Earring Inventory

Working at a furious pace (for me, that is) for the past few weeks, I've finally managed to get my earring inventory back to where it should be.  I don't have a count of the number of pairs, I just know that when the the two Rubbermaid plastic shoe boxes are full, I'm happy.  This does not include my etsy inventory, which is stored separately in its own shoebox, clearly marked "etsy".

So I thought I'd share with you my strategy for storing my earrings inventory. 

At the end of a few days of earring-making, I card the earrings on cards that I print myself.  (After so many years of printing my own cards, I can't seem to break with that habit, as much as I think I should.  It's very time consuming to print and cut all those cards.   I basically use that activity as a "filler" when I'm in a creative slump or just not in a creative mood.)  After carding with little rubber backs where appropriate, I price with little white stickers and add a plastic hang tab. 

Now the earrings are ready for display at a show or for delivery to a gallery.  Most of the stores I deal with love the fact that the earrings are priced and have the hang tabs on them.  This saves them some steps and they can get the earrings on display asap!  Good for all of us.

Of course, I have a wholesale appointment later this week.  If all goes well, I'll be back on the earring-making treadmill in no time!

An Eclectic Color Combination

I've been staring at these bright aqua blue apatite briolettes for a couple of months now.  They look great all by themselves, but what if I want to combine them with another stone?  Their color is so overpowering!  I tried a bunch of different stones -- garnets - too dark, peridot - not bad, andalusite - blah, and on and on.

Finally, I tried the tanzanite.  Perfection!  I thought the apatite would overshadow the periwinkle color of the tanzanite, but it didn't.  Here are the results.

Clicking on the photo will take you directly to the listing in my etsy shop.

Alaska Botanical Garden Gala

This past Thursday evening was the annual gala at the Alaska Botanical Gardens in Anchorage.  While we always go the the craft show following the gala, we had never attended the gala before.  This year, Rick invited himself was invited to submit artwork as part of the fund raising event opens with the Thursday evening gala.

Rick submitted two pieces of garden art. Big pieces.

                                                        'Trimorphic' by Rick Potter

'Trimorphic' sold (YAY!) very early on Thursday evening, to a tremendous supporter of the botanical gardens  Rick will deliver and install the piece one day next week.

                                                    'To the Point' by Rick Potter

'To the Point' is still for sale and hopefully it will sell before the end of the weekend.  If not, it will look great in our yard!

Our friend Cindy organizes this amazing event every year.  At least half of the proceeds of the art sold goes to support the gardens, which are a real treasure to the city of Anchorage.  Thank you Cindy!

Overthinking ... don't do it

When I worked at the Revlon manufacturing facility in Phoenix, I was tasked with organizing and running a "physical inventory". For those of you that run home businesses, you sort of know what I'm talking about.  When a physical inventory is conducted at a large manufacturing facility, it's not only a larger task, but it is multitudes more complicated.

First you get a count or measurement (in the case of chemicals) of all items in the factory, you then calculate the dollar value of that inventory.  Then comes the most difficult part: reconciling that number to the number that the accounting systems say you should have on hand.

In preparation for this massive undertaking, I had a meeting with the manager of the chemical department and her small staff.  This woman was exceedingly intelligent and good at her job.  I must also add that she was Russian and had an intriguing accent.  While discussing the plan of attack for measuring her chemical inventory, one of her staff guys came up with a super-simple suggestion.  She looked at him and said, "you are so young".  As I said, she had a heavy Russian accent -- think Natasha in the old Dick Tracy comic strip.  The truth of the matter was that this young guy had a terrific idea that the two of us older women had completely dismissed.

Because we were overthinking it.

                                        photo: isotope

Let me confess, I am as guilty as the next guy of overthinking just about everything associated with my jewlery business.  I analyze my sales after every show.  I analyze my wholesale and consignment sales.  I obsess over my every-growing inventory of raw materials.  I'm not very good at taking my own advice about overthinking, but on those occasions when I do relax a bit, what happens?  The short answer is, nothing bad happens.  And sometimes good things happen.  Most times, your own time can be better spent doing something else -- like creating new designs.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't analyze and reflect and make wise decisions regarding your business.  All I'm saying is that sometimes your gut feeling is just as good as hours of analysis.  Trust that gut.

Xena goes to the groomer

Xena (the wonder dog) was getting scraggly (if that's even a word) and a wee bit stinky.  I felt the need to wash my hands after every petting session -- it was that bad.  Off to the groomer we went!

After a grueling grooming session, Xena rests in her favorite spot.  She sleeps a good 20 hours a day.  What a life, huh?

For those of you that remember how sick she was all winter, well, that continues.  None of the tests came back with definitive diagnoses.  None of the many medications from the vet did any good.  In an attempt to narrow down why the reasons for her illness (chronic throwing up), we took her off the food she had been on for the past 8 years and tried to switch to a super-hype-allergenic food.  The result?  She wouldn't even touch that stuff and then she wouldn't even eat her old food.

Now, I am a kitchen slave to Xena, Queen of Chugiak.  I basically cook whatever she will eat.  This includes chicken breasts, hamburger, brown rice, fish, steamed vegetables.  I try to have all on hand at any given time because I never know what she will want.

Yes, she is still throwing up ... often.  We try to feed her at least once in the middle of the night.  She seems to do much better when there is food in her tummy. 

It's been a rough 7 months, and we see no end in sight.  We are suffering from sleep deprivation and napping has become part of my routine.  Sigh.  Feels like I have a newborn baby on my hands, from what I hear.

We will get through this.

I finished another scarf ...

... and even though I adore it, I think I need to list it.  How many scarves can one woman wear?  I used 3 very different yarns to knit this scarf and I knit it the short way.  Most scarves are knit starting at one end, this one started on the side.

It's a bit wider than most of the scarves I make, so it could be worn around the shoulders instead of around the neck.  This next photo shows the 3 distinctly different yarns I used.

I think it's yummy.