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.

 

The Latest BUZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

I just published several pages! Check out my Blogs Right Sidebar, and look for "My Favorite Blog Posts."

They are stand alone pages with their own URL. I will be adding 5 more, so be sure to check back.

Some Secrets of My Success

Since I consider myself a successful Etsy seller, I'm taking the opportunity of my 2nd Etsyversary to share some thoughts. While I know everyone finds their own path and my experience won't reflect everyone's experiences, I hope you find this interesting or even helpful.

When I started making jewelry based on molecule shapes, I expected it to be a hobby. I was planning to work freelance writing jobs for a living and sell jewelry to produce some retirement savings. Yet within a year the jewelry became my full-time job that pays the bills. The freelance writing I do is extra.

I believe much of my success comes from having an unusual offering. At first, I thought my jewelry would appeal to a very small niche. I was uneasy about joining Etsy because I thought people interested in my stuff would not find me here. I was wrong. First, my work appeals to a wider audience than I suspected, and, second, people found my stuff through searches and - more importantly - through other people. Despite my expectations to the contrary, having such a narrow focus in my work has been a benefit.

I'm a generalist and I love making all sorts of things, like textiles, sculptures, and paper goods. But in my Etsy store, I've largely remained focused on just the jewelry. Every once in a while I'll throw something else in, but I think having a focused inventory looks professional.

Since this is my job, there are things I love to make that don't make money, so I can't offer them in my shop. I don't like that this is true, that I need to pay attention to profit margins. But it is necessary, especially since my extra time has been dwindling.

I love what I do. I have even found ways to enjoy the more business-sided aspects. It's important to have passion about your work when you work for yourself. I work long days [disclaimer: I still need to figure out work-life balance!], but often it doesn't feel like all I do is work when my hobby and my work are one and the same.

Every day I am thankful to have stumbled upon this way to make a living. I'm also very appreciative of Etsy and the Etsy community. Through Etsy forums I've learned the importance of great customer service and how to sell in person. I also appreciate the camaraderie in the Forums and in the street teams.

Thank you all, and good luck in all of your Etsy ventures!

My Etsy Shop:
http://www.molecularmuse.etsy.com

My Newsletter:
http://www.madewithmolecules.com/list.html

My Blog:
http://www.madewithmolecules.com/blog/

 

 

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.

Plight of the Butterfly part 1

Here's something to think about while planning your vegetable or herb garden. Don't forget to invite the Butterflies! So many Butterfly species are endangered or in trouble, due to chemical flower/lawn/garden/crops sprays, as well as loss of habitat. Something you can do to help out the (Blue, Yellow, Black) Swallowtail Butterflies is to plant Carrots, Parsley and Dill. The females lay their eggs on these plants and their caterpillars feed on them, ex. they feed on the carrot tops. Don't worry...they don't eat much :)

These plants help you too in more ways than one! They're a great source of nutrition. You can cook them or eat them raw in salad. Plant them along your garden border to help keep the grass out. So you see its a win win proposition :)

Sorry I don't have a photograph of these Beautiful Butterflies.

Embroidery Care Instructions

I'm a Woolite girl. To wash hand embroidered items....I recommend hand washing in Woolite using cold water. You can use a tooth brush or small soft brush to clean stains around the embroidered thread. DO NOT use a brush on the embroidered image(s) though! You will ruin the embroidery if you do.

To Dry.....I recommend Air Dry or Line Dry ONLY!

If a hand embroidered item needs to be ironed.....I recommend using a "Pressing Cloth" on the reverse side of the item. Example: If you are ironing a Tote Bag....I recommend using a pressing cloth to iron on the back side of the Tote. Never iron directly on a hand embroidery image! Pressing Cloth's can be purchased at a Fabric Store outlet.

I consider my hand embroidered items to be of heirloom quality. So its important to care for them properly.

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!