Vistaprint - genius site!

So, I've been playing around recently re-branding myself - as you can see new banner! I really haven't had a moment to update my Etsy shop (I've been moving house), admittedly I've been a bit lazy and put it onto vacation mode whilst I got myself sorted. I have been busy making new bits and pieces, the ones which don't sell at the craft show next weekend I will of course pop into the shop - if I get a minute I'll get photographing and put some pieces in before then.

Anyway, onto the main blog subject - Vistaprint. If you haven't discovered it yet, it's an absolutely fantastic printing website where you can get loads of great marketing for your business either really cheap or even better free, with just postage to pay - I have become addicted! I've bought loads of business cards, postcards and my favourite - a new vinal banner for my craft show table. If you need anything, please do check them out - www.vistaprint.com - brilliant I assure you!

That's it for today - just a quick one. I will be back with photos of new pieces and hopefully a tale of success at the craft show. Ooh and some pics of my new craft display - my fella made it, and I'm really pleased with the result!

All the best!

Felicity

Lovely new items and New Year Plans!

Only a short post today; I'm trying to reorganise myself after all the Christmas craft stalls, jewellery parties and the end of the craft exhibition. It certainly was a busy couple of months!

Well, last year proved to be somewhat of a learning curve. What I can say is that jewellery parties were a big success, I only did two of them but they proved to be a lot more profitable than the craft stalls as there's no competition and no hire charge; so this year that is definitely the way to go, plenty of jewellery parties!

So into the new year! I finally got round to adding some new bits and pieces to my shop; I've still got a tonne of things to put on there so do pop back and check if you've got a mo. I'm trying to work on doing more of my jewellery in sterling silver now. I've also added my new Funky Chunky Crochet Bracelet, which is part of a new baby proof range I designed for my sister so she could wear jewellery without the littleun eating it! Well she still eats it but it's safe and indestructable!

Finally, my exhibition closes on Friday but it was successful with thirteen pieces selling and some kept to be sold in the shop as a permanent feature! That's all for now, sorry about the delay in writing - I will try and do better next time!

Jewellery looks great in a nice shiny case!!!

Well, it's been a very exciting week and an especially exciting day. My first ever exhibition opened today, with all the pieces looking very shiny in my very own glass case! I have to say displaying it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be; in the end it was all a matter of height in the case, making sure I built up layers and not putting everything flat. I also found using some props helped to create interest - I used a fan, shells, pebbles, glass stones and leaves to complement different pieces, which also really tied things together. Mind you it did take me the best part of 3 hours to put together - that's probably the perfectionist in me though!

Quite a few people came to the opening (probably after the posh biscuits) but I got some fantastic feedback and sold two pairs of earrings! Hopefully I'll be selling more in the coming months, it's on till January. If things keep going well I'm going to have to make stock ready to replace sold items otherwise my case is going to look very bare indeed!

Well, I will keep you all posted if I sell anything else.

Love, exhibitions and exciting sales!

Treasuries, Jewellery Parties & New Designs

It's been an eventful day today. After a gorgeous walk in our local woods, taking in all the Autumn colours and seeing a lovely herd of deer I got back to find my burnt orange Halloween squiggles have been included in a lovely Autumn treasury on Etsy by Flashforward, I'm really excited about it, it's great to be picked out from all the thousands of shops! Thank you Flashforward :)

Other exciting news... I'm going to hold my first ever Rhubarb jewellery party at the end of November. It does mean that I've got a lot of making to do, I figured if I make loads of examples that I can sell and then take my jewellery portfolio for people to look through that should be enough :/ Well I hope so anyway!!! I figured it'll be like a mini, informal craft stall. I'll report back in November to say whether it was successful or not, I've got to work out some kind of gift/bonus for the host now.

And finally... I've been playing again and I ended up making another simplistic but elegant new earring design - they remind me of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics so, here they are - sterling hieroglyphs - Let me know what you think!!!

Well, no jewellery making tomorrow, my friend is down to visit tomorrow and then on Thursday I'm shopping in Nottingham - might have to pop into the bead shop though ;)

Love, Autumn leaves and Etsy treasuries!

Rhubarb

New Developments!

Haha it worked! (There was me thinking this was going to be really tricky!)

So.... new developments:

Well since this morning I've opened a new shop on Folksy, which if you don't know or haven't heard of it, is a UK version of Etsy. So I'm going to see how that goes, it's a lot smaller but hopefully a bit more personal. Etsy, although I love it, has got enormous so it's a little tricky to be found on there and you feel a bit lost in a sea of handmade items from numerous sellers, all of whom make fantastic objects. Anyway, watch this space, I'll let you know how it goes.

Other developments - I got a fantastic new stamp with my logo on made by Etsian Yatsu (www.yatsu.etsy.com)- fantastically good value and a lovely seller! My new earring cards now look fantastic, I can't wait to see them in use in my upcoming Christmas craft stalls! Please check out her shop if you're after your own stamp, she can hand-carve just about anything so drop her a line.

What else... my squiggles are going well, I've had lots of positive feedback from people, including a couple of sales - my newest forest green pair are featured here on my new earring cards. I've made so many new pieces recently but unfortunately they're not in my shop because... they're featured in my upcoming exhibition!!!!

Upcoming Exhibition: 'Inspired' at Rutland County Museum in Oakham

I can't wait, I have to deliver my exhibition jewellery on the 12th ready for the opening on 17th October. I'll make sure I take some photos so I can upload some here for everyone to see.

Right, well, as it's Sunday I think a Sunday roast is called for - off to the carvery I go!

Love, Sundays and Yorkshire puddings!

New to blogging!

Hello!

So this is all very new :) Can't say I've ever done one of these before but I'll try and make it as interesting as I possibly can!

So, here we are, Sunday 4th October, nearly 7 months since I opened up my Etsy shop after much encouragement from friend and fellow crafter Victoria aka Wiggle (please see her shop - www.wiggle.etsy.com). So why start a blog? Well honestly I just thought it would be a fun thing to do and my boyfriend has been busily cleaning cars all morning so I thought why not, lets start one.

Right well, first things first a little bit about me - I've been making jewellery for years and years, since I was very young - you should see my earliest creations, they're hysterical, but bless my Mum for still wearing some of them!!!! Luckily, with much practice and a few disasters I felt good enough to open my own shop - Rhubarb. I make lots of unique and elegant jewellery using wire, sterling silver, various beads in all different shapes, sizes and colours, buttons, gemstones and well just about anything I can get my hands on. I'd love to get into using textiles too but that's a whole new skill so watch this space!!!

I come from a very crafty/arty family, we all do something. My sister is soon to open her own shop (Flat Rabbit) with gorgeous children's wall hangings and clocks, if I can work out how I'll get her to do a little interview here on my blog so you can all see. My other sister is fantastic at handmade cards and knitting, my brother is a landscape architect and so is brilliant at photographs and drawing and my sister-in-law is another brilliant artist who can do pretty much anything she puts her mind to. So as you can imagine, I get much encouragement and most people get handmade presents for birthdays and Christmas!

So that's me in a nutshell! Right, I'm going to try and post this and if that works then I'll tell you about some of my newest developments!!!