Craigslist

So we had a custom order the other day. That was good. Little by little we're getting our sold number up. How much good that will do us, I'm not sure, but it looks like progress!!

To try and help with the progress, I've started to list things on Craigslist in Las Vegas. If you're not familiar with Craigslist, I would familiarize yourself! It's only the best free classified ad site in the whole entire world! Things are good.

Karla's pregnancy is going along fine. I'm totally wasted as I work over 40 hours a week and then I have to come home and cook (cooking makes her sick) and clean the kitchen (cleaning the kitchen makes her sick) and spend time with her, since she doesn't have much to do all day. Between all those activities, I don't have much time to do anything! I did buy some energy saving bulbs today that give off 100 watts of light while only using 25 watts of electricity. They work very nice; the light is nice and white and it doesn't super heat my small studio.

Speaking of that, I did take some more photographs and we listed a couple new items today. Check'em out.

All Hallow's Eve

I LOVE Halloween! Woohoooo!!! We've got lot's of candy to give out to all the little trick or treaters.... I wish Karla liked scary movies, then we'd watchem all night! I love it!

And, to celebrate this dark holiday, we're having a bright sale!! Check it out on our Etsy site!

KelleyAccents

Update

And the polls are in! Looks like 6 people voted on the newsletter (thank you) and everyone, except one, thinks we're the coolest thing to walk this Earth since Jesus!

Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. Ok, so we're not even in the same league.

Anyway, good to see some movement here. We've been getting some stuff on Etsy, new listings, I've been trying to keep up with my busy schedule, doctor's visits and stuff. Other than that, nothing really new. But... I will post a picture of Baby Kelley at 8 weeks!

Busy, busy, busy!

Well, we've been very busy, making our new apartment a place we want to live in and spending time together since we'd been so busy before that we really couldn't....

Anyway, I've been lax in updating the blog. We have news, Miss Karla is pregnant. We're to have a new addition to our small family in late May. That's very exciting for the both of us. But, she's living in the horror of the first three months.

We've been working some on jewelry. I've finished another sculpted pendant that I hope to post on Etsy fairly soon. I've also started working on my stock photography portfolio again. Since jewelry is our hobby and we have plenty of jewelry stuff lying around, I decided to take some jewelry themed stock photos. A link to my photos at BigStockPhoto is to the right, just under our Paypal seal.

Other than that, it's a beautiful Sunday. So, enjoy it!

Etsy Promoting

Etsy is all about promoting your store, your items. I think they do very little advertising for themselves, let alone anyone listing at their site.

So, to promote our items, I create a thread in the Promotions forum everytime I post a new item. And it just annoys me to no end that people derail our thread to promote their items. Is it so hard to create your own promotion thread? Or are they just afraid that they won't get any traffic to their item? What's the deal? I wish I had an answer. It seems like it would be common sense, courtesy, to leave the thread they created to promote their item alone. Why should you steal their thunder?

Oh, well. That's my rant. Soon I'm going to make a tutorial of product photography and making your own lightbox. Seeing as that's my (Devon) specialty with the store, I think I can do that. I had someone ask about it on Etsy the other day. So, stay tuned and watch for more information!

Halloween!!

Woohoo! We're now in the scariest month of the year! I love Halloween! Dressing up as evil monsters, stage makeup, all the zits brought on by an excess of chocolate...

So, we're gearing up for Halloween, trying to get some holiday themed items in our store. It's kind of tough to get something that's really cool as there is really a need for specialty beads. Pumpkins, dried leaves, etc. And, I have to face it, my last foray into bead making with polyclay turned into a major flop!

What I have been doing is some sculpture! I made a sweet vampire "bust" type pendant. I'm selling it unfinished on our Etsy site. I just baked up a frankenstein monster last night. That one I'm going to completely finish. I've also got some plans for some creepy beetle earrings!

Ah.... such fun!

And, I believe there is some confusion as to my identity here on the blog. I'm Devon. My wife is Karla. We are the Kelleys. I'm not Kelly, and I'm not female. I'm the male half of this union, the more tech-savvy one. And the one with the goofiest personality.

Well... now that's cleared up..... I have nothing left to say! :)

Keep smilin' and keep reading!

Edit: I changed the blog template because so much white became offensive to my eyes!

