the time I do the holiday show in November. I want to sort the earrings by material and style and put the little displays near the other jewelry they coordinate with instead of having all the earrings separated in another place. At my last event I had someone looking at bracelets and she had to ask if I had earrings to match because they were on the other side of the booth. But it made me wonder if other people just didn't bother to ask and I missed out on potential sales. 😕

I also plan on changing the way I display the pendants, for years I have had this big board and in some ways it was ok but the more stuff I make the messier it looks. Back when it was just the leather barbed wire, basically 1 style, in different colors it was cool but now it's cluttered and kind of a blur. 😒

I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do but it is clear that I need to replace this relic. 😅

I am leaning towards a plan that involves separating the pendants from the cords and making them more of a custom item. Only display 1 of each color of cord but have multiples made in each color in different lengths, offer the barbed wire as an $ upgrade, and have all the pendants in a tray so people can pick the pendants and then pick the color and length of cord. This way I could also offer an option to just attach a large lobster clasp directly and they can be zipper pulls or necklaces. 😎 It is currently just an idea I don't have a stand or tray or an actual plan yet. 

Weekly update. . .it's fall

Some people may have noticed I have been largely absent from social media this week or maybe no one noticed, but my stats show different. 😅 I've been kind of lazy this week, but I had a birthday so that's allowed. I have made a few things, mostly repetitive things just making the pile of stars and balls bigger. I am over 2 dozen now total, so many more to go. 😅 More rings are on the way and will hopefully be delivered soon.

I decided to recuse the cross from the "fail" pile and try, try again, after the 3rd change of center ring size, I did manage to mostly stabilize the design. The top and side arms are pretty locked-in but there is still some swing in the bottom. 😏 It hangs right most of the time. 

I have also found another pattern that works and modified it, so I actually like it better. This pattern works so much better with my standard ring sizes that I made 3 of them in 1 day. 😁 

So, as it turned out my lazy week "off" was still productive, I just didn't post as much social media stuff. 😇

Weekly update. . . just another week

Well, it is time for another weekly update. . .but there is not much to tell. 😏 I am still making ornaments, but it's getting a bit repetitive. I don't normally make the same thing over and over and over again. Actually, I'm not sure how people do that, don't you get bored making the same thing over and over? I've always leaned more towards the one of a kind so this "batching" of repeats is super weird for me.

 

I admit I am getting bored. 😐 The balls were fun in the beginning, but they are getting less fun now. The stars are ok, but I prefer the open center style to the overly dense version, partly because they use less rings and partly because they are easier and quicker to assemble.  😉 I did spend 1 day making a bracelet just because I didn't want to make balls or stars that day.

On a personal note, I haven't been feeling super lately not sure if it's allergies or covid or just a cold. Also, this week my birthday making me feel extra old and tired. 😅 I literally just sneezed 6 times in less than five minutes and now need to clean my computer screen. 😒

Weekly update. . .I need more rings

I live in a perpetual state of "I need more rings". 😅 If you saw all the rings I have you would not think I need more but I actually do, really. I am working on putting together my next order right now because I was right last week when I said I'd run out of rings before I had "dozens" of stars. I am just over halfway through the square rings I ordered for the stars and I only have 11 finished. 😏

So yeah, I am putting together the re-order for more square rings and some other sizes to try some new things. It seems like whenever I try something new, I need new rings, my standard sizes are great for a lot of patterns and projects, but some things really are size sensitive and just don't work with the "wrong" rings. 😐 I've had quite a few fails over the years where things end up too tight or too loose. 

Some of them I have kept some of them have been disassembled and recycled. Although, the ones I have "kept" were not saved because I liked them more like thrown in a drawer out of frustration when it didn't work. 😅 The cross attempts have cost me several hours in the last few days and neither of them turned out right. The second one I tried 3 different ways/size combos in the center and still cannot get it to stand straight like it's supposed to. 😖 Nothing quite like spending hours and hours and ending up with nothing useable to show for it. 😕 That's R&D for ya' though, it happens. 😅

Weekly update. . .stars!

I've been working through my plans for Christmas ornaments, learning new patterns for balls and stars, buying larger rings. The ball pattern is the same no matter how big the rings you use are, it is the same number of rings. Stars are a bit trickier there are multiple patterns and variations of patterns so they can vary greatly in the number of rings. 

I had thought of selling them in sets but I would need to make literally dozens of them. 😅 I'm not sure I ordered enough rings, seriously the one style is nice, but it takes over 70 rings per star. 😦 Even the lighter version have over 40 rings per star. I think I need to order more rings because I will undoubtedly run out before I have "dozens" of ornaments. 

I pulled out my little Christmas tree to set up and try to get photos of the new ornaments but I think I need to strip all the tinsel off and try again. 🤣 I do think that both the balls! and stars look cool, they look cool together and I even tried different sizes too. 

The extra large lavender even makes a good tree-topper on my little tree, although it's a 3' mini not a full sized tree. 😇 Most of the photos I shot are un-usable, they are way too busy with the extra stuff on the tree but a few of them are framed just right. I'll try again without the tinsel and extra stuff, in the meantime I'll also need straight shots of them with a plain background if I plan to list them online.  

Weekly update. . . sad

Ok, so this week's update will be short as it has been a weird, sad and mostly non-productive week. 😔 

Good news the kitty is acting almost normal, eating good, playing even. 😇 I got a small cavity filled, I have 1 more filling and the other half of my root-scaling and then I think the "weekly" frequency of dental appointments will be done. 😏 

Sad news we've had a death in the family. I haven't really made much and I haven't really been posting on social media because. . .well I'm sad. 😢😭 

In the weird column this week, I am still making balls! there are 6 sizes in this photo but I think I'm going to end up with 8. My Mom has requested a set of ornaments and I plan to make her some but not as many or as big as she initially requested. See that's the thing sometimes with shopping from photos you can't always tell size/scale. So just to clarify for anyone who reads this, the tiny gold balls are only 1" but they do get big kind of quick, you can't really tell when they are just lined up on the bench but that lavender in the back row is over 8" around, I can't close my fist around it. 👀

Also, I got an email an actual email from someone about commissioning a custom color boxchain. 😯 I'm surprised because it doesn't happen often, custom requests or actual emails. 😅 Now I'm putting this in the "Weird" column because of the email nature of the inquiry, I have no idea how this person found me, it's not a message on any 1 of the 3 platforms I have a shop, the email doesn't mention where they saw my work. 💩 So when I finish this necklace I have no idea where to list it, also after the initial exchange the person hasn't replied for days. . .so I'm not even sure how serious they were. 😏 But it is a cool color combo so I'm sure someone will buy it.