New Card & Updates

I listed some new greeting cards I made over the summer.

Heart Shaped Zebra Print Card



I made this heart shaped zebra card with the same paper I used in this journal. It's kind of like my heart shaped journal, but it's a card. I love the zebra print.

Beauty of Friendship Gold Heart Greeting Card



This card has a quote about friendship on it from a stamp that I really like. Then I just added gold paper and embossing powder.

One of my housemate is ordering a custom, mini journal from me. I'm excited because this is my first sale in a while. She picked out a decorative paper she wanted that is white with pink flowers on it. I will post in the process/finished photos of it once I get started.

I was originally just going to buy just paper for the custom journal, but I figured I might as well stock up on some new papers too. I got some decorative paper I've been wanting to order for a while, like this baby themed clothes one. Somebody suggested I make baby greeting cards when I was at a craft show and that's something I haven't tried yet.

I also bought some Moo Cards. They were giving away free business cards if you paid for shipping, but I thought I'd get stickers too to help promote my shop. Moo makes good quality products, but they're kind of expensive. The stickers were pretty cheap though and they seem like they'll be really cute. I'm having different photos of my items on them. I think I might give some other with orders or use them to promote my shop. Let me know what you do with stickers. :)

I went to volunteer at the Market House yesterday (the local grocery store) and gave the owner there my business card because they sell some crafts there. She said vendors rent out space for about $10/month which isn't bad (considering craft shows can cost hundreds of dollars for a table for just one day). It will be nice to get my items out more and I'll be able to see my items every time I go in the shop. I also noticed there was a craft show nearby me in October. It's too late to apply though and it's a little too expensive for me right now. My mom also said she heard of some craft shows near my hometown that she might do for me.

I'm making a wishlist for my birthday. I'm looking for a tote bag so let me know if you see any cute bags or items I might like. :)

New Birthday Card and Photos

I just got this new card listed. It's a birthday card. The cupcake was cut out of a fabric I had of cupcakes (the same one I used here). I also renewed a bunch of items.

Birthday Glitter Cupcake Cake



I was playing with watercolor paint in my journal and I decided to paint a few greeting cards. They probably won't be listed for a while because I still have to photograph them and list them, but here's some in the process photos:





I've been so busy with school lately, it's hard to find time to work on etsy stuff. I did get a photoshop program though so I can edit my items again and list new stuff.

I was watching a video on youtube that mentioned Art Fire and I forgot all about that site. It's like Etsy, but it's not as well known. I guess I kind of prefer just staying at Etsy because it's confusing to sell at different sites. I listed items I have doubles of there though, so there's a couple of items up for sale. You can see my Artfire here. Does anybody else use ArtFire?

I went horse back riding the other day with my college's Equestrian Club. I haven't been riding for years (I took lessons when I was younger). It was a lot of fun. :) It was also nice to get off campus for a while. I'm going to try to get some photos of some horses next time I go down.

Statistics for My Shop

I use Google Analytics to see who's coming to my shop and I thought I'd share some results I've got from it. These are helpful for my shop, but I think it will be useful for other sellers. I'm not really good at getting a ton of exposure, so if you have any ideas of how to promote, please suggest. :)

Top Referrals

Referrals are really important so you know where your traffic is coming from. If you have a good source of traffic from one site, you know to focus on that. These had the top views:

twitter.com
linkreferral.com
craftcult.com
mythreadofthought.blogspot.com (this site!)
etsyveg.blogspot.com
community.livejournal.com
craftster.org
the-n.com

Though seeing the number of times people click is important, it's also important to consider the time people are staying in your shop (because it's important that people are looking at your shop and not just clicking it). By looking at both the top views and times people stayed on my site, I learned that being featured in blogs helped the most to get a lot of views and had quality viewers that stayed a while. Sites like the EtsyVeg Team blog, where they'll usually be a link and picture of an item, seem the most helpful.

Posting in messages boards or putting my link is profiles on sites also get a lot of clicks with people staying a good amount of time. I post some of my crafts on crafting sites like craftster.org. You're not allowed to advertise your shop there, but there's a link in my profile. I also noticed livejournal.com helped and that's a place I'll frequently post something about my crafts or journals (sometimes advertising my shop, but sometimes just posting for fun).

I was also surprised to see sites like the-n.com, which is a community unrelated to crafting and etsy, get a lot of views. I post on the message board on The N about TV shows and other random stuff, but people check out my profile which has a few photos of some etsy items and a link. So if you're on another site or network and get a chance to put your etsy in your profile, it could be helpful.

