I haven't disappeared...:)

Hello everyone. Be prepared for a LONNNNNG post. I hope you'll find it worth reading!

As many of you know, it's been a few months since I last posted on my blog. This isn't because I lost interest. It was more because I was trying to figure out what exactly to do with myself and where I would go while doing it.

I've been very much considering Etsy and if I want to continue to sell there. The reasons for this is because Etsy has been having issue with both visibility and seller tools and in delivering on the things they've been talking about. Despite these issues, I have decided to continue selling on Etsy for now but I have also chosen to diversify as well.

CARGOH.com

I recently discovered this beautifully designed venue, Cargoh. It's BRAND NEW and in Beta and so it's got bugs and the poor admins have had a huge influx of Etsy sellers and are scrambling to keep up with us all...:) I am hopefully that this market will end up being an interesting competitor for Etsy. It's one of the few sites that doesn't just deliver on content and customer service, but on design as well. I've already set up my shop and I'm going to be listing some things as soon as the photos are ready to list...:) What's cool about it is a buyer doesn't have to sign up to purchase from it and my Twitter and Facebook page are linked right there for quick and easy following. The images are also super big and you can put up more than just 5 of them.

Here's my shop: http://www.cargoh.com/store/gifted-designs

Tell me what you think of it...:D

WHERE I WANT TO TAKE THIS BLOG

My blog is also something I've been giving a lot of consideration to. I wanted to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with it and where I wanted to go. I decided that I want this blog to be a mix of self-promotion and promotion of others. I was doing that in the past, but I was only really promoting my jewelry. Very little of MYSELF was here. I feel it's important for people to know ME, not just my jewelry and artistic endeavors.

I took a good chunk of time to just right down some of the things I want to do whenever an idea would pop in my head and here's what I've got for you.

WHAT'S SHA UP TO? (personal side)

-Monthly Giveaway: I will be giving away an item with a 20-40$ value. Each month will be a different item. This is not your typical giveaway. People will be participating to enter and then a voting system will be in place once entries are given. The total time spent to run the giveaway will be two weeks, one week for entries and one week for vote. The winner will be whoever has the most votes. The inspiration for this is from the lovely Lillyella, someone who inspires me in HUGE ways...:) I'll be going in further detail when I host my first one! I would be starting this on the 15th of every month.

-It's Personal: Once a week, I will highlight something I have been doing. It could be a recipe I tried, artwork I'm working on, jewelry I'm working on, sharing some new supplies I received, a tutorial to make something, sharing my thoughts on books I'm reading, sharing photographs of things that happened (be prepared for kittie pictures or vids!) or just thoughts and observations for the week. I really want to personally connect with you and I think one day a week devoted to that is a good thing...:) I was thinking this could be on Thursdays.

-Gemstone Spotlight: This is a segment I started with my Amazonite column. I LOVE stones, I always have...even before jewelry was ever a thought and I am looking forward to sharing my favorites with you once a month. I'm hoping that people will also share with me and bring forth suggestions for the following month. Amazonite, BTW, is my favorite stone, thus why I started with it...;)

PROMOTING MY SHOP

-The Market: Anything new listed in shop during the week would be showcased and talked about. I'm hoping to list 2-3 pieces a week and so I would talk about those pieces and I would show them off too...;) I do a sneak peak 3 days before on Facebook so if you follow me in both places, you'll know before others what's coming! If a piece sells before I can post it, I will still talk about it here...:) I will be posting this on Fridays.

-Announcements: If I have special news concerning my shop, news such as the Black Friday Event I participated in last year or perhaps craft fairs I'm attending, or features I may be in, I will be announcing them, if I can, on Saturdays before the events occur. If the event or feature happen before, I will make a post about them ASAP.

PROMOTING OTHERS

-Mini Marvels: I will definitely continue to promote individual shops and people that I love or have a wonderful connection with. These people could be on Etsy, on Artfire, on Cargoh or be actual stores with an on-line presence. As with the other examples, sellers will be asked to write a short blurb about whatever they would like. Links to their stores will be provided. This is a weekly post on Mondays. I'm open to suggestions for this as well!

