For the past two days I have been listing new items in my etsy store. I found a thread in the forums for "Love Links" which has been great. I have gained 20 followers on my FB fan page and on twitter. If you like share your links here and I will follow you and hopefully others will too.
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/bstrung/206774801600
twitter: http://twitter.com/bstrung
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Help Haiti
Put your phone to good use text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Social networking buzz?
I am wondering if people really get sales from blogging and tweeting? I don't have any followers so I am not sure. Sometimes I see referrals on my GA account but not sure if they have actually bought anything or just looked. If you do venture to my site please let me know you where you heard about us. Add blogg10 to the message to seller and I will refund you 10%. That way I will know for sure if I get any sales from this blog.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Snow Day
"Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Inspiration for Crafters
Selling jewelry in chic Charleston
Heather Key Tiller at her shop, Filigree, in Charleston's Design District.
By Sara PepitoneDecember 30, 2009: 12:38 PM ET
(Fortune Small Business) -- Entrepreneurial spirit and parental advice don't always jibe, but sometimes mother does know best. It was Heather Key Tiller's mom, Susan Foxworth, who in 2001 noticed the FOR RENT sign on an empty store at 47 John St. as the two left a nearby French restaurant. At the time, Tiller worked as an office manager at a local jewelry store while also designing her own pieces at home and selling them on a wobbly card table at the Saturday farmers' market in downtown Charleston.
The Vanderbilt graduate also took road trips up and down the coast, selling to galleries and stores; after two years of trips she had placed her jewelry in 80 stores throughout the Southeast. "I vowed that I would figure out a way to make it a career," recalls Tiller, 38.
Still, Tiller was wary of taking the next step. "I almost wanted the rent to be too expensive and the lease to be too long," says the Charleston native. "But everything fell into place -- space, layout, costs, terms -- so I said, 'Damn, I guess I have to do this.'"
Business took off after she opened Filigree, her brick-and-mortar store, in 2001. She grossed more than $200,000 in each of the first two years.
Her business plan changed when her son, Whit, was born in 2003. Tiller didn't stop working, but she did trim her hours to fewer than 40 per week. Today her annual sales hover around $150,000, but Tiller is now a mother of two (daughter Eva Gray was born in 2006) and is quite content with her current work-life balance. "I'll work more when my kids are both in school," she says.
Tiller still attends national gem shows and scours local antique markets, partly for inspiration and partly to find vintage pieces that she can update. Last year she discovered a Chanel chain that has inspired an entire line of jewelry. "I use the Chanel chain in a lot of my pieces," she says. "I really love the vintage look mixed with a modern edge."
The neighborhood could be described in the same way. Since Filigree first opened, the area has evolved from a neglected, gritty quarter into the Design District -- a close-knit community of artists and entrepreneurs who run boutiques, shops and restaurants. It has become Charleston's hip shopping destination.
"I look forward to coming to work every day," Tiller says. "The owners of the salon next door are like family. We have keys to each other's stores." There have been times when Tiller has closed up and her neighbors -- seeing a window-shopper outside Filigree -- have opened the shop and turned a casual browser into a paying customer. "They'll call me when I'm at home eating dinner," Tiller says, "all excited that they made a sale."
http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/30/smallbusiness/filigree_charleston.fsb/index.htm
Heather Key Tiller at her shop, Filigree, in Charleston's Design District.
By Sara PepitoneDecember 30, 2009: 12:38 PM ET
(Fortune Small Business) -- Entrepreneurial spirit and parental advice don't always jibe, but sometimes mother does know best. It was Heather Key Tiller's mom, Susan Foxworth, who in 2001 noticed the FOR RENT sign on an empty store at 47 John St. as the two left a nearby French restaurant. At the time, Tiller worked as an office manager at a local jewelry store while also designing her own pieces at home and selling them on a wobbly card table at the Saturday farmers' market in downtown Charleston.
The Vanderbilt graduate also took road trips up and down the coast, selling to galleries and stores; after two years of trips she had placed her jewelry in 80 stores throughout the Southeast. "I vowed that I would figure out a way to make it a career," recalls Tiller, 38.
Still, Tiller was wary of taking the next step. "I almost wanted the rent to be too expensive and the lease to be too long," says the Charleston native. "But everything fell into place -- space, layout, costs, terms -- so I said, 'Damn, I guess I have to do this.'"
Business took off after she opened Filigree, her brick-and-mortar store, in 2001. She grossed more than $200,000 in each of the first two years.
