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)

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!

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!

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.

Fourth of July Front Page

Again, I sing my praises to The Vault, that's how I found out about my little hat making front page late 4th of July night, just as the fireworks were ending!

Birthday Wishes Front Page

So a very Happy Birthday to Me! I come back from vacation, and I notice a high number of hearts on a hat in my other shop. Did you know that you can search old front page treasuries from the delightful tool on The Vault from Craft Cult? It's amazing, saves you hours of looking for your missing "I was on the front page does anyone have a copy of the treasury?" I don't have a screen shot of the front page, but I'm good with that, I am in the Vault!

When green is all there is to be

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?

Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!

And I think it's what I want to be.

~It's Not Easy Bein' Green by the Muppets

The Green Revolution has really taken off. Organic food, hybrid cars, energy-saving light bulbs, small steps and ways to make a difference is everywhere. I like to think that buying handmade is a part of this, learning how products are made, and where your sources are coming from. It all matters.

I started knitting to keep my hands busy in grad school so I could concentrate on the lectures, but, tragically, I am allergic to wool. I am teased and tantelized every time I walk into my LYS and see the rows and rows of beautiful skeins that I cannot knit with. So I was forced to find alternatives to wool, and the most popular was acrylic, imagine my dismay when I discovered that acrylic is petroleum based. So I was basically knitting with oil? So I switched to cotton, that's earth-friendly, right? Well better than acrylic, but then as my research shows here cotton has it's downfalls too, unless you get organic, and many companies are realizing this.

So now that I have found suppliers for organic cotton, is there a call for it? Sort of. Customers would like it, however when push comes to pennies and dollars, many want to save the extra dollars and buy my regular cotton hats. I will continue to make and offer them, but I know they will never be popular as my other items. I am also a member of NaturalKids, an Etsy team dedicated to natural products for children.

However, like many things in life, it comes down to marketing, and that is where I heard about Cosa Verde. This is a place to showcase your earth-friendly wares, but your don't sell from there, you link to your selling venue like Etsy and Artfire. What I have noticed, they bring a lot more attention to my organic hats, and with this trend becoming more popular, all it can do is help. And it is a direct place for the people who like to shop with the earth-friendly products in mind.

Not all watermelon hats are created equal

SEO 101 from Artfire

So quite a commotion has been going on in the Etsy forums. It seems that while many of us were fretting, wondering why our shops went the way of the Leaky Cauldron and buyers turned into Muggles, Etsy admin manipulated the meta tags of everyones shop listings making sellers invisible to search engines like Google and Yahoo.

I list my hats on several sites. You can view the HTML source by going up to the menu bar and view then source or right click view source. These Title headings are in between the title tags <>
I have edited my watermelon hat titles to the bare bones for some sites.
The title headings for my watermelon hat are as follows:

Etsy: Handmade for Children on Etsy - Watermelon Hat by bostonbeanies (64 characters)
Artfire: Watermelon Cotton Hat : BostonBeanies - ArtFire Children's (59 characters)
iCraft: Accessories, Hats - Watermelon Hat by BostonBeanies - icraft.ca (64 characters)
cosa verde: cosa verde Watermelon Cotton Hat by Boston Beanies (53 characters)
1000 Markets: Watermelon Cotton Hat by Boston Beanies (40 characters)

The problem with Etsy is the adding in the front the phrase "handmade for children on etsy - " all of those characters and spaces take up precious searching characters. Google and Yahoo often will not search after 60+ characters, and Etsy takes up half of them with their tagging, leaving me without my own title tags.

Check out Artfire, they add their tags at the back, that's fine.
iCraft is a little strange and puts tags in the front and back, with the category in the front and their id in the back. Strange and almost as bad as Etsy, note the same high character numbers.
cosa verde is simple, just their name and then my title, what you don't see is that there is a verticle line between verde and Boston, but still not bad, not too intrusive, and still under the character limit.
1000Markets doesn't even stuff the title tags, they add nothing, what you type is what you get.

I am not opposed to Etsy marking my listings on their site, but keep it simple, and keep it in the back end.

Before April, when I would Google and yahoo my hats, my Etsy listings used to be on the first few pages of hits, now my Etsy listings have disappeared because the spider bots that organize the searches have to crawl all the way through the other words in the title tags to get at the heart of my listing title.

But my Artfire listing shows up on page 1 or 2 usually. This is because Artfire lists to Google base (thank you!!) 1000Markets not yet, I am still tweaking to figure out why, and iCraft still needs work, but all are better than Etsy right now.

