How I price my items...Or, why I now have a clearance section...

I know, I know, this is kind of considered taboo -- like should I really tell you how I come up with the prices for my items?  Probably not.  But also -- I want you to know that there is a delicate formula that goes into my pricing. 

1) I use the highest quality materials I can get my hands on -- this takes a lot of effort to find great "parts" at reasonable prices.  Also added into this little gem of scouring the globe to find what I need, I spend a hefty amount of time on youtube.
     Why youtube you may ask?  Well, I am a totally visual learner, one must SHOW me so that I can become one with what I am attempting.  I seriously can not learn from a book, unless its a book not on how to produce something in my shop, but rather how to think about things. 

2) When I am learning a new technique, those "samples" go almost directly into my teenage daughter's jewelry box.  She has collected so many things over the years, and really her getting the samples is all about me testing the quality of a product I make.  I perfect it so that it will not break once I put that lovely item up for the world to see. 
     And, her dad buys her a new jewelry box in every country he visits with the Army.  She must have an entire college fund in those boxes.

3) I research what the typical prices would be for my "style," the quality of the products I use and so forth, in order to see if the item is marketable at the price it takes to make it. This may seem boring -- but I can't really market an item that the prices are way low out there in the handmade realm, even if my products I start with are visibly higher quality.  I learned this the hard way with the two items below:

Umba Sapphire, Peridot and Green Garnet Earrings

Massive Ruby Solitaire Earrings

The Sapphire Earrings and Rubies above are extremely high quality stones -- made in specific ways to showcase the true stone personality.  The Sapphires sparkle like there is no tomorrow -- they are also very, very rare.  True Umba Sapphires are found only in the Umba Region of Africa, an area only slightly larger than the small area Tanzanite (from Tanzania) is found.  The rarity of the Umba is what makes these long earrings so much fun -- for while they have the chemical and healing properties of sapphires -- well just look, they are pink and purple, and light gray-blue and ooooh sooo pretty.

The Rubies on the other hand are massive, deep wine rubies -- almost a star ruby with that shine.  While my mother adored these mammoth beauties -- they too, because of their sheer size are expensive, just for the gemstones. But because I purchased the stones without researching how well these items are moving -- I had to place them in the Clearance Section, because I only have so much room in my shop for items.

It's sad -- but I just didn't do my research and instead listened to my mother coo over both sets of stones long enough to say: "I'll take them."  Will research better from now on -- both pairs of earrings are now below cost in the shop :(

4) I work out how long it took me, how much time and effort went into the piece, how high end the gemstones were, and add the amount of 14k gold filled or silver into the product.  I then compare this "raw" amount to what I researched before.

Take the piece below:

Labradorite Necklace on Clearance

Those gemstones are super high-end for a jewelry show.  The necklace itself took time in double knotting it -- and the components are 100% sterling silver.  But it's currently on clearance, for 45% off.  Why?  It's summer time, and I am "clearing out" my shop for new items that will be hitting the shop come July.  So the lucky person who is purchasing this on clearance?  They get it at below cost for me.  I basically had to cut out my "pay" and sell this for parts, because I need to make room.

But this is where I differ from big jewelry stores -- and is a key component to my "philosophy:"  I can produce very beautiful items, still pay myself a living wage, and not mark my items up 10 times what I put into them.   However, the downfall of this process of "pricing" is that I really can not go below this 45% off without basically "paying" the customer to take it out of the store.

But -- I can reduce the prices of older items to these extreme lows -- so that you can enjoy them, and I can see them going out into the world.

Check out the Clearance Section here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/maggiesjewelry?section_id=13687199

It's a delicate balance to price these items so that 1) You are happy with the quality of the product as a customer and 2) I can keep doing it.

Hoop Earrings Sale!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/maggiesjewelry?section_id=6770430

All hoop earrings are marked down in the shop by 20%.  No coupon code needed, I manually marked everything down :)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/maggiesjewelry?section_id=6770430

Playing around...

You know that saying -- don't mess with something that works? Yeah, I am not so good at following that saying.

