Standing Out on Etsy 101

Hey everybody, if you're an Etsy seller I want to point you in the direction of Olivebites. She has a three-part series that she posted this week all about how to standout on Etsy and I think the information in there is not only informative, insightful and intelligent, its also very inspirational and an easy read. (sorry for all the i's, I mean, I like alliteration and all hehe). So please head over and check out what she has to say, I learned all kinds of new things that I will start implementing in my shop!

Goals, Ideas and Hopes for 2010

Merry Eve of Christmas Eve to you all! This could potentially be my last post for the year (but who knows, I make no promises) and I wanted to let you know some of my goals, ideas and hopes for the next year concerning this blog and my shop.

In the shop:

• I want to bring more luxury knits, cashmere, silk, angora, etc
• I want to bring more patterns - since the patterns I have in there are doing so well I really want to bring more to the table.
• I want to bring better photos and descriptions

*Your turn: What do you suggest for my shop? Any items or materials in particular? A certain type of pattern you'd like to see? Anything you'd like NOT to change? Please help me out with this :)

For the blog:

• I want to engage my readers a bit more - I know you're out there, my analytics tell me that you read, but you don't comment so I need to figure out a better way to entice comments :)
• I want to interview some other bloggers or shop owners and perhaps do more giveaways (if you're interested, please let me know!)
• I want to know what you want to read - which features did you like that I tested out this year? The Monday Color? Tuesday Learn Something New Day? Friday Feature? Again, please let me know so I can bring you what you want to read :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season and that its filled with rest, relaxation, food, family and laughter :)

*and, as always, if you click on the pictures, it will take you to the item listing in the Etsy shop ;)

Worn Out

That's how I am right now. Busy busy Monday. It was stressful and crazy before even 10am. Then it was good 'cuz the mailman was extra nice today (you can see tomorrow hehe ;)) then it was crazy and stressful and long again because of classes and homeworks. Now I have to try to be productive to be successful tonight for the rest of the week but I just need a little bit of a break first.

Maybe a cup of tea...

A delicious muffin....

And a few minutes catching up on my favorite blogs :)

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Newspaper Boy Figurine from VintageJunqueRevival

The day is here! Finally the big news!

I will, starting the month of October, be offering advertising spaces on my left sidebar, above the ProjectWonderful space. I will begin by offering 150 x 150 spaces at $10 per month for the top two spaces above the fold which will rotate sporadically throughout the month and regular spaces at $5 per month which will also rotate sporadically.

Each shop that sponsors SillyLittleLady’s Spot on the Web will receive a featured post about their shop sometime during the month that they choose to sponsor.

If you would like to sponsor this blog, please check out all the information here.

September Goals

Hiya, I know I know, already a day into September and I'm behind! But anyways, here is my review of last month's goals and my new goals for this month:

August Goals

1) Continue blogging twice everyday -I think I did pretty well, there were a few days when classes got busy that I couldn't, but overall, a success :)

a. Monday Colors

b. Tuesday Learn Something New Day

c. Friday Feature

2) Contact at least three B&M shops to wholesale or consign - I contacted two, not three :( And well, maybe I should keep trying...

3) Finish custom orders - I finished them all! Even the few that came throughout the month :D
a. Dr. Who Scarf
b. Pink Runaways Beanie
c. Any others that come in throughout the month

4) List at least two new beanies in my shop - I did list two new beanies and have even more to list now but I am waiting for my mannequin head to come in the mail :)

5) Retake photos - yea, uh, this one still needs some work...


And now for my September goals!

1) Blog at least once a day - with Fall classes I won't have too much time but I am going to keep trying to blog twice a day but to keep the pressure off, I'll state my goal as at least once :)
2) Get 100 followers! I have 91 as of this moment in time and once I reach 100 I will have a pretty sizable giveaway to celebrate!
3) List at least 4 new beanies in shop - the beanies are already knit but just waiting for the mannequin head...
4) Prepare advertising slots and prices beginning the month of October (I will be offering advertising on my left sidebar over there <-------)

I think I'll keep the list at four, hopefully I'll reach them all and then in October you will only hear squeals of joy of completion of the list hehe

Yarn and Glue and a New Blog Banner

So this morning I was finally getting around to decorating the cover of my sketch and idea book.

I had this idea a few days ago and I finally had some time to get around to it! The hardest part about the whole thing was finding a glue stick...should probably keep some non-dried out ones on hand.

Anyways, here is the finished product! Or finished-ish. I will probably go in and either clean it up, add more or take some stuff off. But what do you think?

I also used it to help make a new banner for the blog, what do you think of that? Yes, no? Here's the old ones I was using:

Please let me know which ones you like best :)

Blog Banners

I've decided its time for my blog to have a "real" banner.

I created these two and don't know which one I should use, what do you think? The first or the second? Or would you switch the fonts? Or change the font colors? Or do something else entirely?

October Charity of the Month

So, October starts in a few days, and the time has come to pick a new charity to donate a portion of my profits to. September's charity was The Elephant Nature Park: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm and there are still a few days to help me contribute to that charity! 10% of all my profits will be donated to this fund :)

I have chosen to support the World Wildlife Fund (www.worldwildlife.org). I have a tshirt from this organization that I wear ALL THE TIME! My boyfriend can vouch, its the most comfortable tshirt on the planet and it gives this wonderful organization more exposure.

There are many different ways to help contribute to this Fund, so, if you feel so inclined, you can donate to them in any way you see fit, simply check out their website and choose a method that suits you :)

I hope you all had wonderful weekends and check out this amazing organization!