Jewelry Making - HowTo's

I found a blog on jewelry making thats name, coincidentally, Jewelry Making.  It appears that the authors stopped their jewelry making business in 2008 and also stopped updating the blog, but they do have quite a few HowTo articles on the sidebar of their blog.  I've only had a chance to browse through one of them, but it looks pretty well done, if I do say so myself.

I'm definitely taking the time to browse through them all.

Hiatus

So, our apparent and unannounced hiatus has ended. Our son has been born, beautiful Axel. He's almost 15 months old and is quite a handful!

Both he and Karla just returned from spending seven months in Mexico with her family. It was a wonderful time for them. Axel loves his grandpa and Mexican food. I've got to say, though, it's good to have them back!

Karla is getting all her jewelry stuff organized and cleaned up so we can start listing again. She's also decided to list some other crafts in the store, so expect new and exciting stuff! She's excited to get back to work and start selling some pretty little things.

So, if any of our prior readers are still around, give us a shout! We'd love to hear from you. Stay tuned for more!

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...

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

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!!

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.