I’ve posted several articles in the last few months about how to make the most of your etsy and artfire shops, and how to simplify selling handmade items online with tools, etc.

Here is a quick list of useful blog posts in case you missed any of them:

1. Optimizing your Etsy and Artfire item description for GOOGLE base

2. International postal shipping tips for your handmade items

3. How to price your handmade creations: Tools available online

4. What are Google Alerts and why do I need them?

5. Using Google Analytics to track my etsy traffic: ENABLE Site Search!

6. More tagging tips for your etsy and artfire handmade items

7. Marketing : 5 basic steps to successful selling

8. Etsy sellers: Want to know what treasuries you’re in? And gift guides?

9. Etsy and Artfire item titles: Are yours configured the best way for Google?

New green and lavender etsy treasury, featuring the Starving Artist Team members.

If you click on the image, it will take you directly to the treasury list on etsy, until it expires.

Looking for a Bead Society, or a Polymer Clay, Metal Arts, or Glassworking Guild near you? Check out this monster of a list on the Rings & Things web site.  Wow!!

Bead Society / Art Guild List

I’m back from my blogging hiatus. I can’t promise award winning posts, but I can promise more volume. Thanks for staying tuned.

Have a creative and wonderful holiday week everyone

Kristy

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Remember when I posted lists, according to Google Analytics, of search terms used to find my shop on etsy, and more search terms here?   The current month’s list is equally amusing. I don’t know how effective GA is for etsy, but, at a minimum it is entertaining. LOL

1. Cool Jewelry – nice to know someone thinks I’m cool. I wonder when the last time was that I was actually cool? 1992?
2. Crocheted Smoke Ring – Smoke made tangible.  Crochet even.
3. Beverage Cover – I’m trying to think of what items in my shop could be used as a beverage cover. hmmmmm
4. Edor – turns out there’s another shop owner with this name. I was thinking it was some sort of Tolkein reference.
5. How to sew a mad hatter top hat – Alice and me… we have a LOT in common
6. Make a baby shower invitation monkey – Is this a trained pet that hands out stationery?
7. Milkshake spoons – There are special spoons for milkshakes? Really? Sheesh. I know, I know, I was raised in a barn apparently.
8. No pierce nipple rings – mmm, no comment
9. Snape decal – Harry Potter has left the building. Or at least my shop.
10. Terrarium plants experiment report – wondering what, exactly, one was conducting this ‘experiment’ for?
11. Two cheeky monkeys -  aha!! Another Craig Ferguson fan.

12. Weiner dog necklace – is this ‘of’ the dog or ‘for’ the dog?

You just can’t make this stuff up….

Want to share some of yours?

Merriam-Webster defines odoriferous as:

odor·if·er·ous
Pronunciation: \ˌō-də-ˈri-f(ə-)rəs\
Function: adjective
Date: 15th century

1 : yielding an odor : odorous
2 : morally offensive

— odor·if·er·ous·ly adverb

— odor·if·er·ous·ness noun

Several years ago, I purchased almost all of my jewelry on ebay. It was cheap, it was colorful and it fit a need at the time. For the last couple of years, most, if not all of these purchases have been sitting idly in my jewelry box. And some for VERY good reason. They were stinky.

Stinky jewelry you say? How odd. Indeed.

Some of the pendants I’d purchased smelled bad. Like dead animal, morning after binge drinking, bad.

Thursday night I couldn’t sleep, so, instead of having another glass of wine and going back to bed, like any normal person, I decided to clean out the odoriferous culprits in my jewelry box. I made a big pile of the stuff I no longer wear and proceeded to take them apart to determine the source of the smell.

Know what I found out? Really cheap jewelry isn’t made well. Big surprise, huh? There is glue. LOTS of glue. And lots of additions of paper or fabric or something under the stones in the pendants.  The something and the glue was what was stinky.

So I ended up putting all the silver into a pile to be melted later, trashing the stinky liner stuff, and stashing the myriad glass and stone cabachons I saved.  (You can see some of the glue still stuck to the rose quartz cabs in the second image below)

The glass cabachons will most likely end up in my supply shop on Artfire at some point. Not sure what I’ll do with the stone cabs I dug out of the miasma. LOL They may show up in my supply shop too.

So is there a lesson learned? Sort of.  There is nothing inherently wrong with purchasing inexpensive costume jewelry. It serves a purpose. But, to the best of my knowledge, the good stuff doesn’t stink.

The end.

The members of Starving Artist’s Team on Etsy are planning a fabulous holiday surprise for you,  our readers and customers. We’re sworn to secrecy, so even though we are bursting at the seams, we can’t tell you what it is.

You should check out the SATeam blog for further announcements.

The SATeam blog features artisan handmade creations by the etsy starving artists jewelry team. SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current etsy shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com.

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Apatite, the most common phosphate mineral is a member of the Apatite group (isomorphous hexagonal mineral group) and usually appears in blue or green shade. However, the color ranges from colorless, white, yellow to red, brown, pink or purple. It is a brittle stone, and I wouldn’t recommend using it in bracelets or rings, unless extreme care is given in their wear.

