We Want Your Feedback!

There have been so many changes to FunkyPinks in the last 12 months, I've completely rebranded, launched countless new products, and had the busiest Christmas ever!

I've been so grateful to all of my customers throughout the year, and I have big plans for 2015. I have a few burning questions to ask, so I have put together a survey for customer feedback to ask about their experience shopping with FunkyPinks and their opinions on the new things I want to try.

As a THANK-YOU I'm offering a 20% discount voucher that can be used exclusively in the New Year when I re-open my shop. Responses to the survey will be kept confidentially, and details provided will not be passed to any third party.

My shop is due to re-open after Christmas, so until then Happy Holidays!

We are now Closed for Christmas!

At last I have finished and shipped all of my outstanding orders ready for Christmas! 

I have had a mega busy November and early December with an unprecedented amount orders, it's really been fantastic but exhausting at the same time!

I sold out of Sisters sets mid-November, just after I had re-stocked! The charms are now on order for the new year.

Black Friday was a real shocker, I had triple the number of orders I usually take in a day, I had to close my Etsy shop that night as I was afraid I wouldn't be able to cope with the demand.

I had so many orders, that I ran out of packaging and had to order a load, but I accidentally ordered too many and now I have nowhere to put them!

I'm now taking a break now until after Christmas, all outstanding orders have now been processed and shipped, so if you need to know the estimated date your package will arrive then check the Etsy website for the SHIPPED date and add the following number of business (working) days:

UK: 1-3 business days
Europe: 5-10 business days
USA & Canada: 7-12 business days
AUSTRALIA: 10-14 business days

As always if you have any questions please feel free to Contact Me.

See you all soon!

I'm famous!

I'm super excited this week as my jewellery has been featured in 'Make and Sell Jewellery' magazine!

I'm a regular subscriber to this fab magazine, (a must for any budding jewellery maker!) So when they asked if I would like to be featured in their regular 'Etsy Edit' section I jumped at the chance! <br>

I felt very honoured to have been asked to be featured. I didn't expect a sudden wave of new sales considering my audience would likely be competitors; for me it was more about being recognised by my peers. The handmade jewellery business sector is heavily saturated, and standing out from the crowd can be a difficult thing to do!

It also made me have to get new headshots of myself (something I was dreading!) and so my other half had to take endless photos of me until I was completely happy with them! It was a tiresome job as I'm very rarely happy with photographs of myself as I'm sure most people are!

My birthstone jewellery is available to buy in my Etsy shop: www.funkypinks.etsy.com

Coming soon to my website too!

Christmas Gift Wrapping

To build on my personalised gift boxes, I'm launching some new gift boxes for Christmas.

I slightly over did it on the ribbon front (you know how much I love variety!) I have four different style of ribbon to choose from!

I'm also trying out some new pillow shaped gift boxes, decorated with ribbon too! If I like these then I might replace my standard gift boxes!

 

Most of my jewellery is currently for sale in my Etsy shop, and the full range is on the FunkyPinks website!

Birthstone Jewellery is Here!

I'm so excited to finally be launching birthstone jewellery! Since I started making jewellery a few years ago I wanted to work with birthstone crystals, but couldn't justify the investment at the time.

After such a busy Summer with my bridesmaid and flower girl jewellery, I decided to take the plunge and try out a few designs to see how popular they would be, and I soon found out they were very popular!

Simple Birthstone Charm Jewellery

I've started with some simple designs, and gradually I will introduce different styles and mix the birthstones with my other charms, and cater for different budgets. 

Simple Birthstone Bracelets

I've opted for the Swarovski birthstone crystals, as they fit perfectly with the charms I currently offer. I want to expand my 'Birthday Jewellery' range, as I'm constantly being asked to make custom orders for birthday necklaces and bracelets in different styles!

Here's a peek at what I've been working on!

Hand Stamped Jewellery

Stamping is another skill I've been wanting to try my hand at (literally!) as you can see from the picture above, I'm going to be using small silver tags to stamp initials into, this will provide an additional option to my standard silver plated initial charms.

Brand new to FunkyPinks! Hand-stamped Initial charms

New Gift Boxes

I wanted to present my birthstone jewellery slightly differently to the rest of my jewellery, so I have designed a card insert for the gift box that each piece will be sent with.

The card features the corresponding month, the gem stone that the crystal represents, and the attributes.

