Giveaway Winner Picked!

I have contacted the winner (choosen using randomizer.org) and they have 24 hours to respond. I'll announce who it is as soon as I hear back from her.

Thank you all SO SO SO much for participating!

UPDATE: Giveaway winner 1 has not responded so I've contacted giveaway winner #2 - will post as soon as I hear back from her!

My secret project is completed!

For the last two months I've been working on the ultimate 'how-to' guide for etsy - and it's FINALLY done!

I've spent so much time researching top psychology and marketing journals to find the keys in successful online selling.

Check out the new shop
http://PsychologyofSelling.etsy.com

Now - I'm going to cook dinner, I've been working on this and my thesis non-stop for weeks and I'm exhausted!!

Winner of the Giveaway will be chosen TONIGHT!

I'll pick one winner at random tonight at midnight and announce the winner as soon as I have contacted them and heard back!

If I do not receive a response within 24 hours a new winner will be picked.


Sorry things have been so slow around here the last two weeks. It's the last week for me at school, which also means it's the last week of my two classes I've been teaching and my last week with a job!

Also - in the midst of a job search, I've been working on a super awesome project that's related to etsy and somewhat to my store, but it's not jewelry :) It should be available by tomorrow night!

I'm obsessed!

Click HERE to go straight to my giveaway! Ends 4/30!!

I know I just posted about SojournCuriosities.etsy.com recently but during her great sale Saturday night I checked out her shop again and she has the most amazing necklace!



Isn't it gorgeous!!! I don't even want to give you all a direct link because I want it all for myself lol. I love how it's a mix of funky/bright colors and an antique skeleton key - perfect!

I suppose I shouldn't be stingy...here's the link :)

Aside from drooling over things on etsy I haven't been very productive this past weekend. I'm waiting on some supplies to come in but hopefully I'll have at least one or two new pieces up today.

Off topic - I'm getting pretty tired of hearing about this swine flu stuff! I just wish 'they' (the government, health officials, whoever!) would quit telling us it's not a big deal at all - because I don't get why it's all over EVERY channel and EVERY news site online if it's not!

If I need to freak the heck out I want forwarning!

Anyone else worried at all?

Super Amazing Sales and Giveaways!

Click here to go straight to my giveaway! Ends 4/30!!

I am SOOO obsessed with handmade soap it's not even funny!

So I was thrilled when my #1 soap seller put up a GREAT saturday night sale tonight!
25% off everything in the shop and FREE SHIPPING for orders over $25 (after discount!) at http://HeathensHearth.etsy.com!

I just snagged



The CharlieCarter - a mix of Pink Sugar scent and Vanilla soap!



Pink Sugar - Sugar Scrub!

Plus 2 pink sugar soaps, a cafe mocha soap, oatmeal/milk/honey soap, pink sugar perfume oil and an additional charliecarter and I got it SHIPPED for $39! That's unheard of!

But wait - it gets better!
Another fav seller of mine http://Sojourncuriosities.etsy.com is having a super sale as well! I own one of her pieces and it is by far the most beautiful and detailed pieces of jewelry I own!



Isn't it stunning!? Her sale starts at 20% off and increases as you spend more - check her shop out for details :)

I know you can't think it could get any better BUT IT DOES!

Both shops, HeathensHearth and SojournCuriosities are in the middle of a combined giveaway right now! It's called 'Treasures from the Deep' and the winner will receive a beautiful set of earrings from Sojourn, and sea inspired perfume, soap and scrub from HeathensHearth.

GO ENTER NOW!

This is seriously the best giveaway I've ever seen (Hey - I know I'm doing one right now also but mine doesn't include soap lol).

~*~ Saturday Night Sale ~*~

*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•`*~SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL ~*´¨)¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)

Purchase ANYTHING in the shop and receive a FREE pair of surprise earrings! They are nothing like what I have listed - I have never sold them and will NEVER sell them! They are JUST for you saturday night shoppers!

$15 value FREE with ANY purchase!!
http://LoveandLust.etsy.com

*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•`*~ THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT ~*´¨)¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)

New Designs

Click here to go straight to my giveaway!!

I added quite a few new designs yesterday! Check 'em out if you'd like :)
http://LoveandLust.etsy.com



Birdcage Necklace - $20



What a Hoot Necklace - $14



'The Victoria' Lace earrings - $14

A few others added as well! Now, off to work!

It's been one month...

Click here to go straight to my Giveaway!!

I miss you Prince - I think about you daily and hope that you know how much I love you and wish I could have helped you more.

First Blog Giveaway!!

~*~*~ Win a FREE Gaia Necklace and Earring Set~ ~*~*~

I'm so excited to launch my first ever giveaway today!

The prize? A beautiful set of Gaia Necklace and Earrings in your color choice! (Purple, Pink or Blue - as seen in my shop).

This giveaway will end April 30th at Midnight (centrail time). The winner will be announced May 1st!