All Moved In!

Well... kinda. Most of our stuff is still in boxes, which is really frustrating. Especially since I come home from work and the last thing I want to do is work some more. But, today we bucked down and got our "studio" organized. I was able to take some photos and post a new item. That's my favorite part! :)

So, I'm hoping this is the last move we make in a veeeeerrrry long time. It's looking like a bonus, our neighbors are really nice. So, we might be able to make some friends out here in Sunny Las Vegas!

We're still truckin' away with the site, posting new items, and trying to figure out that "promote, promote, promote" goodness. (I hate that advice, but it seems to be the only thing to do.)

Other than that, there is not a whole lot new going on. I'm working on improving my photos to be able to present our work better. The photo is the first thing the customer sees, so I know it's very important to get a good image. I'd like to make a flyer advertisement to pass around to our neighbors and co-workers. I also have plans on making a newsletter to send out. All things that I want to do, but for which I have neither the time or energy to put into place right now.

I think the newsletter will be the first thing I'll do. I can include coupons, tips, tutorials, photos...

If you'd like to be put on a KelleyAccents newsletter mailing list, comment your email to this post. I'll get something cool set up. As long as the Mrs. approves it, of course...

Jewelry Supplies

We just never seem to have enough on hand! We got to our supplier, drop loads of money and get all sorts of neat stuff, all the stuff we needed before and didn't have. Now, with all those supplies, we're still lacking for material!

Oh, well. We've decided to start selling some jewelry supplies as well. Pretty much sterling silver. That's the material we work in and we decided that it would be a good investment to go along with the jewelry pieces. We just recently listed the first couple, so we'll see how it goes. I think our prices are pretty competative.

On a separate note... does anyone read this blog? I like writing. About as much as I like talking. And you can't shut me up. But it'd be nice to know that we have an audience...

Well, it's late and we have to get up and move again in the morning. (I hate moving... it's official now.)

Miskalaynee...

If you didn't get it... the title is Miscellany...

Anyway. So, some small updates. I recently purchased some new backdrops for photos for the jewelry. The standard white and black. I also got a yellow and a blue. I like it. I think it's really helped the photos. The latest ones are wonderful.

I've gotten caught up in the photography aspect of the jewelry again. I decided to break out and design something. I found some gorgeous Pink Jasper stones that I want to make into a necklace. I just can't seem to figure out what I want to use them with. So far, I'm thinking some white/pink freshwater pearls... but that might be too mono. The focal stone is really beautiful, one side is almost entirely stained with gray. Our medium of choice is sterling silver... but I just can't see including that much shiny with this stone! I wanted to wrap some wire, but that will pull the eye away from the star of the show...

Sigh. What am I going to do with you?

Item of the day!

It's been way to long since I've updated the blog. I've been really busy. Yeah. Right. That's my excuse.

Anyway, things have gone well. We had a sale online and Karla took her jewelry to a church activity and managed to get a few unexpected sales. We always love that!

I just had a crazy thought today, an "Item of the day" promotion where one item will be at 30% off for one day. I think it's a really great deal. Here's today's item:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6807258

Another Sale!

We're having another 10% off blowout on ALL items in our store!!

http://kelleyaccents.etsy.com

Getting a Web Promotion

Here's the hard part about having an online business. How do I promote it? I need to get some ads out there, some publicity, somewhere where there is a high concentration of buyers. On Etsy they say, participate in the forum, etc. The thing is, all the OTHER buyers are there as well, so I think it gets a little confusing for any potential buyers.

Promotion is one reason why I keep this blog. It gets our name out there, it's something that the search engines are liable to crawl through. I have yet to see a sale generated through it, but I'm not going to stop blogging.

I did have a banner exchange for awhile, but I never saw any sales, and that company didn't even give me the promised information, such as, seeing where my ad was showing. They didn't even have a support email, so I stopped that a little bit ago. It would be nice to find another banner exchange. We are looking for free advertising methods. There has got to be something out there that will provide more results than what we've had so far.

Our Etsy shop is growing. We're up to 54 items for sale. That's a good number, but not high enough. We'll get there someday. The more time we spend on making jewelry, the more pieces we can sell. If we can figure out how to sell them.

