Happy Birthday You're Inspired!

Etsy Buy Handmade YoureInspired

SALE! Everything in my store is a full 20% off from fri. nov. 27th

until dec. 1st. that's four full days of savings. Plus I reconfigured the shipping to save you even more money. Come and get your aromatherapy and flower essences!
www.mayamade.etsy.com is the place to go. find other sales by searching npl

Happy Birthday ElegantScraps!

Etsy Buy Handmade ElegantScraps

Happy Birthday WholeMother!

Etsy Buy Handmade WholeMother

Happy Birthday HippieFairyLover!

Etsy Buy Handmade hippiefairylover

Crochet Preschooler's Backpack or Purse

Made when you order with your colors and choice of applique design or flower.

Click here for more information!

Happy Birthday MayaMade!

Etsy Buy Handmade MayaMade

Happy Birthday LilBees & BrightBlack!

Etsy Buy Handmade lilbees

Etsy Buy Handmade BrightBlack

HUGE SALE ON RE-USABLE BAGS!!

I am having a huge sale on my super cute, super functional, super good for the earth

super stretchy bags

and recycled coffee bean bag bags

All bags are only $10 and when you buy 4 or more the shipping is free!

These bags are the perfect solution to all your hauling, toting, carting, stashing, transporting, sorting, gift giving needs.

So visit my site at

http://www.pbandj.etsy.com/

to see all the fun options available.

I'm Baaaack!

O.k., well almost. Desert Dyeworks kind of disappeared from the radar a little over a year ago(maybe longer). With focusing on the day-job and not having any left over creative energy I let things fall by the wayside.

Well, with the creative soul-sucking day job outta the way I have refocused my energy on Desert Dyeworks. I have switched gears slightly and will not be doing silk dress-up and playsilks. However, I can't get away from fabric and adding color to it. I haved delved into printing/screenprinting.

My current creations are shirts. All my shirt blanks are upcycled and I am planning on expanding that to other clothing articles and accesories. Also, to satisfy my dye demon I am designing some name/celebration banners ala prayer flag style.

I am currently building up my stock of goodies but am forseeing product pics and listing going up in the coming week. Yay! I am so happy to be back :)

Kathy

Ring of Fire

For women around the world, childbirth is not a necessary evil, but a rite of passage, for both mother and baby. The term "Ring of Fire" is often used to describe the intense feeling of the baby crowning. The lotus flower symbolizes the woman's body opening up like a blooming flower to release the baby.

16 x 20 Acrylic on 5/8" side-stapled canvas. Framing required. Signed by the artist.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5810206

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25808482

New Waldorf Wooden Teething Toys

I have been working on designs for these for awhile now, and am proud to finally have listed them at my etsy store! Be sure to stop by my store www.youreinspired.etsy.com to check them out!

Happy Birthday LittleRedAppleton

Etsy Buy Handmade littleredappleton

Happy Birthday Binkin!

Etsy Buy Handmade binkin

WINNER OF PART 2 GIVEAWAY!

Just in time for Mother's Day! We have a winner of part two of the give-away!!

The winner is Holly! She won through entries received with a purchase at Elemental Handcrafts. Congratulations Holly!!!

And thank you to everyone who entered and commented and blogged! After reading through the comments, I wished I could have sent everyone prizes. (I had that problem with the first give-away too...thank goodness for random number generators!!)

This has been a really fun project to coordinate and I hope everyone continues to stop back in and see what the team formerly known as MDC Etsy is up to! :)

Geminita showing at Pedicab Bar

On Friday May 1st, Pedicab Bar and Grill is opening in Southtown San Antonio! Geminita from the NPL Team is going to be presenting two brand new paintings, Feather & Leaf and Venusian Lobster. Come on out and catch some awesome music and art and celebrate First Friday in style at Pedicab!

Check out Geminita and more of her art at Glue and on Etsy.

Some Changes

The members of our team originally met (and decided to form a team) while we were members of a particular parenting forum, and we had used the name of that forum in the name of our team. However, that forum is the subsidiary of a business, and that business was concerned about use of their name for our team, so we have changed our name. (We are working on changing our Etsy link and graphics to reflect this, but it will take us a few days to get it all done.)
Just to be clear, the members of this street team were and are in no way affiliated with or endorsed by any parenting forum, business or organization. Product postings on this blog are in no way endorsed, tested or vetted by any other member or members of the blog or by any outside organization.