-Sunday Showcase: I will also definitely be continuing the showcase! I have FAR too much fun making these! Six shops are featured based on a predetermined theme posted the week before. This is a weekly post on Sundays.

-Style Exchange: This is inspired by Lillyella's Style Swap. I wanted a way to showcase my fellow EtsyQ teammates and so I think this would be a great way to do it. I would basically choose one of their items and place them in two different situations. This could either be decorative or fashion in nature depending on the teammate! This will either be a bi-monthly or monthly segment on Wednesdays.

-Treasuries: Though my love affair with Treasuries has cooled a little, I still make them and people still include me in them for which I am eternally grateful...:) As the treasuries function in a different way now, I have considered showcasing them in a different way. Instead of separating treasuries into 'yours' and 'mine'. I was thinking more of making this a specific column weekly. I would feature the one treasury I made for the week as well as anyone else who included me in a treasury that week. This would do two things, A) Encourage me to make a new treasury every week and B)Localize them in one day rather then spreading them out. Tuesdays would be a good day for this...:) I may make this a bi-monthly column. I have not decided yet.

So all this basically makes my blog half about me and half about others. I think that's a great balance.

I would greatly love your opinions and I hope this was worth the read for you all. I really want to push myself to run my business more efficiently and in a much more planned manner. I think this will definitely help me get going with that! I would LOVE to hear any suggestions you all may have. Please feel free to share them!

I want to take the time to thank you all for being around and being patient with me. I hope this blog will become something you truly love to check out and read!
♥

Shop Featured in Blogs!

I was lucky enough to be featured twice this month in two great blogs.

Both are super fun to read!

TheEclecticElement had a really fun questionnaire and put my answers together in a really cohesive way. She made me have fun reading about me...*lol*

Check out her interview here!

Secondly, we have the lovely Soul Reader who's fun blog is filled with spiritual insite. What I loved about her feature is that it was unlike any other I have ever done. It wasn't just about who I am and what I do. But about WHY I am who I am and I do what I do. It was very thought-provoking and I am honored to be one of her chosen artisans!

Check out why I tick the way I do here!

Thank you so much to both Ladies for being kind enough to feature me in such fun ways. I truly enjoyed working with you both and I hope I have the opportunity to act in kind...:)
♥

Extrvaganza Customer Appreciation Giveaway Winner!

As many of you know, I had one of my bi-yearly sales the weekend of Black-Friday to Cyber Monday.

In appreciation for their continued support, I wanted to do something special for my customers.

For every item purchased, each customer received a ballot towards a special thank you gift worth 30$!




The Pearlessent earrings are a simple and delicate pair featuring thin sterling silver chain, sterling silver accent balls and two tiny, delicate freshwater pearls in a soft, creamy white. Everything was hung from a 3-way connector and a simple ball-tipped french ear-wire. I wanted these to be neutral enough for everyone's tastes...:)

Congratulations go to Linda, who won these earrings and who will also be taking home her purchase of the Heart Breaker earrings.

I hope everyone enjoyed my Holiday Sale and I look forward to those one-day sales I'll be springing on my Facebook Fans now and then as well as my second yearly sale for Mother's Day!

Thank you SO much for making my Holiday Sale a success!
♥

Black Friday Sale in FULL SWING! Woohoo! UPDATED!

Finally, after all the prep and all the waiting, The Etsy Black Friday Weekend Extravaganza is FINALLY here!

I can't tell you guys how excited I am about this!

I've already sold/reserved 8 pieces and this was before the sale even officially began! Now added 1 more sale!

I'll try and keep a running tab of the pieces that were sold through-out the weekend...:)

I am offering 10-30% off items in my SALES Selections Section in shop. Prices have already been reduced with the percentages indicated for fast and easy checkout!

I hope to see you all there!
♥

Pieces sold:
Grapeful necklace
Charmony necklace
Creme-Brulee necklace
Quintessence necklace
Quintessence earrings
Waterfall necklace
Waterfall earrings
Paperclip Parade necklace
Heart Breaker earrings

Fabulous Gift Guides for shopping quick & easy!

