The Grand Opening

It finally happened.  I have had my Etsy shop, this blog, and a Facebook page for The Jewel Farm for over 3 months and finally, I launched the Etsy shop yesterday!  I really put a lot of effort into making sure I was organized and prepared to run the shop properly before offering any products for sale, despite the fact that I have owned some of the jewelry making supplies that I have for sale there for several years.  They were all safely tucked away in some thread boxes in a cabinet.  On a few rare occasions, and usually with the help and guidance of my sister, a bonafide artist, I'd pull out all my beautiful gems and clasps, dust them off, and make a necklace for a friend or family member for Christmas or a birthday.

Looking back, I have determined that for many years I was a "serial crafter".  Any sort of craft I saw online, at a craft fair or that a friend told me about, I was gung-ho.  I had all of the following and more:

• A drawer full of tubes of very expensive oil paints and acrylic paints plus some canvases and other accessories.
• A rainbow of dyed wool for needle felting.
• Yarn, knitting needles and crochet hooks even though I could never remember how to do either.  Every so often I would decide that I "needed" to know how to knit.  I'd read my book on it and get to work.  Then a week later, pick up the 1/4 of a scarf I'd made and wonder how I made that.  I can needle point though, so at least I have something crafty I can do in 40 years.
• A giant bag of bottles to store the handmade soap I was going to make.
• A small collection of scrapbooking supplies, with which I intended to preserve all my wedding keepsakes, but never got around to it.
• A wide assortment of jewelry making supplies, including some very pretty gems that I bought in large quantities.
• A computerized sewing machine, a serger, a dress form, and two dressers full of fabric stash and notions.

Then I had a baby.  And once I got adjusted to being a mom I decided I needed to keep it to one hobby and no more.  That was an easy choice for me, sewing.  I made all of my daughter's nursery linens and then after she was born I think I made her one dress.  Any hobby or interest comes last on the priority list once you have a baby.  But, sewing is still my # 1 hobby, when I have time for such frivolities!

Here's a photo of the nursery.  I adore the funky Indian inspired print that is the focal fabric for the room.  I made the curtains, pillow, quilt, & bumper guard (the last of which you can't see in the photo, but was the most elaborate and difficult).  And on the wall I was standing beside when I took the picture is the changing table, above which hangs a fantastic print of two rabbits wearing top hats and tails that I found on Etsy, of course.

Then, 18 months later, I had a second baby girl.  That's when I decided I needed to declutter.  My attic quickly became full of baby toys and clothes.  I kept cleaning out all of the afore mentioned craft supplies from every drawer, shelf and storage space in my home when I realized that I should try to sell the jewelry making supplies.  I think I had good taste in what I purchased.  The items don't expire in any way.  Plus, I spent quite a bit of money on the beads, so it would be nice recoup that.

THEN, I realized that I could possibly make a small business out of this.  My husband and I tried to purchase a small business before our first daughter was born.  We did a lot of research on starting a small business (even took a class at our wonderful community college, CPCC, on writing a business plan) and decided we would prefer to buy an existing business.  Finally we found the perfect coin laundry to buy, but our offer fell through because the current owner wouldn't provide the previous year's tax returns.  I imagine the tax returns did not match up to the revenue that she claimed the coin laundry was generating.  It was a big bummer for us.

So, when I had this revelation that I could sell my jewelry making supplies on Etsy and maybe turn it into a business, I was ecstatic.  I am not passionate about laundry.  But I love nothing more than hand picking the prettiest beads and organizing them for sale.  I get a lot of pleasure from finding something nice from a supplier; trying to find the best price and/or the best quality of bead and knowing that I am putting a great product up for sale in my shop.  I really don't have any interest in selling anything that is not a real gemstone or a precious metal though.  I do have some wood beads that I made a funky hippie-ish necklace with.  Of course, I bought way more than I needed so those extra wooden beads are for sale, but I don't know that I will maintain that product in the future.  I do really like that necklace though.  It is long and the bead pattern alternates dark wood beads with earth-toned jasper stone beads in a rose and olive color.  It looks good with a maxi dress I have and I get lots of complements on it.  I'll post a pic later.

To conclude, with this post I intended to kick off my Etsy shop opening http://thejewelfarm.etsy.com/ and explain how and why I decided to do this.  My next post will definitely not be about me and my shop.  I want to mix up the topics and explore any and everything to do with jewelry, gems, jewelry making techniques, fashion trends as they relate to jewelry, jewelry designers I like and on and on. 

Thanks for reading!