EtsyBlogger of the Month: CreateAThought

"There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes. ~William Makepeace Thackeray"

This quote, in the Shop Annoucement of CREATEaTHOUGHT's shop, is a wonderful invitation the world of journaling and creative writing. The artist behind CREATEaTHOUGHT offers journals and journal kits in all sorts of designs to spur your creativity.

In her profile, she writes, "everyday you are creating thoughts. Thoughts that are interesting and beautiful, profound and deep, silly and funny. Whatever your thought style is, they should be recorded. CREATEaTHOUGHT's mission is to help you do just that."

In addition to journals, she also sells handmade buttons, rings, magnets, and cards. Check it out!

EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival: Summer Shop Show & Tell

The current Blog Carnival theme for EtsyBloggers*:
Show & tell: Summer line - what you will be making/showing in your shop this summer...

I've been wanting to introduce some new items to my shop for a while now. But RL work has been keeping me very, very busy. And sales in the shop have picked up just enough (during this otherwise busy time) to give me pretty much no spare time.

Here's to hoping I can get to some new things soon!

I want to add a line of decorated cotton twill tape (similar to the commercial tapes you can get from Japan). The materials are sitting in my studio waiting for me. Look for them soon (I hope!).

And my hand-carved rubber stamps are doing well in the shop. I want to continue to expand my offerings. As you can see, I've got a sketch of a gnome ready to go.

Look for the new offerings soon. I hope. :)

*EtsyBloggers, I apologize for not fulfilling my April blog obligations. So sorry!

EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival: The 3rd Month

Here's the current topic for EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival:
Month 3 - We are already on March!! What have you accomplished this year in real life or on Etsy?? Have you followed your New Year's resolutions? What are your plans for the rest of 2009?

I've been thinking about this topic and planned to blog about it on my own. Even better that it's a Blog Carnival topic.

Ok. Let's go back and look at what I promised two months ago (how soon I forget!):

*Make more stuff.
I've been doing pretty well with this. Keep on going.

*Expand the line of items I make for knitters.
Good so far. I created a line of knitting-related rubber stamps. Still need to do more. What's on the drawing board? Covered tape measures, circular needle holders, more stitch markers, a few more rubber stamps.

*Once I have the knitting items added to the shop, maybe do a little advertising on Ravelry?
Not yet for Ravelry. However I did a different kind of advertising to knitters. I contributed to the PhatFibers boxes for February and will send in my March & April contributions on Monday. So I guess I've done this... or a variation of this.

*Oh, and start donating $1 from each set of stitch markers that I sell to Susan G. Komen For the Cure.
Done. Haven't sent out my first donation but I'm planning to do it at the end of each quarter.

*Keep expanding the line of hand-carved rubber stamps.
I have made more in addition to the knitting stamps. And I need to keep on going. They're very popular and fun to make!

*Now that Etsy has finally connected up with Google Analytics, I need to take advantage of that information.
I've been checking it regularly.

*Try to add more items made with upcycled materials.
I've made a few. I want to make more.

*I'm making a limited-edition 'zine for a swap and will have some for sale in the shop.
This is almost done. I expect to list it sometime next week or maybe the week after.
*Redo my "Categories."
I added a "Goods for Knitters" category but decided not to mix it up more than that. I took an informal survey and discovered that folks like straight-forward categories and are irked by squishy ones. So no squishy categories for me!

*Change up my banner and avatar regularly.
I've been doing this.
*Keep up with LinkReferral.
I've not been doing this on a regular basis. Bad Etsian.

*I'm thinking of trying 1000Markets, ArtFire, and FunkyFinds.
I haven't gotten very far except to buy a shop on ArtFire. Perhaps my biggest failing on the resolution list.

*My art/craft room desperately needs cleaning and reorganization.
Also not done. But needed. Sometime soon, I promise.

EtsyBlogger of the Month: Design by Nora

It's a Family Affair.

Nora's shop features not only her cute little polymer clay earrings but also a big selection of handbags designed by her Uncle Naz. It's a fun combination of goodies from an obviously creative family.

