Best friends forever!

Today my friend Heather, and her husband are coming over from Vancouver Island to spend the weekend with us. Both her and her husband have been my best friends for about 27 years. They moved away to British Columbia in 1991, and we have still kept in touch, and visited each other often. They have come all this way to celebrate with me, and my husband and two other couples that also have been extremely good friends for close to 30 years! More about the reason that we are celebrating later, and maybe some pics if you are lucky! Meanwhile here are some photos of my friend Heather and myself, one taken in the mid 1980's, and one taken this past summer...please ignore my curly hair in this pic, we had just got back from the beach!

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Free Shipping!

I would like to wish our neighbours to the south of us a very Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy your time with your loved ones and may your tables be filled with all things yummy!As it is colder here in Canada, we need to fatten up earlier than our American friends, so we already had our big Thanksgiving feast in October! I will have free shipping (yay!!) to the USA and Canada only, on all my items in my Etsy store on Thursday and Friday Nov.27 and 28. Pin It

If first you don't succeed.....

My open house on Sunday was a success! I did not have as many people show up as I had hoped for, however everyone who did bought something so it turned into a profitable day. Yesterday, as I was reading some blogs of other artists and designers, I discovered some have not been as lucky with their Christmas craft shows and open house events, and I know how discouraging that can be. Lets face it, I am sure that every artist and crafter out there has had at least one "dud" show.....I know I have! It is so discouraging, when you put your heart and soul into something, all the anticipation and hard work and expense that goes into your craft and then no one buys your things! Sometimes you feel like giving up. The important thing is to NOT give up! Try to analyze why this event did not work for you this time, and turn it around for the next show. Here are some things you may want to look at, if you had an unsuccessful show:

1. Was it the right venue...did your product fit in well with the show, as far as price, and the type of customer that the event attracted? (Who is your target market?)
2.Is your product priced right? Now that doesn't mean priced too low...people will pay for quality work. Don't undercut your prices.
3. Are your designs fresh, unique, and up to date with the trends? If you sell jewelry, how do you set yourself apart from the other jewelry sellers?
4. Is your display table or booth interesting? Do you have your items displayed on different levels, a flat display is boring! Does your display compliment your merchandise? Do you have good lighting? You need to invest a substantial amount of time getting your display right!
5.How much advertising was done? Send out flyers in the mail or email, to all your clients, neighbours, friends and tell them when and where your show is.
6. If you are having a sale in your home, what can you do to bring people to your house? I offered a discount coupon to all my customers on my mailing list, and a free pair of earrings to the first 10 customers that came to my open house. It was a small cost to me, but really paid off when everyone who came out purchased.
7.Build towards the next sale by having a book for customers to leave their name and contact information, so that you can let them know when you have new items, sales, shows etc. Hand out your business cards.
8. Network with fellow artists, to find out about other local art shows , and which ones are worth getting involved in.
9.Keep smiling, and keep faith.and hope you have better luck next time...no one said this was easy!!! Pin It

Music Monday-Led Zeppelin

Last week, on Thyme2dreams' blog, she had a video of Led Zeppelin, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So today I thought I would feature some Zeppelin right here on myown blog. I chose the song, Immigrant Song, as it has been my ring tone on my cell phone for the past year. Apparently this video is from 1972, lots of hair, and some great rock n, roll.


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Hot Rocks Open House

This Sunday is my Christmas open house. Some of you may know that I live in the country, about 30 minutes west of the big city, Calgary. So to get people to actually want to drive out here and attend my sale, I have to be creative...and then pray for good weather (no winter storms)! A few weeks ago I sent all the people on my client list a news letter regarding this event, and let them know all of the fun things that will take place on the day of my open house this year. First of all if you are one of the first 10 people to show up, you get a free pair of sterling silver earrings! Second, in my news letter, were 2 coupons, one for the recipient and one for a friend, for $10.00 off any regular priced item over $65.00. Thirdly, there will be a draw to win a bracelet, that anyone who attends can enter. Finally, I will also have a selection of merchandise on sale for up to 30% off. All this, as well as a great selection of new designs. I advertised in the local newsletter, on the community bulliten boards, spread the word verbally and I will have road signs in my area.If you live in my area and would like to come, please contact me for directions to my home. I am hoping for a decent turnout....and so far the weather forcast looks good! Pin It

CHristmas art show update

The Christmas art and craft show that I was in this past weekend was great! I slightly surpassed my personal goal for sales, got a few custom orders,got a lead for a big festival in the Spring, and handed out a whole pile of business cards...I ran out on Sunday at 4:00pm and had to resort to scribbling down my website on lined paper! It didn't hurt that I was the first table that you saw when you walked through the doors either! I certainly got lucky there. I raised $95.00 for Beads for Life, with my silent auction, so I was quite pleased with that. Here are some pictures of my table...Betty and Lucy, my redhead mannequins really worked hard this past weekend!

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Music Monday- Annie Lennox

The art and craft sale that I was involved in over the weekend was a success! One of the pieces that I sold, was the new bracelet, named "Walking on Broken Glass". You couldn't turn on the radio, back in the '80's without hearing Annie Lennox' voice! She was, and is still amazing! I don't know how old she is but she looks fantastic. Here she is performing in 2005.. Have a great Monday.


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Sneak a Peak on my show items!

Here is a preview on a few items in my booth for the big Christmas art and craft sale starting tomorrow. I am really excited about the necklace as it was a labour of love for quite some time. I finally finished it, and the title is... "Bleeding Love", with focal bead by Rebecca Werner. As well I have a bracelet titled "Walking on Broken Glass",with some fabulous lampwork lentils, and the purple charm bracelet is "Lady Marmalade"..no it isn't a marmalade color, but it felt very French, bijoux, to me, and if you know the song, you will understand the title.

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Getting ready for the big show

Well I am back after a few wonderful days of well needed R&R, on Vancouver Island. I did manage to drop a few entrecards while I was away, and it was a real joy to experience high speed internet while I was doing that! Now it's back to some serious work, as I have a big Christmas art show that I am in that starts on Friday and runs through till Sunday. So I have alot of items to pack up and I would like to get a few more earrings made up as well.I am also excited about the silent auction that will be held in my booth for the necklace made with Ugandan beads. I hope to raise a decent amount of money to send to the women of Uganda. I will certainly let you know how it all turns out! Pin It

New creations to keep you entertained

I am going to be away for a few days as, we are heading out to our little getaway place on Vancouver Island, off of Canadas' west coast. So I hope to be inspired by all things west coasty...ocean, beaches, big trees, eagles, whales etc! In the meantime enjoy these new wire wrapped bracelets. See you in a week.

Oh ...the names are from top to bottom:"Summer Breeze", (Seals & Crofts) "Cowgirl in the Sand" (Neil Young) and "Salt of the Earth" (Rolling Stones), all classics!

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Hollywood Nights-new necklace

Awhile ago, I got my hands in this gorgeous vintage rhinestone pendant, full of sparkle and loads of bling, and I thought that this would be a great piece to design a necklace around for the holidays. Perfect with that little black dress for a Christmas party, or New Years Eve...you are guaranteed to turn heads with this focal piece! I used garnets, A couple of vintage Swarovski crystals as well as lots contemporary ones, Swarovski pearls and quartz crystal. Guess what was playing on the radio as I worked on this creation? Hollywood Nights, by Bob Seger... and so the necklace was named!

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Music Monday-Never Ending White Lights

Who says angels are not real? A great video and awesome song about a tailor repairing an angels' wings and how they fall in love. The song is called "The Grace".

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