I Just Reopened My Etsy Shop

I make crochet toys.

I am working on wool and organic cotton items, as well. I have an organic cotton butterfly in the works, as well as crocheted bean bags. I want to design a mermaid doll and a collection of bugs.

I will also be putting some of my patterns on PDF and selling them.

Come visit me at http://alisaterry.etsy.com.

You can also see my craft projects and works-in-progress on my craft blog, http://yarnovermama.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday MichaelGraceDesigns

Etsy Buy Handmade michaelgrace

Happy Birthday to PaperCakesbyRachel!

Etsy Buy Handmade rachelaakmama

Special Thank You!

I wanted to take a moment and say thank you to the generous mamas that put in an extra contribution towards mailing out part one of our Spring Fling Give-away (which was stuffed FULL of all sorts of great things!!)! Thanks to your help, I even have a little left over to help with shipping out part two! (Remember to go shopping and leave your comments!!) Please take a moment and check out their shops! You might stumble into something you didn't know you needed until today!





And last, but not at all the least: Circle Natural Goods. I wanted to do a mini gallery of her shop as well, but she appears to be temporarilly on vacation. To get an idea of her lovely products, you can peek into her sold items. Her bath bombs were in our first spring fling give-away and a multi-pack of foot soaks are in our current give-away!

My Avocado Pendant made it to the Front Page!

This Avocado pendant was featured on the Front Page of Etsy! The pendant was hand painted by Me and was turned into a necklace by Autumn of Bella Lili Designs. Brandy from BLink Designs emailed me to tell me the good news. You can see the Avocado Pendant in the Alamo City Etsy Store and you can see my own artwork in my store, Geminita.

Look What We've Been Making!

Etsy Buy Handmade MDCMomsOnEtsy

WINNER!!!!

I know you've been in suspense to know the winner of our awesome Spring Fling Give-away for the first half of April...

The lucky winner is mirthstudios!

She wins the big bundle of mama and kid goodies from our Spring Fling Give-away Part 1.

Congratulations! And thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and commented, blogged or went shopping! (Don't forget to enter in Part 2 if you have babies!!)

Spring Fling Give-away Part 2: April 15-30

Thank you for the wonderful response to our first drawing! Check back for an announcement of our lucky winner!!

On to phase two...ANOTHER DRAWING! This time the focus is on mothers with babies. To that end, we've gathered useful, beautiful and relaxing things for mamas and some simple, open-ended toys for your little one made of all natural materials. The rules to enter are the same as before: Talk to us, Talk about us and Shop with us! (See below for more details.)



The goodies up for grabs in this give-away include: a small needle-felted ball from Sun Anthem, a white stone nursing and healing necklace from Stones of Healing, a set of Boogie Buddies (eco-friendly, reusable hankies) from Little Peanut Shop, a Jingle Belly Ball (soft knit ball for baby) from Sugar Kane Creations, a jumbo 44"x44" blue playsilk from Lyneya's Toys, a set of hand-crafted nursing pads from Lil Bees, a beautiful large diaper bag from Michael Grace Designs, a bike screen-print patch and organic seeds for your garden from Beans Rice Revolt, a stack of breast-feeding advocacy bumper-stickers (to share!) and other natural decals from Elemental Handcrafts, a small Guatemalan sling from MayaMade, and last, but definitely not least, set of soothing foot soaks to pamper yourself with from Circle Natural Goods.

One very lucky mama will win it all! On to the rules...

**************************************************************

There are three easy ways to earn chances to win these collection of great items made by MDC mamas all over the country: Talk to us, talk about us, and shop with us! On April 15th, we'll put all of your chances to win (tickets) in a pool and randomly select one lucky person win it all!!!

How to earn tickets to go into the drawing:

1. Talk to us. Leave a comment here between April 15 and April 30. (Remember we need a way to reach you if you win, so make sure your email or blog is linked in the comment.) One comment entry per person. Comment = one ticket.

2. Talk about us. April 15 - April 30: Blog about our give-away! Leave us a comment linking to your blog. Blogging = two tickets!

3. Shop with us. April 15 - April 30: Turn your shopping habit into more chances to win! Purchase something from one of the participating stores listed and leave a note to seller that you want to be in the giveaway. $1 = one ticket. No limit!!

