Pride Paracord Bracelets

I’ve been working on the packaging for my Etsy shop, and I really love these boxes. I made some pink boxes for the Breast Cancer Awareness paracord bracelets, and now I’ve made some boxes with rainbows and unicorns for the Pride paracord bracelets.

The cardstock that I bought is thick enough that it passes as a box, but I’m afraid that if I mail them to someone, they will be crushed by either human or machine, so I’ve put a rolled up piece of bubble wrap in the box in the middle of the bracelet, which means the lid doesn’t stay on, so I decided to wrap a sleeve around the box.

The bracelets are $9.95 each, shipping included. I have not raised the price for the box. I’ve even offered a discount coupon which is NERDY at checkout. Just measure your wrist with a cloth measuring tape, or use a string and hold that up to a ruler and make sure you aren’t measuring it too tight. There is a link to a video in the listing that shows how to measure your wrist. Yes, it was needed since someone bought a bracelet after measuring a bracelet they already owned instead of their wrist. The sizes are 6, 6 1/2, 7, 7 1/2 and 8 inches. Click the images to go to the listing.

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New Packing for my Etsy Shop

So I have had my Cricut Explore Air 2 for a couple of months now, and I’ve been learning not only how to create things that I can sell in my Etsy shop, but also to create packaging for my existing products.

My Etsy shop has lots of different things like stud and dangle earrings, bracelets that are paracord as well as Kumihimo and the regular flat friendship bracelets. Some things are better in boxes than in plastic bags with a card stapled to the top. The Kumihimo and flat friendship bracelets are OK in the bag, but not paracord.

I’ve also made a new box for the sets of 4 pairs of earrings. This is what they looked like before (left), compared to how they look now (right).

The reason I wanted to change these boxes was because it is easier for me if the Cricut scores and cuts the box in a colored thicker card stock paper that I can use as a visual so I can see what color the earrings are in the box. Like the red for example will be for this listing that has 4 pairs of earrings that are all red, but in a variety like one is solid red, another is red and white, another red and black and another that is red and gold. The same goes for the orange, yellow, green, blue and so on. I also have some neon earrings that will most likely be in a single neon color. Then of course I have my tie dye stud earrings which I would like to put in a box that has tie dye for the pattern of the paper, but if I can’t find that paper, I will figure something else out.

The earrings will actually come in the box on 2 cards rather than all 4 on one card. I did that for the picture for the listing. They will also be wrapped in bubble wrap inside the box to protect them if the package gets squished in transit.

Yes, I am selling a product, but the packaging is what I feel makes it look better when you receive it. And don’t worry, the prices haven’t changed.

Get nerdy with me and save 15% on your entire order with the coupon code NERDY. My shop’s website is GayNerd.Etsy.com. I hope you check it out today. I haven’t changed the packaging on everything, but I will be working on that.

The Jig Is Up!

My Etsy shop is expanding to include Paracord products. I finally bought a Paracord Bracelet Jig and it arrived today. I’ve made the cobra and fish tail bracelets and chokers with hemp, and I’ve made lanyards with the plastic lacing, but I think paracord is so much better.

Trilobite

Fish tail and Cobra

ID Lanyard

Before I got the new Paracord jig, I bought some pink and black paracord because my partner promised a pink and black ID lanyard to someone last year when he was in the hospital. He told me, but I really hated making the ID lanyards with the plastic lacing unless I was being paid to make them. The plastic lacing lanyards take about 2 hours to make, and they cause numbness and pain in both my hands. It’s not a pleasant experience, so I avoid making them at all costs. Making this paracord ID lanyard was so much faster and easier, although my hands did go numb and I had to shake it off, shake it off. Sorry, Taylor Swift got a hold of my keyboard. I was just making it without trying to make it perfect, so it got a bit twisted up. She’s getting it free, but if someone pays for one, obviously I will make it straight.

I used the remaining pink and black to make a cobra bracelet, which I gave to our tenants daughter. I also made a tan fish tail bracelet for myself, and I love it. I also made a trilobite bracelet, but I made it smaller than I can wear just because I wanted to make it for the picture. I kind of wish I made it bigger though, because I really love it. I hate the color, but I love the pattern, so I will make one for myself eventually.

What I really love about the paracord bracelets is that you can put them on and take them off to match your style or mood. I also love that there are so many patterns, so I literally will have many options to choose from on my Etsy shop. Of course I will have to make them, then give the option of size and color.

I hope the paracord bracelets, keychains, ID Lanyard and eGo e-cigarette lanyards will sell more than my other products, which don’t seem to be moving as much as they used to. Then again, perhaps paracord products will give my other products more visibility, I hope so.

Why did it take me so long to make paracord products? It’s expensive, and I didn’t want to pay for a bunch of colors with no sales. I don’t just buy a few feet at a time, I buy spools so I don’t have to keep going to the craft store. Unfortunately, until I know I will be successful, I will have to buy packs of 10-20 colors with 10 feet of each color. If someone requests another color, I will have to go to the craft store. I’d rather be safe than sorry since I have tons of the plastic lacing, and no sales.

Last year before Christmas I said I was closing my Etsy shop due to lack of interest, but I just put it in vacation mode for a couple of months. I figured I’d keep the shop just in case I really needed the money, and when I was eating Top Ramen for lunch and dinner, I had the Etsy shop so I could beg people to buy stuff so I could eat real food lol. I’m not eating Top Ramen now, but I’m almost there.

New Etsy Store

I’ve been quite the busy little bee lately.  I decided that I wanted to start making lanyard keychains, but then a friend told me that I could make other patterns, not just the square and the round, but more intricate.  She sent me to Laneyards on YouTube where I learned how to expand my horizons by making this complicated DNA strand pattern.  I went a bit further though, instead of just making it with the clear and color, I decided that I wanted to make one of each in the rainbow colors (purple is not in picture, but it is on Etsy), so I went shopping and found the translucent (which by the way makes it even more difficult to make) and I found the gold and the pink (which isn’t for sale yet).  But then I made one with all of the rainbow colors which I never in a million years thought I’d be able to do.

So what the heck am I supposed to do with all of these keychains?  People are suggesting to me on Facebook that I should sell them on Etsy, so that is what I have done.  I opened up a store called GayNerd.  I didn’t just come up with a price on the spot, I did some research and found that people were selling the DNA strand keychains made out of paracord for $8, although as I type this some of them have them for $1.50 to $5.  There are some DNA keychains made out of hemp as well for around the same low price.  I decided on $4 for the colors, $5 for the rainbow and $5 for the gold.

The rainbow one is really hard to make and takes a long time and these keychains are probably going to ruin my already messed up hands (carpel tunnel syndrome), so that’s why they are that much.  Also the gold is $5 because it’s not cheap at Michael’s.  I figured the colors are inexpensive to buy, but still a long time to make and they are hard to count because of how clear they are.

I’m not expecting anyone to buy these, I am just having fun making something neat out of nothing.  Who knows, I might get out of the DNA phase and move on to something even more complicated.  I like a good challenge.  And even if these keychains are mine forever, sitting on my desk collecting dust, at least I know that I had fun making them and it was a learning experience for me.

If I never sell them, well, let’s just say you can expect to see me on Hoarders in a couple of years LOL.