Search results (tags) for: "tools"

The Etsy Seller Handbook: All Our How-To's About Selling

2009-11-04T21:45:00-05:00

Sellers!

Below you'll find a handy index of all the useful How-To's about selling on Etsy. We're calling it the Seller Handbook, and we first posted it on the Storque in September of 2007. We'll be adding all new how-to's for sellers to this index and bumping up the post when we do. In this way it's a living document.

You can also search the Storque tags for "Seller Handbook" for a chronological list of all our published how-to's related to Selling.

Your Shop 101: How-To's for Getting Started on Etsy
Start with this one: Etsy Success for Beginner Sellers!
Please also see the Setting Up Shop Help Guide, Selling Dos and Don'ts, Selling FAQs, Listing an Item Help Guide, Etsy Guide to SEO.

[image by Artsy]

Photography How-To's

[image by CarolinaCottage]

Etsy International How-To's (plus How-To's translated into foreign languages)

[image by T woHiddenHeads]

Alchemy and Custom/Reserved Listing How-To's

[image by moxiethrift]

Shipping How-To's

[image by missplum]

Advertising How-To's
Please also see the Showcase Help Guide.

[image by Earmark]

Business and Pricing How-To's

[image by NewDuds]

Promoting & Marketing How-To's

[image by DancingMooney]

Craft Show & Events How-To's

[image by photohale]

Gallery Go-getter Series

[image by MiNDJACKET]

Social Networking, Blogging, Podcasting & Video-making How-To's

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Handmade Code (Third Party Applications from the Etsy Developer Community)

"Etsy Addict" iPhone Application
Craft Cult (a site that let's you track your hearts and where you've been featured, plus more)
ColorMatch from 26OliveStreet (a tool that suggests items that fit along your color palette)
EtsyHacks (a suite of tools for sellers — "Copy Listing" is particularly handy)
Morecloth (an application that lets you browse fabric on Etsy by color)
Sellit.com (a service that helps you spread the word about your shop)
Soopsee (an easy-to-use website building service that enables you to feed in your Etsy shop, blog, etc.)
Tag Finder Tool from Craftweasel.com (one of this developer's many applications the Tag Finder gives sellers insights into what tags might be appropriate for their items)

[image by houseofharriet]

Legal Info for Artists

[image by jessgonacha]

Tagging How-To's

[image by Anda]

Team Tips Handbook

See all the how-to's relating to Teams, groups of sellers who self-organize by location or craft.

[image by iheartmoustaches]

All about Etsy & Site Features

We have to close comments here because the page is taking too long to load! So if you have additional tips, please post in this Forum thread.

If you'd like to write a how-to for the Seller Handbook, pitch to the Storque editors.

Handmade Code: Sellit.com

2009-10-23T15:00:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Katie (pictured below at a toga party!) tells us all about their application available at Sellit.com.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
We created Sellit to provide sellers with an easier way to display and discuss their handmade, vintage, or supplies in places they’re already hanging out and having conversations like Facebook, blogs and even Twitter. Also, we thought it was important to not reinvent the ecommerce wheel by asking you to upload more product images or designs in yet another shop. Sellit works with what you already have.

Sellit is already helping thousands of other online merchants gain the extra visibility and buzz, and now we have made the application available to Etsy sellers. The basic premise behind Sellit was to complement or add to what you’re already doing to create awareness for your shop‘s items.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
To get started, just visit www.Sellit.com and be ready with your personal Etsy shop address (http://www.username.etsy.com). You simply copy and paste that into the open text box at the top of the page and click Get Started. You can just plug in your existing Etsy shop and let us handle the setup for you.

After you register, you’re ready to go. It’s exactly the same as your original Etsy shop but now ready for additional activities like sharing to Facebook, easily tying product links to Twitter posts, blogs, advertising, etc.

How do you use it?
So let’s talk about this “Share” thing. In the bottom left corner of each Sellit Mini-Shop there is a Share button. If you click this, you’ll see all the places you can instantly share or discuss your shop’s products. Our motto: Why have one shop location when you can have hundreds? And we’re not kidding! Friends, supporters or customers who love your products can easily add your Etsy Mini-Shop to their social network pages or blogs too.

