Treasury Tuesday

‘Beautiful in Pink’ by AndreaBacmanJewelry

‘Red.’ by BloomedFlower

‘EVE Blitz’ by Road10

‘Good morning.’ by MademoiselleChipotte

‘Spring bunch’ by Iovelycrochet

What values are you supporting with your money?

Gone are the days when it was acceptable to buy a widget from the cheapest place it could be found. (Thankfully) we have moved past that as a culture, and many of us are coming to recognize the values that we are upholding when we spend our earnings with certain companies or individuals. For example, when you buy from a company that treats their employees well, you are supporting the likelihood that these employees will get to continue to keep their good jobs, while simultaneously rewarding the company for their practices.

When buying gifts, or when selecting items for yourself, the culturally-conscience among us will advocate this rule of three: (1) shop local, (2) buy handmade, and (3) reuse second-hand.

Shop local campaigns are broadcast from communities to encourage spending at small local businesses who inevitably contribute more to the local economy and employment opportunities than the larger, bog-box department stores do. Similarly, “Buy USA” type campaigns are implemented to support the manufacturing economy on a national level.

Buying handmade or hiring a freelancer or self-employed individual means you are directly supporting someone’s livelihood, supporting the arts, and indirectly saying “no!” to the unfair labor practices of overseas factories.

Finally, buying or donating second-hand items prevents land-fills from compiling unnecessarily, and often goes to financially benefit local charitable causes.

What’s one small thing you normally buy at the department store that you can purchase from a smaller business or get handmade in the future? Every little bit helps!

I didn’t know I needed THAT

I make and sell handmade jewelry. The thing about selling a non-necessity like jewelery is, well… it’s a non-necessity. No one ever really NEEDS a new necklace or pair of earrings. Come to think of it, most people don’t really NEED a new smart phone, pair of dress shoes, or package of cookies either. Turns out, people buy a lot of things they don’t really need.

When people want something badly enough, they will convince themselves they do in fact NEED said thing. It’s up to the sellers to convince their potential customers that they want what they have to offer.

For example:
Susan Smith WANTS to go on a vacation. She sees some brochures and advertisements for a cruise line deal and these images and messages further deepen her want for the vacation. Eventually, the presence of these advertisements make it more and more likely that Susan will convince herself that she not only WANTS this vacation, but NEEDS it. She will tell herself that she has been working way too hard lately, and could use a break. She will convince herself that a vacation would be just the thing to reboot herself, and she would return feeling more productive and ready than ever.

In the above example, the cruise line company increased Susan’s desire for a vacation by placing their ads in front of her often enough for their message to sink in.

Relax. Enjoy. Take a break. You need this.

Susan is the company’s target audience (working, upper-middle class income, with vacation time to utilize.) The marketing campaign of the cruise line turned Susan’s original want into a specific NEED for their product. Susan no longer just wanted a break from work, but to go on a cruise during her time off.

Consider the above example when promoting your own products.

When marketing your products, be they jewelry, bath and body, or baked goods, market your items in such a way that places the emphasis on WHY someone would want them. Discern what your target audience’s desire is, and explain to them how your product fulfills that desire. Turn your non-necessary items into the solution to a problem.

Treasury Tuesday

‘darkness abides’ by thebeadgirl

‘Woodland Fairy Tale’ by FemalePowerTeam

‘Yellow for Spring’ by SkiPolePlunger

My Not-So-Secret Secret is OUT!

I wasn’t going to utter a word. I was going to keep it a secret until I felt it was “ready” and then I was going to announce it to the world.

But I was just too damn excited to wait until then.

So I may have posted the link on a couple of forums and shared it with an Etsy team or two. You’ve most likely seen it if you follow me on twitter, or taken a peak at the new shop tab on my Facebook Page if you are a friend there.

Needless to say, it’s not much of a secret, but I’m going to officially announce it just as though is has been one (pretend I’ve been good about keeping it hidden):

Megan’s Beaded Designs now has it’s OWN website!

Inventory is slowly but surely being added. With 4 Etsy shops and then some, you can imagine just how many listings I have to transfer over. Not to mention, I have a large craft fair coming up the second weekend in March, so I’ll be holding off some listings until afterwards, in case they sell there (which also means there’s a good chance your favorite items in my Etsy shops may also not be coming back!)

For this reason, I’ll be holding my GRAND OPENING sale from now until the end of March. Use coupon code OPENING2013 for 15% off your purchase from MegansBeadedDesigns.com. Coupon expires April 1st (no April fool’s), and you can use it as many times as you like until then.

Happy shopping everyone!

Treasury Tuesday

‘Won't you be my Valentine? ‘ by veronicaroo

‘Blush #7′ by CatWomenCrafts

‘ Valentines #7′ by izvorka

’16 Picks of Love’ by mmmfantasiadealgodon

Treasury Tuesday

‘Loving Green’ by PatBarnes

‘Today Is Your Day’ by xCrazyGirlx

‘Winter Wonderland’ by CausticThreads

‘My Favorites::::)))))’ by JasmineStore

Freaking SHOW-OFF

Fair warning ladies and germs: I’m about to be a spam-a-licious show off.

See, the thing is, I’ve made all of these new pieces but I refrained from listing them in my Etsy shop because of the craft show season. Now that the season is finally over, I’ve been photographing and uploading like a madwoman on one too many caffeine pills.

I’m rushing to get them online just in case anyone needs their orders in hand before that Christmas party in which one of these unique accessories would be just perfect. Or, in case any of you are in desperation of a last-minute gift idea. I ship same or next day of your order, so unless you live at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, these goodies should have no problem making it to you in time.

Feel free to accuse me of whoring with such an outright promotional post.

Barrette – $19

Earrings – $9

Headband – $26

Barrette – $29

Necklace – $19

Brooch – $7

…and there’s more where these came from! See all of my new beaded goodies at my Etsy Shop.

Treasury Tuesday

‘December Finds’ by JoannaBizu

‘Christmas Bazaar on ETSY – 17′ by Themagicofcolors

‘Red Sprinkles!!!’ by PatBarnes

‘shades of brown’ by semisweetstudios

Your Chance to Save BIG on Unique Handmade Jewelry

Have you had your eye on something in one of my Etsy shops for awhile now? With so much unique, awesome crap to choose from, I’ve no doubt that you have.

Well NOW I’m going to tell you that this coming weekend, you won’t be able to wait any longer. Starting Black Friday through the end of Cyber Monday, all of the items in MegansBeadedDesigns and Glamour365 will be marked down by a whopping 30%.

So if you’re feeling guilty for having eaten a little too much pumpkin pie the day before… here are just a few examples of the unique, handmade treasures you can purchase to make yourself feel better…

NOW $6 – Black Friday Price $4.20

NOW $19 – Black Friday Price $13.30

NOW $26 – Black Friday Price $18.20

NOW $7.00 – Black Friday Price $4.90

NOW $3.95 – Black Friday price $2.77

NOW $16 – Black Friday Price $11.20

So synchronize those watched ladies and germs – because starting first thing Friday morning (quite literally, at 12:01 a.m.), these deals BEGIN. Many of the items are one-of-a-kinds, so the first to nab ‘em gets dibs!