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I Made It! –Blog Party and Giveaway!{Free Advertising}

Everything Etsy — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:06:41 +0000

Welcome to this week’s I Made It Blog Party!

We’ve been seeing some incredible creative stuff over the last few weeks and we’re so glad to have you participate!

This week, we’re giving away ad space on the front page here at Everything Etsy! We’ve just started a promotional offer of 3-Months of a 100×100 ad for only $30.00 and we wanted to let you know. These ads are for Etsy Shops only! One lucky winner will get three months and custom ad design totally for free.

You can see the special promotional area in the right sidebar, just below our 125×125 ad spots.

You can enter by any or all of the following methods:

Subscribe to EverythingEtsy
Tweet or FB about this giveaway
Just leaving a comment to say hi!
Link-up to this week’s blog party!

Be sure to leave a comment for each form of entry.

Now let’s get going with the blog party!

A Couple Of Important Points

Link directly to your post, not your Etsy shop or your blog home page.
Make sure you mention I Made It! at Everything Etsy and link back to this post.
You can choose to use the button below which is already linked right to this post.
Don’t miss out on what everyone else made! Just follow the links!
We made a more detailed instruction sheet right here.
We don’t want to feel bad and delete your post, but we can’t contact everyone to explain the instructions. Please read the instructions if you’re not sure how to join a blog party. We had to delete several last week, and it’s not the easiest thing to do.

Now let’s see what everyone has been working on this week! You are all so inspiring with your creative projects!

Thanks for making this party so much fun!

~Kim

This giveaway is closed. Thanks for the great response! The winner is Traci! Congratulations!

Etsy Changes For The Better On The Way

Kim — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:08:36 +0000

Etsy is just so cool!

This is something I say to myself and anyone listening at least a dozen times a week!

I just love it. I love the stuff, I love the energy, I love the people, and I love the idea of all of it.

The dream of being able imagine, create, market, and sell handmade to a massive audience of people who “get it” is just huge to me.

Etsy is wonderful, of that there is no doubt, but it isn’t perfect… not yet!

Major Site Changes Upcoming on Etsy

Etsy has said that 2010 is going to be a banner year in terms of not only sales, but site and usability improvements as well.

The list of changes they plan to make is extensive, and includes a few things you might be interested in.

Username and Shop Name Separation

On of the biggest changes in the way the site works for sellers is going to be the end of “pick a username, that is your shop name, that is your only shop name, and you can’t have more without another email address. And it can’t be changed.”

That will change soon! So if you’re not loving your shop name and wish, wish, wish you could change it without starting over and losing your feedback and all your listings… just wait a bit longer. They’re going to make it possible.

This is also really big if you’re trying to brand your website, blog, and shops together but the shop name won’t cooperate!

More Than One Shop Under One Account

No problem. How cool will that be? As it is right now, I have to log-in to see my convos on Flashy Fish and log-out and log-in again to see them on The Lavender Road. Same thing with checking sales, adding listings, I could go on and on.

Etsy says they will be making it possible to have more than one shop with one account! That’s really great news!

Look, Feel, and Buyer Friendliness Improvements

Etsy isn’t stopping with just the technical side of things, they are also changing the look of the site. They say it will be wider, with new colors, new layout, and better categories! The search feature is going to get more user-friendly and they say more accurate!

Look For a Better Etsy in 2010

I learned all of this in the Etsy Forums, which is a great place to get information and to network with other Etsy sellers.

From what I read there, this is going to be an awesome year for Etsy and I’m excited to watch it happen and be a part of it!

A couple of forum links:

Upcoming Changes to Profile, Feedback, and Favorites URLs

Answering your questions

~Kim

Stuck On Pincushions

Kim — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:32:08 +0000

I’m kinda stuck on pincushions right now! I featured Heather Bailey’s beautiful studio recently and fell in love with her strawberry pincushions. Now, I don’t sew too much, but I had to make one for myself. Isn’t it cute? I love just looking at it!

I used a Heather Bailey pattern to make it, and it was super easy. Maybe I’ll try the pear next.

I started noticing pincushions everywhere, so I’ll share a few of these beauties with you. Beware…you could become addicted!

Jessica at How About Orange made these cute little pincushions. She’ll show you how to make one on her blog. You won’t believe what she uses for the base!

This wildflower pincushion pattern can be found at Better Homes and Gardens. I’d love to see one in a black and white damask pattern!

Have you ever seen a pincushion ring? This was a first for me…ya gotta love Etsy! Art Nest Shop has made pincushions fashionable!

I was blown away by Tip Nut’s post with 60 pincushion tutorials! WOW!

Martha Stewart has a video tutorial on making a fabulous tea cup pincushion from old sweaters!

Now I just need her giant craft studio so I can store all my supplies nice and neat. I don’t think she would approve of my overflowing basket method of storage!

A little history {which I’m sure you have always wanted to know} for you…

Pincushions were first recorded in history during the Tudor reign in 15th century England. Metal pins were a very costly and precious items in those early days and before the 15th century were kept in small cases made of bone, ivory, or silver.

During the Tudor era, simple stuffed shapes started to be used instead of the cases. They began by being made of colorful and elaborately decorated silks and linens, replete with tassels and laces.During the Victorian era there was a great deal of emphasis on the parlor room and it became the perfect place in which to display the novelty pincushions of the era. Pincushions were made in the shape of shoes, fans, dolls, teacups, umbrellas, fruits, and vegetables. They were hung on the walls or placed on occasional tables. {Click here for even more info.}

And what would a post about pincushion love be without one more photo of strawberry pincushions??? It would take me forever to make this many, but it might just be worth it. Heather Bailey {Should I just start a fan club, or what?} has pincushion kits available to make it easier for you.

Another great gift idea…

This title of this book says it all…Pretty Little Pincushions. It’s full of beautiful photos and ideas…kinda like fuel for creative folks!

Sometimes I’m all about decorating the house or creating an oasis in my backyard, but right now I’m sewing pincushions! I love projects that can be done in a hour! I might have a short attention span.

What kind of stuff are you stuck on?

I’m joining Julia at Hooked on Houses for Hooked on Fridays…Check it out for yourself!

How-To Video — Create An Etsy-Mini

Everything Etsy — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:08:57 +0000

In a recent post on 20 Ways to build traffic to your Etsy Shop, we listed the use of Etsy-Minis as one. Indeed, Etsy-Minis are one of the best ways to build your shop’s business. In this video, I’ll go through the entire process of making an Etsy-Mini and putting it on a Blogger Blog.

The whole thing is only about FOUR minutes! That’s how easy it is! And that’s with me (Tim) talk, talk, talking. The smallest text is a little fuzzy, but you’ll be able to follow along easily! Here’s the video:

I hope that was helpful! Since it wasn’t so clear, let me show you that little bit of HTML code you use for centering something. Before the code you want to center you put in this

Then, after the code you want to center you just close it with this . This works for buttons, pictures, scripts (like the Etsy-Mini), etc.

The last thing I want to mention is that you can put these Etsy-Mini’s on any blog, not just yours. If you want to put one here on Everything Etsy, check out our “Advertise Here” page!

Have a great day! And Happy Mother’s Day!!! to the moms out there!