Friday Feature

This week's featured seller is Design des Troy. Their etsy name is desTroy. Check out the great stuff from this husband and wife team.



1. Tell us about you and your shop.

We're a married couple who met studying graphic design at Rhode Island School of Design. When we both ended up with creatively unfulfilling day jobs, we went into business doing custom wedding invitations and baby announcements. When people weren't getting married at a rapid enough pace, we decided to start making cards -- about this time last year. We want our cards to feel really special, and a little unexpected.

2. How did you get started in your craft?

We trained in design and got into things like making books and silkscreen. We dug letterpress, and hope to set up a letterpress studio one day soon. But somewhere along the line we made the acquaintance of a Print Gocco, and it just spiralled from there. With our cards, we've become as committed to the craft of handprinting as we are attentive to the designs.

3. What is your favorite material or tool?

We're suckers for metallic and pearlescent inks. Oh and the Scor-It. That tool is invaluable; we can't recommend it enough.

4. Where do you get your design inspiration from?

All over the place: nature, history. We travelled to Japan earlier this year and it blew our minds. Not only the aesthetics of the place, but did you know they have stationery stores that are 7 stories tall?

10 Holiday/Winter Assortment Give Away

Icepepper is sponsoring this wonderful Holiday/Winter Card giveaway!



The Giveaway:

These cards are all original designs of Icepepper, handcrafted with time and care for your enjoyment. Each card has a holiday or winter scene, adorned with sparkling glitter. 10 cards in all, each with it's own envelope. A2 size.

From the artisit: I have loved art since I was a child. Now at Etsy, I share that enjoyment through making and selling cards! In my spare time I enjoy drawing with charcoal and painting with acrylics.


How To Enter:

To enter the drawing: take a look at Icepepper's shop, then suggest some ideas for cards you'd like to see in the coming months. Entries should be specific. Anyone who's idea gets turned into a card-- I will send them a free card when it's made. Almost like a double giveaway!

Be sure to include your Etsy shop address or an email where you can be contacted if you are the winner. One winner will be randomly selected from all comments posted on the evening of Friday, November 28th. The winning number will be posted in the comments section and the winner contacted by the artist.
Check back often to see features, articles and giveaways and more at EtsyGreetings

Tuesday Treasury

Hello Snow created by steliedesigns


hello snow - snowman with snowflakes -- one blank notecard $5.00 happydaystudio



Snowflakes - A2 folded card set- Pack of 10 $15.00 fivedot



Gazing Snowman Holiday Cards $16.00 JumpingJackDesigns



Snowflake-- Blank Card with Glitter Accents $2.00 icepepper



Hand Stamped Frosty Thank You Greeting Card $3.25 blueleaves



Two Snowmen Holiday Card - Set of 6 $12.00 spotbear



Simple Snowflake - Stylish Christmas Card $4.00 quixoticmiss



WINTER Greeting Card $3.00 BeanStocks

Blog Carnival Giveaway winners...

Though some Giveaways are going strong until midnite, some are coming to a close. We want to say a BIG thank you to those that participated- on the giving side and the hoping-to-win side. Be on the look out for more of these to come.

EtsyGreetings Members: please place the permalink to your post announcing your winner here. Participants, the Greetings members should be getting ahold of you within the next few days to notify you that you've won. Feel free to check back here as well. Come Saturday, the other linky will be gone and this one will remain.


Hope everyone had fun and scored some great goodies!

Friday Feature

This week's featured artist is cardwear. Check out her unique spin on cards.



1. Tell us about you and your shop.

I am a SAHM to three lovely young children, who have probably grown up thinking that all mommies make cards. I have an amazingly supportive and patient husband, who gives me time to create and is in the process of building me a wall to make a room for my studio. My shop mainly consists of greeting cards, but it also includes mini cards and tags. Every card in my shop is made with fabric.

2. How did you get started in your craft?

I was always sending cards for every holiday and Halloween 2004 I realized that I hadn't bought enough cards. I decided to try making my own and while browsing the Wal-mart craft area for ideas, I found some fabric that I liked. I bought 3 yards of the fabric (I had no idea how much I would need... that was too much!), some orange rick rack and a pack of blank cards and went home to figure out how I could use it to make cards that included the picture of my son dressed as a lion. The style I came up with was almost the same as the basic style in my shop, except it included his picture on the front, too. I was immediately hooked and went back to get more fabric, ribbon and rick rack. Once family members saw my cards, they started giving me fabric remnants and other useful materials.

