You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Necklace’ category.
My new book finally arrived on Thursday. Called “How to Make Money Using Etsy” by Timothy Adam, it has proved to be a valuable tool. I started reading it on Thursday and, being someone who wants to run before they can crawl, I flicked through it’s nuggety gems of tips and information hidden in the back of the book. It is packed with great info. For example, I had no idea what Search Engine Optimisation actually meant until I went through the step by step process. I’m starting from scratch, learning the absolute basics even though I have already set up my shop – see running before crawling ode above, especially when I would rather play with sparkling beads and have new jewelry rather than sitting down and actually writing constructive and searchable descriptions on her EtsyEtsy pages/items. In keeping with my educative weekend I learned how to constructively do the following:
a) perform a Google Keyword Search
b) Etsy have a “Kiss and Make Up” option for unhappy customers
c) How to make an item into a Featured Item (and it costs me nothing)
d) How I can copy all my sold orders into a coma separated value file. I didn’t even know that existed!
My latest creation is a necklace that I am embarrassed to say is based on the necklace Jennifer Love Hewitt wears in “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. It’s also inspired by NostalgemsNostalgems jewelry. I made it using my favorite patina crosses. I love leather necklaces. They get better with age. They really are like a second skin, if I was a cow. Or where ever the leather ties come from. The leather necklace accompaniment is two-strand patina chain skull and cross bones charm necklace and coin charm necklace. This pirate-based design brings together the pirate’s trade mark skull ‘n crossbones with silver coins, so they lend themselves to each other. My sis sent over the crazy looking grinning clown skull bead. I don’t know if that is it’s actual description but they remind me of a clown’s grinning skull – you know, because I come across them so often.
Glamour Twinkles will soon be available from FeltFelt. I signed us up yesterday. But I found, to my slight bafflement, that I can’t use more than 12 characters for my shop name. So I’ll be “glamourt”, which isn’t actually my business name. Not that I’m complaining. I did agree to abide by the rules and it’s a new experience for me and all’s fair in love and internet and so forth. But your shop name is such an important thing so the 12 character thing is just a smidge odd, that’s all. But the positives of being on Felt FAR outweigh the negatives so I’m seeing it through.
In other glamourt (sic) news, I’ve redone my hair colour in celebration of wearing one my newly crafted necklaces. Those of you playing along at home will recall the introduction of my Suffragette Necklace in Sunday’s blog. Well, here it is in action on the front line of today’s blog. I like the tangled chains look I’ve given it. It has turned out exactly as I pictured it in my mind. Nicely done.
Hello, goslings! I’m feeling rather chipper right now. Any of you who follow my Twitter feed were probably deeply concerned at the mention of the “funk” I was in all week but that has abated thanks to the purchase of three crafty business books all ordered through my new friends at Fishpond. The books should be winging their merry way to my mansion in a couple of weeks. It’s a continuation of the great info I gleaned from the Handmade workshops I attended a couple of weeks ago. They’re alleged to contain magical gems of information thusby allowing me to get a Glamour Twinkle on every man, woman and child in the entire universe. I’m being realistic, after all, we are in a recession. But I think it’s safe to say that I will be a millionaire by the end of this year. If this is the first time you are reading my blog please visit the About page – lest you think me serious. So, back to my regular readers, I’ve been busy creating a couple of jeweleriffic pieces for myself.
I finished off the Voodoo Necklace, an accompaniment to the Voodoo Earrings last seen in my Cursed Earrings post. I finally finished my Suffragette Necklace from a while ago. And, after I sorted through my many, many charms in the big sort out that I had last week, I found this pretty little brown flower that sis got me in UK and threw together the Daisy Chain Necklace with faux pearls.
Voodoo Necklace by Glamour Twinkles
Suffragette Necklace by Glamour Twinkles
Daisy Chain Necklace by Glamour Twinkles
Trying to get a clear shot of these Voodoo Earrings took the longest time today. I could not get my jolly iPhone to take a non-blurry photo of the intricacies of my newest creations. The necklace was a gift from Sis. It matches perfectly with the groovy skulls I found at Village Bead Shop last week. I decided to go for a voodoo theme as skulls and feathers naturally lend themselves in that direction. Well, they do in my brain. In keeping with the movie Skeleton Key, I’ve included a skeleton key, black and gold crosses and my favorite colored faux turquoise colored crystal gem on one earring, and added a silver key and black feather charms to the other earring. These are set off nicely with my skull studs in aged brass and highlighted by the fabulous ring I got from Diva.