There are three ways to begin using your account to loop in friends, customers or like-minded folks:
1. Click-n-Post: As long as you are logged into your Facebook or MySpace account, Sellit will post your Mini-Shop directly into your profile where all your friends can see it, and yes, you get to choose what section or page you would like it to appear on. You can also copy and paste or grab the html code to embed it onto your blog or personal website.

2. Shout It! (When logged in): Using today’s most popular micro-blogging sites like Twitter and Plurk and places you can update your status like Facebook and Friendfeed, Sellit allows you to type a short sentence at the top of your admin screen where is says “What’s new with your shop?” After typing your sentence, you then click Shout It to update your selected destination with relevant posts about your products. We even include a short url linking to your items as not to take up the precious limited characters in Twitter, etc. Your buyers and customers can also "Shout” about your products from any Mini-Shop location wherever it’s been shared. You can even bookmark your new Etsy Mini-Shop to sites like Del.icio.us, Diigo and Reddit to help with SEO. Sellit allows you to administer all your social media outlets from one location. It’s all about simplicity and saving you time. For more info on this, check the Shout FAQ.

3. Copy & Paste: Just in case you want to point people to your Mini-Shop or link to it in a blog post or email blast, we make it easy for you to find.

So that’s the skinny on sharing. If you would like more info, check out the Selling Online 101 FAQ.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
For those of you wanting maybe a little more, Sellit now has some additional features for you to check out:

AdPAK: Imagine being able to turn your Etsy Mini-Shop into an instant advertisement without all of the normal advertising headaches. With no advertisement design needed, the Sellit AdPAK advertises your products or items on the best sites possible so you don’t have to lift a finger. Check out the AdPAK FAQ.

Sellit PRO: Everyone can use Sellit Basic for free, but if you desire even more visibility and marketing for your shop, Sellit Pro is for you. You’ll have access to automated Twitter and Facebook marketing, advertising and statistics and at least 3000 additional placements of your Sellit products. Check out the Sellit Pro FAQ.

Premium Shout: Just like Sellit Basic, everyone gets to use the manual Shout for free, but with Premium Shout everything is automated and you have access to advanced options for posting sales, new products or upcoming events.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
In case you have any additional questions, concerns or just need a little help, we are here for you 24/7 (by way of UserVoice) to get you the answers you need. Plus we really like talking to our users. Just look on the very left hand side of any Sellit page for the Feedback button. You can also follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our blog (we feature Etsy sellers!) and become a fan of our Facebook page.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
We love hearing from sellers who use it. Here's what a couple of them had to say:

“LOVE your Sellit network! I've been able to quickly post to Twitter, Facebook and my blog using your product AND I love how you guys promote all over the place! Less time promoting and more time sewing and selling — I'm all for that!! It's so easy to use! Love the layout! I'm just there!”
- Charlotte Blackwell, Bizzie*Lizzie*Creations

"Sellit is easy to set up and use. Within minutes I had a free personalized Mini-Shop that seamlessly integrated with my shop. Sellit easily supports the admin side of my business; from my workbench I can simply send one shout (message) across multiple networks. Less time on the computer gives me more time to work on my craft."
- Marcella Austenfeld, Good To Go Jewelry

Anything else you'd like to add?
On average, 40% of the people who interact with your Etsy Mini-Shop should convert to additional sales leads. In the Related Items below, find some Etsy shops who are already using Sellit.

Have you used Sellit? Post in the comments below!

Framing for the Future: The Starving Artist’s Guide to Framing

2009-09-21T10:45:00-05:00

If you are a 2-D artist like myself, you probably have more artwork than you know what to do with (that’s why we are here on Etsy, right?). The question is, how to put it all on the wall looking smart and professional without breaking the bank? Appearance makes a difference in how your artwork is perceived, so it is well worth the effort to make the highest quality presentation.

The main factors to consider when framing are conservation, aesthetics, and cost. I’ve discussed conservation in a previous Storque article. lauratrevey wrote a great article about making good aesthetic decisions when framing. Here are a few more pointers on how, with a little forethought and planning, you can present art beautifully without the costliness of custom framing.

The most important thing I’ve learned over the last few years is to think about framing options when (or even before) I am beginning a piece. This tip may seem restrictive to your artistic muse, but if you are running a business, muse and profit margin have to find a way to compromise. It pays to think about the size and proportions of your artwork in advance.