IndieNorth is an AWESOME Canadian Collective maintained by Beth.

This year, she took on the HUGE task of creating a fabulous Gift Guide for Canadian Artisans to be a part of.

It's really nicely set up and it features some incredible products!

Check it out and you're sure to find something for everyone on your Secret Santa List!


Another Gift Guide I chose to participate in is the IndieSpotting Gift Guide. It'll be going live on November 15th.

Similar to CraftGawker, it's a FABULOUS place to get your items seen and I had the chance to Spot my Kiwi Q-T necklace...:D

I'm sure I'll see you guys shopping about these guides...they make the Holidays SO easy!
♥

Black Friday Weekend Extravaganza!

That's right! I will be running a SUPER huge sale the Weekend of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Stay tuned to find out exactly what will be going on in my Shop...;)

What's the best part? I won't be doing it alone! Literally HUNDREDS of shops have banded together to give you the BIGGEST Holiday sale EVER to be run by Etsy Shops.
You'll be able to fulfill every gift wish on your ever important list with quality, handmade goods and you won't have to run around to do it!

I've been lucky enough to offer my graphic services for the event and so I have a wide variety of buttons and banners that you can use to support the event, two of which are gently blinking on your screen to the right...:)

If you'd like to support us by proudly displaying these graphics in your blog, here are the links to the graphics:

Large Animated Button
Small Animated Button
Large Static Button
Small Static Button
Large Banner
Small Banner

We're also lucky to have Sue, head honcho at IndieSmiles.com, support us in our site-wide effort at promoting handmade by offering us directory listings in her super fun Coupon Directory!

If you'd like to support her back, here are two animated buttons to show her your love:

Large Animated Button
Small Animated Button

If you're going to use these in your blog, you need to use the HTML widget to make sure the animations work. This is the code you'll need to put into the widget...just be sure to change the [] to <>, change the link location to the one you want the graphic to point to and make sure the src section says the name of the file you downloaded.

[center][a href="link location" target="_blank"][img border="0" alt="Black Friday Sale" src="graphic name"/][/a][/center]

The static button just needs a Pictures widget and you'll just need to provide the link to where you want it to lead to.

The large graphics are good for inside posts and for blogs that have large side bars. The small graphics are great for Project Wonderful ads and for blogs that have small side bars.

I will be providing every shop with an Etsy Avatar that they will be able to display for the sales event, but I won't reveal that until it's time...;)

I can't wait to see you all there and to be able to provide you with great service and great items!
♥

Craftgawker x 2

YAY again! My second submission was also accepted! I'll have to remember to do this every month...*lol*

Here's the link: http://craftgawker.com/post/2009/10/30/7274/

Favs and gawkings are appreciated...:D

In other news, I also submitted a piece to Indiespotting and decided to take part in their Gift Guide this year. 5$US is really inexpensive and the more places I am, the bigger it will be.

The IndieNorth Gift Guide should be up and running tomorrow! So excited about that! It should be hugeeee!

A Black Friday to Cyber Monday and maybe even Payday Tuesday sales event is also in the works on Etsy. You can find out more about that and participate here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6331957&page=1

There are a LOT of pages, but I highly recommend they all be read if you want to contribute some input into the affair...:)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
♥

Craftgawker...I'm in!

Hello lovely people!

I'm so excited!

I recently posted up two pieces to display on Craftgawker.com.

Craftgawker is a ever bigger site that displays handcrafted goods in a gallery type format very similar to Indiespotting (reminds me I gotta go submit there too!). It's gaining a huge amount of popularity as crafters discover it and it's notoriously picky in what it will accept in terms of photographic quality.

Basically, it's an excellent gauge for figuring if your photography is up to scratch...;)

The two items I posted where these:
Rouge Wrap Pendant Necklace
Creme Brulee Necklace

Well, Rouge Wrap is currently on display on the front page of the site!
Here's the individual link:
http://craftgawker.com/post/2009/10/28/7159/

I would LOVE and appreciate it if any of you were inclined to fav the picture...:)

Creme Brulee is still pending, but I'll be sure to tell you guys if it too gets in. I'm hoping for lots of views and hearts from this!
♥

OneTrueMedia Gifted Designs Video

I can across this video making website completely by chance and I've just spent the past hour playing with all of it's free features. Make your own video highlighting your fabulous handmade products yourself!

