GMAT TIME! Here I go...

Tomorrow I am taking the GMAT exam. I am very nervous, and actually listening to a Data Sufficiency recording as I am writing this. Maybe, just maybe I might be able to cram another piece of information in there!

Sam is really sweet, he is not watching TV tonight since I am *studying*. He also took care of dinner and is being just super-supportive as always! He wants this MBA almost as much as me (if not more).

My sister was over this weekend. We had fun hanging out, shopping for shoes (Nine West) and playing Rock Band - she is now our official drummer! LOL I actually played both the guitar and drums, taking a break from being the lead singer. haha. I can't sing to save my life, but it is addicting! We stopped by the grocery store to pick up some snacks and outside those damn cookie vixens were selling their thin mints, tagalongs and samoas... My sister could not resist, they had a 5 for $20 deal, too easy! So, my sister picked up 5 boxes and then left three of them here!! OMG! I have been alone all day with thin mints!

It was great time - she took us to a new restaurant we had never been to - Rockin' Baja in Old Town SD. Very good food - even better margaritas! Lots of people, great location and vibe too.

It rained here on Sunday, so it was a little chilly, but we still had fun.

I am working on some new pendants, mainly square shaped. One vintage anatomy image, some old color illustrations, a new Marie Antoinette portrait and a very sweet bat girl vintage image.
I will make sure to post them soon!

Wish me luck on my exam tomorrow - I will be testing for 4 hours! :O(

Repenting for food sins and New Packaging for Necklaces!

It's 1 pm on a Friday during the Catholic season of Lent, and where are all of the heathens at?

They are all at Phil's BBQ eating lunch!  I seriously must have died and gone to BBQ sauce heaven!  I ordered the Broham sandwich, which is made with BBQ pork shoulder and a delicious sauce.  Yum!

It's a pulled pork sandwich served with coleslaw.  Sooooo Good.  That was our first time at Phil's, I am glad Sam wanted to have lunch there.

Today was also good in that I finally came up with a simple packaging for my necklaces.  Check it out below...

My sister is coming tomorrow!  I am very excited!  She is coming to town and we'll be off to do some shopping at the outlets and then dinner somewhere special in Downtown or the Gas Lamp, or maybe here in Alpine - there are so many good eateries in town.

Sam brought home a bottle of Absolute Los Angeles Vodka.  It is the same old Absolute made with Acai, Acerola, Pomegranate and Blueberries.  There are some great, simple drink recipes to make.  Check them out if you like Vodka drinks.

Etsy has been a little slow lately.  Not so many customers, or maybe it is something I need to rethink.  I have recently raised my prices to include the cost of a chain necklace with each pendant.  Besides, since I am not working full-time, I look to my Etsy income more and more now.  Doesn't help that supplies are getting more expensive also.  

I wonder how other sellers have dealt with making changes to their prices and how their customers responded?

MoMoMerlu and Backsides

I have launched another Etsy shop named MoMoMerlu. It is a shop were one can find unique, one of a kind jewelry. It is a little pricier than what I have got in Urban Bead, but since these are unique, limited and signed pieces, they are more like wearable art than anything else.


So far, I only have one item in stock...


It is an owl piece. Made with white painted and textured leather shaped into a wing. I have wire-wrapped turqouise beads along the outside of one of my favorite owl pendants that I made for my other shop. I have rosary-wired brown crystal beads and antique copper ovals to make the chain on the right side and the chain on the left is antique copper. Very nice piece, fun to make!

I feel that I have gotten away from really creating unique pieces, and moved into more of a manufacturing role, which makes me both grateful and curious. To curb my longing for something ooak, I have handpainted the backsides of my pendant bezels!


I went a little crazy. I am not sure that I will be sending these out in my orders just yet. These are kind of a fun thing for me to experiment with. I might save these for friends or myself. I always have wanted something on the reverse of my pendants, since the backside looks so bare and naked. I might experiment some more to see what works.

Mapety Map

I have finally finished up my series of map pendants for California.  I made one of Los Angeles a while ago, and now I have added both San Diego and San Francisco.

These are all taken from a group of antique maps created by Perry Castañeda , the world-famous cartographer in the early 1940's.   

The colors are so vibrant on these, they really do stand out.  It was difficult narrowing it down to which areas of these maps to highlight.  I think it worked out well, I may revisit the San Diego map again, see if I can add Alpine to it! LOL

I am also thinking about doing other maps as well, Austin, TX, Portland, OR, New York, NY, and some others I am still considering.  In anycase, these new projects will need to wait until April.  I am going to be taking the GMAT exam and I am completely anxious about it.  I am doing a review nearly everyday, but the math part gets me down.  Wish me luck!

My sister is coming down to visit this weekend, it should be fun.  Maybe I can interest her in doing some modeling for me.  We'll see.

