For buyers and sellers of handmade goods...

For those that that sell handmade goods, it is difficult (at least for me) to completely track all my expenses. Of course I get excited when I make a sale and record all the information, deduct fees and shipping...but what about all the supplies I purchase? Ad space? Seminars or classes? Somehow I *forget* to write down everything I buy and there are two reasons for this: 1. I get lazy and 2. I'm scared to see how much I REALLY spend.

I promised myself last year that I would keep a better record of things, and I have...... of sales. Supplies though? Not so much. After about March I just stopped recording things. Next year I promise to try harder! Is record keeping as hard for everyone else as it is for me?

And for buyers of handmade goods (that includes us sellers too!): Buy less, spend more! Try to go all handmade and make gifts more personal. Not only will you search for the 'perfect' gift for the recipient, but you will also be supporting an independent artist rather than the children in china making plastic toys for $2/month.

As for myself, the majority of gifts I'm giving this year are handmade by independent artists (or by me) and just a couple of them are store bought. It's hard to go completely handmade (I want to meet the person who builds TVs from scratch AND keeps them at a reasonable cost!) but I definitely did try my hardest!

This post was inspired by The Long Thread

I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

The past couple of weeks have been quite hellish. I started my new student teaching placement in mid October. Every class is extremely rude, loud and quite disrespectful. I've been cursed at and even asked "can we have a real teacher now?" Yes, and the specific kid that said that to me is in 10th grade and his average for the class? A 26%. I'm pretty sure a monkey could do better than that.

Then I started to panic because my husband is coming back from his deployment and starting at Marshall in January. I graduate in December and haven't found a job yet so I started to panic over money. He helped me out while I was in school and now I feel it's my job to provide so he won't have to kill himself working AND going to school full time.

I can't seem to keep the house clean. During the week I come home exhausted from teaching. The weekend I'm out doing shows to make money. I feel like a horrible mom to my Puggle because she's left alone. Money is so tight we decided to cancel our Christmas trip and stay home....

Then today happened. I got to sleep in because I had my Capstone Presentation at Marshall. The final thing that determines whether I graduate or not. I already passed my PLT and Biology content knowledge Praxis II and I got all "excellent" on my student teaching the first 6 weeks. At my capstone presentation I have MY university supervisor and my all-time favorite professor at Marshall. I lucked out. Then I was able to thank her for being such an awesome professor and it was because of her I did so well on the PLT. I also was able to vent a bit about my experience now student teaching.

I leave my capstone presentation pumped. I can feel the adrenaline. I stop to 'treat' myself to some Starbucks. I order a grande pumpkin spice latte, and again luck out. Their computers are down and they are not able to process payments so all the drinks are free. Could my day get any better?

I get a phone call from someone from the Marshall Community & Technical College that I met this weekend at my show. She wanted me to possibly teach a jewelry making class in the spring semester (6:30-8:30 on Thursdays). Usually when people say stuff like this to me it's too good to be true and they never actually end up calling you. She did call and also sent me an email asking for a course supply list, a course description and a syllabus. I would be getting paid $25/hr and become part time faculty at MCTC. PART TIME FACULTY at 25 years old. Ahhhhhhhhh I got excited!

I then went to Kroger to do some much needed grocery shopping. (I haven't had milk in the house for about a week!!!) I used coupons coupled with the 'buy 10 items, save $5' thing they have in the store and end up saving 43% of my total bill just with manufacturers coupons and in store sales. Awesome!

At my capstone presentation, my past professor suggested I look for a job in the Putnam county schools, so when I got home I did. I saw a long term sub position for general science and biology - my exact content areas! I called the woman there to see if student teachers are able to apply and use a 'Letter of Completion' until they receive their actual teaching certificate. She said YES!! She was excited that I called because they cannot find a sub in this content area and would have to have someone else that doesn't know a thing about science. She asked me when I graduate, I said December 5th. She said I could start working the 6th if I am truly qualified.

*a sigh of relief*

I also check my email and my husband is finally in Norfolk checking out of the Navy. He initially did not expect to be back home until December but now it's looking closer to Thanksgiving. He's getting really excited to come home as well. I can't blame him; it has been a LONG deployment for the both of us.

I finally feel as if things are really looking up and falling into place. This Thanksgiving I feel that I truly have things to be thankful for!

