New project and site ventures

Recently I have been working on building up stock for the upcoming holiday season. It has really been a really slow year for sales in Etsy shops...I am hoping the fall/holidays will help everything pick up.

I never thought I would get this involved when I started trying to sell my handmade items online,but I have tried to do a lot of promoting, etc. I thought originally that I would just casually list a few items as I could and they would sell...I definitely was wrong lol. I have learned that there is a lot more to it than that. You also have to be patient...at times I would find myself checking the activity feed constantly to see a sale from my shop but after a while you get over it..you focus on promoting to get your shop out there to try to get more sales..it has worked a bit for me even though things have been slow.

My most recent projects have been making crochet baby headbands, scarves, steam punk inspired jewelry, and more. I have sold a few between my shop on Etsy.com and Tophatter so I thought I would make more to keep in my regular shop stock.

Tophatter hasn't been very profitable for me, handmade doesn't always seem to sell very well on there and the fees can really add up and cut into profit for me, so I am still looking into other venues.

Here are some of my new items up for sale in my shop :)

Venues and what's new

Hello reader(s), I have been busy lately, sometimes working on new creations for my Etsy shop when I can. I am considering other venues to post/sell my hand made items since things are so slow. Craft fairs would be great to go to and try to sell my things, however the prices are wayyy too high for the booth spaces...I seriously do not understand why the prices for the merchants are so high at these events. The only thing I can think of is possibly greed and/or crowd control with regards to merchants. Seriously though, it is very disappointing to look at the fees for selling crafts at events..I would have to sell a ton of items to just break even, with almost no profit! I don't see how the merchants make it. So I think I will be sticking to online venues for now..I am currently trying to take a shot at tophatter.com to see if my items can do any better in live auctions *fingers crossed*. 

I have also been coming up with a lot of ideas lately for new items. Coming soon to my Etsy shop and/or tophatter handmade auction will be a couple of double beaded turtle bracelets (one in brown and green there other in blue and green), a Crochet Cross Body Bag in earth tones, some crochet wallets, head bands, and possibly some others. I can't wait to see the feedback from others who see my new items :)

I hope you are having a great week! :)

Multiple crafts

Hello reader(s), I am new to blogging but thought I would give it a shot :) I am a crafter, many may ask what kind? To this, I would respond that I am a multi-crafter. I love to do all kinds of arts and crafts and am pretty much always into something. I suppose this keeps things interesting in creating my projects. I love to draw, paint, take photographs, make jewelry, crochet, make wreaths, make ceramic things, you name it! I don't work in every single type of craft, but that would be fun! :)

I incorporate my multi-crafting into my shop UniversalCrafts on Etsy.com. If you would be interested in viewing it, here is my url: www.etsy.com/shop/universalcrafts

I have done a good amount of custom orders through my shop, and all of them have been fun to work on! I love custom orders, it gives me a new challenge. Even if I haven't made it before, I will probably be up for it! :)

I am hoping to get some more crochet goods such as scarves, purses, wallets, housewares, and cozies done this summer so that they will be available by the time the cold fall/winter weather gets here.

Lately I have been making a good amount of jewelry, but I am starting to feel an itch to switch up to crochet and hand painted goods.

I hope you can stop by my shop to see what I have. :) It would be much appreciated!

~Candace
       UniversalCrafts