Etsy, Crystals, the Paralympics and a Fabulous Babushka

I worked on Etsy for most of the day, yesterday, watching the Paralympics when I could and the war when I couldn't. I'm still not 100% happy with the store logo on the splash page and invoice, but I can live with my own photo in the Owner's Photograph slot. I've double and triple checked everything, changed a few descriptions to be more accurate, and after one more read-through today, I'll go live with the trade beads late Sunday or early Monday. Helen, the strand you were looking at is designated as Strand "A". I promised I would give you a heads-up, and everything should be live within 24-48 hours. I could have gone live yesterday afternoon, but decided to sleep on it one more night and triple-check things today or tomorrow morning. 

Of course I can't ignore the war, nor do I want to. I can't forget, 
or allow myself to forget, what's happening in Ukraine. But 
take a look at this. My Hubby's in love with this Babushka who 
was protesting Putin and the war in Red Square. The police, 
who are normally very gruff and pushy, marched her off 
respectfully. She's all of four feet tall, they tower over 
her, but they were very gentle with her. She's got guts! 
That's the Russian people I love and admire, not the 
politicians and others with their hands in the money pot. 

I wish the Paralympics would get the same extensive coverage as the standard Olympics. The athletes are amazing and they should be celebrated. But the coverage is much less in-depth and less air time is devoted to it. I did catch the biathlon last night, which was wonderful. DH was upstairs flipping from the Paralympics to the ice hockey game to the war coverage and back again. I get exhausted when he channel flips like that - I tend to turn something on and keep it there. 

The Paralympics isn't getting as extensive 
television coverage as the standard Olympics, 
and I consider that quite sad. These 
athletes and athletic events are every bit 
as magnificent as those shown earlier this 
year. They deserve their moment of fame 
and achievement. 

Now that I've got the Trade Bead section of Etsy done and dusted, it's time to chop out a period of time for the Austrian crystals. (Swarovski - although we're not permitted to designate them with the company name anymore - *sigh* ... don't ask - they're total dickheads over there). The problem isn't with the photos or what I need to call each one. The problem is figuring out what I want to charge, and getting the page loaded with the correct descriptions and prices. 

Normally the police aren't as polite as they were with the 
Babushka. This is a bit more like what I normally see 
when the Russian Police are arresting protesters. It 
was really amusing to see them defer to the Babushka, 
pacing their steps to meet hers and holding her arms 
with respect, not an iron grip. 

Each one of the 90 or so crystals has to be listed on the sales form with the appropriate name, designation and price. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but for Etsy, it's all got to be done at one time - I can't save the sales page half-way through and then return to it later.  I'll try a couple of things on the laptop on Sunday that may offer a work-around. I'll see what I can do to make things a bit easier on myself. Today I'll have to spend all my time doing price tags at the store. We got two huge shipments in yesterday, and my time is going to be spent getting them ready to put onto the sales floor. 

I have a total of 77 colors of 8mm Swarovski cubes to 
list, in three different groups. I only need to do one 
group at a time, but doing that is important and it takes 
time to get everything listed correctly. I'm looking 
forward to getting them going, though, because I'd 
like to start on different sizes of cubes, and then 
move into the other shapes. 

I did spend some time yesterday polishing up the front page of my Etsy store (I'll still replace things down the line, but this will get me going), and reading up on how to drive sales, increase visits, and keep customers. Many of the suggestions won't apply to my situation, but some will. Tomorrow I'll double-check coding and key words as well as work on my possible work-around for the crystals. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning. Peace!