Pimping Artfire

After the latest devastation caused by Etsy Admin, namely the huge privacy breach of the past week, I have opted in on Artfire's Pro upgrade for $5.95 for life and even split my shop so I have 2 shops there now. I have never put much effort or work into Artfire and have never made a sale. I believe if I put the same amount of work into Artfire as I have Etsy that I will make sales. I really want Artfire to work out. It is painfully apparent that ETsy does not care if their sellers make sales, Etsy make its money from listing and renewing fees. Artfire on the other hand goes out of its way to help its sellers do what they are there to do, namely, SELL! I will keep you all updated on this experiment of mine.

The Etsy Image

Resellers and mistagging have gotten so bad on Etsy I am loathe to refer anyone to Etsy except to my shop with ample warning that the general site is now full of resellers and one practically has to have a degree to tell if their wanted item is truly handmade. Etsy is becoming an embarassment to me. I would hate it if someone I referred to Etsy got took by a reseller, buying mass produced crap that is overinflated in value when they thought they were buying a premium handmade goodie. And search on Etsy is deplorable, full of mistagged items. Etsy is definitely going down. And it had such promise. How disappointing.

May Sales Recordbreaker!

After no sales at all in February and March, and thinking I might just have to let my items expire and close up shop, May was a recordbreaker for me. Home sales popped, direct sales from a group forum I belong to, and Etsy sales! Woo hoo! Just goes to show you need to cover all venues and there is no pattern to sales really.

Primo's Pawtourage Featured!

We've been featured, check it out! Thank you Kathleen!

Got a small business grant!

Like many on Etsy my sales took a nosedive for a while, I had not made a sale since January then this month I have made 3 sales by the grace of god. A week ago I took a real hard look at my shop in my efforts to improve upon it and decided I just did not offer enough variety in scent choices for my soap. I screwed up my courage and composed an application for a small business grant from my counselor. I was not sure I had a chance in heck but I tried anyway and I found out today that I got it! Just goes to show that even when things look grim, have a positive outlook and aim for new goals, you just might succeed! I have been truly blessed and will be in soaping heaven soon! I've asked for supplies to branch out and offer 4 new scent lines in keeping with the Spring season: violet, magnolia, sands of morrocco and masculine musk, from Wholesale Supplies Plus, my main supplier, 2 scents for women and 2 for men. I am so excited! I love fragrance!

Forum Sales Fairy Strikes again

I've had a bad sales slump....no DEAD in the water since January, then 2 weeks ago I filled a custom order for an entire batch of Primo's Power Wash Dog Soap with Emu OIl and the next week a home sale popped up! Last night I was chatting in the Etsy forums passing the time. I love the forums there, I learn so much and have made some good friends too and it is entertaining. Then boom, one of the forum chatters bought a bunch of soap from me out of the blue! Talk about perking me up! Just goes to show you never know when a sale will happen, it can occur jsut from something that you say in passing. So many vent their frustrations so angrily in the forums you just never know who is reading and what kind of impression you are making matters. I feel real blessed that someone was impressed enough with my Medieval Fantasies soap line to buy from me. A very nice way to end the night indeed!

Etsy Down Again

10:51 am CST odd almsot the same time as yesterday! It's not my pc as I have no problem accessing other websites jsut Etsy.

Etsy is DOWN

at 10:43am Saturday Etsy is completely down, hope it doesn't lat long even though my sales are non-existent. Looking at last year I made no sales in March either then.

SCRAM Etsy Resellers!

Woo hoo! Etsy has initiated SCRAM, "Systems for Catching Resellers and Abusers of the Marketplace." SCRAM is a clever bot that uses algorithims and heuristics to pinpoint resellers and abusers like mistaggers on the Etsy marketplace. We also now have the Flag This Shop button so we can flag an entire shop for violations, this will help Etsy get rid of these troublesome abusers of our marketplace. I am glad Etsy has FINALLY started taking this serious but have concerns that the problem is so deep rooted now that it may be very difficult to actually stem this problem. One major problem is mistagging and this needs addressed for any real inroads to be made. I'm actually in favor of getting rid of tags all together. What do you thnk?

Shout Out to Etsy- Thanks!

Found out yesterday via Twitter and another team member (thanks Monique) who saw it first, we got our grant from Etsy! It helps in a big way to pay for our first advertisement in Maltese Monthly print magazine. I had thought we did not get it since the 1st came and went, we found out on the 2nd. I had thought I messed up the grant application by not selling my team as good as I should have. Apparently I did it just right! Thank you Etsy for having faith in us and showing support! And thank you Morgan for all your help in this and in setting up our team. Morgan is Teams Coordinator for Etsy and she rocks too! Woo hoo!