3. What is your favorite material or tool?
Definitely the fabric! My favorite fabric to use is flannel because it gives the cards a super soft texture, which makes them wonderfully petable. My fabric stash is embarrassingly large (embarrassing because I continue to buy more fabric despite the amazing amount that I already have!). It is closely rivaled by my ribbon and rubber stamp collection.

4. Where do you get your design inspiration from?
I often am inspired by a particular fabric, but sometimes I discover a stamp that I really like and will go out of my way to find a fabric that will work with it. I am starting to add other styles of cards to my shop and find it fun to discover different ways to use the fabric.

LavenderGreetings EtsyGreetings Blog giveaway

LavenderGreetings offers this great giveaway for EtsyGreetings!



The Giveaway:

3 note cards made from coordinating paisley and stripes designs. The three color combinations are blue/lavender, orange/pink and green/pink. You will receive one of each color

How To Enter:

All you have to do to enter to win these beautiful cards is stop by LavenderGreetings shop and leave a comment here on the blog on what you like about her shop.
Be sure to include your Etsy shop address or an email where you can be contacted if you are the winner. One winner will be randomly selected from all comments posted on the morning of Sunday, November 23rd. The winning number will be posted in the comments section and the winner contacted by the artist.
Check back often to see features, articles, giveaways and more at EtsyGreetings.

Article: Handmade Shopping for the Holidays

thanks to OrangeCatArt for this great information!



Since joining Etsy just over a year ago, I have been amazed by the variety and quality of handmade arts & crafts our talented colleagues create. I’m sure many of you are familiar with “The Handmade Pledge” to give handmade gifts during the holidays (and year ‘round!). Not only is it good for our society, our communities and our environment - you get really terrific, unique and high-quality gifts for your friends and family. There’s tons of great information & resources if you’re interested in reading more at buyhandmade.org.

On that theme, I’d like to add a suggestion, that whenever possible, we also buy locally. Purchasing from locally owned businesses of any size is like investing in the future of your community. More detailed information on this is available at sconnect.org. I love to use the Shop Local tool on Etsy to find great artists who live right around the corner. The Geolocator is fun, too. Also, check out the Teams page to see if your city or state has an Etsy Street Team you can shop with.



So, now that we’re all inspired to buy handmade & local for the holidays, where do we start?

1. Plan ahead - I hate to say it, being a good friend of the last minute myself, but you just gotta do it. Make a list of everyone you need to shop for, don’t forget your co-workers, the babysitter, your kids’ teachers, party hosts, etc, etc. Now is also a good time to make your card list so that you know how many cards to order from one of the great EtsyGreetings Team shops!

2. Start shopping - This is the fun part, where you get to sit back in the comfort of your computer chair and browse the wondrous gifts you’ll find on Etsy! Bookmark, make items favorites, take notes, whatever works best for you. I’m a fan of the Poster Sketch tool. Check out treasuries and showcases for inspiration.



3. Ask questions - One of the great things about buying from the person who actually made something is that you can get all the information you want. “Does it come in blue?” “What size is that, really?” “Can I get 2?” Most sellers are happy to answer your questions and work with you to make your gift just what you had in mind.

4. Bundle - If you can buy multiple items from an individual seller, you can save on shipping costs. Also, check for sellers with multiple shops, as they may be willing to discount shipping costs across their shops. Of course, we also want you to share the love among lots of shops, so keep an eye out for sales & specials, too. (Here’s another benefit to shopping locally - it will take less time for packages to arrive, and if you’re really in a pinch for time, you can talk to the seller about pick-up or delivery options.)

5. Enjoy! - Now you’re done with your shopping without having to endure the mall, and you have lots of time at the last minute to relax and bake those cookies!

(Oops, missed some gifts? Getting too late to order? Don’t run to the big box store yet, you still have options: many farmer’s markets include arts & crafts vendors, see if your town has a craft gallery or co-op, or visit a holiday shopping festival - you might meet some local Etsy sellers in person!)

It's a Carnival in November

The EtsyGreetings Team is holding their first every Blog Carnival Giveaway! The idea is simple: to allow you- our readers- to win some great paper goodies from the EtsyGreetings Team in time for the holidays. You do NOT need to be a member of the team to win a giveaway, but you DO need to be a member to sponsor a giveaway (Members, see the guidelines and instructions on our google page to find out how to participate). Members and non-members are welcome to enter each and every giveaway. All giveaways will come to an end this Friday and if you were lucky enough to win one or more (cross those fingers!), then that member will contact you personally AND they will come back here sometime on Friday afternoon or Saturday and place another link to the winner.

