♥♥♥♥♥ETSY♥♥♥♥♥

I ♥ ETSY .
Not only that it is the world's most vibrant handmade marketplace and the place to buy and sell all the things handmade, but it is such a nice and friendly community, offering you a chance to meet many wonderful people, artist, buyers, journalists.....



I have 2 shops over there, and you can see them on the side bar in my blog. I have joined etsy in 2008. after selling my handmade items: accessories and clothes on ebay for more than 2 years, as we had a major strike organized over there and many sellers, due to the increased ebay fees for selling items, passed from ebay to etsy.




I have started selling mainly hair clips for girls (just like I started on Ebay), but due to the high postage and export duties that my country has (so never could be competitive regarding the postages within US), I never thought that I could make my shop being profitable(I was mainly or loosing money or selling things for nothing, regarding the hair clips) or noticeable by others, being emerged in the sea of the most beautiful handmade items, and some very similar to those I create. But time was passing and I was slowly learning about some tips and features on etsy and how to bring some attention to my items. So, the first and most important thing is the photography of the item, or how it is presented. It is something that attracts attention and make an item being desirable by the potential buyer, or eventually by some blogs and magazines, wanting to feature that item and in that way to promote it better.



After finally opening Iwannabe etsy shop and started selling some plexi ornaments , I begun thinking about listing more on etsy, so I have tried to create some more plexiglass items, as I see this material very inspiring and versatile for many designing ideas. So at the moment, I am working on creating a mobile with my ornaments and some clocks. So hopefully, will have them in the shop next week already:)
Also, those doily ornaments, brought me my first international journal feature, when they were featured in the Country Living magazine in theirs Holiday Dec/Jan. issue. I was contacted for this feature through the etsy and they suggested me finding someone in the US to carry my ornaments as I will have more sales. So I did, and my doily ornaments were produced directly in the USA and are shipping to some US clients and I have some great plans with them, but will see what happens.
I have also opened the third etsy shop where I will soon be selling some of my prints, photos and similar surface items:)



What I wanted to say is that if you have some nice ideas - handmade products, you should try etsy. There are some tips and links beside having the nice photo of your product and I will share them here as I got some convos from some people living near me, so this can be useful(I almost all of it learned from my friend Zorica of 3FUN ...THANK you Zoe!!!)
1. when listing an item, there are 14 tags-use them all, it will help your product being more visible for different search options
2. make TREASURY list or TREASURY WEST list and here is a link on how to create them
3. poster sketch
this link is the poster sketch - you can create your list of favourite items within it, arranging the items easily and than use to at the moment of getting your treasury list
4. links to see treasury lists: both those featured on the FP (Front page)and current treasury lists made by other etsy members
vault
craftopolis
5. promoving your etsy shop on facebook


Have a great weekend
♫♪ ♫♪ ♥♥♥ ♫♪ ♫♪
Katarina

"Romantic"

Yesterday, I was so wowed when I saw the Etsy's front page with my dress/set featured.



It was one of those treasuries created by the etsy admin, as my item was found using the search term "romantic".

It is this dress/set that made it;)



I thought that I might post an e-mail I got recently from Mary, mom of beautiful Bella, to whom this set was created. She bid(sorry not sure if this verb is regular or iregular as bidded sounds odd) on my latest costume as well, and wrote me this:

Dear Nina,

This a gorgeous set. I wouldn’t even look at it the first few days it was up- for fear of falling for it. Your work is so detailed and spunky. I know you enjoy making children’s clothing, but I’m afraid you’re never going to get as much ($) for it as the time and ($) you put into it. I mean, that last set you sold to me was so detailed, versatile, and creative, that an adult outfit of the same nature would have netted you much more, financially. Grownups are willing to pay big bucks for something they can wear over and over (children grow so quickly).

I even think, that you could be an elite costume designer for any Broadway stage set or movie. The tone of a story is so sparked by the vivid quality of apparel! I think, that when one conveys to you their ideas, you’ve an uncanny ability to capture the essence of their mood and make it concrete; you could set any tone you wanted with your enticingly flowing thematic works.

However, it does seem that you lead a wonderfully balanced life – creating art you enjoy and raising a beautiful family. Perhaps you already have it all figured out! And, I do so enjoy owning a couple of your dresses for Bella to keep and cherish, and perhaps share with her children one day. Take care. And, even if I get outbid, I hope you will always know how much your creations inspire me.

Fondly,

Mary


Thank you again ETSY and thank you Mary!!!!
Great weekend everyone:)
Katarina

Thank you ETSY

Last week, a got the message from a friend that I was on the etsy's FP. But, as last week was too crazy to blog, with many things happening around and me being involved in many different things, I'm bringing it to light only now;)



It was one of those "found through etsy categories" treasuries and I was delighted to be part of that.



Someone loved my ornaments and I was so happy to sell a few and also got many inquires and compliments:)
Actually, a few weeks ago, after we got home from Holidays, I have found the request to send the samples of them for the Country Living magazine , as they took them in consideration for theirs December/January -Holiday issue. It still sounds pretty "too good to be truth", but will see;)



xo, Katarina

Etsy treasury

I was so lucky this week, being featured 4 times on Etsy treasury.








Sorry if the pics of the web pages I took are terrible, but I 've tried to save it as a web page, unsuccessfully, so this is the best I could do as far. This one on the left is still unexpired and you can see it here if you are looking before October 13, 10:52 pm.....
It was created by Brooke.
The other previous list were made by my friends, living very close to me, Katarina and Nena .

There are also some other great people from my country, (but living outside) I met thanks to Etsy like Zorica and Sandra.

And if you want to make your treasury list, I suggest reading this.

Happy Sunday,
xo, Katarina