Dipping my toe in the waters of Etsy

For the past few months, since my creative epiphany, I've been enjoying the creative process and accumilating all manner of wonderous handmade treasures, from bags, to purses, and now beads have given way to necklaces and bracelets.

There are only so many boxes of fabric and buttons, beads and ribbon my room can take so I thought why not try and sell those little things I've so enjoyed making?

So this evening I've listed a few items on Etsy - your place to buy and sell all things handmade. In principle it seems easy. Similar to eBay, you list your items for a small fee and the world becomes your marketplace.

I'll be keeping you updated with my learnings from Etsy and will let you know how successful it is. Check out HopScotch Crafts which will be growing over the coming weeks.

My first plan has not been to list lots of items all at once, rather stagger them across a couple of days. I'm hoping that the 'recently listed items' thingy which updates every 15 seconds on the homepage will therefore give me more exposure, rather than a rush at once.



I'm also trying to offer something a little different and a suprise extra by making my own gift bags from material. A simple gingham bag tied with a pretty piece of ribbon elevates my bracelets to a cute gift package, rather than your standard item, rammed into a jiffy bag with a lump of bubble wrap.

Who knows - perhaps there is a market simply making these gift bags to sell to other Etsy sellers to present their items in. With each bag taking less than 5 minutes to make on my new sewing machine, I'd be foolish not to give this a try.

Lampwork bead lunch hour

So, one lunch hour I took myself out into the streets of Covent Garden on the lookout for a couple of bead shops I'd found on the internet.

Once through the door of the first place on my list, The Bead Shop, I soon experienced the same euphoria so familiar to me when mooching around my favourite fabric shop.

Yes - I'd found yet even more crafty bits and bobs to get excited about!

The shop is filled with small compartments and trays eash containing an exotic collection of varying colours, shapes and sizes. Pretty soon I found myself combining beads, matching and contrasting colours much like I do with fabric. The next thing I realised I had a small plastic bag in my hand and a pen, quickly marking quantities and prices before headfing to the till.

When you realise how little individual beads actually cost, I'm sure that like me, you will never want to pay for produced jewellery again. Why should you when you can make something totally original and have the joy of creating a gorgeous collection of shapes and colours?



After browsing on eBay one evening, I discovered glass lampwork beads and placed an order for a small quantity drawn by the vibrant colours and delicacy of the glass. The was the main reason for heading out around the bead shops - to find some decent spacer beads which would complement my new treasures.

Here are a few images of the first bracelets I have made. I really like the colours and sizes of beads - chunky enough to be noticed, but still pretty and elegant in the positioning of colours.