New Website, New Blog...er Stories

Hello Friends,

I recently made the switch I've been talking about for over a year...the switch to a new, updated website. After an extended period trying to differentiate between "old website" and "new website", it's a done deal. And now I find myself talking new-old blog...how did I end up with this new-old comparison again?

The new website (oh no, not again!) is really just a different platform/host. You still find it at browndogjewelry.com (did I ever tell the story of WHY I couldn't get the name that actually matches the studio name? You'll just have to take my word for the fact that I managed to go about many things out of order 17 years ago...).

I have blog posts on this site from 11 years ago. I've had little issues with it over the past few years. I happened to notice awhile back that the template I was using was no longer supported and had to quickly figure out how to give it an update. Also, there is no longer the easy access to adding comments that was part of the fun when we started this adventure. I plan to keep this blog alive in an "archived" state. It's my goal to pop in and check up on it to make sure it hasn't become a mess. I will also try to keep the sidebar with my events updated for where to find and shop the studio. 

The new platform/website will continue to be linked to this archived blog, but all new Stories will be added to the new site... https://www.browndogjewelry.com/s/stories

I hope you will join me over on the new space. 

excuse my absence...

 this is going to be a quick visual/caption style update...don't think I can do it? (not sure I do either lol!)

1. Rockbrook Village in Omaha Arts and Crafts Show this Saturday from 10-5pm. 

2. I am holding the Studio's Spring Trunk Show on Friday June 4 (4-8pm) and Saturday June 5 (10-3).

You know the drill...you have to be on the studio email list (sign up HERE) to get an invite. My emails ONLY go out when I am having a show IN the studio, not for my on-the-road shows.

3. Studio Social Media...still doing Tuesday 8pm FB Lives. Me sharing fun and important studio news.

4. I just hit 1000 followers on Instagram. I'm talking about it on!Tuesday May 18th's FB LIVE I'll also be posting an event/giveaway leading up to the Trunk Show!

5. Travel (for the studio). I just updated most of my shows up until Fall 2021!

6. I hope to have the website transitioned to my new platform by the July shows. On your side it will still be https://browndogjewelry.com but it should ALL look like the cleaner links I have been using for my Collections updates...

(this Collection is still available!)

7. More personal news that got shared on social media or I chatted about on FB Lives, etc

• We added Baby Agatha to our growing family, grandma x 5 and currently answering to "Gammah" (my heart melts every.single.time!). I have been lucky to be with all of them quite a bit. Thank you 2021!
• Todd and I celebrated 30-year anniversary last week! Yeehaw!!!

If you are missing all of the Sarah/Studio news, come find me at a show or watch my Tuesday 8pm FB Lives!!! See you soon! 

Hellooo...2021 and ValentineCollection

Although I've been back in the studio (if I'm being honest, it was re-al-ly almost immediately after Christmas, that's not a real break!) it was mostly for some promised large custom orders, the dreaded paperwork that comes along with having my own business, and some aRt time (you'll be excited to hear about that SOON!).

I've been getting some happy items ready for the upcoming ValentineCollection which will be part of the studio's Valentine Trunk Show February (4?) or 5-10. 

I plan (weather permitting) to have the studio open for in-person shopping Friday and Saturday, switching over to the virtual-shopping portion, beginning Saturday afternoon-Wednesday. I am still considering a bonus Thursday evening preview. IF weather does not permit in-person shopping, the show will be shifted to virtual only. 

I have a handful of original Valentine shakers, all one-of-a-kind. I made bronze bezels for some new resin hearts, assuming I can get the studio warm enough for pouring resin. I currently have 4 left from the last time I created the hearts! There are several new glass charms and NEW silver/hearts/bangles and more! Oh my!!!

I am currently working on a possible add-on page to my website that would allow me to make all of these new creations ready for online purchasing during the show. This will be a test-run for a virtual shopping page for future shows, as well as temporary fix while I begin the work of building my new website that should debut in August. If you remember, adding new jewelry and editing the current website is very time and labor intensive, making it impractical for my new dual-show format. If I get the add-on page finished in time, it will appear HERE as a link on the WEBSITE Valentine Trunk Show Page and the Home Page. After several days of research and design I really hope it all comes together, but if I can't work out all of the bugs (and really, I do need/want/no NEED! to keep working on the actual reason we all get together...the jewelry) I will go back to the FB album format with Paypal invoicing that I used for Christmas. More details will continue to be added to the Valentine Trunk Show Page on the WEBSITE.

