Return and Marketing Monday

I’m back after the family and party season and my birthday celebrations. It was lovely celebrating not so cool being one year from the dreaded age of 25.

Wednesday will see me starting my resolution to lose 1 stone this year. I know it can be done as I did it from autumn 07 to spring 08 but then dropped my exercise classes after an extended holiday period. Wednesday I’ll be picking up the weights (small to start with) twice a week. I hope to get in one hour of swimming each month at a regular free swim in my area and I’m thinking of adding in an aerobics class on Mondays. But I want to get the pain and stiffness from the first weight classes out of the way before becoming more ambitious :)

Today I just have one quick marketing opportunity for you. Isis Arts blogs artist profiles. To get in touch and get your mug on a blog contact her via this thread or by convo.

See you tomorrow.

Tutorial Tuesday - Crayons for Kids

I'm just going to leave this fun, cheap and easy tutorial on how to make chunky, shaped crayons from your kid's old crayon stubs.

I'm going to take a quick blog break during the holidays to spend time with my family and work hard on my charity reading event . I'm still looking for some more small crafty items to go into gift bags to send out to participants. If you can commit to sending 12 small items by the end of January contact me by e-mail at bakerjodie at googlemail dot com . You'll be added to the blog sidebar and newsletters as an official sponsor, lots of participants will look at your link and being a sponsor of a charity event will look fantastic for your small business.

I'll be back shortly after New Years Day with lots of fun new content. Have a great time oevr the break.

Monday Marketing - Promo Contributions

You often see threads in the Etsy forums asking for samples, coupons or business cards to be contributed to gift bags. It's hard to know how effective contributing to these bags is for generating traffic to your shop (although using coupons with codes is a good way of tracking at least one area of traffic). However I think that if you can send out inexpensive samples of business cards in these bags you can at least start increasing people's awareness of your brand and product. You may not notice a giant leap in sales but you know you're getting your merch and your name into people's hands and homes.

Today I found two sellers asking for sellers to send some promotional items to them.

tangerinesunshine is looking for up to 30 samples to include in bags to be handed out near Valentines Day. They will be going out to her friends and co-workers as in with orders around that time. Convo to express your interest.

sweetirie is in need of some business cards and coupons to accompany her orders, as she says customers are very positive about getting promo packages. She has made 746 sales so far, so you know she'll be spreading your cards out fast.

Speaker Spot - Darren Alejos

It's time for our first Sunday interview. This week take a look at the wonderful graphic world of violintide - art and design by Darren Alejos.

Tell me a bit about your craft.

I draw. A lot. I draw creatures, characters, people, and abstractions of people. Then, I take my drawings (ink, pencil, charcoal) and make some digital enhancements, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. The final product is a variety of prints, ready to frame and hang on your favorite wall.

How long have you been drawing?

Ever since I can remember.

Where do you get the inspiration for your creatures like the whalebugs and flamingocrabs?

Part of it is just my imagination, I love making stuff up and just creating. I also love trying to find ways to combine different elements into one piece.

Are you crafty in other ways?

Once in a while I paint. I'm also interested in getting into screen printing.

What is your favourite piece that is listed at the moment?

All of them! But If I had to pick one, I'd say Attack (pictured below) is my favorite at the moment.

What are your favourite colours to use in your art?

Blue has always been my favorite color, and I think it shows. Lately though I've been thinking about orange more and more.

What has been your biggest marketing success?

I'm really happy that people have been visiting and commenting on my blog . Also, I really appreciate the responses I've been getting on my work through my flickr account.

What would be your top tip for crafters who want to sell what they make?

Believe in yourself and believe in what you create. Sometimes staying positive can be hard, but it's so important.

Soaps with Substance - Storque Top Ten

Today we'll have a slight divergence from the agreed schedule because my first contribution to the Storque is up! I created a Top Ten list full of fantastic handmade soap sellers which you can see here: http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/top-10-soaps-with-substance-3098/

There was a slight misunderstanding, some people thought I was calling bar shaped handmade soap dull but hopefully that's been cleared up now. While I love soaps in different shapes I'm also a big fan of bar shaped soaps in different scents or with other great USPs (as you can see I've included beer soap which is shaped like a bar). I hope this highlights a wonderful handmade category and gets people thinking about just what a lazily produced product much mass produced soap is.*

Anyone looking for some interesting resources on soap should go visit krugsecologic who is using her own body to examine the difference between handmade and commercial soap! Brave lady. Soap Deli has some nice soap recipies for anyone who wants to try making their own bars.

* Not including products from Dove, Lush or The Body Shop which are each producing really interesting products and (Dove and the Body Shop - I have no knowledge of Lush's business practises) are working responsible, ethical business practises. They're not pushing the envelope in quite such an exciting way as the handmade market but for big businesses they are working hard on encouraging diversity.

Thursday Mini Feature - MaisyandAlice

Our first mini feature will show you some of the felted beauties that MaisyandAlice makes. I found this shop just the other day, I think one of their necklaces was on the front page and I love to add front page items to my favourites. Big and bold but soft and friendly looking jewellery is sold here, along with pins, bookmarks and hair accessories.

MaisyandAlice says "Coffee pot's on, Cookies are in the oven!" so why not drop in for a visit?

A New Way of Blogging

I've decided that this place needs a bit more structure to it to make it relevant and easier for me to maintain. So in my lunch hour I've started on a major campaign of bloggy work. I've worked on the links in the sidebar so that you readers will be able to find your way to useful sites. I've also made an attempt to tidy up the 'linked in' buttons, getting rid of buttons for sites that don't seem to have had a major effect on traffic.

Finally I've created a nice, neat schedule for blog posts. From now on this is what you can expect to see here every week:

Monday - Marketing

Everyone wonders where and how to market. Mondays will now be full of marketing tips and current opportunities.

Tuesday - Tutorial

On Tuesdays the best tutorials from the craftosphere will appear here so you can make new, cool items.

Wednesday - Guest Appearances

Are you a handmade blogging star? Contact me at bakerjodie at googlemail dot com to discuss blogging here on Wednesdays. I'm looking for crafty stories, posts about crafting issues, fabulous item finds and any other interesting pitch ideas.

Thursday - Crafty Mash

Thursdays will play host to mini spotlights, with Etsians proudly displaying their thumbnails minis. There will also be product reviews of craft materials so that you know what to buy and what to kiss goodbye.

Friday - Flickr Finds

My favourite find from my 'I Heart Handmade' group, at Flickr, will be featured on Friday.

Saturday - Pretty Little Love Object Spotlight

Every other Saturday I'll be showcasing a particular love object from my shop and chatting about what creative things I've been doing.

Sunday - Speaker Spot

Sunday sees the return of the Etsy interview. If you would like to answer interview questions and promote your shop please contact me on the e-mail address above or leave a comment here.

I'm still working on a few page elements (I'm thinking about whether to replace the banner box with my shop banner image, deciding what to do with the bottom of the page...). I hope these changes will make the blog an especially enjoyable place to visit. Let me know what you think :)