Wordless Wednesday - Critter Crossing

School Memories - Blog Carnival

Erika at Artful Rising and Little Andalucia is the host of this edition's EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival and she has Back To School on her mind!

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Here are this week's topics:

1. It is Back to School! Show off your back to school fashions, jewelry, supplies, gift ideas from your shop.

2. Share a memory from your school days.

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With the first day of school just starting up, this always reminds me of a tradition we had at our house. On the first day of every school year, my mom would take a picture of my brother and I ready to head to school :) We would hold up our fingers representing what grade we would be in.

My brother graduated 5 years ahead of me, so for my last few pictures...it's just me. This is my last school picture of my high school career. Here I am ready to start my Senior year!

What memories do yo have from school? Any traditions you'd like to share?

Pet Portrait Giveaway!!!

I'm so excited to be hosting a giveaway over at Beaded Tails' Blog!!! I'm giving away one of my newest creations...a Custom Engraved Pet Portrait!

To enter, visit Beaded Tail and leave a comment. It's that easy!

Friday Features - Vintage Rings

Yesterday's post inspired these finds. After receiving my great aunt's wedding ring, I went searching on Etsy to find other treasures people has in their shops. I loved finding rings that were similar to mine and found out that this style is called Art Deco. Enjoy... 14K Antique Art Deco 1920s Diamond Filigree Ring by laurenrosedesign Art Deco Platinum Diamond Ring - Very Fine Detail - Flowers and Filigree by Franziska 18Kt White Gold and Diamond Ring vintage Jabel by WhitebirdDesign Circa 1930 diamond and platinum engagement ring by camelliacollection

A Treasured Gift

My grandma recently went through her whole house and cleaned and donated a bunch of stuff. In the process, she found some very special pieces of jewelry. One of which she saved for me! I was so honored to receive this ring! This was my great aunt's wedding ring! It is extra special to me because she was my aunt Edith :) She is the aunt I was named after and have always felt a great connection to. I did not know her well as she died when I was very young. But I will carry on her namesake...and now her wedding ring :) I couldn't believe my grandma was giving it to me! Even more, I couldn't believe that it fit like a charm! After giving it to me, my grandma asked if I wanted to put it back in the box. I said "No...I think I'll wear it". And it still sits upon my finger as I type this :) What a great treasure!

Wordless Wednesday - Camera Shy?

Real Wood Greeting Cards

I am so excited to finally get these super cute cards listed in my Etsy Shop!!! I've been working on them for a while now and am so happy with how they turned out!

Create your own free slideshow design

I've been making these for everyone I know and am so excited to offer them in custom options in my shop! Add your own personal message to each one :) These are all 1/8" thick so they really make a statement! And after the celebration...they can be put on display!

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Look for them in my shop...I'll be listing all week long :)

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Edited to say: I just listed three of these yesterday and I've already sold two!!!!! Time to relist!

Advertising/Marketing/Branding

I've been looking at different ways to advertise my shop and get my web address on all of my products. That way when I sell a product, it's like a little business card goes with every item :) Without my address right on the product, people may forget where they purchased the item and could easily lose my business card. Plus, if they give the item as a gift (which happens with my items quite often) they most likely won't pass along my business card. Here are some ways that I add my etsy addy to my products: *Stickers on the backs of my albums *Engrave my address on the backs of picture frames, plaques and other wood items *On any packaging I make, like my magnets shown below *At the least, I add a hang tag to items I'm not able to engrave on or add a sticker too. Like my wine glasses or champagne flutes Branding is also important when advertising your business. All of my tags (except my hang tags, which I still need to update!) match my business cards. They also match my blog and my etsy banner. I used to have my magnets on a large jelly roll pan for display. I recently decided to put my magnets in sets and add a card with them for advertising. Now my magnets have a little built in business card with them and they match all of my other cards and web sites. The stickers on the backs of my albums also match my business cards :) Put your web address and other information anywhere you can! Get your name out there! But remember to do this tactfully. Don't ever let your info take away from the product or distract from your product.

Treasury Times Two

Yay! It's treasury time!!! That means I was featured this week :) Not once, but twice!!!

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Thanks to Rose of RandomCreative for this Back to School Treasury

I am in love with THIS cuff from her shop!

And thanks to Demet for this Autumn Violet Treasury!

THIS pink flower brooch from her shop is just great!

Thanks so much ladies :) You made my week!!!

Friday Features - Back to School Etsy Style

As the kids start going back to school, it is time for us shop owners to start thinking about doing some studying as well. There is always something new we can learn! So get out your #2 pencil and start taking some notes. Etsy has some of the best guides for helping your online business! Etsy Guide Get Off The Internet and Market. Custom tips to promoting your shop off of the internet by ataglancegraphics (What I love best about this one: "You will not be getting a generic marketing guide. Your guide will be a customized, shop specific guide. I will look over your shop and work on marketing ideas that “fit” what you are selling.") Etsy Tax Guide - Your Etsy Tax Solution EBook by JJMFinance REDUCED RATE for 2 Guides - The Art of Photography AND The Art of Pricing pdf by EurekaGuides Social Media Marketing Success Guide for Etsy Ebook- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and Blogging by SnazzieBusiness I wanted each of these guides to give you specific help instead of generic "success guides". This way you can work on a specific part of your shop each "term" this "school year" :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have you used any of the guides on Etsy? Or else where on the web or in the library? Please share with us!

