Shop Update

My Etsy shop is up and running again after some price revamping for that market, but don't balk at those prices just yet! Yes, they are higher, but remember that those prices are going to be different than my local/craft fair prices (which have also had a slight price adjustment to reflect time and materials). Anyone who placed a custom order with me prior to this price change will still be charged the old price. Also, contacting and buying from me directly, (not through Etsy) will result in a discounted price (from the Etsy prices), as explained in my earlier pricing post. No more losing money for me!

Here's a look at things to come in the next month or two.

Rings: I am awaiting a shipment of ring bases to begin working on those. (Survey results coming soon). You can expect to see some of those in my shop by the end of the month. Update: Ring bases arrived yesterday!

Bracelets: I am getting ready to place my order for bracelet bases and as soon as I receive all of the supplies for these, I should be able to start on those right away and have those in my shop by the end of January or beginning of February.Update: Supplies for bracelets were purchased today!

Headband holders: I will probably start making these in February (unless you contact me earlier for a custom order), as I have already had some interest in them. Canisters are being collected and the kinks are being worked out now. I don't know that I will be listing these in my Etsy shop, or just offering them through Facebook and personal sales.

Headbands: I have had several questions about headbands for infants, so I am now going to start offering crochet head wraps along with the elastic and fabric-wrapped headbands. These will be available for fabric flowers, 3" poms, and the "coming-soon" felt flowers. The fabric-wrapped plastic headbands that I usually use are starting to get a little difficult to find in different colors. This may mean that they are on their way out and will need to be replaced by something else, (another reason why I now sell my fabric flowers by themselves).

Felt Flowers: I really love the one I made, so I will be making these within the next month or so too. They will be available as pins, clips, and headbands. Flower designs will include dahlias and sunflowers, with the possibility of others.

I think that may be it for updates right now. Starting next week, I will be working two days a week (baby-sitting on Tuesdays and subbing on Fridays), so that will help move things along, I hope.

Future items to make?

I have been tossing around the idea of including rings, earrings, and bracelets to my inventory. One of the reasons is because they will use up my pieces of scrap fabrics that are too small for the regular poms and flowers, but also because I want to add a bigger variety of items to the ones that I already make. These three items also seem to be ones that most women wear more of.

The rings that I would like to make would be smaller versions of the poms, (think 1" or less), attached to a metal adjustable ring base. I don't have a photo of what they would look like, so you will have to use your imagination to picture it. I have received some positive feedback from some women I spoke with this weekend. One specifially told me that she would DEFINITELY buy a ring if I made those (I am holding her to it!). These would probably be the easiest of the three to make.

The earrings that I would like to make would look similar to these post earrings made by Jessica over at Happy Together:

These look easy enough to make, but the fabric circles used for this are only the size of a dime, so they may prove tricky for my clumsy fingers. But I think they are really cute, great for women or girls, and would be an excellent way to use up the tiny fabric scraps I have collected.

The last project idea is to make fabric button bracelets. I fell in love with the one that is featured in the tutorial over at The Mother Huddle:

Unfortunately, this would be the most expensive of the pieces to make. The bracelet bases average about $3.00 apiece, and the button kits are also about $3.00, which only includes 10 buttons and the bracelet requires 9. So unless I could ensure that these bracelets would be a popular item and a great seller, then it probably would not even be doable (read: affordable) for me right now. Perhaps if I was working several days a week.... But I do really like them, so they are staying on the top of the possibilities list.

Opinions? Would you buy any of these items? Do you think one would be a better seller than the others? Which should I attempt first? (Leave a comment or participate in my new polls on the right margin).

Prices are Here!

I finally bit the bullet and decided on prices for all of my current items in stock. I really had no choice in the matter since I was preparing to send them with my mom for the craft fair, and had to label them with prices. This was difficult for me to do because I only have boys and I had no idea what items like these sell for, or what a reasonable price is. Luckily, I have many friends, family members, and acquaintances who have daughters and was able to ask them for ideas. What I ended up doing was taking the average of the suggested prices, looking at comparables on Etsy.com and figuring out my prices based on that. I have heard suggestions that perhaps my items are underpriced, but I did have to consider my location, sale venues, and target customers. If I were to list these items on a site such as Etsy, which has a worldwide customer base, then I would be more likely to price them higher to cover the fees that come along with it. As it is, based on discussions with several people, I think that these are reasonable prices.

Price ranges are pretty standard for each item, however, they will vary depending on how much fabric was used, time spent on a particular item, if any embellishments were used and how many items are included in a set. Here's a rundown of what to expect:

Pom necklaces: $16.00-$18.00
Pins: $3.00-$5.00
Headbands: $6.00-$10.00
Hair clips: $2.50-$4.50
Hair ties: $2.00-$4.50

I will be listing prices on individual items soon.