Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Useful Christmas Presents
When mailing my parcels I like to put my shop URL on the outside of the package. It's kind of like free advertising as it goes through the post office. Until now I was using individual letter stamps which ended up taking almost 10 minutes each parcel! So this Christmas my lovely mom got me a stamp with my logo on it and shop URL. I love it! It makes thing so much easier. What presents did you get this Christmas?
Labels:
christmas present,
christmas sale,
Etsy,
logo,
sleepy moon design,
stamp,
useful
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Winter Photography
Labels:
dog,
flowers,
foot prints,
photography,
snow,
snow shoe,
winter,
winter berries
Monday, December 28, 2009
Defining My Mission
It's the time of year to assess past goals, celebrate successes and establish new goals. With that in mind, I've decided that this year I will be trying some new things with my blog. I'm really excited to share what you can expect from the Sleepy Moon blog in the future:
It's been a goal of mine to build this blog into a busy and bustling place where you can find helpful information, ask questions, read inspiring posts and be part of a community. I'll be sharing posts about my creative process along with my achievements and (hopefully not too many) failures. I will also share tons of up-and-coming artist's work. I love to show off how inspired the artisans in the Etsy community are.
I know that I like to read blogs that have tutorials and help me with my business, but I also like to read about the artist behind the blog and behind the art. What type of blogs do you like to read? I would love to hear some feedback.
Labels:
blog,
creativity,
goals,
handmade,
jeweler,
mission,
new direction,
new year
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Boxing Day Special Treasury
Click the picture to view this beautifully correlated treasury made by editionbw.
Labels:
boxing,
christmas sale,
day,
editionbw,
Etsy,
Etsy treasury
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
My Ideas On Paper
Sometimes when designing jewellery I run out of important materials like wire and I have to wait a very long week for the mail to come. During that time I find myself feeling very frustrated at not being able to make anything. The ideas never stop coming though, and usually build up in my head, which makes me even more anxious because I'm afraid that during my busy day I will forget something. Recently I came up with a solution to the problem. I decided to sketch those ideas out so that I will remember them when my wire does come.
This may seem like an obvious thing to do. I mean people have been sketching out their idea since caveman days, but I had honestly never thought to work that way. I bought myself a nice hard cover sketch book and some mechanical pencils and now I spend my evenings sketching out the days ideas. I find sketching very relaxing, mainly because I no longer fear that I will forget a moment of design brilliance in the down time.
This may seem like an obvious thing to do. I mean people have been sketching out their idea since caveman days, but I had honestly never thought to work that way. I bought myself a nice hard cover sketch book and some mechanical pencils and now I spend my evenings sketching out the days ideas. I find sketching very relaxing, mainly because I no longer fear that I will forget a moment of design brilliance in the down time.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
List of Etsy Business Tool Links
Here is a list of links that I have correlated over time. All of these links I use on pretty much a daily basis. They help me look at stats on my Etsy shop or come up with tags... ect. This list will permanently be at the right hand side of my blog for you to come back to if you forget what that certain site was.... I know I forget all the time so this list helps me too!
Colour Match
Craft Weasel
Eseller Ads
Etsy by Numbers
Etsy Fee Calculator
Etsy Hacks
Heartomatic
One Poke
Page Ranker
Poster Sketch
Statsy
Tag Fractal
Treasury Clock
Yaami Etsy Tools
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Cereal Box to Gift Box
I got my newsletter from Instuctables today and came across this creative way of turning a cereal box into a gift box. Since a lot of people will be wrapping their Christmas gifts this weekend I thought I would share... Check out this tutorial on turning a cereal box into a gift box.
Labels:
gift box,
gift wrapping,
instructables,
tutorial
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Customer experience Survey
Sunday, December 13, 2009
First Snow
Today was the first snow this year in Vancouver. So we went to the closet to get out the winter coats and mittins. To my surprise I had bought nice new things for my son, but was not ready for winter my self. Ahhh
Here is a collection of wish I had's for this winter...
