My last post was about the wonderful Treasury curated by MontanaSnowVintage. Love that name! Love the great Vintage Fashion to be found there!

If you’re looking for clothing, jewelry, or accessories from the 1950s, 60s, 70s, or 80s, hop on over and see what this lady has to offer. If I could make myself get out of my jeans or sweat pants, I would buy her out of her dresses – they’re great!

Looking for Vintage Housewares or Kitchen Decor? Then check out her other shop, MontanaSnowVintageII.

Now go have some fun in Montana Snow Vintage’s shops, while I get back to my Great Jewelry Purge…

Talk to ya later :-)

Lemon Heart Cookies
“Buttery shortbread crust and delicate filling, bursting with lemon scent and flavor, and sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar.”

Oh, I can taste them! I want! These remind me of lemon bars I used to make. Might have to pick up that habit again, though these cookies sound (and look!) much better…

Biscotti Dark Chocolate Almond Cookies
“Toasted to perfection almonds and rich European chocolate are just a few of the reasons why our Chocolate Almond Biscotti Cookies are so irresistibly good. Twice-baked to reach that unmistakable crunchiness, they are a perfect compliment to your favorite hot beverage or just by themselves.”

Yes! I don’t often have the chance to enjoy Biscotti (never tried to make it myself), and tend to pig on it when it’s set within reach… I’ll take a couple pounds of this, please :-)

Chocolate Hazelnut Heart Cookies
“An unforgettable treat consisting of rich dark chocolate and delicately roasted hazelnuts will leave your taste buds begging for more.”

Hazelnut anything is to die for! Oh my. I would have to hoard these cookies, not tell anyone.

Pecan Nuts, Honey, Lemon Cookies Baklava
“Thin layers of phyllo pastry, lots of pecans that add a toasty flavor, and honey based syrup with citrusy twist.”

Oh. My. God. I want. Now. The drool is out of control.

I’ve got to go find something to eat… And you, dear reader, click on over to Yummy Affair and get your order in!

Thank you, Yummy Affair, for a great birthday present :-) I will be sharing your mouth-watering shop tomorrow. Folks, be prepared to drool!

I posted about this fur clip recently: 1950 Coro Fur Clip

Here’s the treasury, Spins and Spirals:

And here’s the link to it (good til 3:05 AM, Friday, Feb. 5): Spins and Spirals

UPDATE: It made it to the treasury :-) The beautiful table topper sold :-)

You can find that clip here: Coro Fur Clip

Today was a day of celebration at Etsy! Oh yes! Sooo… what happened? Rob Kalin is what happened.

Yesterday Rob started posting in the forums, answering questions, erasing fears and generally calming people down. It continued into today, complete with a party in the Virtual Labs. (unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stick around for much of the party, but I will be posting the how-to for TrashCan Chicken-or-Turkey after Christmas.)

Not only are they not going kamikaze corporate on us, they’re actually going to implement some much-needed, long-begged-for improvements, and are eliminating some of the less-than-desirable “enhancements” that have been implemented over the last year or so.

Rob states they’ll be adding more (desparately needed) seller tools, redoing the category structures, working on marketing (an affiliate program – yes!), completely eliminating the “Weekend Deals” crappola, and moving into social marketing as opposed to the sterile retail “experience” that’s been going on.

That’s just to name a few things. Wow. I have to say, I haven’t been this excited over a marketplace – ever. Matter of fact, I’m just not real excited about marketplaces in general. But Etsy is a different sort of environment. I saw this years ago when I first stumbled on the site, and it’s with heartfelt gratitude that I’m there now to see it take wing and fly again, and be a part of it.

Yes, I’ll still be developing my sites, but Etsy will play a prominant role in my online presence.

I’m sitting here with a glass of wine, continuing the celebration. I offer a toast to you, Rob Kalin, with deepest thanks for stepping in and saving what is the most incredible site online today.

Merry Christmas, Etsy :-)

This is very sudden – no major announcement, no fanfare, like you would expect for a change like this, just a quiet post. Also, Maria seems to be leaving with very short notice.

Overall, Maria has done a good job getting Etsy organized and steering it off the chaotic path. So why is she leaving, especially after less than 2 years on the job? Something’s screwy here…

Etsy’s been running in the red since Rob first “opened the doors”. I’m sure Maria’s been under tremendous pressure from the VCs to “show us some black.” This would partially explain some of the questionable actions taken by Admin (pushing Etsians to spam social networking sites comes to mind here…).

