EtsyGreetings 10/10/10 Challenge-Day 1

I'm participating in the EtsyGreetings Team's July 10/10/10 Challenge! What is that, you may ask? It's a fun promo where team members list 10 cards, one each day for 10 days and offer 10% off on the new listings, or other items in their shops. The twist: each member must blog/tweet about their new card each day AND feature another team member's creation. I found out today that a team member that featured me this morning, ended up buying the card she featured herself (thank you, jemily!) This is so much fun already, and I look forward to checking out everyone's shops! Now that you're filled in on the details, here's my first listing for the challenge:

I Kissed a Girl card... now 10% off at $3.55
BUY NOW


And here's my first feature, a really fun set of gift tags by ThePaperFlowerShop:
Butterfly Scalloped Round Tags, Set of 12 $4.75
BUY NOW

Thanks for checking out my listings, and watch my blog for the next 10 days to see my creations and my featured team members!

Magnet Giveaway!

Ok folks, I've been on Twitter, Facebook and in the Etsy forums promoting the heck out of these little guys, and only one sale? Come on... they're so cute, and perfect for any occasion! Birthday, new home, new job... whatever! Each set is made of super-strength 1/2" magnets with fun little enameled buttons (or glass beads) permanently glued to the top and comes in a reusable metal tin with a clear top. A set of 6 is now just $5 and you get a FREE GIFT! With any magnet purchase (set or single style), you'll get a free mini card with envelope in your choice of Birthday, Wedding, Baby or All Occasion- great for throwing in a gift bag, or on top of one of these magnet sets ;)

Click HERE to see my full magnet collection
...and don't forget! The FREE GIFT PROMO offer ends 7/31/09!

A little goes a long way

Members of the EtsyGreetings team have been taking part in what they're calling a crafty space makeover. I didn't really have the time to dedicate to reading through the posts and contributing, but I've been checking out other members' blogs to see what kind of progress they've been making. I've seen such great ideas, and some really beautiful crafty spaces, I decided to re-vamp mine a bit, just to give it a little update...

Here's the messy "Before" shot:

After the addition of new cubes and storage bins...

New drawers that hold my cards much better!

My lifesaver! Drawers for my adornments- everything now has a place:
I've been using this set up for a few weeks now, and I must say, it's so much easier getting things made when you're organized! I've got everything within reach and giving things their own space speeds up production time- no more wasting precious minutes searching for things. More improvements coming, but this definitely feels like a good start!

I was Featured!

My little Owl Card was featured in Going Home To Roost's
Let's Go Camping post today:

Clockwise from top left: potomac kayak, camp tea towels, cedar’s portrait, hearts affire, herbal insect repellent, eye pillow, whooo loves you card, kayak.

To Artfire or Not to Artfire, that's the question.

Artfire is confusing me a bit. As a matter of fact, so is Etsy. I’ve been selling on Etsy since 2007, have more than 500 sales and have been super happy with the way things were going for me there. Then came Artfire, what some call the new and improved Etsy. Easier listings, no fees, and lots of exposure. I’m not hip to all the drama over Etsy’s SEO issues, but I know that’s got something major to do with the fact that my items aren’t getting as many views. Now that I’m really trying to make my business successful, I’m in both places (and 1000 Markets, which isn’t doing much for me either), and having a hard time deciding which I should devote more energy to. Artfire is a much more user friendly platform and gives me TONS of hits, but I’ve only had one sale so far and that’s kind of discouraging. On the other hand, I hate paying Etsy (even if it is 20 cents) for each listing if it’s going to take forever to get noticed. Ho-hum… looks like late nights listing in both shops for me for a while. Anyone reading have any suggestions? I'd love to hear them... and take a look at both of my shops- which do you like best? Etsy or Artfire.

ArtFire: What I like about you

Dare I say I'm quickly becoming a big fan of ArtFire? After all these years as a loyal Etsyian? YES, you're darn right! There's been a lot of discussion in the handmade community lately about all of the options available for artisans to sell their goods online. Up until yesterday, I was an Etsy girl 90% and 1000 Markets 10%. But after doing the math and calculating listing fees, transaction fees, Paypal and Amazon Payments fees... the site I'm selling the most on (Etsy) is also costing me the most to be there.

Then along came ArtFire. ArtFire's concept seems to be much the same as Etsy and 1000 Markets. Though the trend I see is that 1KM and ArtFire has taken all of the annoying things about Etsy and improved on them dramatically. The capability of listing an item, all on one screen is in itself a Godsend. What used to take a few minutes on Etsy is now a quick and easy process on the other two sites. ArtFire offers an account option for $12 a month, flat. No listing fees, no selling fees, nothing else. All you pay is a tiny fee to Paypal when something sells. I know for a fact that I'm spending much more than 12 bucks on Etsy each month. I've slowly stopped relisting on Etsy and adding new items to my ArtFire studio first. I'm really happy with the amount of views I'm getting and hope they turn into sales as I add more things and become more established.

So with all of that said, I'm still selling on Etsy, 1000 Markets and am now happy to introduce my ARTFIRE studio! Funny, I Twittered about it yesterday, begging for my first sale to see how Artfire handled the checkout/email correspondence and I got my first sale in a matter of minutes! I'm so happy to be a part of all three sites, now it's just a matter of seeing which one will work best for me :)

Bleecker Street Success

What a FANTASTIC show!! I did this event last year and it ended up being rained out, so I really had no way of knowing how successful it would be on a beautiful day. Yesterday, the rain subsided, the sun came out and so did the shoppers! You'll see in the photo my card rack was fully loaded, and I'm pleased to say that I went home with MUCH LESS than I started! Folks were not just buying one card, but 2, 3 sometimes 4-5 cards in one shot!

I also took the advice of marketing guru Tim Adam (of Handmadeology fame) and set up a "clearance" bin of 1/2 price cards I wanted to unload. Hi theory was to show your stuff at their regular prices, and offer some things higher or lower to entice the buyer one way or another. It worked! I got rid of so many old-style cards, that I can now justify making new ones :) I'm so pleased with the way this event went. It was well organized, fun and I networked my butt off (even got some leads about wholesaling to some really great shops in the village!).

I did the show alone, which surprisingly wasn't an issue, since I have mastered the art of setting up my EZ-Up and was fortunate to have friends and family visiting from time to time. It just prevented me from spending a lot of time checking out the other vendors. Thanks to Danielle from Collective Elements, and Susan from SusanItkinBatik for stopping by to visit me! Hope the show was successful for everyone, and can't wait for next year! Time to stop writing and start crafting!