new listing, new web site

I listed a new button charm bracelet last night: Button Charm Bracelet - Maroon and White.

 I created this design in honor of my grandpa who has been a professor at Texas A&M for 25+ years.  The Texas A&M colors are maroon and white.  This listing already has 2 hearts!  I got both of them within half an hour of listing it.

I'm in the process of creating my own web site.  I bought a domain name through SoopSee (because it's about as cheap as anything else I've seen), and I'm waiting for them to activate it so I can use it with the site (it can take up to 72 hours).  Otherwise I have most of it set up.  I'll let you know how it all goes and if the site results in anything.  A lot of people seem to have success with having their own domain and a web site separate from Etsy.  I'm not crazy about SoopSee so far.  I know that it's still pretty new, and I'm willing to give it some time, mostly because I'm not sure where else to turn at this point.  I'm honestly not very impressed with most of the online options for web pages anymore.  There used to be a lot of free options that provided neat pages for those not interested in pursuing something professionally.  I created web sites through such sites 10 years ago that looked better than most of the free templates that I've seen recently.  Now everything costs a lot of money.  I'm just frustrated by the whole process.  It seems like it should be easier to do this than it is.

I've also thought about putting the domain name with this blog instead and customizing it with more tabs and whatnot so that I could provide more access to Etsy and my other web presence (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).  I don't love Blogger either, but at least it is free. Then I would just be paying to host my domain name and not also run a web site.

Any thoughts on this whole process would be appreciated!

new listing, getting ready to make a light box, open to suggestions

I listed my lime green beaded leaf earrings tonight.  They will be my final Christmas in July sale item for this year.  They're only $8.50 until the end of the month!  This will be the last time that I have this many items on sale for quite a while so take advantage of it while you can.

I bought supplies for a photo light box today.  As you probably already know, I prefer to take pictures outside in natural light.  However, I live in the midwest, and from mid-August-May, I'm out of the house from at least 7:00AM-4:30PM most weekdays.  Even when the weather is cooperative, this schedule doesn't leave a lot of opportunities for taking pictures in natural light.  I have scraped by taking pictures in sunlight when I can on the weekends the last couple years, but I would like to do something a little more consistent this year.  I'll post progress and feedback on the light box.

I'm also toying with the idea of experimenting with some plain white or gray backgrounds.  I've created my signature look with the sheet music background.  I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on that both here and at my shows this summer.  However, it is not the plain, teetering just on the edge of overexposed look that seems to sell well on Etsy.  I don't know that I'm ready to scrap my whole look, but I'm also ready to scream in frustration over not having more sales on Etsy.  Improving my music background photos and doing more to promote my site this summer (more blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) has increased my Etsy views and hearts.  But it hasn't increased my sales.  So I'm open to suggestions.

Tomorrow I'm listing my August EBW Challenge entry piece.  Sunday I'm listing my first pattern.  Stay tuned.