So what should we sellers do? We can't change the front tag stuffing, only Etsy Admin can, and they should soon. They get .20 per listing but over 3% per sale which is more than .20 per hat. Right now, with my visability down to zilch, why should I bother to relist? I am glad I have my own URL, http://www.bostonbeanies.com/ and now I may just redirect that link to my Artfire shop instead of my Etsy shop. I am in a wait and see mode, and am really upset that people are telling others that this is not a big deal.

We were all left in the dark while Etsy Admin let us flounder.
They knew what they were doing.

They. Knew.

Treasurypalooza!

Somehow I managed to snag another treasury in the early morning! But I seem to be stuck in 80's song themes...

And an hour later I got another one!

A Little Advice

A while back there was this amazing thread on Etsy with a huge list compiled by VieleraDesign with places to sell, promote, network, craft fairs all online. It's amazing! I added a few more and put it in alphabetical order (the librarian coming out in me:-)
Here are my thoughts on the places I have tried.

Places to Sell Online:
I have a few requirements that should be noted. Since traffic is uncertain at a new place, I like the joining to be free, and the listing to be free or cheap. The site also has to be easy to navigate, otherwise what is the point, I don't want to fuss to hard to figure out how to get a banner up, get a listing up and register.

http://www.artfire.com/ Just opened a shop here. Apparently they went through a face-lift upgrade and things are much nicer now. But it is free to set up a shop for a certain number of items, so I did that. They upload to Google Base, which is excellent and puts you at the top of the search in Google and lists you in Google shopping searches. Their prices for a monthly account are going up soon though, I just have the free one.

ArtFire Referral Use my referral if you want/can!

http://www.bigcartel.com/

http://www.cafepress.com/

http://www.canduru.com/

http://cosaverde.com/ Just joined. An eco-friendly marketing venue, it is really isn't a selling venue as you have to have other selling venues that you link to. But it has a clean interface, it is juried, and user-friendly. You can upload items through RSS feeds as well, and their admin responded to my suggestions within HOURS, I was stunned and impressed. And there are many promotional codes out there to get a few months free and use me as a referral if you wish:)

Cosa Verde Referral Use my referral if you want/can!

http://www.crowsoup.com/

http://www.dawanda.com/ Closed my shop down, had sold only one hat and it was really clunky to use the website. Every time I wanted to edit a page the HTML kept getting in the way. And items must be listed in euros.

http://www.ecrater.com/ Could never figure this website out. And there did not seem to be enough traffic to be worth the headache or time. Yes, I am demanding, I want to understand something FAST!

http://www.elsewares.com/

http://www.erayo.com/

http://www.etsy.com/ Have sold on here for years and was my first step into selling at handmade specific markets post eBay. Last summers"keyword stuffing" scandal" took a while to clear up, and it slowed my sales and views. However, Etsy corrected the tag situation now I am listed in google automatically so I will continue to sell here, as this is my shop that get by far the most views of all my shops. There also promises to be many positive changes on the horizen, which I am excited to see.

http://www.girlshopspot.com/

http://www.gozabo.com/

http://www.handmadecatalog.com/

http://www.handmadefusion.com/index.php?

http://www.icraft.com/ Based in Canada. Paid a one-time fee. Had a shop, ignored it, but it got views, no sales. So now I have updated it and revamped it. Best part about it, you can change your shopname/URL without changing your username, they are not attached. So when I changed names I did not lose any views or anything. Wish other sites could implement this. However, this is the only site that I know that does this, though Etsy clims this change is in the works.

http://www.imagekind.com/

http://www.lollishops.com/ This is a juried site that I joined during frantic opening days. I kept getting kicked off and reasked to join that I decided I would let them work out the kinks before I signed on. Then I saw the listing tier pricing system and thought it was a bit steep for a very limited market. But the site seems to be doing ok. There is no feedback system though, a bit strange.

http://lov.li/

http://www.mintd.com/

http://www.pinkpoodle.com/ Just closed my site to this one too. No traffic and now they charge to list. Sorry no way.

http://www.seekingdesigners.com/

http://www.shopify.com/

http://www.shophandmade.com/

http://www.silkfair.com/

http://www.skydowntown.com/

http://www.supermarkethq.com/

http://www.winkelf.com/

http://www.yessy.com/

http://www.youcraft.org/

http://www.zibbet.com/

http://1000markets.com/ I opened a free shop, the site looked beautiful, very easy to search. What I don't like, it is not international friendly, and in this global world that is a setback. I understand they are working with Amazon on that though. And payments are made through Amazon, which is odd why not PayPal like many other sites? However it was pointed out this eliminates Non Paying Buyers, so that should be a plus, but I wonder if it will be a turn off to some buyers. But it is a free juried site, and I liked the exposure, but I could not maintain it through the holidays, put it on vacation, and they kicked me off. Oh well. I think I still have an account there, so my name is parked, which is good.


