Wednesday, 6 June 2012

Featured Etsy Store: Pop Tarts and Jelly

http://www.etsy.com/shop/poptartsandjelly

"We create beautiful, affordable wall art/paintings and hand made goods such as iPod Cozy's, Jewellery, Cushions and much more. We also accept custom orders."


This store has a picnic basket inside set for sale. 'Nuff said.

...

Just kidding. This shop is also a new one (cause I'm new-seller friendly!) and has Alice in Wonderland inspired art work, and only 3 sales! Go, every one, buy everything she sells!
It's lovely to see a starter shop with such good photos and descriptions, even if their titles are a little too direct about the item.

One thing I think is very important in the Etsy market place, is the policies that a stall gives its customers. I love reading policies. It's geeky, I know, but it gives me all I need to know about a shop and it's seller in one place. This store has a well-filled policies section, and even accept custom orders. They do a beautiful thing where you can request a shipping cost for a re-estimation of the cost, and they'll sort it for you! 

They opened the same day that I did, so I may be biased as to how awesome they are, so go and see for yourselves! 

Sunday, 3 June 2012

Trading Recap: Jubilee!

Today I traded at RAF Waddington's Big Jubilee Lunch.
It rained. AND RAINED... and rained. We almost had to boat home. Here's a quick review of what happened, both good and bad:



The stall looked MASSES better than it did last time we traded. I think a lot of that is because of the sign. I wrote myself a list of ideas last time we traded, and I went through it and made a check-list for things to remember this time. I was a lot calmer this time, but that might have something to do with the fact it is Sunday and I am so terribly sleepy! We set up quite early, picked the tent right in front of where our car was parked and got everything out. Luckily, Chris packed the car in exchange for bacon, so that all worked out lovely! The weather was exactly how it was back in October last year, and we could see our breath every time we spoke! We shared a tent with a lovely lady selling PartyLight candle, so got to have a bit of a gossip.

Unfortunately, due to the weather, there was almost no passing trade. Not kidding, we saw about 10 people all day. It was mainly that due to the weather, everyone was bundled up and huddled inside the tents put up for eating, then deciding that after buggering about in the rain for an hour, that was enough, so they weren't checking out the stalls in the tents as much as they would have, had it been a nice day. The customers we did meet however, were lovely.

Overall, we decided that after only 4 hours of being there, it'd be best to pack up. We weren't getting customers, or even people just popping in to have a cheeky look. I did learn a couple of other things to do with setting up the stall and the best way to pack the car, but beyond that, it wasn't anywhere near as much as a learning curve as the first trading event.

This past 6 weeks hasn't been too bad on the private order front, which is great, along with the Etsy store starting to take of. Ordered some more fabric for spats, so they should be released in the next few weeks, depending on how things pan out with my job interview on Wednesday! (Don't get too excited, it's a shop job.)

Saturday, 2 June 2012

Themed Collection: Ladybirds!

I love ladybirds. One of the first photographs I ever took was of ladybirds, and they are also one of Little Sister's favourite things. Since it was her birthday yesterday, I thought this would be a good theme for the first ever collection post that contains members of my Etsy Team:

Ladybird Painting
An original painting, which I really love. You see so many prints now a days and reproductions of work so to see and be able to buy an original is a great thing. This shop owner specialises in fine art and fine art prints, and offers not only ladybirds but landscapes, nudes, still life, you name it.

Ladybird Necklace
"Ladybird Ladybug necklace pendant. A cute charm made of polymer clay this little ladybird has popped out for some morning sunshine on a dew laden blade of grass."

Look at it's little spots! Ladybirds very much make me want to squee, especially this one. Reinforced in delicate places with wire, this is perfect for wearing every single day. This cute little ladybird is only roughly 1cm across, so not that much bigger than a real one! It's from a store that I have featured in the past, MadeByDozy, so if you go back and see what I wrote, there is a tonne more info about them!

Now, I can't think of any reasons exactly why you wouldn't want all the buttons on things you own replaces with these. I'm thinking about it right now! At just over an inch wide, these are perfect not only for using at buttons, but for general craft and even card making! This shop is full of buttons, and I've had to add it to my favourites since I think buttons are fantastic!

AND FINALLY:

It isn't often I promote myself, but I'm really proud of this! :P