I return to teaching this week, so while technically summer just started, for me it is no longer summer vacation mode. On the bright side, summer is pretty sleepy around campus, even when classes are going on. It is nothing like fall semester which is pretty crazy. Thus, I’ll be easing back into the daily work of grading papers, conducting class, and working on new ideas for next semester.

I always feel like I have to accomplish something when I have a chunk of time off from school, and for the most part, I think I did during my break:

• I crocheted another blanket for my crazy dogs, and so far, it is getting the puppy thumbs up.
• I went on a short cruise to the Bahamas and made my mom happy for a few days, and I learned that I’m not a cruise kind of gal.
• I manage to get a few books read: Shanghai Girls, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, and I’m close to finishing The True History of Paradise: A Novel.
• I created a series of jewelry making kits, all earrings, and so far have variations of 3 (tutorial only, supplies only, and full kit including supplies & tutorial) listed in my Etsy shop. In fact, my shop had literally about 3 things listed around early May, and now not only have I increased my listings to 49, but I have re-shot tons of photos, gotten a new banner, and generally have it in much better shape.

I have been working on a new jewelry related project during my summer vacation, and until I got to a certain point of completion, I didn’t feel comfortable discussing it here. However, I have made some major progress and see my vision coming clearer ever day, so I finally decided to spill the beans, at least some of them.

Drum roll please…Tammy Powley (aka the Crafty Princess) will soon be offering jewelry kits for sale. This is a project that I have been dreaming about for way too long and decided to just buckle down and do it this summer.

Of course, it has been way more work than I expected. For example, my husband is helping me with the photographs since it is basically impossible to take photos of your hands making jewelry since, well, you need your hands to operate the camera. On our first photo shoot, he asked me how many photos I thought we would need to take. This shoot was for two of the kits, so I said well, maybe two dozen pictures or a tad more than that. How many did we end up taking? More like 100 pictures!

When I get further along, I will reveal more details about the designs I’ve created for the kits, but for now, I can say that I’m just starting with a small number to test the waters. My vision for the kits I think are a little different than what I’ve seen available so far. In fact, I’ve been pretty surprised at what I’ve seen as far as kits in general. My goals when putting together the designs for each kit include the following (in no particular order of importance):

• Use quality materials, some of which are not available at the average craft shop
• Develop a “class in a kit” approach where each kit covers specific skills
• Provide step-by-step instructions tailored for each specific kit
• Incorporate high-resolution photographs for each tutorial that accompanies each kit
• Generally create kits that are appealing to beginners but also appeal to intermediate level jewelry makers
• Offer convenience to buyers, no going to the craft store, bead shop, or ordering a huge list of supplies on-line.

I’m really hoping I get these all together and ready to announce properly, yes, with lots of fan fair, press releases, and Hollywood parties (okay, maybe not a party but you get the picture) by the time I start back to school, which is (yikes!) only a few weeks away. So stay tuned!

One of the issues I have had with getting my Etsy shop in order is trying to create some kind of cohesiveness, and photographs have a lot to do with that. If you are listing 50 items in your shop and have photographs with 50 different backgrounds, that is not exactly cohesive. However, since I’m selling mainly jewelry supplies along with some finished jewelry pieces, I have a real mix of materials, from metal to glass to crystal. What looks good for the background of a sterling silver tree charm doesn’t necessarily look that great behind a bead mix of lampwork, crystal, and seed beads.

I’ve been trying a zillion different backgrounds and canvasing everyone from  Twitter to Facebook to my blogging buds about their opinions. I’ve posted on the Etsy forums too. Of course, the more people you ask the more opinions you get, not all of which agree with each other!

Finally after probably over-thinking this way more than necessary, I came up with a compromise that I hope will help give me the put-together look I’m going for but accommodate all the different materials in the shop: black, gray, and white, all with slight textures to them. These neutral colors look good together and don’t fight with the colors of the materials either. So everyone can play nice!

Now I have the monumental task of retaking many of the photos I already have in my shop, which now has 45 items for sale, the most I have ever managed to get listed in there. But it feels good to have some kind of direction now, and I think, I hope, my photos are getting a little better as well.

After working away on my jewelry, writing up some projects for my About.com site, and loading up new items to my Etsy shop, I realized that this place has gotten, well, shall we say, a tad on the messy side? So yesterday I started cleaning and reorganizing a little around here. Luckily, I did most of my major studio reorganization last summer, so now when things get out of control, I can at least just put everything back in order, dust, and I’m ready to go!

Ah, this is soooo much better; don’t you think?!

Seriously, when I have a clean and organized space to work in, I seem to get so much more done. The hardest part of getting organized in the first place is stopping and just doing it.

Victoria Tillotson sent me a link to this interesting article on The Entreprenette Gazette, “The One Tip that Changed my Business.” (You will find Victoria listed there in tip number 6). The article includes 67 different tips from small business owners - many of them in craft related business such as making jewelry and other accessories. Participants were asked what one piece of advice they would give or have been given that when followed changed their business (for the better I’m sure). If you have been thinking about expanding your crafting business from your kitchen table to maybe a department store, you might find some of these tips helpful, or at least worth getting your wheels turning in the right direction.

I have been crazy busy since school started back up this week, so I’m just kind of throwing this out there for you to catch. You may want to bookmark it for later even, but someone else passed on an awesome Etsy link to me called The Etsy Seller Handbook. I wanted to return the favor to all crafters out there who have been thinking of trying Etsy on for size but have zero clue about how to get started.

