A few months ago my son, husband, and I took a walk to a small rocky beach during a family birthday party and discovered a wonderful treasure-trove of sea glass. As there was so much strewn about amongst the rocks, we figured the area had to be relatively unknown; a hidden gem of sorts. As with all of the sea glass and beach treasures we have collected over the years, I put it in a pretty jar to display in our house and left it at that. Over time whenever I'd look at it, I thought about collecting more and more, so despite the bitter cold of January, I convinced my family to go back to our new favorite spot to hunt again. However this time, I wanted to do something with it. Something decorative. That's what I have always wanted...something creative and artsy to add to my
shop. We gathered up a bagful of pieces, took them home for cleanup, then I just stared at them. I thought of many different things I could do, but nothing really resonated. On a lark, I wrapped some wire around a piece and posted a picture on my Facebook page. My comment beneath it was something about not planning to make jewelry, but it's fun to make a few pieces while trying to decide what to do with the rest. Immediately my friends started commenting on how pretty the piece was and encouraging me to make more. So I did. Lots more. So many pieces that I am overloaded with pendants now, but luckily people are still interested. I just need to get those sales going on
Etsy or
JoatmonCreations.com, but I am confident they will start rolling in soon. It's just too fun to make them, so I won't give up.
Now this is where I start thinking about my last blog entry which was all about "
Guiding Words" and how my word for 2019 was "DEPTH". I love that I am adding more depth to my offerings. The tagline for my shop is "Handmade Novelties and Gifts" so offering jewelry really falls into this classification. I want to be a one-stop shop for people that are looking for unique items as well as functional ones. Of course adding a new product line will bring it's own challenges, as I already have way too many things on display when I set up at craft fairs. But I am hoping to be better at judging what the customers want at each event I attend, so I can limit what I set up. It can be difficult to do this, since every fair in 2018 had quite a mix of different product sales. But this is why "depth" is so important to me. I hate limiting myself and I hate limiting my customers. My ultimate goal is to become the first shop someone thinks of when they need to buy a gift. I do already have a nice base of repeat customers (whom I love!!), but I'm hoping to get someone new to my site to see the pendants and then next thing you know they are clicking around exclaiming "wow, you make that, too?!"
A girl can dream...(with depth)...right?
