Support Handmade

There's a movement going on Etsy right now to help support Handmade/Handcrafted items. It's called 30on30. It's very simple. To help support handmade items and artists you simply spend $30.00 on November 30th. (Or whatever you can). It's a great way to help support these artists or even your local economy instead of the big box stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target and others. Plus you get something really unique for yourself or as a gift for someone else. And usually these items last much longer than anything you'd buy in the stores and often become things handed down from generation to generation. Plus it gives you or your recipient a special joy knowing it was handmade/handcrafted and you picked it out or had it customized just the way you wanted. If you're interested in helping support your handmade community, whether local or worldwide, search for "30on30" on Etsy and see what wonderful things you come up with. For instance, I make Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass items for your home and garden. You won't find anything like this Birdfeeder in your local Wal-Mart. Or this great little Romantic Blue Plate in Pier One or BedBathandBeyond. So check out my shop: KayzKreationz or the many other great handmade items on Etsy now or this Monday and help support Handmade/Handcrafted with 30on30.

Advertising Opportunity--Contest for free Ad space

Recently I wrote a post about selling your own advertising on your blog, so that you can manage it and get more profit from it that something like Project Wonderful. I'm still trying to get stats from the 2-3 advertisers I've had so far, but haven't heard anything from them. Hopefully it is helping them. I tweet about them at least once or twice a week to help out, besides their mini advertising on my blog. The girl that started all this at kMTgraphicdesign of Etsy and her blog has started an AdDirectory ning site, for those interested in learning how to do it and also to find other places to advertise for themselves. She is now offering an opportunity for free ad space for a month on her ning site. So check it out by clicking on the title to this post and see if it's a good fit for you and your blog. And don't forget to check out my advertisers at the bottom of my blog. If you're interested in advertising here, it's only $2.50 a month till the end of August.

Advertising Opportunity

I've been trying Project Wonderful for a while now. I get some views, not lots, and haven't gotten a sale yet. So, recently KMT Graphic Design had a post about how to sell advertising yourself on your blog. After reading it, I decided to try it. With her help, I got my boxes set up at the footer of my blog, (although I'm still working on them) and got my paypal button set up with an announcement on the left sidebar here to offer a small mini for your Etsy or Artfire shop. To start off, I'm offering these spaces for only $2.50 for a whole month. If they seem successful, then I will offer sidebar spaces for a little more. I'm hoping to help other Etsy and Artfire shops an added way to advertise their businesses and help drive business not only to their shops, but also to mine. KMT also has an Ad Directory on her blog about which other blogs offer this opportunity. So if you're looking for an inexpensive way to advertise your shops, try this for a month and see if it helps. Whenever someone purchases this advertising, I will also tweet about their shop off and on for that month. Here's hoping this will increase business for all of us. Scroll down to the left to purchase your one month's advertising spot for only $2.50 to start off.

Etsy Day is coming

As a small business owner, KayzKreationz, I'm always looking for ways to get my business known and out there. In the last week or two, there's been a great thread going on Etsy about how to get Etsy itself known so that on the flip side our own businesses will also get known. There is a grass roots marketing adventure growing in that thread and quite a few of us will be advertising Etsy on April 24th in a number of ways. Hopefully, more people will find out about Etsy and what it is. That in turn will drive "buyers" hopefully to Etsy itself and then into our shops. The handmade movement is growing and this marketing adventure will help it get more well known as well as all the great artists on Etsy and other sites that promote handmade. So keep watching. There will be more about Etsy day as April 24th gets closer. If you haven't heard or read about it, you can check it in this thread.
Meanwhile for great glass items for your home and garden check out my shop, KayzKreationz. And for some gorgeous Sterling Silver and gemstone jewelry, check out STRINGandSTONES. I love her jewelry.

What to do Now

Well, the marketing exchange is over. I've been promoting other great Etsy shops since November, sometimes forgetting to promote my own. So now that it's over, I need to figure out what to do with my blog, twitter, plumdrop, etc. I've got several things I'm kicking around in my head. We just came back from San Diego for a business trip for my husband and my 2 boys and daughter-in-law went with us. It was a great little mini vacation with the family after the conference. I hadn't been to San Diego in over 30 years. We drove up to La Jolla and while there saw some seals in the Children's Pool. It was kind of a dreary day, but lots of fun. Later we went to see Point Loma and the Lighthouse. Then we went to the San Diego zoo. And before we came home we played Disc Golf. I hadn't played in about 8-10 years. It was loads of fun, although none of us were very good. More on this later with pictures.

I've been thinking of continuing promoting an Etsy or Artfire shop once a week or every other week or so with a couple of their items in my "KayzKreationz" Web ring on the right. And I've been considering hosting a giveaway. If any of you have any ideas or suggestions, just leave a comment and let me know. More later.

Brrr! It's cold outside.

Ok, I know for most of you it's really cold. But here in Texas we're just not used to 30's at night and 40-50's during the day with the wind blowing about 25-30 miles an hour. I could take the cooler weather, if the wind just wouldn't blow.
Anyway, with the cold, comes the wildlife out. We had a nice big 8 point buck out back at the water trough this a.m. And some turkey tracks in the rain puddles in the road. They don't like their picture taken, however.

And since it's cold now most places (or getting colder) you may want to remember that nice sunny day at the beach. Why not try this to help you remember? http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16092270

New Featured Shop of the Day

Good morning, the new shop of the day is http://threadedgoodness.etsy.com/

She's got some cute crotcheted items for adults and babies. Love this red:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16595497

And the baby mittens.

Also, just listed, cute fused glass magnet at: http://kayzkreationz.etsy.com/

Cute glass magnet

Just listed the cutest little fused glass magnet on Etsy. White glass with blue, teal and mauve polka dots swirled all around.

And check out this Teal magnet with French Vanilla polka dots swirled all around.

They make great little add-on gifts.

New Featured Shop of the Day

The new shop for the day is: http://purpledaisyjewelry.etsy.com
She's got vintage jewelry for children/babies and adults. Check these out:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16907494 and
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16832468

Also, for great gifts, check out:
http://kayzkreationz.etsy.com/
http://stringandstones.etsy.com/

Neatostuff Great Marketing Exchange

Time for the next site on the Neatostuff Great Marketing Exchange. It's a cute little shop with the cutest little baby tutu's and a gift certificate if you're not quite sure what you want.

http://babymakesthree.etsy.com/

Let's all support the great shops at Etsy.

And while you're there don't forget to check out my shop for stained glass, mosaics, and fused glass. Looking for that unique gift for a gardening, bird feeding friend? I've got a cute terra cotta mosaic bird feeder and some cute little windchimes and garden twirlers. The garden twirlers are a little difficult to picture, but it's 3 diamond shaped slumped pieces of art glass that have holes drilled in them and attached to each other with fishing line and then they're all attached to a small piece of drift wood found on my ranch property. It has a chain attached to it for hanging. I have a purple one on etsy right now and have a beige one ready to list when I can get some good Pics.