Each post below will be holding a giveaway of some kind on their blog- all handmade goodies here... nothing from those Big Box Boys. When you click on one of the links below, it will take you to that member's giveaway. Follow their instructions on how to enter and they will have a link that will bring you BACK to the EtsyGreetings Team page so you can enter more giveaways. Keep checking back because each participant will not be loading their links at the same time. This is your big chance to win from some of your favorite shops! Now... those without blogs will be participating as well. To find them on Etsy, simply type "EtsyGreetingsCarnival" in the search field and those that are participating will pop up with "Reserved Listing for Carnival" and you will simply heart that item to enter.

Okay EtsyGreetings Team... post your giveaways here! (If you need help with adding your permalink to the Mr. Linky, convo FiveDot and she'll help you out. Participants feel free to convo her as well if you have questions).



(If for some reason, Mr.Linky is not appearing... members- please leave the permalink to your giveaway in the comments section until I can get it fixed.)

Article: A Day in the Life

A Day in the life: RandomScraps

One of the best things about being in business for yourself is that your days are filled with the things that are most important to you. I am a stay at home mom of three- Scott is 7, Sierra is almost 6, and Venice is 7 months- so for me, that includes time for my kids, my husband and myself. Each day is different, but this is one example of my day that happened recently.

7:00 My husband wakes me up so he can leave for work. Usually, the kids are already up and getting ready, and by this time the baby has been fed and wants to play. I usually can’t resist running to the computer first thing in the morning to check my shop sales and my emails. After that, I get ready for my day and finish getting the kids ready for the bus.

7:45 The baby and I walk the kids down to the bus stop and wait with them. Once they’re gone we either walk around the block if the weather is nice, or we just head back home. Today we have errands to run so it’s back to the house for now.

8:30 We’ve finished getting the diaper bag restocked and eaten our breakfasts, so now it’s time to make sure all my orders are packaged up with everything they need. Once I run through my task list and make sure I’ve got everything, I load up the baby and head out.

9:00 First stop: Postnet. I have a mailbox at the local Postnet, which is my business mailing address and also one of my wholesale accounts. I check my mail, drop off my orders for shipping, and check on their inventory levels to see what kinds of things are selling there as well.

9:45 Next up, a trip to Office Max to restock some business and shipping supplies, followed by a stop next door at Kinko’s where I have my packaging printed.

10:45 Time to head home and put Venice down for a nap. She refuses to sleep anywhere, including the car, so I have to go put her in her crib. Her nap time is usually my computer time. I catch up on email, the Etsy forums, Twitter, and pretty much anything else I’ve left up on my screen to read. I follow a lot of blogs, and I get tons of inspiration from looking at what other people have done, so this takes me a while.

Noon Right around now Sierra gets home from school. Today she has gymnastics, so I have lunch waiting for her. (She’s gluten intolerant, so drive-thrus don’t work for us.) She changes into her gymnastics clothes and we head out.

1:15 Gymnastics. I get to sit for an hour and chat with the other moms. Okay, well not quite. This is when Venice is normally ready for her lunch, so I feed her while we are out.

2:30 Home from gymnastics. This is when I usually try to get things done around the house, like laundry and dishes. Not my favorite time of day.

4:00 Scott gets home from school, and the kids start taking care of their chores while I start to prep dinner. Mark gets home from work sometime between now and 6, and I try to time dinner accordingly.

6 or 7ish… Venice goes to bed and it’s dinner time. We always eat at the table together. After we’re done the kids head to the playroom for about an hour before bed and Mark and I sit on the couch. Tonight we have TV time, but that only happens a few times a week. There are 3 nights we watch TV, and 2 of those are only an hour each.

9:30 or 10ish Mark heads to bed and I head into my scraproom to work. I usually do my best work at night, so I try to take advantage of the quiet time. I am usually in bed by midnight, so I can start all over in the morning!

Friday feature

This week's featured artist is cardgoddess.




1. Tell us about you and your shop.

I feature a variety of greeting card sets and individual cards. Right now, the inventory focuses on the upcoming holidays—Thanksgiving and Christmas.


2. How did you get started in your craft?

I attended a Stampin' Up party of a former business colleague and that was it—I was hooked!


3. What is your favorite material or tool?

I love paper!


