New Year , New Approach

Hi all

I'm going to take a new approach to my blog postings this year. Yeh !

Last year , the emphasis was on Etsy , the comings and goings , BNS's , BNR's , how to get on Front Pages , the Craft Britannia team and other European shops.  I have learnt loads about selling on Etsy in my 1st full year of selling and I hope you have too from my blog postings.

This year I want to concentrate on improving my skills , showing you what I have learnt crafting wise.

I also want to try out a new skill on you. I have a dreamt about being a writer for quite a number of years , and really I don't know whether I would be any good at it. I am not a very imaginative person , I won't be able to conjure up a romantic comedy or a spy thriller. I am not good with words , a lousy speller and my grammar is rubbish. But what I do have is lots of thoughts about life and the world brimming around in my head, things that I see or touch that I what get some understanding about. Feelings that I want to share with the world.  Would you mind very much if I share this with you?

If so , I'll start in a few days ! 

Craft Britannia Rules

Introducing the Craft Britannia team

The Craft Britannia team is a virtual team of Etsian's. We honestly support each other in all the trials and tribulations of crafting and selling our wares.

We use social media tools such as the forums within Etsy , Facebook, Twitter and Blogs to help promote each others crafts but more importantly to chat , have fun , eat lots of cake and generally enjoy ourselves. When that gets too boring then we critique each others shops , give advice on photo editing techniques , encourage treasury building , cheer when team treasuries get on the Front Page of Etsy and loads more.

 The shops on the right of this page are a sample of the shops in the Craft Britannia team.

Craft Britannia Blog  - If you want to read more or even join in the fun , then  take a read here.

Turning voting into a competition

For the past year or so I have been developing my designs of purses / bags and cushion covers , incorporating more of my woollen finds. I scour charity shops and pester friends. You even see me sat in a pub eyeing up a nice thick gorgeous cabled aran jumper as it walks in the door, thinking to myself if only they didn’t want that anymore, thinking what I could do with it.

Some of my creations I have sold on Etsy   TheFeminineTouch  

- the world wide hand made / vintage / supply selling site. Others are still there waiting to be snapped up

Now is the time , to move my creations onwards and upwards  as well as still using recycled materials in my work.

I recently came across the silouette cameo cameo which is a nifty little device that you plug into your PC like a printer. But here comes the clever bit, instead of printing it cuts , yes it slices into whatever material / paper you have in it’s way.   I’d always wanted to try my hand at appliqué some really intricate felt work on to my bags but I know that it impossible to cut the felt out with just a pair of scissors and get that really professional finish. So this piece of kit was brilliant. I could now start incorporating some arts and craft type designs into my work.

And then I heard of Enterprise Nation  http://www.enterprisenation.com/ who were offering small business the chance of some funding. Anything from £50 to £500 they would give to businesses to fund their “good ideas” as long as the business was prepared to share information with Enterprise Nation after the event. Late one night I compiled my “good idea” and 2 weeks later I got the news that my “good idea” had been accepted and that all I needed to do was to get current customers and potential customers to vote on my “good idea”. This is brilliant I thought , I’m being forced into promoting my shop and me in way that I would never have done otherwise.

Well done Enterprise Nation ! And so the promotion began ..……........................

But really , why would you do this for me? What’s in it for you?  Well here’s a secret......

If I get to the 290 votes , I plan to hold a little competition , something that will make me use my design skills , take ideas off a potential customer and create something unique using my new cutting tool. I plan to hold a draw taking all the names of people that have voted , popping them in to a hat and drawing out a winner. The winner will get one of my 1^st creations using the silouette cameo.

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Well how about that , interested ?  then here’s the voting link -  http://www.enterprisenation.com/funding-applications/thefemininetouch/ All you have to do is sign up with your email address and name & hit the vote button.

Please remember to leave comments (with email address) below to let me know you have voted or comments (with email address) on the web site itself.

And for those of you who have already voted (you know who you are), then just pop a comment here or email me – TheFeminineT@aol.co.uk and I’ll make sure you are in the draw too.

 

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