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!