Birthstones and their meanings:

January - Garnet - Faith, Truth & Grace

February - Amethyst - Peace, Protection & Tranquillity

March - Aquamarine - Strength, Hope & Creativity

April - Diamond - Innocence, Courage & Health

May - Emerald - Love, Success & Happiness

June - Alexandrite -Charity, Faith & Peace

July - Ruby - Nobility, Contentment & Enthusiasm

August - Peridot - Happiness, Luck & Success

September - Sapphire - Wisdom, Serenity & Truth

October - Rose Quartz - Hope, Purity & Health

November - Topaz - Fidelity, Courage & Serenity

December - Zircon - Success, Luck & Prosperity

Birthstones, months and their cards

Most of my birthstone jewellery is currently for sale in my Etsy shop, and the full range is on the FunkyPinks website!

Personalised Jewellery Gift Boxes

I'm so excited to finally launch my personalised gift boxes, and I absolutely love them! I think they add a real personal touch to a gift!

I've been working on these for a while now, trying to get them right, and deciding if I would offer them as standard with all of my pieces, or as an extra 'add on' that my customers could choose if they wanted to.

I decided to opt for the latter; I want my jewellery business to cater for all budgets, especially when it comes to wedding jewellery. I would hate to think that customers were turned off because they couldn't (or wouldn't!) pay the ticket price because of the premium for the personalised box.

So they are an 'add on', and are sold in a separate listing on Etsy here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/187702086/personalised-gift-box-jewellery-gift-box?ref=listing-shop-header-3

There is also a 'bulk price' if customers would like more than one box, which is particularly useful for brides to be with lots of bridesmaids and flower girls!

Most of my jewellery does come with a small gift box as standard, these help to keep the pieces nice and safe in transit, they are also useful for storing the pieces and taking care of them.

The message inside is completely customisable, I'm asking customers to write their messages in the notes when they checkout on Etsy, and to check spelling carefully as the message in the box will appear as typed to me! (I'm guilty of many a typo in a daily basis!)

My Jewellery is available to buy on my website of in my Esty shop!

Jewellery Gift Boxes & Packaging

Regular customers will know that most of my jewellery arrives in a gift box of some description, it works well for me as I know the jewellery will be kept safe in transit, and also it will be nicely presented when it arrives (hopefully!).

My favourites are the small kraft boxes, I think they have a 'crafty' feel and I'm now going to use them in all of my photography to help make my pieces instantly recognisable on Etsy. This worked so well recently when I was trying to improve my product photos!

I used to add coloured tissue paper to the inside (FunkyPinks classic!) and tie a piece of string around them to add a little extra touch. 

Now, I use stripey paper bags, and add some hot pink ribbon, some of my customers have fed back that they loved it as they didn't need to gift wrap the jewellery, so that's here to stay!

I'll be adding some gift tags too, and over the next few months investing in some stamps to decorate the tags too! Here's one I made up for my teacher gifts!

Coupled with my business cards, my standard packaging is starting to take shape!

My jewellery is available for sale through my Etsy shop and on my website www.funkypinks.co.uk

A Fresh Start

This year FunkyPinks has been going through a lot of changes, my regular customers who have been with me a long time will know that the jewellery II make today is very different to what I made 18 months ago. 

Some of you may not really like that anymore, and that's OK, I've been very grateful for your custom and friendship. Some of you might think it's a vast improvement, and that's OK too :)

The short story is that I had to decide if I wanted FunkyPinks to stay as a hobby, or if I wanted to start making real money out of it and turn it into a viable business. I decided on the latter and that's why I've made so many changes.

The long story is this:

I love making jewellery, but I also have a full time job that I really love too, climbing the corporate sales ladder; it's a career I don't want to give up (I probably couldn't afford to anyway) and I'm so lucky to have it.

When I first started making in 2011 I had so many ideas and so many things I wanted to try, it really was a hobby. I loved fixing little findings together and using lots of different beads. I REALLY loved using buttons and had a wide variety of different jewellery designs that didn't really go together, I made the on a whim just because I liked them. I love making jewellery, it's my hobby, any free time I have is usually spent on my sofa in front of the TV with my lap tray, jewellery tools and beads that usually end up rolling away on our laminate floor, under the sofa, never to be seen again!