Jacket by larimeloom
Leg warmers by meroww
Labels:
canada fashion,
jacket,
larimeloom,
leg warmers,
meroww,
outfit,
pants,
scarf,
stylish,
winter
Saturday, December 12, 2009
First Christmas on Etsy
This is my first Christmas on Etsy. I started on Etsy last February so I just missed last year's hustle and bustle. This year has been great, but being a first year seller I sometimes have the thought in the back of my head that the shoppers are going to "disappear" in the coming months. Eeek! I am enjoying the reaction that my jewellery is getting and I hope that this continues on through January, February and the rest of the year.
One of my favourite things about selling jewellery is finding out why the person has bought that piece. Whether it is for a future sister-in-law, a special gift for mom or maybe just because they could not resist. I love to know that my jewellery will be a part of a fond memory for that person.
Season's greetings everyone!
One of my favourite things about selling jewellery is finding out why the person has bought that piece. Whether it is for a future sister-in-law, a special gift for mom or maybe just because they could not resist. I love to know that my jewellery will be a part of a fond memory for that person.
Season's greetings everyone!
Labels:
Etsy,
first year,
handmade,
holiday season,
jeweler,
shopping
Thursday, December 10, 2009
What Do You Use for SEO Help
For my next review I will be reviewing SEO help sites. I would like to get your help with picking which sites to review. What I need you to do is let me know what sites you...have used, have not used and have never heard of before from the list below.
Here is a short list of sites that I know about;
www.hubspot.com
www.powermapper.com
www.measuring-up.com
www.top-dog.org
All of these sites help you to optimize your website, etsy shop, or blog for search engines, which is key when running an online business. Is there any websites like these that you know about that are not on this list. Please share them below!
Here is a short list of sites that I know about;
www.hubspot.com
www.powermapper.com
www.measuring-up.com
www.top-dog.org
All of these sites help you to optimize your website, etsy shop, or blog for search engines, which is key when running an online business. Is there any websites like these that you know about that are not on this list. Please share them below!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Two Similar Necklaces
Two new necklaces that are very similar, each one has a beautiful faceted amethyst stone delicately wire wrapped in shiny sterling silver wire. The second necklace has a wire wrapped loop that the amethyst briolette hangs off of. The loop almost looks like it is a continuation of the chain.
Labels:
canadian jewellery,
designer,
Etsy,
handmade,
jewelry,
sleepymoondesign,
vancouver
New Bead Storage
As I was doing a grocery shop this past weekend I came across this combo pack of a bunch of spices in these spice jars. I had been on the hunt for something more practicale to store my beads in and I thought "hey that would be perfect". Though I think I need another one because I am organizing them by gemstone type and there are only 16 jars. I think having two or three of them at the back of my desk would be perfect!
It is really cool because it spins around and I can easily see all the different types of stones that I have. I can also take each jar off as I need them, which makes for a more clean and organized desk top.
It is really cool because it spins around and I can easily see all the different types of stones that I have. I can also take each jar off as I need them, which makes for a more clean and organized desk top.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Etsy Sales 12/07/09
KhoKreative- Handmade cards, photos & custom designs
Special Holiday sales just for Facebook fans. Become a fan here.
Peculiar Parchment - Cards For All Occasions-
Buy 1 Get 1 Free! Lots of Christmas cards and tags.Penny Paperworks- Pretty, Fun, and Functional Paper Goodies
Fun n Fab Little Music Journals JUST $3.50 NOW!!
Buy 1 Get 1 Free! Lots of Christmas cards and tags.Penny Paperworks- Pretty, Fun, and Functional Paper Goodies
Fun n Fab Little Music Journals JUST $3.50 NOW!!
Labels:
christmas sale,
Etsy,
free business cards,
handmade,
journals,
paper
Friday, December 4, 2009
My Treasury
I made a treasury come check it out! It is my first time getting in on time! So come support the lovely artists with beautiful cobalt blue items!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Flickr Review
Is flickr for you?
Flickr is a place to share and store you photos, but it can also be handy when networking and marketing your online business. The basic service is free, but for $25/year you get a huge amount of storage.
I started using flickr 2 years ago for my photography. Though it has slowly evolved into pictures of my jewellery.
I find that the photography community is much more active on flickr than the handmade community.
The following is my review on the in's and out's of flickring.
