Featured in Pretty Things Blog!

I just got a blog feature in Pretty Things, Lauren's (herprettybird at etsy) blog. She was kind enough to interview me and feature me in her blog!

You can read all about it here: http://herprettybird-lolo.blogspot.com/2009/11/interviewing-veronica.html

Thank you so much, Lauren, for featuring me, and I hope I can repay the favor sometime.

The Infamous Orange Button

I'm writing today in part anger, part disappointment and part wanting to kick someones butt.

You see, Etsy decided to be hip and cool for the Holidays, and that is perfectly fine, but, they decided to create one cute orange button that will direct people to the gift guides. That is fine too.

And what are the gift guides? Well, they are guides or showcases of items Etsy admin likes, and that is fine too. Except they seem to be fixated with certain themes and colors and truthfully, only a handful of sellers get chosen. And what is worse is, it is the same sellers over and over again, leaving thousands of great Etsy sellers out because their items are too colorful or just don't plain fit the Etsy aesthetic.

Here is a screenshot of the Etsy front page. Notice you have the gift guides on the left upper part, and the lovely orange button in question (and yes, please read this post with a good dose of sarcasm!) in the right upper corner of the button bar.

Now we go into MY shop. Veronica R Studio's page. Notice the same lovely (NOT!) button on the right hand corner. Did I create a gift guide you ask? Of course not, who has the time! Not only do we have to keep shop, list items, MAKE THE ITEMS BY HAND, take pictures and make everything look pretty, then go out and promote to the world until we are blue in the face and can't take it no more, and we get this button, which innocent customers have clicked, by the way, taking them AWAY from our shops, into what Etsy thinks is hip and cool for the Holidays.

Do you, dear reader, now see the unfairness of it all? It is like going into a store with your merchandise and luring customers away to your store. People do it, but it is not nice.

So me and other Etsy sellers beg for justice, or just that someone listens, and that they keep that button if they want, just not into our shops! There is a petition going, you can see it here http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6344121.

BTW, here is another PSA: Some Etsy sellers are hosting a great sale starting on Black Friday! It will go on through the weekend, until Cyber Monday. Just type Black Friday in the search box to see all the items included and all the sellers participating!

My newest obsession, Etsy Treasuries

I discovered a nifty little feature on Etsy about two weeks ago. The Treasury.

The Treasury is a place where members do a showcase of items they like, based on a theme, these showcases are called Treasuries. Some of them even make it to the Home page!

Treasuries are a great way to get publicity as well, for the curator of the treasury and also for the sellers whose items are showcased, so getting a treasury is a very big deal at etsy, and the adrenaline rush and high you get while waiting for the elusive little rectangle to show up can be quite a trip. I have done two treasuries so far, and since I have run out of inspiration today, I will instead brag and write about them here on my blog. :)



This is the first Treasury I made, which I titled Autumn on Fire! I based it around Autumn and all the gorgeous fall colors with the foliage at this time of year. I also included some items that I loved and that I would love to go back and buy!



This is the second treasury I created. I based it on the color purple, which is one of my favorites. So much that I'm even basing my whole business concept around it. Sorry for the two missing items, one was a wonderful Christmas tree ornament and the other was a gorgeous, gorgeous amethyst ring. Didn't notice that the photos hadn't loaded yet when I took that screen shot!



And this is a treasury where I had the pleasure of being featured. Thank you so much to Sandy, of the Earring Boutique! You can find her etsy store Here

If you want to learn how to make your own treasury, and experience the fun for yourself, you can read this post by Rachel Lucie. Have fun!

Having a bit of a hard time today

I sell on etsy.com. I haven't mentioned that, but I will now. :) I make wire wrapped jewelry with pearls and beads and stuff. You can see it at www.veronicarstudio.etsy.com

Anyway, More than a week ago, I ordered my gift boxes, some gold filled wire and clasps. I needed them at the time, and now, it is verging on urgency. They still haven't arrived.

Then, I got the inspiration to make a necklace and some earrings. Well, it turns out that the pearls I had left for my focal in the necklace were all the damaged ones that come in the strand (out of a full strand, there are some that don't make it to jewelry, at least mine). Ok, necklace project scrapped... On to some earrings. I had the hardest time picking out beads that were a close match, which is a high priority for me. Earring project scrapped.

I just hope that my supplies arrive because I have some pending projects that I can make with that!




This is my work space. It is a little nook in my home that is located just coming out of the staircase.