Artisan Interview - Megan - Rue Design

This is 5th in a series of artisan interviews of the members of Primo's Pawtourage. Meet Megan of Rue Design on Etsy. Rue Design is also a member of Handmade Louisiana.

1. Do you work full time crafting or have an outside job too? How do you balance your time between them? How did you get started crafting?
   
   I work full-time all the time; lol.Yes, I work full-time as a Web Designer at Louisiana State University and manage to sneak in some time to craft art with my hands. I have always made things. I can remember at the ripe old age of 4 positioning my sister's Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and drawing a portrait of them with my box of crayons.
2. What inspires you in crafting?
   
   Whether it's my family, the way the clouds roll by, or the smell of chocolate, I believe that inspiration surrounds me all the time and seeps into my subconscious and later reveals itself in the final product.
3. What is something you have learned in your business that you would like to share with us?
   
   
   Patience and persistence are two definite traits that I'm learning to foster. Also, believing in yourself and having a support system when you're feeling down is invaluable to your business.
4. Megan, you are currently involved with creating handpainted dog place mats for Primo’s Pawtourage doggie gift bags. Can you tell us a little about the process making them?
   
   Each place mat is created individually with a collage of elements including decorative papers, acrylic paints, markers and glue. I begin with a blank canvas literally. It's the same heavy duty canvas I use to hand paint custom floor cloths/rugs. I then begin applying the decorative art papers to create a background. Next the borders and graphics are hand painted. Finally I paint the text on the graphics and highlight the edges with metallic markers, seal with water-based floor sealer, glue edges, and mat is signed to create a finished product. Each place mat is unique and no two are identical.
5. Do you share your home with dogs or other pets, if so, what kind and tell us about them.
   
   Of course I do. I have always loved animals and have filled my home and life with them. We have two dogs and two cats and one rogue jungle kitty that visits us on occasion. The dogs are Tyrone, my 12 year old chocolate Doberman baby, and Velma, a Golden Retriever mix found roaming my grandmother's yard. Our cats that we see on a regular basis are Katie, 12 year old fluffy gray bunny missing a leg and tail due to car accident when she was a kitten, and Rainy, another rescue we adopted. Finally, my other baby cat is LuLu. He disappeared a couple of years ago, but we have seen him a couple of times at the edge of our yard. I have a suspicion that he lives at many neighbor's homes; whoever has the best food.
6. Where would you like to be in 5 years with your crafting business?
   
   We all have dreams and I would love to work full time creating with my hands from my home. Also, everyone in my family has their own business; it's in our blood.
7. Tell us a little about you…are you married, favorite things to do when you are not working?
   
   I am married to the most amazing man; Trey. This April we will have been together for 10 years; what a long 10 years; just kidding. We have 2 precious little rug rats. Aiden is 4 and he knows all his letters and words. Taylor is 11 months old and she can break glass with the shrill of her squeals. When I'm not working, creating art, being a wife, being a mother; hmmm... I don't remember having free time. Actually pre-babies, I used to teach middle-eastern dance (belly dance).
8. One of Primo’s Pawtourage projects is a donated bag to the American Maltese Association Rescue Raffle at their National Specialty in May in Atlanta. Have you done other charity work? Would you like Primo’s Pawtourage to contribute to other dog breed rescue efforts?
   
   My husband worked for many veterinarians throughout college. Therefore, we have always rescued animals together. Our first date was at the zoo! We have volunteered at Cat Haven; a local organization for the rescue of homeless and ferrel cats. I would really like for Primo's Pawtourage to expand to many other breeds; preferably Doberman Pinscher rescues. They are truly a misunderstood breed and are loyal beyond words.
   
   Megan, thank you for allowing me to interview you and thank you for being a part of Primo's Pawtourage! Best wishes and many success to you!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Artisan Interview - Leann Terrill - Terrill's Tiles

This is the 2nd in series of artisan interviews for Primo's Pawtourage Team members. Today we are interviewing Leann Terrill of Terrill's Tiles, she handcrafts wonderful tile coasters, tile gifts, and tile games.

HI Leann Terrill, thank you so much for agreeing to let me interview you. We’d like to get to know you a little. You have an Etsy Shop, Terrill’s Tiles, where you sell your handcrafted tile coasters, tile gifts and tile games. Wonderful shop!

1. What got you started in crafting and what inspired you to make tile coasters?
   
   I got started a few years ago when I bought an English Bulldog, Gunner. I really wanted some bulldog coasters and the ones that I had found in stores or online I didn’t like or they were asking way too much money for a set of coasters. I began trying different things and came up with my own. Tile is so absorbent and warm looking. My neighbors, family and friends saw them in my home started making requests and buying them from me. I then began doing craft shows and hence started my journey to Etsy. And I have loved every minute. Each set I do is so much fun for me, especially custom requests. Everyone has something different they want and I love it when they receive their order and are as happy as I was making them! Sounds a little sappy I know, but I’m not sappy though! ha.


