Today I’m highlighting some Etsy sellers from the great state of Texas!  These are some super talented southern girls with an extra dose of sweet creativity!  See for yourself…

Dirty Deeds Soap {Lubbock, TX} creates handmade soaps and bath accessories that are stunning.  I love, love, love the look of this soap and be sure to check out the cool shaving kits they offer!

Lucia G Photo and Designs {Austin, TX} designs beautiful journals to treasure.  They make awesome gifts!

In The Clear {San Antonio, TX} can supply all your baker’s twine needs…that’s pure eye candy there!  You know you need a few more colors of twine, everyone does. Pretty packaging rules!

As Unique As U {Central Texas} creates lovely subway art and other signs.  This handcrafted sign would look perfect in my house!

Party Poms {Dallas, TX} would make any party the talk of the town!

Texas is big on talent!

If you’re an Etsy seller in Texas you can find some awesome teams on Etsy to join…

• Etsy Texas Crafters
• San Antonio Texans Team
• Team Austin
• West Texas Etsy Team
• More Texas Teams

What color party poms would you like to have for your next birthday party?  Purple?  Pink??  White???

~Kim

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Have you ever compared your favorite store with handmade or vintage items from Etsy? The results might surprise you!

I took a few moments to compare items from one of the coolest stores, Anthropologie, with similar items being sold by some Etsy sellers with a lot of style!

Do you think handmade or vintage items come with a big price tag?

Well, let me show you what I found…

This cool beaded bracelet from Anthropologie is $220!

Well, let’s just say that’s out of my price range at the moment so I’ll have to do without this fun bracelet.

A little searching on Etsy and I found this…

An awesome bracelet from chickadee studios for only $30!!!!

Wow! Is the first one really worth THAT much more?  Not to me!

This little Summer Dress from Anthropologie is $118.  It’s pretty, but I thought I could find a better deal.

How about this strapless dress on Etsy for only $29 from Aloha Summer?  It’s perfect for the beach and I wouldn’t have to worry about spilling my fruity frozen cocktail on it!

You tell me…are these from Etsy or Anthropologie?

The first pair of flats can be found on Etsy from Hydra Heart …handmade for $50!

The Anthropologie Ossetra Flats will cost you $158!

I even like the pair from Hydra Heart better…yay for handmade!

For all of you that might like a silver snake ring…

Vintage sterling silver ring on Etsy for $65 or Eternal Ardor Band at Anthropologie for $198.

I didn’t share the photos because I don’t like snakes…ha!

Well, these are some serious designer sunglasses from Anthropologie with a price tag to show it…$450!  WHAT???

I’d have to go with these vintage {from the 80s – oh my gosh I can’t believe that’s all vintage stuff now!} white sunglasses – $12.99!  That’s a deal!

I’m not sure if anyone would really pay $1450 for this terrarium found on Anthropologie, but you never know I guess!

This is more my speed…

A glass globe terrarium kit on Etsy for $25!  That works!

Take a look around Etsy before you run out to your favorite store, you might find something even better for less!!

What kind of fun things have you purchased on Etsy?

~Kim

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A recent question popped-up in one of the Etsy Team forums that was essentially “What is my shop address?”

It reminded me that things that seem second-nature to me now, aren’t quite as obvious to those just getting going on Etsy. I remember what it was like, and I still call “uploading” photographs “downloading”, to the great annoyance of my wonderful, sweet, and patient husband.

So, here are a few simple tips on sharing the website link to your Etsy shop with others.

1. Use the “sub-domain” address to your shop.

When you see a website, like our Everything Etsy Directory, that has words, then a dot, then more words, followed by a .com, or .net (or whatever type of domain it is) then that address is known as a sub-domain address. The directory, for example is: directory.everythingetsy.com and it is a sub-domain of everything etsy called “directory”.

When you get an Etsy shop, you automatically have an address like this and your username/shop name is the first part of it. So, for my shop: Kimberly Layton, the sub-domain address is kimberlylayton.etsy.com

This is the address you should always use for two important reasons. It’s easy to remember and it puts your name in front which is good branding and subliminal marketing.

