Creative Womens' Collective and us

Not sure if I ever mentioned my involvement with Creative Women's Collective, so here is a perfect opportunity. Some time last year, I signed up via Meetup to be a member of the CWC. It seemed like a good match, since the women in the group seemed like a serious bunch, and were in a similar stage in life to me. And they were conveniently located in Glen Ridge, 5 minute drive from my house.

My hunch was very good. I met some amazing people, learned so many new things, received great feedback on my product and direction... All in all, too many benefits to count. Why do I mention this now? Well, we had a very good meeting last night, and I just thought I share.

If you are an artisan and crafter in the area, join us.

Etsy Shop and the "heart" count

If you are not an Etsy user, here's a brief explanation: when a registered Etsy user marks your shop as one of his/hers favorites, you get a heart. It's sort of a popularity contest, and the more hearts you get, more your ratings go up, more the administrators notice you, more they write about you, and more people visit your shop, which hopefully results in increased sales.

So, as you can imagine, everyone is in pursuit of hearts. Except for us. Don't want to sound ostentatious, but we were kind of busy making and trying to sell our products these last few months, which makes this a really great achievement. Etsy is not our only sales platform, so the fact that people are finding us without much effort on our part is great.

Just wanted to thank everyone who gave us a "heart". We really appreciate it.

CT, here we come!

Just got our Sales and Use Tax Permit from the State of Connecticut. Thanks!

It took the longest of all, and we had to pay for it. Oh, well...

Now, we are ready to apply for the Connecticut shows. Look for us possibly in Hartford and Guilford.

The {NewNew} Etsy Team

Very happy to report that we have been invited and have accepted a membership at The {NewNew} Etsy Team, a group of independent handmade Etsy artists, designers, makers and crafters in the Metro New York area who are devoted to fostering a creative and supportive environment among its members.

To see more about, please visit the team website.

We did it, we did it!

We actually managed to set up the tent in this weather and lived to tell. And the kids helped, believe it or not. Well, for about 30 seconds, and then they decided to hop inside the playpen and play in there. And, honestly, that was the best, because we didn't have to worry about them running down the hill and into the street.

Here are some "behind the scenes" shots I thought you might appreciate. The neighbors were really freaked out with this blue thing sitting on our front lawn.



Because it was so windy, we used bungee cords and spring clamps to hold the curtains down. The 2 extra feet of fabric I was lamenting from the day they were made actually came it really handy, as I was able to pack the snow over it to keep the curtains from flying all over the place.



I am sure none of these techniques are unfamiliar to the craft fair veterans, but this is all new to me. And the muddy curtains... Oy, more laundry.

Almost a week...

Since I embarked on a mission to take a "booth shot" of my show tent. Yesterday we tried to do it inside the studio, but the ceiling was too low. And when we opened the tent, we realized the studio is not as large as we originally thought, either.

So, we are taking the whole production outside today, when the kids go to sleep, if they go to sleep. Oh, don't get me started on that one.

It should be interesting, well, with all the snow outside. [sigh]

Etsy Shop

I just spent two and a half hours updating the listings in the Etsy Shop. Listings that I thought were near perfect. Which goes to show you that nothing is as good as you think it is. This might sound too critical at first, but I really don't believe that. It helps to keep you from getting into a lull and also catch those pesky spelling errors that MS Word can't detect. For example, some of the listings were reading "springs of lavender", where there should be "sprigs of lavender." Happy Valentine's Day to me.

So, I am now scheduling these in my calendar, and instead of 6 months between readings, I think it's going to be more like 6 weeks.

As always, suggestions are welcome.