Favorite Google Chrome Applications & Extensions

I've been using features on Google Chrome more lately. Google Chrome is a web browser, but it also has other features like applications and extensions. These are my favorite applications and extensions from the Chrome App Store. They are free to use and most of them just give you a quick way to go to websites:

Evernote Web
I've been using Evernote to organize my bookmarks and ideas. I might do a separate post explaining Evernote more. I didn't understand Evernote at first, but now I really like it. For example, if I find an article about Etsy I like, I will save it to my Evernote in my Etsy folder and then I can look through all the articles and other things I saved later.

Pomodoro.me
This is a simple tool that lets you keep track of time using the Pomodoro technique. The Pomodoro technique helps make you more effective while you work. You work for 25 minutes and then take a 5 minute break. After 4 tomatoes (25 minute sessions), you take a longer break. I've found it helps me work better so I use it when I'm trying to get a lot of stuff done.

StayFocsed
This is another tool that makes getting stuff done easier. It increases your productivity by limiting the amount of time you spend on time wasting websites. You can block certain websites, like Facebook, or give yourself a limit to the amount of time you spend on websites each day.

Lucidity
Lucidity allows you to write down and keep track of your dreams. I haven't used it a whole lot, but I've recorded a few dreams and like the idea of it.

Mint
Mint lets you organize your money. It is a free and easy way to manage your finances online.

Pinterest
The Pinterest google Chrome extension makes it easy to pin things from the web. I use it to pin my blog posts.

You can use your Google user name to save information on your Google Chrome, like bookmarks and applications, so you can access your info from other places. To do this, just go to Settings and sign on.

Pantone Color of the Year: Radiant Orchid

Every year, Pantone chooses a color of the year. Last year, the color was Emerald. This year it is Radiant Orchid:

You can see more inspiration on my Pinterest. Do you like Pantone's choice for color of the year?

Personal Snow Photos

It snowed where I live recently. These are some photos I got in the snow:

Do you like winter?

FotoFuze Review

FotoFuze is a site I found that lets you edit your photos and give them a white background. You can import your listings white from Etsy and clip your photos easily. There's also a Pro version available.

You can import your listings right from Etsy. Then uou highlight the photo and shadows like this.

You can choose brightness, background clarity, shadow softness, reduce noise, automatic cropping and change the resolution. I like to make the photo a little brighter and put the background clarity to 90 so it's not super white. Then you click the "Finish" button and it works like magic to get rid of your background.

I decided to try out FotoFuze for my listed photos. I like the way it gives them nice white background that's the same in every picture.

Have you ever tried FotoFuze or a similar site?

Rounded Business Cards

I got some new business cards from Moo. I got rounded corners instead of square business cards like I usually do. I like how they turned out:

If you have a business, where do you like to get business cards from?

Dog Sitting Photos

I pet sit dogs to make extra money. These are some photos of Mister, a dog that stayed with me over Christmas:

Do you like pets?

Handmade Market Craft Show and Sold Horse Moleskine Journal

I went to a craft show in Chicago run by Handmade Market. I didn't sell a lot, but I did sell this altered Moleskine:

I also ended up buying a necklace for my sister from another vendor. My camera isn't working so I didn't get any photos from the show. I will get photos at my new craft show though which will be on February 8th the Empty Bottle in Chicago. Have you been to any craft shows lately?

2014 Planners

Want a custom planner for 2014? Click the "Request custom order" button in my shop. Here are some examples of custom planners I have done in the past:







Do you use a planner?

Shop Statistics in 2013

These are my shop statistics for 2013.

Visitors

I had 2,357 shop views, 10,507 listing views, 305 favorites and 6 purchases on Etsy. Popular countries were United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Overall, I had more views and sales this year.

Top Referrers

Most traffic was from direct traffic and Etsy. Second was RebelMouse, Google and this blog. Some other referrers were Pinterest, Craftster and some blogs I advertised on. The Etsy home page, New Year's and Home and Living sections were popular traffic sources on Etsy. Planners and cookbooks were popular keyword searches.

Most Viewed Items

Custom alter planners were viewed a lot early this year.  Some other items that were viewed a lot were:


Pumpkin Harvest Coptic Stitch Journal



Red and Gold Marbled Journal



Oversized Envelope Sketch Book



Top Favorited

These items had the most favorites this year:

Green Leaves Coptic Stitch Journal



Multicolored Hearts Greeting Card



Wavy Feel Better Blue and Purple Paisley Greeting Card




 You can see last year's statistics here. How were your statistics this year?

2014 Resolutions

These are my business goals for 2014. You can see my business resolutions for 2013 here. I wrote what my resolution was last year and how I did with them. Since my resolutions are the same this year, I also wrote what I want to do for that resolution this year.

I wanted to get:
- 300 likes on Facebook
- 550 admirers on Etsy
- 20 more mailing list subscribers
- at least 10 sales


These are my stats right now:
- 217 likes on Facebook
- 500 admirers on Etsy
- 48 mailing list subscribers
- 6 sales on Etsy and some more at craft shows


These are the stats I want to get for the upcoming year:

- 400 likes on Facebook
- 10,000 followers on Twitter
- 50 Google + followers
- 600 admirers on Etsy
- 100 mailing list subscribes
- 20 sales





I wanted to do some advertising on other blogs.


I used Passionfruit Ads for a while, but that ended up not working out since they made it paid from now on. I don't make enough money with ads to pay for it. I did some paid advertising, but not as much as I wanted.


This year: I want to continue swapping ads with Adproval each month. I also want to set a monthly budget to buy ads. You can see my advertise page for more info on advertising.





I wanted to continue updating my social media and blog consistently. I wanted to add a new item every week to Etsy.


I did a good job updating my social media and blog. I kind of got out of habit doing Twitter so I am trying to do more with that. I also posted on Facebook a lot more this year. I schedule everything with HootSuite now so it makes it easier to post with social media. I didn't add a new item every week, but I updated a lot of my photos and updated those items.


I want to continue with the goal of adding a new item every week. I have a bunch of items I made a while ago that I might put them up all at once. I also want to continue consistently updating my social media and find new ways to promote my shop.


I wanted to make a website for Move the Needle so it's not just an Etsy shop. The website will have basic info about my shop, an e-commerce section so you can buy straight from my site and links to all the other places you can find me.




I didn't get to finishing my site last year, but I started working on a site through WordPress. It took me a while to figure out how I was going to make the site, but I decided using WordPress was easiest. I ended up buying a new domain this year - movetheneedlepaper.com

I also bought a domain name for annaleehey.com (my name) which I'm going to turn in to a personal site with eBooks, my portfolio and links to my other sites. If you go there now, you can sign up for email updates.


I want to get the Move the Needle and personal site up. I want to promote the websites. I am also thinking of switching this blog to WordPress since I like the way WordPress is set up better than Blogger now. The domain for my blog will stay the same so you'll know when it's updated.


I wanted to do at least one craft show and sell some items in stores.


I did do one craft show last year here. I didn't sell items in stores, but I researched a lot about wholesale. I made a line sheet for my wholesale items and decided which items I want to sell wholesale. I also signed up for Etsy's wholesale site where I'm on the waiting list.

I'm already scheduled for three craft shows next year which I'm excited about. I want to do more shows like one craft show a month so I'm already doing pretty well at that goal.

Even though I researched about wholesale last year and contacted some shops, I didn't get any stores yet so I am going to keep trying with that.


If you have a business, what are your goals for the upcoming year?