See, my problem is that I want to learn -- even if the process I am using is still working just fine. Which, Etsy seems to be doing pretty well by me. It's simple, I can change how my shop looks whenever I want, and with Etsy changing their coding quite often -- I am always having to learn their process as they tweek.

But, I can't just let things lay around, working. So, for the past few days I have been learning how to make my own shop -- I am sure you have seen me play with the coding on here, but I have chosen to try one more step and create my own website / shop.

Look forward to it in the near future -- I will announce it here when I am ready to share. But, remember, I am a perfectionist, so it may be a bit :)

In the meantime -- it's wildflower and sunshine season here in the Pacific Northwest so I will be out playing and getting sunburned more often than normal for a while.



The photo here is a design I am playing with -- I hope to make hair jewels, headbands and some pretty earrings/ pendants with this branch design. Think Art Deco and The Great Gatsby with where these are going :)

Mother's Day Give Away!!

I struggled a lot through the last week or so, coming up with what to do for Mother's Day this year.  Finaly, a dear friend came to the rescue, suggesting I make it a classic giveaway -- pearls for Mom.  You know, the classic post pearls, which I am now offering in the shop with a modern twist -- hand wire wrapped.

However, for his giveaway -- I am leaving it up to the winner to choose, sterling silver or 14k gold filled.

Be are the two items to choose from,followed by the rafflecopter entry form(s).  This giveaway will end on Monday, May 6th, at Noon Pacific time (3pm Eastern) so that I can get these too you by Mother's day :)

Enjoy, share and please enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So many changes ...

Well, hubby came home after a 2 month temporary duty down to California (this just short of six weeks home after 2 years away just prior to that -- yeah I know, how on earth do I keep track?  I don't. I rely on the kids to tell me).  And as he was getting ready to come home, we had this stellar weather -- the weather that makes it so you don't really want to sit in your studio working on things?  Yeah, you know it, not a cloud in the sky and 70 degrees. 

So, like anyone, I decided to play as much as I could in between bouts of cleaning.  Neither of these two things ended up working out for me.  Meanwhile the whole pre-coming-home-week was spent with the kids kind of sitting there saying, "since when do you want me to put my clothes in a hamper?  Sacrilege."  No, seriously, it was that bad. 

But, I did get a few items done, and a few requests for custom items that are proving less than fruitful at this point. And for some reason, even though it's not a big color for spring, purple is really working out well for me.  Yeah, I do know there are all kinds of colors for purple, but we all also know that every shade of purple is basically just purple for me.   And Pink :)

Oh and by the way, my dear friend at Moonshine Designs and Photography made me this fabulous shop banner:

Awesome, Right?

So here are a few new spring items I have been working on between dishes, cleaning up after the kids and setting up my old computer since my laptop decided it was done last week sometime.

Monaco Blue Freshwater pearl earrings in Sterling Silver (Posts)

14k Gold Wire Wrapped Fluorite Earrings

Raw Garnet Wire Wrapped Ring in 14k Gold Filled

Rose Smoke Mystic Quartz Wire Wrapped Post Earrings in Sterling Silver

Ombre Pink Ruby Large Hoop Earrings in Sterling Silver (July Birthstone)

Raw Citrine Statement Necklace in 14k Gold Filled (November Birthstone)

And Remember, The Mother's Day Sale is going on for One More week.  I ask that stateside (domestic orders) be placed by May 6th, 2013 so that I can get the items to you for Mother's Day.

Moonshine Designs and Photography: How To Use Custom White Balance in Lightroom 3

Been having a few weather and photography issues of late because of the very --- uhhh --- temperamental weather here in Seattle.  So after I took a few indoor photos of my pictures, I noticed the "white" wasn't "white" in the final product. 

So, I asked my dear friend what to do about this -- as photos are key for me to show you what my jewelry looks like.  She sent me this wonderful post explaining what I could do so that I didn't have to reshoot the pictures. 

It's pretty awesome.

Moonshine Designs and Photography: How To Use Custom White Balance in Lightroom 3: I would assume the process is the same for Lightroom 4.  Currently I am still using Lightroom 3 because at this time I cannot justify a $100...