Included on my “after the book is done to-do list” is to resuscitate my poor little (sad) Etsy shop. I think I’ve got something like 3 things in it right now! But, it takes time if you want to make a go of anything, especially a business. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother when I have so little time to devote to it and there are so, so, so many jewelry people over there.

Then I read one of the latest “Quit Your Day Job” articles, and I realize that yes, it does take time to develop a successful shop over there (as in it’s not going to happen over night, folks) and yes, it can actually be worth it if I ever do find the time. This series is always enjoyable and informative, but one of the more recent additions is even more so because it features a jewelry designer, yeah!

K. Gardner Designs talks about how she started with just a small investment and eventually turned her jewelry business into a full-time gig. As of this post, she boasts an impressive 1,838 sales, and her membership dates back to January 2008 (which may or may not be the date she started her shop since many members, like myself, open accounts but not necessary shops right after joining).

One detail that I noticed after taking a look at her shop is that like many of the more successful Etsy shops, K. Gardner’s shop is very focused on a specific style. She has a niche, a look, a signature if you will: “Chic Jewelry for Bridal and Everyday” is how she puts it. She isn’t all over the road trying to sell 10 different styles of jewelry or even a mix of crafts for that matter. In fact, I know some Etsy members will open more than one shop just so that they can create a niche feel to each one.

This idea of “niche” is something I’m still trying to figure out myself over there, so perhaps that is why it was so noticeable to me. I like to make so many different types of jewelry as well as other crafts that finding one focus has been difficult. For writing, being all over the road trying all types of techniques has worked for me because it means I have more to write about. However, a clear focus is really something I think is important if you are trying to stand out in a sea of other crafts in a network as large as Etsy.

I heard about this through the Internet crafting grapevine, CraftyCon 2010. According to the web site, it will be held in Chicago in October and is being billed as “For Crafters, By Crafters.” Right now, there is a call for speakers, so this could be a good opportunity for serious crafters to add a little something to the old artist bio. The web site isn’t full of details right now, but hopefully, that will change. Any way, I think it’s worth bookmarking and keeping an eye on.

A few years before I hit the big 4-0, I made the decision to return to school for another graduate degree with the idea that I wanted to teach full-time on the college-level. I had been teaching part-time for many years and worked one year full-time/temporarily. I remember waking up every morning excited about my job, so when the temporary job ended, I realized it was something I wanted to do badly enough that I was willing to take a chance on returning to school…again.

Along with big bucks for tuition, this meant sort of keeping my life on hold for the 4 1/2 years it took me to get through the program. I continued to teach part-time, had a part-time job at a public library, and increased my writing freelance load as a way to still earn a decent wage but have a schedule that was flexible enough to accommodate my school schedule.

It was a really big gamble for me. As a “mature” student, I wasn’t the typical 24 year old who was footloose and able to take any old job after graduating. I had a husband, mortgage, car payment, errr…a life already, so that meant I needed to stay local. This limited my job prospects to say the least.

Of course, I constantly heard the “what are you going to do when you graduate?” mantra from every Tom, Dick, and Harriet within a 10 mile radius. What if I didn’t get “the” job? What if I spend all those years and (gasp!) money for no reasons!?

My plan “B” sounds almost as crazy as my original agenda: become a full-time crafter and writer. Actually, as I spent those years as a student, my freelance work grew to the point that it was very close to becoming a full-time job. I very often had to turn down work because I just couldn’t do it all. This experience taught me that it is possible to write and craft full-time. It also taught me that to be successful at it you need to work like crazy and be willing and able to wear a lot of different hats.

All of this came to mind today when I read an Etsy newsletter I had waiting in my in box for a few days: Can You Quit Your Day Job? As I read through it, I found that a lot of it made sense after my own experience as an almost full-time crafter. The saying “be careful what you wish for” resonates a lot with the advice linked through this newsletter, but it is of course, a mixture of good and bad. The good part about not having to punch a time clock on a regular basis is that you can create your own hours, have a 2 hour lunch with your BFF, or go to the gym in the middle of the day. The bad news is that to be successful, you probably won’t have time for any of that!

As it turned out, I was incredibly lucky and landed my full-time dream job as a college professor, so plan “B” is now on the back burner. In fact, plan “B” is now really plan “R,” as in when I retire from my teaching job. Obviously, I’m still crafting and writing professionally, but very much on a part-time basis. I love my teaching job, but my second dream job is to stay home, write, and craft. I know that Etsy.com gets bashed a lot about claiming people can do that, but honestly, I believe it is possible. So, don’t ever give up the dream!

Kenneth Fron, known for his beautiful beaded necklace designs, sent me a jewelry piece to include in the gallery section of my new book. Of course, I can’t show you the necklace (you have to wait for the book to come out), but I can show you this beautiful box it came in. And, when you open it, he has the necklace secured in a wonderful necklace box as well.

Packaging for jewelry (and really any retail item) is so important, and I often think designers are so focused on the item they are making that they don’t consider the final step in the process when selling it. This is really critical when you consider that fact that most of what we sell these days is through the Internet. If you sell in a store, then there isn’t that “ah” factor you get when you receive an item in the mail and unwrap it. This is another chance to “sell yourself” to the customer, to show that your work is quality and that you are there to pamper him/her. Take some notes on on Kenneth has done it!