Someone is looking...

I've checked Etsy, and people have actually looked at my bracelet!! YEA!!! Now---to get someone to buy it.

Tomorrow I'm going to list the chandelier earrings, and maybe something else. This weekend I've got to take photos of everything ready to list, so every day or two, I can easily post them.

Otherwise, I'm going into midtown tomorrow to visit the zoo (for my son) and the Brooks Museum (for me). We are also going to find someplace there for lunch, then I'm going to hit a bead store or two and find the clasp I need to fix a bracelet for a friend. I'm only going to charge her for the parts, but encourage her to refer people to me for repairs. Which reminds me - I need to update my business cards and print them off so they are ready to hand out.

I've about taken the denim skirt apart (got most of it completed during Project Runway on Wednesday), so hopefullly I can begin putting it back together this weekend. Not only was it too large, but it was much too long - almost to my ankles. I found a picture in Lucky magazine of a knee lenth denim skirt, and decided to shorten this one and fit it properly to have the same look this fall.

Tuesday evening I sat outside and replaced some of the clasps on bracelets. While out there, I began looking through my bead stash. Came across a chain that I had removed from a 1980's pin a couple of years ago. I was never sure what to do with it, but it seemed like a good thing to keep (of course, I think that about everything!). It was alternating gold links and "pearls". When I looked at it then, I suddenly went "dangle earrings"! So, I divided the chain into 4 equal lengths, added jump rings in the middle, and attached them to french hooks. Voila - earrings. I haven't decided if I'm going to sell them or wear them. I don't wear a lot of gold tone jewelry, so I may list them on Etsy and see if they sell. If not - or if I need them - I'll remove them and use them myself. Ah, the joys of being the boss!!

And so it begins...

Even though I signed up with Etsy in January, today was the day I finally got around to actually opening shop!! Redux Designs can be viewed online at http://reduxdesigns.etsy.com. Now, to see if I can sell anything.

What took so long to get going? Well, I got distracted for a while this year - not a bad thing in and of itself as I discovered some new interests, but it kept me from getting my business going. What finally motivated me to get it up was 1) a desire to quit my job and go to work for myself, partly so that I could 2) be available to my son more of the time. Granted my current job allows me to work from home most of the time, so that is a very good thing, but I've found that I simply don't have any desire or passion for the work. So while I see it as a blessing that I not only have a job, but one that allows me some freedom to take my son to school and pick him up, and develop my other interests on the side, I also realize that I need to see the job as a means to an end, not as a lifetime commitment.

So---the store is open!! I hope to make a bit of money to help me move to self-employment or freelance position while also learning what people want to buy - what styles, colors and materials they are interested in purchasing.

To the future of Redux Designs!!