According to Nora's profile, she recently graduated with a B.A. in Art/Graphic Design. She says, "Besides my love for graphic design, I love making cards, jewelry, playing around with polymer clay, reading and geeking around on the computer."

It's been fun to poke around her shop to learn more about her. Check out her shop! Don't you need a little pair of flower earrings for spring?

EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival: My Etsy Shop

For the February 27 EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival (yes, I know I'm early), the topic is:

What made you open a shop on Etsy? What do you like about being a seller on Etsy? What don't you like?

For many years (before Tommy was born and when he was little) I had a booth in the Ann Arbor Art Fair. One of the largest art fairs in the country, the A2 fair sees over a half-million visitors in four days in July. I enjoyed being a part of the crazy art fair scene, but it started taking over my summers, and I eventually dropped my booth.

I never really missed the fair, but I did miss making things to sell.

For the past few years I've been swapping through Swap-Bot and Flickr (and more recently, Ravelry). And I made lots and lots of items to include in these swaps. Several of the items -- especially the Harry Potter charm bracelets -- had lots of requests (through Flickr primarily) from folks who were interested in buying them.

I had been an Etsy buyer for a while and decided to give it a try as a seller as well. That was a little over a year and 217 sold items ago.

What do I like about it? Lots of things:
* The ease and low cost of running the shop and adding new items
* The sense of community
* The warmth of the other members
* The great things Etsy sellers and buyers do for each other
* [Generally] The look of the site
* The wide variety of gorgeous and wonderful items for sale

What don't I like?
* The way I feel like a needle in a very, very large haystack. It's very difficult to get noticed
* The exclusive attitude of the Etsy admin. There are many, many instances where I feel excluded rather than included
* The emphasis on opening new shops and relisting items, rather than helping us make sales
* Communication - it's often non-existent or mishandled
* The lack of flexibility in setting up (both organizationally and graphically) my shop

EtsyBlogger of the Month: donnapool

One of the original members of EtsyBloggers, donnapool has a fun, eclectic shop filled with buttons, photography, and toys.

Her buttons made with vintage images are some of my favorites. I'm such a fan of old advertising graphics and they make very fun buttons!

According to her Etsy profile, donnapool is a stay-at-home mom who used to work as a photographer. In addition to EtsyBloggers, she's also a member of three other Etsy street teams: EtsyMoms, EtsyCREST, CafeMom Etsy Moms.

To learn more about her, visit her blog, "Donna Says..."

EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival: New Year Goals for My Shop

Rather than making monumental goals for the New Year, I try to come up with lots of smaller, more do-able goals.

This is the case with my Etsy shop as much as it is with me personally.

The goals tend to be ideas I'd like to implement. Here are a bunch that have been rolling around in my head. Take a look, and we'll look back in a few months and see how many actually got implemented.

*Make more stuff. That's easy to understand why. It's great to have some old favorites, but shops always need NEW stuff to keep them fresh and interesting.

*Expand the line of items I make for knitters. It's a natural connection -- off Etsy, I'm a pretty passionate knitter. I don't know if I'll ever sell any knitted items (possibly), but I love the idea of a whole line of goodies that cater to knitters. So in addition to the current ones (notecards made with recycled knitting catalogs and stitch markers), I'm think of more stitch markers, cute covered tape measures, knitting-related rubber stamps, and possibly some needle holders for circular needle sets. I recently received the Harmony circular set from KnitPicks (love them!) and would like to develop a holder specifically for them.

*Once I have the knitting items added to the shop, maybe do a little advertising on Ravelry? I've never actually paid for an ad, but this is probably the best way to start. They certainly are the perfect targeted audience.

*Oh, and start donating $1 from each set of stitch markers that I sell to Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

*Keep expanding the line of hand-carved rubber stamps. I enjoy making them and they sell well. They're a natural for expansion.

*Now that Etsy has finally connected up with Google Analytics, I need to take advantage of that information.

*Try to add more items made with upcycled materials.

