Maybe Relevancy Isn't the Problem

I've come to a conclusion.. There is nothing wrong with the change to relevancy. Think I'm weird? Think again.... After posting perviously my "views" have not changed.. They still have little if any "views". So why do I not see the problem with the change to relevancy anymore? It's really quite simple. I believe that in the process of changing everything up on etsy some how the view counter got messed up or is only counting a certain kind of "view" but not neccessarily all the times someone looks at that specific page. For instance..

This item has "0 views" yet it still manges to have a "<3" (someone added it to favorites.) It is impossible for someone to favorite an item without ever even looking at it! So obviously it has been being looked at and someone liked it enough to <3 it. (Which we all love :)

xoxo,

Catherine

New Etsy Default Relevancy Search

Alright, I will admit it. When I first saw that Etsy was going to make the Default search "Relevancy" I was over joyed! No more spending loads of money on renewing for me ah? Sales on my amazing items (or so I like to think of them) simply because they are the best and I tag my items well. Hey this is going to be a win win for me! Save money AND make sales right? Reality check....

In the past 24 hours I have listed 3 new items.. Which I thought of as beautifully photographed, tagged, titled, and described. Going to be nice and relevant. Show up in the searches make lots a views which = quick sales. Right? Wrong. 

As you can see for yourselves.. Little if any views. Come on! What is wrong here?? Is it just me or are other etsians getting the same results? Something is definately not working right...

Finished Repurposed Necklace

Remember the vintage necklace that I found at a yard sale I was talking about a few days ago? If you missed it you can see the post here. Well I finished it!

What do you think? I love the way it turned out! If your interested in purchasing it here is the listing.

Blog Button

I'm working on building a blog button... I have the picture I want :) Isn't it cute?
Now just to figure out how to put it all together.. Any suggestions on where to start?

EDIT: I'm all finished! I ended up doing a google search "How to make a blog button" and took bits and pieces from different tutorials to get on that worked for the space I have available on the side. :)

xoxo
Catherine

Ugly day and Christmas Prep

Photo from http://www.thewoodlot.etsy.com

Sigh... I woke up today to a cloudy gray day, with raindrops drizzling down in rain bursts. Now don't get me wrong I love the rain. I love hearing thunder boom, watching the lightning illuminate the sky, and seeing the rainbow at the end of the storm. But that's not what today is like it's just a gross gray day. :/


I guess the photography plans I had for today will have to wait. I'm working on getting my shop Christmas ready. Yes, I know, It's a bit early. But not for a seller! It's time to start stocking up on supplies and building up my shop full of items. And with having been a slacker on my shop recently, (:O I haven't listed new items in about a month!) there is a lot to do! So far I've

• Purchased a bunch of new beads in the birthstones for the coming months, and Vintage brass wire, findings, charms etc. :) There all in the mail and I will be sure to show them to you when they get here! I pretty excited! 
• Working on the blog again :) It feels so nice to be back blogging
• Looking for blogs to advertise on that fit my target market AND budget. I've found a few, but am still waiting to hear back about price. I've got my fingers crossed :) If you think your blog would be a good fit send me an email!

Have you gotten started on your Christmas shop preparations or Christmas prep in general?

~Catherine

Yard Sale Finds

I spent the day browsing over various yard sales in the area. Although I got alot of various items, one of the things I am most excited about is this beautiful vintage necklace.

 An elderly woman, who must have had the piece for at least a decade or so, was selling it.  But on top of that she told me that SHE had purchased it from a yard sale back in the day. So this piece, to put it bluntly, is pretty old.

I'm planning on refashioning it into a newer style, it just has so much potential! I'll keep you all updated on it's transformation.

Catherine

With summer quickly running away and school just on the horizon I spent this past weekend hanging out with the family. Between cookouts, laughing over a game of Malarky or Imagineiff, Six Flags America, the Washington Memorial and adventures through a neighboring cornfield (Hey I'd never seen a corn field up close before! Let me tell you they aren't as pretty as they seem from the inside) it was an interesting weekend to say the least.

A cute little train that runs around "Whistlestop Park" inside of Six Flags America

The Station

Adorable little kid was having alot of fun watching the train run along the tracks.

The Spectacular view from the top of the Washington Memorial.

Having a bit to much fun inside of the Washington Memorial Museum ;)

My lovely cornfield adventure. I went with "Dora the Explorer" ;)

Heartsy

Wow! I have heard flying around etsyland about a website called "heartsy" but it wasn't until today that I finally decided to look into "What is heartsy?"

As it turns out "Heartsy" is a groupon style website for handmade etsy goods! Direct from there website here is how everything works...

1. We send you exclusive deals on handmade items.
Every day or so we email you one deeply discounted deal to use at an artist's Etsy store. Sign up to get our email.

2. Click to buy the deal.
Purchase our deals with one easy click. You will receive your voucher immediately. It's that simple!

3. Use your deal voucher on Etsy.
After purchasing a deal on Heartsy you receive a voucher (which is just like a gift certificate) which you can use at the Etsy store that sponsored the deal.

