Calendar Tutorial Roundup

I thought that it would be a fun idea for New Year's Day to put together this roundup of cute calendars you can make yourself. 

Nancy Morgan over at Paper Smiles made this adorable desk calendar tutorial.  I just love this.  This idea would really make a nice addition to your Christmas Cards.  You could even use a photo instead of the stamping.  For all of my sewers out there, you could use charm squares instead of the card stock for the accent papers.  How cute would that be.  By the way, you should really check out the Paper Smiles blog if you love papercrafting.   It is loaded with great ideas.

Catherine Cote at CeeCee's Creations made this great mini calendar tutorial.  Everyone knows how much I love minis.  This would really make a fun little project to tuck into stockings for next year or a great teacher gift.  Plus, I am seeing a scrap box project here that might help me get rid of all of those tiny scraps of card stock I am currently hoarding ;).   

Kelly over at AllThingsMadebyKelly made this totally fun little desk calender tutorial.  I especially love that she used recycled materials to create it. This would really be a fun teen project.  Just add some cheap stickers and they could really glam it up.  I'm also thinking that you could put a scrapbooked photo mat into to front of the cover so that it could be a little photo frame after the year is over. 

Angela Fehr from Scraps From My Table made up a tutorial for one of my personal favorite calendar projects, the cookie sheet calendar.  I have probably made about 20 of these.  None of them have looked as nice as hers and I made them a little differently (I used my xeron magnetic cartridge to make magnets). 

Naptime Crafts made this really sweet countdown calendar for Halloween.  I think that the same idea could be applied to any holiday or birthday.  Click here to check out the countdown calendar tutorial.

Some Fun Little Winter Sewing Tutorials

Ruffles and Stuff posted this totally cute sewing tutorial for a scarf applique t-shirt dress.  I would probably make a couple of changes - like maybe using some cute charm pack for the scarf and possibly doing the dress in a darker color t-shirt because Kamille trashes white within minutes.  But, it is so cute.  I will be making one. 

Happy Together put together this little scrunchy scarf sewing tutorial - it's more of a how to than a step-by-step photo tutorial of how to scrunch up scarves.  Basically, you stitch with elastic thread in the bobbin of your machine.  She used a straight stitch down the scarf, but when I did this before, I did a zigzag across the scarf.  Try different patterns to see what you like.  Anyway, this is a great project to remake scarves you may already have.  Another nice thing about this concept is that it really shortens the scarf.  So, you could take an adult scarf and make it shorter for a child. 


Look Ma, No Patterns came up with the great little tutorial on a simple muff pattern.  I do like a nice old school muff.  It is especially nice for holiday portraits.  Plus, these are very simple to sew.  She uses fleece, but you could easily sub faux fur or upcycle an old real fur coat you make have in the closet. 

Promoting Your Etsy Shop

Lisa & I are so new to selling on etsy that we have been really focused on finding new ways to promote our shop and to ge the word out about it. 

I have to admit that there are so many things that I loved and will miss about ebay, mostly in the ease of listing and creating similar listings, the ability to list so many photos in the listings, and the sophistication of the search engine.

But, I finally decided to do some serious research on how to promote our etsy shop.  So, I decided to actually look at each of the applications available through etsy.  http://developer.etsy.com/applications is where you will find the apps.  The easy way to get there is to go to the bottom left of "your etsy" and click "applications".

Automatically Renew Listings 

With etsy you really are searching by default of newly listed.  So, unless you decide to make the most or least expensive items, you have to make sure that you list often. 

This is a real pain in the rump unless you use the awesome tool called clockbot from statsy.org. 

This tool will allow you to schedule listing renewals.  I cannot tell you how great this is.  We have already seen huge benefits from this is just a couple of days.  Instead of going onto etsy twice a day and renewing 5 items, Lisa is spacing the items out for renewal every hour and it is really boosting sales.  http://statsy.org/clockbot.php will take you directly to the tool.  Statsy also has a tool that will email you if you are featured on the front page of etsy, tell you who your biggest fans are, and track your listing views (you can see how many times each item is viewed and hearted).

Create a Sale

Previously, to create a sale you had to either change the prices manually, create a bogo, or give free shipping.  Now, with this awesome NEW app. you can actually put items on sales for fixed periods of time.

