Bi-weekly updates

Since life becomes busy at holidays, I decided from now on I should always plan to update every other week instead of weekly. It's easier on me when I don't have much to say.

This week I photographed the last of what I have made and ready to go. I haven't tallied the value yet, so I'll just add it as I list things.

Among things being listed, there's a few pairs of graduated pearl earrings going straight to the clearance section since I have so many earrings in that style already!

Graduated pearl earrings, $2.50

Sales have been unusually slow this time of year, only one pair of earrings finding their way out so far. But it's better than nothing. Everything is forward momentum!

Total value of items made: $1070.50
Total expenses to run business: $109.21
Total income: $303.50

Catching up

It's been a long time since I had a moment to update this blog. I'm still working on this project, but this season has been really busy for me and it doesn't look like it'll get any better. So instead of a big breakdown, we're just going to catch up with the numbers as they currently are!

There's not a lot new here - Still haven't had a chance to photograph the rest of the jewelry waiting to be listed, but things are slowly trickling out of the shop.

After doing the big special order in September, I decided I liked the new roses I was using much better than the old ones, so all the old rose earrings are now on clearance for half price. $2.50 a pair and $2.50 for shipping in the U.S., so you can get a pair of pretty handmade earrings sent right to your doorstep for five bucks.

Rose post earrings, $2.50

There's still a few colors available, so take a look!

Now for the numbers.

October saw four sales and November's seen one so far - rose earrings heading out the door. All in all, the bill since I last updated was just shy of ten bucks, and the income was at $59. Just enough to push us over the $300 mark, woohoo! How exciting! That means we're pretty close to one third of the goal. I'm thrilled, because this little project has paid for Christmas gifts for my family. What a blessing, huh?

There's lots of goals I'm aiming for as we move into the holiday season, but I'll speak of those more later now that I've finally got this blog caught up!

Total value of items made: $1063.00
Total expenses to run business: $108.72
Total income: $301.00

Week-end tallies: Nineteenth/Twentieth weeks in review

I've pretty much just gone to bi-weekly updates here, there's simply no time for anything else. Especially as we move into the holiday season. The side project shop has business booming, and it's all I can do to keep up with moving those orders out the door. Things are slower in Moonsea Creations, though. Not a bad thing, since the other stuff has me so busy!
Since we've hit the 3 month mark after reopening, a lot of stuff is up for renewal, so that has operation costs creeping upward again. Here's how week 19 closed:

Total value of items made: $983.00
Total expenses to run business: $68.81
Total income: $144.00

Week 20 saw me busy with jewelry, though, since I had a large custom order to fill. The end result was really pretty!

Custom order from Moonsea Creations

The order was bracelets, earrings and necklaces for a wedding. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the right color of roses on hand and needed a few other last-minute supplies, so I had to do a little shopping. As if shopping is a bad thing, right?

Another order for a rose quartz pendant went out the door while I worked on fulfilling the big one, so all in all, week 20 was great. Here's the closing numbers for week 20:

Total value of items made: $1063.00
Total expenses to run business: $99.51
Total income: $242.00

And... WOW. Everything really jumped up! But see? We passed two landmarks! The project has brought in over $200, and I've finally made enough jewelry to reach a total value of $1000!
That means if everything I've made and listed at this point sells, the shop will be able to reach the project goal.

The next landmark isn't far, either - Once we hit the $250 mark, we'll be a quarter of the way to seeing this project through to total success, so here's hoping for a successful week 21!

Week-end tallies: Seventeenth/Eighteenth weeks in review

Once again, I'm rolling two weeks into one. I had the delight of having my mom come and visit for a while, which is great for the spirits but not so great for pushing business, since I'd much rather tackle a household project while I've got the extra set of hands here.

Week seventeen saw a slow creep up with new items being added, though, bringing the total value ever closer to the $1000 mark.

So what did week seventeen close out like? Like this:

Total value of items made: $946.00
Total expenses to run business: $65.38
Total income: $126.00

As we push toward the holiday season, I expect sales will pick up; they almost always do. Of course, I'll be busy with the other shop then, too!

