Archive for August, 2011
Thanks to Amy (who is a regular contributor here on pns and is also the woman behind FormFire Glassworks), I recently found this AMAZING diy bench makeover (it was in one of Amy’s pinboards on Pinterest).
Using a discarded bench with no actual “seat”, Sam from Today’s Next brought this old bench back to life with a little towing rope and a lot of creativity. I love the way woven seats look. Don’t you?
Find out how the whole thing came together (with instructions) on Today’s Nest.
I always enjoy hearing about new design contests. And I know you do too. So, I am excited to share that one of papernstitch’s blog sponsors, UncommonGoods, is hosting an amazing design challenge for unique and well, uncommon, jewelry.
If you are a jewelry designer, I don’t have to tell you that there are LOTS of other jewelry designers out there (its quite the competitive category), and it can be hard to get a leg up.
So don’t let this opportunity pass you by. If you win, it just might be that “leg up” that you’ve been dreaming of. And who couldn’t use an extra $500?
If you are unfamiliar with UncommonGoods, its a cool place for unique gifts from talented artists and designers around the country. They have put together a cash prize and a vendor contract for the winner of this design challenge. Here are all the details straight from UncommonGoods….
Now accepting entries for the Uncommon Jewelry Design Challenge through August 31 at midnight (ET). You can find all the details and enter right here: Jewelry Design Challenge. But basically, we’re looking for unique and fresh designs that really show off a designer’s skills and use of creative materials. But please don’t send us work with leather, pearls or anything that harms animals. We’re excited to have 3 guest judges who will be helping us select the winning design. For a list of judges and more info, click here. We can’t wait to share our favorite entries with shoppers! The community will be able to vote for their favorites starting on September 6. Our guest judges will take a look at the top-voted designs and from those pick the grand prize winner. The winning designer will receive $500 + the chance for a vendor contract with UncommonGoods. And we might be offering contracts to the runners up as well- we’re seeing some great entries so far and the competition is only a few days old!
Visit the UncommonGoods entry page now to enter to win.
I am a bit of an animal-freak animal lover, but living in a 1,000 square foot house doesn’t leave much room for any more pets (we already have Luna and Nuggs). So, I am thinking about approaching my passion for pets in a new way this year: with Le Animale!
These adorable, one-of-a-kind animal totems fit in the palm of your hand and are hand sculpted by Laura Johnston in Raleigh, North Carolina with polymer clay.
No pets allowed in your apartment? No problem! Even the most particular of landlords will allow these little guys. Hehe.
Oh, and if you already have a pet of your own, Laura does custom pet totems as well. So, basically, with or without pets of your own, Laura has you covered!
Head on over to Laura’s shop Le Animale now to browse her handmade totems, original illustrations, and more.
Guest post by Rachael at Talk 2 the Trees.
The perfect dress is hard to come by. I like my dresses to be cheap, and long enough. (I’m not a fan of super short dresses!) Cheap and long dresses don’t seem to go hand in hand.. so, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself! Here is a tutorial for a simple yet cute dress. It takes about 30 minutes to make and costs much less than most dresses!
Here’s Your Supplies List:
Here’s How you Make it:
1. Cut the tank top almost in half. This will depend on your bust size, and how short you want your dress as well. The shorter the tank top, the shorter your dress will be.
2. For the bottom part of your dress take the fabric and wrap it around your waist about 1 and a half times, and cut in a straight line. The fabric will come to you already folded, don’t unfold it. This way you have kind of a bubble hem. You don’t need to hem up the bottom at all, and the inside will look like the outside. I never measure, I never use patterns… Sorry if this seems silly!
3. Next you fold your fabric in half. Remember it’s already folded, so you are folding it again, creating a skirt. Sew up the short side. (There will be four layers of fabric that you are sewing.) So, you have kind of a big blocky rectangle skirt.
4. Next open it up and change your sewing machine’s tension so it will create the biggest stitches possible. Instead of sewing a waist band in like a normal skirt, you are just sewing a straight line around the two layers of fabric joining them together (You are sewing the raw edges, not the bubble hem).
5. We are going to create a ruffle. Don’t do a back stitch when you start sewing around the skirt or after. To make the skirt ruffle you hold the thread and scoot the fabric down. Make sure the skirt ruffles are evenly distributed and pretty loose.
6. Next, turn the skirt part inside out so that the raw edges (from when you turned it into that big blocky skirt) are facing out, and put the tank top inside as pictured.
7. Now pin the tank top and the dress together. Once it’s pinned make sure that the tanktop part of the dress folds out to be inside out like the skirt part.
8. Make sure that the tank top park lays flat and the skirt part is ruffled still.
9. Make sure your tension is set back to normal and sew the skirt and the tank top together just under the previous stitches.
10. Remove the pins and the dress part is done! Now for the sash.
11. Cut a strip out of the left over fabric, about double of how thick you want your sash to bed. Fold it in half long ways so that the printed side is facing in. And sew up the sides.
