Granny Square Blanket Number One

As I said in my last post I was going to start working on depleting my large supply of yarn. My first project was a sage green baby blanket. This blanket is made in a Granny Square pattern. I love granny squares because they are not only fast and easy but have a great pattern that is so much more interesting than straight rows.

I am very proud of myself for listing this item right away. I usually hang on to things and let them pile up till "I have more time"( my usual excuse). Finishing an item and listing it as soon as possible is the best way to make the most of my product. A product that sits around in my apartment not in my Etsy Shop is wasted product.

Here is the blanket:

One WHOLE Day Spent on Etsy

Due to my spend to pay the bills, I have to work somewhere other than Etsy. I wish I could spend all my time and efforts on my crocheting and photography but many factors are preventing me from doing so.

So I finally had a full day to do nothing but Etsy. As I have said before in previous blog posts, I pulled out of the gift shop that I had been selling in and as a result have a large amount of inventory that I needed to post on my shop. Yesterday I finally went through a great deal of it.

Here is a list of the links to the items that I added yesterday:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11928423
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11918736
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11917830
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11905465
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11904629
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11903682
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11902586
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11887029
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11886873

I think this is the most items I have posted in one day!

I also worked on my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aniemancrochet/. I haven't really done much with this site since starting but I figured out how to do certain things like add my photo's to group pages.

Also I put some more bids on ad space with Project Wonderful. I have definitely noticed my views increasing since I started using Project Wonderful. This is a site that if you put more money into your going to see more results. I will say though with my less than $5 a week budget I have been putting into it I think I have been getting my money's worth. I would definitely suggest this site to other Etsians.

As you can see I had a very productive day. OH! and almost forgot! I had my 1st international sale! The sale was to Japan. Despite the distance and not having a scale at home I did not under estimate my shipping. Having a good experience with selling international makes me more confident about doing it again.

The only thing I did not do yesterday was blog! Ha!
Thanks for reading!
Have a Nice Day!

Selling my Photography as Supplies

Recently I asked for some critiques through the forums of my A. Nieman Photography shop. Someone brought up the fact that some of my statements in my shop policies were unclear. They also poised the question, what if an etsy seller would like to use my art work in theirs.

Here's the answer: I would love to have some use my photographs in their own art work etc. The only thing I ask is that there is full disclosure on where they purchased the photograph. By this I mean that I am given credit within the listing, stating that the artwork used in the item was taken by myself.

I don't think that that is too much to ask. A link to my shop would be appreciated. I would also love to work with the seller and promote them here on my blog. I feel that if they would like to use my photos that it is not only a way for them to promote my shop but for me to promote them. It would be a thank you for their purchase and honesty.

I'm going to start adding the tag of supply to my digital photos for this reason. I think it should give me more exposure and maybe help spark sellers imaginations for the use of my art. My aim is to become a great resource for crafters!

Here are some of my latest additions:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11840912



http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11758830



http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11531360

Thank you and Have a Nice Day!!!

Lost of new stuff!

The past couple of days I have been vigorously adding my craft shop items to my etsy shop. I am up to 33 items in my shop and have quite a few more to add. It is a slow process because I only have a couple of hours a day after I get home from work.

Today though, I was off and was able to post more. Here are their links:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11833516
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11832354
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11831593
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11822877
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11759877

I would love to get some feedback. I took some more up-close shots and put some of my items on a grey background.

Have a Nice Day!!!

Good Bye Gift Shoppe

I have been renting a booth at The River City Gift Shoppe in Copley, Ohio for the past 6 months and have found it less than profitable. I have decided that I cannot afford to pay rent for something that is not proving to be beneficial to my business. I thought that maybe I would have more luck if people could seem my items in person but that was not the case.

I think it doesn't help that the economy is not the greatest. Even at Dillard's I am seeing the affects. We are the slowest we have ever been during an extra 30% off sale. Usually we have quite a bit of traffic in the store during this sale but that has not been the case this time.

I hope that taking everything out of the gift shop and putting it online I will be able to make up for the loss in profit. I at least want to break even this summer. I have quite a bit of small items in the shop and will probably be adding a couple of pages to my Etsy shop. It's going to be a lot of work getting all of these things online but I think it will be better then having them sit in a booth.

I should be adding the pictures to my blog as I post them on the site. I'm doing a lot more advertising now and marketing. I am really putting some effort into this. Even more than before. I think not only is my business maturing but I am as well.

Some new Stuff on Etsy

This past week I took a bunch of items out of my booth at the gift shop to make room for some new items. These items I think were either too big for the shop or I priced them too high to begin with. They now have new prices and great pictures, that I think will help them sell.

I have posted four so far in my shop, a red and green throw, a trivet, a set of coasters, and a green and white afghan. They are all pictured in this post.

I am planning on removing items from my booth at the end of each season. I will lower the prices and post them on Etsy. This will hopefully decrease my inventory as well as promote online sales.

I am also going to take some business classes. The University of Akron offers some continuing education classes. There are a bunch I would love to take but I think I am going to start with How to Start Your Own Business. I think It will help me with my crocheting and Photography as well as my Interior Design.

Getting rid of inventory

Today I am going through all the itrems I have in my inventory and repricing and reposting them on Etsy. I was actually surprised by how much stuff I had on hand that was not listed. So over the next couple days I will be listing like crazy until everything is up and running.

I will be lowering all prices as I relist. So you will be getting some great deals.

Please check out the site: http://www.aniemancrochet.etsy.com/ !

Also I would love to get feed back, good and bad! I would love to know what i should make more of or stop making all together.

Thanks for your help, in advance!

Re-Listed Items

Hello everyone,

A bunch of my listings are expiring left and right. I have been trying to pick and choose which items to re-list and which to save to send to a craft fair. Slowly I am relisting them. I invite you to take a look at my items in my etsy shop and give me some feed back or buy something!

Also ALL of my items can be custom ordered! Just email me or convo me via etsy and I will work with you through the whole process. Also if you find an item in a magazine and would love to see if I can make it, I would be happy to takle a look! I invite you to send pictures and patterns for me to make.

Thank you so much for reading my blog. I really appreciate your time!

Baby Blanket

I'm very poud of this baby blanket. It is my first time making a blanket from the granny square stitch. I have made granny squares but have never made a whole blanket with the stitch. This yarn is great too. I found it on sale at Joanns. Its the Lion Brand 100% Premium Acrylic which I thought was a great find; perfect for a childs blanket. It is soft and machine washable.

Please leave me some feed back on it as well as my other items!

Blue and White Baby Blanket

New Item

I just posted a new item this morning in my shop! It is a hunter green bookmark. I plan on making more of them becasue they are easy and inexpensive! Heres the link and a picture!

HUNTER GREEN CROCHET BOOKMARK

I hope to have more items up soon!