So... we'll keep hoping and looking for ways to get that promotion!

New Ring

This is a sweet little ring. It's self adjusting. The ring is sterling silver, but the rice pearls and swavorski crystals are on a stretchy beading cord, so it will fit just about any finger! Of course, if your fingers, like mine, are as big as the Incredible Hulk's, I wouldn't try to put it on!!

Anyway, I'm trying something new, putting it up for sale on the blog via Paypal. I know some people don't want to have to create a new account with Etsy just to go shopping. If there's anything you'd like to see for sale on the blog, just let me know.

Rice Pearl Sterling Silver Ring
$18.50

August

We're almost done with August and this will be my first post! Real life conflicts will do that to you, I suppose. We had our vacation in Mexico with Karla's family and then my brother's wedding... It's been a busy month! Which is good, I suppose. I would rather be busy than with nothing to do. That would be so boring.

Anyway. Jewelry-wise, Karla picked up a lot of silver. And, as you know, silver is our preferred medium. We now have quite the stock-pile of supplies and jewelry. As soon as I get some free time (hopefully this weekend) I'll get some photos taken and more jewelry posted on Etsy. I'm hoping we'll see a lot more movement as far as sales go. I think Karla is going to make the leap and dedicate herself to jewelry to get it going. I guess it's a good thing she has a sugar-daddy to pay for her habit! (That'd be me...)

I was thinking of getting off Etsy entirely and designing a site for sales, but that would be so much work. And, I'm not sure it would be worth it just to save the fees. We definitely need to start looking for some more marketing options. The things we are doing are generating a little bit of traffic, but not near what we would like to see. I'll have to do some research and see what I come up with.

If any readers have ideas, we would more than welcome them!

I have been Remiss

The titles says it all. I haven't done anything jewelry-wise. Horrible. Just horrible. Well, I can't really explain it all. I've been working and exploring Las Vegas. There is definitely fun stuff to do here. And not gambling. I don't. I especially enjoy hiking. And I've been exploring other artistic expressions. I started painting again and working on my drawing ability. Everything seems to be based on drawing. I figure that if I can become a better artist, I can create more appealing jewelry. I haven't gotten any comments yet on my polymer clay bracelet, so I don't know how other people liked it. I certainly do. I'm thinking about buying one of them myself. Yes, I have others I haven't posted. I know, it's horrible... :)

I'm about to start my vacation as well, so there will be additional time with no posts. Such is life, I suppose. We have so much to do.

Well, I hope to post more jewelry related things soon!

Art

Well, well. Surprise, it's been forever since I've posted. Well, maybe only a couple weeks, but that's long enough. I've been busy with work, and with other things. Nothing that's really important. I've had so much time to myself now that Karla's not here anymore. You'd think that I would have PLENTY of time to update the blog, post new items, create jewelry... and I do. I just have chosen not to do that... :)

I have been doing artsy stuff. When we were moving, Karla saw some paintings (oil) that I had done way back in Junior High when I was taking lessons. She encouraged me to start again, saying they were really good. Now, she has me figured out. The best way to get me to do something is to say I'm good at it. I know that the paintings really aren't that good, but I figured that I'd try anyway. I made a separate blog for my art stuff, that doesn't have to do with jewelry. Right Here.

Well, I know that I have been remiss. I will attempt to remedy that today. I'll get some new items photographed and posted and I'll try to finish another polymer clay bracelet that I've been working on for the past couple weeks. Tah-tah!!

Alone Again

Well, it's 1230am my time, and I just dropped Miss Karla off at the airport. So, I'm going to be alone again, all alone, again for a month. Well... we know what that means. I get to do whatever I want! *evil laugh*

I'll still be making new jewelry and posting it. I'm on a polymer clay craze right now, so I'd expect to see more things like the wristband pop up. I'll get to check out all those mountain trails here in Vegas now, even though I'll probably have to take a gallon of water with me due to the intense heat! Karla doesn't want me hiking the mountains alone, so don't tell her!

Polyclay in the HOUSE

I've been wanting to try to make a bracelet or wrist band out of polymer clay for quite some time. It's an idea that keeps coming to my mind and I had to try it out. So, last night, I finally broke down and started the project. It was a little more complicated than I anticipated and took some more thought than the initial idea, but I think it turned out really well! The one I listed in our online store, I have on hemp cord. I'm not sure that I like that look, but I didn't have anything else to use and it looks decent. I'm thinking it would be better with leather cord. I have more ideas for wristbands that I'm going to implement.