...Now, only if I'd sell some things in my shops or on eBay so I can treat myself to some supplies ;)

Metricly

I found a great website for all you online shop owners. It is called Metricly and it is an aggregated dashboard and analytics platform. It helps businesses of all sizes track their metrics in one place.
They connect your data from a variety of platforms including Google Analytics, Salesforce, Twitter, Facebook, Mailchimp, Zendesk and more. They can even get live analytics from your own MySQL databases or custom internal data. Setup is fast and easy. Once you connect your shop(s), their powerful analytical tools make it easy to dive into your data and find insights that will help your business be even more successful.
I connected my 3 shops from etsy and the graphs were wonderful! You could choose what type of data you want to see and the trends based on the dates you choose. If you've been wondering who buys from you or how many sales you get per month, this does it for you. The best thing? It's FREE!!!

Who knew crafting could be stressful?

You know, until you experience it, I bet many people think certain 'jobs' are easy. Lets say, stay at home moms. I am not a mom, but just watching a child for a couple of hours wears me out, I can't image what a SAHM feels like. Not only does she have to watch her kid(s) she is also doing laundry, cleaning, cooking, entertaining her kids etc.

This brings me to a stay at home crafter/artist. This summer I decided to stay at home and work on my crafts while doing different festivals and shows rather than working a crappy summer job somewhere at the mall. Yes, I can make my own hours and stay in my pjs all day, but honestly, it's hard work! I can't just clock in and clock out like I did working retail or waitressing. This is an all around the clock job! I'm constantly looking for festivals, applying, remembering to send in logos, payments, updating my shops, and of course, creating things! When you have a dog that acts like a toddler and constantly throws the ball in your hands when you are making things, well, it's tough to ignore it.

I have to make sure that I have enough pieces made for a show depending on how many days/hours I will be there and the popularity of the show. This week I'll be leaving for the West Virginia State Fair. I've never done one of these nor have a done a show that is 8 days long! And apparently from what I hear, this show is crazy busy and people come there to shop! For a simple 2-3 day show 250 pieces of jewelry/hair accessories is a good number. I need quadruple that for the state fair. And while preparing for the state fair I have other festivals or jewelry parties that I'm doing so my inventory goes down constantly. Sometimes I even hope I won't sell anything so that I have enough inventory for the state fair.

Not only is the state fair stressing me out, but the day after I get back, I start student teaching. I still don't know what school I'll be at or my schedule. The education department is not very good at giving things to students ahead of time. Then throughout the fall I have at least 5 shows planned so that means teaching, taking care of home and my dog PLUS making things for these fairs! Man, I will be exhausted after this semester, but hopefully it will be worth it all.

These are the shows I have set in stone, though there are 2-3 more that are tentative:

★ WV State Fair, Lewisburg (Aug 13-21)
★ Mound Arts fair in S. Charleston (Sep 11)
★ Oktoberfest in Montgomery, WV (Sep 18)
★ Pumpkin Festival, Milton WV (Oct 7-10)
★ Craftin' Outlaws in Columbus, OH (Oct 16)

News

So I know I promised to blog more, but so many things come up in life! How do these 'professional' bloggers find time to write, cook, clean, craft, take care of their families, work etc? I don't have enough hours in the day!

Anyway, I wanted to share some news! I finally have a newsletter/mailing list with Pepper Pod Designs that we will be sending out quarterly. It will include new items that we've made, where we will be, sales, discount coupons and more. If you'd like to sign up, you can do so here.

I also wanted to post where we will be in the near future. More shows might come up as well as jewelry parties. If you are interested in a jewelry party yourself, please contact me!

★ Barboursville Civil War Days, WV (July 17-18)
★ WV State Fair, Lewisburg (Aug 13-21)
★ Mound Arts fair in S. Charleston, WV (Sep 11)
★ Pumpkin Festival, Milton WV (Oct 7-10)

Also, if you know of any festivals in your area that you'd like us to look into, please let us know!

Creativity Bootcamp

Well I have decided to join in on the creativity bootcamp. I hope that it will help keep me inspired this summer! Anyone else joining in?

Going to the Chapel!

I hope not to be away from my shops, listing new items and making things for too long, but I'm getting married tomorrow! Yup, tomorrow, May 27th at 2:00pm. It's going to be a quick courthouse wedding, pictures at Ritter Park and then Dinner with the family and just the best friends from each side. Very low key, just the way I like it!

I hope to be back with new items and more shop updates after this! Hosting people in our house, cleaning and preparing for the big day really gets in the way of crafting!