Saturday Night Special!

.♥´¨)
...·´¸.·*´¨)
(¸.·´ ...SPRING CLEANING SALE!

Buy 2 items, get 1 free! Indicate your free item choice in the message to seller box during checkout. All items in the store apply & any combination of items is fine. Free item must be of equal or lesser value than the 2 purchased items. Thank you!!

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

It's my birthday & I'll cry if I want to!

How terrific is Etsy? I'll show you:

How sweet are those? I posted a thread in the forums about how I'm treating myself to a little Etsy shopping for my birthday and tons of shops have responded to show off their top notch goods! It's going to be really hard to decide what to buy, but I'm loving seeing all the (new-to-me) shops! Etsy shopping is right up there on the feel good list with chocolate, relaxing on the beach, and soaking in a gigantic jacuzzi tub . . .

Waaa!

I don't like being missing for so long! I've been so very busy . . .

The kitchen is mid-remodel. Our house was built over 50 years ago and the cupboards had accumulated about that many layers of paint over their lifetime. So, my husband has been stripping the paint, sanding them down to the wood, and now they will live out their future days with nothing but a shiny new coat of clearness. No more paint.

I've been busy with Elijah. His first birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks. Mine is Monday! Oh my. Today we went on a mini shopping spree buying birthday presents and things for his first Easter basket! Technically he had one last year, but the only thing that was in it was him. New moms and their new baby photo op's ;)

Speaking of . . . who could resist:
Bliss: When nothing in the world seems out of reach and all the hard work is done for the day . . .

I promise not to stay away so long again! I've missed my blogspot :(
♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Family a la Carte

My mind is nearly consumed with the fact that Eli's first birthday is fast approaching. As such, here I am at 3am thinking about planning a birthday party. The invitations are designed and the first part is printed out, but we still haven't decided on a place to have the party. We'd love to just have something casual in our home with all of the family, but it just isn't quite large enough to hold everyone comfortably. I'm not a fan of most public rental places with their hard tables and chairs and too small enclosed spaces where you can't move or mingle with anyone, let alone see what's happening. I'm afraid that we're going to have to rent somewhere, but it's going to be tricky to find something just right. That's my mission for (later) today.
In the meantime, I'm simply at a loss for how quickly the last year has gone. He just used to be so tiny and now . . . just wow.

In other family news, my sister just opened her Etsy shop!! I'm so super excited for her & wish her all the best in her venture! Besides, it's always nice to have someone to share your obsession with! ;)
Off to dream up cake flavors & goody bags!
♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Myriadic Collection of a Random Mind

Well, I did it. I spent a few days this past week going through and editing the listings in my Etsy shop. I updated my shipping costs, put a slight raise on the necklace prices, and took all new photos while I was at it, as the store was beginning to look a bit haggard from all my random past attempts at getting decent pictures. I'm happy with most of the new ones, but there are a few that still need to be redone. While I was at it, I moved a dozen or so pieces to a new sale/clearance section. Most of these are some of my first pieces and I'm just not quite thrilled with their quality. They're still functional and pretty enough I think, though, so I'd hate to see them get wasted.


Amidst all the picture taking I was super excited to find that one of my treasuries had made the front page of Etsy! I was even more thrilled when I realized that several of the sellers featured sold those items that day and for one of them, it was their first sale!






I am also beside myself about 2 new collaboration sets that I've begun to list in the shop this week, as well as 2 new personal sets. The new collaborator pieces are a series of floral pendants featuring the photography of Etsy seller flandersfield (also a Seattle local - yay!) and a series of magnets featuring the Polaroid photography of Minorthread! The pendants are very pretty and colorful, just like flandersfield's shop. I think they are a great representation of her work and the magnets are seriously pretty much the cutest things ever!

The 2 new personal sets that I'm beginning to list are ones that I've been brewing over for quite some time. One is a series of single lines taken from poems that I've written over the years. The text is formatted and shaped to complement the verse while still allowing the words to remain the focus of the piece. Well, at least that was my goal. Each one is accented with a single Swarovski crystal rhinestone for a little extra pizazz, while again maintaining simplicity. The second series is a continuation of my newfound obsession with silhouettes. I haven't been getting many orders for personal custom silhouettes, but I was itching to create some more. I made this set smaller than my other pendants and accented them with coordinating colored beads instead of my standard silver bead.

I really have high hopes for these new pieces and am pretty excited about the new changes in my Etsy store!

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Pricing

It's a nasty subject to think about, but it's been on my mind for quite some time now. For me, Etsy is a hobby. I do it to justify spending some time on myself and to have an outlet for my occasional bursts of creativity. These first few months have been quite successful, relatively speaking, but a few things just aren't sitting well.

The easy decision: shipping. Since I've figured out how to use Paypal shipping, it's become quite apparent that I'm not charging enough. Most of my packages are under 2oz, costing what I charge just to ship. That doesn't take into account envelopes, paper, packaging, wrapping, or tape. Seems silly, but it's true. So, shipping charges are going to go up a bit.

Product pricing, however, is a whole new ballgame. I came across a formula somewhere along the way that talked about pricing. According to the formula, prices should be equal to {[supplies + time(wage)] x2} + fees. You know what my pricing is missing? The x2 factor! That's a pretty big piece. Let's face it, I'm not trying to pay my mortgage, but I do need to be able to buy supplies when I run out (and paying an occasional bill would be nice, too). Due to the nature of my pieces, I'm having a really difficult time with the idea of raising my prices. It's not like I'm the only one in the Etsy marketplace selling these items and some of the others are actually selling for less than I am.

The majority of my shop, and sales, are my polymer clay pendants. Within the last week I have had two people ask me whether or not they were handmade! These take an enormous amount of time! I use some techniques that are by no means the fastest, but that I am committed to for various reasons. First of all, the clay is all rolled and cut by hand. No machines, no cookie cutters, just a rolling pin and a great big knife. After each one is cut, it is pierced all the way through with a headpin so that the pendant doesn't fall apart the first time it's worn. Next, the magical transfer/baking combination occurs and that takes a bit of time, too, along with cooling and pressing. What takes the longest however is the huge amount of time spent sanding, filing, filing finer, finer yet, and finally wet sanding before they are sealed twice and eventually assembled into the finished pieces. A single batch of clay makes about 10 pendants and takes six hours over the course of 3 or 4 days. So in order to figure out a reasonable price, not only do I have to figure out how much I deserve per hour, but I have to weigh that against the market value and (possibly?) the prices that others are charging.

The formula says that my $10 necklaces should be selling for $15 for the pendant alone. I don't know that I necessarily agree with the formula, but I do know that something isn't adding up in the end and that just isn't sitting well.

None of this takes into account the sheer amount of time that it would take to go through and edit 150 listings. :/

Comments, suggestions, horror stories, loving support, and random acts of kindness always appreciated . . .

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Word Song . . .

All my dreams and wishes
bundled up inside
like a pretty little package
but without the stark surprise.
Sitting here I watch you grow
beside us now and in this place,
and I cannot help but stare
at that darling baby face.