Luna's Baublebilities

Several weeks ago, RoseWorks Jewelry nominated me for a sunshine award and featured my Buttercup earrings.  It was so very sweet of her and I've been meaning to do something reciprocal for her and my other EtsyBloggers teammates, who I have neglected for at least the last 6 months. 

Ruthie created her fun spotlight over on byhand.me so I thought I would go over and see what that site is all about.  It seems to be another social media outlet for artists and crafters - the site is very clean, easy to navigate and quick to join.  It took me maybe an hour to create my profile and put together a spotlight of my own.  The really cool thing is that you don't seem to have to wait and play any lottery games to get a chance to create a spotlight (which is much like an Etsy treasury) AND you can include items from ArtFire, Zibett, Etsy and many other handmade venues in the same spotlight.  Yay!

I'm really struggling with my online shops, particularly Etsy.  They keep tweaking things in ways that might make sense for their admins abut that continually throw wrenches of every size and type into shop profits.  The latest debacle involves searches (again) and their dropdown menu, which recently was adjusted to eliminate "supplies" from the options.  They fixed it after much rabble rousing in the forums, but it just doesn't sit well with me.  They seem to be trying but I continually get the sense that they are out of touch with their true customer base. 

Last year, I paid Etsy  over $670.00 - they represent my third largest vendor expense category and that amount represents approximately 10% of my income from Etsy sales.  I categorize these payments as "advertisement expenses" since the bulk of it is listing fees, but when I pay listing fees, I have no guarantees about how many people will see the items or for how long they will stay near the top of searches.  This is the big problem with jewelry sales online - so many sellers are out there that your items are buried before anyone sees them. 

I really want to move more of my business over to ArtFire and eventually onto my own website.  ArtFire charges me $7.00 a month for an annual total of  $84.00.  If I want to spend more on targeted marketing on or off site, I can do so under contracts that guarantee either a certain number of views or a specific length of time on a specific  webpage.  I would much rather spend a few hundred a year on targeted advertising than keep shelling out hundreds that I have little control over to Etsy. 

BTW - I have removed several items from my Etsy jewelry shop and discounted them by 50% over on ArtFire.  Go take a look!

Anyway,

Here's my pretty sunshine spotlight - composed of items from other EtsyBloggers' shops. I included one of RoseWorks' lovely necklaces - I'm so jealous that she has the time and patience for doing an entire necklace in spiral helix stitch!  You can see the spotlight in person and even clicky on links over here.

Now I have to go get some cleaning done and enamel some dragonflies so I can ship them tomorrow!  I've been fighting off a cold so a morning in front of the computer felt like a good idea today.  (Ug- have to do taxes, soon, too!)



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So.  I have determined 3 things that have a direct impact on my eczema.  It has nothing to do with lotions that I may or may not smear on my face.  It's all about Zinc and  B vitamins.

And stress.

When I feel like I want to tear my face off because it is itching sooooo much I could scream, that means it is time for Luna to sit down, take a few deep breaths, refrain from clawing at her ears and eyelids for a minute and just breathe.

Good Lord.  Is this what my life has come to?

Guess so.

Right now the blood pressure raising, tension headache causing, itch inducing factors in my life are; 

Maxx's CSE meeting at 1:45 this afternoon.  I'm almost sick to my stomach.  1st grade is coming.  THEY are going to expect my rambunctious FAS baby to SIT at a desk and do worksheets - a LOT.  It is going to be very hard for him.  I'm pretty sure that most of the staff are not on board with the realities of FAS.  I don't want my kid in an endless cycle of detention.  I don't want him relegated to a Special Ed classroom. 

Molly's Opening Night.  Friday - we're all gonna be toast by then. 

NYS sales tax.  I have to go through a years's worth of sales and figure out what items I shipped to adresses in  NYS, figure out what tax district that address is in and calculate to the penny the tax that I have to send to NYS.  BY MARCH 22.   I simply haven't kept good enough records of these transactions this year. I'll be able to re-construct it but it will take time and I'm too chicken to just fudge it.  Oh - and I have to go back through my purchases and determine which items that were shipped from OUTSIDE NYS are subject to NYS sales tax - basically anything that doesn't get re-sold or become part of something that I sell.  By March 22nd. 

IRS tax return.  I haven't even started.  Really.

The housework.   The budget.   Bryan's job or not-job next year.

The other house.  The Fort Jackson Bridge is going to close next Monday for repairs.  Our other house is about to get about 10- 15 miles further away.  We debated about trying desperately to get moved over there this week but we have no water yet and very few electrical fixtures installed and the living room isn't ready for the woodstove yet. And we have soooo many demands and obligations on our time right now.  Bry is trying to make up at work and at Church for being relatively out of commission for over three weeks in February as it is.

O.K.  I'm getting itchy again.

On a happier note - I've got a project I want to take a stab at in the midst of all this stress.  SLC Arts Council is planning a special gallery exhibit/sale to benefit our multi-arts center project.  The exhibit will be called Limited Space and all proceeds will go toward our fund for renovating Damon Hall to house classroom space, galleries, a performance space and several specialized studios for glass, ceramics & jewelry.   We're acepting works in all media that are no larger than 40 square inches for this benefit.

I've been pondering this project for several weeks and it finally appeared on paper last night.  I'll use techniques from Embroidered Flora and Fauna - I bought it with a coupon at Joanne Fabrics many months ago and have been 'itching' to try some of these techniques for a long time.

I think the image of eggs in a nest is appropriate on a lot of levels right now.  The Arts Council is growing rapidly.  We won't fit in our little egg much longer.

On a personal level, I feel like I really need to transform into a more productive creature.  I desperately need to learn how to fly.  Lately I feel like I just keep falling out of the nest.











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