(10 is the best and 1 is the worst.)
Time Management
--I give flickr 5 out of 10
While it is fun to browse through and look at all the pretty pictures on flickr it can be very time consuming! It is also very tedious work tagging and uploading all of your images and making sure they have fun, attractive titles and descriptions! Flickr is not for the person who is already in a time crunch. Though if you do have time it is worth trying out. Just set up a routine and stick with it.
-Clock by withhugsandkisses
Connecting With People
-- I give flickr 7 out of 10
With flickr you can leave comments on other peoples photos and people leave photos on yours, which is great for getting feedback about your work. You can also become friends with other Etsians and you will see all the new stuff they have uploaded on your homepage or your contacts page. I do find that the comments on flickr photos can be to different extremes, either a lot of constructive criticism or just a random "nice" or a "that's pretty".
--I give flickr 8 out of 10
If tagged correctly, your photos have a great chance of showing up in google or yahoo searches. Your photos also show up in flickr searches and on the front page of flickr when they are first uploaded. You can add you photos to thousands of different groups that have themes like 'Etsy' or 'handmade'. The only problem with bringing traffic to your Etsy site is that you can only put your shop link in your profile. So someone really has to be interested to look at your profile and then carry on to your shop. Though, if used properly, it can bring quite a bit of visibility to your shop.
- Pendant by melissajlee
User Friendly
-- I give flickr 10 out of 10
I find flickr very user friendly. It is very hard to get lost and there are instructions all over the site that tell you what to do next... for example, after you upload your photos it says "Finished! Next: add a description, perhaps?"
Flickr is a place to share and store you photos, but it can also be handy when networking and marketing your online business. The basic service is free, but for $25/year you get a huge amount of storage.
I started using flickr 2 years ago for my photography. Though it has slowly evolved into pictures of my jewellery.
I find that the photography community is much more active on flickr than the handmade community.
The following is my review on the in's and out's of flickring.
(10 is the best and 1 is the worst.)
Time Management
--I give flickr 5 out of 10
While it is fun to browse through and look at all the pretty pictures on flickr it can be very time consuming! It is also very tedious work tagging and uploading all of your images and making sure they have fun, attractive titles and descriptions! Flickr is not for the person who is already in a time crunch. Though if you do have time it is worth trying out. Just set up a routine and stick with it.
-Clock by withhugsandkisses
Connecting With People
-- I give flickr 7 out of 10
With flickr you can leave comments on other peoples photos and people leave photos on yours, which is great for getting feedback about your work. You can also become friends with other Etsians and you will see all the new stuff they have uploaded on your homepage or your contacts page. I do find that the comments on flickr photos can be to different extremes, either a lot of constructive criticism or just a random "nice" or a "that's pretty".
--I give flickr 8 out of 10
If tagged correctly, your photos have a great chance of showing up in google or yahoo searches. Your photos also show up in flickr searches and on the front page of flickr when they are first uploaded. You can add you photos to thousands of different groups that have themes like 'Etsy' or 'handmade'. The only problem with bringing traffic to your Etsy site is that you can only put your shop link in your profile. So someone really has to be interested to look at your profile and then carry on to your shop. Though, if used properly, it can bring quite a bit of visibility to your shop.
- Pendant by melissajlee
User Friendly
-- I give flickr 10 out of 10
I find flickr very user friendly. It is very hard to get lost and there are instructions all over the site that tell you what to do next... for example, after you upload your photos it says "Finished! Next: add a description, perhaps?"
-Image by fosterbk
Overall I give flickr a rating of 8 out of 10. It's easy to use and not cluttered with things I don't need. I just have to make sure that I don't get sucked into browsing for hours, which I have succumbed to in the past... believe me. With flickr, you'll get out what you put into it, like anything I guess.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Perfect Little Treat
Getting your holiday sweet tooth? This is the perfect little sampler to sooth that craving. Look at the rest of this shop for more mouth watering treats! Bliss Candies I a spent hours wishing the shipping was less to Canada! My favourite treat to have at Christmas is Lindor truffles and Ferrero Roche!
What is your favourite treat at Christmas time?
What is your favourite treat at Christmas time?
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