Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Artfire Store now Closed & Metapolies stores update


ARTFIRE Store is now officially closed!   

Thanks to all for your purchases recently and over the last 4 years! I'm extremely grateful for your support!   My 2 Metapolies™ stores will remain open!


Possible shipping delay!

Items purchased from my Metapolies™ stores after 8am Central time 2/25/15 may experience a few days delay in shipping. I regret any inconvenience.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Latest Store Updates!



FINAL HOURS of Artfire Store!

"Sharyl's Jewelry" on  Artfire will be closing in just a few hours!   The coupon code expired a bit earlier than I planned.
Please use code: FINALHOURS  for 50% off all items until the store closes. 
My thanks to all of you!   I hope all my wonderful customers will visit me at my Metapolies™ stores!

Possible shipping delay!

Items purchased from my Metapolies™ stores after 8am Central time 2/25/15 may experience a few days delay in shipping. I regret any inconvenience.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

FINAL DAYS of Artfire Store -- 50% OFF all items!

store front 04    It seems like only yesterday I was contemplating opening an online store, what venue to use or whether to sell through the website I had going then.   Through the helpful comments many of you made and the support you offered, I finally made my decision and opened my first online store in the Fall of 2011.   

Well, a lot has changed since then.   My store was named "Sharyl's Jewelry" on Artfire and once I started selling components several years ago, the name seemed inadequate.   I was also wanting to experiment with online stores, so since Fall of 2014, I tried out several new venues too, and opened 2 other stores under the name "Metapolies™."  Those stores are on Etsy and ACM.  

While I did reasonably well on Artfire (current total = 451 items sold), I'm still hoping to do better, and to streamline what I do.   It was an interesting experiment having stores in several places, but I admit it was difficult to keep fresh items going all the time in 3 places plus a local art gallery.   

While I fidgeted, trying to make up my mind what to do, "real life" stepped into my life and demanded that I cut back a bit.

So, I'll be closing the Artfire store in a matter of days -- with a whopping 50% off all items remaining in that store!   


I may find I need to limit myself to one store, but for now, I'll keep both ACM and Etsy venues going.    

Just so it comes as no surprise, I'll temporarily close ACM for about a week starting on Feb. 24, and there will be an announcement on Etsy that items may be delayed a week in shipping.   After that, hoping things will smooth out a bit.

Thanks to all of you who have supported me through my venture.  I hope you'll continue to visit me here, on my Facebook page (remember to click both "like" and "get notifications!"), and at Metapolies.com where you can always find the latest news on stores, sales, and more!   

Hope you enjoy the sale!   Please spread the word if you feel so inclined!   I would love to sell as much as possible from what remains in that store.

My very best wishes to you all!

Sharyl

***
Image Credits:
clip art:   wpclipart.com
sale poster and photographs by Sharyl.
***


Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Most and Least Favorites

I think we all have our favorite parts of the jewelry business.  In addition to actually making the jewelry, learning about new tools, and techniques, and getting to meet nice people with similar interests, I've had one part of it I never expected to enjoy.   Photography!


My, how awful my photos were in the beginning! I've written multiple bog posts about it and my progress along the way.  (I had a period where all photos looked yellow, and another when they all looked blue.)  

For quite a long while I was in a macrophotography group and we shared our close-up photos each Sunday.  


I really enjoyed from that and learned a lot.  (I love taking photos of flowers, but also practiced on jewelry photos, furniture, buttons, all kinds of objects!)  And I've learned a lot from Facebook groups, blogs, books, and more.   There's always room for improvement and hopefully, I'll keep improving at photography as well as my jewelry and bead making skills!

My light tent for indoor jewelry photos.
Most of my photos are taken this way
so I can photograph in the night and all kinds of weather!

I'd love to hear hear what YOU enjoy most!   The feel of clay between your fingers?   Getting to pound on metal?    Jewelry displays and shows?  

I have 2 "least favorites"  too.   One is listing items ready to sell in my stores.  

My laptop stops smiling at me... notebook smiling

laptop trapand looks more like this during listing times.  I have piles of beads and jewelry that need listing.  I'll be trying to do more of that soon!    I am liking "copy" feature in Etsy rather than having to recreate every entry from scratch!   If any of you have other special tricks, procedures, or routines for listing products in your store, I hope you will share!