2. For Print Documents – Don’t worry about the WWW

Believe it or not, the address www.EverythingEtsy.com and EverythingEtsy.com are two different addresses. It’s entirely possible to put two totally different websites on each. In fact, you’ll sometimes find that you type in a website and nothing comes up (an error screen), but you know you’ve been there before. Often adding or deleting the www from the address you typed in will fix it.

Most well-built websites will automatically forward to the correct domain. Etsy uses the www, but you don’t have to type it in to get to the site or to your shop.

On print documents it’s easier to read and takes-up less space without the www. It works without it, so leave it off.

3. To Capitalize or not to Capitalize?

It’s totally up to you. There is a strong movement, of which I am not a part, that seems to think capital letters have gone the way of the DoDo Bird (or is it dodo bird?) If that’s your thing, feel free to leave all capitals out. I usually prefer to highlight the individual words in a website address with a capital at the beginning of them. EverythingEtsy, for example.

But the bottom line is that it does not matter. You can type in everytHInGetsY.CoM and it will work, so you can write it however you wish, but not everyone knows that it doesn’t matter, so you pRobabLy dOn’T wanT tO GeT tOo CUTE!

4. When creating a link online use the HTTP://

If you’re commenting on a blog or putting your website into a form online, you always want to use the preceding http:// before your address unless otherwise indicated. From a computer’s perspective, this is a very important part of the link and many times the link will not work without it. (trivia to make you look like a smart nerd: http stands for Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol)

5. What about redirects?

You’ll see, as you browse around, that some snazzy folks have figured out how to get a domain that they own to forward to etsy. So you would type in myshop.com and get myshop.etsy.com. That’s just a simple redirect of the URL (uniform resource locator – or website address) to the Etsy shop. This is done through your hosting company and is a great marketing tool.

The advantage of doing this is that you can buy your domain and hosting for relatively low cost early on in your business, and get your customers used to going to your own domain. This way, if you ever decide to expand from Etsy in the future, you already have people coming to your website address.

We have a tool to check and see if the name you want is available at our post on Picking a Name for Your Etsy Shop

Have a great day! I’m going to Disney World for Tim’s birthday!
Tim’s Facebook Page

- Kim

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Vintage Finds on Etsy…

I don’t really enjoy getting organized, do you?  I’ve found that cool and unique containers make me feel better about it.  It’s kinda like bribing myself…ha! Vintage containers are WAY better than those plastic ones any day of the week so go ahead and splurge on a few fun vintage finds on Etsy.

The little vintage case above is from Remixed Vintage and there’s a great variety to choose from in this shop.

598 {restoration & design} has this cool blue dresser that could hold so much fabric, art supplies, scrapbook goodies or whatever else you want to keep out of sight until you need it.  I love to look at pretty craft supplies, but half used supplies and my beat up {scary looking} glue gun could really be stored somewhere.

Retro Canisters from Jaanas Vintage are just plain cool…and they add a touch of color to your room!

Vintage record bowls by Retro Grandma can hold all your little scraps or tiny trinkets while rockin’ your desk.

This beautiful Pyrex dish {Funkey Finds} got my attention.  I have a thing for vintage Pyrex and this one would look great anywhere in my house!

Looking for something different? This industrial metal cabinet from Antiquity is what you need.  It could hold all those little supplies with labels on the outside….WOW!  How fun!

Shopping for vintage treasures is so easy on Etsy! You can type in colors, brands, styles and find exactly what you want…try it!

Do you mix vintage goodies in around your house?  What’s your favorite find?

~Kim

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The handmade community on Etsy is always ready to help!

I have been watching the news, emailing friends in Japan and praying for their safety.  One of them is located near the power plant and expecting a baby soon.  I wish we could help more!

I’ve gathered a few links from Etsy sellers, fellow bloggers and more to make it easy to donate.  I’m not affiliated with any of these, so please do your own research on them before donating.

• This I Heart Japan necklace from Shixie is a great way to show you care.  100% of the sale will go to the Red Cross.

• Love for Japan is an Etsy shop full of donated handmade and vintage goods with all the proceeds benefiting the relief efforts in Japan.
• The Red Cross is an amazing organization that I’ve experience the assistance from after Hurricane Charley.
• 25% of all sales from antithesis will be donated to the British Red Cross.
• 50% of each sale from Oh La Dee Dah will be donated for relief.
• This and That From Japan lives in Japan and is donating 15% of sales to Save the Children Japan.
• Sachiko from Tea Rose Home grew up in Japan and has family there.  She has a organization listed in this post that you might be interested in.

