The Weather Outside Is Frightful...

But time off, is so delightful! 


Yes, the blizzard has arrived, and with it our company gave everyone a day and half off.  THANK YOU!  It is just getting started and should intensify well into the evening.   Fortunately, I went to the grocery store and stocked up right after work, so now I just need to stay home and shovel the walk way occasionally. 

Here are a couple of latest pictures on our street.

With any luck, we'll stay with power and I might just get some time on the torch tomorrow.  I've got a new pendant idea I want to try out and see what comes out. 

I'm so glad we got the big tree in our back yard trimmed up and we don't have the huge hanging limbs that were over top of the house and our back fence like we had last year at this time.

If we don't stay with power, then we'll just have to hunker down with the dogs and keep ourselves warm.  Maybe I'll knit a bit and finish my scarf--just in time, too!

 I'll keep you posted on how it all goes, if I'm able to sometime tomorrow.


Do you have any blizzard stories?  How are  you coping?

Stay warm and safe folks!

My Swim In The 'Bay

If you’ve been following my blog, then you know that last week I dipped my toes back into the eBay pool to test the waters.  I’d been on eBay quite a bit earlier in my lampworking career, but didn’t find the success I’d originally been hoping for with some of my earlier designs and pieces.

With the advent of my new “male” pendants, I thought I’d give this a try again to see how they would be received.  Since they’ve been pretty popular on Etsy, it was time to give “The Bay” another shot.

Last night, the auction for “Joseph” completed with six bids and multiple bidders.  To say that I was pleased in the response would be an understatement.  While I doubt that I’ll be using it as often as I used to for sales, it would appear that there is a market that I can tap into there too.

Any source of new customers is good, right?

Of course it is!  This morning I found a very nice letter from my buyer who is very excited and happy that he won.  The e-mail also included this wonderful bit of encouragement:

“If this beautiful multi-colored penis was created on a whim, I encourage you to make more!  The others who bid against me would certainly appreciate being able to have one of their own!  What a splendid way to celebrate the beauty of the male member!”

I took a chance last week and struck out to expose my work to a new audience and gained a brand new customer with the potential for a few more in the wings.  If I hadn’t tried it, I might never have found them.

I guess the moral of the story is to get out of your marketing rut and try something new.  For the cost of a few bucks, I was rewarded with a wonderful new customer and some new ideas on how to make my shop work for me!

Remember, try new venues (or older ones that didn’t work in the past), new mediums and anything you can think of to bring in those customers!

Needless to say, there are more penis pendants coming and this won’t be the last auction on eBay!

Now to figure out how to skinny down the cost of the listing fees and still get noticed! 

More on that later!