12. Turn it right side out and finish up the edges, and you are done! The sash is not actually sewn onto the dress, it’s removable and is just tied in the back. You could always use a regular belt or another coordinating fabric for the belt!
Here’s the tutorial in pictures…
Believe it or not, this dress only took about 30 minutes to make. And get ready for this… It cost about $6 total! If you are looking for a budget dress that you can make on your own, this is it.
About the author. My name is Rachael, I’m an artist, creator and blogger living in Utah. I have two silly puppies and a lot of creative projects cluttering up my house. I love a good adventure, and I love to document my explorations through various art forms. Follow my adventures at Talk2thetrees.blogspot.com.
When I was at CCE last week, I sat in on a panel that Danielle from Etsy was heading up and one of the things she mentioned that was of interest to me was the sort by relevancy search, which would be the new default for searches. I was excited about the change, as a shopper, but I am certain that Etsy shop owners were even more excited by the news.
At the time of her presentation, Danielle mentioned that the new search function hadn’t been released yet, so I didn’t say anything, but as of Tuesday, August 9th it is live on Etsy.com. And I am really curious to know your opinion as a shop owner and/or a buyer. As you may have guessed, the new search default is seeing positive results so far. Here’s a quote from a recent article released on Etsy’s blog from CEO Chad Dickerson…
As I write this, search sorted by relevancy has been the default for less than 48 hours, but we’re pleased to share some early data that supports what we learned in testing.
- The total number of shops with a sale was higher in the past two days than any other days this year.
- The past two days saw more favoriting activity than any other other days this year. More individual sellers had an item favorited and more individual items were favorited than any other days in 2011.
- Two of the four biggest overall sales days on Etsy in 2011 were the past two days.
- Two of the four days with most individual items sold in 2011 were the past two days
Switching to relevancy as the default search sort was a necessary step in our continued effort to improve the search experience on Etsy. The “search results sorted by relevancy” approach gives us more options to continually improve the overall search experience as the marketplace continues to grow.
Those stats are pretty great. And as a buyer, I am enjoying the new search.
BUT, in the past, many Etsy shop owners have relied heavily on constantly re-listing products in order to show up at the top of search results. Now that things have changed, simply re-listing an item to appear higher in the search ranking isn’t going to work.
And that means you will have to change your strategy. Here are my suggestions…
Instead of constantly re-listing items, utilize other avenues. Make good use of what you still have and recharge your marketing strategy while you are at it. Time to roll up your sleeves to do some research…
Think long and hard about what your keywords should be and use them in these four places:
- product title
- tags (use all 13 tags you have to describe each product in your shop + make sure your keywords are a part of those tags you choose)
- the first line of your product description (believe it or not, straight from the horses mouth, the first line in your item description is the most important for your potential customers and for SEO).
- your profile page
Start marketing your work outside of Etsy if you are not already.
- Make a list of sites and blogs that you believe your work would appeal to.
- Contact one blog each week to start (so you don’t feel overwhelmed) and introduce yourself and ask if the editor might be interested in featuring your work in the future.
- Think about alternative ways you can get your shop noticed (facebook, twitter, your own blog, advertising, giveaways, promos, etc) and get to work.
There are plenty of other ways to accommodate this change and continue on that road to success with more sales, but for now, I’ll leave you with those short and actionable tips.
I’d love for you to chime in with your own thoughts though, so let me know in the comments below what you think of the new search by relevancy default. Or if you’d prefer, you can answer this question…
How has the new way to search on Etsy changed your marketing and sales strategy so far?
Looking forward to reading and responding to your thoughts.
Hope you had a relaxing weekend. I did a little shopping yesterday, which was nice, but I came up empty-handed because what I really wanted I just couldn’t find: a new necklace.
Luckily, I am bookmarking new jewelry shops online almost daily, and I know Virginie Millefiori (a French designer based in NYC) has the hook up on awesome necklaces and other jewelry. I am partial to the necklaces above (small apple, big apple + hot air balloon), but I also love pieces like this kisslock ring. Never seen anything like it.
Browse Virginie Millefiori‘s available collection on Etsy now.
I have a pile of work to finish up today, so this is going to do it on the blog for this week. But before I head out, I wanted to share a shop with you that I am absolutely loving right now.
Its called Caposhi, and the fiber accessories in this shop are so perfectly crafty and stylish I just couldn’t let the weekend go by without mentioning it. Each piece (necklaces and earrings) is made with beautiful fibers AND each piece is of limited edition (one of a kind). Love that! No two are alike.
And if fiber accessories aren’t your thing, there are also some cute tote bags in the Caposhi shop. Something for everyone! But I have to tell you I am partial to the necklaces – they are beautiful. So, when you head over to check out the collection, bring along this promo code below for free shipping…
FREE SHIPPING for papernstitch readers. Enter code PNSFREE at checkout for free shipping on your order now through September 4th. Visit Caposhi on Etsy now to take advantage of your promo code.
