~Etsy Greetings Team: Holiday Boutique Sales Event~

Starting November 7th the Etsy Greetings Team is hosting a holiday boutique sales event.  It is a perfect way to stock up early on your holiday greetings and get a great sales price!  The event will run until November 14th.  Each shop is featuring a different sale.  To search all of the shops go to Esty.com and use search words “egholiday”.

My shop, Sno Valley Greetings, is offering 10% off your entire order.  At check out please type in HOLIDAY10 to automatically receive the sale price. 

Happy Shopping!

~Be A Happy Camper~

Have a camping trip planned?  Here are some items you can bring on your next camping trip courtesy of the following Etsy sellers.

You definitely need some bug repellent when vacationing in the great outdoors.  If you aren’t a fan of using chemicals check out this Organic and Natural Herbal Bug Spray and Bite Soother from Sea Willow Herb’s shop.  Not in need of bug repellent?  Check out Sea Willow’s shop for other natural organic items such as body oil, lip balm, body polish, salt scrub and more!

Need a walking stick?  Check out this unique hand made Vines Walking Stick from Wyvern Studio.  Like this walking stick but interested in another design?  check out Wyvern Studio for more along with some other hand made items.

Need an easy and quick way to start a fire?  Check out these Campfire Starters from Firefly Candle Company.  The best thing about these little starters is that they are made with recycled materials.

In order to be a “Happy Camper” you need to dress the part!  Check out this Happy Camper Squirrel T-Shirt from Caustic Threads shop.  This shirt is made to order which means you can request any one of the many custom colors from Caustic Threads shop. 

Happy Camping!

Make Your Own Gift Wrap

If you are crafty and enjoy gifting hand made things then you might be interested in checking out this tutorial courtesy of DIY Network.

So you have a hand made card and gift to give.  Why not go all the way and make your own gift wrap? 

Valentine’s Day is coming up and what a personal way to wrap your special gift for that special someone.

Materials and Tools

craft paper or paper bags
high-density foam roller
acrylic paint
Flowtrol paint conditioner
paint tray
newspaper
Dressler stencils: #137 diamond tile, #612 fern
blue painter's tape
pencil
wire to make wire word or ready-made wire greeting

Steps:

1. Protect your work surface with newspaper. Lay out your sheet of paper. If using paper bags, separate them along the seam and open them up with the printed side down. Press with an iron to remove creases. You will decorate the inside of the bag.

2. Squeeze acrylic paint into the paint tray and add an equal amount of paint conditioner. Mix well. Put the roller into the paint and work out the excess on the bumpy part of the tray. Unload as much of the paint as possible so it won’t ooze under the stencil.

3. Position your stencil on the paper so that the openings hang over the edges of the paper, so that the design covers the entire sheet. Tape it into place at the corners using the blue tape. It won’t stick to the paper and cause tears. Use a pencil to mark through the registration holes at the corners of the design.

4. Start at the outer edges of the stencil and lightly roll in toward the center, adjusting your pressure on the roller as you see how the paint is reacting. Continue until the stencil is all done.

5. Reposition the stencil using the registration holes as guides and repeat the process until the sheet is covered.

6. You can use a single color or multiple colors. Overlap the repeats in different colors if you like. You can use any design you want.

7. Add a wire word greeting or design to embellish the package. Plus, in addition to the paper, you can make a matching card out of tag board or card stock.

Project designed and demonstrated by Jan Dressler.

For a link to the original project click HERE.

~Happy Anniversary Artfire, Celebrate With Free Shipping @ Cards By Jenna~

It’s official Artfire just reached their one year anniversary!  To celebrate read the message below that I received from Artfire.

Happy Anniversary ArtFire!

ArtFire officially turns one year old in November, and what a year it has been. We’ve seen amazing growth in traffic, page views, member sales, and products listed each month, ArtFire has become the second largest artisan marketplace on the internet. We are proud to report our expected one year member sales at $1.5 million dollars.  We saw a 30% increase in sales in October over September, along with 20million page views and almost 700,000 active products.