Her business plan changed when her son, Whit, was born in 2003. Tiller didn't stop working, but she did trim her hours to fewer than 40 per week. Today her annual sales hover around $150,000, but Tiller is now a mother of two (daughter Eva Gray was born in 2006) and is quite content with her current work-life balance. "I'll work more when my kids are both in school," she says.
Tiller still attends national gem shows and scours local antique markets, partly for inspiration and partly to find vintage pieces that she can update. Last year she discovered a Chanel chain that has inspired an entire line of jewelry. "I use the Chanel chain in a lot of my pieces," she says. "I really love the vintage look mixed with a modern edge."
The neighborhood could be described in the same way. Since Filigree first opened, the area has evolved from a neglected, gritty quarter into the Design District -- a close-knit community of artists and entrepreneurs who run boutiques, shops and restaurants. It has become Charleston's hip shopping destination.
"I look forward to coming to work every day," Tiller says. "The owners of the salon next door are like family. We have keys to each other's stores." There have been times when Tiller has closed up and her neighbors -- seeing a window-shopper outside Filigree -- have opened the shop and turned a casual browser into a paying customer. "They'll call me when I'm at home eating dinner," Tiller says, "all excited that they made a sale."
http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/30/smallbusiness/filigree_charleston.fsb/index.htm
Monday, January 4, 2010
New Designs Coming!!
We will be adding new designs to our etsy store soon. Please check back in a few days for exciting new earrings and necklaces.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Discouraged
I am very disappointed that even my own mother won't follow my blog. Am I that boring? Is there anyone out there who is interested? You can just give me a thumbs up.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Inquiring minds want to know....
Eveyday my daughters ask me these random questions so I have decided to post them and see if there is anyone out there that may know the answers. Some of the questions will be hypothetical questions like what would you prefer to eat a live worm or a roach. So I am curious to see how the rest of the world would respond to these questions. Please keep it clean. My daughters are 16. This was the question my daughter posed to me yesterday.
Do hair vitamins really make your hair grow? If they do work do they make hair on other parts of your body grow too?
Please post your answers and come back these strange questions are apart of everyday life here. Inquiring minds want to know.
Thanks
Do hair vitamins really make your hair grow? If they do work do they make hair on other parts of your body grow too?
Please post your answers and come back these strange questions are apart of everyday life here. Inquiring minds want to know.
Thanks
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Finally it feels like Christmas
This morning we finally decorated our Christmas tree. My daughters were a big help. The put on the lights and hung the ornaments. I just unpacked and put hooks on the ornaments. We sang along with The Jackson Five Christmas album while we decorated. It was a good day. Usually they go into their rooms and watch tv, but we spent the whole day together which is what Christmas is all about. I hope all of you if there is anyone out there reading have a great Holiday with your family.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
There is hope for Indie Artists
That Hobby Looks Like a Lot of Work
By ALEX WILLIAMS
Published: December 16, 2009
QUIT your day job?
To some craft enthusiasts that is just the name of a popular blog on Etsy, the fast-growing Web site that serves as a marketplace for crafts and vintage goods.
But to Yokoo Gibran, it was an epiphany.
Ms. Gibran, who is in her 30s, had been selling her hand-knit scarves and accessories on the site for less than a year when she decided last November to quit her day job at a copy center in Atlanta. Thirteen months later, she would seem to be living the Etsy dream: running a one-woman knitwear operation, Yokoo, from her home and earning more than $140,000 a year, more than many law associates.
(Read more at NY Times-Fashion & Style Section, Dec 16, 2009)
By ALEX WILLIAMS
Published: December 16, 2009
QUIT your day job?
To some craft enthusiasts that is just the name of a popular blog on Etsy, the fast-growing Web site that serves as a marketplace for crafts and vintage goods.
But to Yokoo Gibran, it was an epiphany.
Ms. Gibran, who is in her 30s, had been selling her hand-knit scarves and accessories on the site for less than a year when she decided last November to quit her day job at a copy center in Atlanta. Thirteen months later, she would seem to be living the Etsy dream: running a one-woman knitwear operation, Yokoo, from her home and earning more than $140,000 a year, more than many law associates.
(Read more at NY Times-Fashion & Style Section, Dec 16, 2009)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Global Warming?
As the song says" Rain rain go away come back another day..."
Lately it seems to rain every few days which is unusual for Georgia. Wet and cold which makes you want to curl up under a blanket, read a good book and take a nap. Too bad this is not snow. That would get everyone in the holiday spirit. Rain just doesn't have the same effect. This rain is not helping the economy who wants to go shopping in the rain?
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
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