And Karla is going back to Mexico to visit her family again, and this time, I'm going to join her there! She's lucky and will get to go for over a month, and I can only take 2 weeks vacation. So I'll join her down there later and then we'll come back with new toys!

Our Fourth of July sale is still going on, buy one, get the second at HALF PRICE! You just can't beat that. We'll see you 'round!

Independence Day

It has been way to long since I've posted anything. I'm very sorry. With the move to Las Vegas, change in work responsibilities, we haven't quite gotten into a rhythm that allows us to do everything we want to do. But, hey! It's the 4th!

And what better way to celebrate than a BUY ONE GET ONE HALF OFF sale!? That's right, buy one item, get the second HALF OFF!

Safety Pins

I would never have thought to use safety pins as a medium for jewelry. But, my genius wife, has created a lovely bracelet using just that. I can't believe it, it's so cool looking.

I have never seen this before. I wonder if anyone else has used something like this in a design. I wouldn't doubt it. I often wonder if there are any original ideas on this earth. Or, are there simply too many of us who think too many things for there to be any truly original ideas. Then, that brings to the discussion, what is original?

Anyway, I veered way of the point. Check out this rad bracelet, buy it, and take it home for yourself, your daughter, your pet goldfish, anyone who would use it!

Sin City

So, here we are. We made it safe and sound. We are in LAS VEGAS!! *shouts* *cheering* *sputtering*

Ok, so I guess it's not that great. But, hey, job pays the bills, job says go, I go.

Well, we've got our jewelry stuff unpacked and we're ready to start rolling again. It's going to be great, I just know it! Amazingly, I actually missed it! We haven't been able to do anything for pretty much a whole week. Today is the first day we're going to actually get down and do something.

But, man, is it HOT! It's been up around 110 every single day. And it doesn't even cool down that much at night, to 90 if we're lucky.

So... that's life. Take a look at our store! Buy something! You know you want to! I know you want to! Even Bob knows you want to! (Don't ask who Bob is...)

Busy

I can't believe how much work a move is!! I really don't want to have to do this again. We have had no time to dedicate to anything other than working, packing, and catching our breath. It's really crazy. Hopefully it will all even out very quickly once we get to the big city, Las Vegas!

I'm really looking forward to the move. It's very exciting for me!

15% Off Sale

We're having a massive sale at our online store. Any purchases made between June 11 - 17 will receive 15% off their sale price. This includes ALL ITEMS in our online store! Catch it now, or else the item you want may not be there later!

Earring Sale!!

Starting this Monday, June 4, to Wednesday, June 6th, we will be having an earring sale where every pair of earrings purchased will receive a 15% discount. With our already low prices, it just doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Las Vegas

Things are progressing in life, as they always do. I'm being relocated as part of my full time job to Las Vegas. I'm excited for the move, but it implies a lot of things need doing, so we may be silent on the web for now. Once the moves complete, we'll be back on in full force!

My Own Design

I've realized recently that when I say my wife and I make jewelry, that's not entirely true. I pretend to make jewelry. She makes jewelry. I photograph and post what she's made, do the online marketing and generally do the research on what we need to know to make our fledgling business work.

I've decided to turn that around. How can I truely support her in her dream if I don't take part in it? I'm not sure that's possible. And, I like it. It's a very creative outlet, and I've always been artistic. So, I vowed (is that too strong of a word?) that I would start making my own designs. I found that, it's not as easy as it looks.

The problems is, it's easy to put together a pair of earrings. Anyone with a general will to do it can. But, to put together some stunning earrings, is another thing entirely. Tonight, as we sat down to start making jewelry, and I shocked her by picking up the bead tray to find a combination I liked, I realized I had no idea what I wanted to do. I picked up beads, rearranged beads, dropped beads and a lot of other actions, before I found a design that I liked and I felt was original enough.

Unfortunately, once I started putting them together, I realized gravity was not helping my design. I scrapped them and came up with something else. My very own design... I'll get some photos posted in the next couple of days.