What's For Dinner?

Most of you know, I'm not usually one to share recipes. I'm no gourmet chef by any means! But when I run across a great, easy recipe that we love, I like to share it :)

I found this recipe in a magazine and had to dash to the grocery store to find this Philly Savory Garlic Cooking Creme! I love that there are very few ingredients and it all cooks right on the stove! (Great for summer when you don't want to start the oven!)

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Here are the ingredients:

*1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces *1/2 cup halved red pepper strips *1 pkg. (6 oz.)baby spinach leaves *1 tub (10 oz.)PHILADELPHIA Savory Garlic Cooking Creme *2 cups hot cooked penne pasta *2 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts

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And you can find the entire recipe HERE.

I had no idea that I liked spinach! In fact I would have turned my nose up at it had I not used it in this recipe! I actually quite like it :) And I've used yellow peppers in place of the red ones as well. I don't usually bother with the pine nuts. That's what's great about this recipe...change it up/use what's on hand/add a few extras!

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PS...Do you say Supper or Dinner?

I usually say supper, but the title sounded better with dinner...LOL :)

Wordless Wednesday - My Haven

I ♥ the River!

First Glass Order!!!

I sold my first set of glasses to a coworker over the weekend!!! I was so excited when he asked about some beer steins...and then ordered 6!

The other guys at work were pretty interested when I delivered them too!

It's funny really...I've been making scrapbooks for several years now and once in a while I'll get an order from work, but not usually too much interest. But I start engraving things that have to do with alcohol and my coworkers go nuts...LOL :) Well, I do work in a factory!

I can't wait to show you my next set of custom glasses as well! That's right, I've already gotten my 2nd order!!! My friend Re is having me make a custom set of 12 tumbler glasses for her daughter as a wedding gift!

Just think how many I'll sell when I actually get them listed in my Etsy Shop :) I want to get a lot done before my friend comes to take pictures so I don't make her come out every other day when I create something new...LOL! So that's why there's a delay in adding my new glasses to my shop.

Relevancy and Tags

Last week I talked about Etsy's changes to their search function and Relevancy being the new default search option. I got lots of good feedback from that post, so I thought I'd do another on tagging your items to become "relevant".

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Etsy recently changed their policy on tagging to allow multi-word tags! This is great for sellers as it allows us to tag our items more accurately and to be more relevant!

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People commented last week that they enjoyed seeing examples, so I'll give you some examples for tagging this week as well :)

Baby Photo Album Custom Personalized Engraved Leather

for this listing, I used 4 multi-word tags that I think buyers will enter into search together.

*Photo Album

*Laser Engraved

*Baby Boy

*Baby Girl

These are all "Etsy-legal" because they are still only describing one thing.

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Here is another example:

TRAVEL Chipboard Word Scrapbook Photo Album - 6.5"x12" for 4x6 Photos

Here are the multi-word tags I used for this listing:

*Road Trip

*Photo Album

*Laser Cut

*Hunter Green

*Word Album

I would like to point out that colors can be tricky. Each color needs to have a separate tag, but colors like hunter green, navy blue or crimson red are all okay. The tag: red blue green would not be okay.

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As I said last week, think like a buyer. What terms to you think your shoppers would use together in search? Can they be used together as a multi-word tag? If they are still describing a single aspect of your item while being used together...Go For It!

Friday Features - Live~Laugh~Love

One of my favorite quotes/sayings is:

Live~Laugh~Love

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I've always loved this saying and have it adorning my home anywhere I can :) I'm particular that the wording be in this order for some reason and will only buy things that have the words this way. (OCD...Yup!) Luckily Etsy knows just what I like :)

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Today's finds are all about Live~Laugh~Love

Stamped Live Laugh Love Custom Silver Metal Thick Cuff Bracelet

by Serenitystorms

LIVE LAUGH LOVE- choose custom colors

by AppleBlossomPrint

Word Art Wood 3D Cutout 'Live, Laugh, Love' set

by mrcwoodproducts

Live Laugh Love Charm Necklace

by TheVintageChain

Are You Relevant on Etsy?

Yesterday, Etsy rolled out a new default search option...Relevancy. As opposed to recency where your items were found first in search based on when they were listed or relisted, relevancy focuses more on how close your title and tags are to what is actually being searched for.

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I for one love this change. I always used relevancy as my search option before and found what I was looking for more easily. I'm glad to see it as the default search now!

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So what does this change mean for Etsy sellers? It means rethinking how you title and tag your items. My best piece of advice...Forget The Cutesy Titles.