I uploaded mine to Youtube and I prefer the Youtube interface, but you can embed the vid from Onetruemedia.com itself to all kinds of different places like your Facebook Fanpage, Myspace, your blog and your personal website.

Enjoy the vid...I had so much fun making it!
♥

IndieNorth - featured in this great Canadian Collective!

Imagine my surprise when I was contacted by Beth, the head honcho over at Indie-North, to be featured on her amazing collective. I had just discovered the site myself and so it was totally unexpected!

I was incredibly humbling and flattering to be chosen for one of her spotlight features and I am incredibly thankful. Here's the feature!

If you're a Canadian Artisan, IndieNorth features a great directory for free and you will be listed among a great variety of Canadian shops...:) She's also setting up a HUGE Gift Guide for the Holidays with all the hoopla you could ask for to get it known out there that is sure to be a HUGE hit!

Go check it out!

I'd love to have more votes!

Hello everyone!

I recently became aware of Tim Adam's Etsy Worthy Contest and decided to give it a go...:)

This is the piece I submitted...I LOVE this necklace and I'm happy to be able to shot off this great close-up shot of it...:)

You can vote for Creme Brulee at this entry on Tim's blog.



You can see the other shots for this piece at my Etsy shop here.

If you're interested in seeing all the GORGEOUS entries, you can do that here.

Enjoy!
♥

So much going on!

So bear with me...I have a feeling I'm going to be posting 2 or 3 posts because there are just too many things that I have to talk about...:D

Last weekend, Montreal had the pleasure of having three of Etsy's execs come on up for a visit.

It was SO MUCH FUN!

Silly me brought a camera, but in my excitement, i completely forgot to take a single shot...*lol* I got to not only meet some amazing artisans, but I got to meet up with some of my team member,s reconnect with old acquaintances and be introduced to an AMAZING little boutique featuring all kinds of hand-made goodies!

In fact, there was a GREAT Storque Article written up about the experience which you can find here: Canadian Meet-up

If you scroll down in there, there are two pictures from the Montreal Crew. The first is the entire room and then there's a pic of the fantastic members of Team EtsyQ! It was SO neat to see those pictures up where a ton of people could see them and I was even more flattered to see my Redded Bliss Necklace sitting alongside other shops' gorgeous items in the related links! If you're curious, I'm the dark-haired hot mama with the black, white, red and gold v-neck top...;)

What was fun about the experience is that before we even got there, my fellow team mates and I got to chat and reconnect a little and talk about the team and some of our ideas. I'm looking forward to expanding on those ideas soon!

Then, once we got there, we were greeted with yummy croissants and pastries and juice and we all got right down to talking with Sara, Chad and Liz.

It was great to see just how passionate everyone is about Etsy and it was nice to see some of the faces that are working so hard to bring Etsy up to the standards we all what it to be at!

So many ideas and subjects were discussed. We talked about Guest Checkout and that pesky little USD sign and how they are going to make it more visible with plans for being able to list multiple currencies in the future. There were questions about reorganizing our own shops as well as ideas of better shipping options to account for shipping rates cross country. Flagging and tags and more in depth profiles with photo and even video options were also discussed as well as how we could improve the usability of the front page so that it was more seller AND buyer friendly. We also talked a lot about the possibility of off-site advertising for Etsy itself.

It was a really lively discussion and I have to admit that I was so excited that my mouth was motoring away and I even got to talk about EtsyQ and our purpose....god forbid I should shut up sometimes! Thankfully, one of my team members was kind enough to calm me down and get me to think of everyone else who ALSO wanted their ideas to be heard...:D

All in all, it was a GREAT experience and I really hope they get to come up and say hi again and maybe we can all celebrate the manifestation of some of the ideas we were so passionate in putting forward!

