Thursday, May 28, 2009

A Fun Feature!

I've been posting about 3 items a day in my shop for the last few weeks. Fellow Etsians, this is a fabulous way to be contacted by wonderful bloggers who want to feature your wares!

Several days ago Laura contacted me and wanted to know if I would like to participate in her blog's giveaway (do I?? Of course!). So I made a cute little zippy for her and in return--check this out!

The GiveAway Tree


Pretty sweet, huh?

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A Few New Things

A few new things to share, in no particular order:

www.heritagestudioandgallery.com/blog
Amy my photographer friend who is consigning a bunch of bags for me has written a lovely blog post about my shop (and my tendency to get lost while driving to a new place). In addition to having a beautiful studio, Amy has a sweet blog--check it out!

* Last night [dance of joy] I learned that my poem "Animal" will appear in Chopper Poetry Journal 4. (Incidentally this link is where I first learned about Chopper--I appreciated their somewhat sassy editorial note--and I think it is an important resource for every writer to know about.) I am so pumped! My publication history: in the 11th grade I won an Ohio Young Poets contest and was published in their very nice (and very legitimate) anthology. In college, one of my poems that I unfortunately titled "(untitled)" was published in the College of Wooster's student publication The Goliard. And now this! I am so pumped. Even my mom (who does not especially like poetry) wants a copy when it's out. :) Though I haven't double checked this fact yet, I think that "Animal" did not make the cut in the final draft of my thesis book. Isn't that funny?

* I have a new and very fun design that I think I will call the Pod. It was a commissioned design, and the first one was so cute that my friend who commissioned it wants another one! It's a little tiny thing, about a 3.5 inch square that has a magnetic snap flap and a hook on the back that you could hook onto a belt loop or any bag hardware. I am hugely inspired to make a bunch of them for the Open House.



* I also have a new design for a mommy-and-me passport cover, inspired by another friend of mine who makes frequent international trips with her family. With an extra pocket in the back, it comfortably holds 2 passports. I am pleased with how it turned out. I used a loop / tab closure, which I think is perfect for the design.

* I purchased an ad at Majaba.org. I am told that they get 20,000 individual visitors a day, which is amazing. So far it has increased traffic to my shop, but no new sales. That is OK--it is less than 1 day old. Majaba.org is this fabulous tool for Etsians to quickly see how their wares are faring--you can see shop hearts, item hearts, and new hearts all very easily.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Featured!

Today one of my cute little zippies was featured in a treasury:


















Thank you, Scrapscribe!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

This Cracks Me Up


Yes, a cat next to a gigantic Cats bag is funny, but the description is what is truly hilarious if you ask me:

"You loved the play now own the tote bag! Black vinyl measuring 19" X 14" and ready to go on your daily prowl.

"Linda not included."

Thank you for that perfect bubble of joy this evening, Pawedthrough. And Linda.

:)

Monday, May 4, 2009

Less Abstract, Zippers, and a Treasury!

Did you ever notice that when big stuff happens, sometimes the only way you can talk about it is in giant, sweeping abstractions? That would explain my last post.

I applied for a job that I would have enjoyed, and the other day I learned that I did not get that position. It was so disappointing, mostly because I had been mentally preparing for the job for about three months.

But life does go on. Let me tell you about that.

My zippers came in the mail today! Woohoo! I love my zipper lady. She has opened up a new shop just for zippers, and it is called ZipIt. If you need zippers, Jennie is your lady. So during naptime, I made the first 3 of 100 planned zippy pouches. They turned out pretty nice. I am so happy with how the zipper pull charms look on them. I was starting to think I'd never use all the beads I bought!

Today I discovered Twitter, and I tweeted some new zippy pouches--I was totally amazed at how quickly the views came in! More quickly than without twitter, that is for sure. My twitter address is www.twitter.com/custombags. "SeatOfMyPants" was taken already!

This weekend I bought a really insightful guide to improving your Etsy site. TheBuzz offers lots and lots of helpful tips--which I will not reveal here, since TheBuzz has a whole collection for sale at her shop. I am glad to have read through it, and hopefully by following some of the tips from TheBuzz, I will be able to get my Etsy shop to be more busy.

And one more tidbit:
Today I snagged a Treasury!




http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=56235