So you KNOW that I am always working on new pretties and collections, but here is a quick listing of some information and updates in the works...

• Weekly Facebook Live sessions will resume Tuesday February 2 (8pm). 
• Look for more frequent postings on FB and Instagram.
• I am currently submitting applications to "more than a handful" of shows in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and beyond!
• I will be focusing on collecting new emails and editing my current list. A new email with an invite to the Valentine Show will be coming out Tuesday or Wednesday of this week!
• There is always a giveaway recipient chosen from subscribers each time I send out a monthly-ish email.
• Did I mention how much work building the new website entails? But it will be very lovely...
• If you know of a good show/opportunity/idea for the studio? Let me know!

As always, I want to thank everyone who helped me finish out the past year, and this was one that threw a lot of curves. On a VERY positive note, 2020 helped me try out lots of new ideas and many of those ideas were ones I'd been mulling over for a LONG time...Would I have done FB Lives in a normal year? Doubt it, and as awkward as I am in them, a part of me loves showing up there for you! Would I have finally gotten around to changing my out-dated website? Probably not! I am very slowly learning some prioritizing and I hope that it shows in what I bring to the studio and YOU, my friends.

Note...if you want to comment on this post, you just click below on the link that (right now) says No Posts. After there are comments, you would click on 1 comment, etc.

 

It's November...When did THAT happen!

 So...a combination of my busy show schedule, LIFE and then orders (yay!) completely side-tracked me from "business" goals...but not really, because still making it all happen...even though I'm less organized than I'd re-al-ly like to be.

(photos show pretties currently in studio!)

In a perfect brown dog world, I would have and stick to a schedule for my lists of workbench projects, website tasks and social media posts (FB Live sessions, InstagramShopping and Auctions). But really? Just gonna say it's more than THIS one chickie can do smoothly, because I get side-tracked. I'm going to tell all of us here...yes ME and YOU...that I recognize that I'm/we're going to have to make do with this not fully-organized Sarah. 

Yes, I have had fewer shows in 2020 which should in theory be giving me more time to get my ducks in a row, but...like everyone else, I've been spending (too much) time rewriting HOW to make this work and learning new platforms and how to coordinate it all. AND...if we're being honest here...I'm busy making art...that's really my love, priority and goal (and what YOU want me to do...but then you want me to figure out how to make it available...me too!).

 So! I thank everyone for hanging in there with me while I figure this out! More time being wasted used to try to tame FB Live for our Tuesday evening sessions, doing paperwork after InstagramShopping, putting what I create onto the website...

Now...HOW am I going to make SHOPPING available?

• TWO remaining Studio Trunk Shows...Open to all, no appointment needed, wearing masks (schedule in sidebar but you will need to get on the studio email list for invite in order to have my address).
• Tuesday evening FB Live sessions at 8pm. I plan to make some of these a Show and Sell theme. These are not ideal...yes you get to see me in my most-Sarah-ness, but I still haven't figured out the best way to conduct these for optimal Show and Sell, the show part is the problem. Todd is trying to help me with camera, but right now I am supplementing the video with after-photos in the comments...open to suggestions of a better techie person!
• Sunday postings of InstagramShopping and Auctions...I originally started these a few months ago, heavy on the auction format. But to me, auction implies that I want these bid up or that you may get a "killer deal," and that's not really the studio way of thinking. So...Look at these as a way to find some seasonal/NEW/one-of-a-kind/you've been asking for these items pretties. I plan to throw in a special auction item from time to time to keep it exciting AND I've been adding in a give-away promotion to many of these. 
• A few virtual shows...there's no way around this. I have many folks just not comfortable with shopping on-site at the moment, so I need to decide HOW to make this work. Honestly? adding items to my website to create a show? Not feasible with my current website. It takes a full week of me devoted full-time to add a collection and clean up the website enough to call it show-ready and I don't think that's going to work for the deadline I'm up against for Christmas OR allow for any time to create ART. (I don't have anyone behind the scenes...oh you're laughing...of course I don't have a tech person...or at least they should be ashamed of their work if I did!). THE SCHEDULE for PROPOSED VIRTUAL SHOWS... Saturday afternoon-Sunday following my next 2 Studio Trunk Shows!
• Scheduled private shopping in the studio...dates to be decided...

Clear as mud, right? I'm planning to add dates to the sidebar and LINKS to better instructions on the Website for all of these shopping platforms...in next few days...Thanks for all of your patience!!! xoSarah

august goals and september travels...