Get to know the common standard frame sizes (11x14, 12x16, 16x20, 18x24, etc.), and make images of suitable proportions. I try not to make drawings that are of unusual proportions (for example: very long and skinny), and I now build my canvases to these standard sizes so that if I don’t have time to build a frame or money for custom framing I can easily and inexpensively put them in a pre-made frame.

For canvases, you can often get away without framing them at all, but again, thinking ahead can help you as you choose materials and begin work.

You can staple the canvas on the back, use gallery wrap canvases (deeper stretcher bars with staples on the back), or tape the edges to keep them a clean white. If you decide to forgo a frame, make sure the sides of the canvas are clean, without staples or paint blobs.

My favorite way to present canvases is in floater frames so that every millimeter of my painting is visible. Because there isn’t a mat as with works on paper, sometimes regular frames seem to crowd an image on canvas.

Whether you work on paper or on canvas (stretched or unstretched), here is an important message: Make sure your images/canvases are square! Checking to see if your canvas is square is easy: simply measure diagonally from opposite corners, then measure diagonally across the other two corners; those two numbers should be exactly the same. If they aren’t, take the extra time NOW to make them square; you run the risk of your painting not being able to fit into a square frame, and having to be re-stretched. Even if you aren’t planning on framing now — someone else may decide to frame your work later, and you wouldn’t want a collector to grumble over your shoddy craftsmanship!

If you stretch or build your own canvases, it only takes a few minutes to knock your stretcher bars into place so that your canvas is made of four 90-degree angles.

Some painters stretch their canvases after painting the image — or even sell their canvases unstretched. Painting on an unstretched canvas has a lot of advantages, especially when it comes to transporting the art for shipping, etc. But once again, take the time to measure out a perfect right-angled rectangle on your canvas or paper. It may seem “limiting” to your “artistic expression” now to be so precise and take those extra minutes before diving into the work, but if you have to crop large portions of your painting in order to make it fit on a stretcher or under a mat because of its funny angles, that will be TRULY limiting.

Last but not least, if you work small, ask your local frame store for their scraps of matboard and foamcore. They are often happy to help out local artists or teachers with their small unusable pieces. As well as using scraps of 100% cotton ragboard (100% acid-free) for mats, I also draw and paint on them! Frame stores are also a great source for large cardboard and artwork-shaped boxes for storage and shipping.

Michelle Arnold Paine is a painter and art teacher living in Massachusetts. Her part-time job as a custom framer has given her valuable experience to share with her fellow artists. She takes great care in crafting her artworks from creation to presentation.

Read Michelle's Previous Post | Artistic Endeavors Series

PayPal Workshop in Etsy's Virtual Labs

2009-09-17T10:22:00-05:00

On August 31, 2009, PayPal customer service representatives Deb and Tim hosted a live Virtual Labs chat to answer sellers' questions about PayPal and walk Etsy sellers through some of the features and tools that PayPal offers. If you missed the workshop, you can watch clips below and check out the links that were shared by the PayPal team.

1: Verifying Payment

How do you know you received payment from a buyer? Tim walks you through the multiple ways to find out. You can even use PayPal's download log feature to view your transactions in a spreadsheet or in software like Quicken or Quickbooks. For more information: Downloadable History.

2. Shipping and Seller Protection

Tip: When shipping on your PayPal invoice is incorrect, it's often a problem in your PayPal account settings. If you need to revise the invoice for the customer, go to your PayPal account and click on "request money."
Then, be sure to enable transaction-based override:
    1.    Log in to your account at http://www.paypal.com/.
    2.    Go to My Account > Profile > Shipping calculations (in the Selling Preferences column)
    3.    Select the Shipping Method and click Edit
    4.    Select Yes for "Use the shipping fee in the transaction instead of my calculator's settings" and press Save Changes.
Please note that if you have not set up any Shipping Calculations in PayPal, the default is to override shipping methods per transaction. (You should not need to change anything.)

3. Types of PayPal Accounts

Ever wonder whether you should upgrade to a Premium or Business PayPal account? Tim explains the benefits of each account. Helpful Links: PayPal Account Types & Which account is right for you?

