For the next week, I'll be showing my readers some of the great gift ideas from my Etsy shop.
The first is my collection of awesome five by seven photo calendars, which I'm so excited about. They are loose leafed, which means you can frame them, nail them up or figure out some fun way to hang them. Best of all, after the month is over, you can simply cut out the five by five image from each month and frame the photograph.
The calendars total 13 sheets, one cover image and 12 of my favorite photo prints for each month. And are the perfect stocking stuffer and work great in small spaces like an office or dorm room.
Beside a fruit and butterfly inspired calendar, I also carry a forest inspired calendar with photographs from around South Lake Tahoe and a jellyfish calendar, including more of my beloved purple and yellow tinted photographs.
View my entire calendar collection among other holiday gift ideas by clicking here.
I have "Living Room" by Tegan and Sara on repeat. It's even better live.
Do you have song stuck on repeat?
I love giveaways. If you love them too here are two great Wednesday giveaways to enter.
The first is a necklace giveaway from designer Michelle Hartney being sponsored by the Marvelous Kiddo blog. To enter click the image below.
If you want to try your luck in a larger haystack, enter this week's Wednesday giveaway on A Cup of Jo for a chance to win a leather purse from Ellington. To enter click on the image below.
G'luck loves!
(photos taken from A Cup of Jo and Marvelous Kiddo, blogs)
When I first joined Etsy.com, the biggest international crafter marketplace on the Web, I was obsessed with getting on the front page to increase my exposure. After almost 11 months of selling my photography on Etsy and participating actively within the global marketplace, I have been on the front page numerously. Once, even three times in a row, which was pretty rad. That didn't happen without work though.
The first and the most important thing about making it to the front page is getting into the treasuries other members make. If you're not in treasuries, you won't be featured.
What are treasuries? Treasuries are collections that other members of Ety make in order to promote sellers they like within a specific and often trending theme such as a single color or a holiday.
These treasuries, if they're visually appealing enough have the chance to be picked by Etsy admin to be featured on the front page. So how do you get into as many treasuries as possible in order to have the highest possibilities of being on the FP?
Well, the first step is to have at least a page or two of very well photographed items to sell. Simple backgrounds and popping images work best. Check out Etsy's Guide to Photography for photo tips. You will also need to have several treasuries already made so that team admin's know that you can produce visually appealing collections.
Once you're set in the photo and treasury department it's time to start applying and joining treasury making teams, where you'll join fellow members in making a required amount of treasuries per month including usually from four to six team members in the first three rows.
Probably 95 percent of the treasuries I'm in is a team treasury.
To help you meet your treasury quotas for each team use the Shmetsy plugin for Firefox or Chrome browsers. It'll save you tons of time, and let you join as many treasury teams as you have time for.
To help you promote treasuries, try joining treasury promotion teams such as Click & Comment or 123 Treasury Promo Team. As well as send messages to the people you have featured to let them know that they are in your treasury, inviting them to comment. You can also share your treasuries or treasuries you're in on Twitter or Facebook to draw in more views.
I'm in over 80 treasures a week and get tons of views from treasuries. And it is these treasuries that have the potential of making it to the front page. So the more treasuries you're in and the bigger your treasury making circle is, the more likely you are to be featured on the front page or have one of your treasuries featured.
Although my featured count changes every month, going as low as two and as high as 15 features a month, I had never been featured on the front page until I joined treasury making teams. So if you haven't made a treasury yet and are new to Etsy, it definitely is your first and most important tool, especially when you're beginning.
So, good luck loves! And happy treasury making.
And if you have any questions, you can send me a message at: sandraproudman[at]gmail[dot]com.
Are you on Pinterest?
Pinterest is a web Site where you can "pin" your favorite finds from the web or from your daily life and share them with others that might like or "repin" your finds to share them with their circle of followers. "Pins" can be anything from fitness oriented finds to a new way to braid your hair.
I recently joined and have finally started getting into it this week. It's a great way to share your favorite finds and to support other crafters if you're on Etsy. Unlike Twitter, these updates are visual, which being a visual person, I prefer.
If you haven't yet, try it out, and you'll find out how addicting it can be. You can follow my pins by clicking the image above.
Happy Monday loves.
Being fit for your wedding day can be the perfect motivation to stay in shape and keep working out. Since January of this year I've been working out at least five times a week, with maybe three weeks in exception. But now that my wedding is three months behind me, it has been getting harder to stay motivated to eat well and do harder work outs. And it definitely has added on some pounds and has diminished the work out capacity that I had become accustomed to.
Joe and I had been meaning to try this out for a while. A system that works you up to completing 100 push ups at one single time, and we finally did. We're only on day two, but so far I really like it, so I wanted to share the system. To learn more about it click the image below.
I really do feel passionate about staying fit. Not to be skinny or fit into a smaller pant size, but to be strong and healthier. It also helps out when you're stressing out and to keep you motivated in all your endeavors. For a crafter, this can be a useful tool.
I'll write more as my push up ability increase, and hopefully soon, I'll be writing about having completed 100 in one go. How neat would that be?
What's your latest health binge been loves?
(photo from portorchardchip.wordpress.com)