I have lists of goals (I'm referring to the studio...this isn't about LIFE goals, that's a whole different set of items to tick off, and you really don't want to hear about those...)

The creative side? That's easy enough...I keep lists, a combination of tight and loose objectives...daily, weekly, longer term. I have projects and collections sorted into stacked cupcake tins, lists of techniques, sketches. 

When I look back on some days-weeks-months, I'm surprised at meanderings that often lead my work in unplanned directions. Sometimes I go back to my sorted project tins and decide I'm kind of meh about what I wanted to make and other times I just know it's gonna be good...I find that keeping my creative goals a bit looser can have wonderful outcomes.

I took a creative journey in July that turned into the "Slow-BenchWork" Collection I offered at the Studio Trunk Show and Hastings Art in the Park, my second (the first being back in February) "on the road" show of 2020...I compiled a list of projects from past workshop samples and inspiration from an online artist group I'm part of. My self-imposed goal was to create single examples of each project, unless making an additional piece allowed me to delve even deeper into the technique. The resulting pieces were quite varied...keum boo and granulation earrings, box clasp closures on my popular big link bracelets, layered gemstone pendants, fused sterling shield rings...very focused studio days with many notes in my bench journal. Remaining pieces will head to website (as SALE items leave) this week.

Then there is the business side of the studio...I have goals to which I have been trying to adhere...Let's see if I am able to check these off...

• My monthly blog post...a friendly, wordy studio update that I like to think is the most conversational Sarah you can find online, unless you participate in my FB Live sessions (more in a minute!). Additionally, I list my monthly goals, show plans and travels, new collections on the blog. It acts a bit like my studio-accountability. I allowed this blog to go silent for nearly 4 years, and that did not help keep readership...studio friend comments on the blog are very welcome (hint-hint). CHECK! 

(a note...a studio friend attempted (and finally succeeded!) to post a comment...not an obvious task! Still would LOVE your comments...go to end of each post you are reading...you will see NO COMMENTS or 2 COMMENTS (for example)...click on that and you will find the area to post comments. I am looking to see if I can add a widget that makes commenting easier!)

• A monthly email...studio updates, especially focused on show dates and special collections. Besides the excitement of receiving a letter from me in your inbox each month...I know, right!...it's the sole means of getting invited into my personal studio for Trunk Shows. You're not on the list? Well, go HERE and get signed up! As an added bonus, I do a monthly give-away to one random subscriber! CHECK (mostly)!
• More frequent postings on Facebook and Instagram...these are snippets of current work, collections, reminders leading up to shows, views from a show I'm at (not many of these lately, but MORE SHOWS ARE COMING!!!). This gets a HALF CHECK...here's some Sarah-honesty...I don't stop what I'm doing at the bench often enough to take photos or make a posting. I don't use IG Stories to our best advantage, thinking I have to get it perfect for it to "work" for all of us...oh you're laughing now because I just said I wait until I can get things done perfectly?..."That was PERFECT, Sarah?" Hoo-boy...now we're both laughing...

Less travel time and more time at the workbench equals a lot of thinking time...and I have had (what I think are) some amazing ideas...Have I made them happen? Nope! But I'm writing them here and planning to talk about them on a FB Live tomorrow evening (Monday August 17) at 8pm EST.

• themed Instagram posts (many of these will carry over to FB), some encouraging "play along" posts...I am proposing #mystackmonday and #facetimefriday among others, but there may be some further modifications before I "finalize" these...
• weekly FB Live, probably a weekday evening, during which I have a proposed theme for the visit, potentially a RealTime selling event for some of the weeks? Content would be available to rewatch after the Live event. Not every week would follow same theme...I need to come up with a way to let you know content ahead of time...either website or as an announced EVENT on FB...
• Instagram Auction on Sunday afternoons/evenings? I will be requesting input for best time period for this style of event.

So...one of my big concerns has always been not wanting my studio friends to get the impression that I think "I'm all that!". I have serious over-post anxiety...you'll not want to hear from me if I post too much or too frequently. I used to only send out 4-5 emails a year...strictly ONLY when I was having a show in the studio...so that I wouldn't have people unsubscribe...

But I know that YOU know that I'm not asking you to take notes about every time I'm going live or making a post. You do know that, right? And...I've decided not to compare myself to retailers who think I want 3 daily emails in my inbox...if my one a month is too many, just lie and tell me you check me out on FB or IG...

...and I like talking to you. Sarah