Lampworking Tutorials (playlist)

Adventures in Woodburning

I got a woodburning tool last Tuesday! It was 39.99 at Micheals but it was on sale for 19.99 (bam)
I'm not looking to become a pyrographer or anything I just want to make some decorative bits and bobs for an upcoming project that I will be blogging about in the next few weeks.... anyways, here's my crack at it:

So I've done this henna-esque picture frame, a little heart plaque with mine and Mr.Spook's initials, a bat plaque with heat transfer text, and this little button. I don't have a picture of the first thing I made, which was just a little kitchen clothespin. I'm also working on a birdhouse right now, pics to come when I'm finished.

My Favorite Etsy Tips

A few of my 'real life' friends have joined Etsy in the last few months, and one asked me for promotion tips. I shared with her the following:


Encircle and Etsy Love
-Use the ever-loving hell out of your 'circles'. The more circles you're in, the more your name and shop and product are on the 'activity' page. Same goes for just general 'etsy lovin' - hearting items and faving shops.

Know your roots
-Search Etsy for local items and spread the love so that they (the local sellers) know you exist. Give specials to local customers and offer local pick up instead of shipping for those who are close enough.
-Attend craft fairs and farmers markets.
-Promote at the mall with free samples, and give everyone a business card.  (This was specific for my friend, who sells cookies, but would work for people with similar goods)

More items means more sales
- You probably hate hearing it as much as I do. Yeah, it's really time-consuming to make, photograph, list and promote everything by yourself, but the more you have the more 'serious' you look. I am not a good example of this.

Drown yourself in social networking
Use twitter and FB, share the love there like you would on Etsy.

Geeky Computer Nonsense
-Tagging and SEO are really important. If you think you've got your tags right, try searching for your own items with keywords that pertain to your shop. If you're on the first page, you did it right. If you're not , google some tips on Etsy tagging and SEO for Etsy to improve your ranking in Etsy search and other search engines.
-use Adwords, Analytics and Craftopolis.
-'crawl' your page on all the search engines you can- this makes it more visible in search engines. Yahoo is the only search engine that charges to add your site to it's directory.
-Blog.

I know you asked specifically for promotional tips, but I shared with you everything I do/know/ or think I should do/know.


Here's my most important nugget of advice, and I can feel your eyes rolling all the way from here but really hear me out:
Don't feel like you have to be perfect and don't obsess over not making sales fast enough. You have to really nurture an Etsy shop to get it off the ground, and sometimes even with countless hours of self-motivated hard work (the hardest kind of hard work, you know) you may have virtually nothing to show for it at the end of the day. There is no failing here, there is only learning.

Cheers,
Kacie. 

Etsy Tips from around the web:

 How arists and crafters can make more money

Running Your Etsy Business  

Getting Traffic to Your Etsy Shop: Seasonal Color Merchandising

8 Tips For Getting LOADS of Etsy Sales | Handmadeology

Etsy Shop SEO Tip of The Week – Week 2 {Etsy SEO Basics – Free PDF Download from Etsy}

 

  Etsy SEO Guide - Tips from Sellers | Handmade Marketing

The Daily Etsian: The Etsy SEO Problem

20 Ways How to Drive Traffic to your Etsy Sho

 

The Technium: 1,000 True Fans

 

Pikaland’s 9 Tips to be More Creative | The Etsy Blog

 

Seller How-To: Tag-o-rama With Descriptive Keywords | The Etsy Blog

 

Sellers Assisting Sellers

 

The Etsy Blog | Discover How-To's, Interviews With Makers, and Curated Shops
 

Using Twitter to Promote your Handmade Products

  » Etsy :: SEO optimization really pays off!! » Untangling The Web

 

Preparing an Effective Etsy Listing

Etsy Sellers: What is your favorite way to promote your shop?

Tools For Etsy - Buyers, Sellers, and Developers. Hearts, Views, Front Page Treasury Lists

The Etsy Seller Handbook: All Our How-To’s About Selling | The Etsy Blog

 » Etsy :: SEO optimization really pays off!! » Untangling The Web

Oh,Home - 7 craft tutorials of cozy,home-y goodness

In a little less than 8 months the Spook family will be moving into our very own first house! I need FURNITURE! I need like.... shit to put on my walls, and shit to sit on...and spice racks and shit!   


I've made colour palletes via colourlovers.com to help me plan for the big move! 
This first palette is the basic color scheme for my house, with the exclusion of the last wine-red color, which is just a kitchen thing:
 
Color by COLOURlovers
Color by COLOURlovers

These 2 are the extras,to make the rooms "pop"
 
Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers




Use your imagination with me, and lets see how The House of Spook is gonna look c:


1.Chair Makeover from Domestic for Dummies

For The House of Spook: Cream+Dark wine upholstery

2.Fabric Tapestry by CraftCuban on Craftster

For The House of Spook: Keep the super sweet Indian/middle eastern imagery but in neutral creams, whites and yellows

3.Chevron Pattern Fan Blades on DesignSponge


For The House of Spook: Spray the whole fan creamy-white and stencil yellow floral swirls

4.DIY Dessert Tray by Ladypie on Craftster

For The House of Spook:  just change the color to a blackish-brownish-red

5.Pompourri Rug on Cut out + Keep

For The House of Spook: Peaches+Cream colored!

6.Checkered Floor Tutorial from Craftzine

For The House of Spook: Dark Wine + Cream

7.Paint-Dipped Cutlery by Oh!Crafts

For The House of Spook: All my chosen colors, plus maybe a few teal ones....