The Frustrating Arts and Crafts Market

I'm a little frustrated.  I think there are craft show promoters out there that really aren't doing their job.  The economy is terrible.  People aren't buying what they used to.  I think some promoters think they don't have to work any harder than they are used to doing. They're wrong.

Promoters need to do what they do even more than they were, especially when the economy is down.  They need to promote.  They need to advertise.  They need to talk about their show.  They need to talk about their artists.  They need to tell EVERYONE!!!

I have done a few craft shows lately that seem to think that all they need to do is proclaim they are having a craft show, gather artists, and take our money.  I don't get the feeling they think they owe us artists anything more than that.  They are WRONG!
There was one show that I do, and actually did pretty well at the previous year despite the economy, that changed the week that they did their show in 2011.  Why would they do that?  This show is in a vacation destination.  Vacationers tend to book their vacation for the same week EVERY YEAR.  So those who book their vacation JUST so they can come to this particular show were left wondering what happened to it this year. Plus, they don't even have a website for this show, so vacationers can't even check when it is. I was so bummed, and I did so badly! It was also the first year that I'd been there and we had NO bad weather.  It was BEAUTIFUL!!! But nobody came.

I don't understand why there aren't more promoters using Facebook.  Or using it more to their advantage.  I know some promoters that only list their shows on their promoter page instead of creating a page just for their show.  I think that's a huge mistake.  I think instead of making their promoter page stand out, it makes their event impossible to find by those who are actually looking for it. I believe they're shooting themselves in the foot.  I believe that having both a promoter page AND a show page DOUBLES their chance of being found.  It also makes it easier for us artists to promote it because it makes us (the vendors) feel like that show is OURS, not just the promoter's. We can post pictures and comments on the wall at will.  We can tag where we are.  We can help them do their job.  Just give us the tools, please! We DO want to help!

Don't get me wrong.  I do feel some responsibility in promoting the shows I'm in.  I try to do the best I can, and I know plenty of other artists who also help promote the shows they're in.  But the promotion is ultimately the responsibility of the promoter.  I'm hopeful that the shows I'm in this year do a KILLER job of promoting.  We could really use a profitable year!  Happy craft show season!

And the Winner Is...

Laura! What am I talking about? My contest, of course! I was giving away my Winnie's Sweetheart Pendant to the person who promoted me to their friends the most on Facebook.

Not only did Laura get 50 of her personal friends to join my site, but she also got at least 10, and I would guess a lot more than that, to "like" my Sandy Toes Jewelry Facebook fan page through her Cabbing Rough Facebook fan page.

I hope you'll stop by her Cabbing Rough Facebook fan page and "like" her! I also hope you'll stop by her Cabbing Rough Etsy Shop and take a look around! She has some beautiful cabachons!

My New Addiction!

I must admit, I have an addiction. I have friends who've had this addiction for a while. I understood their addiction but didn't feel the draw to it myself until just recently. My new addiction? Well...

And...

To feed my addiction, I need more, more, more!

My new "dealer" is having a contest. If you go to Beadsaddict Facebook page and click "like" on my pictures, I might just win some more! Please, won't you help out a jeweler with a serious addiction? Please?

Marketplace Monday by Finding Fabulous

Finding Fabulous is hosting Marketplace Monday. There are lots of great Valentine's Day gifts featured! Check it out!

Win Me! Winnie's Heart Pendant

Well, it's the dead of winter. There are no craft shows to speak of. It's not a great time of year to get jewelry sales. Let's have a contest!

I'm giving away this gorgeous pink druzy heart pendant! I first designed this shape for my friend, Winnie, who wanted me to make a ring for her out of a druzy. My excitement over druzies has evidentally rubbed off on her. She picked a gorgeous blue druzy out of my stash of druzies that I purchased from beadsaddict, one of my fellow Etsy sellers; she has some GORGEOUS stones! Anyway, Winnie picked out a stone, and had me design a ring just for her. We were both very happy with the way it turned out. It looks gorgeous on her hand, too!

With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to do something special for my Facebook Fans. I do LOVE my Facebook fans! Therefore, I designed a pendant that I'm going to give away. It's made up of a gorgeous pink and white druzy, bezel set and embellished to form a heart. It's my Win Me! Winnie's Heart Pendant. It's going to be given away to one of my Facebook Fans. It could be you!

Here's how it works:

1. "Like" my Sandy Toes Jewelry Facebook Fan page.

2. Suggest my page to your friends. You can hit the "share" button under any posts I do on my page, or there's also a "share" button at the bottom on the left of my Facebook fan page. There used to be a "suggest to friends" button, but evidently Facebook has done away with that, so you're going to have to use your imagination. Sorry!

3. On Sunday, February 6th, see how many of your friends also "like" my page. That will also be on the left side under the profile picture, but above the total number of people who "like" my page.

4. E-mail me at lisa@sandytoesjewelry.com to tell me how many of your friends "like" my page. I need proof, though. To prove how many, please go to my page, highlight the "6 of so-and-so-many friends like this", showing the 6 friends it will show you, copy it, and paste that in your e-mail to me. I need to receive this by Sunday, February 6th, midnight (EST), though! Make sure you put "Win Me! Winnie's Heart Pendant Contest" in the Subject line.

5. Whomever has the most friends that "like" my page will win the pendant! I will determine the winner on Monday, February 7th and get it shipped off so that the winner will receive it before Valentine's Day.

I will warn you, however. One of my friends has been promoting my fan page for a really long time, so she probably already has lots of friends that "like" my page. She's going to be stiff competition! (Thanks, Michelle!)

Good luck!

O, Christmas Tree!

