Etsy and Me...How It All Began

One of the topics of choice for the EtsyBloggers blog carnival this week is: Etsy. What made you open a shop on Etsy? What do you like about being a seller on Etsy? What don't you like?

So I thought this was a good chance to tell my Etsy story :)

It all started with my love of crafts...scrapbooking in particular. I've been crafting for over 10 years and got to a point where I was creating more than I needed. My mom was getting all my newest creations...and they were starting to take over! It dawned on me that I should start selling my creations!

I started selling at local craft shows and had some success, but wanted more. I'd looked into starting my own website, but don't have the computer know-how to do it on my own. I kept seeing this name, Etsy, in magazines and wondered what the heck it was. I was so excited to find such a wonderful website! A place where I could sell my creations and all the work was done for me...all I had to do was list! I was in love :)

My favorites about Etsy:

• I get my products seen by a much larger customer base.
• I can sell 24/7, 365! I don't have to wait for a craft show to come open.
• I am selling internationally! I had never dreamed this would be possible!
• It gives me confidence in my work...people really love my albums :)
• EtsyBloggers Team...my online family :) They are the BEST!

My least favorites about Etsy:

• A very saturated market. But with the good comes the bad. Etsy is so popular that everyone wants a piece of it.
• It is very hard to get on the front page, in a gift guide, or in Etsy Finds...they tend to play favorites it seems. But I guess this makes me work harder :)
• The descriptions...I hate to write them! I have such a hard time telling how great my products are. When people can't see and touch them...it makes it difficult. But as I stated earlier...with the good comes the bad...and I'll take it!

Here is my most popular item in my shop...by far. People love custom items! They like the personal touch :)

Wordless Wednesday!!!

FREE Advertising!!!

Yup, that's right...FREE!

Tim at Everyday Living is giving away free advertising to Etsy shop owners. Read all about it here.

And check out my feature here!!!

Tim was nice enough to choose me as his first feature! How exciting! A special thanks to Tim for showing off my albums :)

Now...what are you waiting for...go check this out!

My latest client layouts

I just finished some really fun layouts for a client and I thought I'd share them with you :)

My favorite to make was this Be Merry layout. I love the over-sized tree and presents. And I really love the colors too :) I think the stitching adds just the right touch to the patterned paper behind the photo.

This layout is actually a three part layout. I used these special page protectors with flaps to create them. They are gate folded to open in the middle to reveal another layout underneath! These work great for layouts where you have too many photos to fit nicely on a two page spread, but want to keep the photos all together. I think this set came out great :)

My favorite part about this layout is the photos of the truck! You know me and old vehicles :) My client was visiting some family that lives on a farm and the truck really spoke "country" to her, so she wanted them added to the page...very cool in my book!

I love scrapbooking for myself...but I also love scrapbooking for others :) Some clients I meet with on a weekly or monthly basis. And others mail or email their photos and I mail their completed pages back to them. It really is an easy process. You send all the photos, I do all the work and send back beautifully created pages :) If you are interested in having some custom pages done...just email me at: memoriesforlifescrapbooks@hotmail.com and we can get started from there. I work very closely with my clients to make sure I create pages that they are going to love! Get those photos out of boxes and into albums today!

Friday Feature: Meet DonnaPool

Our EtsyBloggers Feature for February is DonnaPool. Donna has a great assortment of items in her Etsy Shop.

Here are my three faves:

These buttons say it all! Who doesn't love Etsy :) And I love that you can have your own url put on the buttons!

This teddy looks so cuddly! He would make such a cute baby shower gift! And I love that she hand sews these!

And this photo just speaks to me :) I've always had a love for old vehicles. (My first car was a 1963 Rambler Wagon!)

Check out her store here: donnapool.etsy.com

And her blog here: http://ddpool.blogspot.com/

New Albums In Store :)

After my Internet being down for almost a whole week...I was finally able to get my new Word Albums in my Etsy Shop!!!

For your viewing pleasure...drum roll please...

HOME Word Album

I♥MYDOG Word Album

I♥MYCAT Word Album

DISNEY Word Album

Custom Sports Team Word Album

All of the albums measure 4"x12" and can be purchased in my Etsy Shop :) Click on pictures to see descriptions and additional photos!

And don't forget there is still time to enter my February Card Giveaway!!!

What a Week!!!

I've been MIA this week...what a busy one it has been! Now that I've finally got a little free time...I thought I'd fill you in on my week. Sunday: We had to replace the hot water heater! Then do dishes and laundry like crazy to get caught up because the hot water heater actually went out Saturday morning. Note to self: Cold showers are not fun!!! Then I had a meeting with a scrapbooking client. She brought me an entire tote full of newspaper articles of her daughter...freshman through senior year! I have to cut, organize, spray with acid-free spray, and put in a book...all by May! Monday: Work. Doctor's appointment. Shot and ear drops...which aren't helping by the way! So I'm sure I'll be going back to figure out what's up with my ears! I hate feeling yucky and not knowing why! I did manage to come home and jog and do my pilates though! That made me feel good :) To bed early so I can go into work early. Tuesday: Work 10 hours. Jog and pilates :) Finished getting tax papers together and business taxes updated. To bed early again so I can go into work early...again! Wednesday: Work 10 hours. Tax appointment...Hour and a half! But I got a refund :) So it was worth it! Gotta love money back! No ambition to jog...barely enough to check email when I got home. Cooked a quick lunch and went to bed...you guessed it...early again for work early! Thursday: Work 10 hours. Appointment with a scrapbooking client. 12 layouts to do for her by next Wednesday! Holy cow! Took a nice long, hot bath...I so needed that! And a shower and then got to work. I finished up three more word albums that I'll be adding to my shop tomorrow. Still need to get some pics of them though. Now I'm getting caught up on some cleaning and organizing and taking a quick coffee break. I need my afternoon boost. No work tomorrow...Yea :) So hopefully I'll be able to work all day and get everything on my to do list accomplished! How has your week been? Hectic, productive, slow? Leave me a comment :) And don't forget 14% off my Valentine Albums and my February Giveaway!

