Craft Shows! Late but Better Than Never

I've been so hard at work getting things situated in my shop but I haven't forgotten about my Blog readers. :)

Earlier this year, just two months ago in May, I attended the Skyline Lakes Fire Department Annual Mother's Day Weekend Craft Show. This was their 9th year! We were a bit nervous about the weather. Just like last year we were supposed to get terrible roaming thunderstorms and just overall generally crummy weather as far as craft shows are concerned. But the morning of the weather did a complete 180. It was sunny and there was a fabulous turn out.

 My friend Michelle attended the show with me and was a wonderful help and great company during the down times. It was nice getting a chance to sneak away from the booth with her watching the shop while I was away. I hope she is able to attend my future shows with me! :)

Despite the scorching heat a lot of people showed up and the Threaded Chains outdoor booth was a big success compared to last year. I'm so glad to have given this venue another chance! I plan to continue going back and hopefully next year will be just as wonderful.

We did eventually get some rain but not until the end. I was so busy I didn't get a chance to take photos until just before the rain hit. I had very little time to prep the table for photos so some things are a little disheveled from shoppers.

I've made some progress in how to lay out the tables and I hope my next one turns out even better. I'm VERY pleased with the white table linens. They'll be good until I find some permanent cloth ones of the proper colors to match my shop logos. :)

I am planning to do a bunch of craft shows this fall as well. One is being held in Wanaque and I'll be submitting my application before the end of July. As I am very much looking forward to attending the Packanack Mother's Club annual November Holiday craft show which is held right here in Wayne, New Jersey, my home town! :)

There was also one other show I had my eye on so once I have finalized dates I'll be sure to update everyone! And as always you can tune in to my Facebook and Google+ pages for updates.

I hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July tomorrow and a great weekend. There will be a Christmas in July special coming up in my shop within the next few days so keep your eyes out for that!

I'll see you all in the next post.

Valentine's Day - Show Some Love

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since my last blog post. So much has happened since then. I last updated about my craft show prep...well, when Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast it changed those plans. The craft show was moved to March 2nd so I have been thankfully given a few extra months (since the hurricane anyway) for me to prep. With just over a month left to prepare I'm feeling the heat but I'm confident I can do it! :)

Also around the corner is Valentines Day. I was never too into it as a kid and I've never really had a Valentine, but now that I'm older I find myself falling in love with this holiday. It allows me to step out of my comfort zone when making jewelry. I'll be the first to admit that pink is not a color I wear and I think sometimes that bit of predjudice for the color leaks over into my creativity. But for Valentine's Day I can go nuts.

It's not just me though. I've found a bunch of nice items on Etsy that I just love. :)

I used to stay away from pink colored things like this when I was younger, but these sweet pretzel treats are just too good to pass up now. Check out TheSugarForest for these and more goodies.

I'm such a sucker for bath and body products. I covet the stuff in any color, shape, or form. These blue soap hearts are so pretty and there is plenty more where these come from at Bmbyx. And if blue isn't your thing why not check out the bubble bath, body lotion, and heart soap gift set? CarriesBerries carries that and a variety of items just like it.

 

Of course being a handmade fanatic I love handmade cards. There is nothing better than seeing such beautiful creations I once thought could only be found at a store offering mass produced things. These are some really adorable and creative designs. The kitty one is my favorite.

If you'd like to see more check out KidCardDesigns for more like the butterfly card. Love that robot? Sentimentsbydesign has many more gorgeous creations like it. And for my personal favorite, check out AnnKayGreetingCards for more.

I would love to see any V-Day creations you guys have made or have found across Etsy or Artfire. :) My shop also has some V-Day items, here are just a few:

 

And last just a bit of news. I fell down our basement stairs yesterday. It was so not fun. ): I am thankfully alright and nothing seems broken. I am able to walk on the leg I injured and am now just tending to some minor scrapes and a very swollen foot/leg. Hopefully there won't be any hospital trips in my near future. I also found out yesterday (just before I fell down the stairs) that the United States Postal Service (USPS) has hiked up their shipping prices again, effective starting today. I sincerely apologize for all the inconvenience this will cause to my International shoppers/fans. International rates have just about doubled. So again, I do apologize for the inconvenience this will cause. I am going to be looking into seeing whether or not UPS or Fedex offers anything cheaper but I'm not sure that they do.

Anyway, have a great Sunday night! :)

~ Remmie

TGIF! :D

Happy Friday everyone! It's been a long week for me and as Fall approaches so does the impending date of my very first craft show. While exciting I am so nervous. There is so much that I still need to do, items that need to be made, and supplies that need to be purchased.

