BUST ad

I found it and it looked really good! I was pretty impressed with it. This is the best way to help advertise the diversity of etsy and the quality of handmade work which is offered here, not a whole page of just one shop. I'm not taking anything away from the shop which is featured but it just doesn't represent the actual diversity of the site. I didn't buy the magazine but I was able to snap a quick picture of the ad with my phone.

Here is the pix of it:



Congrats to all the sellers who were able to purchase a spot. It looks great and best wishes on happy sales to all!

November Sample Boxes

October has been a busy month for me. I've participated in sending promo items to etsians who are running craft fairs and got into to 2 boxes for the month of November.
I'm participating in The Little Black Box and The Sampler. I'm excited to see the results of participating in these boxes.

I'm really impressed at the way my cloths were displayed for this picture over The Sampler. Here's a pix. (Scroll down for my shop)

I'll be participating in The little black box December box also. I'm still debating on what to make for that one.

here are pix of them all boxed up:

The Sampler


The LBB


Wish me luck!

Critiques

I received a critique on my shop from Mu-yin Jewelry last week. Overall it was an appreciated critique.

After thinking about the critique more I got the feeling that my shop wasn't up to par and wasn't good enough. I didn't like the fact that it was pointed out how my shop wasn't focused on one craft. I got the feeling that my shop had a "garage sale" feeling to it. The work and the effort I've put into my shop felt pretty null after this critique. I enjoy having variety in my shop and most people seem to have appreciated that fact.

Based on this critique I decided to see what I could do to "polish" up my shop and give it more of a "professional business" look to it. I opened a new shop to feature my cards, papercrafts and what ever other items I want to put into it. This shop will be my secondary shop. I plan on using my main shop to draw people into both shops. I am going to run with this for a bit and see what comes of it. If the 2nd shop doesn't pan out then i'll close it down and just use my main shop.

My shop is my love for my hobbies. Of course I want it to have a professional feel to it but I also want to be able to love it and enjoy it. If I constantly succumb to all the critiques I won't enjoy what I do.

So for now CatheavenCrafts will be my knit/crochet store. And CatheavenCreations will be my papercrafts and misc items.

I would love to hear opinions on what others think of having variety in stores. Is opening a 2nd shop really worth it?

Rejection

I recently responded to an email for a call for gift bag samples for this local magazine. After a few days I received this email back:

"Thank you for responding to our request for products for our launch. It was very kind of you to offer your products, unfortunately your product is not quite what we are looking for at this time.

We are always looking for local artists and interesting stories so I will keep your information on file and contact you should an article idea or a place presents itself."

After having some really hard personal troubles and my etsy shop not doing well this was not a welcome response. At least it was a decent and polite rejection and not a blatant your items stink type of response. Either way in the mist of all this, this really was a huge downer.
So how do you all take rejection?

The Artisans Challenge Week of 10/20

This week I found out that I'm in The Artisans Challenge. There's a lot of competition here and my little greeting card is hardly up to par to some of the beautiful jewelry pieces that are also in the challenge. Either way I'm pretty excited to see it up there. So feel free to stop by and check it out. Would love a vote for my card! Life's a beach card is the title.

My take on etsy

So a lot has of talking has been going on over at etsy talking about how low views are, people arent' buying, what's wrong with my shop, etc. I posted on recent thread that has been started. here is what I wrote:

" boy if the negativity and not so great feeling continues to pour through these forums what's to stop etsy to just shutting down? Who is going to want to shop here? I know that i'm feeling blue but if i complain i complain to my husband. If people can't be more upbeat etsy is going to start getting a not so great reputation and we certainly don't want that. shoppers are going to get turned off from the site. I can tell ya that if i was strictly a buyer here i might think twice about shopping from this site.
I'm almost to a point where i don't want to look at the forums anymore. The "why are my views slow", "why isn't my stuff selling" etc threads are starting to get old and a tad nerve wracking.

besides promoting just your shop keep putting the word out about etsy. Almost all my friends had no idea what etsy was until i told them.

Anyways that's my opinion. We are all trying to run a business.Most people do have to work to earn that almighty $1. I just say be thankful that etsy is here and makes dreams possible."

What I just don't get is that people expect that because they are selling on a high traffic website that etsy should be responsible for doing the advertising for them? I disagree. Etsy is here to be a venue to allow people to sell and buy. Why should etsy be responsible for trying to promote every single one of the sellers. I do think that etsy should work more towards fixing their website and really getting the name out there like ebay. People may complain over the listing fees and the fees which are taken out but if you think about it's a whole heck of a lot cheaper to list on etsy than say to have a B&M store. That's another point. If you own a B&M store because you're in the building would one expect the landlord to promote for you? Of course not. We are renting a space, so to say, on etsy. It is the sellers responsibility to take their shop to the next level.
Etsy as a whole is flooded with the same types of crafts. It's extremely hard to be seen unless you sell something very unique. Most sellers have networks and contacts outside of etsy which draws them into etsy. I also think that suppliers do very well on etsy because as a seller we need raw material to make our handmade items.

