Posts Tagged ‘rings & things design contest’

There’s a contest going on. I read it in a blog, so it must be true!

Friday, February 5th, 2010

The blogs say there’s a contest going on.  Must be true!

That’d be this year’s R&T design contest, of course.

design_contest_ribbons

Have you gotten your entry ready?  You’ve got until the end of this month!

How do I know all this?  I read the blogs :)

Maneki says,

“Rings & Things tar emot bidrag till tidigare omnämnda tävlingen Your Designs Rock t o m 28 februari. Imorgon, 5 februari, är sista dagen att lämna in om du vill vara med i deras Early bird-drawing med chans att vinna goodiebags. Observera att de numer inte längre skjuter fram sista inlämningsdatum utan siste februari står fast.”

Not to be outdone, Tammy Powley at About.com notes,

“Rings & Things’ Your Designs Rock competition is taking entries, and the deadline is coming up at the end of the month.”

And as if to prove her right, Adalea’s Designs has shared a super-fun necklace design that’s going to be entered in this year’s contest.

Join the blogroll!  Send your entry!  Blog about it!

Craft business tip: win a contest

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Sometimes the craft business tips I share come from a lot of people’s hard work & experience…

Today I want to talk about the few, the proud, the lucky winners.  And what winning can do for your business.

It's not a gift certificate, but you can cash in on it! (Image from Zoya Gutina's blog)

It's not a gift certificate, but you can cash in on it! (Image from Zoya Gutina's blog)

Earlier today I noticed someone’s item on Etsy that was already familiar to me.*  Know why?  Because it had been one of the really great, and memorable, winners in a Rings & Things design contest.  It’s been awarded other prizes too, so we’re talking about a proven, multiple winner.  I knew all that already.

The remarkable thing to me today, though, was the price on this item.  I’ll just estimate that it’s now going for five times what it would otherwise sell for.  As a jewelry artisan, you know that your creations are legitimately worth money.  Entering them into competitions and being independently judged as high-quality jewelry backs up that claim.

I’m very proud of the jewelry artist whose winning creation I’m talking about.  Assuming you’re going to sell that superb jewelry item that you made, it’s wise to set its price to reflect your reputation.  Good move!

We all know you can’t sell every one of your items at a high price.  But it says a lot about your status as a serious jewelry artisan, if you have some “high-end” items.

Think about what designs you can come up with, create, and enter into design contests.  Besides the prizes available in these contests, and the sheer glory of winning, you may find yourself recouping your investment of materials and labor many times over.

And that can grow your business!

* I’ve kept the artist’s name and the title of the piece anonymous.  They’re tangential to my point!

Have your sales benefited after you’ve won a design contest?  Share your story in a comment!

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!

“As seen in” — thankful Friday

Friday, May 8th, 2009

We like to end the week on an up note, by thanking people who are good to us.

This week, the BeadStyle blog discussed a favorite find of emerald slices at a past Rings & Things show.

This week, the BeadStyle blog discussed a favorite find of emerald slice beads at a past Rings & Things show.

And AsetMekti was kind enough to suggest people visit our BeadTour bead shows.  Fab Fibers shared the excitement of preparing for our trunk show to come to town, and some bead finds when we showed up.  The Lampwork Art blog was nice enough to publicize our Louisville, KY show.

The Little Bead Shop showed off the awesome competition winners' creations in our 2009 "Your Designs Rock!" contest.

The Little Bead Shop showed off the awesome competition winners' creations in our 2009 "Your Designs Rock!" contest.

Meanwhile, Dawno generously steered her readers to our contests, even though the more entries, the lower her chances of winning are!

CraftGossip.com gave some handy tips on Finding Jewelry Artists Through Twitter, using us as an example.  (Okay, this was back in April, but we just became aware of it!)

68-100-01-thmb

Wendy at Craft Dinner recommended stone cold stone lovers to check out our popular Gemstone Beads Index.  Another recommendation of the “Gem Index” appeared at Winged Heart Studio.

rabbit_muse_p1330176

In an excellent tutorial on how to dabble in mixed media with porcelain blanks, The Rabbit Muse kindly gave a shout-out to us as a good supplier for bails to hang them on.

In other design news, Margot Potter recommend Melanie’s (of Earthenwood Studio) designs using our lava-rock beads.

Thanks so much to all of you in the blogs and on Twitter for your nice words about Rings & Things.  We appreciate you!

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!