No Aprils Fool Joke!

I can't wait for tomorrow! OK-No Aprils Fools Jokes here! It's opening Day of the Trout Special Season-Fly Only catch and release on one of my favorite rivers here in southeastern Michigan. Sorry, no more hints than that! Bob-my significant other, partner, boyfriend, whatever you call him-and I will be hitting the stream early in the morning-no not 12:01 am like in another year-I think we'll be sleeping in-until well...maybe 7 am LOL! But that's not the BIG Announcement... For the month of April, I'm offering free shipping! That's right-free shipping worldwide. I want to offer something special to start off spring-so my friends, for April only, I thought this would be a good way to entice you to look at my shop and add something to your shopping cart! If you have a sale to share be sure to comment and post a link here!

First crocus

 

Don't you just love the first crocus that pops up in your garden? A couple of these cheery little flowers popped up today! Hope they didn't listen to to weather forecast for a little snow. It makes me happy to see these little harbingers of Spring. The long dreary days of winter should soon be leaving. Time to take stock of our lives, put aside those grudges and gripes we've been harboring. Time to freshen up our outlooks. Life not going as planned?...well look at these happy flowers-that remind me that after darkness, light. Unhappy about the sales in your shops-well maybe it's time for some spring cleaning! Take stock of what you enjoy doing, sales will follow. Time to refresh the look? maybe a new banner, a change in prices, better pictures? Have someone new take a look and give some suggestions. A pair of fresh eyes may see things you don't notice! Are you doing enough to promote? How about posting a suggestion here for everyone to share? We'll soon have a whole garden of happy little flowers!

Friday Finds No.8-OceansideCreations

From one side of the pond to the other! My last featured artisan this week is OceansideCreations! I love sea glass and this Sea Glass Wire-Wrapped Pendant is beautiful! Here's a bit from the artisan: My name is Amanda and I live in Maine with my fiancee. I started making jewelry as a hobby and have enjoyed making it for friends and family as gifts for several years. I am a cook at a local fine dining restaurant, and as things are very slow at work in the winter I have found myself with plenty of time to get creative with my jewelry. In December 2008 I started my shop on Etsy. I don't have many sales yet but I am really enjoying the opportunity to make jewelry that I love. I love making wire wrapped jewelry and have been working most recently on a new collection of wire wrapped sea glass pendants. I'm really proud of this one and it's one of my favorites right now: Amethyst Wire Wrapped Bangle Make sure you post your comments and give these artisans some of your great encouragement and advice to boost their sale! Next week I'll have some more finds so keep returning to find some new favorite shops!

Friday Finds No.7-chocolatecupcake

chocolatecupcake from Scotland is my first international Friday Find! She's on vacation for a couple of days-I hope she will be surprised by the number of comments when she returns! She has a whole shop full of the cutest items, pin cushions, cute needlebooks for storing your needles, and all sorts of felt embellishments. Who needs to try to make these when you can buy ones cute as these chocolate fudge embellishments? Here's a little about the artisan: I'm Fiona, a 30year old stay at home mum of two (Reece 13 & Zoe 2 1/2)and wife to a very understanding husband. We live near Glasgow in Scotland where on rare occassions the sun does actually shine!!!! Finding time to create my goodies can be difficult so every spare moment is precious, especially in the afternoon while my daughter naps. I find my inspiration from a variety of places including childrens books, magazines and of course.....Etsy! My blog link is http://www.mychocolatecupcake.blogspot.com/ chocolatecupcake has 9 sales right now-let's see if we can boost that a little-Mother's Day in the US is coming up soon!

