I need 6 people for an Art Swap :)

I was asked on folksy to take part, and now need to find 6 others interested....

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I am taking part in this art swap on Konnie Kapows blog.

http://konniekapow.blogspot.com/2010/03/swapsies.html

I now need to find 6 others to take part. Would you be interested? You would only need to send out one piece of art, and you would recieve a few ( i think if it goes right about 6) in return.

You would need to find 6 others also.

The art can be a picture, something knitted, a felt plushie, jewellery, crochet, what ever your thing is :)

If you are intersted in doing this, let me know and i will send you the details. You can message me here (in the comments) with your email address, or email me at heroine_industries@hotmail.co.uk

I can't wait to get little suprises in the mail :) Now I need to decide what to make too....

Heroine Industries in Make Jewellery Magazine!!!

I was asked to be in a little feature about kitsch jewellery for the March issue (no.11) of Make Jewellery Magazine (available in the UK from all good news agents, tesco, WHSmith, morrisons etc...) And I was really super happy when I was sent an early copy yesterday ^_^ The issue has gone on sale today (it comes with some free beads too) ^_^

So here are some piccies ^_^

Front cover - issue 11 March 2010 Make Jewellery Magazine


You can click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to be able to read it ^_^


It's moi!!! lol. What a great start to the new year! ^_^


And you can find the items featured at the links below;

Poisoned Apple Hair Clips

Psychobilly Zombie Charm Bracelet

I've been featured in my 3rd treasury!!!

I had never been in a treasury and now all of a sudden i've been featured in 3! :) This is the third one, based on Sex and the City! Which features my New York City Skyline Necklace (2nd row, middle picture) I really appreciate being picked for a treasury so thanks guys :)


you can view the treasury here -> SEX AND THE CITY TREASURY

I was featured in my first Treasury!

I got a message on etsy today that my 'Screw You' necklace (which is on sale and only $5!)has been featured in this treasury -> 'You Don't Get It' Treasury
The very first one I've been featured in ever! ^_^

100 Fans on Facebook :D

I reached 100 fans on facebook this week :) and would like to say thankyou so much to everyone for their support, it's really appreciated! I've also found some great sellers and shops myself through facebook fan pages!
I also *finally* changed the name of the Heroine Industries fan page...I'd been struggling for a while to figure out how to change the url for the fan page and not my own personal facebook profile.
Here is the new url for anyone who would like to take a look(much easier to remember now);

www.facebook.com/HeroineIndustries

Next milestone.......40 sales?

Ever since I opened the shop on etsy I've kept having a goal number to reach in sales, from 5, to 10, to 15, etc... now I've reached 30! :D which may not sound alot to bigger sellers, but it feels great to hit each little milestone!
So now I have 33 sales on etsy, I guess my next goal is to hit 40!

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

-Lao-tzu, Chinese philiospher

Closed my Ebay shop today :(

I closed it today and I have to say, it might sound a bit stupid, but I actually felt quite sad :( I've had that shop since 2005/2006. It helped me make pocket money for myself through uni.
But I guess I have the etsy shop now, I'll save money from ebay, and i can still list items on there.

I think I'm going to close my Ebay shop!

I've been thinking about it for a while, mostly because of money reasons. But also I've noticed for a long time now Ebay have been targeting their sellers and making life hard for them and I just give up! And after looking more closely at it today I'd say it's definitely something I have to do, unfortunately.

I went on today and saw my fees were £22, which I was a bit surprised at given I've hardly listed anything and only payed it a short while ago. I just can't afford their fees every month! I end up spending the money I make on etsy on paying my ebay fees! They've deliberately made ebay as over complicated as possible, especially for sellers! I had a look at some of thees new sections in the myebay section and came across these "detailed seller ratings" and it says i am "below standard" on 'performance' which I really don't understand because I have a feedback score of 1446 that is 100% positive?!!!!! n it says they might enforce selling limitations if it "continues" but i don't know what I've done wrong!? It almost feels like Ebay don't want sellers on their website?! Like they're trying to trip you up every step of the way. And even though lots of other kitsch jewellery makers have left I've stuck with them, but no more.

Here's a list of the reasons that really tipped the scale for me;

1) In September I made £59.02, but ebay and paypal fees were £32.94! More than half the money!

2) I realised where those huge fees came from today.....when I signed up for a basic shop a couple of years ago it was £6 a month. It is now £14.99! This has gone up without me even knowing about it!!! I have two shops on etsy...both are FREE, how can Ebay justify charging £14.99 a month just for the privilege of a shop!? And sneakily put the price up without notifying you!

3) Sellers can no longer leave negative or neutral feedback. They can only leave positive feedback! Even when buyers don't pay for the item!!! Totally unfair and just another way they have targeted sellers.

4) It's much quicker and easier for me to list on etsy. I personally find etsy alot simpler to use now.

5) Their seller fees (for listing an item) have gone up so much since I first started selling on there in 2005. They got greedy and started charging sellers such huge amounts many have left.

I don't know what ebay is thinking, but who ever is in charge needs to realise that if they don't have any sellers there won't be anything for their buyers to buy = no buyers either!!!
It's a real shame because I've had it for a few years now, but Ebay have made it impossible. I think I will keep the account and list the odd thing, just to keep a bit of a presence on there.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has sold on ebay and had a similar experience? Did you used to have a shop on there? Do you still have a shop on ebay or have you closed it? I'd love to hear from you...

So I gave in and joined Twitter

So I've been reading for ages about twitter on etsy, though very mixed reviews from people. So I gave in and joined today. I figure it's free and another way to get the word out so it's all good. I just really don't want to be one of these people who tweet that they're going to bed or making a cup of coffee! I think then I would really just have to shoot myself.

Unfortunately twitter has a stupidly short user name limit, so I couldn't even fit HeroineIndustries as a user name! So I had to settle for HeroineInd (after a lovely person on the etsy forums mentioned that i could use the abbreviation of industries - which never even occurred to me *D'oh*)

So anyways, enough rambling, here it is -

Success is falling 9 times and getting up 10

The title of this post is a quote from Winston Churchill. It's a quote I've found very useful.

I didn't wake up to a great start today... I woke up with a splitting head ache, a pile of very unwelcome bills waiting for me on the door mat. I went and checked my shops and I sold an item on etsy, and it really made my day :) I think anyone who sells things they've made them selves probabaly gets a bit of a buzz when they sell something, wether they've sold hundreds of items, or it's their second sale. To know that someone likes your item enough to spend their hard earned money on it is a great feeling. It reminds me to keep trying. To not give up on what I want to do with my life.

Since I finished university I have been looking for a day job. Something. Anything. Just to pay the bills, so I can concentrate on working towards doing something creative to earn a living, and build that up. (I specialised in Illustration) but thanks to the recession even 'basic' jobs are hard to come by, and so I'm still looking. That's where the quote in the title comes in. I hope maybe it will be useful to someone else...

New Items on Etsy

I listed some new items in the etsy store this week, and have been updating with new photos for some of the other items. Thought I would share some with you guys ^_^


'Key to My Heart' earrings


Kitsch Dinosaur hair barrette


Halloween themed kitsch charm bracelet


Kitsch My Little Pony chunky chain bracelet


Rockabilly 'Las Vegas Gangster' charm bracelet

All these items are available at Heroine Industries etsy shop ^_^