Enlivening the Etsy Community: Art Trades, Esty Promotion, Friendship, and Joy

Exclusively from EWO! Lyla’s package was crafted with great care!

Etsy is an awesome platform to sell your artwork on, but did you know that you can trade your crafts on Etsy too? All of the items on your wishlist can be yours, if you’re willing to make awesome, enticing products to match! In no way am I trying to tell you to thrift your way through Etsy, each Etsy seller pours their heart into their crafts, and they should be compensated for it- enabling them to continue their crafts, and defy the starving artist paradigm.

In recent months I’ve made a fond friend with Lyla from The Extraordinary Workshop of Oddities, (you can check out their Artist Spotlight!). Initially Lyla sent me a message to compliment my shop, and to express her mutual interest in animal rights and vegetarianism. I thought that her simple gesture was genuinely sweet, and refreshingly sincere; organic and well intended.

Throughout subsequent weeks we stayed in touch, and Lyla asked me if I wanted to trade. It had never occurred to me that this was a possibility on Etsy- it’s so silly, because crafters create and share with each other in person, so why not extend that same gesture to the Etsy community? We each chose a piece that spoke to us, and we shipped them off! When I received my package I was ecstatic, partly because I know I’ve made a friend that I will keep in contact with, and because I was connecting with an artist I would never have met otherwise.

Lyla is an Etsy pro, and her branding made me rethink the way I present my line of products; our trade served as a valuable learning experience for me.

I made these especially with Lyla in mind!

I don’t recommend making it your mission to annoy Etsy sellers online with offers to trade out of the blue, but if you’re engaging with someone on a meaningful level, why not offer to trade? My experience was a simple “Let me know if you want to trade =) . ” And don’t be upset if you get turned down, or discouraged either! Different strokes for different folks.

My experience with Lyla made me want to share it with the Etsy community, I feel like I’ve struck gold! Thus, I decided to host an Etsy based Secret Santa event. (Don’t own an Etsy shop but love to craft? You’re welcome to join in too!)The premise is simple: craft great gifts for people, communicate, network, expose your artwork, and receive beautiful gifts in return.

Pretend that the shop owners of Etsy are your co-workers or friends, and spread the holiday cheer (whatever you celebrate, or maybe you don’t, and you just want to make friends, art, and spread the love!). You can read the Secret Santa FAQ by clicking the link above. To sign up for the Etsy Secret Santa Event use my Contact page, and please provide your (1) name, (2) link to your Etsy shop, (3) the country you live in, and (4) if you are willing to ship internationally.
When trading with your fellow Etsyian, make sure the item you’re trading is of a comparable price to what you are receiving- don’t be a jerk! If your buddy is pining for something below a price point that equalizes your trade, sweeten the deal and send her/him something extra!

To set up a trade on Etsy, you simply need to activate the “other” payment option in your shop settings. There, your buddy can checkout their listing in your shop with an “other” payment method; this voids the need for a credit card transaction (don’t worry, the checkout screen looks like it will charge you, but it won’t). When their order is placed you will simply check “paid in full,” then you are free to ship their “order.”

The best thing about this for your Etsy shop: your trade is recorded as a sale, and your buddy can write your shop an awesome review!

What do you think about trading on Etsy? Have you already traded with awesome Etsyians? Share your experiences by commenting below!

For more Etsy Tips, New Age quips, and DIY Crafts, follow Fae Gems’ Blog & Like Facebook for updates.
You can also check out Fae Gems on Etsy!

   

Make your own Jewelry Trays for under $3, for the Ingeniously Thrifty, Etsy

I learned the glory of jewelry trays when I worked at the Jeweled Castle; they are instrumental for crafting (keeping beads corralled), dividing product lines in storage for easy organization, augmenting photos by adding contrast & a professional appearance, and provide visual storage (avoiding the seek and destroy rummaging session).

In this segment of the Thrify Etsyian, I will teach you how to make your own awesome jewelry trays, for use in crafting, product photography, storage- and just about anything else you can think of!

These trays are exceedingly simple to construct (4 minutes tops!), and consist of felt rectangles and a picture frame. All you need is a beautiful, or not so beautiful frame- (you can always refinish an old frame with sandpaper, metallic paint, and varnish!) and your favorite colored felt.

Simply frame the felt rectangle and you have an instant jewelry tray. If the felt rectangle is too large, and protrudes, you can just tape it down, I promise no one will see (unless of course, you photograph it like me), and it ensures that your felt will not be jarred out of place. You can get crafty and write your Etsy shop‘s name on the frame in 3D paint to personalize product listings. I prefer broad frames because they are steady and photography nicely, but you can use any type of frame, as long as it can secure your felt.