Participating stores to earn more chances to win are (you can also run a search for MDCSPRINGFLING to find these participating stores on etsy!):
BeansRiceRevolt
BrightBlack
Circle Natural Goods
Creations by Hippie Fairy Lover
Elemental Handcrafts
Imagination Kids
LilBees
Little Red Appleton
Little Peanut Shop
Lyneya's Toys
Michael Grace Designs
Small Town Toys
Stones of Healing
Sugar Kane Creations
Sun Anthem
Whole Mother Creations
You're Inspired
MayaMade

Thank you! Have fun shopping, good luck and Think Spring!!!

New boy dolls!

Lyneya's Toys is proud to introduce some new little friends that have just been listed!





Remember, all purchases in April can go towards are great team give-aways. Just let me know you want to enter in the "Notes to Seller". Happy shopping!

Store Closing

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade michaelgrace.etsy.com

My life circumstances are changing, and I'm closing down my Etsy Shop as a result.

Right now, everything in my shop is discounted at least 50%.

Anything you purchase, will be entered into the giveaways that we are hosting as a Etsy Street Team. (Just indicate so in the Notes to Seller when checking out)

Check out these new items at Sun Anthem; A place where magical moments are made with beautiful natural playthings.


Spring Playsilk Collection



Land and Waterway Playsilk

Nature Art Blocks

Wood Treasure Box with Mini Silk and
Baltic Amber Necklace

Come sing your Sun Anthem and see what other natural play things are sprouting this spring!
Lovin You!

Saamy/Sunanthem

Grand Opening Sale at Circle Natural Goods

SHOP GRAND OPENING --- 20% OFF EVERYTHING! For my birthday I've decided to hold my shop's Grand Opening Sale. This week only (Monday April 6 - Monday April 13) everything in my shop has been marked down. Please pass on the word!

http://circlenaturalgoods.etsy.com

Geminita's Earth Print Featured in a new Treasury!

Head on over to my newest treasury! You can find the link here. It is a gorgeous collection put together by EarthGrrrlCrafts.

Detail from Earth Mother by Carrie Abrahamsen

Spring Fling Give-away Drawing! April 1-14

The MDC Etsy Team decided that we needed to jump into spring with both feet so expect some really exciting things in April! To start it off right, we've got everyone's favorite...A Give-Away!!

We've put together all sorts of wonderful gifts for mothers and children. Check back again soon because there may even be a couple of late additions! See below for ways to enter to win ALL of the following (no purchase necessary, but it doesn't hurt!):



For the kiddos, you'll receive:
A wooden helicopter from Imagination Kids, a silk ring twirl toy and a rainbow wood bead necklace from Sun Anthem, a set of six small cars from Small Town Toys, a felt Totoro applique from Spunky Gal, pirate sandwich wrappers from Creations by Hippie Fairy Lover, a child's healing necklace from Stones of Healing, and a set of play-dough from MayaMade.


And for the hard-working mamas out there, we've got:
Bath bombs from Circle Natural Goods, beautiful bead bracelet from Little Queen Sheba, a stack of breastfeeding awareness bumper-stickers (to share!) and additional natural decals from Elemental Handcrafts, a Little Ones Sweet Dreams aromatherapy set with Need to Sleep Mist and customizable bed-time poem, and an herbal cloth trivet, both from MayaMade.

**************************************************************

There are three easy ways to earn chances to win these collection of great items made by MDC mamas all over the country: Talk to us, talk about us, and shop with us! On April 15th, we'll put all of your chances to win (tickets) in a pool and randomly select one lucky person win it all!!!

How to earn tickets to go into the drawing:

1. Talk to us. Leave a comment here between April 1 and April 14. (Remember we need a way to reach you if you win, so make sure your email or blog is linked in the comment.) One comment entry per person. Comment = one ticket.

2. Talk about us. April 1 - April 14: Blog about our give-away! Leave us a comment linking to your blog. Blogging = two tickets!

3. Shop with us. April 1 - April 14: Turn your shopping habit into more chances to win! Purchase something from one of the participating stores listed and leave a note to seller that you want to be in the giveaway. $1 = one ticket. No limit!!

Participating stores to earn more chances to win are (you can also run a search for MDCSPRINGFLING to find these participating stores on etsy!):
BeansRiceRevolt
BrightBlack
Circle Natural Goods
Creations by Hippie Fairy Lover
Elemental Handcrafts
Imagination Kids
LilBees
Little Red Appleton
Little Peanut Shop
Lyneya's Toys
Michael Grace Designs
Small Town Toys
Stones of Healing
Sugar Kane Creations
Sun Anthem
Whole Mother Creations
You're Inspired
MayaMade

Thank you! Have fun shopping, good luck and Think Spring!!!