4. Refunds

Want to know how to send a full or partial refund through PayPal? Or how fees work when refunding payment? Watch the video above. Helpful link: How to Send a Refund.

If you have another PayPal question that wasn't answered here you can probably find an answer in one of three ways:

PayPal Help Center
Ask Sarah — an automated PayPal customer service rep
Contact PayPal by phone or email

Want to attend a Virtual Labs workshop? Learn more about our online meeting space here.

Listen to the audio podcast of Deb Popek's last PayPal Virtual Lab here: Seller How-To: PayPal Coming to Etsy Virtual Labs!

Etsy's PayPal FAQs | PayPal Tips for Sellers | Etsy's Seller Handbook

Handmade Code: Tag Finder Tool from Craftweasel.com

2009-09-04T13:15:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Martin Jones tells us all about his Tag Finder tool, just one of the applications he's developed for his website Craftweasel.com.

Photography has been a hobby of mine for a while, and at the start of this year I set up an Etsy shop called redrowstudio for my photographic prints. At the same time, I was taking the photos for my partner's shop, thedoghouse. My day job is in computational biology, and I do a lot of programming, so straight away I started thinking of ways to use the data from Etsy's API to make useful tools. The first thing I built was the Personal Shopper tool — I've been interested for a while in recommendation systems, and I thought that Etsy Favorites might be a good starting point. I put up the craftweasel.com website, posted a link in the Forums, and got lots of good feedback. I wrote the Tag Finder tool to see if it could help me with my own tags, then realized by reading the Forums that others might find it useful, so I added it to the website, and straight away it became the most popular tool.

What's the basic idea of the Tag Finder tool? What need does it fill?
A lot of sellers (myself included!) find that one of the most difficult jobs is deciding on tags for our items — if you search the Etsy Forums on any given day you can pretty much guarantee that someone will be asking for help with their tags. Sometimes you can't think of enough tags for a particular item, and sometimes you can think of too many and can't decide which to use!

The idea behind the Tag Finder tool is to help with both of these problems. You give Tag Finder a couple of tags to start with, then it gives you a list of suggested tags that are associated with your original tags. (This bit works like the Google and Yahoo keyword tools).

It also lets you see the average number of views per day of each suggested tag. (It's a bit more complicated than that; see the website help page for more info). This is very useful if you're a seller, because you can choose tags that generate high numbers of views.

Very Important Editorial Note from our Etsy Support Team: Please remember to only use tags that are accurate and relevant to your specific item listing to best help shoppers find your items on Etsy. Inaccurate tags may be flagged by other members for review and removed from your listing by Etsy, without notice. Also, remember to consider appropriate tags that function as subcategories within your item's category. Check out the Selling FAQ for more info about using tags properly.

Who is it for? How many people are using it right now?
The Tag Finder tool is for Etsy sellers who want to optimize their tags. Of course, you can also use it for market research — to see what color of hats get the most views, for instance. We've had about 5,000 visitors who have used the Tag Finder tool, and they've searched using about 7,000 different sets of starting tags.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
Go to http://craftweasel.com, and click to go to Tag Finder from the menu bar at the top of any page on craftweasel.com. Or go directly to this link: http://craftweasel.com/TagToolQuery.do

How do you use it?
The Tag Finder page is very simple — just a single box! You type in some tags that describe your item (for example, wool scarf) and click the button. You might have to wait a while for the results to load,
because the application has to go and retrieve a bunch of data from Etsy.

The results page consists of a few graphs and a table. The first two graphs show the distribution of price and average number of views per day for items that match your input tags. For instance, for "wool
scarf" we see that most items cost between $20 and $40, and that most items get fewer than 10 views per day.

The next three graphs show some suggested tags, with views/day on the up-down axis and price on the left-right axis. From the first graph, two suggested tags stand out as getting high numbers of views —
"'woman" and "organic." So if these tags are suitable for your item they would be good to include in your tags.