Please leave a link in the comments to any sales or organizations that might benefit the Japan relief efforts.

Thank you!

~Kim

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You can find these, and hundreds of other great Etsy shops in the Everything Etsy Directory.

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Spread the word of your Etsy shop by advertising on Everything Etsy!

We’re offering a limited time, limited space ad special:

• You get three months of advertising for only $30.00!!!
• Ad size is 100×100 – no animated ads allowed
• If you need an ad, we will make a simple ad for you using a picture from your Etsy shop for only $15.00
• This is a substantially reduced rate for Etsy shops only!

You can see the special promotional area in the right sidebar, just below our 200×100 ad spots.

Sold Out! To sign-up to be notified next time, please use the form below:

Need a Larger Ad? We’re running a special price on our 200 x 100 Medium Sized Ads too! $99.00 for three months. More Info Here!

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Who are Etsy sellers? They are your friends, neighbors, sisters, and mothers. There are so many mom’s that are trying to earn a little extra money while staying home with their children. Wouldn’t it be great to show them support and get wonderful gifts for your friends and family? I think so. {Well, maybe you could get a little something for yourself, too.  Like, one for me and one for you….}

Etsy products are so unique and they are made by people, real people, not  machines.  Do you receive a hand written thank you note when you buy something at the mall? I’ve never gotten one. If anything, I feel like customer service is a thing of the past in large stores. It’s so much different when you are dealing with the owner of a business.

I love the idea of a handmade item that is slightly different than the next one they make. That one-of-a-kind ring or purse can really let a loved one know that you took the time to order a special gift for them.  Have you seen all the great monogrammed items?   Last Christmas I ordered a ton of gifts from Etsy sellers, and I wasn’t disappointed with any of them. Chocolate Covered Marshmallows had to be the biggest hit! I have to control myself when it comes to these!

Getting compliments on your latest find can lead to a whole conversation on how great handmade items really are. And, won’t you seem like the savvy shopper knowing all about Etsy?

Etsy isn’t only handmade, it’s vintage treasures, too!

Go ahead and shop for a beautiful antique tea pot for your sister, or a vintage postcard set for your aunt. You don’t even have to leave home to find it! I love that part!

Today’s economy has many people thinking a little more before they buy. Supporting each other is the way to go! Etsy sellers are working hard to bring their products to you, and they strive to make sure you never feel like customer #3241.  You’re a welcomed customer, not a number!

If you are an Etsy seller, have you been supporting other Etsy shops? Now would be a good time to start if you haven’t.

There are so many talented people on Etsy with wonderful products to sell. Take a look around!  You just might find someone you know.

Helping each other can make Etsy work for everyone!

~Kim

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Christmas in July is in full swing…have you bought anything yet??? This is the third year for this special event and it benefits sellers and shopper alike, so join us in celebrating with some beautiful handmade and vintage treasures!

Like these…

Vintage 4 Vintage has these lovely cups and saucers…better get them before they’re gone!

This special promotion will run until July 25th and you can easily search for all of the participating shops. Use the search terms “Christmasinjuly” or “Cij” {on Etsy} and you’ll find tons of great deals!

If you’re looking for some beautiful gifts…check out My Little Chickadee Creations!

Join us on Everything Etsy’s Facebook page for a list of shops with great discounts, free shipping and so much more!

I’ve already found something I want! Have fun shopping!

~Kim

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Here’s a little game for you!

What does this Lemon Candy Cream Soap and…

this Clay Dolphin Pendant have in common?

They’re both helping to make something better…

Help the Gulf Coast Recover is a collective Etsy shop to help the Gulf Coast recover from the BP oil spill. Etsy sellers have donated their items so that 100% of the proceeds can be given to charity!

I live in Florida, so this oil spill is hitting close to home. The oil hasn’t reached the beaches in my area yet, but the animals and the sensitive coastline that have been affected are in need of all the help they can get.

Etsy sellers are always very generous in giving their creations and time. Please consider donating an item or purchasing from this shop.

You can read more about the two charities that will benefit from the sales and the submission process on their shop page.

I bought these beautiful sea life bookmarks earlier. Every little bit helps!

Thanks!

~Kim

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