A few weeks ago, my boss decided to have a contest and asked all of us to write, in fifty words or less, what Christmas meant to us. Well, I went over, of course, because I can't abbreviate ANYTHING. But it did get me thinking. What DID Christmas mean to me?

She asked this a day or two before we bought our Christmas tree. I love a live tree, so that's what we get every year. It's messy, it drops needles, as well as ornaments, as it slowly wilts. But there's nothing like the smell of it, or each tree's uniqueness.

As I started decorating I think about our life. Our Christmas tree tells the story of our lives. Decorating the tree reminds me of EVERYTHING we've gone through. There are the ornaments on the tree that I made for my parents in preschool. There are ornaments that my kids made for me and my husband in preschool. There are the ornaments that my husband and I bought our first year of marriage at the dollar store, when we were terribly poor. There's the ornament that my grandmother made for our family when I was little and it makes me miss her. There are the photo ornaments of my children as babies with their toothless grins, and I have to smile.

Now, when we go on vacation, one of the souvenirs that I try to always bring back with us is a Christmas ornament. That helps us keep the memories of that trip alive. We have countless ornaments from Disney World. There's a crawdad with a crown and mardi gras beads from New Orleans as a reminder of the one and only trip my husband and I took by ourselves after we had kids. This year we took a cruise to Mexico, and I didn't find any ornaments while on the trip, but while I was Christmas shopping I did buy us a burro pinata ornament to remind us of the trip.

There are also the ornaments that just remind us of everyday life. The black lab ornament for Molly, the chocolate lab ornament for Hershey, the cat for both cats. We have a Santa constuction company ornament with Santa in a hard hat on a steel beam for the house we built in the Outer Banks. The fish ornament my best friend in the Outer Banks gave me. Almost all of our ornaments mean something to us.

I really don't understand how people can just decorate their tree to look pretty. Our Christmas tree is our time to reflect. It reminds us of where we've been. I'm hoping to pass down the tradition to my boys. I've already started to separate some ornaments out for them to use on their own trees, though we have a few years before they'll have their own trees. But my wish for them is that at least once a year, they remember their lives when they were children, and how much we love them. And that they pass it on to their children.

Now it's time to take the Christmas tree down. That will stir up all those wonderful memories again. I guess that makes it twice a year that it stirs up memories! That's what Christmas is all about. Happy remembering!

Where the Wild Ficus Grows

I love my workshop! Sometimes, I think I love it a little too much. I have the great outdoors on three sides of me, with big, double glass doors on all four sides of the room, so that I have a clear view in every direction. Of course, one of those doors just looks out onto my living room, but even that has it's advantages. I can keep an eye on my kids.

I didn't always have a workshop that I love. My first workshop, in our first house, only consisted of my bench shoved into a tiny corner of our laundry room. I couldn't even push my chair all the way back because I'd run into the washer. It was tight.

In my second house, size wasn't the problem with my workshop. It was pretty darn big. But I was still in the laundry room. And the laundry room was in the basement. An unheated basement.

My workshop now is everything I could ever want. It's big. It's sunny. I have great views. It's in the main part of the house. I have my own television. But most of all, everything fits! Even my huge ficus! Too bad he blocks some of the sun, though. This is usually where I take my photos of my jewelry.



The table in my workshop is where I store my laptop and where I can price and tag my jewelry.

My bench has been with me since I graduated from college. My dad made it for me. It has tons of drawers to store all my goodies. The drawer pulls don't match, but my bench rocks, none-the-less.

In my drawers, I store small polishing supplies, my metals, my saw, caliper, and sanding sticks, my mandrels, hammers, draw plate, draw tongs, and stamps. The other drawers are just for storing all those items that don't fit anywhere else.

I love the little shelf my dad added to the inside of my bench. I store my notebooks, findings, and wax carving supplies there. And the catch tray is big enough to catch all of my shavings and stones that like to go flying.

On the other side of the room, I have all of my big tools. This includes my kiln, ultrasonic, home-made polishing hood and motor, and down below is my vacuum caster. The cabinets were recycled from when my parents redid their kitchen, and we just bought a counter top to put on the top. They're not actually built in, so if we ever move, I can take them with me.

This crazy piece of equipment to the left is a wax injector. I have yet to use it, but can't wait until I get to the point where I can. I hope it works; I got it used.

These cabinets are WONDERFUL! They all have pull out drawers, which are great for storing all those little items that might get lost deep in the back of the cabinets if I didn't have them. Here, you can see my casting supplies, such as my flasks, mixing container, and the investment, as well as other odds and ends. Another drawer holds my dapping block, punches, circle cutter, and my scale. Then I have a great storage space for all the items that I don't use very often.

I love my workshop! It's my own private space that I don't have to share with anyone. Even the television is all mine! I had no idea how important that was until I had kids.

This post was inspired by one of the Etsy Teams that I'm a member of, Aspiring Metalsmiths.

There are quite a few of us who cleaned up our work areas (a little) to show them off to those of you who are interested in seeing where we work. I hope you'll go and take a look at their workspaces, too. And here they are:

Jessica Lopour of Abella Blue

Jeanne Milmann of Golden Water Creations

Sylvia Anderson of Sylvia Anderson

Steph Stargell of Steph Stargell Designs

Clarity of Scrollwork Designs

Brandy of The Frogs Pond

Pennee of All Wired Up Jewelry Designs

Esmeralda of SilverBlueberry

Heather of Misty Ridge Designs

Joy of JoyPeckJoy

Nancy of Nancy Creations

Carole Axium of Carole Axium Designs

Gloria of Hemlock Hollow

Stacy of Form and Funktion
Julie A. Mauerer of Jamauerer