Featured Etsy Shop via Pounce: Creative Habitat

Well, I'm back for this week's Featured Etsy Ship via Pounce. I found an adorable shop that's been open since November of 2009 but hasn't yet had any sales. Creative Habitat is a shop that features holiday themed table runners and wall hangings!

This shop currently features a Santa table runner, a snowman table runner, an Americana Flag wall hanging, and more! There aren't many listings in this shop as of yet but I can't believe that someone who loves to decorate at the holidays won't soon snap some of these items!! :)

Custom Orders

I was perusing the Etsy forums tonight and came upon a post that for any artisan who does custom work would be heartbreaking. The seller was talking about having started a custom order only to find that the person went ahead and had someone else on Etsy make the items they wanted.

This seller was talking about making sure to get the money for the order up front. Other people piped in that they use a 50% non-refundable deposit for custom orders. Of course, they also mentioned that the deposit should be listed in your shop policies and that when they pay you, if they do so by PayPal, then it needs to be listed as a service, because PayPal does not allow refunds for services.

So now I find myself wanting to go through and look at my custom order policy and see if I need to make changes to them. Fun fun. :)

I don't know how other artisans feel about it, but to be honest, I find it extremely disrespectful to contact an artisan about a custom order, find out that yes, it is possible for what you want to be done, and then find someone else to do the job for you. While it is nice to see that someone respects your professional opinion on something, it isn't so nice when that person that respects your professional opinion so much decides to have someone else make the item for you. But that might just be me. :)

Featured Etsy Shop via Pounce: Meaningful Gifts and Accessories

I'm staring a new feature here at Eternal Stardust Designs' blog. I'm going to be highlighting a shop here on Etsy, that I find through the "Pounce" feature that I find to have interesting items. These shops will be shops that are still waiting for that coveted first Etsy Sale. :)

Our inaugural edition kicks off with a shop I found called Meaningful Gifts and Accessories. This shop is amazing! I'm sorry I can't figure out how to show you the items - but I don't want to steal their photos! :)

The owner, jimmekat, is a crocheter who makes jewelry out of her crochet! I too am a crocheter, but I haven't quite gotten the hang of making crocheted jewelry! :D She has several adorable pairs of unique earrings that are made from crochet. You simply must check this shop out! :)

She's just opened her shop on June 2, but I can forsee her items being a big hit. She's already started out with the great summery colors!

Eternal Stardust Designs Has Made It's First Etsy Sale!!!

As the title says, I have made my first Etsy sale. A friend of mine saw and wanted to purchase the Annie bracelet from this post (the bracelet was actually named after her) and she wanted to purchase one of my best friend's key chains. She didn't want to have to purchase from two different places (my best friend's key chain was on eBay) so I helped my best friend end her auction and then posted 2 custom listings - one for the key chain and one for the bracelet!

Now please do not think that you cannot get this beautiful bracelet! If you are interested in the bracelet, just let me know! I can definitely make another one for you - or I can make another one like it but using slightly different beads. Just let me know if you are interested - you can convo me on Etsy!

Looking For New Venues

I am constantly looking for new venues in which to sell Eternal Stardust Designs jewelry. To that end, I have yet to find an offline venue in which to sell my jewelry. Until tonight that is.

Our local farmers market, which I had always thought was exclusively for edible products, actually does allow arts and crafts to be sold there. There is a website for the farmers market and I found the application plus the fees for selling there. There were a few things that weren't clear, so I went ahead and I emailed them for a bit of clarification on those things. I am thinking of perhaps a day or two in July, a day or two in August, a day or two in September, and a day or two in October, but I am not positive.

I'm not sure because I don't want to choose 8 days and find out I have to shell out $240 all at once to do it. I might just find out from them if I can apply for a date in July, see how things go and then apply for more dates if I decide it is worth it.

Or I might just start saving up now to actually go ahead and rent a space for the whole season. It's $350 for a 10-foot space, not that I need that much but that's the smallest space you can get, at least for 2010, and if I start saving now, just a bit of money each time I get paid for blogging or get a sale, I should have enough by next March to be able to go ahead and buy a space for next year.

If you sell offline, what venues have worked for you? Farmers markets? Street fairs? County fairs? Museums? Gift shops?