The public life of Etsy

This morning Etsy rung in a new era, it is now listed on the stock exchange.

I'm not sure how I feel about this, since I know nothing about the stock market.  And I have no idea how this will effect me as a seller.  Increase in fees?  Less handmade?  Small stores (like mine) getting pushed out?  I have been doing a lot of reading and I am going to take my usual wait-and-see approach.  I am a small time seller, Etsy would not miss me if I left.  But I think I would really miss Etsy.

I sell my patterns on several sites, but Etsy is where I sell my finished hats.  I started selling on Etsy in 2006, it was a perfect alternative to eBay.  I have seen a lot of changes, most of them good, anyone remember v2?  So while many see this as the end of days, I am going to wait and see.  Only time will tell.

Some reading for thought:
http://www.makersnation.org/etsy-going-public/

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/15/399937721/online-crafts-marketplace-etsy-prepares-for-public-offering

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/03/17/etsy-ipo-what-you-should-know/

Thoughts?

Glow in the dark yarn

I was trick-or-treating with a friend and her kid this Halloween, and it was rather chilly.  I really wished I had worn a hat, which is silly for a hat maker to not wear one.  But then I thought that it would be really cool if I could make a glow in the dark hat.  Is it possible?  Was there such a thing as glow in the dark yarn?  So I did what I always do, research.

It turns out that there used to be. Bernat made some a while back, but you can't get it anymore.  I really wish they would bring it back, because it's rather cool.  I found suggestions for fishing wire or a parachute rope, or a plastic yarn, but that wasn't what I was looking for.  I wanted a yarn, cotton, acrylic, whatever.  But a yarn.

Then I found this blog post about making your own. Hodgepodge Crochet

It was exactly what I needed.  And it worked.  The theory is to buy at your local craft store a glow in the dark fabric paint (it doesn't matter what brand), soak your skein of yarn in water, dump the paint over it, and mix it in.  Let it dry, and rinse out.

I used this brand, it has a little yellow tinge to it

I used gloves, and I'm glad because you really need to squish it around.  It does dry stiff, and then I rinsed it out with mild detergent and let it dry again.  It was still a little crunchy, after all I just dumped paint on it, but it softens up over time.  And it really does glow!  You have to charge it with light, so it is hanging in my window right now to dry and charge, but I think I will have a cool new yarn to play with.  I'm excited.

And this is craft paint, it is non-toxic, which is what everyone asks if my yarn is now dangerous.  Nope, it's fabric paint, so it is completely safe, just follow the bottle's instructions.

Since the cost of cotton yarn has skyrocketed, this craft can get pricy, but totally worth it.

It glows much brighter than this.

My cousin is running in the 2014 Boston Marathon for the Horizons for Homeless Children team. 

Until April 21, 2014 all proceeds from Boston Beanies pattern sales will go to my cousin's charity team.

You can shop for my Etsy patterns here

You can donate to Erin's Charity Run here

Patterns for Sale!

I have been asked for my patterns for a few years, well now I have finally typed a few of them up and they are for sale on Etsy and Ravelry.

I will be making more of my patterns available as I can.

Sweet Treats

Two new designs, just in time for the season...
I bought the cutest little crocheted hearts on Etsy (since I can't crochet, what DO you do with just one needle/hook anyway) but I am so grateful that there are sellers who do crochet and sell their appliques.

ruffle brim beanie with four valentine hearts

ruffle brim beanie with knit flower and valentine heart center

Both hats are available in size SMALL (3-6 mo) and for immediate shipping.  I can make more when I order more hearts.

All Patched Up

http://newton.patch.com/articles/ho-hohold-on-i-still-need-to-buy-presents-part-1

I've been mentioned in the Newton Patch for their Holiday shopping! And they showed a picture of my Red Velvet Cupcake hat.

I am still accepting online orders but holiday shipping is no longer guaranteed, however if you order a hat that I have in stock and ready to ship, there is a good chance it will make it to your destination and ready to put under the tree.

This is what I have available for immediate shipping, no waiting, these will ship the next business day after payment has been received:

Brown Bear (Small 3-6 months) book also available

Spring Flower Fairy (Small 3-6 months) book also available

Winter Frost (Small 3-6 months)

Winter Frost Sweater (Small 3-6 months)

Purple Crayon (Medium 6-18 months) book also available

Pumpkin (Medium 6-18 months)

Lavender Sweet Pea (Medium 6-18 months) organic cotton

Pink Sweet Pea (Medium 6-18 months) organic cotton

Wimsy Citrus Bug (Large/Child)

Cranberry (Large/Child)

I am Thankful for...