I have had to contend with juggling my day job with working on the shop and things have gotten pushed aside. I'll definitely need to do more now on the days I have off and the time I have before I need to head to work at the day job so I can get things ready. Wish me luck!

What are you preparing for this fall? Are you doing any craft shows? Please comment on this post and let me know! I love hearing from others whether or not you follow my blog. :)

And to kick off this weekend with a bang I'm going to be offering 15% off everything in the shop, both sewing patterns AND jewelry! Use the coupon code SWEETSEPT when you check out to get the discount. The same code applies to both my Artfire and Etsy shops. The code will expire Monday night at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard time. Don't miss it!

Now I'm off to clean up my work space so I can get to listing some new pieces. :)

TGIF!

~ Remmie

Goosebook + Christmas in July

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday! Things have been super busy over here so I apologize for not updating sooner as I had promised.

I'll get right down to it and start with the big news first.

There is a new social networking site and it is small business friendly! I am personally tired of Facebook making changes that negatively affect small business owners like myself. Lately all Facebook has done is make changes that many of it's users hate. Their motivations are to please shareholders now that they have gone public. So Goosie Girl took matters into her own hands and created her own social networking site. About 70 people signed up in just the first 24 hours alone, and I was one of them. Businesses seeking membership are asked to pay a small $5 per year fee and regular profiles for non-business members are completely free! No "promoted posts" like on Facebook. Your posts will reach everyone who watches your profile and won't get hidden, unlike on Facebook. I'm excited to be a member and I am certain the site will only continue to grow.

Goosie has named the site domain mombition as many people who wanted to sign up in the original wave are mostly stay at home, self employed mom's, but EVERYONE is welcome to join! I am currently awaiting approval for my account so i should be up and running on there within a day or so. Come and join me, and many other small businesses, and check it out here: Goosebook

Christmas in July!

And with July comes Christmas! It's that time again so I've been working very hard to get some more Christmas themed items ready to post into the shop. I just listed two handmade jewelry items for Christmas in July the other day. Check out my Christmas Shop Section and stay tuned for more!

Also coming to the shop to celebrate Chistmas in July I have two brand new jewelry styles I'm introducing to the shop: Lariat necklaces and Adjustable Macrame Hemp Jewlery bracelets/anklets. Below you can find a sneek peek preview! I will be adding these and much more to the shop over the coming days.

And lastly to celebrate Christmas in July I will be offering 10% off ALL items in my shop using coupon code XMASINJULY10 until July 31st at midnight, eastern standard time. This discount is not available with any other percent off offer (like the 5% discount offered through the My Etsy Shop app on my Facebook page) but IS good in conjunction with the two for $11 glass pearl earring sale as well as the 3 for $7 Vintage sewing pattern sale. So now is the perfect time to get some early holiday shopping in whether you want to buy my handmade jewelry or some of my mother's vintage items. More will be added as the month goes on.

I will be activating the code within the next few hours on both Etsy and Artfire. Keep an eye out on my Facebook and twitter accounts as I will announce it once the codes are activated!

That's all for now. Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

~ Remmie

Summer Nostalgia + A Sale

I have spent a great deal of time promoting my shop, but what about all the people I watch or see in the forums, threads, twitter, and facebook?

For the last three days I have been reaching out to people through some of the Etsy teams I am in to try and find Summer Themed items to share with all of the people that follow me. It has been a long time since the last time I made a treasury. I'd forgotten how much fun it can be! And very addicting. I always try to share treasuries I see that I love. And to show my gratitude for all of the handmade artisans, vintage sellers, and anyone else involved in the Etsy community I show cased 16 different items from 16 different shops.

There is a little something for everyone.

New graphics for your shop? I got it. Need some pretty jewelry or a new outfit? I've got that (and shoes too)! Need something to spice up your home decor? I've found that too! And everything is summer themed. Take a look, you won't be disappointed! Click below to go right to the treasury!

Summer Nostalgia

All of my promoting has paid off for me as well. Last night, about an hour before I turned in for the night, I made a sale on this beautiful switchback macrame hemp bracelet. It is one of my made to order items so you can pick your size and add any beads for your perfect bracelet!

Click here to see the shop!

There are tons more pieces like this in my gallery. Stop by and pick out your perfect style in a bracelet, anklet, or necklace. Or maybe even mix an match a set of all three! Each is made to order. :)

I am planning to add some more Vintage sewing patterns tomorrow so stay tuned for that. I have a bunch that did not sell from the last time so I am thinking of gradually listing a bunch of them throughout the day. Keep your eyes peeled!