Etsy on sale is AWESOME.  I mean it.  Now shops can actually run sales.  Our shop is having a sale right now that I posted on facebook, our blog, and twitter.  I love this new app.  Finally, etsy fans are coming up with some serious apps to help out sellers.

Email Marketing

 

Etsy teamed up with mailchimp to create a free promotional emails for your store.  Lisa and I actually used this to create an email promotional flier that we send out with every sale that links to our blog, twitter, facebook, and newest, hottest items in our etsy shop.  I can tell you that this has increased our blog traffic. 

Copy Listings

Etsyhacks has some great tools.   Specifically, there is a tool that helps you copy content from one listing into a new listing.  This is nice if you sell lots of similar items.  How many descriptions can you really write about a paper bag album?  Really? 

Just for Fun

http://www.craftcult.com/ has a fun app, the heartomatic.  It shows you who likes you and what they like.  Which is a great way to determine what listings are going to get renewed by clockbot.  We pick listings that are getting lots of traffic and lots of hearts to draw people into the shop. 

Other Resources

Facebook and twitter are both ways to promote your shop.  For facebook you can install etsy mini on your facebook page (which is a mini etsy shop that shows your items.)  You can also make a page that all of your friends and customers can like.  Maybe Lisa can do a post on this and show you our boutique page on facebook.  I didn't do any of that, so I truly don't know how to, but I do know that it drives traffic to our shop and to our blog. 

Twitpic is another fun app from twitter that lets you tweet a photo.  I like to take pics of our new products from my cell phone when they are finished and tweet about them. 

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/ is a great way to showcase your crafty skills.  You can list projects you have made, put together tutorials, and enter crafting contests.  I also love looking at the hot 20 on this site to get a feel for what it new and excting in the crafting community.  People like your projects and can share them on facebook and twitter. 

Treasuries

Make treasuries on etsy and share them on your blog.  With every treasury we make we end up with sales and new fans of our etsy shop and our blog.  Lisa had the brilliant idea to let people know via convo that we featured them in an treasury and on our blog.  It is a great way to help other sellers, make interesting blog content, and bring people into your shop. 

Feature the treasuries on your blog with http://www.whalesharkwebsites.com/tools/treasury.php.  It's that app I am using below to feature this treasury of etsy newbies on our blog.

'Pop Their Etsy Cherry' by c1h8r9is

Yes, I know that my title is a little on the vulgar side, but it's also fitting because these are all sellers just waiting, hoping, lusting after that first sale. Since I just did a blog post about using the great tools on etsy to increase shop sales, I wanted to give a helping hand to some newbies. This treasury is posted on our blog www.boutiqueit.blogspot.com as well.

The Element of Wate... treetalker $16.00	Cherries ACEO Frame... AmyVanGaasbeck... $35.00	Multicolor pendant ... Yarellespinoza $30.00	BIRTHDAY GIRL BOW NewMommi $7.00
Kerrin Damask whimsicaldezig... $79.00	Georgina Brooch NonaCraft $39.00	Jean - Save the Dat... SweetAzaleaBou... $20.00	Metal Laundry Cloth... ShellyNewYork $14.95
Vintage Inspired Be... MadaboutMaybel $12.00	Cute wool felt red ... sugarplumfairy... $10.00	Pinky Promise LazyDaisyCreat... $15.00	10 dollars OFF. Bab... babywearing $25.00
Mad about Plaid CorumFray $23.00	90-16 Pewter Baby ... blackfishpewte... $10.00	Scandinavian Pewter... BlessSomebody $65.00	$

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D is For Darts

When sewing garments and accessories darts are an essential technique to master in order to create a great fit/shape. Darts can be straight or curved depending on desired effect. A straight dart will give you an easier, looser fit while a curved dart will be more form fitting.

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Check out this tutorial on one of my personal favorite sites, Sew Mama Sew. This blog is amazing! Full of great tips, tricks, and tutorials. I have to admit I like to check it out every day! It goes over the importance of darts in the fit of a garment with and easy to follow picture tutorial and instructions. The triangle areas seen in the photo below represent the actuall dart placement on the garment pieces, in this case a dress. Darts will be used in this instance to take in the fabric where each dart is placed to create a formed fit.

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eHow has a great, easy to follow tutorial for sewing darts into any fabric project.

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Joanna over at Stardust Shoes has a great tutorial showing you how to take in your pants using butt darts.

