New Earring Cards

Over the weekend I started listing new earring cards in my Etsy Shop. These have done really well and people love that I can customize them in so many different ways! I can use different colors, different fonts, etc. Here is my latest group:

Personalize your own free digital slideshow

I decided to list these as files instead of taking 5 pictures of each earring card. I would love to hear thoughts on whether this looks okay. Photos can be so time consuming and white on white is hard to photograph! When I do samples for people, I always give them a digital sample like what is in the listing. Please let me know what you think of the new listings.

Here is an example of a new card in my shop:

Six (more) for Saturday

This was another great week for treasuries! I was again included in six treasuries this week!!! Thank you so much to all the curators for including one of my items! It always puts a smile on my face to open my Activity Feed in Etsy and find out I was included in a treasury :)

Each treasury is fully-clickable...so click away :)

Friday Features - Upcycled Wine Bottles

I recently added a Wine Bottle Candle and Matching Champagne Flute Set to my shop! A big thanks to my mom as the candle was her idea :) She's always so great at giving me new ideas!!! I like the idea of upcycling items so they don't end up in the landfill...and there are so many fun things to do with old wine bottles. Check out these fun and unique ideas using upcycled wine bottles... Recycled Deep Blue Wine Bottle Garden Bell Style Wind Chime by glassgaloregal Recycled Wine Bottle Hanging Herb Garden Planter by hmsc93 Wine bottle clock with wine glass pendulum by admiralglass Wine Bottle Chandelier (Metal) by ByGordonCompany

Search Ads on Etsy

On September 28th, Etsy rolled out a new program called Search Ads. What this does is allow Etsy sellers to buy ad space. It is based on keywords in your titles/tags/etc. and you pay per impression. An impression is how many times your ad appears on the top row of Etsy search results. I thought I would give you the run down of my first week using Etsy's search ads. I kept track of my results on a daily basis trying to check the stats at about the same time each day (or night rather). Here are my results: *Day 1: Cost: 66 cents Impressions: 580 Views: 5 Favorites: 0 Sales: 0 *Day 2: Cost: $1.44 Impressions: 1,207 Views: 10 Favorites: 0 Sales: 0 *Day 3: Cost: $2.22 Impressions: 1,818 Views: 13 Favorites: 0 Sales: 0 *Days 4-5: Cost: $3.85 Impressions: 3,170 Views: 30 Favorites: 4 Sales: 0 *Day 6: Cost: $4.54 Impressions: 3,777 Views: 38 Favorites: 5 Sales: 0 *Day 7: Cost: $4.65 Impressions: 3,879 Views: 41 Favorites: 5 Sales: 0 End results (at 6:30 am): Cost: $4.71 Impressions: 3,943 Views: 42 Favorites: 5 Sales: 0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~What I find interesting, is that in that same time period, I had 1,336 Views, 54 Favorites and 13 Orders.~ I have decided to give Search Ads one more week. I had my spending limit at $5 and I will be keeping it the same for this week as well. I suppose if one of those favorites turns into a sale, it was worth my $5. But if at the end of my second week I still haven't seen any results, I'll stick with using that money to advertise in a different way :)

Did you participate in the Search Ads on Etsy? I'd love to have your share your results with us! And stop back next week to see how week two went...fingers crossed!

Almost Wordless Wednesday - And Oldie But a Goodie

Remember my sisfur :) My first furbaby!

New Glassware

I've finally started adding my new glassware to my shop!!! A good friend of mine was so kind to take photos for me and they turned out great!!! She did a much better job than I ever could have! I've made wine glasses, champagne flutes and beer mugs in both premade and custom options. Here are some of my items: Green Champagne Flutes - Peacock Design Bride and Groom Champagne Flutes

Custom Monogram Wine Glasses I am always looking for new ideas (especially premade options). So if you have any ideas that you'd like to see engraved, please let me know :)

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This is my favorite post from last week, so I'm linking it up at Arful Rising! Come join the Party!!!

Accepting Credit Cards at Shows

There are several ways to accept credit cards at shows these days. And they are a great way to open the door to more sales! People like to ration their cash at shows because they usually only bring so much with them to last them the day. When they realize you accept credit cards, they are able to spend more and not wait to by til they have seen everything at the show. So, how do you get started? I first started with a Propay account. And as an Etsy seller, you can get a discount for the annual fee. This service works well, but there are some downfalls. Most shows don't have WIFI, so you have to process the cards when you get home and hope they are approved. You also have to make sure you get all the proper information written down or the card will be declined. I had to learn this the hard way when I got a wrong zip code (and no phone number!). Of course, if you have WIFI on your phone, you can process cards that way. Another downfall (compared to other services) is the fees. Propay charges an annual fee, as well as a fee per transaction. They also charge for their card readers as well. I recently got a smart phone with full internet access. One of the main reasons I wanted this phone is so I could get a Square reader. I have used my reader at two shows now and both times have been a huge success. The reader so easy to use. You just plug it in to the top of your phone, download the app and swipe the card! People sign their name with their finger and you're all done. You can even email them a receipt as well! You also get instant approval with the Square. And the best part...the reader is free and the transaction fees are as low as 2.75%! The one concern I had was that people would not be comfortable with me using my phone to process their card. My concerns immediately went away when I saw how excited people were about the reader! People were fascinated with it and not a single person had a concern :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So I encourage you to start accepting credit cards at shows if you don't already. It is a great way to increase your sales and your customer service level. And the Square reader is great if you do home shows as well! It is so portable and easy to use...go check it out!