NEW: Invite friends, and share $10 with every friend you refer.
After you buy the deal, you'll get a unique link to share. If your friend buys a deal on Heartsy, you and your friend each gets a free $5 to spend with us in the future!

Sounds pretty amazing right? Well I am defiantly excited and WILL be using Heartsy often!

PS.. You see that invite your friends as part of how heartsy works? Well, here is my referral link so YOU can get $5 instantly to spend when you sign up!

St. Vincent De Paul Society Fundraiser

Last Weekend (wow was it really that long ago!) I was given the privilege of being asked to be a vendor at a "Valentines Extravaganza" put on at a local parish. The whole point of the event was to raise money for the St. Vincent De Paul Society to help feed the hungry. The day didn't amount to much profit for me personally, but I was glad to give my contribution to helping feed those less fortunate.

I always am redoing my displays for craft shows, and I think it changes just about every show. This is what it is at right now, and I must admit I think it looks pretty good. The table was a weird shape and it would have looked better had the table not been so deep, and rather longer.

One thing that I have used several times are my homemade necklace busts. They are created from bowls that have been flipped over with velvet attached to them. I will have to create a tutorial for how to make them soon. I think they only cost me something like $.75 a bust, and they look amazing!

A few other photos of my display:

I contacted a fabulous Etsy artist, Corrie, of PuppyDogsNPolkaDots, to see if she would be open to an interview that I could pass on to all of you. She was!  Corrie is a  friendly person, and it was a pleasure talking to her. I have my sights set on buying this Camera Case. It is adorable!

Q #1: When did you start your handmade business and what inspired you to do so?

PuppyDogsNPolkaDots was started in August 2008. I was still attending school (University of Central Florida in Orlando) and was looking for a creative way to earn money while in college. I grew up around my mom sewing clothes, purses, etc. She showed me a website for making key fobs and told me if I wanted to give it a try she would buy me a starter set. So she bought about 15 dollars worth of supplies for me and sent me home with a few scraps of her fabric and then I got to work! 


Q #2: Do you have to balance your business with work, children, both? How do you do it?

I graduated from UCF December 2010, so until then I was balancing school and work on my etsy website, PuppyDogsNPolkaDots. I worked really hard to keep a good schedule and work on school work first thing in the morning and business work in the afternoons. Now that I have graduated I try to keep normal shop hours. My hours are similar to those of a normal office job, 9-5. At this point, we have no children, just a 90 pound loveable yellow lab Riley! 


Q #3: What is your usual work day like?

I wake up quite early and get everything organized for the day. I work until lunch and then make myself take a short break to keep some sanity! I continue to work after lunch and before the post office closes I usually stop by and drop all my orders off to be shipped out. And of course on the way back I stop by Sonic Drive In for the usual…a Diet Coke. 

One of her Key Fobs and her dog Riley. 

Q #4: What is your favorite thing about running your business?

I love having the independence of being able to set my own hours and love being at home to take care of my dog.


Q #5: What is your biggest challenge?

My biggest challenge is keeping on track. I have a pretty set schedule but there is always the temptation to run out and shop during the middle of the day! 


Q #6: How do you market your business?

When I first started I created a blog and participated actively in other blog activities from others. I would host giveaways on my blog as well as others in order to get the word out about my business. Word of mouth was fantastic. Good customer service was also a priority of mine, after all having good customer service will create repeat customers. 


Q #7: What is one mistake you've made in your business that you've learned from?

I cannot think of a huge mistake but one issue would be photos. When I look back at photos of my products from when I started to now, I see a huge difference with the quality and look. I had to research and figure out how to make them “Pop”.


Q #8: What has been your biggest success and why do you think it's been so successful?

Happy repeat customers. I love to try to accommodate my customer needs. If they want an extra pocket on their case, a certain fabric or custom size that it what I will make. After all, custom orders are quite fun to make!


Q #9: What is the one thing you'd most like to tell someone just getting started?

I would like to tell them to take it seriously just as you would a normal job outside the house. If you only put half effort into the handmade business, it will be very difficult to be successful. It is hard at first, but eventually it will be routine for you. 


Q #10: What goals do you have for the future of your business?

My mom and I are trying to find the time to incorporate all of our business together. We currently help each other with each business, PuppyDogsNPolkaDots, KeetaCollection and we are trying to fill a new store, HouseAcrossTheStreet with home goods. Right now we work together on the Kindle/iPad sleeves and phone cases. When she has quite a few orders for purses from KeetaCollection, I help make those and when I have quite a few key fob orders she helps me make those. 

An Ipad Case

Q #11: Anything else you would like to tell the readers

Just a quick thank you to any readers and customers! I appreciate you all. 


Corrie has generously offered a coupon code you! To receive 20% off any item use the code: ETSYSTREASURES 


Thanks again Corrie!

Super Bowl Sunday!

Yeah! It is that time of year.... Super-Bowl Sunday! My whole house is in chaos in preparation for the game. My little sister and brother are fighting over who gets to wear which steelers jersey... And every one is deciding who is going where, and which place will have a bigger screen.