Right down at the bottom of the results page is a big table that shows all the suggested tags and for each one the average views/day, price, and the number of items that were found. You can click on the column
headers to sort by that column. The table shows all tags that are associated with "wool scarf" so it can be useful for market research. For instance, imagine that we are trying to decide what color scarf we should make next. If we look in the table for color words, we can take a note of the views/day for each color:

red 3.10
blue 2.75
green 2.61
silver 3.31
gray 6.68

Gray wool scarves seem to get more views than the other colors, so we might decide to make our next scarf a gray one.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
All the tools on craftweasel.com, including the Tag Finder, are free to use — the website is supported by advertising through Project Wonderful. I'd love to hear any feedback, and I'm always interested in ideas for new tools — contact me using the details below. I'd also love to hear if you've come up with an interesting way to use the Tag Finder; I'd like to put more examples on the craftweasel blog.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
I've tried to make it easy for users of the tool to report problems or give suggestions, etc. You can:

Email me: martin@redrowstudio.com
Convo me: my Etsy username is redrowstudio
Leave a comment on the craftweasel blog: http://craftweasel.blogspot.com
Message me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/craftweasel

If you do encounter a problem, please let me know what tags you were searching for, as that will help me track down the problem. There are a couple of known issues: the Tag Finder tool won't work when Etsy is
down for site maintenance, and the site can be slow when a lot of people are using it. Hopefully I will be able to move craftweasel.com to a faster server in the future, which should speed things up.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
My favorite thing about the app has been the response from the Etsy community — lots of people have given feedback, and helped out with bug reports and feature suggestions. I also love the way that people have come up with creative ways to use the tool. For instance, because top-level categories are also tags in Etsy, the Tag Finder can be used to choose which category to list an item in when it could fit in more than one ("knitting" and "accessories," for example).

Anything else you'd like to add?
I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped with craftweasel.com by reporting problems and making suggestions. I chose the Related Items below from some of the shops of sellers who have helped. Particular thanks go out to my partner Jane (thedoghouse) who came up with the name and color scheme for the website.

Also, there are a few other tools on craftweasel.com that might be useful. They are:

Shop Stats tool: Summarizes a bunch of information about your shop, prices and tags.
Personal Shopper tool: Finds recently listed items for you based on your Favorites.
Similar Items tool: Enter a few items and it will try to find similar items that have been recently listed.

Post in the comments below if you love the Tag Finder!

Tech Update: Introducing Rearrange Your Shop

2009-09-03T15:15:00-05:00

Today we released a new feature for all sellers that allows you to rearrange the order of the listings in your shop. When the preview video got a record-breaking response, we knew this was a feature many sellers wanted as soon as possible! We want to thank all of our beta testers over the last few months who provided feedback and greatly improved the feature during development.

Below, we have detailed instructions on how to use the Rearrange Your Shop site feature. Please note the following:

We will throttle the feature to all sellers over the next two days, so for a short period only a subset of sellers will have access. The selection process is random. You will know if the feature is turned on by going to Your Etsy > Shop Appearance and viewing the bottom of the page.
You need to enable the feature before you can start using it. See instructions below on how to enable this feature.
We recommend that you have a high speed internet connection when using Rearrange Your Shop. The feature pulls a lot of data to your browser and requires a cable, DSL or other high speed connection for best performance.
The feature was tested on and is confirmed to work with the following browsers: Internet Explorer versions 6 to 8, Firefox version 3 and higher, and Safari version 3 and higher. We do not recommend using this feature on browsers that are not listed above.
This feature was built with a systemwide "on/off switch." What does this mean? Under extreme circumstances when Etsy needs to manage the load on our servers, we could temporarily disable this feature for all sellers. Sellers would be notified with a message under Your Etsy > Shop Appearance. In short, our Engineering Team could turn off this one feature without taking down the rest of the site — be it for maintenance or for site speed and performance reasons to maintain the shopping experience on Etsy.

Here is how to get started:

Sign in and go to Your Etsy.
Click on Shop Appearance.
At the bottom of the page you will see a section for Rearrange Your Shop:
Enable the feature and save.
Go to your shop's homepage (yourshopname.etsy.com).
Under Featured Items (if you have that enabled), you will see a link to "Rearrange Your Shop."
When clicked, you will be placed in an new mode where you can drag and drop listings. Here is a screenshot of when you mouse over a listing:
Finally here is screenshot of moving a listing:

For additional questions, you can reference the brief FAQ below.

What is the Rearrange Your Shop feature?
The Rearrange Your Shop feature allows sellers to rearrange the item listings in their shops to any order they wish.