Apatite is believed to decrease appetite (hunger) as well as enhance insight, creativity and learning. It is said that wearing apatite will enhance focus, clarity for concentration, intellect, acceptance, and unconditional love. This acceptance and unconditional love relates to the self as well as from others.

I have a couple shades in my bead stash, and used two of them in these lovely silver hoop earrings.

I used the green faceted apatite rondelles  to wrap shiny silver hoops, and the more teal/cerulean blue color smooth rondelles to dangle from the oxidized silver pair.

I can’t decide which shade I like better. What do you think?

I spent a little quality time at the work bench this weekend. A little creating, a little organizing. You know how that goes. The organizing paid off, however, as I discovered some wonderful little deep red garnet briolettes I’d forgotten I had.

Both pair are available in the ShinyAdornments Artfire studio.

Citrine Encrusted Silver Hoops

Artisan Silver and Garnet Hoops

Happy Holiday Shopping Everyone!

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This is a repost
International shipping can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few tips to remember to simplify your international shipping task. It’s really very easy to ship internationally. I understand completely the hesitation, but I have to say that it was the smartest thing I’ve done. Without offering international shipping, I would have cut my sales in half.

* Invest in a postal scale. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive, or even a digital one. I went to Office Depot and bought an old-style, non-digital 2 lb postal scale for $15.00. It’s been dead-on every time. You can also find good deals on digital postal scales on ebay.

* Weigh your items INSIDE the packaging you intend to use. This includes the bubble wrap, thank you note cards, address labels, everything. This will give you a better idea of how much each package weighs, and what the range in weight is. This should help in setting your international shipping charges.

* Research shipping costs. The cheapest way to send anything is to use USPS, assuming that your items aren’t huge, super-heavy, or weird-shaped. Go online to www.usps.com, plug in different weights, choose a couple different destinations, and see what the costs are. I ship everything First Class and First Class international. Don’t let the postal worker try to talk you into doing Global Priority or Express – it’s their job to up-sell; First Class International is generally the least expensive option. It is about $0.92 cents per ounce to international destinations (that price does vary), but that equals about $3.00 for a 3 ounce package. If your items are heavier and cannot go First Class International, quote the actual shipping cost and let the buyer decide. You may be surprised and ship the item regardless of the higher cost. Note that insurance or tracking is NOT available with First class International. You can find shipping calculations by international zone here http://www.usps.com/prices/first-class-mail-international-prices.htm#cz

* Get a stack of First Class Customs forms from the post office or you can find downloadable customs forms here https://webapps.usps.com/customsforms/  You need to use PS Form 2976. I think the idea of a customs form throws a lot of people off, but it shouldn’t. The form asks for basic information, like your name and address, the ship to name and address, the weight of the package, the cost of what’s in it (Use the price you’ve charged for your item, not YOUR cost), and what is in it. That’s all. So, get a stack of them, and keep them next to your shipping supplies; this way you can fill out the form at home and save time at the post office. Do NOT falsify the customs form, such as stating ‘gift’ when it is a purchase. CUSTOMS DOES NOT PROVIDE TRACKING. Unless your package is shipped in one of the priority groups it can not be tracked if lost. Shipping priority does however, give you insurance at no extra cost. Flat rate priority is excluded. See details here. http://www.usps.com/international/intlspecialservices.htm.

* International packages have to be taken to the post office if they weigh more than 13 oz and have postage stamps on them . (From the USPS web site “Domestic and international mailpieces that weigh 13 ounces or less, with postage stamps affixed, can be dropped in a blue collection box, or handed to your letter carrier.  Mailpieces that weigh more than 13 ounces, with postage stamps affixed, must be handed to a Retail associate at your local Post Office.” )

There are online, print-at-home mail services that include the customs form in their postage label (PayPal Shipping is NOT one of those services), but those are monthly subscriptions and you have to pay a fee to use them. If you ship a large amount of items, it might be worth it to use a third party postage service (like stamps.com or endicia.com) These sites charge a small membership fee, but you can insure 1st class US postal service package for a small amount, like $1 or so. Both services allow you to print First Class international postage from home. Print the mailing address and your return address in all CAPITAL LETTERS especially when shipping to Canada.(Note: Fedex, UPS, etc. need a broker to clear customs. The broker costs are passed on to the package recipient. If possible, always ship USPS, as it does not require a broker. )

*  When you send any International package, I would highly recommend that you invest a bit more time in the wrapping and cushioning your items. Don’t use recycled food boxes. Some countries disallow entry due to food bourne disease fears. Keep in mind the distance that it’ll be traveling…

* Make sure you communicate with your international buyer about their local custom restrictions. You can find more information about that here http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immctry.htm . I’d recommend adding some details around your international mailing policies in your shop policy statement. I have something to the effect that local customs are the buyer’s responsibility, etc. You should send an email note to your buyer once the item has been mailed.

Can you think of any other tips?

(Special thanks to Brandi of CatiesBlue, Nicole of Beadwright and Deb of Crysalliscreations for their suggestions and content in this post. You guys ROCK!)