Check out my Treasury!!!

Hey everyone, I got chosen for a Treasury on Etsy by Etsy Texas Crafters of which I am a member! Thanks Liz... I really love the color green. You can see my work as well as 11 of the best that Texas has to offer at http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10193.

New stock coming up, stay posted!

Grand Opening-Michele Cook Designs

Ok, everyone has to check it out! I bit the bullet and opened a new Etsy store with the name Michele Cook Designs. The link is http://michelecookdesigns.etsy.com. I've got some new stuff listed and lots of pics in the camera waiting for treatment so they can be listed. I'm getting geared up for the Christmas season and a show in Dallas at Hermann Hall on November 22nd. I have added a place on the left margin to list shows I am attending so everyone will know when I will be where. I've been working hard on my display tables and will have pictures to post in a week or so.

I am also signed up with the Indie Collective which is a collection of independent artists. I'll be listed there as a seller also so check it out at Indie Collective.

I am also signed up with ProPay to accept credit cards so if anyone wants to buy something but not use PayPal I can process your credit card with ProPay.

I did actually close the michele38 Etsy store because it was getting confusing so if you have that address bookmarked or had given it out please give out my new store. If you go to Etsy.com just type michelecookdesigns in the search for user names. Be sure to type it as all one word, no spaces. I feel as though I am really officially a full time jewelry seller. Help me spread the word!

Check out my fellow eSMArts team members

Check out this luscious collection of jewelry from my talented fellow jewelry designers in our eSMArts Team!

Etsy eSMArts Team Treasury

Getting Ready for My First Show!!

Ok, I've been reading all the posts about booth and table displays with great interest and I saw these in a catalog today and they seem like a good idea for some decorative accents on my table. I can't decide if I should use the white ones, the colored ones or a mixture. They are very inexpensive.

I also realized that I would be able to change the votive cup for the holidays. The same catalog had some cups shaped like jingle bells in red and white that would be cute. So, I'm taking a vote and I will post a poll on my blog. Everyone needs to vote for white, colored or combination. By the way, the colored ones change colors automatically. The description says they fade in and out of 7 different color combination of red, green and blue. I like the votive cup they show in the picture but I'm not sure if I can buy them also or not. WalMart will have some cheap. JoAnn's will also, and probably many in holiday themes and on sale! My first show isn't until November but I want to be prepared! Ok, don't forget to vote!

Too Much Computer Time

I've been spending so much time on my computer trying to learn the business of running a business I haven't been paying much attention to my business! I have been accepted to the EtsyDallas show Jingle Bash which will be my first show. I will have to get busy making lots and lots of jewelry to take with me. Plus figure out how to take credit cards, get packaging supplies.... on and on. I hope I make enough money in the show just to pay for getting there! Whew! But I have some great ideas for new pieces and I have also been working on getting better pictures of my jewelry. I have a new display thanks to my daughter. As soon as I finish painting it I'll dress it up and show it off!

I will be blogging more regularly now and I'll give everyone sneak peaks of my new creations. I have some great new cabs to wrap and a couple of new wrapping techniques so stay tuned!

My daughter and grandsons were here for Labor Day weekend. We had lovely weather and my daughter and I did some shopping. We checked out a really great shop in Dallas called The Rock Barrel. They have great stuff. A really good place for tools also. If you are like me I prefer to see the tools and hold them in my hand before making a decision. This place was great and the people running it are very helpful. The do have online ordering if you are not in the Dallas area.

Well, back to the workbench to create some more spectacular jewelry items!

Twitter

Ok, I signed up for Twitter. Not sure exactly what I am supposed to do but I've done it. Lets see now how it works. I'm not sure how to search for people if I don't have an email address. But I did send invitations to people in my address book. So far so good. If anyone wants to invite me to follow them please do so. I'm so connected now with LinkReferral, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs, Etsy, etc I can't imagine how I could ever feel alone again. LOL.

New Pendant

I haven't listed this yet in Etsy as I have just a touch more to do with taking better photographs. As a matter of fact, my hubby has been working on a light box for me and I'm trying to figure out the best background for my pictures. Once I'm done with that I'll be posting more to Etsy as well as redoing the existing photos.

The light box is very simple. It is a cardboard box about 18" square. He cut out a square on each side leaving about 1.5" border. The bottom is solid and the top has a square hole about 6" square cut for the camera to look through. This allows me to take pictures from the top looking down on the jewelry. Then I took white tissue paper and covered the cutouts on 2 opposite sides leaving the other 2 opposite sides open. If I want to take a picture straight on I can set up the camera outside the box by one of the open sides. I can use this outside as well as indoors. When using it outside I place one of the covered sides facing the sun. Inside I have 2 lamps with 60 watt bulbs that I place about 4" from the paper. Both ways work well. I also have lined the top with aluminum foil and will probably do the other parts as well to reflect more light. I have taken some pictures to show you what I'm talking about.

The last two pictures are using the light box. The one with the PCM pendant is at night with the 2 lights outside the tissue paper and the bracelet is outside with the sun shining in through the tissue paper. Believe it or not the backgrounds in the two pictures are the same. See what a difference light makes?

I have put together all the advice I've read from the eSMArts Team as well as other groups about photographing jewelry, my hubby made me a light box. Now its just up to taking new pictures. Keep checking my Etsy store for new pictures.