Friday Finds No.6-Massmans

I can hardly believe how fast time flies! it's been a busy week and it's already late on Friday-but these shops are worth the wait! Please take a look at their wonderful shops and be sure to leave them some encouragement in the comments! The first shop I wan to feature this week is massmans. I love then way someone can bring out the beauty of the woods. I think it's a rare talent and this shop brings out some of the best in it! Artist’s Statement I was first introduced to woodturning in a high school woodworking class. I rediscovered woodturning in 2006 and haven’t looked back since. I am largely self-taught—though I am an avid follower of woodturning newsgroups and magazines. I am a proud member of The American Association of Woodturners and the International Association of Penturners. I have been lucky enough to attend seminars at a national symposium where I was inspired by some of the great woodturners of our time. Woodturning is addictive to me largely because I can literally save a log from being turned into wood chips or firewood and give it new life as a unique piece of art. I love to take a raw piece of wood and make something functional or artistic out of it. As I start cutting the wood on the lathe, different kinds of grain patterns and features emerge, and I try to enhance those features in order to make the most beautiful object I can. I take an environmental approach in my woodturning by using reclaimed wood rather than cutting down trees to make art. Most of my wood is native to Missouri and is obtained at mulch sites or by word of mouth. Many of the trees have been damaged by disease or weather. Some of my most meaningful pieces start when someone’s favorite tree has been downed by weather or disease. I have the honor of being asked to make something out of the tree. It is a true joy to know that these pieces help trigger fond memories of beloved trees. This Cherry Bowl is my favorite item in his shop. Other links: My main website where everything is posted. http://www.massmans.org My blog http://massmans.blogspot.com

Friday Finds No. 5

Spring is a great way to celebrate new things. My "Friday Finds" feature Etsy artisans with less than 10 sales. Take a look at their shops and work and please leave a comment about them! Who knows-maybe you will find that they will become a favorite shop of yours! My third find today is the beautiful photography shop DanaLaymon, who tells us that "I have been doing photography seriously for 6 years and am mostly self taught. I love to travel and capture other cultures. I live in Wilmington, NC with my husband and puppy Lucy :) I do have a day job but hope to make photography my full time job one day. I do weddings and portraits in my spare time and love it all!" Take a look at Airlie Gardens Some other spots to follow her are: www.danalaymon.com & http://twitter.com/DanaLaymon & www.danalaymon.blogspot.com

Friday Finds No. 4

PolkaDotPoppy-isn't that a great name-is my fourth Friday find! Her In Orbit Earrings are one of her favorite pieces in her shop. I think the colors of them are just -well out of this world! I am a SAHM with three kids ranging from 11 to 7. I am currently homeschooling all three of them. This makes creative time sometimes hard to find but I am loving all of it. As seen in my shop sometimes, in order to fit in some creating time I have to let the kids join me in my craft room. All three of the kids love creating their own masterpieces. I love working with any and all materials. I love using components that allow me to create beautiful pieces that are very affordable. But I also love using gemstones and sterling silver. I love creating pieces. When you start with a pile of beads and some metal and get an end result of something beautiful that you made, the feeling is magical. Be sure to check out Jake and Zach's creations too!

Friday Finds No.3

Welcome spring! To celebrate spring let's look at three Etsy shops today! gifteddesigns is our first featured shop today! Shannon tells us that she is a 32 year young Montrealer who discovered Jewelry Design last June. I wouldn't be able to tell you how I made the jump into Jewelry Design if I tried...*lol* All I can tell you is that my best-friend in the world introduced me to Etsy and initially, I was thinking of starting a shop featuring paper goods...*lol* My shop name came to me in a dream where I was in an actual store selling said paper goods. Somewhere along the way, I found some incredible Etsy jewelry designers, bought some of their pieces and started buying beads to make my own and the rest is history! BTW, I'm still thinking of having paper goods...;) Some of the other places you can find her at are: BLOG: http://gifteddesigns.blogspot.com FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.dj/gifteddesigns TWITTER: http://twitter.com/gifted_designs FLICKR: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gifted_designs/ BYHAND: http://gifteddesigns.byhand.me DEVIANTART: http://silken.deviantart.com For those of you who speak French: Je suis bilingue. Il me ferais plaisir de vous répondre et vous servir en français...:) Here's one of her favorite items in her shop "Charmony."

Friday Finds No.2

Here's my next "Friday Find." Babesh. Since she joined Etsy she has had 6 sales-I think she could definitely get more with her cute items! Monika is a stay at home mom with 1 15 month old and 1 on the way so it's a busy life. This is what she has to share with us "I began making my creations because no one knew what they were in my town so therefore I didn't get any of them for my first baby shower, so upon being laid off from my job I needed something I enjoyed doing so I wouldn't go crazy so I decided to make my baby items and share them at fairly low prices." This 3 Tier Pink Girl Receiving Blanket Diaper Cake is a favorite item-so cute! You can find Babesh on flickr here:http://www.flickr.com/people/35728242@N02/ and on Twitter http://twitter.com/Babesh1 Be sure to give these shops some attention-their Etsy minis are posted to the left! Take a look at the cute items in their shops!

