Hi Everyone!!!!

We super excited about the Renegade Craft Fair in Austin, TX next weekend that our company Make Shop Live will be in attendance.  For us, it is big and exciting because it is our first trip out for a craft fair. Are there team members in Austin that are showing??? Please if you live in the area come out and say hi!

I am not sure what some of your summer plans may include, but I would kill to hear the inner workings of any and all craft/ independent design shows. Seriously,  I want to hear the wide spectrum of "happenings" of anything from celebrity sightings to artists in competition feeling ripped-off.  Come on- there is something.  A customer gave you the most wonderfully stated compliment ever... this stuff is fantastic!

We have been regrouping from Unique LA which all ways keeps us busy! And has us full of ideas to include for next weekend.
Check out the show here or our post at http://makeshoplive.blogspot.com/2011/05/unique-la-highlights-and-pictures.html.

Our new cards really emphasize the SCAD+Etsy=Love Team, and we have geared more marketing towards Etsy in hopes that it brings customers into our Etsy shop & hopefully Everyone else too ;)

I have been behind on the blog posts for the team :( But I have kinda been searching for something I felt passionate about writing.  I was hoping to do a wrap up of so show info/ marketing trends I see here and I think it would be really great if it could be so much more...

Now that we are getting bigger as a team, I am sure a ton of you all are out dealing with all types of sales and I want to know what everyone is up to??? Any tips you figured out?  Did you nail a display that is so awesome you will burst at the seams to share with everyone??? I want to know, and I am sure so does everyone else!  We are all up to amazing things these days I think we should have a call for entries. What ever you you have that you think can relate to this topic: please shoot an e-mail with details HERE by June 13th.

Maybe a campaign can be assessed for creating a bigger buzz for the team too- Just a pre-holidays thought... I know it seems soon but I am starting early!

Hope everyone is doing well and making some amazing things- and $$ too ;)
XO,
KC

Here are more details for people in Austin who want to attend the Renegade Craft Fair

 If you come buy and say hi, we will share a 15% discount to fellow SCAD-sters :) Booth #162

Hi guys! I thought today I would pop in and send productive vibes everyone's way ;)

Hope everyone is selling and enjoying themselves!!!

Please drop in and say hi or talk about anything on the discussion board. 

Etsy Apps To Check Out

Hi everyone!  Hope everyone is having an awesome start to Spring and that you are ready for April.  This year is flying by so quickly!!!   With life flying by I am always on the hunt for gadgets and tricks that cut time or organize things.

 The Favoritizer by ericj on Etsy is one of the best ways to keep my favorite shops and items organized.  Now that the group is getting bigger this app is super helpful because you can make a SCAD + Etsy = LOVE folder to keep track of all the team members. From there you can group/ access team members shops easy!  Once you set up all the folders for however you want to organize your favorites it is way easier to go threw all the items easier than scrolling across your list.

Check it out and see how easy it is to organize your favorite Etsy Shops and Items ;)

Best,

KC

Moo to the Rescue

We had a discussion on Team Board a little while back about a promo Moo was running, and I thought I would share how we've found this product to be a wonderful way to highlight your brands.

Click this link to score 50 Business Cards for FREE all you have to do is pay shipping.

I almost like the free ones with the visit my shop on Etsy and Moo watermark on the bottom better than the full price version!  The banner on the bottom automatically sparks a conversation about our shop every time we pull out these cards. We made an assortment but focused a bunch of these with our picture to give to friends and family.  These cards are a great way to highlight your merchandise or illustrations but don't forget sometimes people like to see pictures of you too ;)

One of my favorite products they have are their sticker books.  We made some assorted stickers that help put that finishing touch on all of our Etsy orders :) The stickers are 1" and make perfect closures to products and gifts to highlight your logo or message.

We have been thinking of purchasing some of the new post cards now that you can make them with double-sided prints... They were originally only available with one image and a selection of pre-made backs to chose from.  Their print quality and the weight of their cards are so nice I am sure the post cards are awesome.  I'll have to let you know when we place our next order and try them out.  If you want to get either the postcards or the stickers they are running a free shipping promotion with the code YAYSTICKIT

Member Profile: Blake Roberts

Greetings! My name is Blake Roberts. I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and earned my Bachelor of Arts in Illustration at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia. Since graduating, I've worked on both the east and west coast creating custom works that have sold nationally and internationally. Since 2009, I've been selling prints and greeting cards through my store, The Painted Peep Show. Recently, I was accepted into the Society of Illustrators in NY. I'm currently living in Brooklyn, New York and work out of my kitchen/studio.