How does the feature work?
To rearrange your listings, you click and drag your item listings to change the order on any page of your shop. Remember, each shop page has a total of 21 listings. If you want to move a listing between pages, you can click on a listing and select the page it should be moved to. Note, if you hold down shift when you move a listing between pages, it will keep you on the current page. Normally when you move a listing to a new page, you will be taken the new page.

What happens when I add a listing or relist after I change my shop layout?
When you add a new listing to your shop, that listing will appear first, even if you rearranged your listings previously in your shop. Once a listing is added, you can rearrange it in your shop as well.

What will shoppers see when they view my shop after I rearranged my listings?
The default view for shoppers will be the new custom layout you created. Shoppers can still choose to sort listings based on time listed and price.

Does rearranging listings change the way I feature items in my shop?
No, the Featured Items section will remain the same and is managed separately.

How do I turn the feature off?
You can turn the feature off by going to Your Etsy > Shop Appearance. From there you can disable the feature. When you turn the feature off, shoppers will see your listings sorted by the time they were listed.

Can I rearrange listings for each of my sections?
At this time, you can only rearrange listings for the main portion of your shop, not each section.

What are some features Etsy might add to Rearrange Your Shop in the future?
In the future, we would like to add the following enhancements to Rearrange Your Shop:

Adding more keyboard shortcuts for faster rearranging.
Including the custom order in more areas of Etsy, including the shop view under Your Etsy and the Etsy Mini.
Changing behavior such that when you edit a listing or relist, it stays in the same location in your shop.

We are so happy to be launching this new feature for all sellers! Please let us know if you have comments or questions in this Forum discussion thread. (We'll close commenting here in order to better follow the conversation.)

P.S. If you would like to receive breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox — then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Etsy Finds: Pulp Fiction

2009-08-29T10:16:00-05:00

Unlike most people, Monday is my favorite day of the week. When I reach for my Monday day-of-the-week undies, I know it's going to be a good day, since I'll be getting my weekly crafting fix with a vibrant bunch of artists at Craft Night at the Etsy Labs in Brooklyn, NY. No matter where you call home, you can get this Monday glow (or any other day of the week, for that matter) by throwing a craft night of your own with your favorite crafty pals.

In today's edition of Etsy Finds, I've scoured Etsy for supplies, kits, and tools to help you open new doors in your own crafting adventures with paper.

For even more hands-on creative ideas, be sure to peruse the DIY Made Simple Gift Guide.

DIY Library

Bookbinding is a favorite craft of mine, and I will gladly talk your ear off about my favorite bone folder or the intricacies of paper, if you let me! If you're looking for a bookmaking project, might I suggest folding a weekly planner or stitching a do-si-do book? If you want to go DIY all the way, why not make your own paper, too?

Solid Oak Book Press

By UberArt, $75.

View Item | View Shop

20 sheets of Handmade paper

By WhiteDragonPaper, $6.

View Item | View Shop

Bookmaking Kit for two different books

By greenchairpress, $15.

View Item | View Shop

Plantable Paper Kit Deluxe

By goodkarmasoaps, $59.

View Item | View Shop

lined paper - grunge edition

By yatsu, $10.

View Item | View Shop

Ebony (bone) Folder and Box

By randyarnold, $64.99.

View Item | View Shop

vintage wallpaper

By thriftypyg, $8.

View Item | View Shop

Medium Text Block and Cover Kit

By afainbooks, $12.

View Item | View Shop

PDF tutorial ONLY Sew Grateful class

By evalicious, $13.

View Item | View Shop

KIT - Japanese Binding Kit and Tutorial

By erinzam, $18.

View Item | View Shop

Lasting Imprint

The world of do-it-yourself printmaking is vast and wonderfully varied. If you and your craft night crew are ready to get down and dirty with some ink and paper, I'd recommend carving your own rubber stamp or printing with a gorgeous hand-carved stamp, trying Gocco printing, carving a printing block from a yam, or tackling the ins-and-outs of screenprinting at home.

Retro Kitchen Stand Mixer

By Corrabelle, $10.

View Item | View Shop

Handcarved Stamp Kit

From twocheeseplease, $30.

View Item | View Shop

Your Drawing Turned Into a Screen

By screenprintstudio, $25.

