More Jewelry Party Preperation :)

Good Monday, peeps! Let me start by apologizing if my blog posts have been a bit lack luster lately. I am not going to lie, my Etsy sales have been significantly down this month, and by the looks of Etsy's discussion boards, other Etsy sellers are feeling the same pinch. I know that one of the main ways to keep your sales is rolling is to continue to add new products as often as possible (so the search engines show your products, and thus your shop, first). With the jewelry show around the corner (this Saturday!), I have been a bit pre-occupied and distracted by all that it has entailed and have taken it out on my shop :( I have been reluctant to post new items this month because I figure the chances of selling them at my party are higher than selling them on Etsy. Using all my time on the party has also meant that I have neglected my blog a bit, too :( I assure you, by this time next Monday, I will have more pictures and stories than an average post can contain! In addition to making lots more jewelry this weekend (some new creations in addition to renewed ones!), I also worked a bit on my display for the party, including signs! Here are a few things I have come up with:

I have really loved that the online paper printing company, Vista Print, has helped me create my "brand design." Between the business cards, stationary, return address labels, and now this POSTER, I have a congruent and consistent look to all my Bead Up packaging and marketing products. And best of all, Vista Print offers MAD deals (mad as in FREE products - all you pay for is shipping!). In this example, I ordered a "poster" that measures to about 18x32 inches. I didn't think the largest font Vista Print offered was big enough for the Bead Up text, so I bought the poster (well, really I just paid for shipping!) without the text. I used the cardboard box the poster arrived in as a mounting back. I also got out my Cricut and printed up these 3.5" letters on white card stock and glued them on the poster, creating a dimensional and off-the-poster effect that will hopefully serve well at this and other upcoming shows :)

Here's an example of some of the many products that I have made recently but have not posted since I am saving them for the party. I have recently really been into turquoise and deep red combinations, and these Chinese and stone beads just were just asking to be strung together!

I also have been working on a few small framed images to give my jewelry party guests some additional information, including that I take (and love) custom orders! I got the zebra print background from a post on Hostess With the Mostess that offered free printables, and added text on my favorite online photo editing software, Picnic. Then I sent them to Costo.com to be printed at $.14/each and within a few hours I had these :) I made the frame on the left when I was a teenager - I got it on sale at TJ Maxx and ripped all the ugly plastic beads that came on it off and replaced it with this asymmetrical look thank to some floral wire and a broken glass beaded bracelet. Finally, the round looking things in the front are a series of napkin rings I made for the party - a great way to get "rid" of remaining beads that aren't abundant enough to make a whole necklace... each one was hand strung and took a good hour a piece to complete!

I used the rest of the cardboard from the poster's packaging to make this little lovely. I mounted some of my favorite lime green paper on a 1x2' piece of upright cardboard, then got back to work on the Cricut to cut out the numbers (with leftover paper from my Jewelry tree project in order to match). The pink letters are from Target's One-Spot, and the Heidi Swapp brown dot stickers we on sale at a Scrapbook convention. In all, the sign cost me about $.25. I plan to have a card table full of $10 items at the party (that way I don't have to label them all!) :)

Here is another framed little ditty I came up with... I plan to "wrap" each order with lime green tissue paper and place them in a white Chinese take out box, topped with a Bead Up sticker and lime green curl ribbon!

And here is a sample of what I hope the display can look like at the party! I of course have many more items and display holders that will span over 4 tables and an easel (more on that on Wednesday!). I wish I could paint all the walls in the house this magenta color - I am in love with it!

Do It Yourself: Jewelry Displays

With my jewelry party less than 3 weeks away, I have started to do some serious thinking about how exactly I plan on displaying all my stuff. Granted, I could easily just plop the stuff on a table and focus on the cupcakes and cocktails, but what fun is that? This whole process has proven to me that I am totally my mother, an interior designer's, daughter. And admittedly a bit OCD about it, too ;) A few weeks ago I stumbled upon an awesome DIY article from the ever impressive Hostess with the Mostess on how to make this super chic Pink Tree centerpiece: Of course I went gaga and immediately told the Hubs to invest in the branch material used in the picture, called Manzanita branches (I figured I would let him figure it out since I had no clue where to get it!). Being the thrifty man that he is (to the point of bordering on cheap, gotta love it), he insisted that we didn't need to invest in the branch since the lemon tree in our back yard would work just as well. I was a bit hesitant at first (especially since we are renters!). There were, of course, lots of baby lemons left over. RIP little branch! After chopping down a good hunk of the tree, Hubs trimmed it down a bit and got rid of some of the bark. It was starting to take shape! Having searched high and low at Michael's, Home Depot, and Lowe's, the OCD in me finally found a shade of pink I could live with (i.e. just like the shade in the picture!). And so the spray painting began: We used a whole darn can of spray paint ($6) on this bad boy! Next, we cut some floral foam ($4) to fit into a clear square vase I had sitting around the house. After sticking the (newly dry) branch into the foam, I next had to decide on a color/print for the base (scrapbook paper, of course!). I measured the vase and cut the paper accordingly :) (and of course used Bead Up colors!) But we can't let the green foam show, now can we? Rather than investing on plastic-y looking fake flowers, I searched around the house for some kind of consistent color and theme for the base. I managed to find 5 different kinds of black flowers I use as hair clips and broaches. Done! Next to hang the jewelry to make sure it works: And Voila! $10 later, we have ourselves a fully functional tree jewelry display! I am sure if I had a baby blue wall like the Hostess with the Mostess example, it would look totally comparable! I kind of like the brown/black "clash" - who says you can't use these two "clashing" colors at the same time? Next week: DIY Jewelry Display - #$*& you, Oriental Trading Company! I can make that myself!