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"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." by William E. Henley

Monday, May 24, 2010

biking and kissing


kiss
Originally uploaded by novadesigns by tess

Two of my favorite things :o)


this weekend just flew by...

anyone else feel like it was over before it started?

On Saturday David and I packed up the bikes on the good old truck and went for a wonderful bike ride.

The sun was shining and it was perfect weather. Worked up a good sweat and sat in the grass for a bit. Every time we go out I realize how much I miss being out in nature. Must bike more often! plus it's great exercise. I can tell a difference already in how my jeans fit and how I feel in general. Not just from Saturdays bike ride obviously, but from biking in to work a couple of days a week.

This week they are doing maintenance on the trail that we ride to work so we might have to ride a shorter route, but it's better than nothing. Hopefully they open up the whole trail soon so we can get back to riding 12 miles one way!

I can't believe it's Monday already... crazy...

~tess

Friday, May 21, 2010

Wild roses hoops


Wild roses hoops
Originally uploaded by novadesigns by tess

I finished another pair of wild roses earrings. I've been dying to make a larger pair of hoops and I just LOVE how they turned out.

There are more pictures on my Flickr page if you click on the image..

and there are also finished pics of those first earrings I made :o)

I hope you like them as much as I do!!!

love ~tess

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Possible wholesale?


Pinwheel earrings
Originally uploaded by novadesigns by tess

So I was contacted by uncommon goods about a possible wholesale order. Very exciting but also very scary...

For the first time I really realized that I needed to go over my pricing and make sure that I could offer wholesale without giving my jewelry away for free.

I downloaded Chris Parry's fantastic pricing excel sheet (available on his blog) and started typing in the cost of material, time spent etc.. And guess what. It turns out I have been selling pretty much at wholesale prices. Which I sort of already knew but it's still very eye opening when you see what you should be selling at to make a profit.

As you all know it is my goal to do this full time so I have started the process over going over each of my designs to adjust the pricing so that I would be able to offer them wholesale. With my pricing pretty much doubled I am sure that many of you will get a chock when you visit my Etsy shop and I apologize for that. I realize that this is something I should have been doing all along. I am working on some more designs in lower price points :o) so stay tuned.

I am also taking new photos of everything with white backgrounds for my line sheets and I've already updated those listings on Etsy. I have been in love with my colored backgrounds for quite some time but I want to try something new.. I might still go back to some colors but I definitely need to take new photos of a lot of them. Comparing the old pinwheel photo with the new, I am surprised they were selling at all!

I made a samples of pinwheel earrings, pinwheel studs, pinwheel ring and a pair of growing flowers and mailed out to uncommon goods today. So keep your fingers crossed. This is a huge opportunity and I really hope they want to work with me...

as far as novaofsweden is concerned I will continue with similar pricing as that line is not something that I can see myself doing wholesale with. It's truly my creative outlet and I want to keep it that way :o)

If anyone has any experience with wholesale, uncommon goods or pricing feel free to comment. I learn something new everyday!

have a wonderful wednesday!
love ~tess