Craft Sale Madness!

I just wrapped up a four day craft show right here in town at the historic Alpine Women's Club.  The sale was a big success and I was able to meet lots of local folks!  Here is a pic of my table (below)

It was a lot of fun, and I made some extra cash, so my only complaint was that it was soooo cold!

  Above is a pic of my pendants that I was selling.  Best sellers were birds, cats, cowgirl, and keep calm and carry on.  My very cute Easter pendants didn't sell as much as I had hoped, so I will be putting those up for sale on Etsy today.

Sam and I made some stepping stones last month and we tried to sell those as well.  We sold 2 of them for $40.  I am glad they have found a new home!

There is also another craft show coming up in May that I will be at, it is called the Sage and Songbirds Festival.  It is also here in Alpine.  I also learned about an art market that is opening up in Descanso in May, every Saturday.  I might look into that.

A great thing about craft shows is the exposure you get.  I had a woman who has worked as a buyer for Nordstroms for over 15 years come up to me and tell me that I need to raise my prices!  She also said that she was going to be opening up a shop in Alpine and wanted my pendants in there!  Said she was going to showcase local artists.  Cool.  We will see if it pans out.

New Packaging and New Wholesale Flyer

I have been meaning to do something for the packaging of my pendants for a while now.  I finally decided to create something simple and inexpensive.  What I was using before were small plastic bags and tissue paper.  I would wrap the pendant in tissue paper and then slip it into the small 2X3 plastic bag.  This became a hassle since if I forgot which pendant I packed, I would have to unwrap the tissue paper, etc..

I wanted something that would look nice, was practical and would also help me in the long run.  I came up with a 60lb card stock, printed with my company name and website info.  I slip that small card into a 2x2 plastic zip bag.  I think it looks nice, I am almost thinking that the website addresses eliminate the need to include a business card in the package.  Right now, I am sending out "Free Shipping on your next order" cards with all of my customers who have spent over $30.  That card also has my website address on it as well.

hm mm.... I may still send my business card - old habits die hard.

I have also been needing to compile a wholesale brochure or flyer.  I do get a lot of repeat customers who buy in volume, so I was thinking of making a tiered savings offering for those who buy upwards of 25, 50 and 100 pendants.  Check the flyer out here.

 

Busy, but I've got all the time in the world...

(Above New lovelies in the making!)

It's that time of year, it is not quite winter, yet not quite spring, and in Southern California, it feels just like Summer. I have been keeping busy, reading, creating, looking for work and spending tons of time with Sam - since he is also looking for work.

I thought I would talk a little about something that has changed in the past few weeks, that I don't want to question too much. My husband has always been supportive of me in my creative / artistic endeavors, but not to the point where he wanted me to "quit my day job". Well, since I have "quit my day job" to move to San Diego, and seeing as there are little-to-no job prospects calling me - sad, I know; why not make a go of my crafting full time?

I don't want to tell him this as much as I will prove this to him. Nothing will change all that much, except that I will spend a lot more time dedicated to creating - I will continue to look for work, since we need things like health care and stable salaries. But, in the mean-time, while we are looking into the vast, perilous ocean that is our economy - I am going to try.  What has also changed is that he has taken more of an interest in my success.  Perhaps the magazine had something to do with that?  hmmm.  Knowing that others seek out my trinkets and actually like them, maybe he can appreciate that?

Today we ventured into Barnes and Noble to spend a few gift cards, I picked up two books - The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. I remember seeing this book in my in-law's home and well, they are all-for positive thinking - always have been and it seems to work for them. I try to be positive most of the time, but inevitably, the blues can catch up to you on the best of days.

Another book I picked up is The Savvy Crafters Guide to Success : Turn Your Crafts into a Career by Sandra McCall.  So far, it has tips like "have an organized workspace" and "define your direction".  There is even a section on taking photos of your work.  I'll report back what I find in this book, it is a slim 127 pages.  Very colorful and it displays alot of the art and crafts that I like to buy and work with.

Hope it helps!

As I mentioned last week, Sam and I ventured to Tecate, MX.  It was a very interesting hour and a half.  It is a very small town, home of the Tecate brewery.  We ate dinner there in town, we drove around the few main streets and then came home.  Here is a picture of a famous "dive" bar Diana - which Sam walked into, then walked right out of.  He said that we were not going inside. lol.

Oh, and I hit another milestone this week - I made my 1,000 th sale on Etsy!  Woot-woot!!  It has been a lot of hard work, learninng and so much fun getting there.  I think that for the most part, what is important most Etsy sellers already know.  There is no magic recipe to good sales.  I think having the right product, good pictures, reasonable prices, and inviting customer service is key, just as in any sales situation.  At some point, you have to answer a tough question - "Would I buy from myself?"