I live in a small town in southern WI and work full-time at a homeless shelter in Madison. I have always enjoyed crafts but it was difficult for me to find time while raising my daughter and working two jobs which is generally necessary when a person works in social services. Now that my daughter is 12 I was looking for a way for us to spend more time together so we started playing around with different crafts. We found making jewelry with beads and ribbon was a lot of fun and allowed us to really experiment with a wide variety of beads, colors and designs. We quickly had more necklaces than we could ever have use for so we thought we may be able to try and sell them. I had heard of Etsy and decided to give it a try. I opened my Etsy store in October 2012 and realized there was a lot I needed to learn and it was not easy. I’ve had a lot of help from the Promotional Frenzy Team on Etsy and I am very slowly starting to get the hang of on-line selling and promoting.
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| Polka Dot Ribbon and Bead Necklace |
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| Heart Pendant Necklace |
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| Glass Pearl Beaded Necklace |
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| Tri-Colored Leaf Pendant Necklace |
I often search Etsy and other
on-line retailers and I can honestly say I have never come across anyone who
makes jewelry quite like I do.
Very
shortly after I started out, I was posting pictures and links to all of my
jewelry on Facebook and I was so excited to show it off. A colleague of mine sent me a message telling
me how awful my jewelry was and that it should be on Regretsy. I cried and cried then made this
necklace. I wore it the next day and
held my head high because I thought it was gorgeous.
Like everyone else in the creative world I still doubt myself on
occasion but at the end of the day I’m really proud of myself and my
creations.
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| Pink and Turquoise Bead and Ribbon Necklace |
I am very open to custom orders
and will do my best to work with people to create a piece based on their
desired colors, designs etc. I am willing to also go outside my current product
line. The few hairbands I have were
actually inspired by a custom order for a hairband when there was not yet one
listed in my shop. My tag-line is
“Every Design One of a Kind” but I am willing to create multiples of one design
to be used for bridal parties or any other reason someone may wish to have
matching jewelry.
All of the ready made, one-of-a-kind
pieces available on Etsy ship within 1-2 business days but I do not have a set
policy for custom orders. Based on
conversations with the customer I would need to find out if I need to purchase
additional supplies to make the order but I can typically make something and
have it ready to ship within 2-3 business days.
I promptly respond to all correspondence so that I can make sure that
products are ready to be shipped quickly and to the customer’s satisfaction.
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| Beaded Ribbon Collar Necklace |
Outside of Etsy, I have worked in social
services for 15 years and currently work Full-time as a Case Manager for a
homeless shelter serving single women. I
also facilitate cognitive intervention groups as a contractor for the WI
Department of Corrections. Making
jewelry has been a great way for me to relax and take my mind off of these very
stressful positions.
Andrea has offered the following special to our readers:
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| Paper Beaded Necklace |
Please use coupon code “DLBLOG”
to receive 15% your purchase. Offer
expires on 7/31/13.
Andrea can also be found here:
Art Market
twitter.com/AlyxAndreaD
wanelo.com/alyxandreadesign
loveit.com/andrea.mitchell.391
www.rebelmouse.com/AlyxAndreaDesign
wanelo.com/alyxandreadesign
loveit.com/andrea.mitchell.391
www.rebelmouse.com/AlyxAndreaDesign
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| Click here! |