If you're in the Montreal area, you have GOT to go visit The Gallery & Boutique Headquarters: http://hqgalerieboutique.blogspot.com/
It's a really great shop stuffed with gorgeous pieces of handmade clothing, jewelry, hair accessories, cool books and great art all in a beautiful little shop! A definite must-see and the owner is a doll! She has her own Etsy shop here: Norwegian Wood

I'm so glad I went!

Busy weekend!

I have had the busiest last few days of my life...I'm thoroughly exhausted, but also really happy at what has gotten done...:D

I have a lot to write, so hopefully it'll all be interesting and you'll enjoy my excitement...*lol*

GIVEAWAY #1
The first Giveaway that I have ever been in is set up by my Team on Etsy. We're hoping to do a giveaway a month and each giveaway will feature three of our incredibly talented team members...:D This time around, I was selected...:D I'm featuring a lovely pair of earrings by the name of Mint Bliss. They are made with silver, peace jasper and amethyst and are being given together with two other pieces with a value for the threesome set at about 45$!

If you're interested in finding out more about this giveaway, you can find everything you need on this blog entry.

If you don't read French, you just have to scroll down a little farther for the English version...:) You also can respond in English!

GIVEAWAY #2
The second Giveaway is my first ever single shop giveaway featuring no one else but moi! I'm so honored to be able to do that on someone else's blog! The piece that you get to win is my Verdant earrings featuring beautiful oxidized copper findings, soapstone, african turquoise jasper, wood and czech glass seed beads. They are a value of approximately 30$...:)

ChistopherAndTia are the wonderful people who are supporting me so nicely and so if you'd like to see what THEY create, you can visit their Etsy shop.

To be able to enter to win the Verdant earrings, just follow the instructions on their blog.

WONDER WEDNESDAY & POSTER CHILD SUNDAY
There was a glitch for Wonder Wednesday with my Featuree having an explosion in her computer so her feature will hopefully be up and running THIS Wednesday instead. I can't wait for you guys to see the adorable things she makes in collaboration with her daughter!

That said, I had NO issues at all for posting up my Poster Child Sunday feature and so if you'd like to admire it, comment on what you like about it or visit any of the shops I've featured, just scroll down...:)

Feel free to follow my blog to see what else I'll be posting and to apply for yourself to be featured.

CONTEST
I recently participated in a really fun contest which involved artisans and digital artists for a club I am in on DA. The theme was Elements/Elementals/Weather. I LOVED the piece I made!


Alas, I'm the only artisan to have actually finished and posted my piece, but I've still got some great competition with some lovely digital manips and paintings...:D

You can see the other entries and learn more about the contest on DA.

FAMAZON MAGAZINE LAUNCH
I had the opportunity to make three pairs of earrings as donated items for the guests of the Famazon Magazine Launch which is happening next week...:D Three lucky guests get to take home the earrings I posted earlier in the week on DA.

I am really excited about the opportunity and I hope they arrive in time, I was seriously pushing it on the delivery! You can find out more info on Famazon and it's purpose on DA.

As I said, long entry! But I hope it's worth the read for you. So much is happening and I just didn't have the time to do it all piece by piece!

I posting a similar entry up on By Hand as well...:)

Have a fab day everyone! ♥

Deliberating

After some deliberation, I decided to shut down my Artfire studio. I wasn't getting the same number of views and I've found myself with very little time to take care of the things we all have to take care of as shop owners with TWO shops going on at once. I realized that, for now, Etsy is enough in terms of time-taking.

As a result, I relisted the two pieces that were in my Artfire studio into my Etsy shop.

Here they are for your enjoyment.
Lavender Lime Necklace
Lavender Lime Earrings

I am still farrrr behind when it comes to shooting my new items and I've got more in the works.

I'm hoping I'll be able to dedicate a few lunch sessions to get up to date so I can realize my item submission goal of one piece a day.

Stay tuned for a fun little Giveaway event I hope to have underway for the end of March!

Have a fab day!

Holiday Etsy Fest ends tonight at Midnight!

Afterward, everything goes back to regular price so if there's something you've been eying, now's the time to reserve it so that you can still get the sale price!

Check out my shop for more details: Gifted Designs. I've sold 3 pieces so far and I'm ecstatic!

