Purple Socks

One of the great things about getting older is that you can do silly stuff and get away with it.  Like shopping in the teen department and buying purple socks!  Cool, huh?  I've got a purple shirt that they match just right.

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The BelAire Courtyard

It's been awhile since I posted a picture of the lovely courtyard where my store is located.  Fine dining restaurant Cafe Margaux is on the far right (outside the camera range), with some of the outdoor tables and the pretty fountain in the foreground.  My store is in the back left corner of the courtyard.  To my "right" is a cute little shop featuring ScentChips fragrance melts.  To my "left" is a boutique full of fun and fashionable clothes.  We also have The Village Spiceman, with all kinds of yummy sauces and rubs, and Shoetique, with cute and affordable shoes, boots, and bags.  If you're local, you need to come down and reacquaint yourself with the BelAire Courtyard (especially ME!)

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Online Venue #5 --SmashingDarling

About 7 or 8 months ago, I joined SmashingDarling, a site dedicated to indie fashion. (As in "you look smashing, dahling...") As a venue for people searching out new indie designers, this place is really cool. And those of you who appreciate indie...you know how ga-ga you can be when you find cool new stuff!

For me, though, I'm still up in the air about whether to remain there. The site is slick and eye-catching, which is good. The premise for the site itself is great--the indie movement is growing by leaps and bounds. And they are dedicated to clothing, accessories, and jewelry only, which makes for a little less "competition" in the handmade arena. For a "Darling" (artisan) the set up and listing process is relatively easy, which is also good. But they have a weird payment system. Smashing Darling itself collects the money from the customer, notifies they artisan where to send the item, then sends the artisan a check once a month. I'm sure that works fine in 99% of the sales, but what about the occasional "oops"? I'm not crazy about the idea of sending out an item before I have the money in hand. So far it hasn't been an issue, because I haven't sold anything there. Of course, it's also the venue to which I pay the least attention--until today I hadn't even checked on my boutique in well over a month. I've only got three items listed there, and one of them I put up today!

So, the question becomes should I try to work it into my schedule on a more regular basis, add more stuff, and see what happens? Or in the spirit of this Online Venues series, beginning with the Spread Too Thin? post, should I drop it and free up a bit of time for something else? I guess I'll have to let you know!

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