Happy Holidays to all!!!

Twas the night before christmas and all through the house...
not a creature was stirring...not even the wireless optical mouse
the shop was open once again, although not quite yet fully stocked
if it wasn't up to full by mid-January, even I would be shocked

Ok, so I'm not a poet! The thought was there.

Our big show has finished and the shop is reopened. It has been a hectic few weeks and I'm glad to have a moment or two of quiet and catch up on some much needed blog time!

Bear with me as I continue restocking the etsy shop. A very successful holiday season has left Simply Willow with little stock! I will be a busy girl, designing and creating exciting new jewelry over the coming weeks. I am also exploring other venues for selling, advertising and marketing....but I'll leave those for another time!

I wish everyone the happiest of holidays....and the brightest of New Years!

willow

Etsy Shop Closing Temporarily

We will be closing our etsy shop Thurs evening (12/4) through Monday (12/8) to attend a local holiday show, Christmas at Wings. Due to the huge volume of shoppers at this show, I cannot guarantee that I will have any items purchased from etsy still in stock once we return. I will be removing all items from the shop during this time so that no one will be disappointed if an item they have purchased is no longer available. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. All existing and new items will be posted on our return!

Thank you for your patience and understanding. Simply Willow will be back to offer lots of new styles and "old" favourites for your holiday shopping on Monday 12/8!!!!

Have a great day!

Holiday Blues

I find myself making jewelry that is a bold blue lately...My creations are usually more earthy, more grounded. I found that odd that I would be out of my comfort zone, especially right now, as the holidays approach and Simply Willow is off next weekend to the biggest holiday show we do.

Blue, as my research has indicated, is a calming colour, one of stability and peace. It is the colour of the sky and the ocean and stands for constants in our lives.

I love that I unconsciously looked for a calming influence during this busy and potentially stressful time and found it in my jewelry!

If you are feeling the holiday blues....look for the calming influence in lapis or sapphire, iolite or azurite... and chase away the blues with a little blue of your own!

Cindy's Wicked Good Beadz

Looking for Trinity Brass filigree or any of the fabulous Vintaj products? When Vintaj went to a $200 minimum per order,it made it difficult for me, as a designer/artisan with a small business (Simply Willow) to purchase wholesale from them. I did some research into finding a retail vendor with prices and service that made me want to overlook the pricing difference between wholesale and retail. I found that in Cindy’s Wicked Good Beadz

Cindy carries a great selection and is constantly adding new products. She offers products from both the Vintaj and Trinity Brass lines, in addition to other products. Monthly specials and great customer service made Cindy’s Wicked Good Beadz a “must use” supplier for me. Although her orders ship from Alaska, I receive them here in Michigan quicker than many of the bigger “Wholesale to the Public” suppliers.

While there are many companies out there now selling filigree products, I highly recommend Cindy’s for the quality, pricing and the fantastic service.

If you decide to purchase from Cindy, please tell her that willow referred you!

OwntheHour.com

I have recently started advertising some of my pieces on a new ad site called Own the Hour. They allow etsians to purchase one hour blocks of ad space on their site for 50 cents each. (yes, that's 50 CENTS!) You add the link to one of your listings...one per hour slot and they do the rest!

The OwnTheHour FAQ section states that they advertise on Facebook, Google, Twitter and other sites .

I think this could be a great tool, as long as they are reaching our target markets.

I can neither confirm nor deny that I've had sales generated from this site at this point, I'm not even sure how to tell on etsy!

Until I have a way to gauge the effectiveness of the site, I will happily continue advertising Simply Willow earthy romance and Victorian inspired jewelry....one hour at a time.