In an article on the Etsy Blog, it states "As titles are the most direct way for sellers to explain what they have to offer, we have given them more weight in our search results...Additionally, we look at words at the beginning of your title first."

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Use this listing as an example:

Family Scrapbook Photo Album Chipboard Mini Album in Purple and Brown

I put the most important words at the beginning of the title and put other words toward the end. When someone searches for a "family scrapbook" or "family photo album" I'll be toward the top of search.

If I would have used Pretty Purple and Brown Mini Album - Family Theme, my item won't be found near as quickly for the same search terms because my most important words are at the end of the title. I see so many sellers "naming" their pieces and this will now hurt them in relevancy search. Keep your names, but put them at the very end of your title.

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When it comes to your tags, think like a buyer! Exact search terms will now have more weight than search terms with only a few matching terms.

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Take this listing for example:

Custom Personalized Wine Bottle Stopper Engraved Optic Crystal

If someone searches for "Wine Bottle Stopper" this listing will come up toward the top in search. If I just had Wine Stopper in my title or tags, it wouldn't be found as quickly.

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One good way to see if your tags are working is to check your Shop Stats on Etsy. From there you can tweak your tags to match what people are searching for in your shop.

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Changes can be confusing, but I hope this post helped clear up a few of the big points of relevancy search :) Did you find this helpful...leave me a comment and let me know :)

Wordless Wednesday - Rainbow on the River

Newest Rotary Engraving

I've been having more fun with my rotary this week! I LOVE colored glass as it really makes the engraving/etching stand out. This blue glass looks amazing! (I'm still working on my photography skills!) I can't wait to find more colors and glass styles!

I've also been trying to focus on items that I want to add to my shop so my photographer friend can come help me with pictures :) I'll definitely be adding these Bride and Groom champagne flutes. And I'll add Mr and Mrs flutes as well. (Do you think the words should be closer to the top of the glass...please let me know your thoughts.)

Wine glasses will also come in several custom choices as well as premade options as well. This monogram glass turned out well. I think I'll make the engraving a tad smaller so you can see the whole thing. These will come in different font options as well as first names/last names.

I tried engraving a larger candle votive, but didn't have much luck. I'll be trying again soon. I've had a lot of interest in these, so I'd like to have several options :)

Here is one of the premade options I'm thinking of offering. I'll be making the feather larger and maybe put it on both sides? Or all the way around? Still thinking of other premade options as well.

What do you think? Let me know how I'm doing and add any suggestions you have too!

How It All Started

I often get asked how I got started in scrapbooking and laser engraving. Well, I thought today's post would be a good opportunity to share that with you :)

It all began with 4-H. Each month my club would make a different project that we could take to fair. One month we made handmade greeting cards with stamps. I was instantly addicted to paper crafting and stamping. The same company that sold stamps began selling scrapbook supplies and the rest is history! I've been hooked ever since!

The laser came after many years of cutting my Custom Name Albums by hand with an xacto knife. I love making my albums, but it was starting to put a real strain on my body. Cutting through that thick chipboard took a lot of effort! So I looked for a machine that would cut them for me. I first looked into a mat cutter (like for picture framing). It would do what I wanted, but the machine was HUGE! I like it, but was completely sold. I asked a wood working friend if he know of any machines that cut wood that would also cut my chipboard. He gave me the Epilog Site and again...the rest is history! After I saw what that machine was capable of...I had to have it! I purchased my first laser engraver a few months later :)

I owe a lot to the 4-H club and my wonderful aunt that was our club leader :) I give back at any chance! A couple years ago I judged the historian books at the fair. And I also taught another club of girls how to make greeting cards :) My latest 4-H involvement was for a local club wanting awards for their members. I engraved 10 plaques with a space for a photo.

These awards are so cool and I hope other clubs will see them and want some! I think they're a great way for the kids to be honored. Their names and awards are forever engraved on these plaques and they can display them proudly :) Ribbons are nice, but they typically get put in a box never to be seen again. They can leave these out all year long :)

How did you get started in your craft/art/hobby?

Treasury Thank You

I love opening my Activity Feed on Etsy to find I've been put in a treasury! It doesn't happen very often, so it makes each one even more special :) I would like to give a special thanks to three Etsians who have featured me this week:

Please stop by and give these treasuries some lovin'! And stop by the curators' shops as well :)

Friday Features - Feathers in her hair

I'm not usually one to fall for trends. In fact, I've probably owned most of my wardrobe for at least 5 years. But who can resist all these awesome feather accessories! Feathers are everywhere right now and I'm lovin' 'em! Etsy has so many cool designs to choose from it was hard to narrow my finds to just four! Here are my faves...

Tokyo Nights - Feather Hair Extensions- Set of 3

by BlueRidgeNotions

2 pair of feather earrings

by bibilo87

Pink Feather Hair Clip

by feathers2gether

Polka dot feather earrings

by TheLittlestFeather

I wish I didn't have to wear my hair in a ponytail all the time at work or I'd get me some hair pieces! I guess I'll have to go for earrings :)