Couchbound

Gooooooood grief Charlie Brown, my cold has kicked my butt this week. I thought I was coming around, but today my head felt like it would explode and my energy is all gone. So, most of the day has been spent on the couch. I have my little bead board beside me, waiting to be picked up, but the creativity just isn't there, basically because every two minutes I have to grab another tissue and blow my nose. Ick.

So, I'm going to have a slight delay on the feature article; look for it early on in the week. I also think I'm going to do a book review of some of my favorite resources. Finally, I need to figure out how to do this Blog Carnival thing, as I'm a member of the Etsy Bloggers Street Team and I need to determine ways that I can be further involved.

I'll also be posting some new items this week--a few pairs of earrings, my Talking in Circles necklace (finished! finally! yay!), maybe a bracelet, and a pendant or two.

Wire it up...
Chelsea

Improving the Etsy Shop, Part 3

So I'm at day 3 of improvements already. Tonight's is easy:

Update your sections.

I'm going to keep it standard, based upon the products that I have, which are necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. But, I want to add something clever to the categories, just to make them a little different than these one-word descriptors. So, I'll be using the following:

• Adorn my neck with marvelous!
• Decorate my wrist with spectacular!
• Embellish my ears with dazzling!

There, that should do it. I'm sure there will be much more difficult tasks to come.

In other news, I have to travel to D.C. next week for work, so that puts a damper on the shop opening. Sigh. Oh well, more to look forward to when I return. Last night and tonight I started taking some pics and working out the settings for my new camera. I put a few of the pics here; let me know your likes/dislikes.

Canyon Drops Earrings

Warmth Earrings

Festival Earrings



Reloj Necklace

Funny how a new piece of equipment can totally mess up a whole process. With the old Kodak camera ("the brick"), I had everything all set--lighting, settings, exposure, etc. With the new Canon, I had to go through the process all over again. Plus, because of all of the new and improved settings and adjustments that can be made, it took me twice as long (please note that I'm not complaining about my new camera, I love it!).

The photos are still coming out a little bit gray, but I attribute it to the fact that I only have one lamp shining in the lightbox. My Photoshop skills can handle this for now. I need to get two more lamps, but I just haven't been to the store yet to find the ones that I need. In addition, I also need to get full spectrum bulbs, which I think will make a world of difference.

Anyway, that's all for the night. Long day tomorrow, as I have a deliverable that's due for my day job.

Hugs 'n stuff,

Chelsea

Improving the Etsy Shop, Part 2

As mentioned in yesterday's blog, I'm following a fellow Etsy blogger in her quest to help everyone improve their shop in 30 days. For me, today is Day 2, and the corresponding assignment is:

Update Your Shop Announcement

Since mine really isn't an update, I'll be creating mine. Hmmm...let's see. In a very small amount of text and real estate, I need to communicate to a potential buyer just how much they'll ROCK in my wares. I also want my potential customers to visit this blog and my Flickr page so they can see works in progress and get the general dirt on little ol' me. So, here goes my first attempt:

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Making You Beautiful, One Wire Wrap at a Time

A special welcome to you, beautiful Etsy buyer. Here you will find wire jewelry that I've twisted and wrapped into wearable art, all by hand.

Browse my selection of necklaces, bracelets, and earrings for the perfect accessories to your wardrobe--the kind that you just can't find on major merchandisers' counter displays.

I also do custom work, so convo me and we can discuss your unique needs. I love to make things as wonderful as you are!

Updates and other Simply Wired Custom Jewelry happenings are available at http://simplywiredcustomjewelry.blogspot.com/. Photos of custom work and works in progress are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/simply_wired.

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So, there you have it. More to come...maybe later tonight. We'll see.

Lalalalala,

Chelsea