Edit: I finally was able to get some pictures taken of it and I posted one to the right.

Branching Out

So, Karla did some other crafty type stuff while in Mexico and we decided, she didn't need to keep it all. She did some cool stuff to some handmade palm leave bags. I'm getting pictures taken of them and listing them on our site, one by one. They're a really good deal, and very sturdy. And, they look really cool! Go check'em out! I've posted a picture of the first one here. Just click on it to go to the Etsy listing!

D

Memorial Day Special

It's a promotion! Any purchases that are made from our online store (see links to the right of the page) will recieve a 10% discount!! Use the Etsy server date. This is any purchases from 12:01am to 12:00PM on Monday, May 28th. Have fun!

Higher Traffic

So, I have a counter on this page to tell me how many hits we get every day. We also earn advertising points through it. Anyway...

So, I was shocked today when I got my emailed statistics. We usually have anywhere from 0 to 15 hits a day. I about fell out of my chair when I opened the email. One Hundred and One hits today! That is absolutely amazing! I had no idea what I could have done to cause that jump in traffic. No advertising or promoting I had done previously had ever caused such a traffic load. I was exstatic! Still am, as a matter of fact. It wasn't until I looked at some other mail in my mailbox, that was an updated list of Jewelry Weblogs from About Jewelry Making author Tammy Powley. She had listed us there! I think that's the first real public exposure we've ever had. Thank you so much Tammy. Thank all of the great people on the Jewelry Making Forum and the great community you are! If you are NOT familiar with this (and there still might be a few visitors trickling in from other places) I urge you to check it out.

Here is a link to the list of Jewelry Weblogs that she posted. Please, go forth, check the other ones out. And, once again, leave us a note to let us know you came!

God bless.

Burnin' Down the House

We recently invested in some tools to start working with metal, specifically, silversmithing. I've been spending what free time I have in the garage, trying to get my technique down for soldering silver. It's really not that hard, it just take precision that I haven't trained into my hands yet. But, I'm excited! Now I can make the chains and nifty things that have been running through my head for so long!

On a different note, I've also started working harder at improving the photos I take of our products. I think that I've improved a lot! There is still plenty I can do to improve and I'm working at it.

All you people who end up here, give us a shout! I'd love to hear who you are and where you come from and how you found us! We love you guys!

One of a Kind: Take Two

We just had an interesting experience last night. We had another in home jewelry showing and got quite a bit of business. It was very nice, to be there with all those people and talk to them and they were quite kind with their purchases, as well.

However, when we got home afterwards and Karla checked Etsy, we'd had a sale, one of the very things that someone had set aside as a reservation. Luckily, I was able to call the customer and explain that someone had bought that same article, and would she mind terribly if we sent it to the paying customer? She was very understanding and agreed and we made a deal for her next purchase. It's a good deal for her and for us, as it guarantees that she'll be a future customer. And it's good that we got to actually sell the item that had been listed on Etsy.

As I explained to Karla last night, this is one of those dangers of having only OOAK pieces. If we can't make duplicates, how will we handle this situation in the future? I think the solution we worked out today will work in the future.

Problem solved!

Home Jewelry Party

Karla and I just got back from our very first Home Jewelry Party! It was very much a success. Only 4 people came, but they came to buy, so it turned out really well. If they happen to be reading this (does anyone read this?) I would like to send a huge hello and thank you!

If you weren't there, but would like to schedule a Home Jewelry Party, just send an email to kelleyaccents@gmail.com. Of course, you'll need to be in the Kansas City area. If you're too far away from here, you can always follow the Etsy link to the right and see some of our choice items!

I was a little nervous at first about how it would turn out. We were there for a couple hours and came out with a little bit more money in our pockets when we came out. Success is such a good feeling. We have another scheduled for tomorrow night. Yeah!

Wire Weave

All hail the mighty wire weave! I learned how to do the basics today. I made a bracelet out of silver colored wire. It looks COOL! I'm definitely going to have to dedicate more time to doing this. It's great, looks great, feels great. And, I can finally wear metal jewelry. Most of the stuff we make is more geared towards the female. This can be very masculine and looks wonderful. I'll have to take a picture to get it posted. I can tell you where my energy is going to be going for the next little bit!

