October

This month has been a whirlwind, and just when I think I'm caught up, I get totally slammed again! I'm not complaining, especially since I just got to take a fabulous 4 day mini vacation with my husband to Treasure Island, Florida, which I highly recommend...


I hit the studio hard when I got back and had to finish up the biggest wholesale order I've ever had! I started it before I left town, but since I had a bunch of website orders I needed to get out when I returned, I did not get the big order done and shipped it two days past their desired ship date. I guess the busier I get, the more that is going to happen, but I'm just not used to being behind and it is irritating! This year will be my first Christmas season after stepping into the wholesale world full force, so it will be interesting to see how I keep my sanity! I had big plans of getting ahead by stocking up on my best sellers so that I wouldn't have to make everything when an order came in, and boy was that wishful thinking!! Such are the woes of small business growing pains, I guess.

I better get busy in the studio again this week because this Saturday, I actually have a show in my home town! Twist Art Gallery is hosting a handmade show in the Arcade downtown coinciding with the First Saturday Gallery Art Crawl and several talented Nashville artists will also be there including Mary Ink and Amanda Conley!

Come see me at Handmade in the Arcade, Sat, Nov 7th 1-9p.m.
Downtown Nashville, TN (click for directions)

Renegade Craft Fair is this weekend!

And we'll be there! Freshie & Zero will be in booth #276, and our buddies from Rinse Soap will be right behind us in #275, so you can get accessorized and smellin' good just by stopping by our corner! We will be situated on Division Street between Paulina Street and Hermitage Avenue. According to the forecast, there is a 40% chance of rain, but there's no way it could rain as much as last year, right?

I'll be bringing a lot of one of a kind mixed metals to this show, so if you're in the area, please stop by!

Giveaway winners announced!

Congratulations Sweet Mary & ErinChris07 - you guys were randomly chosen by the random number generator (random.org) to win a cartwheel necklace! Thanks to everyone who
entered, and stay tuned for more contests in the future!

Giveaway in honor of my 200th post!

Wow! It's only taken me four years to get to number 200, but here it is! I was going to post up some banner ads I just made so you can see the marketing machine hard at work - the marketing machine named Freshie. :) But in honor of my 200th post, I think I should have a GIVEAWAY! Enter to win the Cartwheel necklace that is featured in a few of my new ads! And in honor of #200, I'll pick two winners - completely at random.

To enter the giveaway, simply comment on this post by answering the following question: What is your favorite Freshie & Zero piece and why? Easy enough, right? To win, you MUST include your email address so that I can contact you! Entries will be accepted through midnight on Monday, September 7th, and I'll announce the winners on Tuesday, September 8th here on the blog and also via email so please add beth(at)freshieandzero(dot)com to your list of email addresses so my email does not possibly wind up in your spam filter!

So, without further adieu, here is one of the latest banner ads, featured on SF Weekly (last month). I've been experimenting with different color backdrops - mostly to jazz up my etsy site, but I think over the course of the next few months, I will start shooting all of the jewelry on a slate background for the website, so that the colors are more consistent than the white I am currently using (which always looks grey in the photos anyway).

These ads take way too much time - in fact it's 1:45 and my plan was to make jewelry all day and what have I done? Written a blog, answered emails, and worked on the 3rd ad you see above. Now it's time for lunch, and when I come back, I have to file my business tax. The time flies when you're in charge of your own business! I don't know how I get any jewelry made with all the marketing and paperwork! It's been a good day, though. I've had two reorders from shops, and I am going to get ready for the Grant Park Festival in Atlanta this weekend. Life is good!

Happy giveaway entering! I can't wait to see everyone's comments!