FRONT PAGE!

Ok, I just have to brag a little bit... Every once and a while (but not very often), one of my items makes it into an Etsy treasury (where Etsy members hand-pick 12 items to show off in a mini-gallery. See this post). Etsy admin chooses a new treasury every hour (approx.) to be on the front page of Etsy. So, if you are lucky enough, your treasury, or one that you are featured in, could be on Etsy's main page, where thousands of people will see it!

Yesterday, one of my books was in a treasury. Later in the day, I happened to be viewing the front page at just the right moment...and there it was, my book! I snapped a screen shot before it disappeared. Then the book sold a few minutes later. Here's a shot of the front page:



Come check out more great Etsy treasuries HERE.

My first treasury...

Click here to see it:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=29865

I finally snagged a treasury on Etsy! For those who do not know what that is, I will explain: A treasury is basically like a mini online gallery that I get to curate. It is not to promote my own work. It is for me to show off the beautiful creations of other Etsians. I have carefully chosen 12 items from different Etsy shops that I think are great! And they fit my personally chosen theme: My idea of going GREEN. Please check it out and let me know what you think. It will be online until Friday evening. Enjoy!

NEW YEAR'S SALE! 25% OFF all glass jewelry!

Becky Sharp Designs is kicking off the New Year with a huge SALE! 25% off the entire inventory of stained glass and fused glass jewelry.

Sale starts today, but won't last long, so come shop and save NOW!

Neon Series Dichroic Jewelry

I love this new dichroic glass. Some of the colors are so bright, they seem to be illuminated from within. Here are some of my latest pieces:

Holiday Artisan's Festival

Here's my set-up at the Greenfield Center School Festival last Saturday. I'm so pleased with how much my display has improved since my first show almost two years ago. This is the first show using lights. I found these halogen desk lamps at Wal-mart, normally $13 each, for $5 each because of a pricing mistake! What a deal! It really was a necessary addition, as it added the much needed "bling" to my jewelry. The silver solder and dichroic glass really sparkled, as they should.

Overall, the show was a success, about average with other shows I've done. I still wish to have sold more, but with the economy being what it is, I am grateful for any sales, and for the experience.

Now I have a large inventory to work with, as I have been creating jewelry constantly for the past four weeks and only made a dent in it at the show. But there is still plenty of time for holiday shopping, so I best take advantage of it while I can. I need to get busy listing the rest of it on my website. So I'm off to work!

Free Shipping and a Free Gift Box!!!

Through the end of the year, Becky Sharp Designs is offering FREE SHIPPING and a FREE GIFT BOX with each purchase. This is a great deal for all of you who are looking for that perfect gift online. And, you can have the gift shipped directly to friends and family with a personalized message from you!

Orders received and payed for by Dec. 18th will arrive in time for Christmas! Don't hesitate. Come check out the latest designs NOW!

Holiday Artisan's Festival

Info for everyone living in or near Massachusetts!!! I will be selling my stained glass and fused glass jewelry at the Holiday Artisan's Festival at the Greenfield Center School. The event is on Saturday, December 6th from 10 am to 4 pm. The school is located at 71 Montague City Road, Greenfield, MA 01301. The school's website has more details HERE.

I am even more excited about this festival because the school hand-picked the 25 vendors that are participating. And they are only allowing artists who hand-craft their own products. I was lucky enough to be chosen, and I'm sure there will be some great one-of-a-kind hand-crafted goods for sale. If you are close by, please come and see me! I'm sure you'll find lots of great gifts for your friends and family (or yourself!) There will be a silent auction to which I am donating a glass necklace. A portion of my proceeds will be donated to the school. And there will also be gift-making workshops for the kids, so bring your families. I look forward to seeing you!

If you can't come, but want to see my jewelry, please check out my website: www.BeckySharpDesigns.com

Just for Fun

I made this necklace the other day when I had an overwhelming desire to bend some wire. It was a lot of fun, and took forever to make! It's made out of 16 gauge silver colored copper wire and fire polished glass beads. If I ever get my hands on (or can afford) enough sterling silver wire, I'll use this necklace as a prototype to make another one. But in the meantime, I'll have fun wearing this one.

Fused glass is here!

Here's the pendants before I fired them.

Before...

12 hours later...and some wire wrapping and picture taking...

Before...

After...
Isn't fused glass amazing?

What a difference good photos make...

I am amazed at the response I have already gotten from my new product images. I had two sales yesterday: one for jewelry supplies and one for a pendant that has been on the site for months. All I did was take new pictures and re-list it yesterday. And I sold the new split heart pendant the day before that. Hmmm...red seems to be the color of choice. So, lots more red on the way!

Going Good...

I'm at 85 sales on Etsy now! And, I even had a sale on my main website just the other day. A new customer found me by searching on Google. That doesn't happen very often, since I don't pay for advertising or anything. So I was very pleased. Hopefully they will love what they bought and come back. Better yet, hopefully they will spread the word and send more customers my way!

And I just posted a couple more new items. Here they are. I love them both!




I haven't used my kiln yet. I want to SO bad, but haven't read through the instructions all the way. That might be kind of important when heating something up to 1500 degrees F. I don't think I want to guess. So, I better go get reading!

Light box or Cat box?

This is my cat Tally's favorite new place to sleep. It's rather annoying when I go to take pictures of some new pieces of jewelry and there is cat hair everywhere! Oh well, she is cute anyway...thought I'd snap a few pics.

My two year old just fell asleep. It's a miracle! Or, a wonderful birthday gift to me today. I think I'll go solder some more jewelry!

As if I didn't already have enough hobbies...

