Summer Fun Odds and Ends

Well, I guess I chose well for my last entry. Two of the four sold already. I am excited to finally have used s few of the antique celluloid animal charms. I paid close to $100 for the stash of vintage celluloid animal charms that I have, back in my crazy ebay sales days.

I have a few new creations, but haven't found time to list them yet.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Not sure what we will do. I know it will involve the beach and some good food, other than that, what more does a girl need?

Close to closing on the new house. I can't wait to get moved into my new studio. I may have to forgo beading for a little bit to get the rest of the house organized.

I created a bright and fun etsy treasury today. Check out my etsy shop for a link.

Non-stop creating...

Ahhhh, summer is finally here. The garden is in and school is out; it is time for some creating. I recently went on a creating binge that resulted in an eclectic mix of new necklaces foe my etsy shop.

I finally got around to breaking out my huge stash of vintage celluloid bubblegum charms from the 1940's. It is hard parting with them, as I know that they are hard to find, but I am thrilled with the resulting necklaces on antiqued brass chain.

I creating a few more chunky turquoise creations and started to experiment with some vintaj brass. I am really happy with the results.

Now, I will have to sit back and wait to see how sales will be. I recently looked at some Paypal statements and realized that my etsy sales for the year were about one sixth of my sales for the previous summer on ebay. I am still happy to trade the sales in for the relaxed pace and friendly atmosphere of etsy! Money isn't everything.

JunQue Jules ended up being featured in three etsy treasuries last week! What a great way to kick off the beading season!

Ocean Potion Treasury with mermaid treasure bracelet

Celebration Treasury with sparkling Pink and Purple Necklace

Fun Red, White, and Blue Cowgirl Treasury with my Vintage Gumball Charm Cowgirl Bracelet

Beading Contests

With all of my excitement last month you would think that I would have gotten my various submissions for upcoming deadlines together, but I haven't. Beyond my original couple of days of planning and creating a few things, I haven't given my Bead Star submissions much thought. I sent an email to Bead Trends with a few submissions for the August 2010 issue only to find that their in-box was full! I guess that is what I get for waiting until the last minute. I am still not sure if they received my submissions, but I would have heard something by now. I managed to sell one of those bracelets on etsy already anyhow.
I have had a very productive month both creation and sales wise. My etsy sales seem to be growing exponentially and I have continued to find more time to create. I have been making more strung and memory wire creations as opposed to my usual charm bracelets. The charm bracelets take much more time, so obviously I am able to produce more product than if I was doing all charm bracelets. A typical JunQue Jules charm bracelet takes at least three hours from starting to select the beads to creating and placing the charms.
I am happy about my recent etsy success because it is sometimes too easy to yearn for my former eBay days when I could easily sell 25 bracelets in one weekend; some going for close to $200, if bidding got intense. I also miss the excitement of watching the bids climb from minute to minute. I am still happier with the pace and community I find at etsy.
Another positive this month has been the creations done by my (almost) three year old son. He has gotten really good at stringing plastic pony beads on leather cord. I am wearing one of his necklaces today. He sits on my lap and beads while I bead. I am loving this, but I am forgetting the beads awaiting me to pick up under my design table right now.

Favorite Sources for beads

My favorite place to buy beads has got to be Fire Mountian. I can not live without their headpins and silver plated beadcaps. The headpins are always uniform and priced right. Since I do mostly charm bracelets; I use a fair amount of headpins. At the height of my bracelet sales I would actually worry more about running out of headpins than I would milk or eggs. They are a staple around my house.

I also spend a fair amount of time in Hobby Lobby and Joann's. Otherwise, I buy vintage buttons, vintage bubble gum charms, and vintage beads on ebay.

How flattering...

This has been a great month for me on etsy. I think it may be my best yet. With some multiple item sales I have sold around ten items this month. Ironically, that would have been a slow DAY for me back in my ebay days. I really do enjoy the more relaxed pace and warmth of the customers on etsy though. I think I would trade dealing with ebay for less sales anyday. I just love etsy!

Also on the flattering topic-I love searching "junquejules" and seeinf my work featured on so many blogs. What fun! Thank you.

I know that I need to get some photos up, but having to deal with so much Photoshop and InDesign work with my duties as the school news paper adviser, I am a little lazy in the photo are right now. Oh yeah-and not to mention the yearbook-a whole nother stoooorrry. I will post some pictures soon.

A Link To My 2008 JunQue-Jules Feedback...

For those of you interested in comments on my work:

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=junque-jules&ftab=AllFeedback&items=25

Beading Season is Upon Me!

Here is my first attempt at setting up a blog. This is probably something I should have done a long time ago. My fourth summer beading season is right around the corner, and I know my return customers will be anxious to see what I have in store for them.
I am in the beginning stages of setting up a store on etsy to compliment my ebay sales. I love the community on etsy and hope to eventually base most of my sales from the etsy site.
This has been a wonderful school year and thus I don't have quite the "bead itch" I usually do this time of year. Last Spring, at this time, I had beads on the brain. I could hardly wait to get into the bead room full time. This year my mind is filled with colors and ideas, but in a more calm manner than last year.