Category: marketing + promotions + selling

I've announced at my shop a Canada Day and Independence Day SALE:

15% off all items from July 1st to July 4th.

Also, some other Canadian Etsy sellers are having sales. Look through this Etsy forum post to see participating shops.

Category: marketing + promotions + selling

An announcement from the Trans Canada Etsy Team I belong to:



For complete information on how to participate:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5685889

I have donated a felted item for the goodie bag. Good Luck!

Category: shop updates

My very last bag with this dragonflies print on red. I have sold all the bags I made with it and I have no more of it. They don't stock it anymore at my local fabric store.



Lately, I have been noticing and looking at the work of the many independent textile designers. There's a lot of great stuff out there and I'd like to start using. If I do, it probably means raising prices of my bags as the independent, less mass produced work tends to be more expensive but very visually rewarding.

Category: shop updates

A few days ago I took a screen printing workshop at Blim. Here's the result -- before and after.


The original digital shot, was turned into ...


made using water based inks

I highly recommend taking a workshop there. There were only six of us and our instructor -- Caroline -- was great. She showed us how easy it can be to set up the whole process at home. You can also rent their facilities -- very affordable.

I have a large image bank from my days of being a photographer, so I'm really excited about re-using my photos in a new way. I'm thinking I might do some t-shirts as well as screen printed messenger bags.

And below is my latest update to the shop. I have used this beautiful Japanese print before but this time it is paired with a rick dark brown cotton twill fabric and is held up with a layer of batting which goes a long way in holding the bags shape.



And what about the previously mentioned totes? They're at a stand still.

Category: work in progress

Today is your last chance to enter the book giveaway at the Trans-Canada Etsy blog where I have written a review for The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run and Maintain Her Own Business.

If your not planning to enter and are a new business person, you might enjoy reading the 80+ comments (!!) on how many people chose their business name -- this was one of the questions to answer to enter the giveaway. And what a good question it was judging from the response!

You have until midnight Pacific Standard Time to enter. On Thursday, the next day, the winner will be announced.


New totes preview - work in progress

So most of the past week I've been over at the Trans-Canada Etsy blog keeping up with the comments, but I've also been working on some new shopping totes that I hope to upload to the shop before the week is over.

Category: shop updates



I've added two small pouch bags or hipster bags and a slightly different version of the yellow and red polka dots bag a la messenger style.

I only have one small piece left of the red dragonflies fabric and it's not available anymore. This fabric, paired up with the peppery tweed was well received, so I don't think this bags will be here long.

The rounded bottom with pleats is a new experiment. I wanted to try pleats for a while and I definitely see employing them more.

- round bottom pouch bag
- straight bottom pouch bag
- new polka dots messenger style bag

Please head on over to the Trans-Canada Etsy Team blog to read my review on "The Boss of You."

And there's a giveaway for the book there too. Deadline is Wednesday June 11, midnight, PST. (For US and Canadian residents only! Sorry international visitors)

Category: marketing + promotions + selling

Earlier in the year I was able get to get into Etsy's coop ad program with Bust Magazine. The spots for these ads get snapped up really fast, like in a few seconds, so you have to be prepared with the relevant page open in your browser and you have to refresh it every few seconds so that you are one of the first ones to click the "Buy" button.

I'm in the third row, far right, just look for the bag.


page 31 of the June / July 2008 Bust Magazine issue

So now it's time to measure ROI or return on investment. In other words is it worth advertising in Bust with Etsy? It's a little tricky to know which sales have come directly from the ad.

I'm tracking a few things for etsy but they won't accurately reveal if the ad is responsible for increased sales. Because yes, my sales have gone up but I think it's due to a few new things I've been doing, like relisting items 2 to 3 times a day (so that I appear on the first few pages of the relevant categories) and also my new bags, which incidentally are made of fabric and not wool or felted, are much more popular.

Things I am tracking are:
- advertised item: sales
- advertised item: views
- advertised item: new hears
- shop: new hearts
- shop: new sales

I started tracking 4 weeks before the ad came out and will track for 9 weeks after the ad appeared.

So, in case you are wondering, the bag is still available. Get a better look here.

Category: etsy makers

It's always nice to hear from happy customers. Today I received an email from the woman who bought the retro bag with orange fabric mentioned in my previous post, she said:



This was a semi-custom order. Oh, and that's Bozeman, in Montana.

The retro bag is available to purchase here.

Recently I bought this beautiful fabric from Danielle Smeets "of paper & thread". She is a West-Australian based designer.



And beautiful letter press notecards from Sunlit Letterpress of Vancouver.

Category: work in progress

I recently finished a customized version of this bag for a customer in the states.



The original version in a darker gray is still available in my etsy shop. I think it's a great summer bag (made of light cotton).

I only have a small leftover piece of this fabric, so maybe I'll make a coin purse out of it (although I have enough to make the front panel of the bag above)

I just tried my first coin purse as seen below and I can see doing more of these.



This week I'm working on another custom order! I didn't realize that custom orders can be fun to do. It's nice to work with people to get them something that works for them! I'll post the results in a week or two weeks.