Places to Advertise Online:
Most people find me, who tell me how they found me anyway, is through a Google search or by searching the site. So tags are more vital than ever to be kept accurate.

http://www.thelittleblackboxes.com/ She reviewed me! I was very excited to see this and I never sent her anything. I felt like a chosen one!

http://www.craigslist.org/ I have done this, I can't say if it helped or not, I didn't see a change in my vews or sales. And no one has ever said they found me on Craigslist.

http://www.webbcatalog.com/

http://www.usfreeads.com/

http://www.oodle.com/http://modish.typepad.com/

http://www.theindiego.com/

http://www.craftster.org/advertise

http://www.webclassifieds.us/

http://www.linkrefferal.com/

http://www.projectwonderful.com/

http://www.diyscene.com/

http://www.stumblehere.com/

http://lunacraft.com/help_promote



Social Networking Sites:
Social networking for me is still a way to connest with friends family and buyers, and I like it to be free.

http://www.artbistro.com/

http://www.cafemom.com/

http://www.thecreativespirit.ning.com/

http://www.creativestem.com/

http://www.deviantart.com/

http://www.entrecard.com/

http://www.facebook.com/ I have a facebook page, and a fanpage. I linked my blog to my fanpage so I don't have to double post and it is one more way to be seen, I don't know if I have made any sales through there, but it is a good free marketing tool that people have heard of.

http://www.flickr.com/ I have a flickr site, but I am very careful to not post anything about Etsy, they will shut you down and you will lose everything. I try to include other photos as well so it is not just my hats. You can see a few of my magical kitty Gryffin!

http://www.indiepublic.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/ My friend keeps asking me to join this, hmmmm.

http://www.mylot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

http://www.smidge.ca/

http://www.squidoo.com/

http://www.stylehive.com/

http://www.twitter.com/ I have a Twitter account, I have no idea what to do with it, and honestly, it seems like one more thing I have to do and can't keep up with.

http://www.thedb.com/

http://www.weloveetsy.com/


Find Craft Shows/Fairs:
Typically for craft fairs when I am driving around and I see a show advertised I pull over and write down the date. Also I search the net for surrounding town names and craft fairs and hits come up. I like to scope out a fair the year before to see if it will be a good fit for me.

http://www.artandcraftshows.net/

http://www.artfaircalendar.com/

http://www.bazaarbizarre.org/

http://www.craftconnection.net/

http://www.craftlister.com/

http://www.craftmasternews.com/

http://craftersbuzz.com/craftshows.html

http://www.craftsreport.com/showfinder

http://eventlister.com/

http://www.hpifestivals.com/

http://www.fairsandfestivals.net/

http://www.festivaldirectory.comfestivalnet.com/

http://www.juriedartservices.com/

http://www.indiecraftfairguide.com/

http://www.indiecraftshows.com/

http://www.sunshineartist.com/

http://zapplication.org/

Free Web Design: I am excited to try building my own website, as I have my own URL. But I need it to be easy clean, preferbly free for now, and quick to make changes on.

http://www.yola.com/

http://www.wix.com/

Build-a-Bunny

Bunnies abound! With all the great yarn out there, there are many different kinds of bunnies you can get for your little bunny from my Etsy shop!
This nice cotton blend yarn is perfect for newborns and small babies.

I also sell it with the book, The Runaway Bunny, perfect for showers or Easter gifts!

I make a Peter Rabbit hat out of a snuggly soft acrylic yarn that is sadly no longer made, so I am on the lookout for new colorways in cotton yarns. But in the meantime I am using up my stash that matches the sepia-tawny browns of Potter's illustrations of our favorite bunny. While supplies of the yarn last I sell the Peter Rabbit hat with or without the book.

I also have an organic cotton Bunny available. This snuggly-soft yarn has been grown without chemicals and dyed with low-impact dyes. A true delight and an heirloom gift for years to come!

Many more styles are available, as I love custom orders, and have an array ofcolors in stock of 100% cotton, organic cotton and acrylic yarn. So celebrate spring and bunny season in style!

EtsyBaby and EtsyKids fight for Handmade

graphic copyright Goldtone Designs http://goldtonedesigns.etsy.com

EtsyBaby Shops are now offering sales to help promote the shops that will be hurt by this new law. Check out the store here: http://shopetsybaby.com/CPSC

CPSIA Changes?

Well, there is hope.

My cotton yarn and organic cotton yarn hats have been deemed lead free by the government.