Have the VCs gone too far in their demands? Have they asked Maria to do something stupid that she knows would start a major uproar with sellers, and she refused? Is this why they’ve brought Rob back in?

Rob left Etsy because he didn’t like what was being done to the site, the direction it was taking. He could hardly argue with his backers, since their money was keeping the show running, so his only alternative was to leave. Now his only alternative is to cave to their demands, whereas Maria is able to take her marbles and go home.

It will be interesting (to say the least) to see what develops with Etsy in 2010. In the meantime, I’m stepping up the work on my own sites, and will be reworking the business plan… once again.

Oh, Etsy will still play a part, but not as dominant as was planned, and certainly in a way where I can hit the door running, if necessary.

Call me paranoid, but I learned a hard lesson with eBay.

So what have I been doing???

Getting back into photography…

But mostly, working.
I’ve been making lots of things for my Etsy shops – DanceTheMoon and JewelryObsessed. Haven’t listed any of them yet.

I have mixed feelings about Etsy, and am debating on whether to keep those shops or where to move them. Will probably stock them up for the holidays and then make some changes in the spring.

I’ve also been sorting through my tons of inventory for my eCrater stores – IncredibleClutter and CraftCottage. I’ll be getting those things cleaned up, photo’d, and listed, starting this week.

AND – I’ve been working on themes and templates and such for the web sites. Just installed a new theme on my main site: DanceTheMoon.com, which is a WordPress blog right now, with more to come. Also got a home page up on my web store site: DanceTheMoon.us. It’s still a work in progress, but really needed to get something up there. The ZenCart is on the site, but no link to it yet, as it needs lots o’ help…

WordPress themes are all over the place, but ZenCart templates are few and far between – unless you want to pay a bunch for one, which I don’t. So I’ve been digging through code and working on customization. Looks like I’ll end up having to do my own, to tie all the sites and pages together. (Yes, there’s more sites, but they’re on the proverbial back burner for now…)

Of course, living out in the middle of nowhere, there’s a lot of preparation for season changes. I’ve been busy with that, too.

Winter, it’s coming… are you ready?

Step #1: Drop the wholesale business. Done!
Step #2: Revisit pricing.

Dropping wholesale led to thoughts on pricing. For now, I’m concentrating on JewelryObsessed, as that inventory is currently at full retail. DanceTheMoon has “old stock” that’s already below wholesale. (Though that will probably change, too.)

Do I need that cushion between wholesale and retail prices now? If not, how can I give my retail customers the best deal, without going broke and getting the lights shut off?

A bit of number crunching revealed that yes, indeed, lower retail prices will work. Not only that, but I can throw shipping in on the deal! Whoa!
Not only that, but my prices were a bit high for jewelry on Etsy. This will put them right around average.

Right here is where I want to give you a head’s up on a great spreadsheet for pricing handcrafted work. If you haven’t tried Chris Parry’s Excel sheet, you’re missing out. It’s a real eye-opener. There’s actually two sheets: One is good for jewelry and other things that have more precise expenses, the other you’ll want to tweak to fit your art/craft. They’re both amazing – and free.

Sooo… this weekend, you’ll find me at JewelryObsessed:
Step #3: Set up new shipping profile.
Step #4: Change prices.
Step #5: Revise policies.
Step #6: Revise shop announcement.
Step #7: Freshen up existing listings, new photos; freshen profile.
Step #8: List more jewelry! Now that I know where I’m going with this shop, I can get busy with it :-)
Of course, 7 & 8 aren’t weekend projects, and will be ongoing.

In the meantime, do try out those spreadsheets and let me know what you think. I just might share some tips and tweaks in the future… ;-)

Off to refill the coffee mug… Talk to ya later :-)

Have you checked out the Fine Art on Etsy? Well, here’s one Fine Example of oil painting on canvas:

This treasury was curated by BeadSire. I’ll be doing a feature on this jewelry maker’s shop. They make some fantastic jewelry that deserves attention.

The theme for this Treasury is “Oneiric”, which is oddly enough a new word for me. I say odd, because I’m fairly obsessed with dreams and the dream world, yet I’ve never seen or heard that word before… hah! It means having to do with dreams or something related to dreams.

For those who aren’t familiar with Etsy and the Treasury feature, a Treasury is a showcase curated by an Etsian (Etsy member). There are hundreds of treasuries running at any given time. Sometimes they – or parts of them – make it to the front page, which makes it even better. It’s always an honor to know someone finds one of your handcrafted items worthy of such a showcase.