Thankfully, felt comes in a myriad of colors, and at $.20 a pop, you can make dozens of frames for under $10. I recommend making standard colors for initial product photos on Etsy, black, deep red, and royal purple. To supplement your statement photos, buy a fun patterned felt (~$.50) that will augment your products to liven up your listing photos.

The beauty of this project is that you can buy multiple frames at the thrift store to liven up for about $2. Or, you can elect to swap felt colors out of one frame. For holiday listings snag a holiday themed frame to feature your products on.

For more DIY Crafts, Etsy Tips, and New Age quips follow Fae Gems’ Blog & Like Facebook for updates.
You can also check out Fae Gems on Etsy!

   

Blogging: The Mobile Editorial Calendar, for the Confused & Disorganized

UPDATE 10/31/14: Recently I experienced a lapse of writing inspiration, causing my editorial calendar to lag behind a week of scheduled content. I found it exceedingly easy to readjust my posting schedule by doubling up on content for the following week- ensuring to espouse each post together, so that I could link back to them later (in an attempt to recapture my audience). It so happens that my lapse included Samhain [Halloween], consequently, all of my seasonal posts would be wanting if published after the holiday. To rectify this, I have planned to tweak my concepts a bit: 1) creating content that is useful post season (i.e., 5 Samhain Spells to Rekindle Ansectral Ties after the Feast of the Dead) & 2) planning content for next year’s holiday (you can write it at the time of your lapse and use the scheduler to publish your content the following year). 

An editorial calendar can do the job of three editorial assistants; it facilitates productivity, tracks content creation by subject, allocates content to your website timely and consistently, encourages you to work ahead, and gives bloggers (and writers) foreseeable goals, and establishes commitment.

Editorial Calendars come in all shapes and sizes, some are suited for the technically inclined, others provide stagnant visibility- some are completely inflexible (giving those who need unwavering direction the means of it). Recently I found myself in need of editorial planning, when I inducted myself into the Blogosphere.

I had no idea how easily overwhelmed I would be mentally preparing a posting schedule. Grasping at the continual barrage of blogging ideas sprouting in my mind’s eye was a necessary complication; it revealed that capturing blogging topics on crumpled papers and blank notebooks addled simple immersion, and prevented me from visualizing how my thoughts would manifest online cohesively. Thus, my quest for creating the perfect editorial calender ensued.

I wanted something visual to please the eye, yet seamlessly functional to suit the needs of the bustling college life. I found Jelli’s guide to making a sticky note editorial calendar, which allowed for creative flexibility, editorial planning, and asthetic superiority (I love colors & Washi tape!). However, where it excels it also falls, almost abysmally, short.

The stationary editorial calendar enslaves you to the fetters of a desk.

The freedom of blogging is to touch inspiration in the lively world around us; to write eagerly ahead when we have unexpected moments of creative productivity, and freedom- yet those literary bursts may be abnegated without the tool of direction at hand to guide our pends (or keys). 

The planner as an editorial calendar gives writers the mobility to create unencumbered by walls, yet it fails to address the writer who cannot obtain a relevant planner late in the year. Additionally, the traditional planner’s limited space restricts the possibility of expanding the editorial calendar’s innate functionality.

The mobile editorial calendar exceeds the limits of the planner by transforming it into a content generator that inspires itself (contextually & visually), serves as an unlimited note taker, and accessible reference guide-because our blogs grow from our edification, often exceeding our initial expectations of it.

Creating the Mobile Editorial Calendar

Melding the flexibility, functionality, and sustainability from the previous two models of an editorial calendar governs the Mobile Calendar. The mobile calendar is an expansion. The components of this project can be purchased at the dollar store for under $8!

You Will Need: 

1 1″ Binder (you may use any size, but the more compact, the more tote/purse friendly it becomes)
1 Pack of Colorful Dividers
X Small Colored Sticky Notes (choose a different color for every blog category you have)
1 Pencil Pouch (for three ring binders)
Printed Calendar (which you can obtain here)
(optional) 1 Decorative Large(r) Sticky Notepad (for extra notes that stand out)

The beauty of this calendar is its forgiveness! You don’t have to scramble to find a planner that will accommodate your awkward month-of-the-year needs (all I could find were planners for 2015!). Print out the months you want to schedule for, I chose to do three month increments at a time so that I could plan future posts thematically (seasonally). 

Tip: Feel free to doodle in the margins, personalize your writing tool so that it is inviting and friendly, so that you are excited to see it and work with it. 

Designate specific colors to each of your blog categories (features, news, interviews, crafty tips) using your sticky notes and start writing your blogging titles! Stick each title to the date you want to publish it on, and voila. The color coded aesthetic will help you keep track (visually) of how much of one category you are writing about, and can help you identify any deficiencies.

