more pics and descriptions added

Tell me what you think - some of the pieces don't thrill me much but it's nice
to get feedback about what others like. And advice on how they are displayed
on this website is also greatly appreciated.

www.stampinhappens.com/jewelry.html

Thanks!
Mary
Close To My Heart Consultant
www.stampinhappens.com
Mom to Aimee, dedicated college student
and Jacob, CP kid and aspiring mafia godfather

Thanks for the input Tina. This is a hobby that will never grow to selling in
stores, etc... just mostly to friends and family and at local church craft
shows. I am not looking to make a lot of money at it and just want to dabble
for fun so I have not invested in more expensive parts just to sell at a price
I am not sure I can get. I thought I would start small and see what interest I
even generate from any of the pieces before I go too nuts! Although, I did buy
a couple pricey lampwork beads and I am anxious to put something appealing
together with those.

My first and foremost love and hobby is rubber stamping and scrapbooking - this
is just for fun and maybe I can at least recoup my costs. But I do appreciate
all the input - never know where things could go, I guess!


Mary
Close To My Heart Consultant
www.stampinhappens.com
Mom to Aimee, dedicated college student
and Jacob, CP kid and aspiring mafia godfather

I did (once again) update the webpage I set up.....set the prices I am
comfortable with (this is what I will try at the craft shows this fall and
judge what happens from there) and the descriptions are as complete as my
little brain can handle. (Note to self: remember what the "parts" of each
piece are actually called from now on! LOL).

Thanks for looking -
www.stampinhappens.com/jewelry.html




I like stringing beads but I LOVE rubber stamping!! Ask me to tell you all
about Close To My Heart!
Mary
Close To My Heart Consultant
www.stampinhappens.com
Mom to Aimee, dedicated college student
and Jacob, CP kid and aspiring mafia godfather

Is the silver open heart sterling? Or just silver-colored metal?

You need to say what it is -- and if it's sterling, that bracelet needs to go
up in price.

www.stampinhappens.com/jewelry.html


~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

This is a hobby that will never grow to selling in
stores, etc... just mostly to friends and family and at local church craft
shows. I am not looking to make a lot of money at it and just want to dabble
for fun so I have not invested in more expensive parts just to sell
at a price
I am not sure I can get.

Be that as it may: You should always use the best materials you can possibly
afford. Base metal does *not* hold up to wear -- I've had sturdy-looking (and
-feeling) clasps break in less than a year on some of my earlier pieces. (They
were base metal, not sterling silver or gold-filled.)

It really doesn't matter if you are planning to make a lot of money or not.
Very few of us make a lot of money at this!! (Haw haw!) Very few of us sell
to stores, IIRC. And no one knows what the future will hold -- you may end up
doing this as a business.

However -- if you do it at all, do it right. (The same can be said for
anything in one's life....) Don't make your jewelry out of crap. Simply and
bluntly put, but so, so true. Because you will regret it -- if not sooner,
then later.

Also -- this next is bizarre, but true -- people are usually (if not always)
more willing to pay for the pricier items of jewelry. It seems they are
suspicious of jewelry that's too inexpensive -- it seems too cheap to be worth
buying, I guess (can you say "Junk"?). Weird but TRUE customer psychology....
~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

.....set the prices I am
comfortable with (this is what I will try at the craft shows this fall and
judge what happens from there)

If you undercut the prices of the other craftspeople at these shows, they will
hate you. It's a Wrong Thing To Do. Kind of like selling brand new mounted
rubber stamps for 50 cents apiece at a stamp convention.
~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

......or worse, to be fixed.


"Dr. Sooz" wrote
..................you DO need
to be using better materials, unless you want people coming back to you
unhappily, with stuff to return.......

People will say, "Oh, I bought some of that
hand-beaded stuff. It fell apart three months later." Don't make all of us
look bad.

Well I thought if I was shopping at a local bead store or the bead stores
online that I was buying acceptable materials. If it is crap, why do they sell
it? And I can't afford expensive "parts" so I try to buy quality without
spending what I don't have. Should I question all the items I look at at the
bead store? I think I have bought nice things and I know a lot of what I buy is
the same thing they use in the jewelry classes and such at the store.

Also, just to play devil's advocate here for a minute, when I jewelry shop at
craft fairs, etc... I never see lists of products with each jewelry piece shown
and I don't even think to ask! I see what I like and what I can afford and I
buy it. I am sure there are more discriminating buyers but I'm not one...at
least yet.
Mary
Close To My Heart Consultant
www.stampinhappens.com
Mom to Aimee, dedicated college student
and Jacob, CP kid and aspiring mafia godfather

Kind of like selling brand new mounted
rubber stamps for 50 cents apiece at a stamp convention.

If you can make 'em at that price, then sell 'em at that price! I have done
craft shows for a long time (not with jewelry) and set prices I was comfortable
with - enough to cover expenses and time and not too much that stuff just sat
there and I have never felt that other crafter's resented my prices nor did I
complain about theirs.

Example: I just recently went to a large local craft fair and there were a lot
of jewelry people there and I was checking it out - prices and designs and all.
And the prices varied greatly even though the pieces looked very similar! But I
didn't buy from the cheapest because they didn't have the piece I liked best.
I buy what is pleasing to my eye not because it has this kind of clasp or that
kind of wire...... guess it's just me!


Mary
Close To My Heart Consultant
www.stampinhappens.com
Mom to Aimee, dedicated college student
and Jacob, CP kid and aspiring mafia godfather

I'm starting to think you shouldn't be selling yet -- not til you know better
what you're doing.

Thanks for your input.


Mary
Close To My Heart Consultant
www.stampinhappens.com
Mom to Aimee, dedicated college student
and Jacob, CP kid and aspiring mafia godfather