Getting Ready For Christmas! (Already)

Hi everyone! I'm sorry about my short absence; life can get quite busy! Anyways, I'm here to let you know that if you've started your Christmas list already, you aren't alone! This year I'm (thinking about) doing an all handmade Christmas...let me know what you think! Here are some of the cool tutorials I've fallen in love with:

Monogrammed Tray DIY

Monogrammed Candle DIY

Silhouettes DIY

I'll keep you updated as I create all of these lovelies! Opinions/comments/etc? Comment!

-Gracie

how to: edit your facebook landing page

so, i've been working on my facebook page quite a bit, hence all the posts on facebook. i created a custom landing page on pagemodo, which i have reviewed in this post HERE .

first, click on the "edit page" button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. it looks like this:

next, click on the "manage permissions" option on the left sidebar. then look in the middle of the page for the "default landing tab" setting. click on the drop down menu and select the name of your preferred landing tab, then hit save.

TA-DA!

you now have a totally set up facebook landing page.

how to organize a large collection of earrings

if you've got so many pairs of earrings that you can't even find a matching set, this is for you!

step one
-go through your assortment of jewelry and pair up like pairs and then get rid of all the jewelry you don't want anymore

step two
-organize pairs of earrings by some fashion. my favorite is organizing by metal color, then bead color, then size. for instance, in the gold section, you could have all blue posts and then all blue dangles together.

step three
-clean your earrings! disinfect with rubbing alcohol thoroughly. this step is especially important if your jewelry has been sitting and collecting dust vs. being properly stored.

step four
-put them away/on something. i have a ribbon and i keep my earrings attached to it and i then hang the ribbon up next to my mirror, but there are many ways of doing this. examples are jewelry stands, jewelry boxes, hanging them on mesh wire, etc.

step five
-enjoy having an organized earring collection and put those jewels to good use!


these steps can be applied to any kind of jewelry. comment and send me pictures of your jewelry collection, before and after, and i'll post them on my blog!

toodle-oo,

gracie

how to : editing your facebook page's URL

okay, so recently i had some trouble. my facebook page's URL was yucky. and i mean YUCK-Y! it wasn't only ugly though...it was kinda a bother. whenever someone needed a link to my facebook page, i'd have to run off and find what the link was. the link was something like www.facebook.com/124873948729/pages/#/graciesdesigns.


YUCK, big time! this is just kinda a downer, not to mention it looks very unprofessional! to get rid of this, you have to:

• go to www.facebook.com/username/
• click on the page you want to change
•  in the little box that appears type what you want to go on the end. for example, if you want it to be www.facebook.com/awesomestore then you'd put awesomestore in the box!

it's a super easy solution to an annoying little problem. so, to sum it up,

before: www.facebook.com/124873948729/pages/#/graciesdesigns

after: www.facebook.com/graciesdesigns

HOORAY!

selling to stores-what you need to know

so i recently got a question about how i approached the ever-scary task of selling to stores. warning: this WILL be a little scary and intimidating. but the results are well worth the risk and effort.
first off, i'm not going to lie. i'm currently selling to three boutiques, so don't by any means think i'm some kind of expert. i'm far from it. also, i haven't talked with a corporate company yet-therefore i have no clue what you should do about that. what i do know are a few little tips that might increase your chances of selling to local boutiques.

-be well-groomed and well-mannered when you present yourself to the head of the company, manager, etc.
-i have found more success in calling ahead; this usually gives me the owner's personal email or phone number
-call/email the owner and try to set up an appointment with them. this way you won't catch them off guard. i've found it helpful to provide a little portfolio of pictures over email so they have an idea of what products you have
-do your research; only cater to the store if it carries things that are truly your style/kind of item
-if you set up an appointment with an owner, be on time at the very least. seems obvious but goes a long way
-don't have too high expectations-you're not going to get $200 straight up for a pair of plastic earrings
-stores typically buy for around half of the price they're planning to sell for; price items accordingly
-i can't stress enough the importance of having a set price. it's fine to negotiate for a few dollars, but never come in without a price and expect to sell your item-how will they know to price it right if you don't?
-don't get discouraged if they say no. hey, their loss!

those are just a few of my basics-feel free to email me with any more questions you may have and i'll try my hardest to answer them!

-gracie