I personally have just about beaten myself into the ground trying to promote my shop. I am up until almost 2 am every night advertising, emailing, or working on items. I am sincerely hoping that all the many many hours I've put into all this I will see some results. I have my sad, depressing days also where I sit there and think that my items just aren't good enough, my prices are too high, and what's wrong with my shop attitude. I DON'T bring this up on threads to the whole etsy community. There are SO many threads where this is already being done. It's getting old and it's turning into a real turn off. So I stew for a bit, then i get creative again and the whole cycle starts again.

Starting any type of business in this day of age is hard. Economy is crap and the news does not help with the constant talk of recession, dow jones falling, bank after bank being sold etc.. it's a wonder people don't want to spend money. All businesses have tough times. You must take the good with the bad.

I just hope that the attitude changes on etsy and that the forums aren't completely over run with negativity and drive off buyers.

On that note feel free to stop by my shop and take a peek. Or feel free to leave me a comment about my shop.

Not your ordinary notepad

After working on my new promo designs I figured why not take the concept and make little notepads. So I came up with my latest design. I REALLY like these. I just love paper products! They are time consuming to make but I think they really are worth the extra effort. Since they do take awhile to make I'll slowly get more up in my etsy shop. If you're interested in them please visit my shop or drop me a comment or email. Would love to hear comments on them!

Perfect Gift

I tried my hand at soap making last night because I think soap would be the perfect item to go with my handknit and crocheted cloths. The process was fun and not as hard as I thought it'd be. The soap I made is a glycerin based soap scented with rose and is a pretty lavender color.
I think these would make the perfect gift for the person who loves bath and body type of items. The cloths are 100% cotton and machine washable so they are easy to take care and will last quite awhile. Here is my new set which just went up for sale on etsy.

Team CCCOE Fall Challenge on Etsy

This months challenge theme for Team CCCOE was Fall Traditions. This is my first month participating with this etsy team and I'm so excited. There were so many beautiful entries. It's going to be a hard one to vote one. My entry was my newly designed child scarflette. You can view all the entries by clicking on this thread over on etsy. If you're also an etsy seller voting in the CCCOE fall tradition challenge can earn you a spot in the highly sought after treasury. So come on over and vote!

Little Girl's Scarflettes

So I came up with the idea of making little scarflettes for girls. I was able to easily make one based on the adult sized pattern. Once complete I tested it on my daughter. She loved it! Right now i have 2 different colors available over at etsy. These will be wonderful for the colder weather or chilly nights.

Scarflette Premier

After many hours of playing around with different ideas I finally came up with a perfect pattern for a new scarflette. I am so happy how this turned out and it looks so pretty on too! Scarflettes/cowls seem to be the newest fashion craze. I was a little unsure of them until I tried on the one I just made. I love it. This first one is a pretty dusty pink color. Perfect to help support breast cancer awareness month in October. The scarflette is for sale at my etsy shop.

Working on trying to promote

Off to the start of another week. I've been a bit busy working on some samples so I haven't had a chance to really update my shop at all. I've been feeling a bit discouraged lately anyways. I joined a new etsy team which is related to my home state. (Team CCCOE) The members there are lovely but it's their work that is superb! I'm just floored with the talent there. So (sob story here), it really makes my shop and items look so childish. (end sob story). I'm happy with how my shop looks and I feel pretty proud of my items but it's hard to stay so upbeat all the time.

So in the midst of the "feeling sorry" for myself mode I've been working trying to promote. Somedays I just get to be at a loss of where I should be promoting. I can only promote so much on etsy especially since I'm one little unknown shop in hundreds of thousands. Everyone is in there promoting and it's really hard to be seen. Where else do people promote? If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them! Please feel free to leave me a comment or contact me over at etsy.

My shop probably won't be updated at least for another week I'm thinking. I want to get these samples done and mailed off or else I'll procrastinate and end up being late. I'll let everyone know later on what these *secret* samples are and where they are going.
Until next time...
Have a purrfect day

Keep baby warm hat

So I took the weekend off of no creating. I've been wracking my brain for ideas for the past month that I just needed a break. But last night I finally got around to get back to creating. I designed a new baby which is absolutely adorable. I know it will be extremely warm as my daughter has a sweater made out of the same yarn. I'm pretty excited about it and I think it'll cute when worn. I plan on doing some more hats so check my etsy shop for them!

