New pics of the kittens! and the steps to listing jewelry in my store.

Well I've got everything wrapped that I have on hand, still waiting on a couple of boxes to arrive (hurry US mail!) but I am feeling pretty good about being ready for Christmas! I have a client coming over tomorrow to pick out Christmas gifts for her family, so I'm cleaning the studio up. I am leaving my wrapping out, but it's all NEATLY in a pile out of the way in the corner now. I hate to have to dig it back out for those last few items winging their way to my house.

Here are new pics of the kittens, though I guess at nearly 7 months, they aren't rightly kittens anymore! Here is Kass looking straight at the camera and not moving, which is a minor miracle.


As you can see, not true to Kya! This pic is slightly blurry, but it's still one of the best ones I've gotten of her face. She's absolutely enthralled with water, and every morning after my bath, she jumps in the tub to check it out. I am dreading the day she doesn't wait for me to get out!!

This pendant is from the summer. I love the large dramatic spiral I put on front. I have just a few pics left in my photo file -- so I better get cracking and make new stuff and get pics up for you.

I'm very please with myself.. I said a couple of posts ago that one of my goals for 2011 will be adding to my offerings on Artfire weekly. I am hoping by the end of 2011 I'll have 250-300 items in my shop at all times. I posted a few more today, and now I have 75 total in my store! Right now I am offering free shipping, which is good through the end of the year.

I'm planning on listing 3-5 items every Monday. That sounds like a modest goal, but it really entails more work than you might realize.

Each listing involves hard work, and it sucks time like you wouldn't believe!!

1. pick items- measure them, write notes, price if I haven't already.

2. take good quality pics of items.. at least 3-6 of each piece. since you can't touch items online, it's important to have good photos that really show you the beauty of a piece. Since I'm still working on my photography, I often take 10-15 pics, and pick out the best of the lot. I now have a spot in my studio set aside for photography permanently, so at least I shouldn't have to set up and take down every week like I used to.

3. edit pics

4. write the listing. This is an area where I really need some work. I need to research SEO more, and also writing cute, entertaining and ultimately SELLING descriptions of my jewelry. In person I'm pretty good at talking about my art, but somehow it's harder to type it out.

5. actual listing, including title, category, tag words, and SEO.

Since I have a day job, I'm hoping to do the picture taking and editing before Monday, otherwise I probably won't have enough time in the evening to get the listings up and running.

Once the listings are up, I need to promote them.. writing them up in this blog, posting on face and twitter.. and anything else I can think of to get my store out there and noticed. Ideas are welcomed!