2. What inspires you in crafting?
   
   Besides family and friends, just about everything, inspires me! I love creating and growing. I camp, boat, fish and spend a lot of time outside. I love coming up with new ideas while I am at work, the downside is I have to wait all day to get home and actually do it! Coming up with new ideas is so much fun and fulfilling. I spend a lot of time in tile shops looking at all of the different kinds they have, I dream up stuff to make while I’m there! One of the tile shops took some of my creations to their state tile show and I received a lot of orders from that!


3. What is something you have learned in your business that you would like to share with us?
   
   I have learned that is a lot harder than it looks! Takes a lot of hard work and time to efficiently run a shop and run it offline as well. It seems to people on the outside that it is pretty simple. Coming up with new creations, pictures, listing it all takes quite a bit of time. It is also so rewarding on the flip side! When you receive an email or phone call from someone absolutely loving what you’ve done, that’s pricless. I love what I do!


4. Leann, you are currently involved with making tile coasters for Primo’s Pawtourage doggie gift bags. You are doing a Maltese dog design right now. What other dog breeds do you do and what would you like to focus on in the future?
   
   Obviously I would love to do the English Bulldog next! I presently am selling, aside from Maltese, the English Bulldog, Labs, Yorkies, Beagles, German Shorthairs and Cocker Spaniels. I love all breeds and hope to fill my shop with as many as possible!


5. Do you share your home with dogs or other pets, if so, what kind and tell us about them.
   
   I have my English Bulldog Gunner. He is 5 years old and I bought him when he was 8 weeks old. He is a complete joy! He goes camping and boating with us! He can’t swim too well with the bulldogs short legs so he wears a lifejacket and loves riding on the tube! When you have a pet it truly becomes a family member! My daughters call him their brother, so funny! I believe everyone should have the experience of having a pet to love and love you back! I also have a pond in the back yard with 2 turtles, they are so much fun!
   


6. 
   Where would you like to be in 5 years with your crafting business?
   
   Definitely still selling and enjoying every minute of it. I hope it will always be as much fun as it is today! It is a great outlet and is “my own alone time” kind of thing! In 5 years both of my teenage girls will have probably have moved out so I could possibly be living in Hawaii or Australia crafting from there, that would be fun!


7. Tell us a little about you…you are a single mom, how do you balance that with your outside job and crafting? Do your children like to craft too? What are some favorite things to do when you are not working?
   
   As you have said, I am a single mom, working full time and crafting. That doesn’t sound as busy as it is!! My oldest daughter, Janise is 17 and works while going to high school so she only has 2 days off a week….not much of a crafter! My youngest daughter is 14, Bailie and she is a craft nut! She goes to all of the craft shows with me selling the jewelry she makes. And she makes quite a bit of money doing it. She makes wonderful jewelry that I wear almost everyday! On my off time I definitely love being outside all summer whether we are fishing, camping or just hanging out in our backyard absorbing the sunshine! I grow a large garden and love yard work! Gunner has a little pool that he lays in when we are all outside, he gets way to hot! Funny!


8. One of Primo’s Pawtourage projects is a donated bag to the American Maltese Association Rescue Raffle at their National specialty in May in Atlanta. Have you done other charity work? Would you like Primo’s Pawtourage to contribute to other dog breed rescue efforts?
   
   I have donated coasters, magnets and an English Bulldog Tile Game Board to the Southern California Bulldog Rescue. I think everyone should always do what they can to help the rescues. They are vital for our furry little friends! I appreciate all they do for all breeds in every community.

Thank you so much for sharing a little bit about you. It is fun getting to know other crafters and thank you for being a part of Primo’s Pawtourage Team!

Primo's Pawtourage

You'll be hearing quite a bit about Primo's Pawtourage on here now so I thought I would let you know what it is all about. Primo's Pawtourage is the dog themed products line of my main store. In December I formed a collective called Primo's Pawtourage and since then we have become an official Etsy Team collective and I have separated Primo's Pawtourage from 2 Virgos Designs and gave it its own storefront on Etsy. Our main product will be doggie themed gift bags, our first featuring the Maltese dog. There are 8 Etsians contributing handcrafted goods custom made for this project including me. This is an exciting venture and one prong of this project will be a donated gift bag going to the American Maltese Association's Rescue Raffle in May in Atlanta, Georgia. Since we have more products than can fit in one bag, we will alternate the items giving the retail version an air of some mystery and surprise for its buyers. This is a high end gift bag aimed towards the collectors of specific dog breeds memorabilia. Chock full of unique and beautiful custom made work, it will be sure to surprise and please!

Article on Team Member Leann

Handmade News published a wonderful interview on Leann Terrill, a valued fellow Etsy Team member, of Primo's Pawtourage. Leann has her own Etsy shop and handcrafts beautiful tile coasters and other neat things. She has designed a Maltese coaster for our current Team project, the Maltese doggie bling gift bag.

Awesome Day! A Day of Blessings!

I am so grateful for the many blessings in my life. Yes, bad things happen to me and some days are really hard but every once in a while something happens that just blows me away. Yesterday was one of those days.

I got to talk to one of my Etsy Team members on the phone and it was really uplifting! Thanks Stacey!

Then I posted on a forum that I needed a copy of Microsoft Office 2003, as my newer used pc has no office suite on it, and an anonymous friend is sending me a legit copy of Windows 7 and Office!!! I sat in front of the monitor with my mouth hanging open for minutes! I can't believe this, it is just so wonderful! I use Windows 98, and figured that would be what i use till the day I die! LOL

I was a little worried about money, I have more outgoing for bills than normal trying to pay off the vet bill and I got my first Alchemy request for a nice custom order! I SO love Etsy even with its hiccups!

I thank God for these many blessings!

Is it Relevant?

Yesterday Etsy Admins decided to do a site wide live experiment of a new search based on relevancy instead of recency. One thing I noted: big name popular sellers had a drastic drop in views and sales, little known small less popular sites, like mine, experienced a rise in views and sales. (I had higher views.) The current recency search strongly favors those with bigger budgets to renew and relist, I am wholeheartedly in favor of a search that rotates sellers so everyone has a chance. The experiment was a failure really because title and material stuffing won the day and hogged the first several pages all day of any search. They need to work on it, but that was understood from the start. I think they are on the right track. Most importantly, misstagging needs to be addressed.

shake up or shake down on Etsy

Rob Kalin is back, the original CEO of Etsy he has been gone for about 2 years and in that time Etsy has finally made a profit although arguably from signing up new sellers and near riots have been occuring on the forums about deteriorating customer service and major features of the site just not working like SEO. There is a breath of hope wafting through the forums tempered with a good dose of cynicism and I must admit I feel the same way. I've had a shop on Etsy for more than a year now and have watched it fall down on the job more and more everyday, from the ever increasing hordes of resellers allowed and even promoted by Etsy against Etsy's own TOU's to severe hang ups in Check Out hampering and even preventing buyers from shopping. I ahve grown alarmed, Etsy is the most viable handcrafted venue on the Net, what will I do if it becomes impossible to run a successful shop there. I pray Rob actually listens and acts quickly on the many pleas of its own customers, us, the sellers on Etsy, and the confused and angry stirring from our buyers, frustrated with a Search feature that doesn't work due to rampant uncontrolled mistagging and the inablility to easily pay for their purchases. And I hope he does it NOW, business has fallen off for many sellers, the economy is not good, we need the site to pop! I love Etsy, the community of Etsy, and the promise of Etsy, and there is no sane reason Etsy should not be THE foremost place to shop for quality handcrafted goods, supplies, and vintage.

A Week to Be Joyful About

Sometimes, amidst the hardships and challenges of eveyday living we will experience a day so spectacular it makes it all worthwhile. I have had a week that stands out from the rest and makes me so grateful to be alive and validates my determination to stick with it no matter what! Earlier this week I got a newer pc someone had donated to the community I live in, my old one is getting ready to kick the bucket, couldn't have happened at a better time, now I can save my files! Mom gave me a new beautiful armchair for my living room and a chest of drawers, now my delicates have their own drawer! Thnk you Mom! I have been handpicked for 3 Etsy treasuries, one is live right now, my Peppermint Oatmeal Buttermilk Bath Sachets were selected. Please go and show some love by clicking on the products, and leave a comment if there is space. I really would appreciate it! And here I thought I was invisible amongst the thousands of wonderful shops on Etsy! Thank you Etsy and thanks to each of the selllers who graciously handpicked my prodcuts to showcase.

Find Out About the Etsy Black Friday Extravaganza Thread

Here is the thread link on Etsy to find all about our Black Friday weekend Extravaganza! Join in the fun!

Indie Smiles Coupon Directory

Any Etsy shop wanting to join in on the fun of our Black Friday Weekend Extravaganza can get free ad space on Indiesmiles Coupon Directory. Sue has graciously given us free ad space for our joint weekend extravaganza November 27 through 30th. Thank you Sue for your time and efforts!