I use flickr, twitter and other social networking sites that a lot of people use to promote their shop. These are a lot of fun and a good way to connect with other etsy members. I don't think they're the most effective though. Twitter helps to get clicks, but people don't stay for a long time. I get views and comments on my Flickr page, but it seems not that many people go to my profile and click my Etsy shop link (you're not allowed to post your link in photo descriptions because it's against Flickr rules). I still think social networking sites like these are good to use though. And I still love posting my items on Flickr and sites like that even if it doesn't bring a ton of views to my shop page.

This blog was more helpful for getting views than other social networking sites, but it didn't get as many clicks/time people stay as being featured on other blogs (maybe because those blogs get more exposure?).

Pages with the Most Views

It's interesting to see what pages people check out once they get to my shop. Overall, the Journals section had the most views (besides the front page) followed by Mini Journals, Recycled Items and Sale items. These items had the most clicks:

Red and Gold Marbled Heart Shaped Journal



Little Gold Crinkled Address Book



Black and White Faces in Crowd Greeting Card



I think seeing the top items is interesting because they don't have the most hearts.

Top Times People Come

This is important to see what times people are coming to your shop and so you know when to renew your items. I don't know if it helps, but I heard a good way to get exposure is to renew or post new items at the top times people come to your site.

Overall, it seemed the most people came at 2-3PM or 8PM(central time in the U.S.). I think these times are probably the times Etsy in general gets the most traffic. I used to list really late at night or at random times, but now I always try to list at those times.

Dates with Top Views

It's fun to look at what days your site peaks and gets the most views. The highest dates with views for me (in 2009) were:
April 12, 2009
July 8, 2009

I don't know why April 12 had so many views, but I know I was featured on the front page July 8.

There's a ton of more features on Google Analytics. It's almost too mathematical and analytical for me, but it's fun to look at and can be really helpful for your shop. Do you use Google Analytics? What are your stats? Do you find it helpful? I just set up an Analytics for this blog so it will be interesting to see those stats too.

Autumn Items & Craft Show Update

It ended up that my mom couldn't go to Arts on Harrison to do the craft show for me. I was kind of disappointed because I was really excited about it and to sell some items, but there's always more craft shows in the future. I actually got contacted by another craft show that I paid for in the summer, but they never got back to me when I emailed them. They finally emailed me back so I think I might do a few of those (this craft show is every week until the end of September).

I renewed a few Halloween and Thanksgiving items I made last year. You can see all my autumn themed items in this section.

Autumn Leaves Thanksgiving Card



It's weird to think of Thanksgiving this early, but I love the colors of this card and had fun making it last year. I used shimmer watercolor and went over it with marker.

Bat and Moon Halloween Greeting Card



I forgot to renew this item when I relisted my other Halloween items. I watercolor painted the moon and added bat stamps.

I just wrote an entry about statistics in my shop which I might post sometime in the near future. It's my observations from looking at Google Analytics for my shop and might be helpful for other sellers. I want to do advertising on Craftster. It's only $5/day which isn't bad. I don't have a lot of money right now though and I'm not selling anything recently. I was thinking of saving up a little at a time until I can put like $50 in to it. Has anyone done paid advertising? Is it more effective than social networking/free advertising? I've tried Facebook and Project Wonderful and they weren't that helpful (though Project Wonderful is an interesting idea and pretty fun). I think Craftster is good because it's really focused on crafts and I already get clicks there just from having my shop link in my profile.

In non-etsy related news, I've been really busy with homework this weekend. Some of my books are taking a while to get here since I ordered them online from Half.com (to save money). It's great that I got books really cheap - one I got for like $5 when it was originally $50 - but then it means I have to catch up on things I missed. I'm studying for an art history quiz right now. I signed up for an extracurricular horse back riding club and I think I'm going riding this Tuesday. I'm really excited about that.

Band Stickers on Laptop

Since Move the Needle is participating in a craft show today, my etsy shop will be on Vacation Mode until Sunday. The show I'm doing is called Arts on Harrison and is in Oak Park, IL (near Chicago). You can get more info on the craft show here. You can find Move the Needle in this list of vendors.

The EtsyVeg "Kickoff to Fall" sale for my shop is over. It was fun having different colors of items on sale and participating in a team event. No one bought anything, but I think it helped bring a little more exposure to my shop at least. The EtsyVeg team sale goes on all weekend too, so check their blog to see what sales other members are having.

I'm volunteering at a local grocery called Market House near my college. They mostly sell food, but there are crafts there from local vendors. I was thinking of trying to see if I could put a few of my items there. I only have my products in one other shop (in Chicago) and it was be nice to get my items out there more.

I ordered these stickers from scarletbeautiful. I've bought from her a few times now. I love band stickers and that these are handmade. I don't think I've seen another shop do them. I think she designed different images on the computer with band names and prints them out on sticker paper. I wanted the stickers for my laptop to decorate them. I did this before with my old laptop, but right after I put the stickers on, my laptop broke and I had to get a new one. Here's how they look:

Have you bought anything on etsy recently?

