Jewelry Show Preparation & A Giveaway

OK, I know you want to hear about the giveaway, but be patient.  The giveaway information is at the end of the post.

Show Prep

I live near a finger of land that juts out into the most southern part of Puget Sound, in Washington State, USA.  The area is called Boston Harbor, (for some unfathomable reason), and this weekend Boston Harbor is hosting its semi-annual garden tour and artisan show.  I will have a booth in one of the gardens there, along with a nice group of other local artists.  Keep your fingers crossed for pleasant weather!

Boston Harbor

I don't actually live on the water or even right in the little community of Boston Harbor, but water is never far away here.  Our home is tucked away in the woods and today you will find me there trying to get prepped for Sunday's show.

This afternoon I was checking through my jewelry and making sure that it had all been entered in my inventory spreadsheet, prior to the show.  I know that some of you have purchased programs that track inventory, supplies etc.  I just simply assign each piece an inventory number and then I add it to a simple spreadsheet.  For example, this bracelet is #1305.  That means it was the 5th item I made in 2013.  

AJE CoM bracelet, with focal bead by Starry Road.

My spreadsheet has columns for the type (earring, bracelet or necklace), the inventory number, the title of the piece (this piece is titled the "Blue Leaf Bracelet"), the main components it is made of, length, cost, & retail price. I have a second tab on the spreadsheet for sold items.  When I get back from the show, I'll "cut" the items that sold and "paste" them into the sold spreadsheet.  On the sold spreadsheet I also keep track of the venue from which they were sold, the date sold and the person to whom I sold it, if known.

After I entered everything into my inventory spreadsheet this afternoon, I then, sorted all the jewelry according to if I have a picture of it or not.  Even if something sells without ever being seen online, I still like to have at least one picture of it, for my records.  Most of my jewelry had been photographed, but not all.  So a photo shoot is the next order of business.

Matching earrings and necklace with copper components by
Kristi Bowman  Design.

If I were super organized (which is a joke for the likes of me) all my jewelry would already have earring cards or tags on them with the components listed and the price. However, this is another task that is only partially complete.  Tomorrow I'll finish adding tags, earring cards and prices to everything.  Its a tedious job and it will necessitate caffeine and loud, upbeat music.

Somehow, I'm never really satisfied with my tags.  But here are the cards I designed a couple of years ago, that I am still using.  Inside I write the title of the piece, the length, main components used, price and inventory number.  When I use these tags up, I think I will get some Moo Card Minis to use as price tags.

The "Lighthearted Necklace" and a few others still need tags added.

Heart Pendant by Suburban Girl.

My earring cards are just business cards that I designed in a portrait format.  I stick plastic earring adapters on the back and add the price and inventory number.  Here are some of my earrings from a show I did earlier this spring.   

The earrings below, plus about 5 other pairs still need earring cards after which I'm all done.  Then its "On with the show!"

AJE Giveaway!

Unfortunately not many people linked up for our last AJE Earring Reveal.  Our next reveal is this Sunday and  I'm writing the reveal post. I want to be able to choose the featured designs from lots of earrings! As an incentive our AJE team has gathered up all these goodies to giveaway to one lucky participant.  I rummaged through my newly organized bead stash and came up with bunches of art beads, as well as some gemstones, polymer clay, resin and glass beads.

Plus, Kristi is adding a pair of her awesome copper metal clay charms.

The giveaway charms will be these or something similar.

And Francesca will be adding a pair of her handmade argentium earwires!

One, randomly chosen earring designer will win all of the above items. All you have to do is add the link to your earring reveal, using the Linky Tool on the AJE blog.  I will post the Linky Tool sometime on Saturday evening (PST). To be entered to win, you must link up no later than Sunday at 5:00 p.m. PST. So get your photos up on Pinterest, dust off your blog (if you have one) and add your earrings there too! Good luck!

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy