Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Local: Vendor Call

Lindsay Mom2mom sale
When: Saturday, August 6th from 9 am to 1 pm.
Where: Victoria Park Armory, Lindsay

Admission for the public will be a non-perishable food item per person, or $2. Kids 18 and under are free. This is a family event and there will be a good variety of kid friendly activities.

If you, or somebody you know, may be interested in a table, please contact Shannon at shannonkuypers@hotmail.com. There are both vendor tables, available for a small fee and mom tables available. If you are a mommy looking to destash some of your extras this is a great opportunity..mom tables are FREE!

Canadian Freebies: TODAY is FREE Subway Breakfast Day!

Today, May31, is FREE breakfast day at Subway Canada! Don't forget to stop by your local Subway between 7am-10am to get a FREE ham and cheese muffin melt AND coffee. Mmmmmmmmm.......

Monday, May 30, 2011

Canadian Couponers: Where to find coupons?

I must admit that when I started couponing afew months ago I had no idea what I was doing. B1G1, BOGO, one per purchase vs. one per transaction....WTF? Lucky for me I have a couple of awesome couponing friends that have been showing me the ropes, I've found a couple of great Canadian coupon sites and have slowly but surely started to save some money! Here are some of my favourite sites that mail coupons directly to your home:
and if you are looking for great tips and resources be sure to check out
You can also pick up coupons right in your grocery store (called tearpads) get coupons from product packaging and from your local newspaper (called inserts). As of yet I haven't delved into the world of printable coupons but that will definately be my next hurdle. What are your favourite sites for Canadian coupon resources?

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Teal and Lemon Yellow- New Artfire Collection


Thursday, May 19, 2011

Artfire Front Page Themes for this Week

Yay for the arrival of nice weather. It's nice to see a hint of colour both out my window and appearing in the front page Collections. Here's a sneak peek at some of the themes that have graced the pages of Artfire this week:
  • Beautiful Baby Ballerina
  • Neutral Territory
  • Kambaba Jasper
  • Start the Day with Oatmeal
  • Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head
  • A Touch of Glass
  • Sweet Treats
  • Lime with a Touch of Blue
  • I Can't Believe its Clay
  • Girls in their Summer Dresses
  • Do You See What I See?
  • VERDIGRIS and WENGE -the wonderful world of color"
  • Stormy Seas Ahead
  • Royal Blue and Gold
  • Gifts for Men -- Handmade Leather Indulgences -- Collection 2"
  • Who Doesn't Love Rainbows?
  • Everything is Coming up Roses

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Great Deals on Handmade Goodies!

I was recently introduced to Heartsy.me, a site for lovers of handmade to get great deals on jewellery, bath and body products, paper delights and more. For handmade businesses it looks like it can be a great opportunity to gain some exposure for your shop and introduce your products to a new set of customers. I viewed it as a sort of out of the box method of advertising. So I decided, why not, I love a great deal and why shouldn't Kawartha Beads customers have a chance to grab some goodies at a great price. The application process is sort of nervewracking...will they like me...will they really really like me! The initial voting process is anonymous, as a seller you submit 5 photos of your products and the community votes on if they would purchase your products at a deal or not. Currently you need 60 YES DEFINTATELY votes within a certain time frame for your deal to be reviewed at the next stage. I guess some people really do like me!!! Now I sit and wait a response from the next stage of the process which can take approx. 10+days. If you are considering exploring Heartsy.me as an opportunity for your business there is even an Etsy Team with a wealth of information. Stay tuned and wish me luck!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Afternoon Tea- A New Artfire Collection


Thursday, May 12, 2011

Coupon Fun Update

What a busy couple of weeks! I can hardly believe that our new addition turns one month old today. Despite being crazy busy with two little ones I have managed to try and scout the flyers for sales and use as many coupon as I can. Here are the sales/savings for the past few shopping trips:

  • 2 bags of Cavendish fries- Regular price $3.49- FREE with coupons
  • Old El Paso Taco Kit- Regular Price $4.49- $1 off with coupon AND theres a free salsa coupon in the box (with the purchase of another taco kit)
  • $2 off diapers
  • Nature Valley Granola Bars-Available at Walmart for $2- $1off coupon
  • Oasis Junior Juice Boxes- Regular price at Walmart $1.33- $1 off coupon
  • Glade Sense and Spray Holder- Regular Price $6.00- FREE with coupon
  • Minigo Yogurt-  On sale at Food Basics for $1.99 plus 50 cents off coupon
  • Apple Juice- 50 cents off coupon
  • Other items I got on sale: cheese, ketchup, coffee, chicken, chocolate milk, bread, pizza, orange juice, strawberries
Total Savings this week: approx.$18.98
Total Savings to date: approx $73.07

On a non-couponing note (well sort of) I have applied to Heartsy.me which is sort of like a Wagjag or Groupon for the handmade world of Etsy. I could really use your vote to be considered for a deal so if you have a chance click on this code  https://secure.heartsy.me/deals/2789/like and then "Yes, definately". I'm only 16 votes away to get to the next step!!! Hurry...voting ends in 27 hours.

Monday, May 9, 2011

New Artfire Collection: Farmhouse Inspired


Friday, May 6, 2011

Enter for a chance to WIN free earrings!

I'm so proud of my mom, she's joined the world of Facebook! I never in a million years would have thought that I would be checking out my mom's Fan Page. If you would like to be entered to win these awesome earrings from her brand new shop Creations by GMarie all you have to do is stop by her Facebook Fan Page and show her some love by "Like"ing her. Draw will take place Sunday May 8th!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Artfire Top Sellers List

Well I was definately curious to see how shops have been growing over the past month and many shops seem to have had a good number of sales. I have noticed traffic in my own shop growing steadily even with being closed for a couple of weeks to welcome new baby. Now that we are settled at home I am reenergized to kick things into high gear. I thought it might be interesting to see how many pages of listings the handmade sellers have and if that plays a role in sales. Of course there are some with only a couple of pages and some with oodles. The average number of pages that the handmade sellers have listed is 14.6! I currently have 7 pages listed in my own shop so I am going to try and hit the 10 page mark by the end of the month. The Artfire Top Sellers List  is by no means an official list, it is merely put together by yours truly through browsing the wonderful shops of Artfire and with some starter help from the AF forums. I will try and update it once a week and would love to eventually have the top sellers for each handmade category. If you would like to have your Artfire shop added please contact me through my Artfire Studio. You may have your name removed from the list at any time if you so wish, just let me know.


HANDMADE:
1) mayleesgarden (1885)
2) mysticknotwork (1410)
3)soapsmith (1346)
4) spoiledbratzwear (1115)
5) thyme2dream (618)
6) libertydoll (550)
7) normasbathandbody (550)
8) bakidagain (320)
9) paperstreet (295)
10) kibbles (270)
11) jscjewelry (248)

12) katsallthat (230)
13) canadianrockiesart (160)
14) sandrahealy (148)
15) LAjewelrydesigns (106)

SUPPLIES:
1) lululalaland (15821)
2) susansscrapbookshack (6109)
3) miabellacollection (6083)
4) cupcakesocial (4592)
5) royalmetals (1795)
6) bobbi beads (1460)
7) tantalizingstitches (1242)
8) bopper (1216)
9) rougeriverbeads (864)
10) beadcomber (786)
11) susansheehan (589)
12) bakidagain2 (446)
13) beadsbytlc (244)

Are you on the Artfire Top Sellers list? I would love to interview you and share your journey. Contact me through my Artfire studio if you are interested.