Happy 2010!

Happy New Year! I hope 2010 is a great year for everybody. You can see some of my favorite (non craft related) stuff from 2009 here in my other blog. I thought I'd write down my resolutions/goals for my Etsy shop.

*I want to get some more items in shops offline. I have items in 2 shops right now. One I haven't heard from and I'll probably take some of my items out of there because they haven't been selling. I did sell one journal at the Market House and that seems to be working well. Setting a number goal, it would be nice to have items in about 4-5 shops.

*I also want to do more craft shows. Move the Needle has only done a couple craft shows so I want to try to do some more. I sent in a request for an application for some juried shows in my hometown. You have to pay for them, but I think it'd be worth it to try at least one of them.

*I want to continue making new items and develop my skills in paper crafts. I might take a bookbinding class which would help develop my skills and allow me to try new ideas. It'd also be fun to try to learn new skills I've never done - such as how to make my own decorative paper (such as by screenprinting).

*I'd love to get more sales or sell more consistently. I have 39 sales in my Etsy shop right now and I got 10 sales this year in my Etsy (and some more in craft shows). I'd say my goal is to double that and get 60 sales in my Etsy total (which would be 20 more by the end of the year). Besides just the quantity of sales, it'd be nice to sell more consistently, like maybe selling about one item a month. I seem to sell pretty randomly.

I also want to continue updating my blog at least weekly. One of my goals I wrote down earlier was to get a domain for this blog, but I already did that. : )

I tried selling some items on EBay just to see if they would sell any better than on Etsy. None my items sold except this blue and white marbled mini journal. I accidentally set the starting price to $0.99. I meant to make the starting price higher, but it sold for really cheap. I feel kind of bad because I really like this journal and it uses some nice paper I got from Italy. I guess it'll be more like a gift/giveaway to her then. At least it will help get the word out about my shop a little. This was the journal that sold:




I will have new planners up soon. I decorated some 2010 Moleskine planners and I really like them. I can't get them up yet because my camera is having problems connecting to my computer. I will try to get them up as soon as possible though!