My cousin in law, Amanda, hosted her first “Booze for Boobs” fundraiser a few weeks back. The proceeds from this fundraiser go towards the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
I donated one of my Hope Heart necklaces as a raffle prize. The lucky winner was Colleen Arnold (photo below)! If you would like to help by donating to her team, you can do so by clicking the link HERE.
Cancer is a disease that is so prevalent in today's society that affects all of us somehow. I wish I had the ability to find a cure for this devastating disease, but unfortunately that is not something I can personally achieve. What I can do is make a line of Jewelry that I will donate 20% of its sale proceeds to The American Cancer Society.
I was inspired by my cousin-in-law, Amanda, who is doing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. She has been hustling to raise donation money by hosting a series of fundraiser happy hours called “Booze for Boobs”. In order to help her cause I not only made a monetary donation, but I also sent her some of the “Hope Heart” necklaces as raffles prizes.
The next Booze for Boobs fundraiser hosted by Amanda will be:
When: Friday, September 25
Time: 6 pm - 9 pm
Where: Arctica Bar (downstairs)
384 3rd Ave NY, NY
I am so happy to announce that I have made my 200th sale on Etsy today! Even more fun, the purchase was made by someone living in Australia! Although the item was a ring sizing gauge rather than a handcrafted item, it is a item that hopefully will lead to a future sale of a custom ring.
According to my Etsy info, I opened my account in Nov 21, 2007. In reality I did not begin to sell items until February of 2008. So in 20 months I have sold 200 items. That averages to 10 orders a month. Oh by the way, I also was pregnant and had baby #2 during that time as well…and we are in a recession. So I am more than pleased with progress of Luster!
I continue to find it so amazing that I can be here in the cornfields of Illinois and make products that are sold globally. This is especially great for me since I am a little shy and also a stay at home mom to 2 young boys. Lots of travel right now is just not feasible or particularly desirable.
So where do I hope this is going? Well I try not to put too much pressure on myself with sales goals…but I would love to hit 250 orders by the end of the year. I also would like to start to spend more time creating once the baby is a little less dependent on me. I also want to do a few “local” show to get my name out there more. I am also proud that I have been able to make donations to charities both monetarily and product based on behalf of “Luster”. I plan to continue with that as my brand and company grows.
XOXOX Thanks for all of your support out there!
Last week I was invited to be a guest Artist at the Wind, Water, & Light Gallery in Champaign, Illinois. I was thrilled to be asked….but was also like a deer in the headlights when I realized just how little I had in inventory to put on display!
I worked at a fevered pace to not only create lovely jewelry, but to also devise a way to display it all. Some how it all came together! And was was even more fun, was I brought my mini bench along with me and created new pieces as I was at the gallery! Everyone who stopped in was genuinely interested in watching me create.
As a result of this event, I was asked to sell items at that gallery, was invited to be a guest artist and do demos at other galleries, and have been invited to participate in a Juried Art Fair that had already closed to applications. I will be updating my Luster Metal Works website soon with all of the new Jewelry items and event dates!
Here are a few photos of the event!