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Check out this fun and elegant pleated bag tutorial from Lisa Lam (which is funny because that's my name too!!) at U Handbag. With a change of fabric, this would be perfect for a wedding or holiday party. In this instance, the darts give the bag a fun shape and detail.

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Threads Magazine has a great video collection. Included in this collection are two videos that would be useful for marking darts and sewing darts in your fabric projects. This collection is a super valuable tool for novice and intermediate sewers.

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Happy Crafting!

Green Cleaning: Tips, Tricks, Products and Recipes

I'm not sure if it was the 5 hours I spent cleaning and reorganizing my daughter's room this morning or the day I spent working at the preschool cleaning everything with harsh chemicals, but I was inspired to do a post with some of my favorite green cleaning recipes and some great green cleaning products. 

5 Green Cleaning Basics

The basic ingredients in green cleaning are:

1. Baking Soda
2. Borax
3. Soap
4. Washing Soda
5. White Vinegar or Lemon Juice

Ecocycle has many great basic recipes for green cleaning products made from the above ingredients.  Click here for their free green cleaning recipes.

Green Laundry

Vinegar is great for almost any laundry stain.  If I have a tough stain, I put on vinegar and let it soak.  Sometimes a combination of vinegar and baking soda is what it takes. 

Another crazy laundry stain idea to get out tar is to rub butter on it.  This actually works by the way because my daughter sat in tar in a brand new outfit at the park.  Butter and soap took all of the tar out.

A great basic green laundry detergent recipe is:

1 gallon of hot water
1/2 bar of soap (like ivory or some other non-perfumes soap) - grated
1 cups Baking soda

Over Medium High heat melt the soap in 2 cup of hot water.  Once it's melted mix in the remaining gallon of hot water.  Then add the baking soda.  Allow it to coll and then you can store it in an old milk jug or plastic coffee can.  Use 1/2 cup per  load or 1 cup for heavily soiled laundry.

For a more environmentally responsible green version of fabric refresher try spritzing your clothing with a couple of spritzes of vodka and than allowing the item to air out.  Vodka kills odor causing bacteria and the smell of the vodka will dissipate quickly. 

For more green laundry solutions and free green laundry detergent recipes check out Tipnut.com.

Furniture Polish - Black Tea



Strange but true, you can polish your furniture with black tea.  Steep a pot of black tea with several tea bags.  Allow it to cool and then polish furniture with a cotton cloth dipped in the cooled tea.  Tannic acid will remove residue and build-up on furniture.

Household Deodorizers

First, get some plants.  House plants clean the air in your home and help reduce odors. 

You can place out dishes of lemon juice and baking soda to absorb smells. 

For cooking odors you can boil a little vinegar and water on the stove while you are cooking and you can clean off cooking utensils and cutting boards with vinegar after cooking with fish or other seafood. 

I also love to boil cinnamon sticks and whole cloves on the stove if I am having a party or make some hot spiced cider to full the whole house with great smells.

Deodorize carpeting and floors with baking soda.  I even use this try on my hardwood.  I sprinkle some baking soda on the floor and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes (sometime I leave it overnight).  Then vacuum or mop it up. 

Great Green Products

For everyone who doesn't have the time to actually make their own green cleaning items, I found some great products on etsy.  

'Green Clean' by c1h8r9is

Large Wool Dryer Ba... greenbelledesi... $16.00	Fresh Bamboo Handma... sweetsnthings $4.50	Reusable Swiffer Cl... SassmowthDesig... $23.45	CLEAN AND HEALTHY P... YourSecretIngr... $6.95
26 Bird-E Towels (e... AthenaCreates $25.00	Vegan Natural Laund... showertreatsoa... $5.00	Do it all Cleaner -... lapetitevie $7.00	Six Apple Dish Scru... peacoxcreation... $14.50
eco-scrubby (handm... EarthToGert $11.10	Laundry dryer bags MeadowValleycr... $4.00	SALE Lemongrass Sag... BungalowBathBo... $4.00	Soap Nuts Natural L... lostcabin $25.00
Organic Hand Saniti... GardenofHolly $8.50	Dish/Wash Cloths - ... magnoliasurpri... $10.00	Set of 5, Fleece Wa... MitsuyoDay $17.00	Ecofriendly All Nat... picnicbasketcr... $4.85

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