Christmas music marathon

So I wore my fibromyalgia support bracelet for so long it wore out and broke. Does that mean I'm cured now? Hahahaha...yeah right.

Other than that today was pretty good. People have been getting really slack around here so I put the tv on the Christmas music station and told the kids it will NOT be changed until the kitchen & living room are cleaned up and the Christmas decorating is done & the tree is up. Then I just spent the day doing ME stuff. It was very enjoyable and I'm going to be doing a lot more of that :)

Guess what's still playing on the tv? Guess what's not up?

Guess who is quite OK with *that* and with Christmas music and has control of the remotes? Bwahahaha...and I will sing along if I feel like it too. No worries, no how. I've got some nice projects I plan on working on, I've got peppermint & mocha hazelnut coffee and I can do this all week

ME day

So looking back on my facebook memories it looks like yesterday's whiney rant was right on schedule, LOL.

I've needed to take a "ME" day (or several) around this time of year for the last 4 out of 5 years...hmm...something to ponder, is there a pattern in all this randomness or just a randomness that mimics a pattern? :)

*THAT* and this is evidently the week I put up the tree no matter how much earlier I planned on doing it LOL

Meanwhile, here in the present ...coffee and I have made up and we've been making up for all our time spent apart.

Question of the Week #52

I normally don't do much (or any) seasonal specific designs and I usually don't offer them for sale online if I do. (I posted about this at length yesterday, sorry if any of it seems repetitive.)

Usually any holiday specific jewelry or projects that I make are gifts, with a specific recipient in mind. An example is if a friend has a birthday in early October (and likes Halloween, lol) then I'll make them a gift they can wear for the holiday. Same with Christmas. With November I tend to make seasonal (Fall) themed jewelry rather than Thanksgiving but I'm sure you get the idea.

Now, that said...(lol) One of my goals on my 2014 list concerning my etsy store is to increase my listings and seasonal sales, specifically targeting the three commercially big U.S. holidays in Fall and Winter. AND make and offer some seasonal specific jewelry too PLUS all the fun vintage stuff we have been finding to list online as well. (Oh boy do I love the vintage holiday decorations! LOL)

From what I've found online it is generally considered best to start selling for the holidays at least 12-14 weeks ahead, especially for the Christmas season.

That would mean around September 16th for Christmas, around August 21st for Thanksgiving and around July 25th for Halloween!

I'm thinking that is pushing it a little too much to go all out (really? lol) but if I start listing holiday items low key with just a note or a reminder here and there reminding people about their upcoming gift lists...well maybe.

I chose June 15th for the start of my designing and crafting for the fall season but I am still working out listing dates and deadlines.

I just want to be ready and front and center when the holiday season hits full bore for once just to see how it goes and that takes a lot of planning to get to "do" the holiday season and enjoy it too. My slogan for my goal list (multi-year goal list BTW) has been "In it to win it" and so far it's been "try to get in it...try..." so this is a step IN (yay!)

Right now though I am enjoying focusing on the season I am preparing for and fully savoring checking off another goal on my list. 

I've got two questions again this week:

If you have a goal list, how are you doing on it? Care to share? :)

and

Halloween in June and Christmas in July...is anyone planning on major listing increases and/or increasing online sales this coming holiday season? It doesn't have to be seasonal/holiday specific, just more offerings as gift items etc.

OK...Looking forward to hearing your answers!

Please remember to submit your suggestions and questions to: spdychevy@gmail.com with Question in the subject line and we'll get your question up here soon!

Happy Monday to all :)

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Christmas in July means Halloween (and Thanksgiving) in June

I don't know if you've all heard the phrase "Christmas in July". I have but I have always associated with it differently than the definition found here on Wikipedia: Christmas in July

As to the "Christmas in July" article above, I really don't know much about it and that is not what I am talking about here.

I am talking about a phenomenon that used to exist in the world of periodicals and magazines. I don't know if still exists in this sped up world of easy push button desktop publishing but when I sat down at the end of last December to write down my wishes and goals for the coming year I kept thinking of this marketing preparation concept and how it could relate to increased online sales in my store.

I have been mindful of this marketing preparation because "back in the day" (about 10-15 years ago, lol) in the writing world, this is when print magazines were prepping their holiday features and spreads for the holiday editions. So if you wanted to pitch a Christmas article you needed to be pitching in May because you'd be writing in June for a July article and photo spread deadline. It was the same way with Thanksgiving & Halloween but of course plan even earlier.

I normally don't do much (or any) seasonal specific designs and I usually don't offer them for sale online if I do.

One of my goals on my list concerning my etsy store is to increase my listings and seasonal sales, specifically targeting the three commercially big U.S. holidays in Fall and Winter. AND make and offer seasonal specific jewelry too PLUS all the fun vintage stuff we have been finding to list online as well. (Oh boy do I love the vintage holiday decorations! LOL)

Keeping the "Christmas in July" preparation in mind I planned on designing and making some projects earlier than that to be finished, photographed, inventoried and ready for listing.

Checking the etsy listing length dates was another thing that I had to check and coordinate as I list a shipping deadline for each holiday about 5 business days in advance of each particular holiday. For instance, my shipping deadline for Thanksgiving 2014 (November 27th) is November 20th but the Christmas shipping deadline is a full 7 business days (December 16th) before the actual holiday due to the inevitable "mail crush" that happens to slow up the mail every year. I don't want seasonal listings (unless they are a holiday "overlap" such as Fall/Harvest/Halloween (some) and Thanksgiving) to run past the shipping deadline date. I calculate etsy listing date lengths so that I can tailor my listing end dates to the precise shipping deadline date.

What all this planning and preparation means is that June 15th is my kick off for designing, making, photographing and writing listing copy for the 2014 Holiday season...

If any PCASG member is interested in joining me in this silly adventure of crafting for Fall and Winter in the Summer, please let me know and maybe we could share our progress (or stumbling blocks lol) with each other.

So Happy Halloween in June so to speak :) I'm knee deep in black and orange and pumpkins this afternoon. Hopefully with more pictures and progress updates coming soon :)