STEPHIE'S BEADS AND BAUBLES

I have been going through a lot the last couple of years as anyone who has read t his blog for a while knows. Despite putting all my heart and soul into it, my business contines to shrink, not grow. I am currently stuck in a lease on a cabinet because I truely believed being right by the cash register, my stuff would sell. Sadly, I am wrong. I made very little in Jan and this month I have made less than fifteen bucks three weeks in. My prices are great, my quality is good and I am proud of the pieces I have created. I just have no idea why I cannot sell my items, even when my optimism is high and I was very  excited, nothing.

So, I am stuck in the store until I finish out May, so I have three more months to pay. I have  made enough to pay back the first three months and much of my materials, but that is it. No profit so far at all. Probably a bit below breaking even on my costs , let alone my time.  I made so many Christmas and Valentine pieces that did not sell. Hours and hours of work.

I am excited to be starting up with my friend again this week on  her dangles, we have had to put it off while my husband and I, along with some of our family rebuilt the huge picket fence around our front yard  because the city tagged it and gave us a three week time limit. We are done, except for some painting , and by mid week, I plan to be working on her lovely items again. I also have a couple of projects for a friend to do, the Grace Kelly bracelet and some dangles she wants for her dining room, inspired by my other  friends lovely projects.  These projects are exciting and fun for me !!!

Beyond those things, I am done. Shop closed, door locked, I am just over it. Sad but true.

I will never recoup all the money spent and time, energy and emotions put into all my hard work. I do not understand why my items do not sell. I used to be able to make money each month on Etsy, and I have dropped considerably each year to basicly nothing. I unlisted it all, I am done.

I have spent so much time and energy in this studio , let alone money, on a dream that just will not come true. I have more important things right now to work on. Getting weight off so I can be heatlhier, and getting this house in really good shape. Both need my attention. Both are things I have let slide the last few years and both myself and our house deserve the attention.

I will be blogging on my house blog about our journey with this house, but I think I am done with this blog. I will make sure there is a link to my other blog    www.ourcutevintagecottage.wordpress.com   , just in case this link does not work .

I am finishing up the time I paid for on my wonderful friend Lindas lovely site. Creative artwork, that is on my links to the right of the page.  She has been so supportive and done a lot for me, I have appreciated all her help and  hard work listing my items.  Once I am done on her site, and my lease is up the end of May at the store, I will then be completely done with it all. Not sure what I will do with all my inventory. Maybe take it apart as I plan to sell a good amount of my craft supplies. I want to write, work on my photography, and most importantly work on myself and this house.

I am not even sad anymore. I have spent tears on the situation, felt extreme frustration and in the last year or so, other than the work for my friends and family, which I am passionate about and love every minute,  I have not really had much fun creating any more.  I feel like my creativity is all dried up at this point. I have to walk away.

I will keep many of the beads and charms, my husband told me to keep them all for play. Not sure what I will do, but I have seperated  my beads so far,  keeping what I really love of the beads, so I most likely will sell some. Issue with that is the work it will take to bag and list them and then that is more money spent that I might not get back,and a lot of time invested again,  so I have to consider all that before I decide what to do. For now, they just sit on the shelf while I figure it out. I may just take my husbands advice and keep it all. He is so wonderful and so supportive. We do plan to make more stain glass jewelry and panels together and that will be fun.

I plan to still do my seed bead work and sequined beaded  ornaments and pins that I love to do. They will be done for me or for gifts.  Other than the projects for friends, that is what I will do from now on. Make a pair of earrings for a new outfit, sure, and if a family member for friend needs something, they can come over and play !!!

I just cannot handle the disapointment and frustration any longer. It could be I am no good at social media. A successful and very creative friend who makes jewelry told me to work on that. I just do not understand it all. I did twitter, I did pinterest, I did facebook, I did instagram, but obviously did not do them right. At 55 , I just am not as savvy with it all as I could be, and have no one to walk me through the way I would need to be walked through and honestly now, I just do not even care. I am  d. o .  n.  e .

I appreciate everyone who read this blog and supported me in any way. Any beads given to me by anyone are in my keep pile. I treasure those gifts. I may not have had a lot of readers here, they made it look good by putting all my facebook contacts, when most of those people have never been here, lol !! But the readers who followed me , I am so grateful to you all for your support and kindness. Many of your blogs I still follow and will continue to follow.

Next year this blog may go back to a wordpress .com instead of a .com. Not sure. Probably though. No sense on spending money to keep it up when I will just be posting projects I worked on  for friends , family and myself, and not for business. I may decide to keep it for 25 bucks too.

So, I will still occasionally post things I am doing. Not sure how often, could be hit and miss. I will not completely disapear, but it will be changing. Crafting will always be part of my life, so I will share what I am doing in that dept when I have something to post !!

Thanks for all the support and I am excited to finally have made the decision to move on and work on other things. If I disapointed anyone, I am sorry. I just have to do what is best for me and this is it !!

Well , not much more to say. A chapter closed. A new one beginning, and that is exciting !!!

Stephie