Crochet Bookmarks

I LOVE to read. I'm an avid reader and in between my crafting time I like to sit back and relax with a good book. I designed this new crochet bookmark to help me keep my place in my books. The bookmark is accented with a pretty set of beads at the bottom. This also makes it easier to get back to the place I am at in my book. The beads can either be at the bottom of the book or at the top hanging over the spine. Why not make your reading more enjoyable with one of these new bookmarks?

Another Happy Purchase

So on etsy I've heard how important to have an eye catching banner and a clickable avatar. I tried my hand on making my own banner and whoa did I hear the comments about banner needs to be changed etc etc.. At first I will admit I was little put off by this because I spent quite a bit time working on it. Finally I realized that people were right and I needed to do something about it. So where do you go for a new affordable banner? Well to etsy of course.

My original banner and avatar was to be done by someone else but something happened and it couldn't be done. Soo off I went back to the forums. There was one poster in the forums who made a comment to one of my posts. Soo I went and checked her out. I messaged her and told her my dilemma and that I had no real creative idea of what I wanted. Within 2 messages she had me convinced that I was going to go with her.

Let me introduce you to Accessoryalley. She asked me a few questions and off we went. She totally had exactly what I had envisioned and her personality was wonderful. She had my banner/avatar done in less than 24 hours. Her prices are extremely reasonable and she's a wonderful person to work with. I am extremely happy and I HIGHLY recommend her for any graphic work you need on etsy.

Adorable new Flower Cake Amigurumi

I'm so excited! Last night I designed and created a new amigurumi crochet pattern. I think it's so adorable! (Okay maybe I am a tad biased) This new little toy is part cupcake and part flower. I've already got 2 sizes done. But the smaller one was already claimed by my daughter. The bigger one is for sale at my etsy shop. Come stop by and take a peek!

New Tags added

I made some more tags last night. I think they are just adorable and I am hoping that others will too. I've been having a of fun getting things together for my store. I'm up to 24 items but still only 1 sale. So I'm debating if I should hold off on stocking more inventory until I see that sales are possible. Here are the tags I made.

A delightful Etsy experience

Over the weekend I was in a "buying" mode on etsy. I came across one seller which was selling some items I was interested in. Her shop is called SunAndMoonCraftKits. What a delightful experience I had with her. I had a question about one of her products and I was so happy when I saw that she responded back quite quickly. Gail is an easy going fun person. We started chatting about cats during the transactions. Because of her easygoing personality I was comfortable with asking her some other questions which ended up adding more to order. She easily added my additional items and didn't charge me shipping. This is technically my second purchase on etsy. But I consider it my first as this buyer was so much more friendly and personable. I can't wait for my order to be received.
Thanks Gail for making my etsy experience all the more pleasurable.

New Items added

Well the long Labor day weekend is over. I spent some of my weekend working on getting some new items up into my shop.




One is this adorable "Cute" wash/face cloth. I designed this myself and I love making it. There is also a bib which could go with the cloth.

I also discovered over the weekend how to make stitch marker for knitting. These were so fun to make. IT's still a learning process but I was so thrilled to finish them and test them out. I'm hoping to be able to make more in the future for myself and for my store.

Here they are. One is a pink set with a heart on the main bead and the second set is a blue set. I really like the blue set because the beads have this really neat swirl in it.



I hope to be adding some new product within the next couple of days. I'll be posting a new crochet pet blankie and a scarf or two.

Starting out on etsy

So I've been only actively working on my etsy store for about 2 weeks now. I'm finding that it is a lot of work, which is of course to be understandable. There are superb handmade articles out there and there is a lot of competition. I'm amazed at a lot of the success stories which have happened because of etsy.

I know I need a lot of work and need to spend more time promoting my shop but there's only so much I can do in a day. I have lots of ideas but there just seems to not be enough time during the day to accomplish everything I want to do.

If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them.

I know I haven't been on etsy long but it can get discouraging when there hasn't been a sale yet. It leaves a feeling of what is wrong with my item and is it not good enough? Some days I'd like to just toss in the towel. I've experienced the whole craft show and selling some years ago back when I first started to crochet. Since I was not experienced back then in both the craft and the art of selling I stopped soon after and just kept my craft to myself.

So here I am a few years later trying my hand at the handmade selling world. Wish me luck!

More cards added

Two new sets of card added. Come take a peek at them on my etsy shop where there are more views of them.

New Item added

I've added the cutest asian themed hang tags to my etsy shop. Right now there is only one lot of 5 up. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few more lots up shortly. They measure 3 3/4 in. by 2 1/4 in. Each tag is handmade with the utmost care by me. If you're interested in them please stop by my etsy shop or send me an email.