Sunday, November 28, 2010

So much for Friday...

http://grannyhangers.com/Home_Page_V7GR.html

A very lazy Friday gave way to an equally lazy Saturday. We (the hubby and me) slept in, foraged the remnants of Thanksgiving leftovers and watched a couple of movies. Very nice. People dropped in, dropped out again. Today was busy. I designed, printed and trimmed Christmas cards. Lots of them. My list is substantial and, amazing though it seems, it's that time of the year.


Tomorrow I plan to open a bank account for grannyhangers. Then I'll take photos of all my inventory and, hopefully, my daughter will give me a lesson on how to post those photos to my website. I'm hoping she'll also show me the ropes for getting started with Paypal...

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Turkey Time

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I've spent the last few days getting ready for a Thanksgiving feast. Tomorrow, I'll cook and we'll eat, we'll be thankful, then we'll drowse. There'll be a lot of laughing, talking; there'll be some groaning. I have cooking to do between now and then and the usual suspects will arrive. We'll all sit down together at the table and enjoy the most traditional meal of our year.


There'll be about half a dozen small craft fairs locally between now and Christmas. I checked. And at some point -soon- I'll have to make a decision about whether I'll go and show my grannyhangers or if I'll be better off trying a different approach. I'm really wondering if money wouldn't be better spent targeting specific Google ad words. Maybe even using Facebook. I don't know. I do know that I don't have to figure it out today. And tomorrow? I won't think about it at all.


Tomorrow is about family. Everything else can wait until Friday.


Happy Thanksgiving. Have a lovely day. I hope you have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day, 2010, that you'll enjoy it in the company of friends and family.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Is forty enough, Michelle?

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Okay, so, I went to the Sip-N-Shop and, boy, that was an eye-opener. It wasn't particularly well attended but it was worth being there because I learned a lot. Other vendors had lots of thoughts and notions regarding Internet selling, which was enlightening and valuable, and I did a fair amount of market research. I also discovered that if you ask people questions a lot of them will give you answers.


I did a lot of listening...


I sold three grannyhangers and no one threw any at me. I didn't get a single negative review. And I was right about it being a very small niche item because the people who bought one didn't need an explanation of what it was, they knew what it was, and no one gave me grief about the price. That was good to learn. I thought I was in the right range with that and now I know I am.


So, I can sell it. What I'm going to have to figure out is how to best get grannyhangers in front of the people who will want to buy it. I'm thinking the Internet is the best place.


Forty was definitely enough. I now have thirty-seven grannyhangers and I guess the best next step in selling them will be photographing them and putting them on the website. Which means I need to figure out a payment method...


Lots to do!








If you're interested in the folk-art dolls, which are lovely, check them out at http://muchadowithnothing.blogspot.com. Each is hand-crafted and unique. 

Friday, November 19, 2010

Butterflies Today

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I know, I know, it's only a craft show, it hasn't cost me much to be involved and I've only made forty grannyhangers, which hasn't broken even my limited bank, but I'm nervous. Seriously nervous.


What if everyone hates it?


I had a dream last night that some guy threw a grannyhanger at me and ridiculed the notion that I could sell it, that it was worth selling, at any price. I looked at this little bent up freaky grannyhanger and it really was a piece of junk. I was crushed. Completely.


ACK. My subconscious is conspiring against me.


Oh, well. Grannyhangers aren't crap. They're well thought out, perform the task they've been designed for, and they look beautiful while they're doing it.


Stylish functional jewelry. Yes, indeed.


Go AWAY, butterflies!


Roll on Saturday.

A Big Idea

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WHERE ARE MY GLASSES?


A familiar refrain. Well, to me, anyway. Since my mid-forties, when presbyopia set in and became a fact of life, losing track of glasses is just the way it is. I keep a spare set in my kitchen cupboard. I don't like that pair much but I need them to find the glasses I do like, the pair I routinely seem to lose.


ACK


I've tried hangers. I just didn't find anything I liked. They broke too easily, they were unkind to my glasses, they all ended up in a drawer. I've been making jewelry for family and friends for years and I recently came up with a design for a glasses hanger that is both functional and stylish.


Stylish functional jewelry. Now that's a nice concept.


Strangers have asked me where I got my hanger and I've made a few for friends. The photo is of one friend and her version is a silver ring, a multicolor blue/green seed glass string with Lapis Lazuli stones. My version is a multi-metal color (gold/silver/copper) seed glass string, a silver ring and one large carved Carnelian.


Anyway, all the interest in what I've made has motivated me. It's galvanized me. I've rented a booth at a local craft fair and I've made forty of the glasses hanger necklace thingies to sell. It's an awkward description so I'm calling them grannyhangers. I'm planning to put them out there for $50 each and will discount them at the craft fair. They'll be selling there for $45. I don't know about the perceived value and it'll be the place to learn something...


I've never done anything like this before. I'm some anxious, a whole lot excited. I'm really learning as I go along. I'm hoping that I can generate a small on-line business with my grannyhangers, that I'll get enough interest going to provide me with a little bit of income and let me be creative doing it.


It would be nice...


This blog will be all about that. It'll be about grannyhangers, this little business I'm working on, what happens with it, how things go, whether I can make it. I plan to try.


Saturday will be the first step...