Such wonderful customers this year! It has been an excellent year at Boston Beanies, and I am back open after a little hiatus to play catch-up on all the fall orders.

And now my annual list of what I have in stock to help out my online shoppers. This is what I have available for immediate shipping, no waiting, these will ship the next business day after payment has been received:

Brown Bear (Small 3-6 months) book also available

Spring Flower Fairy (Small 3-6 months) book also available

Winter Frost (Small 3-6 months)

Winter Frost Sweater (Small 3-6 months)

Purple Crayon (Medium 6-18 months) book also available

Pumpkin (Medium 6-18 months)

Lavender Sweet Pea (Medium 6-18 months) organic cotton

Pink Sweet Pea (Medium 6-18 months) organic cotton

Wimsy Citrus Bug (Large/Child)

Cranberry (Large/Child)

May Madness Treasuries

I was featured in a few treasuries this month, and I love Etsy's new Treasury East, where anyone at anytime can make one. Don't get me wrong, I still pounce on the old treasury at magic number 333, as I write this I have 20 minutes before a new one opens up. But it is good practice to check out other Etsians, look at color, texture, photos, and that first picture really does matter. Here are two of the treasuries I was in this month:

This one just looks plain yummy:

Cute babies make for excellent treasuries!

Ruffles, Ruffles, Everywhere!

Ruffles are everywhere! Dresses, shirts, bags, and my hats. I have received more and more requests to make a hat, but can I add a ruffle to the brim instead of the roll brim? And my answer is always "of course!" I can pretty much customize any hat, including color, flowers, antenna, and brims.

Ruffles can really change the line of a hat, they make a hat more girly, they frame a baby's face and provide a bit of shade.

So go whimisical, try a ruffle!

Every Day is Earth Day with Natural Kids

Team Natural Kids has been busy planning a treasure hunt like no other for this April Earth Day Celebration. So I invite you all to explore other Natural Kids shops, look for discounts and buy wonderful handmade all natural items for your loved ones.

My promotion? On April 22nd find the gnome and get a discount on your order!

Go for the Gold Treasury

The Olympics are on and this clever treasury was created with my little blueberry hat in it. Thank you to katsinthebelfry a member of the NaturalKids team for creating this treasury.

Boston Beanies Hits 100

Snow is pounding various parts of the nation, but it seems to be skipping my city, and Bostonians are sniffing the air and thinking of Spring. This week I hit 100 sales in my Boston Beanies shop. A nice milestone since I opened up under this name less than a year ago. It was a hard decision to do so, but I am glad I did, and it is nice to know that returning customers can find me and new one too!

Oh, and the hat that made 100? The bunny, very seasonal. Hop, hop, hop

Stand in the place...

I often get asked, "Where did you get your hat display stands?" I had to shop around, because when doing craft fairs I wanted items that were fairly easy to transport, and would give me a nice clean uniform look to my table.

My Table Topper Stands
I found them at MathewsWire on eBay. They are made right here in the US and are sturdy but good for transport. They have only tipped over during one very windy outside craft fair, and with a little rearranging, even then they were fine.

My Floor Hat Stand
My friend got this for me for free from a candy shop. It used to display puppets, and they were getting rid of it so she snagged it for me. I am very grateful, floor stands cost hundreds of dollars. The stand however is rather heavy and does not spin, which a lot of people think it should and then they try and then it could tip. But it looks good with the table toppers when it is full of hats and a nice clean display is what I am all about.

My Basket, Bookends and more
I like to have a sale basket on my table, it attracts people who are looking for something quick and it helps me move some inventory I want to get rid of. Funny, this is what can draw people to a table, but then not everyone always buys from a sale basket. So people still want what they want, regardless of price or a discount. The bookends are mine, and were a great idea of a friend of mine to display my hat and book sets, but people are always picking them up trying to buy them. I could put not for sale stickers on them, but then people would still just ask how much are they, so I just smile and say they are for display only. The plastic displays for my sign and brochures I got from Staples.

So whether I use the floor stand or not, I like to have varying heights for my display, a sale section, and take away info. The bright colors will attract people, but having what someone wants is what is really going to make a sale.