*I'm making a limited-edition 'zine for a swap and will have some for sale in the shop. The subject? Currently a secret. Check back at the end of the month for more details.

*Redo my "Categories." Right now, they're sorted by media. I'm gonna try sorting by subject matter to see if it's more interesting. But if it's less useful, I'll go back to the traditional way of sorting.

*Change up my banner and avatar regularly. Of course, stick with a recognizable look. But keep it interesting by highlighting different items, holidays, etc. So far, I've done this (see the banner at the top of this post), but need to keep it up.

*Keep up with LinkReferral. I'm not sure that I've seen any specific sales from it, but it sure gets a lot of folks to view my shop. Since that's my main problem with Etsy -- the needle-in-a-haystack syndrome -- anything that gets eyes into my shop is a good thing.

*Speaking of problems with Etsy, the painfully-hip-twentysomethings-in-Brooklyn thing is starting to get on my nerves. They're so horribly exclusive in so much of what they do. But they do have the traffic -- so I need to keep playing their game. However, I also need to put some energy into trying one or more of the alternative sites. So I'm thinking of trying 1000Markets, ArtFire, and FunkyFinds. Will you visit me there?

*This is not part of my shop, but it's certainly related. My art/craft room desperately needs cleaning and reorganization. It's overflowing and needs some rethinking (along with a whole lot of cleaning). I'm too skeered to show you a "before" picture, but will show an "after" one if there ever is an "after..."

Whew! Is that it? Well, check back later and see how much I actually accomplish....

EtsyBlogger of the Month: Roseworks Jewelry

Another active and enthusiastic member of the EtsyBloggers team, Ruthie of Roseworks Jewelry is the featured blogger of the month for January.

Ruthie's shop is filled with fun, affordable little bobbles made with beads and wire or hemp. I love how she shows some of the off by draping them on a frosted glass hand mannequin... great presentation!

You can tell she has a good time creating her treasures -- everything just looks like it was made with love.

To find out more about her, visit her blog: Roseworks Jewelry.

And it you're looking for a cute little affordable gift (even if it's for yourself!), her shop is the perfect place!

EtsyBlogger of the Month: Spotted Cow Soaps

I first met Ms. Moo of Spotted Cow Soaps a month or so ago while participating in a Sneak Attack. She's always so positive and energetic -- perfect for Sneak Attacks! ...and now she's the EtsyBloggers Team Blogger of the Month. A terrific choice.

She was one of the reasons I decided to join EtsyBloggers. I was incredibly impressed by how active and encouraging she (and other team members) were.

Spotted Cow Soaps is located deep in the heart of Vermont amongst the mountain views and dairy farms. Ms. Moo has been formulating and selling homemade natural soaps for over 8 years. She started by making soaps for herself, to cure some personal skin issues and ended up with a business that has "grown into an obsession and love for handcrafting great smelling soaps."

Her Etsy shop is filled with lovely handmade soaps, including the gorgeous [limited edition] Christmas Candy Cane soap (pictured), super-fatted with coconut oil, palm oil, shea butter, olive oil, sunflower oil AND soybean oil! In addition to the soaps, she also sells body lotion, bubble bath, bath salts, hand-crocheted organic cotton bath accessories, and soy candles.

I'm sure you know of someone who deserves a little pampering. Yourself, perhaps?

Flowers in the Snow

Frances of Homemade Originals is the host of the current EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival topics. The topics? December 8 is "National Brownie Day" and "Winter Flowers Day." I love both topics -- so I'll blog about both of them (look for the 2nd one soon).

There's something particularly magical about flowers that bloom when winter is raging outside.

Years ago I worked at a wonderful old general store in Ann Arbor. We carried amaryllis and paperwhite bulbs and taught lots and lots of folks how to pot them up for indoor blooms.

Those are the easy blooms -- the ones that normally grow outdoors (like hyacinths and tulips) are the difficult ones. You must force them, basically make them believe they've gone through a winter.