Last time I updated, I mentioned trying to decide whether that shop should be included in the income here or not. Well, I decided it shouldn't be, mostly because it's a separate project that I never closed when I shut down Moonsea Creations before. I do have some non-jewelry crafts I may consider listing in this project, though, since they may fit better here than anywhere else! For the moment, though, we're sticking to jewelry.

Wire wrapped red glass earrings, $9

And for how week eighteen closed out:

Total value of items made: $983.00
Total expenses to run business: $66.81
Total income: $144.00

Week-end tallies: Fifteenth/Sixteenth weeks in review

Two for one, eh? Yep - I had everything set and on track for updates, and then I came down with a cold last weekend. Drat!

It's been a slow crawl forward, but at least progress is being made. The bowl of jewelry I have to list is emptying out, bit by bit, and traffic has been steady - Even if I haven't made any more sales recently. No biggie, it'll happen!
So what were the numbers like at the end of week 15?
Like this:

Total value of items made: $870.00
Total expenses to run business: $63.98
Total income: $126.00

Not bad! And one of the pieces that went in last week was a pair of earrings with a design that's always been a popular seller for me.

Graduated red pearl earrings, $9

And this week, I added more of the ever-popular keys.

Wire wrapped key necklace, $10

As I move into fall, I find myself wondering if I should include other crafts aside from jewelry in this project. I do make more than jewelry, after all, and I have a few new things sitting on my craft table that will go into one of the other shops I manage for hobby creations. I've always kept Moonsea as strictly jewelry and beading, while posting costume accessories in another place. Should I list some of the costume bits in Moonsea? Or should I count them toward this goal, even if I sell them in the other shop? Hmm...
Things to consider, at least.

And that's a wrap for week 16.

Total value of items made: $901.00
Total expenses to run business: $64.58
Total income: $126.00

Week-end tallies: Fourteenth week in review

So it's only Thursday, and here I am writing the weekly tally. Why? Well, it's our anniversary weekend, and Joe and I have lots of plans for fun things to do as a family. So, I'm treating myself to a weekend off!

This week has been great for seeing forward momentum again. I set a goal for myself to get 10 new pieces listed in the month of August, and I managed to get them all posted this past week. A couple sales saw some pieces going off to new homes, and I still have 20 pieces photographed and ready to trickle in over the next three weeks. Great stuff!

Here's a peek at one of my favorite additions this week:

Embellished silver key necklace, $10

Since I haven't listed the other 20 items yet, I decided not to include them in the value of pieces on the table. I'll add their value to the tally as I list them, which is exciting, because it means that number will slowly start creeping up. I'm excited to see it break the $1000 mark, because that means there'll officially be enough jewelry around to meet the overall goal.

'Til next week!

Total value of items made: $826.00
Total expenses to run business: $63.18
Total income: $126.00

Why edit photos?

Cleaning photos can be a lot of work, especially when photographing a lot of pieces at once. I spent some time taking photos of 30 items over the weekend, which meant I ended up with 245 photos to filter through, crop and clean up. That's a lot of work.
Sometimes I look at the huge numbers of photos, sigh, and feel discouraged. It's a lot of work for seemingly little payoff, so why edit your photos?

Cameras have come a long way, but they still don't capture most things exactly as you see them. Colors aren't always quite right, the purple spectrum is especially hard to capture accurately. This is why post-processing has always existed. Adjustments made after the photograph is taken can make a world of difference! Don't believe me? Here's a photo straight off my camera, it's only been cropped to eliminate useless white space.

These earrings are made with beautiful, shiny red glass beads and antiqued brass wire. They were photographed against a piece of white poster board, in natural morning daylight. As you can see, the red isn't too red, the brass isn't too brassy, and the white background is definitely not white. In fact, it doesn't look anything like what I was actually looking at!

Less than a minute later, I've made a few simple changes to the photo. Using Photoshop CS5, I made the following fast tweaks:
• Auto contrast
• Auto color
• Adjust levels (increasing whiteness)
• Auto tone

That's it! Less than sixty seconds. Eight clicks of the mouse. And now it's not just closer to what the image looked like to the human eye, it's better a better product photo. When you compare the two, which looks better?
The first one isn't bad, but the second is a much higher quality photograph. That's why even basic post-processing is important for your shop.

But that's it for today - I still have 244 photos to clean up!