Facebook and Etsy had always been the main platform for selling my items, two years ago it was great for promoting my items, and the multiple 'networking' pages that popped up really helped to increase the likes on my page, but it was a lot of effort.  At that time in my life I was commuting 2 hours a day to London from Birmingham, so had plenty of time to post pictures of my items, and build my page, and I usually sold one or two pieces a week, and that was enough for me. 

My Old Logo

I wasn't making a profit, in fact I lost a lot of money over-spending on supplies, but I didn't mind; it was my hobby, and I loved doing it!

Christmas 2013 was a turning point for me. For the first time, without really meaning to, I created a 'range' of Christmassy themed snowflake jewellery, specifically designed to go together. My sales really took off, to the point where I almost struggled to keep up with them and I couldn't get sent them out on time! I also ran out of supplies – this had never happened before; for the first time I had sold out!

My Best Selling Bracelet Last Christmas

A New Era

My New Logo!

I closed my shop over Christmas and took a break. I decided that I really make FunkyPinks work as a legitimate business turning a real profit, and what you see today is the result!

I redesigned my logo, but kept my traditional ‘white background’ theme. I really needed to improve my photographs and make them look more consistent throughout, so my brand image was clear.

I created new product lines, my personalised button necklaces had always sold steadily throughout 2013, so this was the basis for my personalised jewellery. Throughout the year I update the designs to reflect the seasons trends and events like Mother’s Day and Easter, which is still in keeping with the FunkyPinks of old!

So far, things are going really well, and now I’m about to re-launch my website (for the third time) now I have a clear direction that I want to take business!

Onwards and upwards!

The New FunkyPinks

Here's some of my new designs!

 

Shop Online: www.funkypinks.co.uk

Who was St Patrick anyway?

Every year I love making St. Patrick's Day themed jewellery, but I don't know what it is exactly that I love about it.

Maybe it's the brash green & gold colours, the genetically modified clovers, or maybe it's the excessive merriment that's now become associated with this Irish patron Saint.

Many people that celebrate St. Patrick's Day don't even know why he's so famous throughout the world. I wanted to find out for myself, so I did a bit of research.

I'm by no means an expert historian, and to be honest, who can really know for sure? Here is my fun version (you'll notice the facts are less than informative):

 He was born in Britain, like ages ago.

• He was taken to Ireland as a prisoner - sad times
• He escaped - better times
• Heard the voice of God telling him to leave Ireland and become a Priest
• Left Ireland
• Became a Priest
• Went back to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity
• Did some stuff with bonfires
• Scared some snakes away
• Added a sun symbol to what is now known as the celtic cross
• Invented Guinness (alright I made that bit up)
• Apparently died on March 17th 460 A.D (ish)

That's my version anyway, if you want some better informed information I suggest you google it for yourself! This is a good place to start:

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/who-was-saint-patrick

Now you've had your history lesson for today, check out my very green & gold, four leaf clover specials!

   

All for sale in my Etsy Store and my website!

Is there anyone out there?

Hello! Hello! Hello...? Echo, echo, echo...

Is there anyone out there?

They say that blogging is the 21st century version of keeping a diary, but I'm wondering, will anyone even read it?

Only one way to find out... let's give it a go...

I've been making jewellery casually for the last 2 years with mixed results. It all started with a pair of button earrings I spotted in a shop and I thought to myself "I could make those myself!" So I did! 

Since then I started a Facebook page and then and Etsy shop, trying different styles with different medium, all mixed together with one constant - bold and bright colours! 

Last Christmas (2013) I sold more jewellery than I ever had before, and it was quite a surprise at the time! I had multiple orders for the same items, where previously I had made one-off pieces that took a long time to sell.

I wanted to make my little sister a necklace for Christmas, and when browsing my wholesaler I came across some awesome charms that I knew would suit us both! Thus the 'Sisters' Jewellery range was born!

The present for my little sis!

These sister necklaces have been a huge hit! I also have 'Big' sister and 'Middle' sister, and my set of 3 necklace sets have definitely been the most popular product so far this year. It's been amazing to see that other people like my funky sister designs as much as I did when I was browsing for a gift for my own sister!

This made me think about changing my product offering. I wanted to design jewellery that was simple, funky and colourful, but I also wanted to incorporate an element of personalisation.

From there I designed a few more charm necklaces, just to get me started. It was quite scary changing everything I had done before, it felt like a big risk. I'm still only a few months into my new range, and things seem to be going well, but there's always room for improvement!

The Sister Necklaces featured here are available to buy on Etsy: www.funkypinks.etsy.com