DeStash Event Follow Up & What's Next...

Hard to believe it has been a week since the DeStash event…

Pendants for DeStash Sale.

All of the orders have been sent out, and I wanted to share my experience with you all of how I managed to pull this off in this last week.

Well - we'll see as I get notes from customers via Etsy convo about orders and how they arrived - or didn't as to how well I pulled it off...

My amazing customers make the sale a success way beyond what I could have ever expected…

I really thought that 150 pendants would last all weekend.

Never did I expect to have things take off and run like they did…

I know there are some of you that are curious about numbers - and when I log in over on Etsy - it says that I have to leave feedback for 658 items (these were also giveaway pieces btw & some non-destash listings, like silks). And I will be leaving feedback for all the items…

Which leads me to:

How the heck do you organize this and get all the pieces to the right people and not drive yourself totally crazy?

Answer: It's like a stew… 

You have the basics, then add as you go:

I needed: time set aside for only doing this, upbeat music, coffee…

Then familiarity with product, trays & bins for sorting, computer or printed orders, pen and paper for notes that go into bins, notebook for things you need to do, shipping labels, boxes & padded envelopes, bubble wrap, tissue paper, packaging tape, Scotch tape, business cards, bits of cardboard, plastic baggies for grouping items, USPS labels for international shipments & delivery confirmation, and something to carry it all in to get to the post office.

Pendants Sorted into trays according to shape & texture.

The sorting part I LOVED…

Really - It not only fed my OCD with having all the shapes and textures put together in the same bins…

But it also gave me time with all these pieces looking at them individually...

Remembering drawing out the texture plates, making the pieces, glazing the pieces…

And it was like being a personal shopper - pulling all these individual pieces for each order.

I miss this part of selling beads at bead shows...

Trays on left have pieces sorted into bins & smaller tray segments underneath.
Trays on right are extra pendants to be used as bonus giveaways: 1 free for every 10 purchased.

Packaging Area Basics.

Large orders packaged into baggies by shape.
Each was wrapped snug with unprinted newspaper then into box with lots of padding.

Individual pendants got tissue paper, then bubble wrapped together with business card.
Some were then wrapped with this thin cardboard for packaging support.

Yellow = Bubble Mailer. On top shows how I line the items up in the package.
Crumpled newsprint, beads in cardboard, crumpled newsprint.
I take the extra precaution of using packaging tape as a second envelope sealer.
I also like adding clear tape over the shipping label on the front.

Speaking of shipping labels… I like to hand write mine out.
I just like that extra personalization & connection.
It's like saying a little extra "Thank You" to that person in my mind.

First round ready to ship and go to the post office mid-week.
Second & final round went out Saturday morning.

And as the week of sorting, packing & shipping went on - so did regular life…

Our cat "Peeves" was more than happy to keep me company this entire time.

Chloe had fun going with me to ship orders at the Post Office.
She received some Stickers in my PO Box from a sticker exchange we did this fall.
Talk about an excited and happy girl! Time to start a sticker book for her...

Bonus Day With PopPop just hanging out!

My dad was up from FL for a few days so Chloe and I took the day off to run around and hang out with him. It's weird not having my dad's family live here in DE with us anymore.

They moved to FL back in the mid 90's. And even though it's great having a nice place to visit them, I'd still prefer they lived near us. There is a plethora of comments about us moving to FL. But really, I love all seasons we have here in DE and being close to most of the rest of the family. 

No to mention my garden and the flora & fauna from this area...

Chloe rolling out play dough beads...

And for the What's Next? part:

Well, I like seeing empty holes in storage shelving areas.

Empty Shelf Space where destash pendants used to be.

So much so that I think I'm going to be running some additional DeStash sales to help clear this space out a bit…

Porcelain Bisque Storage Shelves.

I would really love to have this studio space for setting up my potters wheel and get into making different kinds of clay & mixed media art. 

This area that is filled with shelves was designed for my kick wheel in the original studio layout.

I not only have these above shoe boxes filled with "general pendant stock", but a whole other area with baggies in bins of beads - multiples of the same textures and shape/size that were made when I was doing a lot of online wholesale business.

Lots of specific pieces all ready for glazing...

And with the state of the economy and how technology has changed the way we all shop and buy our supplies.

We go by lists now, right? Rarely by that emotional "I must have that" out of control impulsive buying (which I am fully guilty of having in overload). 

And we're always looking for a great deal - right?!

Groupon… Flock Shop… Deals, Deals, Deals… Coupons Galore!

Talk about overload - on many levels.

So what I'm planning & with Dave working the new website shopping cart,

I'm going to go through stock, see what pendant shapes/sizes I've got in limited multiples.

Those limited multiples will be loaded with a set qty into a special destash section of my website shopping cart for a few days - to be determined by this new cart setup & how fast we can implement some really cool options (like "rewards" programs for items you buy - really cool stuff!)

By "limited", I mean there are specific textures and shapes/sizes - not my entire catalog which is currently available on the website.

I will pick out a selective glaze palette for these destash pieces that these can be glazed in such as these colors and maybe a few more (will be looking at the spring 2012 Pantone color palette too). 

Marsha Neal Studio Fall Glaze Color Palette

So what do you all think?

And there are to be lessons to be learned by how I got myself into this situation with lots of stock that is just sitting. More on that to come in a later post though.

Thanks everyone for making this such a fun event!

If you missed out on some of the "fun" part - that would have been all the interaction during the sale that was going on - on the Marsha Neal Studio FaceBook page.

I had some random commenter giveaways for 50% off a clay item coupon codes, half-priced silk listings, free destash pieces, etc. 

All totally by the seat of my pants - and it was a blast!

(ok - that wasn't meant to sound like "that").

You guys are SO much fun!

Thanks again for hanging out with me and making it such a success…

I look forward to the next round and making you all specific pieces just for you…

Thanks!