The Most Important Part of Your Creative Business Make Time Square Tile Magnet by: 26MileStones Have you guessed it already? The most important part of your business is YOU! Are you taking care of yourself properly? As I type this, I have to pause every few minutes and squeeze my left shoulder to try to bring some relief to what I think is a pinched nerve, caused by all of the sitting and typing and browsing and sewing I’ve been doing. Confession is good for the soul, right? It’s not that I don’t have the time to work out. The truth is that I am my own worse enemy! And I just started a new blog, which I’m so excited about that I’m neglecting my housework EVEN MORE than I was before. Loads of laundry are whirring in the background as I type this. Don’t worry! Quote for the day: work smarter, not harder! Still sitting there? See the original “The Most Important Part of Your Business” here. Like this: Like Loading...
s Guide to Photography :: Etsy Blog Beautiful, warm, crisp photos are key to selling your work on Etsy. Your photos need to convey not only the shape, size, color and texture of the work you are offering, but also the style and feeling behind your brand. There’s a lot to consider, and I always say product photography should be a continual process — no photo is ever perfect. I’ve put together a guide of the best articles on and off Etsy for you to study to help your product photography skills grow! Setting up the Shot The Best of the Etsy Blog… Etsy Success: Product Photography for Beginners Learn to take beautiful photos with this video hosted by successful seller MiniatureRhino. Give Props: How to Style Your Photos Styling is a tool with unlimited possibilities. The Best of the Blogosphere… DIY Light Box Make shows you how to quickly create a light box for under $20. The Case for Adding Human Models Meredith convinces you to use human models and gives you ideas on how to find them. Product Photography Tips
Faux Painted Oxfords DIY I’m really digging the whole oxford trend right now. Maybe it is because my mom was rocking the androgynous look way before it was cool or because I love Diane Keaton, but I’ve always had a thing for women wearing men’s apparel and making it feminine and beautiful. My favorite pair of oxfords I have are men’s solid tan suede and so cute but I’m crushing on all of the super cute two toned oxfords like these and these. Since those suckers are so far out of the budget I decided to make my own out of a pair of cheap tennis shoes. I’ll be rocking my new kicks while saving up for the oxfords of my dreams! Want to make your own faux painted oxfords? White Tennis ShoesWater Soluble Fabric Marking PenFabric Paint OR Acrylic Paint + Fabric MediumPaint Brushes, Small and Medium SizedWet Rag Step 1: Purchase cheap white tennis shoes. Step 2: Use a water soluble fabric marking pen to draw out the oxford design on your shoes. To get some ideas, do a Google image search for “oxford shoes”.
10 great places to sell your design work online | Career Whatever kind of design job you have, the time comes when you ask yourself: "why am I working for a boss when I could sell design work I've created directly to the public?" There are loads of ways to make money from your talents, and it's simpler than ever to sell design work online. You no longer have to invest huge amounts of time and money building your own online store: there are many existing ecommerce websites which will allow you to reach a wider market and sell your products. So whether you're looking to publish a book, create your own T-shirts, or sell a series of art prints, the following sites offer a tried and tested way to make the most of your design work and start generating an income from it... 01. Art Web is an ecommerce site that specialises in selling art online to buyers around the world. 02. Bouf brings together creatives, artists and designers who create unique products to sell their works to consumers who are bored of the mass-produced items on the high street. 03.
How-to Place a Button On Your Blog So, you have seen the beautiful squares on blog sidebars with the unreadable HTML code underneath and have read the blog authors’ words encouraging you to GRAB THEIR BUTTON! But how can you do that? Here is an easy and fast step-by-step tutorial which will help you show the things that are important to you and strengthen your social contacts in Blog World. HTML is the backbone of every blog and website, it lies behind each color, photo or any element you can think of on your blog. But thanks to blogging platforms such as Blogger, you don’t need to know what that is in order to use it! Now, imagine you are taking part in a Blog Hop which requires you to publish the badge for the period of the blog hop, or you want to host some blogger’s button on your page. you can do this in 10 easy steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Like this: Like Loading...
