I have been a bit preoccupied lately with all the preserving and fermenting from the summer/autumn garden so have not been doing a great deal of making… but recently I had a custom order from my ETSY shop for twelve ceramic buttons so took the opportunity to also make some extra buttons and some pendants at the same time.
The buttons turned out beautifully. The customer wanted them to add a unique and jazzed up element to a denim jacket which she wants to take on holiday with her at the end of April! I love these kinds of stories that accompany custom orders and hope she will be happy with them! I think she will…
The pendants, which I will list as necklaces and earrings in my ETSY shop, are just in time for Mothers Day – May 14th. I have assembled some of them and will be listing them over the coming week. If your mum/sister/girlfriend/wife/aunt/nana/partner or female friends anywhere love both handmade and jewellery these are the perfect gifts!
Keep an eye on the ETSY shop over the next week or check out my INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK or TWITTER feeds 🙂
See you soon!
Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for visiting my blog throughout the year even though I have been scattered in my posts and in visiting others due to ill health. My New Years Resolution is good health and, therefore by default, more regular posting and visiting!!
AND be sure to visit my ETSY tomorrow for a Boxing Day Sale – use ‘boxingday2016’ for 20% off storewide … avoid the chaos of shopping malls and shop online! 🎁🎁
Have a great Christmas and New Year everyone and see you in 2017 🎉
I said in my last post I was going to start posting more frequently after ill health – but getting so far behind in my teaching and firing schedule and other business stuff – plus a bit of a health relapse – meant it just hasn’t happened. So I am going to call it quits for 2016 and make my New Years Resolution to have GOOD HEALTH!! I have never experienced six months of ill health before and it has done my head in!! So here’s to 2017.
I will leave you with a couple of pics of works in my ETSY store though because I am having a boxing day sale – perfect: no need to visit the chaos of the malls, just buy online!! At the checkout use ‘boxingday2016’ and receive 20% off your entire purchase – what better way to end the year?
Have a great Christmas and New Year everyone and see you – hopefully – more regularly in 2017 🎄🎉☺
Today my little dog Eddy is not well – he has been unwell now for three days, so I am a bit concerned – therefore I have not been doing much this weekend ‘business’ wise.
I have begun thinking about beginning some marketing for Christmas – yes Christmas!! And listing some new Christmas items in my ETSY & MADEIT shops.
Prior to that though, if you live in Australia and some other countries, it is Fathers Day. Here in Australia it is the first Sunday in September – the 6th.
I have lots of ready to ship gifts in my stores from unisex jewellery, original art gift cards, foodie tableware and coffee mugs. I also have gift certificates if you are stuck on what to give as a gift.
Hope everyone has had a great weekend and see you midweek (hopefully) 🙂
Well it is that time of year – Christmas in July – and over in my Etsy shop I am having a sale to celebrate!!
A bit of background: on Etsy there are teams where like minded sellers can get together in a virtual space and support and give advise to each other…. I am in a few teams, and am a team leader for the Christmas in July team and a blog contributor for the Australian Wandarrah team, and this year both teams have joined together for a CIJ cross promotion. You can visit both of their blogs for lots of information about member shops and the sales they are having – this is the perfect opportunity to buy quality handcrafted items at great prices for yourself and family or friends, or as early Christmas gifts.
As for me, I have my shop discounted for the entire month of July, and have an addition special of 15% discount between July 1st and July 15th. Use the coupon code ETSYCIJ15 at the checkout for your discount to be applied.
I have a wide range of ceramic tablewares, buttons and jewellery, upcycled jewellery made from buttons, marbles and guitar strings, original art greeting cards and Christmas decorations. Some of my jewellery pieces are suitable for women and men, and my tableware is suitable for foodies of all persuasions.
So visit my shop & grab some bargains!
I am a little late for this Sunday’s post – my son and his girlfriend came to visit (& are still visiting). I took pics of what I was working on on Sunday and began my draft post, but didn’t get it finished – so here it is 🙂
Today I am finished off more custom orders for ceramic yarn bowls! I just can’t seem to make them fast enough! I have never managed to list one in either my ETSY or MADEIT stores because they sell before I can get that far. Whenever I have a custom order I always make a couple of extras – but they sell before I can get them in the shops!
I think they are popular because they are larger than what is currently available online. The custom orders always come through as wanting to fit the large balls of wool in them, so the extras I make go like hotcakes too!
