A Bold Decision – December Update

“It’s only when you risk failure that you discover things.”

– Lupita Nyong’o

Taking A Big Risk

Over the years, I reluctantly participated in Black Friday. My reasoning years ago was that it gave a shopping alternative to the usual mass-produced stuff. I also appreciated Cyber Monday, a valuable alternative for sales during the busy holiday season when selling online was not so saturated. Cyber Monday has turned into Black Friday Part II, with many big box stores dominating sales.

This year, I boldly decided not to participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The outcome meant I made not a single sale during what is usually my busiest time of year.

I admit it was a bit of a sting to check my stats and see the views on my Etsy shop decrease by an average of 90% or more. It bruises my ego and my self-competitiveness. I’ve always been the type never to want to compete with others, but with myself, well, it’s never good enough for my standards.

That said, I’m very proud of myself for stepping away from a practice I disagreed with. Black Friday/Cyber Monday is for getting a good deal on mass-produced things. Handmade goods made with love and attention should never be forced to compete.

December Promo Codes & Sales

Now that the Cyber Monday frenzy is over, I have marked down some items on Etsy, plus promo codes available on both sites. The markdowns on Etsy are for items I wish to clear out or have abundant stock. You can also use the following promo codes to save even more:

Save $5 on your order of $50 with code TAKE5 (here and on Etsy)
Save $10 on your order of $100 with code TAKE10 (here and on Etsy)
Save $15 on your order of $150 with code TAKE15 (on this site only)

I get that times are tough, and money is tight. My family feels it, too. It’s astonishing to me how much groceries are at the checkout. Thankfully, I have money set aside for the extras. I get that what I sell is not in the necessity category. So if I can squeeze a bit off on my price and extend savings to the customer, I will.

I hope you feel the love in everything I create. I am contemplating what is next, doing a lot of spinning for myself and dismantling/reorganizing old and in-progress projects. Hopefully, I will have more news to report next month. For now, I am enjoying a slower pace with my family.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Joyeux NoΓ«l/Maligayang Pasko/Maayong Pasko!

However you are spending this last month of 2023, I honor you. <3

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New Clearance Jewelry Items – More to Come…

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sterling silver turquoise chip hoops on sale at 40% off
sterling silver turquoise chip hoops on sale at 40% off

I’m going to be adding new items to the clearance sectionΒ for the next little while. I finally have to give up some of this stuff. I have a huge bin of product that I made, either it was once available for sale and I took it down for some reason or another, I had plans to develop it further – or for no particular reason they just never made it up on the website (probably because I am so busy. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it ;)). For example that cute pair of earrings above is available at 40% off. Sterling silver people! πŸ™‚

I also have items that I engraved to fill orders but they weren’t quite up to my standards so I redid them. Maybe they are engraved slightly off center, the blank was scratched up or I simply made a mistake and engraved the wrong letter. They are essentially handmade seconds. πŸ™‚ So I’m thinking I should list these deeply discounted as well. Why waste them? They may be perfectly acceptable to someone else. Score if you can get them below cost!

I’m starting with earrings and I have quite a few pairs. Some of these I can make more of and I just might do that if they sell/time permitting. I do so much custom stuff these days it is fun to just play around with stones and beads again just for the heck of it. πŸ™‚

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