Duh.
And now resellers, such as thrift stores, and consignment shops have some reprieve from this strict law. http://cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html

Or do they? Read it carefully, it says that they can sell it, but at their own risk if it contains any lead. I'm not sure how many consignment shops and thrift shops are going to take this news. Exempt should be exempt, and that's that. These are not individually recalled items.

But like I said "The two-member commission, reacting to complaints from manufacturers, also agreed to exempt natural products such as gems and cotton from mandatory testing for lead. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a0Xr2Iw1Vi_8&refer=us

So this is good news for now.

And read this wonderful blog post from Rick Woldenberg , I especially love the title, but the entire post is dead on.

http://learningresourcesinc.blogspot.com/2009/01/cpsia-emperor-has-no-clothes.html

SAVE HANDMADE!

Right now there is a law that will end hand made as we know it for children starting February 10, 2009. This is terrible news for handcrafters and others who demand handmade natural toys and goods for their children.

Essentially, the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act written by congress, would put many handcrafters, like myself out of business. In short, no product that is intended for child use in any way is to be sold without being tested for lead. Now handcrafters are not against the idea of eliminating lead in children's products, but we are not the cause of this legislation. The real purpose of this legislation is to prevent unsafe imports for children. But what it will do is that every hat that I make with one skein of yarn needs to be sent out for testing. Every shade, equals a new test. Even if I have proof from the manufactor that my yarn is lead-free, this as the law is currently written, is not good enough.

How thoughtless were the writers of this document?

In essence, if this were to relate to the food industry, it would allow Kraft and Dole to stay in business, but would destroy local farmer's markets.

I say put the burdon of proof on the manufactors who are selling the pieces and importing products to sell. They can afford the costly (thousands) it would take to test the items because it could be done on a larger scale. It would be more streamlined while still ensuring safety for America's children.

Small business, I sell less than 500 items a year, should not be shut down because of a thoughtless and poorly written legislation. This country is run on a symbiotic relationship within each other, do legislators not realize this yet? When peple couldn't pay mortgages, banks began to fail, and now the auto industry is in crisis. If they brush off handcrafters, what do they think will happen to the millions of crafters who buy supplies to make and sell their wares in this country alone? Those stores will fail, more jobs will be lost, thus plundging our economy into more of a tailspin.

Good intentions, bad legislation.

Want to get the word out? Make some noise! Write your congressman and senator!

It's the holiday season

and I got a treasury!

It's brisk here in New England, and I have already started my holiday shopping, so am in a festive mood! I can't wait for the first snowfall!

Natural Kids in the Blog!

http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/featured-team-natural-kids-team-2941/

NaturalKids made the Etsy Blog!

It's a wonderful article about a fabulous team I belong to, all my cotton and organic cotton hats are tagged with "team naturalkids".

"This week's Featured Team, NaturalKids, makes sweet, wholesome products for your little ones! We love the way these toys inspire creativity while staying true to their natural materials. You'll find these items are crafted with a lot of love, and it seems this affection pours into their Team as well! The NaturalKids Team has a great website and blog to promote their work and also holds weekly promotions in the Forums. We love how they've created their own co-operative advertising program within the Team and have ads running on parenting websites! To learn more about this Team (including how to join) check out their Team Profile. To see all the products made lovingly by NaturalKids Team members, simply search "naturalkids team"."

Butterfly Design Cotton Acorn Hat

butterflydesign says, "I love being a part of the Natural Kids Team because they celebrate the joys of childhood and the earth all in one Team. And we only have one of each, shouldn't they be celebrated?"


This isn't my favorite hat, but hey, making the blog is pretty cool!

Blueberry Bummer

I have sold only one hat and book set from my show at the Needham Library. I hope people are waiting to see me at the Needham High PTC Craft Fair next month! But what was interesting was that my blueberry hat and the Blueberries for Sal book sold. Not a problem, I thought. So I made the hat, and went off to my local bookstore to buy the book, and was shocked to find that they have all been pulled from the shelves.

All copies of Blueberries for Sal are no longer for sale because of negotiations between the McCloskey family and the publisher, Penguin. What is even more interesting is that next to nothing can be found on the internet about this. This great classic of a book has silently been pulled from circulation, and that saddens me more.

From an online Publisher's Weekly Children's Bookshelf August 21, 2008:

Rhalee Hughes, director of publicity at Penguin Books for Young Readers, acknowledges that the classic picture book is currently unavailable, but says, "We have been in negotiations with [Robert McCloskey's] estate and we are hopeful that we may be able to put Blueberries for Sal back into circulation."

So please, don't buy inflated used book prices you might find. Wait it out. Reprinting will happen in due time.

My Blueberry hat collection: