SquareUP - GET IT!

I haven't done a Craft Show in a while, but I totally got one of these, just in case.  It's a Credit Card Reader that you use with an App on your smartphone.  It seems pretty awesome cause you don't need a merchant account with a third party to accept credit cards on-the-go. There is no monthly fee, just a small % of sales, and the payment is directly deposited into your bank account.

The last craft show we went to, EVERYBODY had one.  It's super easy & you don't have to record anyone's credit card #'s, so your customers might be more comfortable with that.

Check it out if you've ever found yourself loosing a sale cause you only take cash.

The Urban Craft Center

So when I have time (eventually) I so want to check this place out!

It's a studio for crafty types here in Santa Monica.  They offer open studio time, classes, and have a library and store.  I think the coolest thing is that with their open studio time, they have access to all sorts of cool equipment that you might not use THAT often or might be too expensive to buy for their personal use.  

Some of the things they have to use are:

Janome Sew Precise sewing machines * Lendrum spinning wheels * Ashford drum carder * Bedazzler * Drop spindles * Snap maker * 1” Button maker and circle cutter * Gocco printers * Yudu screen printing machines * Cricut die-cut machine and design cartridges * Slice die-cut machine * Knitking knitting machine * Book Press * Dremmel * Large cutting mats * Irons and ironing boards * Fiskers rotary cutters * Gingher dressmaker’s shears * Swift & yarn ball winder * Variety of rubber stamps * Library of how-to books, copyright-free images, magazines, zines and a vintage books.

I think the Drum Carder is the most impressive, cause I've looked at them & they are CRAZY EXPENSIVE!  And my cousin-in-law has a Cricut & it's pretty cool, would just need to practice on if I can cut felt with it!

I'm so there....
eventually...

The Craftcation Conference

So I saw a flier for this at a local craft show & am seriously thinking about going....




It looks like basically a business conference tailored to crafty & DIY people.  Here is a little bit from their statement about who & what they are...

craftcation is a three day indie business & diy workshop conference. it’s a retreat to inspire, network and build upon the independent craft business community. our objective is to ignite the entrepenurerial business spirit, strengthen skills and abilities of both seasoned business owners and newcomers to indie craft business. this is an opportunity to network, communicate and share with your peers.

events and topics include:
indie business: how to start a crafty business, maximizing social media, blogging, in’s & out’s of indie craft shows, etsy, wholesaling, merchandising, accounting, legal issues, branding, website design and more.
diy workshops: screenprinting, sewing, canning & preserving, cheesemaking, needle arts, terrariums & edible gardens, organic bath products, jewelry and more.
community: meet & greets, pop-up shops, yoga, bbq & cocktail socials and so much more!

It's not cheap, $275 if you register before February 1st, but since one of my GOALS this year is to really focus on building my business(es), I think some of the talks look like they might be really helpful.  Some of the specific topics that I want to attend are:

• making the most of craftcation through social media
• financial basics for indie business start-ups
• 
  

  is your social media strategy really a strategy?

• 
  

  breaking into the art exhibition world

Definitely take at look at their website.  I think after I get a paycheck from my day-job, I might sign up.  I think the difference between an at-home-kitchen-table crafty Etsy seller, and being self-employed by owning and operating your own business is knowledge & I'm tired of swimming around in a world of business that I know nothing about!

New Computer Toy!!

So I downloaded a Trial version of Photoshop Elements. My (kinda) old & well loved MAC has no paint program or graphics program which makes it hard to make basic graphics for Felted Chicken. I just wanted to tell you that I think I'm liking Photoshop Elements... ALOT!! I know it's lame, but I'm really excited about updating my graphics (avatar & Etsy Banner) all professional-like. It's still the trail version, but I think for the price of like $80 it's totally worth making my life easier. So if you don't have a nice program for working on your graphics, maybe check out the P.S. Elements program. And if anybody has experience with it, let me know what you think & maybe some expert's tips on working with it!!!

Here is a comparison of what my original Avatar looked like before and after a little work in Photoshop Elements!!! I think you can totally see the difference!! The "after" jpeg just looks so much better & cleaner & brighter!!! It's the little things that make me happy!!

Donation Time!!

I know I'm a few days late for this... but it's time for me to donate to my Featured Charity!!! Thanks to all of your support (and a couple months of rock'n Etsy sales!) I was able to make a HUGE donation to the American Red Cross!!! It's just in time too, because OUR donation will go towards helping the victims of the past Haitian & Chilian Earthquakes, but also the very recent floods in the South. There has been so much destruction & many deaths here in the U.S. and it isn't getting much coverage on the news!! Our thoughts go to you all in Nashville & all the other communities that are being affected by this tragedy.










And I would also like to announce the next Charity that I will be donating to!! (I know that Mother's Day is this weekend) But also Father's Day is in June, and because of this I want to announce that I will be donating 10% of all of Felted Chicken Sales to a charity that is close to my own Dad's heart. He has been involved with Engineers Without Boarders, and even took a trip down to Honduras with the organization to help the local people build & construct some water purifying structures. They are an amazing orgainization who:

EWB-USA helps create a more stable and prosperous world by addressing people's basic human needs by providing necessities such as clean water, power, sanitation and education...

Engineers Without Borders – USA supports community-driven development programs worldwide through the design and implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while fostering responsible leadership...

I think the best thing about what EWB does (from what I have talked to my dad about) is that they go into communities and really work with the local people and teach them how to build and maintain their own infrastructure. This allows them to then take the responsibility into their own hands rather than just relying on the charity organizations to support them. It's like they always say...

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

So for the Month's of May & June, Engineers Without Boarders is the Featured Charity!!! Please check out the link on my sidebar if you are interested in donating or getting more information about them!!!









And I just thought of this....

Now that the chaos of the Haitian & Chilian Earthquakes is over, it is now time to help them REBUILD!!

Back To Business: Week 2

Week 2 Topic:
How much is TOO much Social Networking


You all have heard me complain about trying to find a "Nice Balance" between the Real-World & my Online-Life for the past month. Having a full time job PLUS trying to continue to be creative PLUS trying to keep up with all the different Social Networking that is needed to have an Online-Life is really overwhelming.

I love to make things. This is why I started my humble little business.


BUT...


I guess I didn't realize how much time you have to put into getting your name out there in the infinite World Wide Web. Every Marketing Blog (crafty & business oriented) always talks about how your need to have a FaceBook Fan Page... Twitter really brings traffic to your site... Blog EVERY day... don't blog too much people will find you annoying... Post in the Forums... Comment on other people's Blogs... Update & renew you listings everyday... Make sure ALL your graphics are the same (helps with branding)... etc... etc... etc...

So...

Questions of the Week:

What Social Networking Sites are you addicted to? Which have you tried & think are WAY too much trouble?

Do you Etsy, Ebay, Blog, FB, Tweet, Flickr, Hoot, Post, Comment, etc?

As a Seller - What Sites are a must for your online marketing?
As a Buyer - Where do you find those artists with MUST-HAVE creations?


I think the most annoying Social Networking site that I just can't seem to keep up with is Twitter. I tried it last year, lost interest, got back into it in January, and (again) find it too overwhelming to keep up with. How do people find enough time to do everything, still create new products, and live a normal life?

.

Back To Business: Week 1

So I thought maybe if I tried to add some more weekly Features on my Blog, it might help me organize my thoughts & keep me writing. So I decided to started writing a Monday Feature called:

Back To Business!!

Your weekend is over... it's Monday Morning... so... Back To Business!!! I figured this would be a great day to bring up interesting business topics that I thought maybe everyone can think about, Buyers & Sellers!


Week 1 Topic: Free Shipping!?!?!?!


So I've been thinking about this for a while now because, personally as a buyer, I'm a sucker for Free Shipping!! I love finding a product that I kinda-sorta need & am totally swayed in the purchasing direction if the shipping is super cheap or free. I hate when you find something that you absolutely need, then see that the shipping cost is as much as the price of the item. I definitely DON'T buy things with high shipping.

While reading my blog feed I came across this interesting Post from the Etsy Forums:

uniqueartpendants says:

...
This is the most important tip I have. Ready?
drumroll...
Offer free shipping. It DOES make a difference. Huge. My sales soared as soon as I offered free shipping. It's a marketing strategy that works. One woman contacted me and told me how she had a vase for $20 plus $10 shipping and it sat in her shop forever. She changed the price to $30 with "free shipping" and it sold in two days. It's a change of marketing and the buyer ended up paying the same in the end. You pay a little more in fees with the shipping included in the price - but it's worth it for the sales.
The key is to write "free shipping" in your title. If you look in my shop you will see that all of my titles have "free shipping" in them - not just in the tags. That way when buyers do a search for "free shipping" the listings with "free shipping" in the TITLES come up before the listings that have just "free shipping" tags.
...

This excerpt came from a post that uniqueartpendants started about how she made 2000+ sales. I tend to take tips from a power seller like this seriously.

I also think that the investment in Free Shipping might not be so bad when I noticed that there is a place to "deduct shipping fees" while trying to start my taxes. So technically (I think) I could probably write-off the shipping costs from my taxable income.

So...

Question of the Week:

What are your thoughts on FREE SHIPPING? As both a buyer & seller? I know it seems like a lot of money not charge a customer during an online transaction, but will that investment lead to more sales? Maybe just for domestic shipping (international can get pricey) or for BOTH?

.

Need Your Advice...

So this goes out to all my fellow Crafters, or just really busy friends & family.....


How do you find a balance between your Day-Job, your house & family, and your Crafty Business???



Man, I know I've only been working at my new job for the week, but I'm going through Crafting Withdrawal. I still get up at like 7 am, and try to do my crafty computer stuff (FB, Twitter, Etsy, Blogging, etc), then get like an hour of creative work done. Then I head off to work. Get home and am too tired to get anything done at night. I haven't been able to put my time in on Etsy & marketing, which makes me scared because it was hard enough to get the little exposure online when I had all day, everyday to work on promoting.

I also have so many ideas that I want to finish up & start on.... I know that I'll get used to working & won't be so tired after a couple weeks (that's a major bummer of being unemployed for like almost 2 years). And I know that I'll get into a groove where I can schedule my time better & get things rolling again... but in the meantime...


Do you have any TIPS or advice on how you found a non-stressful balance between your Crafting Life & the Real World!?!?!?


A Very Big Thank You!!
Have a Great Weekend!!!

Obvious Conclusions...

**Thanx krex for inspiring these thoughts!!**

It's funny, at points last weekend (especially Friday) I was swearing that I would NEVER NEVER NEVER do another Show again. It was too much stress, too much pressure, too overwhelming.

So what changed my mind?

Well, I think it was Saturday night, we were driving home after the first long day kinda talking about how things went & what the day was like, and I came to some obvious conclusions....

1. It won't be this stressful every time. I hadn't realized that I wasn't going to have to make as much product for every show. I think I was under some delusion that I would sell out every item that I had for sale, and would have to restock it all in the future. Well, that didn't happen!! I have plenty of stuff that I can list in my shop & plenty of product to take to the next show. I can instead focus on making more AWESOME sculptures to sell instead of spending so much time making the small, easy stuff.
2. Just because I don't sell at the show, doesn't mean people won't buy. I knew this one in the back of my head, but was so worried about selling stuff there, that it wasn't until Sunday that I really started to focus on handing out business cards & telling people about my blog. I know that doing shows is about networking and getting people exposed to your work, and there is no reason that someone who took my business card at the show might not check out my shop & buy something they passed over before.
3. Not every show is going to be a winner. My parents used to own a Comic Book Shop when I was little, and they would sell at many-a Comic Book Conventions. They told me that there were shows where they didn't make a single sale all weekend!! Also Unique Los Angeles is a huge show (almost too overwhelming) and after talking to a fellow vendor, I learned that this specific show is very Design & Clothes & Bags based. There are other shows that are more arts and hand-made crafts based that I might sell better at. You never know until you try!

So now that I have a more realistic view of what doing shows is going to be like, I feel better about it. I think I just had nothing to compare it to. I did really well, so I am happy with the whole experience. I also know that starting your own business (crafty or otherwise) is really expensive, and most people fail, and most people do it for years without any real recognition. I'm okay with that... for now.

And going with the thoughts of #1, I'm excited about making new products and to continue expanding my current designs. I did get to make a few new sculptures for the show. I sold many of them, but have a few that I need to photo & list in my shop.







Need better pictures of my new Palm Tree. It has battery-powered X-Mas lights, with the battery pack hidden in the base. It's super cute & lights up! Definitely need to get this one photo'd today!
























Everybody thought these were HILARIOUS!! I thought they were cute & funny. They are just little bits of felted coal. Made the same way as my sushi, except that I dyed the wool with Acid dyes (which was kinda hardcore & complicated).














New CupCakes!! Love these & the cherries!! I think the stems came out perfect!! I need to photo these too... so much to do even after the show's over!!









HeeHee!! New design, need to tweak it a little bit to make it more awesome. Got some materials (casting resin) to try out on this little fun sculpture. You can't kill this little fishy!!!

Felted Mama is En Route...

YEA!!! FeltedChicken's Mama is on her way here as we speak! Still gotta finishing cleaning up the house a little bit, & then once Mom gets here, we get to run around town & buy stuff! Also gotta plenty for her and Mr. Chicken to get done in the next couple days! They are both getting put to work the minute she walks in the door.

So much to do...
So little time...

I also wanted to share how AMAZINGLY creative & awesome my customers are! I'm pretty sure that most of my customers are way smarter than me (like that's hard). I've had some custom orders in the past, but yesterday I had a brilliant one!! Someone convo'd me and asked if I had 2 of the SnowFlake (re)GIFT BAGS in stock because they wanted to use them for Hannukah. Instead of wrapping presents for each of the 8 nights, they are going to reuse the (re) GIFT BAGS over and over again!! This is just a perfect use and part of why I started making the bags.

I also had a couple special orders this past October for Custom Order (re)GIFT BAGS to be used as Treat Bags. They wanted bags that would match their kids costumes!! MAN that was something that I never would have thought about, but now I have a great idea for a new item to market for next fall.

So, the moral of the story is... Your customers are WAY MORE BRILLIANT than you. You never know what kind of cool interesting ideas they might come up with. I really like working with people on custom orders, which is why when I just got like 1000 new business cards printed, they say "Custom Orders Welcome"!





HAHAHAHA!!! It's Backwards!!

You get the idea though!!!

Business & Marketing Tips!

I was very impressed with the vendor meeting I went to on Saturday for Unique Los Angeles. It was super fun & it got me thinking alot about marketing & business type stuff. It focused on trying to get people to think about your products & "Brand". They had some fun questions to get you thinking....

• What Age are your customers? What's your demographic?
• What magazines do your customers read & what do they look like?
  
• If your business were a celebrity, who would it be?
• What are 5 things you want your customers to know about you?
• What are your selling strengths & weaknesses?

We also talked about creative & interesting ideas for how to design & decorate your booth, and cool ways to display signage. I spent the rest of the afternoon coming up with some neat ideas for displays & coming up with a layout for transforming my booth into more of an environment. There was A WHOLE of information they jammed into 2 hours, but I am super glad that I went. Also met a couple super nice fellow vendors. I'm excited, but still stressed & nervous.


★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

And also today, I will be listing these new sculptures!!! I made them with my typical foam-wet felted- needle felted- airbrushed technique. I'm happy with how they turned out & could really add a hand-made touch to your table centerpiece or Christmas decor!!!


































So here are a few Felted Logs!! I'm planning on using them in a display in my booth (which included a fireplace!). I want to make a flame setup & help them look all on fire!! I made a few of them & they look neat all stack up!

Facebook & Twitter & Blogs, OH MY!!

My cat's watching a squirrel outside the window right now, & if I'm really lucky, he will jump over here, knock all the candles off the window sill, and spill my coffee!!!

ANYWHO... Sometimes I feel slightly overwhelmed by all of the Facebooking, & Twittering, & Blogging, & Posting, & Listing, & Chatting, & Texting, & etc. It was worse when I first started, but now that I have the basics under control, I find myself overextended in all of the "promoting" that I try and pull off. I've weeded out alot of the extra Networking sites and mainly focus on:

Facebook
Twitter
Blog
Flickr

*Please feel free to visit my links & be my friend!!!

I also follow -ARG!!! KITTY JUST KNOCKED A BUNCH OF CRAP OFF THE WINDOW INTO THE KITCHEN SINK!!!!!-many-a-blogs. Some are crafty types like me, but I also love blogs that feature Marketing & Business Tips. These are a few of my favorites that will help any Crafty Artists or Online Sellers:

HandmadeNews
PamHawk
TimothyAdamDesigns
Handmadeology - **This is the Mecca for all Crafty Seller's Tips!! Please, if you have never checked it out & find yourself drowning in Computerness, there are amazingly simple tips on how to setup every account possible, & how to use it!

Please share your business links with me!! I'll check 'em out & you'll have a new friend!!

Also if you know any obvious Crafty Seller's sites that I don't know of, please tell me!! I didn't list them all here, but am always on the lookout for great places where I can learn more!!

CUPCAKES to Rule the World!!!

I want to apologize for the spaziness of the changing design on my blog. I have been on the computer trying to make all of my Sites look a little more coherent. I think I'm satisfied with the Orange & Cupcake theme I've got going on now. I might get a bug up my butt & change it again. (Etsy doesn't like to compress reds & oranges, so my banner looks a little bit blurry). I'm trying to work on a kind of "Brand" for my business.

Let me know what you think? I could use any input or suggestions you might have. Please comment on anything regarding my Blog, Twitter, Facebook, or Etsy Shop!!! THANX!!!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

So on to Today's Topic: CUPCAKES RULING THE WORLD!!!
These are my 2 newest Needle-Felted Plush pieces!!!


This is a super cute little Birthday Confetti Cupcake with candies, sprinkles, & a little felted red ballon on top!!


This one is so sweet it gives me a toothache!! This Red Velvet Cupcake has cream cheese icing, red sprinkles, & a cute little felted flower on top!!

*I'm not totally happy with these photos, I think the white gets too washed out & doesn't POP enough. I might look into taking a better Etsy Worthy photo today!*



And just remember MY CUPCAKES are no-mess & no-fuss!!
They won't get stale or moldy!!

*BTW - this beautiful little girl is my Niece at her very First Birthday!!