Friday Finds No.1

I'm so excited to be featuring these Etsy Artisans-the one thing in common with all of them is they have 10 or sales. Please take a look at their shops...I bet there will be something for you in there. Easter, Mother's Day-weddings, bridal and baby showers, birthdays and graduations, just because-I can think of hundreds of reasons to take a peek! Let's support our fellow artisans!

Hand Embroidery, Bridal bags & Vintage Finds

My very first "find!"veryprettythings has some very pretty things in her shop! Can you imagine a bride carrying this very special bridal bag! Right now this artisan has 10 sales-but we'd love to give her a boost! Her work is quite lovely! This is what Susan had to share with us: I am a Christian Homeschooling Mom. I enjoy reading, gardening, finding great deals on vintage items & sewing. I am a proud member of ETSYMOM & CAST street teams. Find one of her favorite items here. Check out her blogs: Http://pinkportugueseroses.blogspot.com and Http://myveryprettythings.blogspot.com

Wow-I'm featured in a treasury

I like to make treasuries-It's a great way to look at a lot of shops here on Etsy. If you haven't tried to make one-you should. Let you imagine go wild. Treasuries can be anything you want them to be-base theme on a color, word, theme, season, anything or nothing at all! What's the purpose of treasuries? Well, they get you as a seller and buyer to get exposure to shops you might not have seen before. It's lets others see your creative expressions and maybe consider you in return. Here's the treasury I'm in tonight. It was put together by paisleykitten. She started off the the treasury with 1 item, and asked others to comment on her treasury-and to challenge them to see if they had anything that could coordinate with her initial item! What a neat idea! I think it turned out great! How about you? How did I get that that screen shot into my blog? It's pretty easy! First of all open up the page you want a screen shot of, right click-see the box that comes up? It should say view page info on the bottom line. You need the info from there to find out the page address. You can copy that info to thumbalizr. You then download your thumbalized image and paste into your blog. It sound complicated, but after a couple of tries even I mastered, well at least can use, it!

I got a Treasury tonight!

I made this lovely spring treasury today! Full of pinks, and yellows and greens. It just makes me smile! Hope it brightens up your day too!

Friday Finds!

One of the great things about Etsy is the community feeling you have. Need a critique-someone's there with advice, need some technical advice-you'll get plenty. Can't find something?-just post your request. Want to celebrate you accomplishments, share a laugh...well you get the picture! One of the things I wanted to do is "pay back" some of the help that I got when I first started out. Friday Finds is about to be "debuted." Here's a link to the forum post about it. Each Friday, I'll feature at least 1 0r 2 Shops that have 10 or less sales. I've got two great shops veryprettythings and babesh lined up for this Friday! And there's a lot more great shop in the wings! Hope you'll come back on Friday to find out more about these shops!

Have you been featured in a Treasury?

One of the things I like to find are "Etsy hacks." Those simple tools we wish Etsy would have,but doesn't. If you have ever tried to figure out if you've been featured in a treasury or gift guide-you know you have to search the treasury pages one by one looking for the gold or silver stars. It can be a real chore-most of the time I just quit looking. But I just found this great site Craftopolis. You just type in your Etsy name and you can find out right away if you're in a Treasury! It's going to be working for gift guides soon too. Hope you have fun finding out if you've been featured in a treasury!

How do you know it's almost spring?

Most people think spring rains, the crocus popping their little heads out of the ground, the birds returning...but not in our house! My partner, Bob and I think... TROUT SEASON! It begins April 1st here in Michigan-catch and release fly only until April 30th. A sure sign that spring is on it's way is when we bring out all the "trout stuff" and start going thru our fly boxes! Like a couple of kids dreaming of sugarplums dancing in their heads-we get almost giddy thinking of wooly buggers, copper johns, blue winged olives, caddis nymphs-oh it makes a girls head swim! We went to Bass Pro Shops today to spend our Christmas gift from Bob's sister-here's some of the lovely things we got!

OK-maybe it's not what you dream about-but it's a sure sign of spring for me!

I changed my layout to 3 columns!

I've been looking at a lot of blogs lately. One thing I figured out is that I really like the look of a three column blog-but I didn't want to change my design to drastically. The Blogger basic templates don't have a choice of a three column design-so now what to do? Well, I found some great advice at here. It took a little effort-and I think it turned out pretty good. What do you think? I still have to work on the header-but it's a start! Hope your day is off to a great start!.