Last Day of Sale + Craft Show

Today's the last day of my EtsyVeg Kickoff to Fall sale. My brown items are on sale today (to represent the leaves changing). Here's some items you can get 10% off on:

Little Golden Bark Tree Address Book




Altered Brown Digital 2009 Planner (which is on sale already, but you get in even reduced price with the Fall sale)



Mailing Package Box



Music Principles Journal



My mom's doing the Oak Park Arts on Harrison craft show in Oak Park, IL (a suburb of Chicago) for me this Saturday (September 12). I'm excited to see if anything will sell or how the whole show goes. I posted about it in the etsy forums and the show/my shop is mentioned in this blog. It's the same day as the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago (a larger craft show), but hopefully they'll be a good turn out. If you happen to be in the Chicago/Oak Park area, look for the Move the Needle booth!

Seeing Red

My sale continues today and tomorrow! I haven't got any sales yet, but maybe soon? To see info on how my sale works, read my shop announcement. Red items are on sale today. You can see all of them together here.

Red and Gold Anniversary Greeting Card



Red Ribbon Mini Journal



Red and Gold Marbled Journal



Roses are Red Box



Putting similar colors of my items together reminds me of making treasuries. Speaking of, my Red and Gold Marbled Journal was featured in this EtsyVeg treasury to help promote the EtsyVeg sale:



I forgot to mention I was promoting my sale in the Etsy forums and saw this giveaway people were having on Labor Day where they were giving away one free item in their shop. I thought it was generous and a nice thing to do. I picked up a Bath Bomb from Bathgasm's shop. I think I got the vanilla sugar scented. I just thought it'd be nice to get something like that for myself. I don't have a ton of lotion/bath type things in my house right now and I only like buying that type of stuff from etsy where it's organic/natural. For some reason, organic beauty products don't really work for me when I get them in the store, but I love the soaps and other things I find on etsy.

Worldwide Moment

There's this photography project called Worldwide Moment that I thought some people might be interested in. How it works is people from all around the world take a photograph at the same time and then upload it to their website. The idea is that we all celebrate a moment of peace together. It's also a lot of fun to see everyone's photos and what everyone was doing at the same time.

The moment happens this year at: 2009's Moment occurs when the time is Wednesday September 9, 2009 at 9:09AM in the +09GMT time zone, or 09.09.09+09GMT@09:09. (To see what time that is for you, click here, that's tonight!)

If you're interested check out:
Worldwide Moment Website
Their Twitter

It would help if you could retweet about them (use the #worldwidemoment in your tweet to help make it a trending topic), post about it on Facebook, etc. so we can get a lot of people participating. There's already a ton more people than last year. I posted some flyers (that you can get on their website) around my college campus.

I participated last year and this was my photo. I was at my grandma's house in Boston on vacation with my family and I was making this peppermint brownie thing (that actually didn't turn out that well, but I still ate it).



Btw, check out the logo on the Worldwide Moment website and see if you see anything familiar. ;) Let me know if you sign up.

Remember, there's a sale going on in my shop all this week. See last entry's post or my shop for details and check out the EtsyVeg blog.

Kickoff to Fall Sale

I'm having a sale in my shop all this week - Monday, September 7th through Friday, September 11th, as part of the EtsyVeg team's "Kick off to Fall" event to celebrate the start of Autumn and end of summer. The “Kick off to Fall" happens through Sunday for all EtsyVeg members so checkout the EtsyVeg blog to see what other specials members are having. Many products are vegan, cruelty-free, and eco-friendly.

How it works is in my shop is each day, a certain color of items will be on sale for 10% off. The different colors are supposed to represent the leaves changing colors. The schedule of colors on sale is:

Monday - Green
Tuesday - Yellow
Wednesday - Orange
Thursday - Red
Friday - Brown

So you're clear what items are on sale, there will be a new section each day (the first section in my shop) showing what items are on sale titled "Fall Sale (Color)". You don't have to enter anything at check out. I will send you a revised invoice with the sale price after you buy.

Hopefully this will encourage sales, but I also am doing it because it sounded like fun and I love the idea of having different colors on sale. Please check out my shop and help promote the sale.

Here's a list of all the members in the EtsyVeg team having a sale as part of this event:
aktie9
amefaust
auclairdelalune
chickscratch
CollarMeGorgeous
jackandjillsmom
jenoconnell
judysmosaicsupplies
loveluca
Karramandi
KneeDeepOriginals
krugsecologic
magglepie
midnightrabbits
movetheneedle*
ThisisBexx
pandawithcookie
silentlotus
TheAwesomestPossum
veganessa
vibrantmosaics

Happy Shopping!

