That is right, 1 year ago today I sat down with my computer and some rough thoughts of how my shop should look and proceeded to open my Etsy shop. It looked much different than it does now so I will share some of my shops progression since I wasn’t keeping track of it on a blog at the time. I think it’s all very important in the history of my shop and I want to share. Please keep reading to find out what fun things I’m offering to celebrate!

When I first started my shop I was working toward a craft show with some friends. I was working hard for a few months to have enough items to sell at the show. I thought it would be a good idea to open a shop beforehand if, like me, someone needed to think about it and browse through my online shop they could. This gave me so much motivation to open my shop, make business cards, think about packaging, and so on. I am convinced that if that opportunity had not come about I would never have opened an online store. Funny how things work out. The show was a complete bust but it pushed me along so much I can only think back and be completely thankful that I did it. I started out with a few custom orders for state shaped items with custom placed hearts and that eventually evolved into more of what my shop looks like now, almost.

When I switched over into making silver state shaped necklaces I thought it would be fun to use colorful backgrounds to photograph my work. What I thought was colorful and fun was really just kind of distracting. I got some really wonderful advice from GussySews. She had given me so much wonderful advice and I’m so thankful. If you have any questions she is always so willing to help where she can and if you’re not ready to ask something in particular her blog is full of very useful and helpful advice. She said that maybe I should try using a few solid colors and have my work be the focus of the photos rather than the background. I took her advice and ended up with basically what my shop looks like today. I also took some advice from her blog and opened a bigcartel shop in addition to my etsy shop.

As of today I’ve added some tiny versions of my work and most recently bracelets with a custom charm. I love meeting new people everyday through my work and it really touches me to hear that someone loves it so much they wear it everyday or that it was the best Christmas or birthday gift ever. Or it was just what they needed to lift their spirits whether facing something difficult, a loss, a separation or to celebrate an engagement, a wedding, and so on. I am touched nearly everyday by kind words and I am constantly reminded that I am doing more than making jewelry for people. I am helping to create memories or keep old ones alive. I absolutely love it.

Well today I am doing a bit of celebrating! I am so excited that I’ve come so far and learned so much and I would love nothing more than to share it with all of you! So here is the deal. In both of my shops, Etsy or bigcartel, you can either get 20% off your order with the code BDAY20 or if you buy a large sized pendant I will include a tiny state/country charm of your choice for free ($29 value) but you must say “Happy Anniversary” in the notes to seller or message me. Thank you all for your support and kindness and I look forward to hearing from you all!