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Friday!

~ Remmie

New items + Treasuries & More

Well it's late Monday night and Labor Day is drawing to a close, so happy Holiday to all! I hope everyone is had a fantastic weekend.

To celebrate the holiday Threaded Chains is having a BOGO sale!
Buy any two handmade items and get the third item half off. Plus you'll receive FREE SHIPPING if you participate in the BOGO sale. Vintage items and destash that I've listed for my mother (not including my two personal destash bead listings) are not included in this sale and are also not eligible for the free shipping. However, as always, if you do buy jewelry and vintage items your shipping will be combined.

The other day I had the chance to get my new items outside to take pictures of. I have recently gotten into wire wrapping and bought some briolettes to experiment with. I made a gorgeous little earring line with this technique using gold and silver wire. I also had some extra wire wrapped beads so I made cute little necklaces with them. I had a minor misshap with one pair of my silver earrings so they aren't available in lavender briolettes yet, but as soon as I get that pair made I will get the pictures taken.



I also wire wrapped some other pieces, some sharp oval deep red glass beads(in both gold and silver wire) and some sunburst color shell beads of which I chose two yellow colored beads and wrapped in silver wire.

I have also started making some semi precious stone jewelry. I work for a department retail store and I see such highly priced pieces when I know I can make something way more affordable.












There are so many more pieces I have and all the ones here still need to be listed. Hopefully I will be able to do so tomorrow.

For now though I need to begin the long process of updating my artfire shop. Once that is complete ShopHandmade will also get an update. Unfortunately facebook will have to wait until my three main stores are situated.

I would also like to mention I was featured in a blog today! Come check it out, you can read the little mini interview over at Hali's Lost and Found. Be sure to follow her blog and maybe even leave a comment. You could be the next person she features!

And of course I have been busy making treasuries. I didn't get to make one today but I hope to do so tomorrow. I had a handful of items needing some treasury love! My second treasury also had one of it's items sell. Please head on over and check these treasuries out, maybe even give the featured seller's a sale! Both are Halloween themed:

All Hallows Eve #1: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c82b78c6d3d6d910472ed1d/all-hallows-eve-1
All Hallows Eve #2: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c843ee171ee8eef914b80ff/all-hallows-eve-2

That's all for now. I have a lot of work to do! Enjoy the last 20 minutes of the three day weekend! :)

First Post & Hellos

Hello! And welcome to the Threaded Chains blog. My name is Remmie and I am one of the members of Threaded Chains. I do all of the updating and such.

I'd like to say thank you for coming to read our blog entries. We're happy you stopped by. :)

We dabble in making key chains, hemp jewelry, wire jewelry, stretch string jewelry, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, chokers, anklets, book marks, eyeglass and sunglasses holder strings, children's jewelry and there is always potential for more!

At times we may feature items made from our close friends or family so be on the look out for those. I will be sure to post to the blog whenever such items become available. They could range from anything from Vintage items to custom made items like bookmarks, prints, and more!

To get right down to business I'd like to clarify how Threaded Chains operates. At the moment we sell our wares through both Etsy.com and Deviantart.com. For those not in the know Etsy operates like a store front and you can complete full transactions there automatically. On the other hand our Deviantart.com "store front" is really just a journal post with picture thumbnails, pricing, information, shipping, etc listed out all in one post.

To order anything from our shop through Deviantart.com you must either have a Deviantart.com account (which is completely free) so you can contact us via note OR you may simply e-mail me, Remmie, directly at Deathinthereaper@hotmail.com and simply label your subject "Purchase from Threaded Chains" and let us know which of the products listed in our journal you're interested in. The same applies to the private message (notes) system on DA. Label your subject appropriately and let us know which items you're ordering.

In regards to shipping, totals are approximate for Etsy but if you order from us through Deviantart we can drastically reduce the cost because each transaction is more personal and customizable when completed freely away from Etsy.

All our policies are listed at both Deviantart and Etsy. If there are any concerns, questions, or comments please feel free to contact us through Etsy, Deviantart, e-mail, or through our blog here.

I also want to mention that we may, at times, post certain items exclusively on either Deviantart.com or Etsy.com. We will not accept any orders for those items from other locations other than where we have them listed.

Also, don't forget that we take custom orders!

On a more personal note I, Remmie, take art commissions. My price list can be viewed on my Deviantart.com account here and there are links from there leading to both Threaded Chains information and my personal Commissions journal.

Be on the look out for Halloween Themed items soon! I'm working on some items now and have plans for others.

Thanks for reading and happy shopping!


Sincerely,

Threaded Chains