4.Where do you get your design inspiration from?

Sometimes I envision a design in my head and then I run down to my office and start going through my card supplies to see how I can create the vision in real life. Other times, I see a card in a store or see something on TV and think, that would make a cute card. Then there are times when I just grab some supplies and start putting together a card.

Article: Are You Using Tags to Their Full Effect?

Let's give it up for winemakerssister for giving us some oh-so coveted info!

Currently there are 170,000 estimated sellers on Etsy, with 600 new shops opening every day. So how do buyers find your needle in that enormous haystack? One answer to this eternal (and often frustrating) question lies in the effective use of tags.

WHAT ARE TAGS?
Tags are keywords that describe your product. They’re used in searches and to categorize and subcategorize your product.

Every item listed on Etsy has the option of including 14 tags. Are you using all your tags? If not, you’re closing yourself to search options that might help a buyer find you quickly and easily.

HOW DO I TAG MY ITEMS?
It is generally believed that when tagging an item, you should start with the general and end with the specific. The first tags should match one or more Etsy categories. For EtsyGreetings members, this would certainly include “Paper Goods,” but also might include “Holidays,” and even some specialty categories like “Supplies” (if your item could be considered a supply), “Geekery,” or another category that describes the content of your item.

Next, make sure that you select any subcategories that describe your product. In the “Paper Goods” category, these might include “Cards,” and then “Christmas” and “Linocut,” if you’re describing a card made with a hand-carved stamp.

But where do you go from here? Let’s continue with the example card. It’s one of mine – three sets of mittens stamped from a hand-carved rubber stamp. “Warm Wishes” in casual calligraphy completes the message.

When selecting tags, try to think about searches. Use the tags to describe the product as completely as you can. In this example you might include “mittens,” “calligraphy,” “warm wishes,” “knitting” (in case knitters are looking for holiday cards), “hand carved rubber stamp,” and the colors of the stamped images (in this case: red, blue, and green). And don’t forget other holidays that might not be a part of your own culture. In this case, tagging with “winter solstice” is a great idea.

Try to think about other terms that describe the same subject. When describing an evergreen tree, other tags might be “conifer,” “pine,” or “spruce.” And don’t forget “tree!”

Also, don’t forget to tag the item with any teams you belong to, e.g. “EtsyGreetings Team,” and any promotion you’re involved in.

TREASURIES
Another reason to tag well is to get into treasuries. Often a treasury curator has some ideas of the items s/he wishes to include in their treasury. But if s/he is looking for additional items to fill out the treasury, most likely she’ll do a search.

Say the curator wants to do a treasury that includes grey November colors with hints of other color. If she searches for “grey” and “chartreuse,” will your grey card show up in the search? Did you tag it with “grey,” “gray,” “chartreuse,” and “lime?” If so, it might show up in that treasury. If a curator is doing a Bird treasury, will your card with a swallow silhouette show up in her search? Did you tag it with both “bird” and “swallow?”

TAGGING “DON’TS”
There are a few “don’ts” to remember when tagging. Don’t tag with possible uses, such as “poetry” for a blank book, or “gift” for a pair of earrings.

Don’t use the same words in your tags that you used in your title. All tag searches also include the title search, so you’re just wasting your tags if you’re redundant.

How about whimsical tags? They won’t help you in most regular searches, but might help you stand apart from the crowd in specialty searches. What are whimsical tags? Well, take a look on Etsy and you’ll find tags for such concepts as: whimsy, relationship, silly, zakka, heartbroken, and just about anything else you can imagine. Including “imagine.”



Illustrations:
My card that I used as an example:


Other EtsyGreetings team members’ “tags”:

Tuesday Treasury

For the Birds created by intertwingle



Robin in Winter - 6 Linocut Greeting Cards - Set $15.00 melissakate



Wintery Glittery Snowflake Tree $3.25 AisforArtistic



Merci Bird Thank you Card set of 4 $8.00 inkylivie



Blank Red Bird Notecards (set of 10 flat notecards) $11.95 moderninvites



Swirly Tree and Birds Thank You Greeting Card $3.00 annkimmich

Rah4mu offers EtsyGreetings Give Away

This beautiful birthday card could be yours.

From the artist:
I have been making greeting cards and other paper products for over 10 years. I enjoy using all of the latest products to make unique creations.