Happy Birthday CashmereCuddles!

Etsy Buy Handmade cashmerecuddles

A Newbie’s Guide to Etsy

I’ve shopped on Etsy for years. I tried to start up a shop once a few years ago and just couldn’t keep it going after moving to another state on short notice and then going without Internet for a few months. I made a few sales before I closed up shop but I really was taking shots in the dark at what I should be doing. In starting a new Etsy store I decided to take a look around and see what kinds of resources were available to a new seller like me. Luckily, there are plenty of veteran crafters who are more than happy to share the tricks of the trade. I’ve compiled a list of things that I’ve learned myself and heard through the grape vine. Hopefully this can save you some of the trouble and start you on the way to Etsy success.

Purchase something first
If you are opening a new account to start your store you really should buy something first. This is probably the most fun part of opening your shop. Pick out a couple of items from other sellers and purchase them. You will get to see what Etsy is like from the perspective of the buyer, get some good feedback, and you’ll get the opportunity to start a friendship with another seller. Not to mention your awesome new handmade loot.

Ration your listings
I made this mistake my first time selling on Etsy and it took me close to two months to make my first sale. I just took my photos, posted all of my listings and called it a month. I missed out on the chance to have my art gracing every page of the listings and settled foolishly for the lump of my prints and paintings to be stuck at the bottom of the searches.

This time around I’ve posted something every day to every other day and boy, what a difference that has made!

Not just good, but great photos
Since you can’t pick up the things in an online store and look at them, try them on, feel the texture and weight, or smell the scent, you can only rely on what you see. Sure, a description and some measurements help, but the clarity and mood of the pictures will sell your items far better than the description ever could. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? With the ability to post 5 pictures per listing you should be set.

Get a Unique Name for your Business
This will either be so easy it’s ridiculous or so difficult it hurts. Make sure it fits your personality and the mood of the store. Don’t stick with the same username if it’s something like Winky67. Start a new account with a more suitable name and lay down new roots.

Know that outsourcing isn’t all bad
I think about becoming a graphic designer from time to time. I am tempted by the career, the salary, the growing demand for their services… Time after time I arrive at the conclusion that I just hate hate hate graphic design. I decided to paint my own banner, logo, and avatar. If I had not, though, you can bet your boots I would have hired one of the many talented designers from Etsy to take care of that for me. Know where your talent lies, and if your DIY banner doesn’t look 100% professional, outsource.

Promote your URL, not your Shop
This is perhaps one of the most important favors that a seller can do themselves in the future. Say you start your new shop to sell your funky mittens and you call it Purple Zebra Mittens. If you promote your shop for a few years and later decide to stop making the mittens and start making elegant upscale scarves you will either have to start from scratch or sell your new scarves in your inappropriately named mitten shop.

By simply paying a few dollars a year you can have a unique domain name (such as purplezebramittens.com) that points to your store. It really is a win-win situation. The domain name will be easier to remember for your customers, you look much more professional, and if you decide to change directions in the future your hard work and clientele will not go down the drain.

Think outside the box when it comes to promotion
When it comes to promoting your store there is no need to pay for expensive advertising and books on marketing. The only costs that you need to expend are for business cards, a stamp, and mailing something every few months to the folks on your mailing list. Creativity and networking should take care of the rest. Checking out the Promotion category will reap many wonderful ideas for getting your store some much deserved attention.

Write Thoughtfully
Your Shop Announcement, Profile and Listings all need to be written with much care. They need to state the facts, of course, but your personality must be conveyed clearly. Your unique voice must come through here. Shoppers on Etsy are there to support crafters and they are buying it because it was made by a real person. Looking at the written aspects of other stores helped me to see what information I needed to include.

Ship Promptly
I know that when I order online I can’t wait for my new things to arrive. I know that my customers probably feel the same way.

Follow the Golden Rule
When I was little my Mom taught me that I should treat others the way I’d like to be treated. Even when you are frustrated with a customer that you feel is being difficult, remember, you are representing your business. If you start getting angry at the keyboard it may translate in your correspondence. Walk away and come back when you feel calm and collected. You never know, that difficult customer could go back and say negative things to their friends and family that could result in losing sales. That’s not to say that you should be a doormat and let folks walk all over you. Just know that it is important to maintain your good reputation, not to mention your good karma.