Part of ArtFire’s success has been our commitment to service and innovation.  In just 12 months we have developed industry leading selling tools such as a one button sale mode, the rapid cart remote checkout widget, the ArtFire Facebook Kiosk, coupon codes, the global product editor and more!  We are committed to providing you the best: the best service, the best platform, the best tools, and the best price. We also want to thank all of the amazing artisans in our community who have helped make ArtFire  into the venue it is today.

To celebrate our anniversary we’re happy to announce a 2010 pre-pay opportunity for our members with The ArtFire Pro 500.  In the past, many members have expressed interest in billing periods other than per month which our previous payment systems wouldn’t allow.  As we grow and upgrade our infrastructure we are happy to extend  a 2010 pre-pay offer to 500 of our artisans.  While this offer lasts, you can pay for a yearlong Pro(Verified) ArtFire.com membership for just 100$; that’s over 30% off the normal $12/mo rate.  If you’re a $7/mo charter artisan you have the option pre-pay for 2010 at your normal rate knowing that you already have the best deal we can offer.

We have more exciting features planned for year two.  You will see some of those in just the next few days.   While this first year has been many long hours and hard work for everyone here, it is all worth it to see those sales numbers and know that we are building such a strong and successful artisan community together.

Thank you for helping make the ArtFire community that it is today.

Sincerely,

 

My Artfire Anniversary is also coming up.  I opened my Cards By Jenna shop on Artfire exactly a year ago November 14, 2008.  I can’t believe it’s already been a year.  Not only that but I’ve only had 2 sales!  In order to celebrate both anniversary dates I will be offering free shipping on all orders to the USA and Canada.  Stock up on cards now before this free shipping offer is over.  Offer ends November 30th.  Thanks for stopping by!

~New Year, New Goals?~

Some may think that with the New Year comes goals and resolutions.  Others might ring in the new year with the same goals as the last and yet others believe that new years resolutions just never work!  

With that said, I don't make resolutions.  I believe goals are much easier to obtain.  My goals this year for my card shop is to sell, sell, sell!  Selling cards on etsy and artfire is not my full time job and is a hobby for me.  It's a creative outlet and a favorite past time.  If I make any money at all I end up using my profit for more supplies!  I get so excited when I sell one item. 

Hopefully my shop sales with go up soon because I really am running out of storage space for all my new card creations. :-)  If not my friends and family will be getting a bunch of freebies soon. Of course if you see something you like from my shop put it in your shopping cart, rarely do I make the same design twice.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and...

Happy 2009 From Seattle!

~Jenna

PS:  Stop by my shop, purchase a card or set, and receive a free gift!  Just mention the code "2009 Goals" in the notes to seller.  

This includes sales from both of my shops: http://cardsbyjenna.etsy.com and http://cardsbyjenna.artfire.com.

~Featured EtsyBlogger Member Of The Month - December - Spotted Cow Soaps~

Congrats to Spotted Cow Soaps for being the EtsyBloggers Street Team Member of the month for December! There is still plenty of time to shop before the holidays and Spotted Cow has the perfect soap delicacies for all the people on your shopping list. Here are a few of my favorites from Spotted Cow's shop:

This Bay Rum Soap is made especially for the guys in your life. Who says soaps are for girls? This classic scent is Clean, Spicy, & Masculine. Your man will love taking a shower with this one, and you will love how he smells when he's done! Who could ask for anything more?

For the kiddies! Check out this adorable Ladybug croched with 100% cotton yarn. The special recipent can use this ladybug as a bath mitt for bathtime washing, or play with her as though she's a puppet. She comes with a bar of yummy Fruit Tonic Glycerin Soap to make bath time fun! If you would like to add some lotion and make a complete gift set check out this Fruit Tonic Lotion.

Yummy! Chocolate! What a great stocking stuffer for the chocoholic on your holiday shopping list. Check out this Delicious Chocolate Whipped Sugar Scrub. Need a matching bath puff to go with this sugar scrub? Spotted Cow has the perfect matching Chocolate Brown Bath Puff handmade with 100% organic yarn. If you would like a different color contact Spotted Cow through her shop or her blog: http://spottedcowsoaps.blogspot.com/.