Voodoo Earrings by Glamour Twinkles – detail
My clever little sister sent me this fabulous crystal that I fashioned into a necklace. Every time we visited our local Swarovski jewelry shop I would Oooo and Ahhh over the fact that the genius jewelers at Swarovski could drill holes into crystal. Lo and behold my sis finds me a crystal with a hole in it! Yippee! I finally have a faux Swarovski style crystal necklace just like the movie stars!
The professional advice mentioned in this weeks’ title Is the sageful missives imparted from said sister in reference to my electronic cry for help. She has practically written my Craft 2.0 application for me. Using her progressional capacity to impart words of wisdom, she has effortlessly brought together the fragmented components of my “unbalanced” thinking and giving me plenty to work with regard to my “off-kilter” tagline thoughts. (That sentence will have sis guffawing her head off) Why am I writing in such a quant but oft maligned styling? I have no idea but I’m on a roll so it shall remaineth.
In other news, I am about to begin the Week of Glam – I’m on leave from my full time concrete jungle job. I have an action packed week of jewelry and online social media work to get through. I’m getting serious about having a series of Saturdays at Wellington Underground Markets. This week will see me arranging an effective indoor stall design that includes height and signage. I’ll need to get laminating, put together some zinging price labels, and design a new temporary business card. Naturally, there will be pix a plenty on this very blog as well as on my Facebook page Glamour Twinkles Jewelry. I’m rather looking forward to it. Unless the table looks crappy – then I’ll give in and spend the week sulking and blaming others. Am I for real? Who knows! As you can see I’m in an odd blogging mood today. I like to mix things up so sue me. No, don’t sue me.
I bid you all, adieu!!
WordPress Keeping Momentum
Looking glam in my new black feather earrings and charming cross necklace, all shoot using my not-so-hot iPhone camera:
I’m still in market/selling mood right now. I’ve managed to keep up the momentum that hit me at the Handmade lectures I attended over the weekend. I’ve made a list of items I need to get for my market stall and I’m going to work on a stall design in readiness for spending a few weekends selling my sparkling wares at Wellington Underground MarketWellington Underground Markets as well as 2.0 in Lower Hutt, NZ. I have my bead(y) eye on a couple of jewelry display items for auction on Trade MeTrade Me and today purchased a new triple tier black velvet bracelet display from Trade Me:
And I have a couple more on my Watchlist. Fingers crossed I get them. With my sister out of the country I’m going to have to rely on the Parental Units to ferry me around but first, I must visit the Wellington Underground MarketUnderground market this Saturday to check out the (more organised and more experienced) competition, so-to-speak. Everybody’s gotta start somewhere…
Vintage Suffragette Charms - 29 May 2011
Just discovered: these fabulous vintage charms from The Manor House at Creativity Inc. I could make three necklaces or I could make a three charm necklace, oh the choices I can make. I love the little story they tell: At 20 Flirting and Coquettery; At 26 Fast and Dissipation; At 40 An Outcast. Thank my stars we live in this moderne age!
Punk Buttons - 29 May 2011
I also found the awesome Rocker Chick buttons. I don’t know what to make them into, probably a ring (surprise, surprise) or maybe I’ll try something different. I remember seeing some really funky looking button bracelets in a furniture shop on Thorndon Quay, of all places.
Pink Pearls - Chunky Charm Bracelet
This morning I shot a bunch of detail shots for my Chunky Charm Bracelets as the pictures I currently have on Etsy don’t really show the full detail in these magnificent baubles. However, time got away from me and I haven’t had a chance to load them yet. Actually, I spent so much time adding an About page and a How to Order page on my newly revamped Sparkling Candy tumblr blog that I didn’t have time to work on Etsy.
In Technical News: The latest WordPress app update has added blog stats. My stats don’t look too shabby. In fact, it makes for interesting and encouraging reading. Thanks to those of you who read my various writings and hilarious jewelry procrastinations.
Latest Purchases - Diva earrings and feather necklace to pull apart, Rams Head Ring pour moi.
