What I Did Instead of Yesterday's Blog Post

I kind of completely spaced on a blog post yesterday, mostly because I found a bunch of these unfinished in my closet:

I was about this far on all of them, but I was still surprised that I finished them all yesterday.

I used to do these all the time, and I'm really excited to finish them off and turn them into pillows or something to sell in my shop! I forgot how much fun I had making these. I used to save all the extra yarn I had, and my eventual plan even as a kid was to use them to make up my own latch hook pattern on a blank canvas, so I am currently sorting all of my little strings into different colors so that I can actually make my own! I feel like my shop at this point is made up of things that all come from a pattern, and I think making my own latch hook will be the first truly original thing I've done, so I'm really excited to get some canvas and finish this project. So excited, in fact, that I skipped my blog post yesterday. It also might have something to do with the fact that I binge-watched an entire season of Survivor, but that doesn't sound as good as finishing up old projects, so let's just go with it won't happen again.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have anything to say, and check back Monday for a new post! :)

New Ideas

This is totally unrelated to the rest of this post, but I followed my first blog today! I've been having trouble finding any that I liked, but according to a list on Yahoo, this is one of the best blogs of 2015 and I happen to agree, so go check out this Advent Calendar Tutorial!

Moving on to what this post is actually supposed to be about: new ideas for my shop. Lately I've been trying to figure out how to make my things stand out more on Etsy, and it may be because I went to see Mockingjay Part 2 and still have the Hunger Games on my mind, but I think I need to start incorporating my favorite movies/books into my items. A lot of the things I make are not things I would wear, which is why I sell them. That's how I've always been. At the very start, if I really liked a bracelet I would keep it for myself (not the best business strategy). But I recently read an article about how strange sells: apparently the weirder something is on Etsy, the more likely it will be sold. And I realize that what I'm talking about isn't exactly weird or strange, since everything that's made into a movie is pretty mainstream, but if I do it right, I think it could work. :)

I don't really know how I'm going to do it yet, but I'm definitely planning to add some fandom-related merchandise to my Etsy shop next year. Have any ideas? Anything you'd like to see in my shop? Feel free to leave a comment!

Top 5 Hunger Games Items on Etsy

I just watched Mockingjay Part 1 yesterday, and I'm planning to go see part 2 this weekend, so I kind of have Hunger Games on the brain right now and I thought I would search for Hunger Games on Etsy and pick my favorite five things to feature on my blog! I'm not doing them in any particular order, I'm just basically featuring the first 5 random cool things I find.

1. Mockingjay Necklace from ThatFandomLife

Because when you think Hunger Games, you HAVE to have a mockingjay symbol. I don't like that the story of it is different in the movies than in the books (I mean come on, they just completely eliminated Madge, one of the only TWO friends Katniss has) but this necklace is still pretty cool. And really, it would have made more sense if it was a necklace, because I still find it hard to believe that they let her take a sharp metal object into the arena, decorative or not.

2. Arrow Ear Cuff from martymagic

Honestly, I've never even seen an ear cuff before, so that's probably why I think this is so cool. For someone who sells jewelry on Etsy I really don't wear a lot of it. But I'm definitely using up a lot of restraint not adding this to my cart.

3. Pearl Locket from AGothShop

I know the locket that Peeta gave her had pictures of her family inside and he gave her the pearl later, but this is just a really cool idea. Most lockets just have pictures in them, so I like that it's different.

4. Book Charms from DizzyDayDreamz

I love these. The movies are good, but the books are so much better. I think they're meant for someone a bit younger than me, but I still love the idea of wearing a little tiny replica of your favorite book around your neck.

5. Book Earrings from ArtfulSunshine

Teensy books are adorable. Enough said.

Hope you liked this list! I think I might start doing a list of my favorite Etsy fandom items every week (if I don't end up buying everything and going bankrupt), so check back later and I hope you find something you like!

