Meet Shadow Dog Designs

I came across Shadow Dog Designs aka Catherine via Flickr and she is now one of my contacts.

Catherine lives in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and is a self-professed "nature geek". Nature is her muse and she only has to look at the marsh she lives on to gain inspiration for her beautiful jewellery.

In the Forest Glen of the Singing Wood Thrush

Designing one-of-a-kind jewellery satisfies a strong desire in Catherine to create. She uses mainly semi~precious stones and sterling silver in her creations but also likes to use Swarovski Crystals, Czech glass and polymer clay. She has also recently started to use copper and lampwork beads.

A Rose, I Suppose

Catherine sells her work through galleries in Texas, Virginia and South Carolina and also through art shows and home shows.

East Of Eden

Why "Shadow Dog Designs"?

Catherine says people always ask about her name! Her business was named 10 years ago to honour her two (now three) rescue dogs who shadow her everywhere and provide undying love and playfulness. Most specifically Chase, a Labrador/hound cross, who is now 15 years old and still going strong.

Wild Horse Canyon

I think Catherine creates absolutely beautiful jewellery ~ I hope you agree!

You can see more Shadow Dog Designs jewellery on Catherine's Flickr page

Colibri en Paraiso

Featured!

 My Cinnamon Jewellery shop on Artfire has been featured on Andrea W Designs blog today!


Andrea, owner of Artfire shop Andrea Designs, full of lovely handknitted scarves, shawls and ponchos, asked if I'd like to be featured and of course I said yes!

My copper and Blue Goldstone wirework Galaxy Pendulum earrings are also featured on another blog "Swank" in "The Beauty Of Wire Wrapped Jewelry" by Artfire seller Natasha Suter.

♥ Happy Friday! ♥

Commissions - Spiral Delight!

I've had a couple of commissions recently, funnily enough all for the same design!

They've all featured coin beads with a spiral of Sterling Silver or Copper wire

Pendant & Earrings Set

Beautiful Lampwork beads by Kaz ~ Cheeky Cherub Designs

Lemon Chrysoprase & Copper Pendant

Lepidolite & Sterling Silver Pendant

It's nice to think I'm not the only one obsessed with spirals!

New Shop On Artfire

 I registered with Artfire in October last year as I liked the look of the site and thought it might be an alternative to Etsy. A couple of weeks ago I decided to open my shop Cinnamon Jewellery to hopefully increase exposure of my jewellery in the USA.

Although not as large as Etsy, Artfire is a busy site with thousands of shops or "studios". You can list for free as a Basic seller or upgrade to become a Pro seller for $15.95 a month. I went for the Pro seller account as I didn't want the adverts that appear on basic shop pages. Pro sellers also get their new listings appearing on the front page.

What I Like about Artfire

They are very focused on SEO and getting your items "out there". All listing are submitted to Google Base.

This is a very useful link :: How To Improve Your Seo On Artfire which is relevant wherever you sell!

There are also lots of guides to help you set up and promote your shop including Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Resources, Photography and Google Analytics.

The benefits of being a Pro seller

Shop Customisation ~ change the colour and layout of your shop, add sections, featured items, add widgets linked to your other shops, blog, etc on your shop pages

Facebook and Twitter buttons on each page so people can Tweet about an item or "Like" it on Facebook. When you post in the forums a photo of one of your items appears in the column on the right side of the page - increased exposure!

You can set up your own Artfire Kiosk on your facebook page

You are given your own Artfire Blog

 Statistics ~ this keeps track of the number of views your shop and items have received. In two weeks my shop has been viewed 913 times and the total for all my item views is 1575. Not bad! You can also see how many views each individual listing has received

Incoming referring urls for your shop and individual items - how people are finding your shop and items via search engines, Twitter, facebook, etc. Useful to be able to check the keywords being used

Studio Ads ~ you can purchase ads for your shop which appear on your chosen section of the site starting at $5 a month

 Plus lots more very useful tools

I've found the forums on Artfire to be friendly and helpful with lots of useful information to help you set up your shop and hopefully find success! I've had two sales so far which isn't too bad in two weeks and at least I know my items are getting views. As with any online selling, patience is a virtue!

Check out this link if you fancy giving Artfire a go!