Happy Holidays to All!

Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday season. Hope you and your family are enjoying the holidays.

This is a busy time for all of us, but I look forward to a great, prosperous and exciting New Year!

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo!

Martha

My New Creation - Wood Texture Jewelry

Here are my latest creations, jewelry made with a real wood texture. I discovered this great piece of wood by Bellows beach here on Oahu. I made a mold, put it aside and just recently had time to make the pendant and earrings. I'm making rings later when I have more time.

FREE Video Classes - Annealing Metal and Sawing Metal

Once again, one of my favorite sites Beaducation has more FREE online video classes.

I want to learn more about metalsmithing which is really a must if you make jewelry. I visited beaducation and saw 2 new classes. Annealing metal and Sawing Metal.

I have watched almost all of their FREE videos, which are fantastic. I'm sure I will be taking some paid classes soon. I love that you can stop them and go back if you want to repeat something. You can watch them over and over.

So check them out Beaducation

50 Great Jewelry Selling Techniques

Free e-book, 50 Great Jewelry Selling Techniques
by David Weiman, with great information on marketing your jewelry. Just sign up with name and e-mail for the free newsletter and get your free e-book.

My Son - New Hawaii Deputy Sheriff!

Friday was a happy day for us. My son Ben has graduated recruit class and is now a Hawaii Deputy Sheriff. I am so very proud of him and his accomplishments including his six years in the Air Force. I have struggled many years as a single parent, trying to raise my only son to be a good kid and it has finally been accomplished in my eyes. My hubby Ray and Ben's fiance Shayna have also contributed greatly to his success. We look forward to a great career in law enforcement.

A Great new Site - Beaducation

I stumbled upon Beaducation , a great site and signed up immediately. Beaducation has online video classes on many types of crafts and jewelry making. They also sell the kits to go with each class if you don't want to search for the items you need for the class. You print your instruction sheet and follow the video as you go along and you can stop, or go back while you work.

What really caught my eye was the FREE classes! Some of the free classes include Felted Beads, Byzantine Chain, Intro to Chainmaile, Making your own Earwires, Stamped Jewelry, Intro to Seed Beads, Coiling Wire by Hand and more!

Beaducation also sells supplies like charms, hard to find steel stamps, wire, stones with holes, jewelry kits and more.

If you ever wanted to take a class and couldn't afford it, or it's too far away, now is the time to check out Beaducation .

Martha's Vintage - My New Etsy Shop

I have a new Etsy Vintage shop named Martha's Vintage
! Check out some of the great stuff I have. The pic is of a cool vintage ashtray I'm selling now. I will be posting more vintage items, jewelry mostly and kitchen items. I will also be listing some supplies and craft books. Stop on by and take a look.
Martha's Vintage

Metal Clay Academy

New site for everything you need to know about Metal Clay. Great for resources, training, suppliers. The site has a great metal clay gallery and lists of businesses that work with metal clay. If you work with metal clay you can list your shop for free in the directory. I love that instructors can list their classes there, also for free. You know me, I love free!
Visit the Metal Clay Academy soon.

Do you Scoutle?

I just joined Scoutle! A new networking blog traffic site you can use to promote your blog, or website. It was superfast and easy to join. It automatically hooked me up on blogspot when I chose which icon I wanted. See my little icon at the top right of my page? A big thanks to TimothyAdamDesigns.etsy.com for hooking us up to Scoutle.

Please Be Courteous and Don't Jump To Conclusions

Yes, the title is harsh but true in all types of business. I have seen many Etsy shop owners who cancel an online sale because they didn't receive the product in a few days. The buyer was in another country! Anyone who has been doing any amount of online business knows it takes a couple weeks (or more) to receive something from an international address. The seller jumps to conclusions and thinks the buyer is a loser and posts about it in forums!

Another example is what happened to me and this is why I'm a little upset. I was recently down and out with surgery hassles and really didn't want to broadcast it. I was dropped from an Etsy team for non-participation and because they didn't see me around the forums. So fine, I took all the team stuff down and feel like maybe someone should have e-mailed me first to ask if something was wrong. No, I am not going to explain to them or beg to be back on the team because I don't want to be on it anymore.

Why do they jump to conclusions and assume I don't WANT to participate? What if I had a tragic death in the family? Do they really expect you to be on the forums while you are at a wake, funeral, in mourning, etc?

This is the reason I am asking everyone to please be courteous in all of your business transactions because it's not nice to jump to conclusions.