How to enter:

1) Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment saying you are/have been following. Please leave an email address that I can reach you at with this comment. (Mandatory - counts as 1 entry)

2) While looking at my shop, http://loveanandlust.etsy.com/ please complete this short survey href="Click'>http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=CU_2bjcIzQSDHr5flh_2fSwUOQ_3d_3d">Click Here to take surveyand comment here once you have completed it. (Mandatory - counts as 1 entry)

3) Blog about this giveaway and comment here with the link (Optional - counts as 2 entries).

That's it! Super easy and I greatly appreciate you helping me to better my shop via the survey.

Looking forward to the results and announcing the winner!

ALL Comments for the giveaway must be left in THIS post!

~*~Saturday Night Sale~*~

BOGO 1/2 OFF!!!
http://LoveandLust.etsy.com

Good only until tonight at midnight (Central time).

MUST PUT SNS in message to seller at checkout!

*1/2 off will be applied to lesser priced item
*No limit as to how much you can buy! Buy 3 items, get 3 haf off!
*Sale does not apply to necklaces in the 'sale' section.

Check it out!
Http://LoveandLust.etsy.com

Sale!!

Select cameo necklaces are now 40$ off! Prices went from 24/26 to 14/15!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7029600&section_id=6074675

Need to make room in my workshop for new inventory and well, afford to buy new inventory LOL.

Handmade Business Cards!

After Ashley of the lovely 31 Experiment Blog (http://31experiment.blogspot.com/) posted pictures of handmade business cards - I got inspired! Here are a few more handmade designs I found picking through Flickr.

These are from tortiselovesthehare, and it looks like (from one of the comments left) that the 'ribbon' is actually the tape from a cassett tape! How adorable!

These were designed by Storykraft Kreative for Madame Pompadour and I LOVE how elegant and dark they are! Definitely more for the graphically inclined (not myself!) but I'm on the look out for some nice scrapbook filigree cutouts like those!

Above are from subdued7 - and exactly what I was thinking of when I wanted to use decorative scissors! I love the different styles of paper and how unique the cards appear - totally simple and possible to do for the paper-craft challenged folks like me!

Etruzey was nice enough to list the 'ingredients' for these striking cards: An old italian newspaper, Adobe Illustrator, a printer, fingers, tape and a black pen. A great way to recycle newspapers!

Jingman made these AMAZING 3d business cards!! A lofty goal for those who don't mind spending a lot of time on each card :) These would be great to use for 'special' recipients like shops and newspapers/magazines.

Another pop-up type card designed by mpFAH for one of my favorite etsy sellers - BigMamaNebraska! I love how they look when folded over (far right card).

Soooo - after seeing many beautiful ideas I finally started playing around with my own! Now they are no where near as nice as the above but I think I'm off to a good start - plus, I'm happy to finally have anything I can include with packages or give out! I actually had a student ask me about my earrings yesterday and didn't have a card to give to had to ask her for a pen and paper to write it down lol. Not very professional looking!

First - my workspace!

Now - some of my designs. YES I know I'm not great at stamping, YES I know many are off-centered, smudged, and generally not perfect. I like that! The beauty of handmade :) My favorite is the corset prototype - I definitely need to get a small hole punch and these would only go to 'the super important' places like magazines/newspapers.

First, the front:

A few other designs I made up:

For most of these the back has the 4 corners stamped with the small filigree and my etsy shop address written in silver metallic pen in the middle.

I LOVE doing these and it's fun to be able to make each one different (if I want to!). The simple black stamped ones take about 3 minutes each (including cutting time!) while the corset took about 10 minutes. I spent $17 on paper, ink, stamps and the pen - and I'm assuming I can make 100's of these beauties with only having to purchase more paper along the way.

Loves it!

Just venting

Today started off well - managed to force myself into getting new clothes (I HATE clothes shopping!).

Then when I was finally enjoying it (thanks to the 45 pound weight loss I'm sure!) I realized it was the first time I've felt really happy since we put Prince down 3 weeks and 5 days ago.

I cried a bit on the way home - checked the mail, and waddya know - got a rejection letter from the place I interviewed at last week. I REALLY wanted this job - it seemed perfect for me and I was really interested in the work they were doing (a school for 'high-risk' girls).

That's the second rejection letter in 1 month. First my doctoral program, now the job.

On top of that - my computer totally shut down from massive amounts of malware. It took about 2 hours and running to my office on campus late at night but I fixed it.

Now I have 15 papers left to grade for tomorrow and I have to be up super early to get ready for my conference, also tomorrow, at 9 a.m..

I feel like I'm hitting a brick wall.

My Beautiful Spring Treasury!

Show it some love!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=52696

Underglass Shop Review!

I recently received this BEAUTIFUL necklace from http://underglass.etsy.com/ and have to take a second to rave about her work!