 The Painted Peep Show began through a series of sketches, which upon first glance appear sweet enough to be featured in a children's book, but have a humor dark enough for the older crowd to enjoy. I enjoy creating images for children of all ages.

The Painted Peep Show is a proud member of the Etsy Greetings (etsygreetingsteam) and Men of Etsy (MoE) teams.

SCAD+ ETSY=LOVE Thursday Finds

Howdy Y'all! Hope this week is panning out nice for everyone.  The weather is finally nice here and it is making me want to run from my studio and soak up some vitamin D.

Incase you may have missed some team updates here are some important things to check out:

SCAD on Etsy- Shout out in the District

Team Tags need to be changed from "SCAD" to "SCAD Team"

(please also change: "I am a proud member of TEAM SCAD + ETSY = LOVE. Please enter SCAD Team into the etsy search to find my fellow team members.")

There are good discussions happening on our discussion board... Please check them out and add your input here.

New Treasury Picks Below-

Happy Crafting!

XOXO,

KC

Tips for Etsy: Avatars and Shop Banners

We have been so happy to see the SCAD + ETSY = LOVE Team applications flooding in!  I wanted to say a quick hello from Laurel and I to all our new members :)

The beauty of being in a team is having helpful incites from your fellow team members to constantly evolve and tweak your shop so that not only you will increase business, but also to bring other team members exposure on Etsy as well.  Now more than ever there are so many things to shift threw online that it can be a very exhausting process seeing everything.  While we want our team to not be too labor intensive for those of you on  a busy schedule, I do want to point out that for some of your fellow teammates their shop may already be the prime focus for showcasing their business.  By having some shops empty or without an avatar/ shop banner it lowers the standards for the overall group.  Here are some helpful (and quick) tips to get your shop appearance set and up and ready for business:

Standard Info for Banners and Avatars

For your Avatar/ Profile Picture:

You can use image editing software (for example: Adobe Photoshop or GIMP) to tweak a photo you've taken.
You will need to crop or re size your image to be a small square, 75 x 75 pixels in size at 72 dpi resolution. The file should be one of these formats: .jpg, .gif or .png.

For your Banner graphic at the top of your Shop:
Make sure you have your properly sized image saved on your computer. Your banner should be 760 x 100 pixels at 72 dpi. Banner images must be .jpg, .png or .gif file format.

To upload your banner image to your Etsy shop, go to Your Account > Info & Appearance. Click the Browse button to locate the file on your computer, then click the Save button at the bottom of the page. Your new banner will show up in your shop momentarily.

Make a Quick Banner HERE on Etsy's Banner Generator

Etsy Resources- Pre-made Badges

Etsy Resources- Pre-made Banners and Avatars

Here is a post from Etsy on Making a personalized shop banner in Photoshop

Wanna get a graphic designer to make a super sweet one for you?!? 

For Under $10 You can get a custom made avatar and shop banner from a fellow Etsian-

Modern/ Fashion

Simple/ Modern

A little bit pricier, but includes everything you would ever need- 

Full Packages with Vacation, Sale, even a custom reserved listing place holder!

I have created a fun picture for an Avatar you can click and download here:

Feel Free to promote your shop and our Team using this 

"Solid Gold" avatar or Etsy Flag picture ©Make Shop Live-

 

 

Team Treasury, Wrapping up February

SO EXCITED WE HAVE 50 MEMBERS NOW! Yay!!! As we grow as a team and strengthen our online community, I truly believe we are all going to do awesome things together!  How exciting to work with each other while building and defining all of our creative endeavors- Thanks to SCAD for all of these talented artists to work with :) 


I can't believe we are wrapping up February already!  FYI: I am not sure the details about business taxes in other states, but in CA business taxes are due by MONDAY.  Please double check over the weekend and make sure you have your ducks in a row.

Here are some new Team Treasuries highlighting some of the talented folks from SCAD on our Etsy Team.  You can see all of our new members listed here on Etsy to shop from or you can enter "SCAD" into the search field to find a collection from all of our members.

