Treasure!

Found my items featured in a whopping three treasuries over the weekend! That's a lot for me. I feel honored to be amoung such talent...check out the other featured artisans as well:

Please vote for my photo!

I just entered one of my favorite beaded rings in Timothy Adam's "Etsy Worthy Photo Contest". The winner recieves a month of ad space on Timothy's website - who doesn't need a little exposure?!
If you're not entering the contest yourself, I'd be forever grateful if you wandered on over to Timothy's blog and put in a vote for me!
I'm on page 2 right now...and I'll keep you informed as that changes.
Here's the link!
VOTE HERE

Etsy Treasury

I found one of my items in a treasury of beautiful rings. It's always makes me smile to be included among such talented artists.

Have a look for yourself, and don't forget to comment, and have a closer look at all the beauties!

Etsy Beadweavers December Challenge

The entries for this month's challenge - Snow Queen - are in, and they are beauties baby!! I personally didn't have sufficient time to participate, however there are LOTS of amazing pieces to choose from. Vote for your favorite HERE. I still don't know who has my vote yet, it's so hard to pick just one!

Etsy, Artfire, and some great deals

It seems like there's been an explosion of things for me to keep up with nowadays. There's a TON of different shops to sell your wares on - enough to make your head spin!
I've only dabbled with ecrater. Ruby Lane is expensive, and I've heard enough bad customer service stories to keep me away from them. Etsy is just THE popular one right now - but for the seller with only a few sales, it's hard to keep up with the favorites we keep seeing featured.

I signed up for Artfire. It was a deal I couldn't refuse...$7 a month for life to host a shop with all my items, including relisting whenever I feel like it. Maybe you've seen some people blogging about artfire, or maybe (like me) you saw a full page ad in a magazine. If you have been thinking about signing up, now is the time. After the first 5000 people sign up, the monthly rate goes up (to $20 I do believe).

They have a deal for referrals, too. Refer 10 people and your shop is free for life! That's just a jaw dropping deal, so I'm offering some incentive to sign up with uniqueyou as your referrer.
If I manage to refer 10 people, then I will give each of the ten people a 10% off for life discount. That’s right, for life. Anytime you want anything in my shop, you get 10% off. Not bad, eh?
This is open to those who sign up for the $7/month deal, free accounts do not count towards the referal.
Just comment here to let me know you have signed up, and make sure you put uniqueyou in the referal box!
This deal is only good until December 31st, so 10 people will need to sign up before then to get the discount.

Register on ArtFire.com

Exposure of course is a good thing, but it comes at a price. I am seriously debating letting most of my items on etsy expire, I just can't pour money into relisting everyday.
I'd love to hear from any shops out there that have been pondering the pros and cons of etsy and artfire.

It's a hot topic right now - to Artfire or to Etsy?

It's happened!

I've officially had a design ripped off, beaded poorly, with prices undercut.
Highest form of flattery?
Still sucks.
I've asked them to take the offending items out of their shop and informed them that they need to actually ASK permission before taking someone elses design and making a profit with it. Lets see if they at least credit the designer. Right now they are claiming that each one of their designs is "unique and original".
Yeah. Ok.
Unfortunately I relisted my item recently, so at first glance it looks like I copied them. However I'm fairly sure etsy has records of when I first put the item on there, early this year. If it really comes down to it, I've had my design loaded on various networking/beady sites for quite some time now.
I had a feeling I would have to deal with this one day...all the beaders talk about it. I feel sick to my stomach about it.

edited to add: Ok the beadwork they did actually isn't bad...and on closer inspection they changed a couple beads but..still

Halloween Sale in my Etsy shop

I have some funky Halloween jewelry that I'd love for someone to appreciate for the rest of the month (and beyond).

The sale will last until Oct. 26th. Buy before then, and you're guaranteed to have your item before Halloween. I'm slashing prices on the following items, get em while they're hot kids:

Congratulations to the winner(s)!

That's right folks, we have a tie! Both the Black Panther Necklace created by Triz and the Gotcha - Beadwoven Cat and Mouse Bracelet from SmadarsTreasure have placed first in the Etsy Beadweavers challenge "Animal Instinct".

Just take a look at these beauties:

Congratulations ladies! I look forward to seeing what you come up with for the next theme!

Voting has commenced!

Voting for the Etsy Bead Weavers September challenge, Complimentary Contradictions, has begun. What a wonderful display of talent this month! Part of the charm of these challenges is seeing the different ways each artist interprets the theme. Luckily I was able to finish "Circle Gets the Square" just in the nick of time.

Take a look over the entries and please do vote for your favorite!
Voting ends September 15th, so take this opportunity to VOTE NOW.

Winner of EBW "Art Deco" challenge announced

Congratulations to GemsbyJules, who won the "Art Deco" challenge with her beautiful bracelet Search Light!

The runners up are:

Lost Treasures - Art Deco- beadwoven set - BeadCatcher

Art Deco Collar - HighDesertBeadscapes

Latte at Hotel Mercedes - Hand Beaded Cuff - ThreeFatesDesign

Purple Graces - triz17. A Salute To Art Deco - wMarlaine

Moss Agate Going Green Doily Bracelet - myfairladyvt4

Deco Lotus pin or pendant - beadmummy

Art Deco Cuff - Savoy Studio

A Trip to The Nile - Collar EBWC - SmadarsTreasure

Thanks to everyone who voted, and congratulations everyone for a job well done!

The next challenge is 'Complementary Contradictions' and entries are due in Sept. 5th, voting begins Sept. 7th.

I have yet to begin beading for it, but I do have an idea in my head. Lets see if it takes flight (and if I can get it finished before the deadline)!