Finally, my absolute least favorite thing about the business is figuring TAXES.  I don't mind paying them nearly as much as I dislike preparing them!   UGH...   In fact, that is the task I've been working on lately and finished today... just in time to meet with the accountant.  




Now if any of you have found a way to keep good records throughout the year so you don't have an annual (or quarterly) nightmare, I would FOR SURE love to hear your secrets! For now, the good news for me is that hard part about doing my taxes this year is done--Oh happy day!



Please drop and line and share your most and least favorites and any tips you'd like to add!  I love hearing from you!

~Sharyl

******
Images:
Photograph of Light Tent by Sharyl
Clip art:   wpclipart.com

******


Saturday, February 14, 2015

Valentine Boxes and LOVE14

What are your favorite Valentine's memories? 

Although I treasure each one through the years for different reasons, I admit when I think of Valentine's Day, my mind instantly goes back to the "shoe box" days!  You know what I mean, right?


Where you get a shoe box, cut a hole in the top, cover the box with tissue paper, then plaster it with red paper hearts, maybe red glitter, some of the little Valentine cards you shared with classmates, wrote your name on the box, then took it to school on Valentine's Day, hoping for lots of those little cards back in return!

(Talk about handmade creations!   Do kids still do this?)



We all want to feel special on Valentine's Day, like "Valentine Girl" here!   We want to be reassured we are liked by our friends and loved by our family!  

So I wish each and every one of you a Valentine's Day filled with good wishes and lots of love!  Hope you have a very happy weekend!

~Sharyl




 This weekend only get 14% off all items 
in my Etsy Metapolies™ store 
with coupon code: LOVE14

Pair of altered raw brass heart components in solid red AC15-001E


Dark purplish-pink polymer clay heart pendant PC15-013E


* * * * * *
Images from wpclipart.com
Components and photos by Sharyl.

* * * * * *

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Sale ends tonight! Then what?!

As I recently announced, I'm closing my "Sharyl's Jewelry" Artfire store soon.

2/12/2015 at midnight in some time zone... :-)   .... the 35% off all items sale will end. Until then, please use code:  CLOSING35 if you make a purchase!






You may be wondering, "What happens next?"



  • I'll be moving some items to my other two stores.



  • Keeping some for event inventory



  • And having one last quick sale on remaining items before closing the store for good.


Hope you'll stay tuned for updates here and on my Metapolies.com website.  You can easily link to my stores, get latest info on sales, leave me a comment, and more there!  

I greatly appreciate all of you who have shopped my Artfire store over the years.  You have my sincere thanks!    A reminder to all that my two Metapolies™ (Etsy and ACM)  will remain open. Hope you continue to visit me there!   

--Sharyl

******
Images:

 Sale poster by Sharyl.
 Question graphic by wpclipart.com

******


Friday, February 6, 2015

CLOSE-OUT SALE at "Sharyl's Jewelry" store on Artfire!

My goodness, one thing and then another!   Here I am Feb 5, back to my blog again finally!   

...And I have an announcement to make. 

After months of store trials and great  deliberation, I've decided to close my "Sharyl's Jewelry" store on Artfire.  


So many stores, too little time!   I'm finding it very hard to have time to make items, list them, and keep each store fresh with new things.  So I'm cutting back and simplifying things!

For now, I'm very happy with the Metapolies™ store on Etsy  (where I sell both jewelry and components) and you can still visit me at the Metapolies™ store on ACM too (components only)!  

REMINDER:  Keep current on all Metapolies™ updates at Metapolies.com

The store on Artfire was my first venture into selling online. I opened the store near the end of 2011.   It's been a good run.   I'm grateful to all of you who shopped that store, made it successful, and encouraged me in so many ways.  I  hope you will continue to visit me at my other locations.   

The good news is that from now through Feb. 12, 2015, I'm offering a 35% off sale on everything in the Artfire store to begin to clear out that inventory.   If I say so myself, there are some really great bargains but I haven't the time to move all of these beads, components, and jewelry to another store.  I hope you'll take advantage of the savings, and I'd be very grateful if you would spread the word about this sale for me!   

Here are a few of the items you'll find there:



These are only 12 out of 100 items currently available for sale in the store!  

Lots of OOAK jewelry, lots of components (metal and polymer)!

Many thanks to each of you, and I hope you enjoy the sale!

~Sharyl
***********
Image Credits:

Clipart:  wpclipart.com
Jewelry photos by Sharyl

***********