Discussions of Spring

Spring is all around me -- with lovely flowers poking through the ground to torrential downpours keeping me inside several days during each week.  I spend my days alternating between the "I really have to finish the kitchen cleaning" to "ooh, look, something shiny on my desk to play with."

My mom and I, when discussing spring, eventually end up on the history of spring celebrations and house-hunting.  I know it's an odd mix, but Mom and I are an odd pair.  I often get nearly giddy when the sun comes out -- because that means I can run the kids into delirium, walk to the pool not feeling odd about wearing sweats and the like, and finally, after long gray winter days -- take much better photographs so that you can see the jewelry in all its glory. 

Oooh, look, something shiny.

It also brings us to the almost end of spring celebration:  Mother's Day.  Granted, it's for us Moms, grandmas, even aunts.  It's kind of fun, that Sunday where you can honestly tell your kids -- all I want for Mother's Day is for you to clean your rooms without me asking. Which is actually asking now -- isn't it?

This Mother's Day, my husband will be home -- which will be odd, to say the least.  I do not remember the last Mother's Day -- or worse Anniversary -- I spent with my husband.  I wonder -- really I do -- what will he do?

Which brings us back to my conversation with my Mom.  We spent a good hour lamenting on how hard it is to choose something for each other.  Inevitably we will end up at Barnes and Noble, buying each other a book or gift card.   It's tough -- do you have any go-to gifts for the mother in your life?

Visit Maggie's Jewelry Here

The Trouble with Sunshine -- and Vanity Prevalence

Sometimes I am just in awe when that momentous, bright yellow thing appears in the sky.  It's astounding.  And without a doubt, even though I wear sunglasses all winter long in the gloom of Seattle -- I can not find my sunglasses again when the sun rears its bright sunshinyness.

It's a tragedy for me really -- when I can't find my sunglasses.   Not because I am as concerned about UV trouble with my eyes as I genuinely should be -- but because I am 35 years old and a little obsessive about crows feet. No,  seriously -- it's one vanity point within the deep dark recesses of my soul I will forever fight to keep at bay.

See, there are a ton of things I could do to help with the wrinkle factor -- you can find them on any google search, for what is google, but the ultimate vanity breeding machine?

I could drink more water.  That's  pretty much a no-brainer. Trouble is -- I got so used to buying bottled water when I lived in Texas (I wasn't fond of the water there and britta and pure water filters only went so far) that it's nearly impossible for me to gauge how much I am taking in on a daily basis.

I could drink less coffee -- this goes hand and hand with the above.  Trouble is when I limit myself to a certain number of cups a day, my "cups"  (which is actually a specific unit of measurement, rather than the design of a liquid holding dish) get larger and larger by the day.  So my 2 cups a day will still end up being oh, 48 ounces -- making null and void the "8 cups of water a day" that is often recommended.  I have now got to add on to that everything I have also had in coffee -- making me become far more acquainted with the "ladies room" than I prefer in a given day.

I could buy vast amounts of old-lady cream.   This is my preferred method of battle as it is my firm belief that old lady cream is the nectar of the gods.   I look in my "medicine cabinet" and find "Origins,"  "Lancome,"  "More Origins," Hair dye (to cover the unseemly gray my red hair seems to proliferate for no apparent reason), and possibly some medicine.  But, that is more likely to be found under the sink in my bathroom as it's just not as prominent as my vanity struggle against crows feet.

What I do not find in my "medicine cabinet" or "powder room" at all -- is my biggest weapon against crows feet:  Sunglasses.

Why sunglasses?  Well, I drive a lot, and I laugh a lot, and I generally am a pretty happy person -- so crows feet and laugh lines sure are coming.  So what do sunglasses have to do with anything?  Well, when I am driving around -- in sunglasses, even in the rain -- I am seriously much less likely to squint.

I do not, however, make use of sunglasses when taking photo's for the shop -- if anyone has figured out how to do that -- go ahead and send me a link in the comments :)

Until then -- I guess it's good to be happy it's springtime.

 ~Maggie~