Local Business Adorns Adorables

http://diasphoto.com/blog/?p=465

My brother got married this past October and he and my sister-in-law used a fabulous photographer for all their pictures. As a thank you, she gave him one of my hats for their little baby, and then he featured me in their blog...an entire cycle of thanks, with one adorable baby at the center! What a great way to start my weekend!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

The northeast just had our first measurable snowfall last night and it is now a winter wonderland outside. So what perfect timing that this beautiful treasury is up on Etsy, I love the earrings in this treasury, and am honored to have my little hat included. It was 70 degrees a few DAYS ago and now we have snow, ahh New England!

Purplicious!

I have a passion for purple, and lucky for me it is the new hot color of the season! Look in department stores and boutique children's clothing stores and you will find all sorts of purple cropping up everywhere, which is fine with me!

I love designing purple hats, but I make the classic fruit plum too, so this season, get purpled up!

Harvest Craft Fair!!

I am doing just ONE Craft Fair this season, since I am so backordered. It will be at my alma mater, Needham High School, Saturday October 24, 2009. I will be selling all my hats that I have in stock, and offering free shipping to all who place an order with me at the fair. So come on by!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

So in June many of us were upset by Etsy's meta-tag stuffing, and when upcoming changes were annouced, a lot more of us were thinking "what's that Lucy, a football for me to kick?" (Gilmore Girls reference)

And when our views vanished we were left floundering, frustrated, and wondering what happened. Many Etsy sellers threatened to jump ship, the forums were flooded with angry and upset sellers, myself one of them, but now, I believe the dust has settled and things are back on track. So much so that I am over a month backordered and I had to close down my low selling shops and just keep Etsy open. But I promised to do my Google experiment again, even though I knew the results would be off since my other shops are closed. But I still wanted to see how people are finding me.

So here goes. First I logged out of Google, and then I cleared my cache, browsing history, everything I could think of that would leave a trace on my computer. Not an exact science, but it helps. Then I did several searches. I searched for "pumpkin hat", "knit pumpkin hat", "pumpkin hat boston beanies", "apple hat", "knit apple hat", "apple hat boston beanies". I did all these searches without the quotes, and I only looked at the first 10 pages.

Here are the results:

"pumpkin hat" search
none of my items found

"knit pumpkin hat" search
Etsy-page 1 shopping guide
iCraft -page 2 shopping guide

"pumpkin hat boston beanies"
Etsy-page 1
1000Markets-page 1
Cosaverde-page 1, 2
iCraft-page 1
my blog-page 1
Artfire-page 2 (a review)
Shopping Guide had Etsy and iCraft

"apple hat"
1000Markets-page 6
CosaVerde-page 7

"knit apple hat"
iCraft-page 1 shopping guide
Etsy -page 1 shopping guide, and there was a link under another listing show more results from Etsy, I clicked that and there was my listing on page 1, but how many searchers are going to know to do that?
iCraft- page 4 (a different listing), page 9 another different listing
1000Markets- page 6

"apple hat Boston Beanies"
1000Markets-page 1
CosaVerde-page 1
Etsy-page 1
iCraft- page 1
Shopping Guide had Etsy and iCraft.

So what did I learn? I had no expectations for Artfire, 1000Markets, or iCraft to turn up in the searches. In fact it shows how on top keeping clean their listings Artfire is, as I recall my Artfire listings made it in pretty quickly into the searches last time. Also, Etsy and 1000Markets are now in the searches, in places that I can expect them to be, so this is GREAT news.

The only problem is that to be seen, shoppers have to enter terms like "knit" in order to narrow down some of their searches. I hope they know to do so, or they may be frustrated with their hits. But an Etsy product was always on page one, driving a customer to Etsy, and maybe that person will shop there and try and see what else is available and...

So make a good product, take great pictures, and use helpful, thoughtful tags, and the customers will find you.

FRONT PAGE AGAIN??!!

Missed seeing this one by an hour! But as always I am so thrilled to make the front page again, and another list made by the Etsy admin! Still have a waiting list, but at this point it is better to get on it as I will get to your order as soon as I can. If you wait, the list will not get shorter until after the holidays.

While I was sleeping

Amazing things can happen while you are sleeping, like I made the Front Page. I have only ever seen my items on the front page just once, but I am thankful for that, and am thankful for each time my hats are chosen for a treasury. It's a nice way to wake up on a Sunday.