Vegetarian Sale, Card & House

There's going to be a sale in my shop this week as part of the EtsyVeg Team. Each day, a new color of items will be on sale. Go to my shop for details. I'll have a longer entry about it in my blog tomorrow.

I listed this new card that's cow themed:

Cow Lovers' Greeting Card



Since it kind of fits with the vegetarian theme, I thought I'd show some photos from college and house on campus. I live in a Special Interest House near campus this year with three other girls and our theme is the "Vegetarian House". The special interest house just means the house has to have some name and focus. We're going to have special vegetarian dinners during the year and other events like that.

Edit: Sorry some of the photos might looked cut off. That's just because of the layout of my blog.

This is my room. There were only 3 bedrooms in the house so we made a 4th one that was originally a living room/dining room in to my room. It doesn't have any doors so I put these blue curtains up.









Here's the other side of the room with my drawers. I don't have a closet in here, but there's a lot of drawers, which is nice.



I put up the sweater painting I won in a giveaway right over the drawers where my clothes are. It's right by my mini sewing machine and these wooden cut outs that spell out my name that I've had for a while (I can't even remember where I got them).





I made a collage out of some of my photos from Italy. I picked up an application today for an art show downtown. I was thinking of submitting some of my photos from Italy for it.



I have two band posters up that are both autographed. I collect a bunch of autographed items, but I don't usually display them so I wanted to hang some up in my room.





I also bought a poster of a Monet painting on sale in the Campus Center. It's funny because I'm learning about Monet in an art history class, but I didn't know that until after I got the poster.



I also have this table with a crocheted banana I won in a giveaway, a cat photo frame with a picture of my cat in it and a plant I got which is supposed to bloom flowers right next to my bed.



My room's not completely finished - like I'm still planning to put a mirror somewhere and a bulletin board up, but I like how it looks.

This is the kitchen, in black and white. It's so nice to have a kitchen at college.



There's a brick oven in our backyard. Our house has a lot of quirks like that.



Our backyard is really beautiful. We have a porch out there and our yard is really big - bigger than my yard at home.



We're not technically supposed to have pets, but one of my housemate's brought her two cats and bunny.









This is a cat from the neighborhood that sometimes comes to visit us.

Autumn Items, College and Advertising

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I finally got my internet back. For some reason, you have to register on their system and I didn't type some number correctly when I signed up so it took a while for me to figure out why it wasn't working. I don't have all of my crafting stuff here yet so I haven't done a whole lot of etsy related things lately. I've been really busy with college though and getting used to everything.

My college classes are interesting sofar. I'm taking Rhetorical Criticism, Avant Garde Art History, Community Psychology, Painting and Figure Skating. Painting and Figure Skating will be the more fun ones, but I'm also excited for Community Psychology because I get to volunteer downtown as part of the class. I'm really excited about painting, especially since I haven't taken a painting class in over 5 years and I studied some painting in Italy. The painting supplies are so expensive though - it cost me like $130 to get everything. I also am excited they're offering Figure Skating, which seems like it won't feel like a class anyway.

I have been renewing my items and as soon as I get Photoshop back to edit photos, I will list new ones (I still have a bunch to list, especially cards). I also started an Autumn and Halloween section where I'm keeping items that are Halloween, Thanksgiving or autumn related like these:

Autumn Leaves Greeting Card



This card celebrates the start of Autumn so if you want to buy it, now's the perfect time. It says "The leaves are changing. Happy Autumn!" on the inside.

Halloween Bat Greeting Card



I've been getting a couple compliments on this card lately. I made it last year for Halloween using watercolor paint and bat stamps.

I realized I'm part of EtsyVeg's August "Dog Days" Challenge. They're doing a new thing where you can vote on your favorite item and the winner is featured on their site for a month. If you want to, click the link above and vote for me. I really appreciate it! :) The item is the Pawprints Fabric Greeting Card:



I got an etsy convo today from Fearless Radio, an online indie radio station, asking if I was interested in doing advertisting with them. They're pretty well known, since I've heard about them on the web before, and I'm looking for new advertising opportunities so I'm excited I got contacted. I just don't have a lot of money to spend on advertising so I hope it's not really high priced. I've never tried paid advertising, except on facebook.

Also, my mom is doing a craft show for me September 12th. I won't be there since it's in Chicago, but she's running everything for me. It's only the second show Move the Needle has done. Hopefully I'll make some sales or at least get the word out a little.

I originally wrote this post sort of doing a tour of my room/house at college with a bunch of photos, but I don't want to make this entry too long so I'll just post it as my next entry. Look out for that. :)