Sense and Sensibility Holiday Calendar!!!

Can you believe how quickly the holidays are coming?!  I know everyone says this but seriously.  Time is flying!  And I don't know about you, but I am all about good deals and great quality this year.  I have once again promised myself to do as much shopping from small businesses and handmade artists this year as possible.  C'mon!  Help us small businesses out.  =)  As a handmade vendor myself, I'm hoping you all will be doing the same!

So to help you get a handle on what Sense and Sensibility is doing this holiday season, here are some big dates of sales that will be going on and special promotions that I'm participating in!

November 25 - 28

Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend sale!
Visit snsnsnsibility.etsy.com Friday through Monday to get 20% off your entire purchase to get this season started!!!  Use coupon code "turkeytechdeals" at checkout.  
(did you like my funny coupon code?  a little play on the...yeah...I know I can be lame...give me a break - I'm craving mashed potatoes and killer bargains right now.)

November 29

Handmade Holidays with Cotton Lane

A good friend of mine, Caroline, is hosting a big holiday shindig over at her blog with giveaways and sales from myself and several other amazing handmade artists!

December 1-25

25 Deals til Christmas!
Every day from December 1st to December 25th will have a different deal to help you check people off your shopping list and maybe give other people ideas for you too!

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So make sure you come back and visit me in the next couple of days to get in on some great holiday shopping!

Have a beautiful day!

Thanksgiving Day Recap!

After a rather busy day, I am now sitting at home again, quietly reading news from the day (and reading everyone's beautiful Thanksgiving day blogposts!), catching up on Facebooking friends around the country, and enjoying a once-in-a-blue-moon quiet evening at home with the hubby.  It is lovely!

I had a very blessed Thanksgiving "day" because I feel like I had was able to celebrate for two days!  One of my college roommates (whom you have seen before because she has modeled my jewelry before: like this item!) was in town to see family for the weekend and I was able to steal her away from her family for one night!  It was an occasion to celebrate and talk and eat.  We ate a lot.  =)  Whenever she comes in town, we have begun a tradition of going to one of our favorite restaurants and I had an amazing drink - a chocolate wine.  "Chocolate Amore" is its name and I had to take some pictures of it:

Words cannot even describe quite how good it was.  It is a rich red wine with strong cherry tones and an amazingly smooth dark chocolate finish.  If you are a chocolate lover, you have to try finding this wine!  (I did find a list of online stores you can order it from here.)  

And then, for Thanksgiving day, I talked to my family in Hawaii on the phone and spent the afternoon/evening in a combination of eating, recovering from eating, and enjoying general family time.    Now that I'm awake on Black Friday, I have to get myself in gear and do some shopping!  I was really hoping to finish my family Christmas shopping today so you may very well be seeing many more posts from me this weekend completing my Operation Family Chrismas Shopping saga!!!

Have fun out there (or at home - however you do your shopping) and check out some of these blogs for great helps for online deals this weekend!

muchloveilly

wild and precious

Selling Myself

Every once in a while, I take the plunge and troll through the endless sources of wisdom and information that Etsy has made available to its users.  Whether you are a buyer, seller, or just interested, there is a ridiculously large amount of reading material in their forums and community areas.  To make matters worse, once I start reading, I feel like I have to keep reading because I might miss something really valuable!  And then I look up at the clock and two hours have gone by... Sadly, this is from more than one experience...  =)

The one piece of advice I keep seeing on Etsy is to be unique, to have something that separates you from the competition.  I guess I have been feeling a little less than unique recently.  Sometimes selling handmade goods is an uphill battle in a seasonal Gucci, Chanel, and Prada world.  But Etsy is constant proof to me that people do actually like buying handmade and vintage items - things that will be treasured for a long time to come or have already seen a lot of loving!

So this post is my brainstorm "outloud" to you, my blog readers, to see if you think I am on the right track. Here goes:

Hi!  Welcome to Sense and Sensibility Designs - the home of "sensible" jewelry!  

Every piece is made by hand and many of them are completely one of a kind.  

I like to think that I have jewelry for every woman!  I have long and dangly earrings for the trendsetter or shorter and stylish for someone who likes the classics.  Necklaces are long and layerable or petite and pretty!  But my favorite thing of all is making something special - just for you!  So if you have a special request, that's what I love to make happen.  Your idea can become reality!

All the metal I use is sterling silver.  I have sensitive skin and ears so I make it at that high quality so no one else has to worry about what it will do to their skin!  Not only do I only use sterling silver but I endeavor to use the highest quality shells, pearls, and gems that I can find.  You want your jewelry to last you a long time and so do I - I will do everything I can to make that reality.

Every piece of jewelry I make ends up feeling like an old friend.  When you decide you want to give my pieces a home and a future, it makes me very excited!  I always love seeing pictures of my creations "in action."  I am also a little weird like that and give inanimate objects personalities.  =P

That is Sense and Sensibility in a very small nutshell.  =)  

What do you think?  Am I on the right track?  

And don't forget!  There will be a Black Friday through Cyber Monday sale @ Sense and Sensibility!  Click on the sale button on the right to see some other great vendors doing the same!  

Have a beautiful day!