If you have visited this blog before, you will notice some of the changes I have made in the page format. I added my profile information to the end of each blog for two reasons. One, because I haven't been able to change it. (Blogger seems to force the same profile across all the blogs you start here... I am trying to find a solution for that.) And two, because I decided to include my Working Together (WT) links to the reference section. The profile I made for my WT blog many years ago reflects the meaning behind Working Together.
I suppose Working Together is connected to almost everything I do...even crafts. For most of my life I wanted to be an at-home mom, so when my kids came, even though I was a single parent, I tried to find a way to create income at home. My efforts were never as successful as I wanted them to be -- NEEDED them to be! -- but I kept looking. I am hoping to find ways to help other parents to work from home, with greater success than I had.
It is part of my efforts for Working Together - to create income opportunities to replace the ones Christians are expected to lose as the End Times progress toward the Antichrist. I am always looking for products that will help fund WT's goals and programs, especially income, employment, and member survival benefits like financial options, shelter, food, etc. Crafts will become a part of that survival picture -- we will need to make most of what we need.
On the current blog, I still have issues with the Etsy shop widget from craftcult.com. It is way larger than I would like it to be. When I first noticed a craftcult widget on another site, it was a lot smaller on the page. I haven't been able to find that smaller size yet. It will be changed when I finally do. :-) If you know where to find one, please share that information with me in the comments section below.
I like the Treasury widget because it replaced the revolving one from Blogger that I had before, which had nothing to do with me or my activities. I love the talent and creative products I find on Etsy. I like to share them. I hope you will explore the ones you notice in the treasuries I will place there as the months go by. (To view the individual items at their shop listing, you just have to click on the photo.)
Another change I made was the amount of blogs you see when you arrive. I didn't like the long list of blog entries. As I was looking around the Blogger options, I discovered the ability to limit the number of posts readers see. I chose one. I hope this will work out better for readers, too. Printing information is important to me. Blogger allows better printing than some blogs I have found. Having one post available at any one time will make printing easier.
The length of each blog is another element I have been trying to work out. I think two printed, back-to-back pages of reasonably reduced text is enough for one blog. It makes for easier storage and referencing, too. One of my current efforts is to figure out how much blog to write, and how much writing and photos will keep me within that goal. If the topic is especially important, or needs more space, then it won't matter. But for most of my blogging, I want to keep the length at a reasonable limit.
Blogging is a big commitment of time and thought. I want to make sure WT is able to share information to its members and others in the public. This is why I am breaking my blogs into topics. Eventually, each topic will be written on when something needs to be shared. How to organize this is another work in progress. :-)
I hope you don't mind my sharing these changes and why they are being made. It is my process, but I think sharing that process may help others who are wondering what it would be like to start blogging. Each week I am getting better at the process myself, and hope you will bear with me as I improve. Thanks... if GOD allows, I will be handing off the duties of Working Together and focus on my own blogging at a personal level. Right now I am doing what I can to create the basics.
In Christ.
Deb
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Friday, February 13, 2015
13 FEB 2015 :: Widgets to help you sell
You can see some changes to the blog page if you have been here before...
I discovered two "widgets" to try... both for my Etsy shop... one shows my listings and looks like it will lead the viewer to a purchase, if they want to buy something they see... the other one displays a chosen Treasury that is associated with my shop. I also placed the shop widget on my website for Working Together. It is an exciting new discovery for me, which I have been sharing as much as I could.
I have been trying to increase my shop listings for some time, but all the other things I have to get done seem to distract me. I am working to set up specific "Studio" hours for building up my inventory, but haven't decided which hours to commit to. I am, however, changing my sleeping pattern and trying to reach a work day schedule of 6am to 10pm... meaning I will go to bed at ten and start my work-related activities about 6. I may start setting my alarm for either 4am or 5am...to let me regain my personal Bible time and to listen to a radio program with Praise and Worship music at 5am. This seems like a lot of thought about simple events, but committing to a schedule as a person that works at home is really an important decision.
I am excited that this widget for my shop listings is inspiring me to make more listings. It will go through up to 200 of them. I am wondering how long it would take me to reach that level. :-)
The TREASURY widget is important because it is replacing that revolving display I had earlier. It shows Etsy products that I personally like, and it allows me to share what other sellers are making. For my blog, that diversity is a way to reflect my purpose.
All of this is making my crafts blog more of an Etsy adventure...but time will help me to decide how I want to handle the craft sharing process. Many of the Etsy shops lead to other places via their blogs and other social media links. It is a big world. There are many talented creative people to discover.
