Day Of Doom...

I love these bowls by bianco might make the soup go down better

Cabbage Soup Diet!

Well the day is here...Today I am starting a diet I'm not usually one to hop on all the diet bandwagons ( I did atkins though) but here I am jumping aboard. So many people have told me this diet is great and works etc etc so I'm diving in. Well actually I'm cooking soup I'm sure most of you have heard of the cabbage soup diet right, just in case you haven't you make this soup from cabbage, carrots, onions, tomatoes etc (there are many different variations) and you are all allowed to eat as much of this soup as you want and each day you are allowed a restricted food groups to go along with your soup....

for example day 1 as many fruits except bananas as you want along with as much of the soup as you want.

I could eat those banana's by berarlymakingit they look yummy!

The diet is only for 7 days so I think I will live.... Just not as happily but if I lose a little weight it will all be worth it!

Gettin Down To Goals

Goals are important for everything in life, business, personal, family, work long term goals, short term goals they are all important. Setting goals will help keep you on track of where you want to be and how to get there. I suggest having a book specifically for goals in your book write down where you want to be in 5 years or maybe even just next year, write down what you have to do to get you there in the next 6months or 3months. Keep working towards those goals and keep checking back with your book and revising as you need to. I also make daily list (I am a list lover you can find them everywhere here) I incorporate what I need to finish for the day for example here is today's list

laundry

blog

make 10 pieces of jewelry

clean living room

spend some time in the etsy forums

work on my wholesale list

clean and organize desk

I write these list everyday because it helps keep me focused every time I can check something off of the list I feel as though I accomplished something and it gives me drive to finish something else. These list can be as indepth or as short as you like or need what ever works for you they also help to keep your day organized and a little less hectic...well sometimes it's not 100% guaranteed especially if like me you have a couple of little monsters running around no amount of list can 100% prepare you then.

Wholesale

I am looking for more boutiques and gift shops to offer my Jewelry to at wholesale. If you are a retailer and are interested in some handcrafted artisan jewelry I am willing and would love to work out an agreement If your interested please email me at agwbabycakes20@yahoo.ca or convo me through my etsy shop http://wyredonwire.etsy.com/ . If you are a customer of mine or a fan of my jewelry and you would like to see wyredonwire in your local area please contact me as well and i will see what I can do or better yet tell your local shops!

What's Your Face?

I absolutely love these faces in amandamoon's shop they look they are keeping a secret... Amanda does amazing work a must see shop http://amandamoon.etsy.com check her shop out you won't be disappointed with her work or the prices!

Branding Your Image

When you own a small craft business you can sometimes overlook branding your products and image, it's easy to overlook with so many other important factors such as making your product photographing, and all the other million and one things involved with selling your wares. So what is branding well if your a cow run... If not no fear branding is simply making people remember your shop branding your image in their minds. OK so now how do we do this "branding". This is something I think of as a work in progress the first thing you should do is think of a big well known business as an example I am going to use Pepsi close your eyes and think what comes to your mind when you say pepsi is it there colors, lettering, packaging, slogans? This is all part of their branding My son can't read but he knows pepsi when he sees it... that is branding at it's best. I am in the process of branding my shop so I will use my steps as examples I originally started out with a name Wyred on Wire whenever I went to craft shows I always had people saying wow you make this? One day I realized that wow is the initials of my business name so my logo was born! Next I realized I needed a Slogan this was a little harder and didn't come to me right away in fact I'm not really sure when it did but here it is Jewelry to Get You Noticed... I also use another Are You Ready to Get Noticed? I wanted all colors associated with my shop to be cohesive I wanted my shop to be feminine as well as edgy so I chose pink and black not to mention I have always loved the two colors together. OK so now I have my logo my slogan I have my colors so now what in the world do I do with them? The answer everything you can! I had business cards made reflecting my logo and slogan these were made by http://smile4katie.etsy.com/ who does an amazing job. I had a banner, advertisements, earring cards and stickers made with my colors, logo and slogan, I had matching stickers made these were all made by another great designer http://wildmagic.etsy.com/ and I had shipping labels made by http://kjpatino.etsy.com/ . I am going to work on listing a picture of my packaging which uses my colors. These are all some ideas to get you started but you can take branding as far as your imagination and budget will allow. So if you haven't started yet get to it!

When I Need A Good Laugh....

I head over to HotTaTasFaktory for a full days worth of naughty laughs. She has some very unique and hilarious adult cards. This is one of my favorites at the moment

You have to go visit her shop to find out the punch line.... http://hottatasfaktory.etsy.com . I'm sure you will get a good laugh and get a few to give out.

I Love Smidge

Get this widget!