How to Identify Your Ideal Customer by April English Photo by Elsita (Elsa Mora) on Flickr From my last guest post on Imaginative Bloom – Why You Need an Ideal Customer Profile – I hope you realized how important it is to identify your ideal customer. Now, I’m going to tell you how to do it. Remember that Your Ideal Customer Lights You Up You can start to narrow down your ideal customer by knowing who isn’t your ideal customer. What customer experiences have lit you up? Physical Characteristics Now, I want you to close your eyes and imagine your ideal customer. Some people get stuck writing out a physical description, because they have clients that look completely different. Employment Characteristics In the next paragraph, describe your ideal customer’s employment status. Where does she work? This information can help you determine price points on your products and services, and it can help you better understand what characteristics you should target in your marketing. Emotional Characteristics What does she love to do? Italiano
Toilet Paper Roll Wall Art Well that’s a mouthful! So the time has come, it’s Pinterest Challenge time again! Every season Sherry from YHL and Katie from Bower Power throw a little link party to get people to stop pinning things and actually start making. This was the image I saw that sparked me to start saving my toilet paper rolls. I literally have been saving my rolls for. ever. Here’s what my toilet paper wall art turned into! Ok let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Next, I cut them up. Then, I took 4 pieces and glued them together using a hot glue gun. I continued doing this until I had about 40. Then I took the mirror I was going to use (10″ mirror purchased at Joann’s for $8) and placed it on the floor and started adding all the circles around keeping in mind that I wanted to keep it in a circle. At this point when I looked at it I felt it resembled a snowflake so I had to figure out how to completely round it out. Once everything was attached I used command strips on the back of the mirror and hung it up!
the middle finger project » Key to Money-Makin’ Bliss: Don’t Just Sell Your Stuff. STRUT Your Stuff. We need to talk. (Did you just cringe a little?) Don’t worry. I’m not breaking up with you. What we need to talk about are your selling strategies. One of them in particular. Scenario 1 :: You decide to create a new service that you’re really excited about offering to the world, so you plot out the details, spend a few hours making the best sales page you can make, sit back with your cup of hot cocoa…and then hit publish. You hope someone sees it, and hires you. When they don’t, you get frustrated and down on yourself, and you can’t figure out what went wrong. Scenario 2 :: You decide to write that eBook you’ve been itching to get out of your system, so you come up with an outline, and then spend weeks and weeks, or maybe months and months writing the best damn eBook you can possibly write…and then hit publish. And you hope someone sees it, and purchases it. When they don’t, you get frustrated and down on yourself, and you can’t figure out what went wrong. Scenario 3 What’s that? Okay. However.
Studio Quality Product Photography With a $12 Set Up: Guest Post from Via U Photography Blog I took this picture of a bottle of Anderson Liquid Soap bottle in my kitchen. It looks like the photograph was taken in a photography studio, using complicated lighting equipment. I was not. Here’s what you’ll need: 1. This is one of those times when bigger is indeed better. 1. Now you will need to redecorate your home a bit, move a table as close to a window as you can. Is your furniture high enough? Don’t let the neighbors watch. Put a long piece of aluminum foil on the table, I used the dull side up for this picture. Fold down the foil to have a clean edge. Use the card so the light coming in from the window bounces back to reach the bottle. Play with the angle of the card to find the position that puts the most light on your product. Once you find an angle you like move the card as close as you can to the product – without showing it in the picture. Now you are ready to take a picture! Via U!
DIY Chan Luu Bracelet My goal this holiday season was to really try my best to make some homemade gifts. So far I’m doing pretty well with my wreath, some burlap covered candles, some personalized coasters and this past weekend I gave a try at some jewelry. You may have noticed how wrap bracelets are everywhere lately. I love love the look of these bracelets. I did the top bracelet by simply following this tutorial. 1. 2.Bring your needle up under the right cord through the center and pull the thread through. 3. 4. You will just continue to do this for every bead. I love my followers so come and join!! Like this: Like Loading... Related Leather Wrap Bracelet The other day I was in Michael's craft store grabbing some material for a small project I'm working on when I walked by the jewelry isle. With 2 comments Another {DIY} Bracelet I don't know what has gotten into me but I'm on a major bracelet kit. With 6 comments Summer Wrap-Up The summer has officially ended, at least for me!
10 Things Buyers Are Looking For On Your Product Pages Feathery Plumes No. 22 watercolor painting When shopping online, your customers don’t have the luxury of trying on your products, touching them, feeling them or asking you questions about them. This can leave them unsure if they should purchase from your site. To make sure that your customers click the ADD TO CART or BUY NOW button, here are 10 things you must have on your product page: The cost of the productPictures of the product – preferably more than one picture, with the ability to zoom in and get up close to see all the details of the product). Article by: Andreea Ayers Like this: Like Loading... How to Make Shipping Envelopes | Eco Etsy Melody of Kindercotton shared her blog tutorial about how to make your own waterproof mailers from recycled store bags. If you know someone who uses store bags instead of reusable totes, ask him/her to save them for you! I recently ran out of the Tyvek envelopes that I had been using to ship out my orders. I liked them because they are water resistant and tear-proof, which keeps my fabric items safe in transit, but they are non-recyclable plastic, which I don’t like much at all. The plastic material also smudged when I tried to stamp my logo on the packages. That alone was reason enough to not use them! I looked into buying recycled products, but I didn’t love anything that I found. Luckily, I’m a pretty crafty person and I came up with a solution that uses very little new material (just some thread), holds up well in the mail, is water resistant, and is essentially free. (click on any image to see a larger version of the photo) 1. 2. 3. The inside of the package matters too!