Friday, June 21, 2013

Jewelry Show Preparation & A Giveaway

OK, I know you want to hear about the giveaway, but be patient.  The giveaway information is at the end of the post.

Show Prep

I live near a finger of land that juts out into the most southern part of Puget Sound, in Washington State, USA.  The area is called Boston Harbor, (for some unfathomable reason), and this weekend Boston Harbor is hosting its semi-annual garden tour and artisan show.  I will have a booth in one of the gardens there, along with a nice group of other local artists.  Keep your fingers crossed for pleasant weather!


Boston Harbor
I don't actually live on the water or even right in the little community of Boston Harbor, but water is never far away here.  Our home is tucked away in the woods and today you will find me there trying to get prepped for Sunday's show.

This afternoon I was checking through my jewelry and making sure that it had all been entered in my inventory spreadsheet, prior to the show.  I know that some of you have purchased programs that track inventory, supplies etc.  I just simply assign each piece an inventory number and then I add it to a simple spreadsheet.  For example, this bracelet is #1305.  That means it was the 5th item I made in 2013.  

AJE CoM bracelet, with focal bead by Starry Road.
My spreadsheet has columns for the type (earring, bracelet or necklace), the inventory number, the title of the piece (this piece is titled the "Blue Leaf Bracelet"), the main components it is made of, length, cost, & retail price. I have a second tab on the spreadsheet for sold items.  When I get back from the show, I'll "cut" the items that sold and "paste" them into the sold spreadsheet.  On the sold spreadsheet I also keep track of the venue from which they were sold, the date sold and the person to whom I sold it, if known.

After I entered everything into my inventory spreadsheet this afternoon, I then, sorted all the jewelry according to if I have a picture of it or not.  Even if something sells without ever being seen online, I still like to have at least one picture of it, for my records.  Most of my jewelry had been photographed, but not all.  So a photo shoot is the next order of business.

Matching earrings and necklace with copper components by
Kristi Bowman  Design.
If I were super organized (which is a joke for the likes of me) all my jewelry would already have earring cards or tags on them with the components listed and the price. However, this is another task that is only partially complete.  Tomorrow I'll finish adding tags, earring cards and prices to everything.  Its a tedious job and it will necessitate caffeine and loud, upbeat music.

Somehow, I'm never really satisfied with my tags.  But here are the cards I designed a couple of years ago, that I am still using.  Inside I write the title of the piece, the length, main components used, price and inventory number.  When I use these tags up, I think I will get some Moo Card Minis to use as price tags.


The "Lighthearted Necklace" and a few others still need tags added.

Heart Pendant by Suburban Girl.
My earring cards are just business cards that I designed in a portrait format.  I stick plastic earring adapters on the back and add the price and inventory number.  Here are some of my earrings from a show I did earlier this spring.   


The earrings below, plus about 5 other pairs still need earring cards after which I'm all done.  Then its "On with the show!"


AJE Giveaway!

Unfortunately not many people linked up for our last AJE Earring Reveal.  Our next reveal is this Sunday and  I'm writing the reveal post. I want to be able to choose the featured designs from lots of earrings! As an incentive our AJE team has gathered up all these goodies to giveaway to one lucky participant.  I rummaged through my newly organized bead stash and came up with bunches of art beads, as well as some gemstones, polymer clay, resin and glass beads.






Plus, Kristi is adding a pair of her awesome copper metal clay charms.
The giveaway charms will be these or something similar.
And Francesca will be adding a pair of her handmade argentium earwires!

One, randomly chosen earring designer will win all of the above items. All you have to do is add the link to your earring reveal, using the Linky Tool on the AJE blog.  I will post the Linky Tool sometime on Saturday evening (PST). To be entered to win, you must link up no later than Sunday at 5:00 p.m. PST. So get your photos up on Pinterest, dust off your blog (if you have one) and add your earrings there too! Good luck!

Linda
Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 
Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy 



16 comments :

  1. I am ready to roll on Sunday! I am very excited at the thought of winning these goodies. Oh, the designs I could come up with. I am trying to make a pair of earrings per week for this challenge and so far I am on target.

    I am so impressed with so organized your inventory process is. I use Moo cards for price tags. I think that looks very pretty and professional. I also take photos of all of my jewelry. I actually feel that my Etsy shop acts as a inventory. I have a photo, description, and price. My costs are recorded in my mind when I come up with the cost. You can see I haven't formalized my inventory. I also don't have a big business!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really dislike tagging my jewelry for shows and wait until I have a bunch to do because I am the queen of procrastination. I've got one pair of earrings made for this week but need to make another pair.

    All the giveaway goodies are awesome!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like you are ready and will have a fabulous show! Your inventory process is so organized - I need to get it together in that area! I would love to win these awesome goodies. Got to finish my earrings...

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great motivator, Linda... I was hoping this would be my catch-up week. So far it hasn't happened. However, the sight of all these goodies certainly has my attention!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good luck at your show! Looks like a great giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, you sound very organized to me! I love where you live - I lived in Poulsbo, WA in the late 1980's and it is still my favorite place on earth! Best of luck with the weather and your show! Your jewelry is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like you're very well prepared! Lovely stuff. I'm crossing my fingers for the giveaway - those resin slices look amazing! Although I'm not entirely sure what the linky tool is - hope I've done enough...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh Linda you are SO lucky to live in Washington state! It is so breathtakingly beautiful! I didn't know exactly where you lived, but have a better idea now. Are you by Port Townsend? kinda?

    Not organized? Not organized says the woman that has bar coded numbers for her jewerly pieces with each number meaning something. Lol, sorry sister, that makes you SUPER organized for an artist ;) Oh yeah I LOVE my mini moos! They will make amazing tags.

    I missed the earring thing you all had going on. I am an earring junkie too. I love to make earrings. Good luck to the participants. Great post! xo Genea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love me some earrings--it was my the gateway drug into jewelry design!!!

      Delete
  9. OH gosh -if I knew this was happening I've just had a couple pairs I could've entered. Interestingly enough we'll be in Seattle Saturday and Sunday... and Port Angeles Monday and Tuesday!

    Best wishes to those entering. I guess I'll have to wait til next time.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Everyone love a giveaway but I have to say I am more blown away by all the prep!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Linda, I live in the area and have never heard of this show! I wish I would have seen this post sooner. I would have loved to check it out!
    ~Kelsy
    http://looseendscraftblog.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kelsy-
      Apparently they have this show every other year. So look for it again in 2015.

      Delete
  12. Ohhh, can you tell me where to get that vintage sliced resin? I'd love to purchase some - looks like peacock feathers!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm sorry, but I can't remember where I found the resin slices. They look like peacock feathers to me too!

    ReplyDelete

We would love to hear what you have to say, please leave a comment.