My husband bought me a glass kiln for my birthday. It's a super nice one, too. I am stoked!...no pun intended. I have wanted to try glass fusing for some time now. I plan on adding a whole new line of fused glass jewelry to my shop once I get the hang of it and come up with some creative designs. Luckily, the kiln came with some sample glass for me to experiment with. Then I will be able to order whatever else I need online, since I can't seem to find a stained glass supply store less than an hour away from here! :( Anyway, here are some pics of my new kiln.

Pretty big interior, big enough to slump a large plate.

Totally programmable!

New Listings!

Here they are...the first two pendants finished in Massachusetts, along with my new photography style. I am really happy with how the pics turned out. These pendants are now available for purchase in my Etsy shop. More to come...

Jewelry in Action

An old friend of mine from high school got in touch with me recently. She saw my jewelry online and special ordered eight pendants of the same color, but different shapes, for the bridesmaids and flower girls at her wedding. Today, I was browsing Facebook and saw some pics of the wedding. And, I saw my jewelry being worn! I normally send orders out and never get to see the recipient of my creations! It was a real treat.

Plugging along...

I haven't finished those new pendants yet, but I am up to 79 sales on Etsy. Now I really need to list some new stuff and pull in some customers!

New Projects...it's about time...

Ok, so I didn't do so great in the last two weeks accomplishing any of my goals. But I am happy to say that I'm trying to make up for lost time. I am finally working again!!! Last night I prepped several new pendants. I was going to just make one from start to finish, but as usual, I started cutting the glass and couldn't decide on just one design. So I did some sketching, then cutting, grinding and foiling. Then it got too late, so I couldn't do the soldering last night. Hopefully, I will finish a couple tonight. I am SO excited to finally be making jewelry again!

My Etsy Goal

I'm at 75 sales now on Etsy, and pleased with the positive feedback I've received from my customers! And I seem to continue making sales, despite my lack of new inventory. My main website, however, continues to decline in hits, because I know nothing about marketing. But I am prepared to let that go for now, because of the promising future I see on Etsy, and the success I've seen others have on Etsy. I think that the benefits will outweigh the listing fees I will pay.

I have also had much success with my recent clearance sale. I am excited to clear out my older designs to make room for the new ones coming soon. I have had a long vacation (if it can really be called that) from making jewelry during our transition across the country to our new home. But, my art room is almost organized enough to start working again.

I figured I would make some new goals regarding my business here on the blog. So here they are:

1. Post on my blog at least once a week to keep track of my progress on goals.
2. Create at least one new piece of jewelry to completion every day.
3. List at least one new piece of jewelry for sale every day.
4. Revamp my Etsy site - new pricing for new items, new chain/cord selection as separate listings, possibly a new style of product photography. (This goal may take a few weeks to complete.)
5. Ship out orders within one day of receiving payment.
6. Record sale transactions on my business spreadsheet to track expenses/profit.
7. Reach 100 sales by the end of August.

I'd better get to work!

New Wire Wrap Style

This is a new pendant I just made. I have seen this style of wire wrapping done be several other jewelry designers and wanted to try my hand at it. I love the look of the wire across the glass instead of around the edge. And I love being able to use some of my photography. I plan on making more. Hopefully everyone will like them as much as I do!

My Perfect Handbag

Here are the pics of the handbag I made for myself. I sewed it together with my old Singer, fighting it the whole time. When I was almost finished, my Singer refused to do the final stitch around the top. Hence the need for the new machine. My bag is finally done!

My New Sewing Machine

No more fighting with my 40-year-old Singer sewing machine. (No disrespect to the old Singer...it's been there for me over the years, but just isn't what it used to be. And thank you mom for handing it down to me!) Here's the BEAUTIFUL new replacement, equipped with all the bells and whistles that I need.

I love fabric...

Ok, besides being my new hobby, handbags are my new obsession! And I think I'm addicted to buying fabric. I love the colors and textures...reds, greens & golds...chenille, velvet, corduroy...it's all wonderful. And when I look at all the fabrics next to each other, I picture what they would look like all sewn together into a neat little bag with handles.

I went fabric shopping tonight and spent more money than I had planned on. Some of it was on sale, but not all. I kept trying to put things back, but couldn't. But I look at it as an investment in my business. I am planning on making bags out of all of the fabrics I bought. I want to start selling a few and see how it goes. I love making handbags, and like other women, can't seem to have enough of them! Hopefully, there will be women out there that love my new creations as much as I do. I guess I better get sewing!

My New Hobby

I recently looked all over for the perfect handbag. I already have a large hand-made tote bag that I bought at a farmers market before Christmas. I love it, but it's rather large. I wanted something smaller, with a certain kind of upholstery fabric and a certain number of pockets inside. Oh, and a handle long enough to go over my shoulder. (I'm not picky at all! :-) But I couldn't find one anywhere. Then I decided, as always, if you want something done right...do it yourself! It can't be that hard, right?

So, I went shopping on President's Day (lucky for me, because there was a 50% off everything sale at JoAnn Fabric). I found some GORGEOUS red velvet tapestry/upholstery fabric, some other coordinating fabrics to go with it, and a pattern of course. Then, my 4-year-old and I took a number and waited for OVER AN HOUR just to get the fabric cut. Everyone and their sister was shopping for fabric, apparently.

Today I made a "practice" bag with some cheap fabric just to see how the thing would go together, and to experiment a little bit with adding pockets, etc. After a little frustration, and some seam ripping, I actually finished the thing! It even has two pockets and a pen holder! The only problem...I forgot to put in the magnetic clasp before stitching the lining into the exterior of the bag...oops. And, I didn't make the handle long enough. So, this bag will now be handed over to my son to do with as he pleases. When I get brave enough to cut the expensive fabric, I'll complete the "real" bag. I will post pictures when the masterpiece is complete! In the meantime, here is a picture of the prototype.