View Item | View Shop

Paper Lanterns Stamps Set

By Tresijas, $35.

View Item | View Shop

Riso Print Gocco PG-5

From printaddictjapan, $235.

View Item | View Shop

Riso Print Gocco Hi-Mesh Inks for Paper

From CraftyJapan, $22.50.

View Item | View Shop

Hand Carved Spool of Thread Rubber Stamp

By winemakerssister, $8.50.

View Item | View Shop

ART DECO STAMPS OIL BASED INK PAD

By WendyStory, $12.99.

View Item | View Shop

Block Printing Press

By edwardkroon, $525.

View Item | View Shop

Vintage Speedball Linoleum Cutters

From hybirdvintage, $20.

View Item | View Shop

Icing on the Cake

Nothing brings a project together like embellishments, to add that little something-something to your handmade project. The collage elements in this final chapter of today's Etsy Finds will help you decorate your handmade journal or scrapbook, finish an embellished frame, or add that special sparkle to your own pop-up card.

48 beardy stickers

By imadeyouabeard, $4.

View Item | View Shop

50 Library Book Pockets

By ButlerandMaid, $8.

View Item | View Shop

The XO Craft Kit

By elsiecake, $34.

View Item | View Shop

Red and White Bakers Twine - 150 feet

From WoodenRuler, $7.

View Item | View Shop

Trim - 3 yards red and beige

From roxycreations, $3.50.

View Item | View Shop

50 blue scalloped paper tags with string

From schOOLLOcker, $4.25.

View Item | View Shop

Grandmas Attic Sweet Twee Lab Main Kit

By sweettweelab, $22.40.

View Item | View Shop

Teeny Red Houses Cotton Tape

From lillalotta, $4.25.

View Item | View Shop

Gilded Bird Cage Screenprinted Stationery Set

By AshleyPahl, $12.

View Item | View Shop

DIY collage kit

By antzin, $8.

View Item | View Shop

Looking for more Etsy Finds? Try these links:

Handmade Supplies | DIY Made Simple Gift Guide | How-Tuesday Projects

Need a daily fix of Etsy Finds? Sign up for the Etsy Finds e-mail! Conveniently delivered to your inbox!

Follow Etsy on Twitter!

2009-08-20T17:15:00-05:00

Come along and be our friend! We tweet about great finds on Etsy, interesting articles from around the web, and all the fun stuff happening at Etsy. But most of all, we listen to what you're tweeting about. So what are you waiting for? Join the conversation!

Hey sellers, if you're new to Twitter, here are some posts to get you started.

Check out Etsy's Case Study in Twitter's Business 101 Guide.

Framing for the Future: Conserving Artwork

2009-08-13T14:47:00-05:00

Since I work for a frame store, I have a lot of opportunities to see the “How-to's” and “How-NOT-to’s" of framing. We often reframe work that was purchased from artists. Sometimes it is a bit painful to see how the artist has framed or matted their own work, and in the process made preserving their art more difficult, costly, or even impossible. They have damaged their own artwork by framing it themselves! So I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with all you Etsy artists out there (and art buyers) a few of the basics of conservation as it relates to framing artwork. The beauty of original art is that it is one-of-a-kind; as something that can never be replaced, it deserves the very best treatment from creation to presentation.

First of all, “archival” means using materials and methods that will not harm or alter the artwork and that are completely reversible. For example, you can use photo corners to set a photo in place on the backing. Then you don’t need to use any adhesive at all. But if photo corners won’t work for your pieces of art, and so you are going to use tape, it should be labeled "acid-free" or "archival quality" or preferably of a "natural cellulose-base" (this means rice paste or wheat paste which activates with water). This means NO masking tape or scotch tape.

So we hear a lot about acid-free — for paper, scrapbooking, photo-storage, adhesives: what is all the hype about? Acid occurs naturally in the lignin of wood pulp, which is what most paper is made of, and this acid will cause it to turn yellow and disintegrate over time. Using tape, matting, or backing which is not acid-free will damage an artwork, even if the artwork itself was made with archival materials. The best fine art papers and “museum-quality” matboard for framing, are made from cotton, a naturally acid-free material. Cotton papers and ragboard will last much longer than wood pulp products labeled “acid-free”, which have been processed to neutralize the acid.