First - the shipping was super quick. I love that! Anytime I purchase anything I want it to arrive, well, immediately lol. This was close!

Second - the product and packaging were ADORABLE! Check out the beautiful box it came in (as do all of her items!)

She has a few other items that I'm just dying to pick up soon!

Like these adorable Ouija board earrings for only $15!

So if you have some time today go check out her shop - with 130 items for sale I promise you'll find something to fall in love with!

Saturday Night Special!

SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL!!!!

***Buy ANYTHING in the shop and get a FREE pair of "Once Upon a Time" earrings in your color choice!***
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22031387

Just put your color choice (Red, Pink or Black) in the 'message to seller' box upon checkout. Don't actually purchase the earrings - just tell me what color you like and I'll include them in your order!

Love and Lust - GothChic Victorian Inspired Jewelry!

One of those days...

Sorry if this isn't a very uplifting post!

I have just felt so...blah, the last few days.

The shop is slowing down from the increadible activity last weekend.

I just found out today that one of the first year grad students has leukemia.

I was also just informed by one of my FAVORITE employees in the department that she has cancer!

What the hell is with today??

So I was a little down to begin with - and now I'm super depressed! I know I definitely take my life for granted and should quit complaining so much about my minor problems but this is still not making my poor attitude any better!

Ohh...I wonder if I could find something both on etsy to cheer them up :) Shopping for me and gifts for them would make today a little brighter!

I LOVE soap!

I never thought I'd say that - but, I am addicted to handmade soap!

I was fortunate enough to receive an amazing basket of goodies from etsy's soap team for a contest Christian won on Valentines day and ever since than - I'm hooked!

One of my FAVORITE sellers, HeathensHearth, is having a free shipping sale right now! For those of you who have been wanting to purchase some soap - now would be the time! Shipping can be pricey because of how heavy the soaps are so you will save a bundle with this sale! Christian and I just placed an order a few days ago and here are some of the goodies we got:

Brown Leather Glycerin Soap - $5 http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23258019 Christian has used this before and LOVES it! It truly does smell just like leather but not in a weird, used couch sort of way :)

Petite Fours Goat Milk Soap - $5 http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23257974 Now this is one of MY personal favorites! The smell is a mix of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate and it's simply to die for!

So you better hurry and go to http://HeathensHearth.etsy.com and stock up now!

What a weekend!

I am SHOCKED at how well the shop did! I had 10 sales in a 24 hour period! I'm sure the BOGO 1/2 off sale didn't hurt :)

It's times like this that make me think that maybe - just maybe - I could really do this. I mean - I have a Masters degree in something I'm not to fond of at the moment and could really care less about working in so, why not?

At least I have a good back up plan lol.

I have tons of papers I should be grading right now but just can't bring myself to start - I may just tell the class tomorrow that they'll just have to wait on them. The joys of being a teacher!

In other shop news - I have SOO many great ideas that I'm hoping to put into action soon. I really want to create jewelry that is totally one of a kind and very unique but not so 'out there' that it would pigeon-hole me. I think I may have some ideas brewing that have the perfect mix of uniqueness and marketability. Stay tuned folks!

Saturday Night Sale!!!

Until midnight tonight take advantage of my BOGO Half off sale! ALL Items in the shop are included - just be sure the second item is of equal or lesser value than the first :)

Please put SNS Sale in the message to seller and wait to pay until I send you a revised invoice!

So far many have taken advantage of this - don't miss out!

http://LoveandLust.etsy.com

I've met my first goal!

My goal for my first month on etsy was to sell 10 items - well, I have 5 days left in my month and I'm up to 16! Woohooo!!!

So now my goal is to to sell double in April - 20 items! I'd love for my sales to keep doubling every month until they hit about 100 a month. That would just be perfect for me!

In other news - if it doesn't stop raining soon I'm going to kill someone! I HATE this weather and it's been like this for 2 weeks now :( I always take my photos outside so I haven't been able to add new pieces all week!

Also - I have a job interview Friday! I had one last week but it's at a place I REALLY don't want to work at so I'm hoping this one goes well. I'm not sure if it's fulltime or parttime, but I'm kind of hoping it's parttime. I'm still holding out that one day I can sit around my house playing with jewelry like a gypsy and make a living off of it and I'm afraid that if I start working 40+ hours a week that my dream may be put on hold!

I've also been spending wayyyy to much time on etsy browsing others shops! I am so itching to buy something it's crazy. I found the perfect wristlet but it's $30 and I just can't bring myself to get it! I haven't purchased anything on etsy since I opened my new shop and paypal is just BEGGING me to spend some money lol.

Here's the wristlet - soooo cute! Also a wallet and lunch bag I'm drooling over!

$29 by http://www.cipolla.etsy.com/

$21 by http://www.juliemeyer.etsy.com/

$8 by http://www.BaffinBags.etsy.com

I should totally just splurge and buy it all :D