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It really has been a long long time since I last posted. Probably a year or so. But no, I didn't disappear off the face of the planet. And yes, it seems that not a gazillion things changed in the world of online crafting whilst I was on hiatus either. Maybe I'm wrong there. Part of me hopes so, in that things are lots better and easier, and part of me hopes no, because I was just getting everything figured out!!
So, I stopped making things and keeping my hands busy because the rest of my life got too busy instead. I moved to New York from Scotland, and that was quite a big deal. I moved because of work, which incidentally has gotten a lot harder as I have risen the corporate ladder. I live in Chelsea for the moment with my husband. Yep, that's another change right there. I got married in January in NYC City Hall. I then had another white wedding party in Belfast with my friends and family in June, and a third and final celebration in Jerusalem with my husband's friends and family in September. So I spent 9 months of the last year getting married, and I didn't even dream of a big wedding as a little girl! So that was rather time consuming. I also got the most adorable, adorable puppy in July called, well, Moose. He is a Cavalier King Charles and I am sure I'll feature pictures of him on the blog in due time. As a puppy he made doing anything quietly rather impossible, but he's now 5 months, and has settled down in the lovely dog that sleeps on your feet and looks at you with big big brown eyes all the time. Actually, he's feeling a bit pathetic at the moment as he's lost his baby canine teeth and can't really bite on things, so he's not feeling much of a doggie. They'll grow back, but he thinks that right now they won't. Poor Moose!
So, for nearly a year I haven't really made anything. Well, I started a lot of things for myself, rather than Etsy, as I didn't really feel like having the pressure of production hanging over me. And then I realized that I didn't have to actually have the pressure of making things for others if I didn't want to on Etsy. There is a lot of talk of business vs hobby on Etsy all the time. I very much respect those who want to use online marketplaces as true businesses, thinking about customer, demand, costs, overheads etc. That is great - it is truly wonderful that the internet allows people to do that. However, it's not for me. I realised that I enjoy the process of making stuff a lot, but I do not have the time or the inclination right now to spend hours thinking about SEO campaigns, keywords, and ensuring my stock levels are appropriate. So, I reconciled myself to the fact that Moose and Bear will never really be super successful. And that's okay with me. As long as I can use it to challenge myself to grow creatively and occasionally get rid of an overstock of cute little softie critter then that is probably the best I can hope for.
In the meantime, I have listed a new ACEO that I finished back in, eeeek, December. I really love cross stitch, maybe more than all the other forms of embroidery. There is something so wonderfully uniform about the perfect squares. It is such a clean beautiful stitching type. If I can find a bunch of frames at a flea market over the next couple of weeks then I can see myself doing a line of cross stitch products.
I actually have found quite a lot of things that were finished late last year that I will be tidying up and photographing over the next couple of weeks. I've also been thinking about and developing a new product line of very cute miniature crochet cell phone charms. I adore making these, not least because they are super portable. I've ordered a bunch of cell phone charm straps, and as soon as they arrive then I'll be able to start listing. Exciting times!
I have frequently extolled the absolute necessity of promoting your Etsy store outside of Etsy. The last couple of days for me have been absolute proof of that. Last weekend I made a sale that started with someone spotting something I made on the front page and blogging about it. I discovered this, and then commented on his blog, we had a nice little conversation, and a few days later, he made the purchase. I really don't think that he would have had I not commented on his blog and blogged about him. Then, a few days later, I made a sale thanks to my frequent twittering, and this morning I woke up to three more sales to someone who counts me as a flickr contact. If I'd only stuck to promoting within Etsy, these sales would never have happened. But, and this is the best bit, they really didn't take that much effort from me. I love flickr anyway, and have happily lost hours whilst looking at other photos and sorting my on. Twitter, as I've already blogged about, is such an easy way to connect with people.
So, what makes effective flickr marketing? Easy. Add your photos to groups. Add contacts. Make comments on photos. Repeat. Just beware that you don't lose three hours of your life there - so easy to do!!
And for twitter - talk about your life, talk about your products, add links to your blog and new listings. Tweet to other people, get involved.
Oh, and finally, isn't my new "I heart geeks" badge awesome!! I love it, and really wanted to keep it.
It really has been a busy couple of days at moose and bear and really really exciting. Last week someone convo-ed me about doing some consignment work, which was hugely flattering. I've done a bit of research (thank you to everyone on the etsy forums who puts up with my inane questions), and the general consensus is that it can sometimes work, and sometimes not. So I'm guessing I should do it this once, and see how well I like doing it. I've got to make up 10 plushies - a mixture of swearing and non-swearing - and send them by mid-Feb. That shouldn't be too onerous.
I also received my moo cards this week. As you can see, I got quite a range. I like them all apart from the bottom three. I imagine that the first time you get moo cards is a bit of trial and error, but I'm pretty pleased with these. Now I just have to suck up the courage to start talking to people about my shop!!
Actually, the cards are out of date. I made a big sale yesterday - 3 items to one seller! And, pity the poor seller, I had only just put my prices up a couple of hours ago. I had received feedback that my prices were too low and were probably putting off sellers, so I put them up, and lo and behold, three things gone! I was actually in a state of shock, because I logged in and my shop looked empty! It was fantastic. So goodbye to Steve the Robot, George the Octopus, and the cute little matryoska dolls. I am most upset about Steve, because I kept meaning to writing down the pattern I thought up whilst making him, but now he's in the mail. I guess that pretty much makes him OOAK. Cool.
I've been making a lot of felt recently, so the last couple of nights I've been getting back into my amigurumi. I was planning on making a two legged blobby monster. Only, when I finished him, he looked more like a penis. So now I don't know what to do. I think he's fantastically cute, but would people really want a blue penis esque plushie in their lives? Oooooh. Design-wise, I think it's back to the drawing board unfortunately.
The first day of many! I'm trying to complete the 365 days of crafting pledge that many fellow crafters have also signed up for - 2008 is going to be a good year! Today I've sewn up a couple of my latest swearing amoebas that will be posted onto etsy over the next couple of days. I'm determined to make Moose and Bear a success this year!!
Right now I'm working on my swearing amoebas, and I've got a cute litte crochet robot to sew together. I've stockpiled some felt so I'll be making some new monsters from my sketchbook later today as well. Yeh!!