Send Thank You notes to anyone and everyone who is nice to you, does something for you, helps you, or buys something from you. The investment you make is worth so much more than a postage stamp. Just put out all the goodness that you can and watch it come back twofold.

Don’t be a thief
Be unique and original, don’t rip off ideas that came from other people without their permission (or knowledge). Doing this will come back to bite you in the ass later on. Looking for inspiration and outright stealing are two different things. Respect the time and thought that others have put into their work and don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you.

Give it your all
If you want your store to be a success you must believe in your product and work your fingers to the bone. If you want part time income you must work full time, and if you want full time income you must work 24/7. Eat, breathe, sleep, and have faith in your store.

Now, go out into the world and craft your handmade business.

Geminita Featured in the Alamo City Etsy Treasury

The Alamo City Etsy Team has snagged a treasury, and I'm in it! So check it out! Click here.

The painting featured by me is Earth Mother.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Geminita.etsy.com

Geminita's Mother Art

This is an expression of the feelings I was having in the time right before I learned I was pregnant with my first son. The original is a 12" x 16" Acrylic Painting on canvas. It was layered over another painting that I had sealed back in High School with hairspray. That's what made it crack.

Earth Mother - Acrylic, 2003

Pick up a print of this by heading on over to my Etsy shop, Geminita.

Happy Birthday SugarKaneCreations!

Etsy Buy Handmade SugarKaneCreations

Wild Things at LilBees

I mentioned recently on my blog that leopard print inspires me....
So I switched the machine to black thread yesterday and look at what I've just listed!

Velour-lined diaper with a side-snapping design (great for toddlers who have figured out how to undo velcro/snaps on the front!)

Nursing pads (because you know you wanted nursing pads to match your leopard-print bra!)

Pantiliners...because every woman deserves to to walk on the wild side

All of them are part of my "It's a Jungle Out There" promotion for March: Buy any item from the themed section (including all those shown above), and get 25% off another item in the store. See LilBees shop announcement for details.

Come see our new Team Treasury

Isn't it pretty!
See it here.

new items on natural beginnings

Team Treasury

Our team has a treasury!

Come visit by clicking here!

Recent Team Goodies

Etsy Buy Handmade MDCMomsOnEtsy

Little Peanut Launches Big Sale

I'm excited to share with you that I've placed more than half of the items in my shop, Little Peanut, on sale. Discounts range from 25% to 50% off, with many items such as reversible activity aprons, pretend play items and baby care sets featuring deep discounts!

Stop on by and take peek inside my shop. I'd love to help you make your little one smile!

I ♥ Etsy

One of my other teams (the cloth diaper team) started doing a "theme of the month" series to inspire our designs, and I've taken that and carried it into all my products. This week is the beginning of the valentine's oriented "I ♥ Etsy" theme which includes a variety of hearts, flowers, reds, whites, pinks, and purples.
Here are a few of my theme of the month items (and I add more every few days!):
I'm putting all my themed-stock into one section, and best of all, when you purchase any item from this section, then you can get any other item in the store (equal/lesser value) for 25% off!

I also have a new sales & clearance section, with items up to 30% off--come check it out!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

By the way, I am one of those shops which is affected by the pending CPSIA legislation. Cloth diapers are about half of my income, so I will try to stay open with my other items, but many other members of this team are being forced to close their shops entirely. Please, contact your legislators about this bill! Some of them have begun working to make changes, but no improvements are official yet, and it's not over till it's over, so we need to keep working! If you've already contacted them, THANK YOU! Please help spread the word!

MDCMomsOnEtsy

We finally have a central team profile, which connects us all on etsy (by marking all team members as favorites, as well as featuring items from team members). MDCMomsOnEtsy currently features items from all team members who have used the tag "mdc team" in any of their listings. We'll work on getting other members added soon. ☺
A small version of this etsy-mini now appears on our sidebar (and should be updated regularly), but here is the full-size version (which will also be posted periodically).

Etsy Buy Handmade MDCMomsOnEtsy

She's Back!!

Who missed Georganne? She's one of the original members of this team, and a senior member over at MDC...well, she's back! ☺
She recently re-opened her shop The Yellow Ducky, and it's full of cloth diapering goodies, children's clothing, slings, and her yummy homemade laundry soap! So run on over and check it out!

Etsy Buy Handmade Georganne