Paperwhites, a type of daffodil/jonquil are beautiful but quite aromatic. Their scent is heavy and not always pleasant -- especially when enclosed in a small room. My preference is for the amaryllis, a strikingly beautiful flower.

What do you do with an amaryllis bulb? I remember it all quite clearly. Use a pot about 1 inch larger than the bulb. We used 6" pots because the bulbs we sold were very large. The size of the bulb will relate to the size of the bloom.

Pot them up with about 1/4 to 1/3 of the bulb showing above the soil. Water them sparingly. And wait... simple as that. Very soon a shoot of bud and leaves will emerge and grow quite quickly. You may have to support the stem if it gets too tall. ...and enjoy your beautiful, bloom as the snow falls outdoors!

EtsyBloggers: Blog Carnival

As part of my membership in EtsyBloggers (an Etsy street team), I am asked to blog twice a month about specific topics. The current topic is:

How are you going to prepare your business for the holiday rush?

Honestly, I'm not sure how much "rush" I'll see. :) Sales in my Etsy shop have gone up a bit lately and I hope to see them continue like this. However, I probably won't ever really feel rushed. (It would be very fun to have that problem.)

That being said, here's what I've been doing in preparation for the holiday season....

* Adding more merchandise to the shop. I'm currently up to 83 items for sale. And I'll like to make (and then add) a few more each week as we get closer to Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice.

* I added another colorway for one of my favorite items -- the "Gather 'Round The Aluminum Tree" Christmas/winter cards. I love this combination of aqua and lime/chartreuse.

* I'll be participating in a big sale through the EtsyBloggers team. So if you've been thinking about making a purchase, you might want to wait a week or so. The sale will run from Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) through Cyber Monday (December 1). Stay tuned for more details!

storybeader

Often when you make a purchase from an Etsy seller, they send you a little extra something to thank you for your patronage. Perhaps the most creative langniappe* comes from storybeader. With every purchase from her shop, Deb promises to send a haiku written specifically for that piece. How wonderful and creative is that?

Deb, and her Etsy shop, storybeader, is the focus of November's EtsyBloggers' Featured Artist.

Deb's work has a lush, Southwest flavor. Lots of turquoise. Fetishes. Native American images. It's not surprising to find that she lives in Oklahoma. Her work speaks of the land and people of the Great Plains.

About her haikus, she writes:
"I'm a frustrated writer who likes to put words and colors together to make wearable art. How do you wear words, you ask? I suppose my haiki poems can float around in your brain as you sashay down the lane, wearing one of my necklaces."

What a great idea for a gift! A beautiful necklace and a one-of-a-kind haiku written especially for it.


*langniappe: from the Louisiana French for a little something extra. The idea behind a baker's dozen.

EtsyBlogging

I just joined EtsyBloggers. It's a very active Etsy Street Team -- I've encountered their members all over the place lately. There are a number of members involved with the Sneak Attack, etc.

I also figured it would help me (um, make that "make me") blog regularly. I'm one of those people who does better with structure.

They require that you participate several times per month. First with a bi-monthly topic (see below), and second with a post on their featured member (soon to come).

So... plunging in... the current topic is: What Am I Working On?

I'm always working on a lot of things. When I was a child it drove my mother crazy that I would focus on one thing then dart off to another leaving the first thing hanging. Now that I'm an adult, it's called "creative" (well, when it's not being called "messy"). I eventually get most things completed, and I have a much better time doing them if I'm not forced to stick with them non-stop from beginning to end.

That being said, one of the things I want to create very soon is a line of one-of-a-kind gnome stuffies. I really like little gnomes and don't know of anyone else on Etsy doing something like this.

I'd like to make them pretty much completely from felt I've made from recycled wool. So I've been felting skirts and coats and blankets and sweaters that I've picked up at jumble sales. The beard is knitted from eyelash yarn. I never thought I'd touch the stuff again but it makes the perfect beard.

I made one a few months ago as a swap gift. It took a while to make it, but I loved it when it was done. And, honestly, that's the main reason I make things -- to have fun doing it.