Creating from the Heart-GIVEAWAY!!!

Every time keepsakesbymelissa has a giveaway...I am just blown away!!! She gives away such great scrapbook stuff! She gives away tons of stuff! And she gives away new stuff! What's not to love about her giveaways? Here's everything you can win: ~ DCWV 8x8 Sweet Stack Paper Pad ~ DCWV Sweet Vellum Quotes Stack ~ DCWV Sweet Candy Glitter Rub-Ons ~ Creative Imaginations Mini Cupcake Chipboard Book ~ Doodlebug Loopy Lou Alpha Stickers ~ a bottle of Doodlebug Cupcake Crushed Velvet Flock ~ a jar of Hottie Pink Shimmerz ~ and last but not least, 2 2oz. bottles of Glimmer Mist, Black Cherry and Pink Taffy! Hop on over and enter her contest. Blog about it and be her friend and you have two chances to win!!!

What a Beautiful Day!!!

Wow! What a beautiful day we are having here in Iowa! Almost 60 degrees in February...Yea :)

I decided I needed to take a break from my scrapbooking and take advantage of the nice weather. I first took a nice jog and then came home and got Harley for a walk. Man, does that dog like to go for a walk :) It makes me happy to watch him out and about...exploring the "big" world (of the 1/2 mile he get to go!).

As you can see in these pics...he likes to lead the show! He pulls his leash out as far as it will go and pulls me along! He refuses to have any slack in his leash. I think he was a mush dog in his previous life :)

He'd stop for a few seconds and check everything out...take a sniff or two...and then he was off again. He kept wanting to go down in the ditch where the weeds were taller than he was! It's little dog syndrome...they like to think they're bigger than they really are :)

I have a thing with shadow shots! I take one almost every time we go for a walk. It was hard to get him to stand still long enough to take the shot. And then he's not tall enough to cast a shadow away from himself...so he got in the shot too :)

And then when we got home he needed a drink...and apparently a shower too. He sticks his front feet in the bowl and throws out all the water! He really is a riot...and that's why I love him :)

I hope you are enjoying your day...nice weather or not :) Today has me really wishing it were spring already. Unfortunately I think we still have some cold days ahead of us! That's why I wanted to make the most of today before it was gone :)

Treasury Love :)

WooHoo...I woke up today to find out I'm in a treasury! I just love days like this :) A little boost to get my day going!

Here's a screen shot of the treasury...see my LOVE Word Album in the middle of the third row!!!

If you get a chance, click on the treasury and leave a quick comment :) Thanks!

A Friday Feature-Art Under Glass

Today I'd like to introduce you to Becky from ArtUnderGlass. I was lucky enough to win one of her Double Sided Soldered Pendants in a blog giveaway!

I just received my pendant yesterday and I was blown away!!! The craftsmanship is wonderful and I love that it has my initial on the back :)

I absolutely loved how the pendant came packaged :) It came in a cute little pink bag with matching pink, red, and white paper for padding. Very Valentine's Day! It also came with a hand-written note and some very professional business cards :) It is always nice when you buy something and it comes nicely packaged, but to win something and get this kind of service...that to me says a lot about a business :) A+ for wonderful presentation!

Here is a picture of the pendant I won :)

And here is me taking a dorky self-portrait so you can see the E on the back. Okay...quit laughing now!

Visit Becky at these locations:

Soldered Pieces: artunderglass

Glass Art Pieces: underthelookingglass

Wooden Pieces: tinytreesboutique

Wholesale: http://www.artunderglass.com/

Blog: www.artunderglass.net/blog

I hope you enjoyed the feature and will give Becky a visit :)

♥♥♥Blog Sale...Feel the Love♥♥♥

With Valentine's Day only 10 days away...I thought I would offer my wonderful readers a special sale :) I love Valentine's and I love my readers...so what better idea! Now through Feb. 14 get 14% off these FOUR albums. Just type in "bloglove" in the message to seller and I will refund your money through Paypal :) Now...don't you feel loved :)

February Giveaway...and Winner Announced!

Good Sunday Morning All! And Happy February 1st!

As those of you who entered my National Paper Crafting Month Giveaway know...today is the day to announce the winner of my card :) And the winner is...Storybeader! My online generator chose you and I love your ideas! Thank you to all who entered.

And now for even better news...I had so much fun doing my card giveaway that I'm going to start doing one every month! I will make a card that relates to the next month and choose a random winner each month! How fun is that :)

So...here are the details:

For 1 entry: Go to my Etsy Shop, choose your favorite item and come back here and leave me a comment as to what it is and why.

For 2 entries: Do above...and...Tell me what you would like to see in my shop next. I loved all the ideas from last month :)

Oh...would you like to see what you could win this month! It's my Lucky Card and it's perfect for St. Patrick's Day :) Send a little luck some one's way with this card!

The card is made of green cardstock and decorated with three buttons, three clover shaped eyelets, a die cut clover, and cute patterned papers and a Lucky journaling spot. The inside is left blank so you can add your own special message. Lucky...to have you in my life. Lucky...you're mine. Lucky...we are such good friends. You get the idea :)

This contest will run from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 and a winner will be drawn on March 1. So...let's see those comments :)