I personally don't care who actually wins. Yes call me a poor steelers fan, but I actually believe they will lose to green bay. They just can't follow through and finish a game strong. I think I will be eaten alive at a super-bowl party I am attending for this belief...

Who are you rooting for today?

Steelers Bracelets.

Packers headband.

Giveaways Galore!

Don't you just love a good giveaway. The perfect way to get those lovely etsy goodies 
 without paying a thing. 


One thing I love to do is scour the etsysgiveaways blog in hopes of finding some fun giveaways. I'm never disappointed :) Here are some of my finds from today. 

Orglamix Organic Mineral Makeup Giveaway! 

Click Here to enter to win! 

Win Polka Dot Donut Push-pins!

Win an adorable as can be owl softie of their choice from Haley By Hand!  
This Giveaway has ended.

If you would like to host a giveaway on my blog please leave a comment with your contact information, or contact me through my etsy shop. 

Alchemy Has Passed On

Yesterday was the last day of etsy's Alchemy feature for a while. It is being taken down so that the admin can remake it without dealing with trying to keep the old one open.
 
As the Etsy admin put it:

"We love what Alchemy represents, and we want to do it even better. While we're working on that, we're going to close down the current Alchemy. Helping shoppers to request custom items and having our community bid on the opportunity to fulfill those wishes is the tip of the iceberg."

 I am myself very upset about this. I rely heavily on custom work as I know other Etsians do. In order to help those etsians along I have decided to place there shop information here so that if you would like to order custom work all you have to do is send them a convo.

To start off we have Empwr.

A bit about: My name is Kellie aka Empwr/EllieK. I am a graphic artist/spray paint artist, and mother of twins! I have a very supportive husband that absolutely loves my work. I found my passion for art with graffiti. I love to apply graffiti techniques onto canvas using the different lettering styles and stenciling techniques. Painting is my chance to let it all go. I love new challenges and doing custom work for people. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have!:)

Nanda is a mom of 3 and living in Spain. She has two shops on Etsy: Lilmisspolkadot and Misspolkadotdesigns

Lilmisspolkadot sells all kinds of products for babies through brides.

Onesies with a bowtie or necktie and shabby chic onesies with lace and flowers.... bibs, pouches, toys, flower brooches, flower hairclips, flower headbands, kids art and lots more...

In my other shop MissPolkadotDesigns i sell graphic designs like logos, banners, headers, shopsets, flyers, illustrations, business cards, invitations, announcements and more.

Her style is very versatile, but what she loves making most is whimsical, elegant, retro, romantic, sweet, chic, classy.

Dolly Rocker Candles creates custom Candles!

A Bit About: Dolly Rocker Candles are an earth-friendly alternative to traditional paraffin wax candles. All natural, sustainable harvest palm wax burns slower and cleaner so you can enjoy the candles longer. Palm wax also holds more scent. Each handmade candle is formulated from my personal recipe to maximize the fragrance.

Now carrying a selection of soy wax tarts! The realistic looking tarts are scented with twice the fragrance that goes into my candles.

Currently, they offer 48 hand-picked premium fragrances. They are tested true to life and include fruity, floral, earthy and bakery scents.

Custom Stamps by typeStyles You know we all need them!

A little bit about: 19 years printing experience - both business and social. Creating business cards, brochures, postcards, labels, invitations, announcement, signs & banners. Looking for something not on my list? ask me! I love antique typewriters, however I realize that the type they produce needs some style . . . and typeStyles was born. Run my own business and love it.

Valentines Day

Oh don't you just love Valentines day. Especially on etsy :)

Everyone is posting items in beautiful arrays of lace, red, hearts, and roses.

I love the Rosette!

Yummy Cookies.

So Romantic and Whimsical

A locket to hold the photo of your love....

What have you bought for Valentine's Day? I would love to see links!

Sunshine

Today we had a quick flash of spring before winter decided to set back in. The snow was melting, the sun was shinning and it was 45 degrees! Now it is snowing, the ground is covered and it is in the 20's. Amazing how much can change in a few hours......

Here is a treasury I created wishing for more sunshine.

Skinny Boho Headband- S... SugarBlossomBo... $15.00	New-Mustard Bag-Double ... marbled $35.00	Accordion Photo Book cl... nauli $19.50
Warm Elegant Jersey Min... onor $59.00	$	mignon treeandkimball $30.00
Goldenrod Rosette Bobby... Brydferth $12.00	Mustard Yellow -- A Chr... ForevermoreCre... $10.00	Side Ruffles Pillow in ... jillybeancraft $34.00
Don't Sweat It Deod... mojospa $6.00	Love Story - Vintage Bo... nerdnest $18.00	Honey Yellow Cup Cozy, ... natalya1905 $17.50
Suzy Knit Chain Nappington $55.00	Honey and Honey Mustard... OneHoney $13.50	Covered Serving Bowl, G... JNpottery $33.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com.