New Listings

I realize it's Tuesday, but I'm going to do a Wordless Wednesday post today and showcase the three new listings that I just posted! (And I also realize that it's not completely wordless, but it'll have to do.) All of these are now available in my shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SchmidtyBracelets

Craftsy Classes

If you check out my shop (by clicking the Schmidty Bracelets icon to the right of this post) you won't find a huge variety of items. Now I realize that isn't a great way to promote myself, but it's true. Up until now, I have focused almost entirely on different kinds of friendship bracelets. But now that my shop has turned from a hobby into a business, I feel like it's time to branch out a little. I've added some crochet to my shop (although I'm still not sure it makes sense in a shop called Schmidty BRACELETS) and recently, I decided to purchase a Craftsy class on jewelry-making.

So this week, after all the stuff I needed FINALLY came in the mail, I started taking my class! The first section is on pearl knotting, which is basically just stringing pearls (or beads) and tying these little knots in between.

I was amazed at how quick and easy it was. Friendship bracelets take hours to finish, so I was kind of expecting this to be a longer process, but after only maybe a half an hour of work, I had one of these:

That's not to say I didn't hit a few snags. This bracelet is the only one I feel comfortable selling out of the three that I made. The blue one is super-big, which would have been fine if I hadn't attached both a lobster claw and a barrel clasp. I didn't realize that the barrel clasp came apart until I showed my mom and she unscrewed it to try and put it on. I thought it was just something to hook the lobster claw clasp on. So that happened.

Now the red bracelet should have been fine. It's a good size, the knots are all pretty good. However, the toggle clasp that I used doesn't work for some reason. The little stick won't go all the way through the circle. So I'm going to have to scrap that one.

I'm still really excited though, because once I figure out what types of clasps work, I'm going to have a whole new line of products in my Etsy shop!

There are still three more sections in the jewelry-making workshop, so I'm hoping to be adding even more new lines soon :) And if you're interested, the orange bracelet that I somehow managed to not screw up will be listed in my shop either later today or tomorrow! And you should definitely consider taking a Craftsy class if you haven't already, I highly recommend them. Check back tomorrow for a new post! 

5 Things I'm Thankful For

Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I figured I'd do a Thankful list for my Wednesday blog post.

1. Family

We actually did our family Thanksgiving last Saturday with my parents, my brother and sister-in-law. They live three hours away from us, so it was nice to be able to get together.

2. Snow

It finally snowed this morning! Where I live, it usually snows a lot earlier than this (and in a much larger volume) so I was thankful to wake up to snow this morning, even if it was just flurries. 

3. Friends

I love the holidays because I will get to see some of my friends who are still in college when they come home on break! I'm also thankful for the ones that live close to me and the one who doesn't want to fly home from another country for a weekend (silly).

4. Movies

This one may seem silly, but I watched Fight Club for the first time yesterday and my mind is still blown. So I'm thankful that a form of entertainment that supposedly melts your brain can, ironically, make you think. :)

5. Etsy

I've really struggled with figuring out what I want to do with my life after college, but since I've started putting more time into my Etsy business, I've realized that I actually CAN like what I do for a living. Even if doing Etsy full-time never works out, I won't stop looking for a job that I actually enjoy. So I'm thankful that Etsy has taught me not to settle.

Looking over this list, I realize that the order is a little strange. I'd like to point out that they are NOT ranked in any particular order. I do love snow, but I don't think I value it over friends (they're probably at least tied). And Etsy definitely wouldn't be ranked last.

What are you thankful for? Feel free to leave a comment, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Friday Sales!

I'm really excited about this week, because this is the first year that I've taken my Etsy business seriously, and I'm going to be participating in Black Friday! I just signed up for EtsyOnSale and have my first sale scheduled to start at 12AM on Friday and end at 12AM on Saturday. Check out my shop that day for 25% off ALL listings. For example:

I've also created a coupon code specifically for anyone who reads my blog, which is active now through Saturday 11/28! Use coupon code BLACKFRIDAYSB for $3.00 off your purchase of $5.00 or more! 

Hope you find something you like (even if it's not in my shop) and have fun Black Friday shopping!