Smidge is a wonderful idie site. It gives indie artist a place to get their name and products out their in a variety of ways and it gives lovers of indie products a place to find some great reviews, contests and some of the latest news. If your an artist looking for some exposure you can submit an item for a contest (which I have done so be on the look out for it next month) or you can write an article to have it submitted. Now for my favorite part Smidge is Canadian just like me! This site is still a baby but growing with the numbers to prove it.

Improving Pics

Today I am trying to improve my pics.This is something I am always working on... other people make it look so easy. Well I have to say I just don't think it is and If I had the money I would definitely hire a professional. When your selling online it really comes down to does that picture sell it. Unfortunately my answer is still no I keep taking and retaking but I always feel I am still lacking there needs to be something more there. I'm starting to feel I spend more time trying to get a decent picture than it took me to make the piece.

Who Knew??

Well I obviously didn't know...

They say it's good to learn something new everyday or umm something like that..

The other day I woke up to a very colorful computer screen, sure it was really pretty looked like a rainbow blew up on my computer...but I knew this could not be a good thing. I know nothing about computers and I did what I usually do in a crisis I head on over to the etsy forums and whine. People started using technical terms and basically telling me that my computer was shot. Before I burst into tears an angel in the forums asked if I had a magnet near my computer. OK I know not something a normal person would have sitting beside their monitor but leave it to me yup I had a huge magnet dish that I use to separate my metals right there. I moved the dish and it actually got much worse not better at all. So I crossed my fingers turned off computer...waited and turned it back on. Boy had I lucked out this time all was fine but it could have been a mini disaster. I know some of you are probably sitting there laughing your butt off and I am happy I could give you that laugh but my real reason for posting this is if I didn't know I'm pretty sure there is at least one other person out there that doesn't know magnets are kryptonite for computers.

BIG BIG SALE!

I made a big big mistake in calculating my finances and now I need money for some much needed supplies so for the first time ever I am having a big big sale! Everything in my shop is 50% OFF! No I'm not crazy I haven't lost my mind I just really need these supplies so for you it's never been a better time to get that perfect gift for yourself or someone else! Sale ends May 3rd so hurry on over to http://wyredonwire.etsy.com!

All Moved

And yet again I have been reminded of how I hate (I don't use that word often) really hate moving! I have way too much junk but can't seem to part with any of it and I feel the need to acquire more junk. I know it's been awhile since I posted but you can blame it on all this junk! I am still not unfinished packing and it has been nearly a month! I have more space here but still cant seem to figure out where to put the junk. I am going to try to post again on a regular basis I have some great ideas of things I want to blog about, and I still want to get a contest going soon and oh so many ideas but I need more hours in a day!

Oh The Joys Of Moving

I am currently in the process of moving not fun at all. I am a hoarder of craft supplies especially jewelry supplies, bath and body supplies and paper supplies. If it could be used for some possible crafting I really don't want to throw it away and if it's for sale I want to buy it. At the present we have been living in a rather small apartment but are moving to a much larger duplex. I'm excited and scared all at the same time thinking of all the extra space I can fill up with supplies. But for now is the tedious task of packing it all that is the part that is really no fun especially with a 2yr old a 4 yr old and 2 cats that might as well be kids. I am ready to pull out my hair or theirs which ever comes first ( no hair follicles were damaged during this move). Luckily we aren't moving very fair it's actually just around the corner and we have a week to do it all hopefully I will retain my sanity.

From My Favorites

I'm not really feeling well today so I thought I would give you a peek into my favorite sellers. Whimsical Watches creates some really unique watches go have a peek for yourself

The Indiego

Lately I have been on a hunt for inexpensive ways to advertise. If your like me you may not have a lot funds for advertising even though it is a very important part of business so I thought I would share a recent find with you. The indiego this is a place where you can advertise on other artist blogs for free in exchange you put a code on your blog or website that allows for an ads from indiego on your site you can see what it looks like on the right hand side of this blog. This site is new and I just joined last night so I really can't tell you how effective it is but I can say it is free and takes less than 5 min to set up and they instruct you step by step no matter how computer illiterate you can do this to (I did). Indie designers helping other indie designers I love the karma centered around the whole idea. Go over to http://theindiego.com/ to check it out.

A little Surprise

There is nothing better than getting your packages in the mail, opening it up and wait there is something more....A tea blossom hmmm I am not a very big tea drinker but this looks really neat. I open the package and at first glass its an ugly ball of grass

but I follow the instructions and get an amazing flower bloom in my glass. I don't drink tea but I kept it by me side until the wonderful jasmine sent left.
Afterwards I went back to see what else peach had sent me .