Handmade The Hippie Way :)

Well I haven't posted since October, I think the blog got lost somewhere along the way. The shop has come a long way in the last 7 months, suffering the lows and reaping the benefits of the high moments. I had 5 sales in October, 3 in November, 2 in December, 4 in January, 5 in February, 1 in March and not one since then. Safe to say, I started feeling the dark clouds coming and really was beginning to feel discouraged.

Life has definitely become busy, and hasn't allowed me to spend the time with my shop that I would like to. I figured that was the reason sales tanked, views tanked, everything tanked. I thought for sure my lack of twittering, facebooking, promoting etc. probably had alot to do with it, until I was reading through our team thread this month. My long time friend and fellow D Lister Mishelle (PinkyCrafts made a post about SEO/google and it's relation to your shop intro. In order for google to pick up your shop you need to have a quick description of whats in your shop in the first couple of sentences. That way when people do a search on google it'll pick up your shop. For instance, I googled "crochet kitchen towels" and on google shopping one of my listings showed up as #6 on the first page :) *giddy* safe to say I was really happy. Alot of times people pay good money to get in the higher rankings of search engines, I have not spent a dime on advertising other than business cards. Til this point it's been through free social media, word of mouth, and repeat buyers.

So the biggest point being that a basic change such as re-doing my shop intro boosted my traffic and views :) Believe it or not the smallest things can have the biggest impact on your shop, not to mention life in general! I'm hoping to be listing some new stuff here soon pending the weather and wind cooperate LOL

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Ok so beyond heading up the D lister squad i'm also a member of the create crochet team. This month they are doing a swap, I of course excited about the idea of trading items with someone else! It just so happens that my swap partner Mamta is from India which makes it even more exciting. It just blows my mind that something I made with my two hands will be going all the way to India for someone to enjoy :) I've been trying my hand at some new methods of crochet and even trying to read patterns. Both of which i've not tried before, so I was a little nervous at first. I couldn't really figure out what to make for her, I looked at many different patterns and of course I needed to do something that would be rather easy due to my lack of skill. I decided on a purse, it's cute, practical and something that almost every woman uses. This one can be used as a clutch by tucking the short strap I attached inside the bag itself. The one thing I think that excited me the most beyond trying something new was using some eco friendly yarn. 20% of the skein is post consumer recycled bottles, appx 6 bottles were saved in this yarn! There goes my inner hippie :) Besides that it's crazy soft and I used two extremely beautiful shades of purple. When I finished the purse I was very excited to see the final product and want to share it with everyone! So good job on my first try at a crochet purse!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

So I finally got around to posting my coffee lovers gift basket and i'm really happy with the way it turned out. I've been contemplating different ways to make the basket with different items for the upcoming christmas season. I'm also really excited about the thought of getting a new sewing machine so I can really step up my towel game by making sports team related items. I'm also considering doing "grill sets" where it'll be an apron with a team patch, two matching towels and some sort of hot pad/oven mitt type combination.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I know i'm a little late on changing this, i'm also hugely behind on blogging lately. It's been really hard for me to sit down and get things done lately :-/ Ok so anyways this weeks featured Etsian is L M Turned Art. I really like their stuff, and the coolest thing about their items is that alot of it is made out of local woods :) It's a husband and wife team which I think is great, He makes the items and she runs the shop. I've had the opportunity to look through the shop a few times and really enjoy the natural materials, colors and beautiful pieces that they have. I particularly like this piece and want to eventually buy one to keep some of my jewelry in, Covered Bowl. Check out their shop if you really enjoy natural woods and beautiful wood colors :)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

So i've been reading other very well known blogs and there's one thing they all have in common, they provide good information and good resources. I feel that at this point that's one thing my blog is lacking. I need to start posting how-to's, links, and giving more information beyond just talking about what i'm doing on a regular basis. I also need to keep up with doing a daily blog instead of just doing it when I remember. That's where my dailies spreadsheet comes in. I finally sat down and organized what I need to do on a daily basis and set it up in a checklist type format. Today is the first day that i've put it to use and so far I think it's really helping. I do need to work on items for the shop today like my crochet edged washcloths, I think those are going to be really great :) I'm going to sit down and research some stuff tonight after my kids go to bed and hopefully will have some good info for the blog tomorrow. I'm also going to try to work on a video possibly showing how to do something...who knows.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

So after reading through the discussion on the message board I realize I need to set up a more organized way of tracking my activity on a daily basis. I know that some things get more attention than others and even some get left in the dust and forgotten. So today my first goal is to build a spreadsheet that I can use as a checklist for my day to day activities. I realize that I have alot to do and need to manage my time in a more finite way. I think that it would help me alot if I had a more established outline. Besides, what's wrong with a little organization? LOL First i'll write it down to make sure that I include everything that needs to be done, revise and then finalize. I may forget things...that's how I roll LOL but i'm sure everything will end up together in one space. Today is a busy day, I need to go to the grocery store too at some point today to pick up a few things, I also need to mail out my weekend orders. Ack. On a very positive note I received positive feedback on my 3rd sale today :) Hopefully #4 will be soon and 5 and 6 will come once the package i'm mailing today is received, should only be a couple of days since it's going to Tucson AZ :) I'm still a tad frustrated with the person that bought my first two sets, still no feedback from her :-/ that's rank. Anyways, off to do what needs to be done! I should have my washcloth flower pots posted by tomorrow!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

So I made my 5th and 6th sales to a high school friend of mine! She loved my stuff and said she was very impressed. She also mentioned that she will be purchasing some items for her mom, whom I also know very well. So i'm super happy that both of them will be enjoying a few of my wares :)

I'm currently working on my washcloth flower pots, so far i'm pretty happy with the way they're looking and am hoping to complete the process in the next couple of days.

I also am featuring another D Lister as my Etsian of the Week, this weeks member is Fiberpuppy her stuff is crazy awesome and very unique! I really heart her cat hats and scarves LOL

• 
• 
• 
• 
•