The Giveaway:
Rose Red Flower Happy Birthday Card

How To Enter:

All you have to do to enter to win these beautiful cards is stop by Rah4mu’s shop and leave a comment here on the EtsyGreeting's Blog about her shop.
Be sure to include your Etsy shop address or an email where you can be contacted if you are the winner. One winner will be randomly selected from all comments posted and the winner announced on the morning of November 14th. The winning number will be posted in the comments section and the winner contacted by the artist.

Check back often to see features, articles and giveaways and more at EtsyGreetings!

Friday Feature

This week's featured artist is DebsDesign


1. Tell us about you and your shop.
I am a wife and a mother (of a 9 month old boy & a 3 year old boxer). I work in real estate by day and my husband and I run a little photography business on the side as well. I love to be outside and run when I can. I love my family & my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
My shop is all about paper. In it you will find anything to do with paper. Mainly lots of cards (personalized, holiday, gift tags, etc.) I love doing custom orders as they push me beyond my normal thinking and I love, love, love etsy.

2. How did you get started in your craft?
When I was on maternity leave when my baby was born, I decided I wanted to create things while he was napping. Being a card maker/scrapbooker, I would tote all my stuff upstairs and not so long after getting everything upstairs, my little baby would wake up. I decided I needed something easier to start and stop so I could be there for him readily. I started dinking around on the computer and creating designs and this is where my love for creating my cards on the computer began. I love being able to play around, and deleting something very simply is nice too!

3. What is your favorite material or tool?
Paper is my favorite material and my favorite tool is the computer & the printer, of course!

4. Where do you get your design inspiration from?
I get my inspiration from many things. Most of my creations and ideas come from spending time with family and what I think would be fun to create. I also browse around the internet. I love flickr and blogs. There are so many talented people out there and it’s inspiring to see what inspires other people. Some of my favorite blogs are:
www.designmom.com
http://www.jordanferney.blogspot.com/
http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/
http://www.soulemama.com/

For a list of more blogs I love, visit my blog at www.mjumbo.blogspot.com

Article: Have yourself a Merry Little “Card”tmas

Thanks to Jenn at PinkStarDesign
________

We can thank John Calcott Horsely for sending the First Christmas card in 1843. The following year more than 25,000 Christmas cards were sold, quite a number for that day in age! Since then people across the world have sent Christmas cards to loved ones, family, friends and business associates as a means of keeping in touch and letting them know that you are thinking of them.

With email substituting so many of our contacts with friends, we certainly cannot let the practice of sending out holiday cards fade away. American’s still send out millions of Christmas cards each year. The average American sends out close to 50 cards and receives nearly that many in return.

Don’t delay in picking out the perfect Christmas cards to send to your loved ones. We’ve picked out a few of our favorites from the EtsyGreetingsTeam and welcome you to turn to this team to create perfect Christmas cards to send to your loved ones. You can certainly count on a smile on your loved one’s face upon opening these cards.

Have yourself a Merry Little “Card”tmas!



BellisStudio



PinkStarDesign



MacaroniAndGlue



TwoHandDesign

November Give Aways begin with Gigiphillips

Gigiphillips begins the November EtsyGreetings Give Aways with these adorable snowman cards.

From the Artist:

Each figure was individually hand crafted from clay, glitter, paper and fabric. I then constructed a little photo booth to shoot them in.

The Giveaway:
8 Snowman Cards

How To Enter:

All you have to do to enter to win these beautiful cards is answer the question 

What do you classify yourself as a

Reindeer

Snowman

Santa Claus

Snowflake

Christmas tree or

Elf

Be sure to include your Etsy shop address or an email where you can be contacted if you are the winner. One winner will be randomly selected from all comments posted and the winner announced on the evening of November 7th. The winning number will be posted in the comments section and the winner contacted by the artist.

** Giveaways are items made and donated by the Etsy shop featured.  Please take a look at their shops for other beautiful greeting cards.

Check back often to see features, articles and giveaways and more at EtsyGreetings!

Tuesday Treasury

Only Owls by theeclecticstudio



Set of Three Owl Cards $4.95 AJKArtistry



Olive Wedding Invitation Sample Set $5.00 steliedesigns



owl flat note cards - set of 5 - hoot hoot $5.00 notmoira



Missing You - Aqua Owl Card $4.00 jessijewels



Hooty-Owl Congrats Grad $3.00 kreativekelors



Owl's it goin' Owl cards-set of four handmade cards $8.00 cardwear



Owl (Set of 4) - Caption $12.00 cardsbykatie



Owl Hello Notecards $6.50 NYPapercrafter