Edit: I just got a picture posted on the Etsy site. I posted it again here so you can see it. Cool, huh!

D

One of a Kind

A couple days ago, I was in Michael's browsing for some inspiration, when I started chatting with another woman there. I found out that she was a semi-successful jewelry artist who had just returned from a show in Louisianna where she had pulled in $8k. Cool, but that's neither here, nor there.

We got to talking about materials and techniques and, I don't remember how, but we got into a big discussion about whether it's good to make copies of previous designs, or if one should always make only one of each item. Now, I'm all for making copies. She was quite adamant that each piece should be original, and the only one of it's kind.

I like originality. I like making something that no one else has thought of. But, with jewelry being such an old art, and there being so many people on this planet... can I really come up with a design that no one has thought of yet?

So... I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I make what I like and if someone wants another piece that I've already made, well, why not?

Three New "Stuffs"!

Woohoo! We got a few new things up on Etsy! Finally. It seems like it takes forever to get them from idea to storefront. But, it's done. We've got plenty more, I just don't have the energy to take any more pictures tonight. We both had a stressful day at our "real" jobs.

I do want to point out some nifty little earrings we've put up. They are a cool little item that Karla and I came up with; kind of a novelty item. I call them, the Love Potion Earrings! Check them out on the right, and then swing on by Etsy to see them listed!

It's May

Goodness, we're already welcoming another month here. (Did you notice? I started this post with "Goodness" instead of "Wow"...)

Karla is still organizing all the cool stuff she brought back. I think we're going to take some pictures tonight to list the new items she got. I've been experimenting with epoxy resin and have some pieces curing in the garage as we speak! Or rather... as I type this. I'm excited to see how they turn out. I'm planning on turning them into pendants using Sculpey.

So, that's all the news I can think of. There may be more of interest and I'm sure it will make it's way up here. So, TTFN!

Yikes!

Wow, it has literally been forever since I've posted anything! I so messed up on that one! Well... I've got great news! Karla is back from Mexico, with plenty of supplies! We are going to get to work. She also picked up some items to resell here, but they're still very reasonable since it's all so cheap there. I'll try to take some photos and get them posted.

New Jewelry

Wow, where does the time go? I've been so busy that I haven't been able to post anything new! I've got all this new jewelry that I need to photograph and get listed, but I just can't ever seem to find time to break away and do it! Don't worry, all you customers sitting at the edge of your seat! I'll get it up, and you will be able to browse through and buy it! It's gonna be great!

Don't forget to click the link to the right to check out our store!

Vacation!

Oh, wo is me! My beautiful Karla left for a month, to visit her family in Mexico. She is going to be bringing back all sorts of cool sterling silver pieces to include in our jewelry! So, be on the lookout in the next month or so for new snazzy pieces to come out!

So, while she's away, I get to tend the store. *Evil laugh* Now I can do all the things she never lets me do!!! Seriously, I'll be online probably a bit more than before and will be working on some new pieces and listing some of the not so "newer" pieces that I haven't had a chance to put on Etsy yet. So, cruise on over to the right side of the screen, which will link you DIRECTLY to our Etsy store so you can purchase the beautiful piece of jewelry that you like! And, if you don't see anything you like, just send an email to see if we can make what you want!! Heck, you'll never know until you ask, right?

Hello!

Hi, hey, hello! Thanks for stopping by! This is so exciting. So, I suppose you'd like to know a little about who we are and what we do. That's only natural, I'm sure. My name is Devon. My wife is Karla. Together, we create KelleyAccents. We make high quality, hand-made jewelry. Honestly, I never even dreamed that I would be doing this. It just doesn't seem very manly, does it? But that's not the point! We are creating lovely things(there I go again, being all manly) that just look so cool! I've always been an artist at heart, so I really enjoy this creative outlet. Sometimes the corporate world just doesn't let you be who you really are. Karla's mother is a craft teacher at a school for special needs children and so she grew up learning all sorts of crafts, making things with her hands and using everyday items I never would have thought of to create the most beautiful designs.

Well, I thought that I'd give you a quick hello and introduce ourselves. Stop by our Etsy store on your way out to check out what we make. I'm sure you won't be dissappointed that you did! So, for now, Adios!

Devon