I also received my jewelry boxes today so I'll be able to carefully pack everything that has been purchased and send them off nice and safely to my customers...I'm SO HAPPY about that!

Let's face it, it doesn't take much to make me happy...*lol*

Be well, everyone!

3 items sold so far!

Weee! So, as many of you know, I'm having a HUGE sale in my Etsy shop currenlt along with about 200 or so shops!

I've sold 3 items so far! They are actually some of my newest items...:)

I'm very happy seeing as I know the people they are going to and I know they will have good homes!

These are the pieces I sold:
Crystaline Earring
Crystaline Necklace
Promenade Necklace

HOLIDAY ETSY FEST TIME!

Helllllo everyone! That's right! The HUGE Holiday Etsy Fest Extravaganza is only an hour or two away!

I'll be offering an AWESOME sale from Nov. 27th to Dec. 1st!

My shop policies explain everything you need to know concerning payment options and I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have concerning the event, how to sign up on Etsy, how to pay, etc, etc!

I'm really excited to be doing this. I'm so excited that I listed SIX new items and I hope to keep listing through-out the sale! I'm fact, I'm just excited to have a second page of listing for my shop!

Here's my Blog entry concerning the event and who's participating other than myself: http://gifteddesigns.blogspot.com/2008/11/huge-sale-holiday-etsy-fest-fever-has.html

Enjoy the sale and I shall do the same! Stay tuned to this blog and my shop for the announcement of the WINNER of the 50$ Gift Certificate!

I'll also be posting mini-features for whoever is a shop owner on Etsy who purchases from me as an extra small thank you...:)

So go, go GO! YAY!

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate!

HUGE SALE! Holiday Etsy Fest fever has arrived!

Hold on to your hats everyone! A GIGANTIC SALE is coming to Etsy!

Almost 200 shops have all banded together to participate in the Holiday Etsy Fest Extravaganza running from November 27th to December 1st, 2008!

My shop is located at http://gifteddesigns.etsy.com.

What's GREAT about this sale is that each and every shop is in charge of what kind of sale they want to offer. So at one shop you'll find free goodies, at another, a discount and at yet another, the chance to win even MORE goodies! BOGO, BNRs...anything is possible!

That's wonderful, Shannon, but what are YOU offering???? I never thought you'd ask! :D

During the Holiday Etsy Fest, I will be offering a wonderful 10% off a single item purchase and an even more fabulous 20% off the total of sets! What's even BETTER is that for each single purchase you make, your name goes into a gorgeous raffle box and gives you a chance to win a 50$ Gift Certificate towards your next purchase! Fabulous, yes! I KNOW!

EVEN BETTER THAN THAT? Purchase a set and you'll get 5, count them! FIVE raffle tickets! Who wouldn't want to win 50 free dollars...especially right now...:D

I am also offering FREE gift wrapping! And I mean really gorgeous gift wrapping...I go ALL OUT in a tasteful, fashionable way! I love to do it! I can even send your gift directly to your giftee...:)

So mark your calendars and get ready to get set because November 27th will be your chance to GO, GO, GO and grab some absolutely gorgeous Etsy Finds at a steal for the Holidays! I wouldn't be surprised if you find something for everyone on your list! A hassle-free Christmas is one of the BEST gifts we Etsians can all give you for your wonderful support...:)

For the HUGE list of participating shops, go here!

Everything has been conveniently categorized so you can shop for EXACTLY what you're looking for. Everyone's shop has an Etsy mini to show you a glimpse of what you'll find stashed away in wait for you...:)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & HAPPY SHOPPING, EVERYONE!

The saga continues!

So I made my Facebook page and now I've set up an ad. I got 100$ in free Advertising on Facebook and so I intend to use it to the best of my abilities!

Let's see if it gives me results! It's certainly a learning experience...:)

Facebook!

I just made a page for Gifted Designs on Facebook...:D

http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Gifted-Designs/29866958251

I'll be putting up some advertising for it and I'm attempting to get into Project Wonderful slots. I'm also hoping to get some advertising going in some magazines and local papers and in other areas on-line.

Wish me luck!