My Treasury Picks for the week-


Best of luck for everyone this weekend!
XOXO,
KC

Member Profile: Erica Regelin

 

 

My main focus is paintings and drawings (usually made into cards, gift tags, bookmarks, etc) and wallets and checkbook covers made from recycled magazines, newspapers, tissue paper, etc. I spend a lot of time working on my watercolor paintings, it can take me twenty hours to finish a painting! But I enjoy every moment (well, for the most part) and think it's worth it. Once they're finished I scan the painting and print it as a card, tag, or whatever else I'm in the mood for. The wallets and checkbook covers are made by spending countless hours looking through magazines (usually with a helper) to find images we think could work as either. Then theyre all cut out, poked and prodded, smushed and pressed, and then sewn into a final piece. Each wallet and checkbook cover have two pockets, stretch a bit to hold more things and can be made so theyre security safe (as in, no one can read your credit cards with a machine through the wallet). I'm also hoping to branch off into other things, as inspiration hits, like handmade books!

Right now a theme of mine is 'Horse Butts' so if you see a painting on a card or other object and you're not sure what it is, that's probably what it is! As many of us know, owning a pet can be life's greatest joys and well, honestly, you'll do a lot of things for an animal you wouldn't even consider doing for a human. As a pet owner (or guardian or friend or mommy/daddy) we love EVERY part of our pet/daughter/son/friend, including their butts. Who doesn't like a cute little animal butt? The only difference is.. horse butts are pretty big! But still super cute!! So I took the shape of a horse butt and made it into a heart thus showing my horse butt love. (I really hope you're still with me here and that I didn't scare off too many of you.. we all love our pets, some just aren't as vocal about it as me!)

Another theme is cupcakes, cakes, or desserts of any kind. I LOVE baking, I cannot even express this to you enough. I hate cooking but if it has sugar or tastes super dessert-delicious.. I'm up for it. I'll spend hours working on it, making my kitchen dirty, myself dirty and maybe even crying a little just for that moment of simple pleasure of eating a dessert. (Thankfully my boyfriend is a good guy who loves to eat dessert too!) But uh, back on topic, so why not paint what I love to make? I took a course in school all about painting food and it changed my life forever, in a way of putting it I 'saw the light!' I'm slowly building up my collection of food related paintings, I take great pleasure and pains to make sure each one is beautiful when it's done since its such a huge passion of mine so not as many of those are ready for the site yet, but soon!

I'm also up to doing custom work! Wallets and checkbook covers can be made with your logo or other personal images (some I cannot use because of copyright infringement, if you're unsure whether your image is copyright infringement please don't hesitate to contact me and we can discuss if it is and what other options you have!) cards can be made with personal tag lines or insides, and countless other things I'm sure I'm just not thinking of. Contact me if you have any ideas (even if they don't fit into what I've written here, I'm always up for a challenge, especially artistically!).

Hope to hear from you soon! (Especially if you're buying!)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/redbowillustration

Tips for Etsy: Treasury Widgets

Hello Team Members!

Laurel and I have been having so much fun working on the Team and I am so happy to see the growth in membership!!! We have created this blog to promote and help our team members with their Etsy business and I am going to help with a section featuring tips and tricks to maximize your time on Etsy and within the team.

Some useful sites to bookmark are:

CRAFTOPOLIS: http://www.craftopolis.com/  

This site is sooooo helpful and you would be a fool not to bookmark it!  It sets up a calender that shows on each day how many people visit your shop, if you receive a heart(s), and how much money you made daily/ monthly! 

The best feature here for saving time when updating your shop is "Edit Express" where you can  edit price, title, description, and quantity on items in minutes.

Etsy On Sale: http://www.etsyonsale.com/sellers

This site is useful to batch organize your items for sales and it very easy to even set up sales in advance.  You can even use it to change the tags on your items if you haven't tagged SCAD yet ;)

My absolutely favorite site for Etsy users is Craft Cult! http://www.craftcult.com/heartomatic.php

You can see who hearts your items and shows helpful charts that you can use along with your analytics to maximize and analyze your sales.  If you haven't set up analytics in any of your sites- No worries! This helpful site gives you all the information you need :)

Here is my latest Treasury Selection for the Team.  If you haven't tagged your items with "SCAD" you are missing out on an opportunity to get exposure in our treasuries and features,  Please make sure you tag your items as well as put the following text in your shop profile: "I am a proud member of TEAM SCAD + ETSY = LOVE.

The above treasury widget can be created on Craft Cult as well and it is super easy to create!

http://www.craftcult.com/treasury_widget.php?userid=

These widgets are perfect for including on your blog or site promoting your Treasuries and Team.

You can also make a super awesome Shop Widget here too, and we are hoping for a similar one on this blog each month featuring one of our Team Member's Shop :)

Hope this can help!
XOXO,
KC Cooper Sears