Every Etsy shop is different. It takes heart and dedication to run one. It’s not just some faceless Ebay world, everything has a personal touch. Everything independent, handmade and found treasures are just the tip of the ice burg that can be found on Etsy. Most craftsters have suppliers of some sort for the materials that they don’t already have or can’t find. Not much is ever said about these individuals. The truth is, I’m not sure where I’d be with my crafting projects without some of these wonderful suppliers. AlmostPrecious is a shop on Etsy that has so many dazzling goodies my brain goes crazy with ideas on new projects. Anna is one of those wonderful people who helps inspire and supply craftsters like myself. I got the chance to do a mini interview with her.

Some background information on Anna and her shop:
The name of my shop is “AlmostPrecious“…it was the name I used when I created and sold my handcrafted jewelry. Since I liked to use semiprecious stones such as amethyst, rose quartz, smoky quartz, pearls, garnet, jaspers etc. in my creations I thought Almost Precious sounded better than “Semi Precious” or “Just About Precious”. My shop is almost a year old now, as for myself…well I’m a member of the Wild, Wise, Witty Grandmas if that helps ? In reality I just turned 64 this past Dec. 18th. I have 3 lovely, grown daughters, and 4 grandchildren; 2 boys and 2 girls. One of my darling daughters lives just down the street from us, one is in New York and the other is in Tennessee.

I live on the west coast of Florida, just south of Tampa and on the borderline between Manatee and Sarasota, both beautiful tropical counties. I tend to like warm climates having been born in Messina Sicily, then living in Southern California, then the Caribbean island of Trinidad, the mountain city of Quito, Ecuador and lastly Florida both in Miami and where I am now. I live with my husband who is my soul mate and my very best friend, we just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on Dec. 21st.

1.) How long have you been on Etsy?

I’ve been on Etsy a year now (or it will be a year on the 15th of January). Though I had heard about Etsy a couple of years before I actually joined it, now I wonder why it took me so long.

2.)What made you decide to focus on supplies?

Most, if not all suppliers on Etsy are also artist and crafters as well. At one time I was deeply involved in designing and crafting jewelry, participating and selling at art shows and craft fairs, This was all a great deal of fun, also very lucrative, but above all else physically exhausting. If you were to talk to anyone involved in doing 2 day exhibitions at art and craft shows I’m sure you’ll hear over and over how physically draining they can be. Since I am no longer a spring chicken I decided it was time to scale back on these art and craft venues and try to sell online. After a while of dragging my feet I finally set up an account and open my shop with Etsy…selling jewelry. Wasn’t long before I realized that there were a lot of extremely talented jewelry artist on Etsy and the competition most fierce. I was feeling down, guess you could even say I was having a pity party for myself, and wanted to sell off all of my beads and supplies. After having approached a couple of other supply sellers on Etsy about buying my inventory and being turned down I was fortunate enough to run across an Etsy supplier who encouraged me to open my own bead and findings shop.

3.)How do you decide what supplies to carry?

Having made jewelry and still making jewelry, I know the basics that are needed. There are many findings and components required in the construction of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, brooches, etc. So these fundamentals are a necessity in any bead shop and I try to see that I have these in stock. Quality is also an important consideration when I’m purchasing my merchandise, as nothing is more frustrating than finding that those gorgeous blue beads have turned your neck or worse your blouse blue .
But seems most of my decisions are made by “love at first sight”…you know, when you see that beautiful bead or component and you just must have it…much like finding that perfect pair of shoes. LOL

4.)What is your favourite craft?

Making jewelry, don’t even have to think about that one ! Though I have a number of crafts I do from crochet, knitting, embroidery and cross stitch, painting and scrapbooking…making jewelry is my first passion. It’s all about the beads.

5.)What is your favourite thing about Etsy?

Etsy is a great site, well thought out, wonderful look and feel to it. Sure there is always room for improvement and there are things we would all love to see added or changed in some way…I’d love to have more sections in my shop and also sub-sections…but all in all Etsy is pretty much ahead of the pack. The forum is one of my favorite haunts, but I’ve also been known to spent way too much time on “pounce” it can almost be addictive.

6.)How often do you add items to your shop?

Unfortunately not nearly often enough. Lately I’ve been trying to list at least a couple of new items everyday. I know this is good for promotion and keeps you higher up in the ratings, search engines and on the Etsy pages. However after writing a couple of descriptions I seem to suffer from verb burn-out. Guess I need a professional ad writer.

7.)What advice would you give to other Etsians just opening a shop?

For a newbie I’d advise them to use the forums, it is a fantastic source of information, advice and above all else a wonderful source of help. The forums also get you recognition so others become familiar with your avatar and your shop name, at first you might think you’re being ignored but it takes a little time for others get to know you and, believe it or not, friends are really made on Etsy. I’d also tell them to explore as much of Etsy as possible, Etsy has so much to offer from chat rooms to teams, to the storque and on. But one last important piece of advice, don’t open a shop and expect over night success, that only happens rarely. When you open a shop you have to commit yourself for the long haul, it takes time, work and dedication to get a shop up and running and even more to make it a success. My shop is about a year old and it is just now starting to see some sales, and the truth is it still has a lot of growing to do and I still have a lot of work ahead of me.