Tip: Designate a color of guest posts too, so that you remember to make connections with your favorite bloggers!

Store your sticky notes in the pencil pouch so you can make changes, and add new ideas, on the go! Don’t forget to throw a pen in there (you can always write a post on the go too). Wanting to economize on all of binder’s potential, I turned theinside cover flap into a note board (not just for blog posts, but concepts, things I want to research, and blogs I need to check out).

You may not need to add dividers to your binder, however, you have the capability to create your own blogging textbook; a product of the aggregation of your blogging research. The more proactive you can make your editorial calendar (by goal setting, for example) the more valuable it becomes as an asset to keep your website on track for success.

Divider Label Ideas: 

Blog Notes:
– List all blogging categories
– Series posts
– Seasonal posts
-Monthly themes

Goals:
– Target audience personas
– Blog traffic
– Overall blog goals (such as driving traffic to your Etsy site)
– Strategies to drive traffic (contests, giveaways)

Related Blog List:
– Future guest posts

Pro Blogging:
– Ideal posting times
– Social Media for promotion
– Reaching your audience
-Making money with blogging

Tip: The goal of these tabs is to culminate useful information at your finger tips. Blogging is exceedingly time consuming, and if you don’t take notes on the great information you read on the web, you may easily forget it, or forget to implement it onto your website. You can even plan to focus on an aspect of your research (such as social media integration) on your editorial calendar. 

What do you think of the mobile editorial calendar?

For more blogging tips, New Age quips, and DIY Crafts follow Fae Gems’ Blog & Like Facebook for updates.
You can also check out Fae Gems on Etsy!

   

Etsy DIY: Beautifying Plain Bubble Mailers with Wrapping Paper

I was blessed to receive two last minute Etsy orders this previous weekend. Yet of course, I had no time to make a beautiful bubble mailer (DIY bubble mail tutorial) before the Post Office closed. Begrudgingly I looked to my Scott mailers. You know the ones, gangling and awkward beige. I couldn’t mail that to the recipient of Fae Gem Elf Cuffs. Cringe. 30 minutes till closing time.

But yonder! My closet was a treasure trove of secret wonderment, and I bet yours is too. As a crafter, anytime you can decorate by “blanketing” you are guaranteed to save time. What I mean by “blanketing” is utilizing a medium, like wrapping paper or scrapbook paper, to cover a large surface area. Blanketing is an excellent way to make something beautiful quickly, and lends itself well to embellishments and detailing (just look at beautiful scrapbook pages).

You can “blanket wrap” plain mailers in minutes and have them ready to ship almost immediately. Thick wrapping paper is ideal for this project, but any paper is acceptable as long as you reinforce it later. You can use any medium of pretty paper to enliven a mailer, including Origami paper (which lends itself well to making exquisite mini collages) and scrapbook paper (you know you hoard your scraps like I do).

Quite simply I wrapped my mailer in rainbow wrapping paper. I used an Elmer’s gluestick and Elmer’s liquid glue to bond the paper to the mailer. To ensure that the edges of the mailer wouldn’t get caught on other things, I taped down each side with gift wrapping tape, and added Washi tape for design purposes.

Be mindful not to glue the flap to the mailer!

Investing in beautiful wrapping paper (maybe multiple rolls with different patterns) can help you define your Etsy Brand; customizing your mailers with wrapping paper allows you to easily (and affordably!) unify your online brand image on all mailers, shipping boxes, and envelopes.

Sealing and protecting your wrapped beauty should be your chief concern, as the presentation you create should be strong enough to last until it arrives at its destination! Wrapping paper can be bonded by means of: 

1. Packing Tape: Tried and true, simple and cost efficient. Simply cover your entire mailer in packaging tape to ensure its stability. You can use different colored and patterned tapes to add additional designs to your mailer.

2. Glue Sealant: Coating the outside of your mailer with a sealant will ensure that your wrapping paper stays put.

Finally, securing an appropriately chic mailing label completes your bubble mailer. I like to use paint chip sample cards (you know, the ones you can find in any color under the sun at Home Dept and Lowes) that I’ve stamped with ink for extra kick. You can also use scrap scrapbook paper you have laying around (you know, the millions of squares you’ve been saving), construction paper, and other solid colored wrapping paper. 

What do you think about wrapping mailers, do you prefer to make your own or buy decorated ones from the Post Office? Do you have any unique decorating rituals? I’ve tried my hand at making mailers, but I can’t seem to make them large enough.

For more Etsy Tips, DIY Crafts, and New Age quips follow Fae Gems’ Blog & Like Facebook for updates.
You can also check out Fae Gems on Etsy!