It's Craft Show Season: Some useful reading!

Craft show season is now in full swing and I've recently had several emails from fellow artisans with questions regarding shows. I am by no means an expert and everyone will have a different experience but they are a great way to get your work out in the public and see people's reactions. Here are a couple of links to get you started in your craft show preparation:

• My Experience at the Indoor Yard Sale
• Doing a Craft Show for the First Time? What they don't tell you... (Etsy forum thread by monkeysalwayslook)
• PIXIE DUST FOR EVERYBODY!! The ULTIMATE Craft Show Guide! (Etsy forum thread by PromoPixie)

What tips/tricks do you find useful for craft shows? How do you promote your upcoming shows? Tis the season!

Last Day for the $5 and Under Sale!

Today is the last day to take advantage of the $5 and under sale at Kawartha Beads. If you are looking for other great finds also be sure to check out the Tradeaholics $5 sale by typing TRADE5 in Etsy's search.

Red Hot at Artfire!

What's so red hot about Artfire? If you sell on Etsy you have probably seen postings in the forumns about Artfire and mixed opinions. However, if you are in business you are there to make money (hopefully) and its always a good idea to explore your options. I personally ADORE Artfire and have been a part of the community with my mom's shop Bijoux Designs For You and our supplies shop Rouge River Beads since 2008. In that time I have had a chance to watch the site change and grow and the recent revamp of the front page and Collections launch (similar to Etsy's treasury) are both beautiful and extremely user friendly.

If you haven't heard the buzz yet Artfire is offering a special group deal which will kick in for those who have signed up by October 1st. The group deal will offer a lifetime pro account for just $5.95 a month and there are no listing fees and no commissions. NOW THAT'S A DEAL! You can learn more about the group deal here. And yes, I have too have decided to try out the deal for my Kawartha Beads shop!

As with my weekly Etsy feature I thought it would be nice to share some of the Collections that made it to the front page of Artfire over the last week. Here are just a couple:

• One Last Look at Summer
• A Little Birdie Told Me
• Moons Glow
• Ethnic Treasures
• Baby Face
• Momma needs some RED HOT ROMANCE
• Emerald

And using the super easy Collections Widget from My Artfire Studio I hope you will enjoy the first Collection I created.

From the Pumpkin ...

Curated By: Rougeriverbeads

ArtFire.com

Thinking of giving Artfire a try? Think no longer. Now's your chance. Check out the group deal TODAY!

Etsy Front Page Tags/Themes

Sorry for the delay on this post! I haven't been feeling very well the past couple of days so now that I can function again here goes:

• Sand & Stone (beige, grey, muted, fall, autumn, cozy, jewelry, accessories, art, soap, undiscovered, pounce, brown, handmade, vintage, furniture, journal)
• Sunshine and Slate
• Cloudy with a chance of Pretty (grey, gray, muted, pale, pastel, soft, cream, white, light blue, cool)
• Juicy Purple (purple, grape, violet, mauve, romantic)
• Foxy Chocolate (chocolate, brown, coffee, autumnal tones, undiscovered, September, fall, autumn, richer earth tones, woodland, natural colors, rusts, foxy, fur, October)
• AHOY! Tis Talk like a Pirate Day (pirate, treasure, chest, silver, brass, rust, boots, pirate speak, blouse, clothes, dresses, romance, ship, Halloween)
• Charcoal Roses (charcoal, rose, flowers, grey, gray)
• Scarlet & Peppermint
• Fall Festival (fall, autumn, chilly, harvest, camping, outdoors, cool, cozy, gray, green, red, rust, coffee, camp blanket, perfect weather)
• Chocolate Covered Cherries (undiscovered, pounce, new, cherries, chocolate, red, burgundy, berries, deep, brown, fall, autumn, food, chocolate covered cherries, cookies, cupcake, fruit)
• Aqua huses mixed with wood (aqua, blue, seaglass, woodgrain, feathers, natural, twigs, branches, soothing, grey)

Tidbits Thursday

Thanks to all those who sent warm wishes following my post on the jewellery party. I did have a couple of questions asked via email so here is a quick follow up:

How many people attend the party and of those how many bought? About 20 guests attended the party and of those 18 made purchases.

What was your price range on items? Prices ranged from $5- $40 with the majority of guests spending about $15, although there were afew who had their Christmas lists in hand and were definately ready to do some major shopping.

Hope that helps those of you planning on doing your own jewelry parties. I have done parties with only a couple of guests as well that also led to more sales down the line and have helped get my name out there so any party is a good party!

I also wanted to mention that I am having a SUPER SALE in my Etsy, Artfire AND Zibbet shops from now through September 30th. Everything $5 and under! Happy shopping!

Jewellery Home Party Fun!

I want to thank everyone who came out to the jewellery home party last night and to my great friend Darlene for being such a wonderful hostess. The continued support of the girls I work with at the restaurant (as well as those who used to work with us but have moved on to bigger and better things) never ceases to amaze me and warm my heart! For everyone else here's a quick recap of the evening:

* I arrived early to set things up before the guests arrived. When the party/craft show season is in full swing it usually only takes me about an hour, but since I hadn't had a show since the spring I needed a bit of extra time. If you are having your own party and can't go more than an hour early to set up try practicing your display on your own table to give you an idea of how/where you would like things to go. This tactic also works well for craft shows.

*Door Prizes- I had several door prizes to choose from and we did draws every half hour. On the door prize ballots there was also a place for the guests email address and a box for them to check if they wanted to sign up for my newsletter.

*Munchies- Not everyone agrees that you need to have a bunch of munchies to have a successful party but Darlene put out quite the spread and people stayed a LONG time. Some of them even shopped a second time after they had refueled! It also gave the guests and myself a chance to chat about the business if they wanted while they enjoyed their tasty treats!

*Relaxed atmosphere- The party was open house style so people could arrive and depart as they wished. I find that this system works best, especially for those that can't make it right from the start and feel that if they arrive part way through they will be "interrupting" so then they don't come at all.           

*Inventory- This is another point on which opinions may differ but I find that people enjoy being able to purchase and take home their new goodies that night. I offered a variety of price points so that even those on a limited budget had something to choose from.

BONUS**** Of course every great party has its own surprise. Last night we had put balloons out on the railing so that guests could easily figure out where they were going. A group of college guys (who had perhaps had afew beverages) came to the door asking who's birthday it was because they were there to sing. Of course it wasn't a birthday party but we couldn't resist so one of the girls went to the door and they sang to her! It was definately a good giggle for us!

For those of you who have been thinking about doing a home party with your own handmade goodies I hope that this answered some of your questions about how to go about it. If you would like to host your own Kawartha Beads home party just send me an email at kawarthabeads@gmail.com and I would be happy to set something up with you!

Front Page Etsy Tags/Themes #17

Hope that everyone had a great week! While I didn't list them here, I definately saw several Halloween related treasuries featured with wonderful hues of black and orange and witches and goblins! Can you believe its that time of the year already? Here are some of the other themes/tags that appeared on the front page of Etsy this week:

• Home is where the heart is (home decor, pottery, cozy, colorful, heart, handmade, vintage, orange, red, blue, green, plaid, fox, chai, house, tea, modern, fall)
• Peachy Keen
• Turquoise and Yellow
• Did Someone Say Coffee (coffee, brown, warm, mugs, personalized, winter, candy, creamer)
• Nature's Neutrals (natured, fall, natural history, brown, beige, taupe, leaves, September, autumn)
• It's Apple Pickin Time (fall, apple, yellow, rust, red, green, fruit, picking, food)
• Equestrian (equestrian, horse, butterscotch, yellow, camel, gray, black, beige, olive, riding)
• Rustic Romantic Fall ( art, fall, rustic, romantic, wedding, farmhouse, cabin, vintage, sepia, red, harvest, autumn)
• Autumn Nightblooms (fall, autumn, harvest moon, full moon, blooms, red, orange, flowers, silver, vintage, acorns, feminine, green, blue, gray, melancholy, dark romance, woodland)
• Fallen for Orange...
• Charm and Sorcery (halloween, autumn, orange, black, brown, creepy, natural history, bone, crow, yellow, feather, witch, apothecary, haunted)