For my website, I am trying to find the smaller version of this widget. I first noticed it at a Russian site I linked to... I think it was Russian, it was over there somewhere. It would be much better as a smaller item. The larger version is fine for my blog.
I haven't explored all the links on the widgets, or the buying process through this widget. I will be doing that in the days to come. If there are any problems, I may update this post with the information or I may put the information in a new post.
You can explore all the options available at the widget site ( craftcult.com ) for yourself... If you know anyone that can benefit by this marketing option, share this blog link with them so they can see how it looks and click through the links.
Don't forget to also click the follow button for this blog to keep up with updates. It's at the networkedblogs.com section by the archives.
Happy Marketing !!!
I discovered two "widgets" to try... both for my Etsy shop... one shows my listings and looks like it will lead the viewer to a purchase, if they want to buy something they see... the other one displays a chosen Treasury that is associated with my shop. I also placed the shop widget on my website for Working Together. It is an exciting new discovery for me, which I have been sharing as much as I could.
I have been trying to increase my shop listings for some time, but all the other things I have to get done seem to distract me. I am working to set up specific "Studio" hours for building up my inventory, but haven't decided which hours to commit to. I am, however, changing my sleeping pattern and trying to reach a work day schedule of 6am to 10pm... meaning I will go to bed at ten and start my work-related activities about 6. I may start setting my alarm for either 4am or 5am...to let me regain my personal Bible time and to listen to a radio program with Praise and Worship music at 5am. This seems like a lot of thought about simple events, but committing to a schedule as a person that works at home is really an important decision.
I am excited that this widget for my shop listings is inspiring me to make more listings. It will go through up to 200 of them. I am wondering how long it would take me to reach that level. :-)
The TREASURY widget is important because it is replacing that revolving display I had earlier. It shows Etsy products that I personally like, and it allows me to share what other sellers are making. For my blog, that diversity is a way to reflect my purpose.
All of this is making my crafts blog more of an Etsy adventure...but time will help me to decide how I want to handle the craft sharing process. Many of the Etsy shops lead to other places via their blogs and other social media links. It is a big world. There are many talented creative people to discover.
For my website, I am trying to find the smaller version of this widget. I first noticed it at a Russian site I linked to... I think it was Russian, it was over there somewhere. It would be much better as a smaller item. The larger version is fine for my blog.
I haven't explored all the links on the widgets, or the buying process through this widget. I will be doing that in the days to come. If there are any problems, I may update this post with the information or I may put the information in a new post.
You can explore all the options available at the widget site ( craftcult.com ) for yourself... If you know anyone that can benefit by this marketing option, share this blog link with them so they can see how it looks and click through the links.
Don't forget to also click the follow button for this blog to keep up with updates. It's at the networkedblogs.com section by the archives.
Happy Marketing !!!
Saturday, February 07, 2015
6 FEB 2015 :: Extraordinary Embroidery
I have discovered a large number of really great crafts and talented creators since I have become a seller at Etsy. In my personal browsing through forums and networking games, I noticed the photo below. I don't remember seeing anything this beautiful in embroidery.
The crafter is Lorna Bateman and she lives in the United Kingdom. The item shown in the photo has been sold, but there are other examples of her work at this link . She offers kits to learn how to do this kind of art. I am not familiar with "stumpwork," which may be the European name for it, but it is beautiful.
I could have searched for and posted many more examples of these kinds of embroidery... but I stopped myself with these.
The crafter is Lorna Bateman and she lives in the United Kingdom. The item shown in the photo has been sold, but there are other examples of her work at this link . She offers kits to learn how to do this kind of art. I am not familiar with "stumpwork," which may be the European name for it, but it is beautiful.
This is a kit for an English Needlecase in Lorna's shop.
I discovered the next photos on Facebook posts. Most of the creators seems to be in the area of Russia and Ukraine. I wasn't able to tell if these are created from kits or made totally by the artists, but talent is still required to make these beautiful finished artworks. I doubt I would be able to make anything near the quality of these works. I hope you like these designs as much as I did. You can follow the links to find more samples of this craft.
This is her cover photo since 31 JAN 2015.
Aren't the beaded berries wonderful.
This photo has another name on it,
but came from Tetiana's page, I think.
Isn't it beautiful.... so fragile, muted, elegant.
This photo identified the strawberries
as an example of "crewel" embroidery.
Posted on Tetiana's FB page;
photo from Mehtap Gacar's FB page.
I thought these ribbon roses made this look elegant, special.
This looks like a wedding necklace....
Julya Vorontsova
FB post on 3 FEB 2015;
Tetiana Korobeinyk photo
I could have searched for and posted many more examples of these kinds of embroidery... but I stopped myself with these.
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