I have also been playing with product photography today. My product photography to date has been on plain white backgrounds. This occurred because Etsy used to have front page treasuries, and to be featured on the front page was great publicity and helped drive traffic to your store. Treasuries with consistent backgrounds were often chosen for the front page, so most shops created their images using plain light backgrounds to increase their chances of being featured. But, Etsy no longer have front pages, so I have decided to experiment with introducing some styling to my images, to make then – hopefully – more appealing.
So, thats about it for this Sunday …. have a great week 🙂
By the way I also have a couple of specials in my shop:
Use coupon VALENTINE at checkout in my MADEIT store for 10% off storewide till February 15th.
Use coupon WANDARRAHSFRIEND at checkout in my ETSY for 15% off storewide till the end of February.
It has been a while since my last Sunday Studio Visit – Christmas and the New Year and holidays threw me completely out of routine!! But I plan to get back on track as of now – famous last words!
During the past week I have been preparing for Valentines Day – I did leave it a bit late, it seems that no sooner is Christmas marketing over than Valentines marketing has to begin – its just a bit hectic for me at times…
But I have been trying to create and list new jewellery items in my ETSY shop and have been rejigging some of my MADE IT shop items to reflect intimate Valentines dinners with unique handmade tableware. I still have more new items to add which I will continue over the next few days.
In the ETSY shop this includes lots of unisex jewellery, as well as designs specifically for her. I also have unique original art gift cards which are ideal for framing after gift giving.
And to top it all off I have a Valentines special in both of my shops – use coupon code VALENTINE at checkout to receive 10% off storewide.
So, without further ado, here are some pics of some of the handmade gorgeousness you can give this Valentines Day 🙂
I have lots of new products to add to my ETSY and MADEIT stores in the New Year, so I need to make room for them.
To this end I am having a Boxing Day Sale in both stores beginning at 12.01am on the 26th December and ending at midnight – Australian time. Both stored will have 15% off storewide including FREE shipping Australia wide and very reasonable international shipping.
Use the coupon code boxingdaysale at checkout in both stores to activate your discount.
Until then have a great Christmas 🙂
In the lead up to Christmas it is becoming hectic – there are custom orders, but also dinner and BBQ invitations left, right and centre! This weekend has been one of those weekends, so there has not been much action in the studio. Today I did manage to load the kiln for a bisque firing for my student classes, as I do usually intend to have all the student work through by the end of the year, which can be a huge task!
Apart from that I am participating in a couple of ETSY team promotions, which involves helping promote other team shops, while they in turn help promote your shop – and all shops have universal coupon code for discounts in their shops. I am participating in an Etsy Meet & Tweet and a Strategic Team for Success promotion. (see below for further xmas shopping info)
I have a 10% discount in my shop for both teams, plus shipping is FREE Australia wide, and I do keep international shipping reasonable use coupon code spst4u or blackfriday14 both till December 3rd at checkout.
I also have a discount in my MADEIT shop – enter merrychristmas at checkout for a 10% discount storewide! And shipping is FREE throughout Australia!
So that is it for today in the studio…. happy Christmas shopping 🙂
Today in the studio I am firing the kiln …. it is a student firing full of stoneware works.
While the kiln has been bubbling away, I am putting finishing touches to some custom orders I have received through both my ETSY and MADEIT shops.
Custom orders occur if a buyer likes a certain product but want it in a different colour, or if a customer wants something specifically made for them.
Today, for example I finished a custom order on MADEIT where the customer liked a tapas setting but preferred a different colour…
It is fun making custom orders, but can be at times scary when it comes to ceramics – there are so many variables. But (knock on wood) I do tend to have a low attrition rate. When I make custom orders I tend to make two of the item in case there is cracking, warping or a glaze fault, and if both products pass muster (which they usually do) the spare gets listed in my shop. If not, the ‘second’ ends up in my own kitchen, much to the pleasure of my partner – who does 90% of the cooking!
As well as finishing the custom orders I also made a couple of handbuilt vessels – since I was rolling out clay anyway – one vessel will be part of my MADE BY NATURE series, and the other was a little experiment…. just for fun!
So, I will leave you with some pictures of the custom orders I finished off today 🙂
If in Australia you have until December 12th to place an order which you should receive before Christmas…. international orders should be placed by December 5th. Orders can be placed after this date, but there is no guarantee they will reach their destination before Christmas.