I’m feeling somewhat Conflicted people. I’ve been diligently reading the info-packed Etsy Blog and soaking up the valuable information the blogger/Etsy shop owners write on running a successful online shop. I was following their tips with some success but a couple of blog posts have me Conflicted. The first Conflict I have, and I strongly disagree with this one, was a blog about using Twitter to promote your business. Our successful blogger/seller gave us 5 tips for using social networking to adervtise our business. We were advised against using the Twitter Etsy app to promote items in our shops. The app is fantastic – you just click the link on your item and, voila, you’ve got yourself a mini ad with a short link ready to tweet on Twitter. I actually used this Twitter app last Sunday for my range of Gothic Charm Necklaces and got myself a bunch of new jewelry-based and handcraft-based followers. So there. I guess it didn’t garner me any sales but it’s one of the reasons why I started tweeting (I even speak tweety talk). Thanks to Twitter there are 302 potential customers out there that now know about the Glamour Twinkles I make.
My next Conflict is of a more serious nature. It is my postage rates. Now, Etsy is an American site, the majority of sellers are American, Canadian, English etc and have, what I consider, low postage rates (in comparison to New Zealand rates). I can’t really afford to drop my postal charges but the blog post I read said we sellers need to reconsider charging US$7.00 postage for an item that costs US$12.00. I agree with the blogger’s advice but that is how much NZ Post charges me to send items to the US of A. My hands are tied. I know how much my jewelry items cost, factoring in labour, materials and all that other boring business stuff. I’ve considered putting some prices up just so my postage price doesn’t seem so exorbitant but either way, I have to pay that postage rate. So I’m wondering if I should drop the postage and add that cost to the item instead. But I’m loathe to charge a ridiculously high amount for a little charm bracelet that took me 30 minutes to make…sigh.
On to more twinkly things. Check out my little photography inspector:
Inspector Buster checking the shoot.
Oh what a joker I am. See my zany blue skull and crossbones earrings, and how about my orange skull and crossbones necklace. Wonder at the double ring my sister got for me. You too can be the owner of a crazy piece of jewelry I made, all by myself, by visiting my Etsy shop when you click on this magical link … Off we go – Glamour Twinkles on Etsywheeeeee
Glamour Twinkles Tattoo Jewelry
… is when the magic happens. My favorite time of the week is the weekend at 5.00am when I leap out of bed with a hearty bound ready to create my Glamour Twinkles. As I have a full-time office job I tend to procrastinate when it comes to my small business, and I don’t really spend an enormous amount of time during the work week getting Glamour Twinkles Jewelry out to the masses. The only time I dedicate to my twinkles business is between 5.00am and noon on Saturday and Sunday. However, this weekend I decided to follow through with a vow I’d made with myself to dedicate time to online PR. And boy, have I been a busy little PR-er.
Vintage Glamour Twinkles - Red & Black Charm Rings
I’ve updated my Etsy shop with a remarkable price drop on the Swarovski Necklaces; there are new photos in the Chunky Charm Bracelet section; I’ve added Etsy to my Facebook page, I now have a Gravatar on this blog, I’ve added my Sparkling Candy Tumblr to this blogroll, and, thanks to Twitch Vintage, I have added random Trade Me auction reminders to my Facebook Page. I don’t want to annoy my friends with these auction notifications/reminders but I’m thinking about new page fans and the future “likers” out there.
Vintage Glamour Twinkles - Mermaid Treasure Earrings
Encouraged by the successful Tweeters I follow and their tweetsights (tweet-speak for “insights”) into their creative world. Their tweets about multiple emails to answer, the creative process in action, the glimpses behind the scenes is one of the reasons why I love being on Twitter more than Facebook. And contrary to popular belief I don’t do it just for the followers. They’re encouraging – no one wants an audience of one. But I’m surprised how quickly I’ve gotten into Facebook. I’ll admit, I’ve never seen the point of it on a personal basis but for my jewellery business I think it gets a big THUMBS UP! So click the Facebook link you see emblazoned on my homepage, and you’ll get a cherry welcome from me. I know it doesn’t look quite right but I’m still navigating the deep Facebook waters.
Oh, and that’s the last time I’ll be begging for “Likes”, it’s just embarrassing isn’t it?
