Thank you to everyone who entered.

Have a happy weekend!

Perros de Mayo - Statement Necklace with Red Rose & Turquoise Howlite Beads - Silent Auction Item

Blue Dog Rescue’s Perros de Mayo – May 6

If you read my blog, you know I have two rescue dogs I love dearly and this is a cause close to my heart. I am contributing this necklace to Blue Dog Rescue‘s Perros de Mayo silent auction, so check out this event if you’re interested:

Sunday, May 6th
12:00p to 8:00pm
at The Ginger Man, Austin, TX

•Live Music (San Saba County, Nathan Hamilton, The Boxcar Preachers, and more)
•Food and drink
•Silent Auction and Raffle

…and the release of Real Ale’s Devil’s Backbone Belgian Style Tripel as a year round beer!

Paramount & Stateside Theatres Anniversary Gala - Peony Statement Necklace - Auction Item

Paramount & Stateside Theatres Anniversary Gala Auction – May 12

Paramount Theatre’s 96th
& Stateside’s 76th
Anniversary Gala
Saturday, May 12, 2012

Starring the nine time Grammy winner… Sheryl Crow

Austin’s most exclusive live and silent auction

Join us this year for the biggest and best party of 2012 as we celebrate the Paramount Theatre’s 96th and Stateside’s 76th Anniversary on Saturday, May 12th, featuring singer, songwriter and nine time Grammy Award winner Sheryl Crow!

In addition to Sheryl Crow, you will enjoy three other musical acts that night (Ruby Jane, Skyrocket, and Brooklyn), a seated dinner in an air-conditioned tent on Congress Avenue, open bar all evening, and the best live and silent auction in town. The funds raised from this event support the preservation of our historic theatres.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here’s a great write-up from Austin Culture Map.

Check out some of the latest off the runways, and some of my own:

Lucky Magazine

Don’t forget to check out my Clearance Sale section, and save even more by using the etsy coupon code “MARCHMADNESS” at checkout for free domestic shipping for the rest of March!

]]> http://www.socodivkadesigns.com/blog/2012/03/a-few-new-etsy-treasuries-to-share/feed/ 0 http://www.socodivkadesigns.com/blog/2012/03/the-demise-of-heartsy/ http://www.socodivkadesigns.com/blog/2012/03/the-demise-of-heartsy/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:00:34 +0000 Shanna http://www.socodivkadesigns.com/blog/?p=300 I am a little late in getting the news that Heartsy is closing at the end of this month. And in all honestly, I am not too surprised. I ran a deal in early February, and overall had a bit of a bad taste in my mouth afterward.

As a buyer, I’ve always been a fan of the site and purchased a few deals over the last couple years. As a seller, I had mixed feelings. While the new exposure the sale brought my shop was wonderful and I am grateful for it, I found that thanks to their VIP deals especially (72% off!) that it was a loosing deal for the seller. When I decided to sign up, I thought that the volume alone would make up for the deep discounts–especially because Heartsy pushed me to have 50 items in my shop minimum (I think I had 20-something when I was accepted, so I busted my rear to meet their goal in time, only to be met with lackluster sales.)

When my sale came about, Heartsy didn’t post it to their Facebook fans, tweet it, blog it or promote it in any other way to their network (I of course did all those things), so while their individual communication was good before and during the sale, I felt really unsupported as a seller by their lack of utilizing their network. Their complete lack of support should have been the tip-off that something was amiss.

Additionally and oddly, a large percentage of the handful of sales messaged me wanting custom orders for their vouchers. I had it all on my site that I couldn’t accept any coupons on custom orders, but it still put me in a somewhat awkward situation as a seller. To Heartsy’s credit, they quickly added the caveat I asked for to my Heartsy page, but the prospect of custom orders at 50% to 75% off was frightening (ordering new supplies, designing and making brand new items) and completely non-sustainable. I’d never even thought to expect it beforehand! Luckily I escaped relatively unscathed and had a really successful month and large amount of page views during my brief time on Heartsy.

There is also the debate looming now that these discount sites, like Heartsy and Tophatter (the same company) devalue handmade goods, and stories of sellers being put out of business by the former. I am glad my experience was nowhere near that negative. I’ll write more about my experience with Tophatter soon, another one full of mixed feelings! I have been selling there since it debuted in December 2011 and have recently had a difficult time being as successful with the site as I was initially due to Tophatter’s frequently changing policies.

How about you? Have you sold handmade goods on Heartsy or Tophatter? How was your experience? Are you sad to see Heartsy go? Is there a new site for promoting handmade that you love? Let me know in the comments.

Update March 15th: Tophatter wants your opinion, too…

To those of you who came out, thank you so much! I had so much fun talking to so many lovely brides-to-be about custom bridesmaid jewelry and can’t wait to work on some collaborations!

And… Libations from Treaty Oak Platinum Rum, Graham’s Texas Tea, and Waterloo Gin, tasty hors d’oeuvres, a photo booth, a DJ, door prizes, gift bags for the first 50 couples to arrive and plenty of wedding eye candy and inspiration!

Gift bag earrings!

Make sure to RSVP for entry!

Saturday, February 25th
7pm-10pm
Gallery Black Lagoon
4301 A. Guadalupe
Austin, TX 78751

{Inspiration board by Heather Curiel; Photos from Pinterest: stylemepretty.com; thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com; koyalwholesale.com; thesweetestoccasion.com; 100layercake.com; ruffledblog.com; les-amis-de-zarafa.com; marthastewart.com; etsy.com/shop/Pomflair; jillthomasphotography.com}