What's Old is New Again!

It's the start of something brand new!

Culture Shock Jewelry Original Design

Culture Shock Jewelry is working hard to bring

new and exciting designs to all our wonderful customers. 

Dreamcatcher Keychains

It's been a while since we've utilized all of our social media accounts, 

but we're still working hard on bringing you gorgeous jewelry and authentic

Aboriginal art - Moccasins, Dreamcatchers, Pouches and more!

The Blue are my first pair of moccasins!

We've got workshops and tutorials coming you way!

 

 

Awesome Etsy Treasuries!

My Latest Picks on Etsy:

A Treasury that included me and some of the members from my Etsy Team:

I've also been checking out a lot of BNR/BNS or Buy and Replace/Stay Treasuries. The shops that provide supplies seem to do really well, but from experience and feedback, jewelry is a hard sell. They do seem like a really great way to get exposure and support fellow artists and crafters.

Now you may be asking yourself what the heck is a BNR/BNS? These treasuries are designed to help Etsy shops make sales. If you puchase from a BNR, the item you purchased is removed from the treasury and is replaced with an item from your shop.

This continues until they reach a goal of 10, 15 or however many sales. If you purchase from a BNS, the sold item is replaced with an item from the same shop. The curator of the treasury keeps track of your name and will add you to the next BNS treasury. This also continues until they reach a sales goal.

There are BNR/BNS teams on Etsy and many of these treasuries circulating on a daily basis. It helps if everyone included works together to promote these treasuries, this often produces a lot of sales! Regardless if you have an Etsy shop or not, check them out! There's usually good conversation going on, so you can always get to know new people!

Happy shopping!

Spring is in the Air

Have you heard the great news?!

Culture Shock Jewelry is having a Spring Sale!
 All you have to do is enter code: SpringSale11
and Voila! Instant 25% off your purchase before shipping!

You can use your discount here:
Etsy Shop
or
Facebook Page
For Facebook purchases, be sure to leave a comment or send an

email to CultureShockJewelry [at] gmail [dot] com

Spring Scarf $15

Weave Inspired Pendant $15

Victorian Inspired Ring $10

Be sure to act soon, this sale won't last long.

Team Treasury

Another wonderful example of team love. My fellow team member
Diana of Lunaessence Artistic Jewelry and Handbags compiled

these wonderful pieces!

Tree Spirit

Another Treasury made by me, I hope you enjoy the collection.

Learning Never Ends

My granny and mother are the ones I thank for introducing me to the world of handmade jewelry and crafts. From a small child I began beading bracelets and necklaces for them to sell at local shows. I was always super excited because it gave me pocket money to buy myself items from other vendors. (No wonder I'm such a shopaholic, I started so young!) I remember following the Pow Wow trails in the summer and meeting all sorts of fascinating people. Dancers, Drummers, Singers and other Pow Wow trail followers, I was deeply exposed to parts of my culture.

While my family doesn't pack up for every Pow Wow anymore, we do participate at events when we can. This weekend up in Moosonee/Moose Factory, Ontario there is one taking place. (I also understand there is a hockey tournament happening!) My mom is up there visiting from Toronto and staying with my grandmother. They asked me to send up jewelry for the sale. I had happened to have a hand beaded basket in my inventory that I knew would get a lot of attention, so I sent that as well.

Now let me share that my granny is a very good business women. She's worked with other well known Aboriginals in Toronto and when she was still living there had made a very good name for herself (especially as a moccasin maker.) So when she saw the basket, her immediate idea was to have a raffle for it. I had valued the basket at $60 and she has already exceeded that amount of raffle tickets for it. Of course I am aware that many people use raffles to fundraise for their events and such. But taking a hot item out of your shop and raffling it off can really improve your profits, and something other shop owners can consider during slower sale periods.

Granny's Work

Most of my business practices come from my mom and granny. We make and sell a fair amount of dreamcatchers and medicine wheels, so along with every purchase we include a little description of what they mean. My granny also purchases Tamarack Birds from the men in her community. These items have a history to them as well, but of course, leaving them on display for their natural beauty isn't always enough. Adding a little ribbon to these tediously handcrafted items give them a little extra. Majority of the bead stores and resources I have now, are the very same from when I little and watched my family make their purchases. Even my customer service skills are rooted from my experience with family. Smile! Be friendly and helpful no matter who is looking at your product (even if they are 5 years old or giving you a hard time)

Tamarack Birds

Dreamcatcher

Although I do feel I have a fair amount of my own experience with selling my product, I still have a lot to learn. My family is not familiar with setting up shop online, which is where I have the most learning to do. As I've shared before, I'm working my way through the countless amounts of information online to make it in the online world, word by word, sale by sale, I know I'll get there!

Handmade vs. Mass Produced

Imagine my disappointment in Aldo Accessories when I found an item that looked like a Medicine Wheel for sale. Now I know that dreamcatchers are a popular massed produced item and can even be found in your local Dollarma or even the very popular moccasin rip-off that have hit the shelves. But this felt much more personal. I tried searching for this item on their website to demonstrate, but could not find it. 

Here's a look at some Real Handmade moccasins, worn by me and my friends, 

but made by my grandmother

So as much as I love shopping at the mall, I also equally love shopping handmade.

Why do I like handmade?

1. I myself, make handmade products.

2. Supporting local artisans in much more gratifying 

than paying Walmart's executives salaries.

3. I will most likely be purchasing something unique!

4. I find that the quality of handmade products are much more

durable than items purchased at most stores.

5. I can find out how and where the item was made.

6. I know that the seller has a passion for what they do.

There are many movements towards living a handmade lifestyle, and while I find

that very, very commendable, I do still purchase items that are not handmade.

Finding the right balance for your life is important. 

But I will still continue to spread the word about the handmade world and

encourage others to support their local artists. 

Want to learn more about handmade movements? Start with Hand Made News that says: The largest handmade craft blog on earth for artisans by artisans

Or to be even more specific you can try reading this article.