Craft Tip for Crochet and Knitting

Namaste! I Love to Crochet and Knit. I used to get into a tough of war with my yarn, until my ball of yarn ended up looking like a pile of spaghetti. Here's a little Tip I came up with after a long meditation session and afterwards gathering together my recycling for the curb. Eureka! Instead of recycling those Paper Towel rolls and TP rolls put them to good use. Wrap your yarn around them. It will never get tangled or knotted again.

 

Newbies, Here's Why You're Not Selling Yet

When you're new to Etsy, you're desperate to make that first sale (I know I was!) and I remember that it seems to take forever. I know plenty of you think it's your store, your prices, Etsy customers etc, but here's one set of events that applies to every new seller. It's all about connections and connections take time. It could go a little something like this:
♥ Day 1 ♥
When you first open your store, nobody can find you. You may as well have opened on Pluto. You will not sell anything.
Connections - 0*
♥ Day 2 ♥
Then you list a product. It appears first in the Time Machine and puts your shop at the top of the Seller list. But it will quickly move down that list. If you're lucky a couple of people may stumble across you in these places. You probably still won't sell anything!
Connections - 4*
♥ Week 1 ♥
You list more products (hopefully over a period of days). More opportunities for different buyers/sellers to visit your store. Maybe some of them will 'heart' your store. If so, you'll appear in their favourites list.
Connections - 20*
♥ Week 2 ♥
You start making forum posts. Now you're building relationships with other buyers and sellers. Hopefully they're starting to visit you. As you build up these relationships, you'll find more and more people put you in their favourites lists. The more favourite lists you appear in, the more likely it is that people who visit another sellers store will wind up in yours.
Connections - 80*
♥ Week 3 ♥
Now you've built up a decent number of connections on Etsy. Maybe someone will pop you in a treasury (more connections), you're now hearting people (they check their hearts and bingo! more connetions), you're regularly posting in the forums (connections), and you're listing regularly (you guessed it - connections).
Connections - 300*
♥ Week 4 ♥
Finally all these connections and links to your store pay off. Someone buys something. Now your store also appears in the 'Sold' Time Machine and in 'feedback'. Plus the buyer will start talking about what he or she bought from you - so now you're also getting word of mouth outside of Etsy.
Connections - 1200*  You can see where this is heading. The connections build up exponentially, which explains why nothing happens for 4 weeks or 8 weeks or 12 weeks and then all of a sudden you're rushed off your feet! So if you're new, don't panic. Just build up as many connections (on and OFF Etsy) as you can. xxx scarlett

* number of connections example only and based on nothing more than my fertile imagination.

 

My Shop:
http://www.scarlettcat.etsy.com

My Blog:
http://scarlettcat.blogspot.com

My Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/people/scarlettcat

 

Art Lesson, Mixed Media Painting

This Project is for 18 yrs or older!

Supplies needed:
8" x 10" or 9" x 12" Cardboard (or smaller)
crayons
metal spoon
black water based craft paint (kids paint)

First completely cover your cardboard with crayon. Think of an Abstract Design and lay the color on thick. Add a Rainbow of colors. Next, paint the entire work in black. Allow the paint several hours to dry. Next, using your spoon scrap off areas of the black paint. Careful not to remove your crayon color....we want that to show through. Think of an Abstract Design while scraping the black paint off......careful to not remove to much of the paint. ENJOY!

Click on the Title of this Post to visit my Shop.

Art Lesson, Mixed Media Art

This project is for adults 18 yrs or older!

Supplies needed:
8" x 10" or 9" x 12" sheet of cardboard
enough aluminum foil to completely cover the cardboard
Black water based craft paint
other assorted colors of craft paint
paper towel
paint brush(s)
craft glue stick
rubber gloves

1st smash your aluminum foil into a ball. Then carefully unroll it...flattening it out...but leaving the wrinkles. Next completely cover the cardboard with your aluminum foil, and glue it into place. Now paint the aluminum foil completely black. Then using paper towels...rub off most of the black paint (while wearing your rubber gloves)....leaving the paint in the wrinkles and creases of the foil. Allow this to completely dry. The final step is to paint your masterpiece on top of the foil. Enjoy!

Crafting Crash and Burn Files part 1

I want to hear about YOUR Crafting Bloopers! Post your one-liners AND/OR stories here...

Have Fun!

here's mine:

What are the odds...
Why is it everytime I have a craft project with glue on it...it just has to leap out of my hands, and make a break for the floor. Does it love to taunt me...screaming "Ohhh NOoo!" I lunge for the gaily fluttering glue boms. It was performing evasive maneuvers to keep away from my hand. Immelmams, hammerhead stalls, no-lift dives, its maneuvers in the time dilated state of panic would have made the Red Baron proud...it successfully evaded my suddenly clumsy paws and dove straight for the floor. DIVE DIVE DIVE...
Aaaa OooooGoh! Right onto the floor, where it lands with a sickening "splurp!" I tried to pry it up...and what do I see...big some big old HAIRBALL I swear materialized out of thin air...sitting there LAUGHING at me...
OHhhh HISSSSS!

Art Lesson, Mixed Media Abstract Art

This project is for adults 18 yrs or older.

Supplies Needed...several pieces of 14" long string acrylic paints, or poster paint, or ink, or watercolors, white paper

Dip all but 2 inches of a 14" length of string into acrylic, poster paint, ink, or watercolor.

Lay it across a piece of white paper, leaving the "clean" part hang over the edge. Place another paper on top of the first one, and holding your hand on top of the paper and string, pull the string back and forth and then out. Repeat with other colors, if you wish. Be sure to use a clean string for each new color.

Enjoy!