Be sure to protect your art from both the back AND the front. Both the mat AND the backing should be acid-free. If it isn’t, the acid can leech from the backing into the artwork, so backing your artwork with cardboard is NOT a good idea.

See what happens when backing a document or photo with cardboard — damage to the document AND the mat!

Another important conservation purpose the mat serves is to separate it from the glass. Since glass condenses with changes in temperature, over time this condensation can damage the artwork, as seen with the photograph below.

This photograph was framed without a mat — the photo emulsion is now stuck to the glass and disintegrating.

For more information on the aesthetics and technical info on designing and cutting a stunning archival mat, see TheSeed’s post.

If you really don’t want to mat it? That’s okay — just make sure that you have some sort of spacer in the frame to separate the artwork from the glass. Another good way to frame a work on paper without matting is to use clear acrylic/plexiglass in the frame instead of glass. Because Plexiglass is plastic, it doesn’t condense the way glass does, and is safe to lay directly on top of your artwork. Whether you choose glass or acrylic for your glazing, look for UV protection. UV protective glazing acts like sunscreen for your artwork to prevent it from fading, which can occur even under artificial lights.

As long as you understand the basics of conservation, you don’t have to pay a pro in order to take good care of your work; just plan ahead, and invest in some good materials to guarantee that your collectors can have your works of art for generations.

Further Resources:

For archival storage and framing supplies: lightimpressionsdirect.com
For more details on conservation framing:
- arm.scdah.sc.gov/conservation/youcando/framing.htm
- www.philaprintshop.com/framing.html

For guides on caring for everything from videos to books to textiles:

www.conservation-us.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=497&parentID=472

Michelle Arnold Paine is a painter and art teacher living in Massachusetts. Add to that experience her part-time job as a custom framer — isn't she the perfect author for a post like this? Leave any questions you might have in the comments below. Stay tuned for Part 2!

Did you know we're doing a community vote on which art work gets featured in the Members' Choice Gift Guide?

Handmade Code: SoopSee

2009-07-31T10:24:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Ed a.k.a. edlea, tells us all about his website, SoopSee.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
Having worked with artists and makers for most of my professional life I have seen how the Internet has revolutionized the creative industries. Makers are getting much more tech savvy and using the internet to promote their work. Whether that’s through a blog, a Facebook fan page, Twitter, Flickr or a whole host of other outlets.

But there’s a downside to that too: you end up being spread all over the internet! That’s where SoopSee comes in; it can act as a focal point for all of your creativity. Your own domain that displays your Etsy listings, blog, links to brick and mortar shops and galleries, a profile about you, the maker, and loads more.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc.?
http://www.soopsee.com

Who is it for? How many people are using it right now?
Anyone who has an Etsy shop! Right now there are 600 Etsians actively using the site, with many more on the waiting list. You can see some examples here.

How do you use it?
Everything is meant to be very, very simple. One click is all it takes to import your entire Etsy catalog. One click is all it takes to import your entire blog. One click is all it takes to pick the look of your site.

Basically, you tell SoopSee where all your stuff is throughout the Internet. SoopSee then goes out and fetches it for you, packages it up in a nice design and presents you with your own website that you made in about 10 minutes.

SoopSee also has additional tools for tracking your shop activity. SoopSee can track your shop hearts, sales, tweets and blog posts in a bid to help you decide how well your web-based marketing is working.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
You can use SoopSee absolutely free of charge. There are upgrades available, like the Sooper account, that give you access to certain extra themes, some customization and deeper twitter integration.

You can also buy a domain name to host your portfolio website for $14.99 per year. Or if you already own a domain name you want to use, you can pay $14.99 per year for SoopSee to host it.

You can get involved through our Twitter or Facebook page.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
Just email hello@soopsee.com.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app?
I get lots of emails from Etsians who have used SoopSee to get themselves set up with a portfolio/gallery site saying how easy it was to do. They’d spent time and money using fancy site building tools but the end result never reflected their work. SoopSee has fewer options which might sound like a bad thing, but actually the end result is much better — and it takes so little time to do. I try and publish as many comments as I can on the homepage but I got another one this week which was really great:

“SoopSee made me excited about Etsy all over again. I spent just a little time putting my Soopsee thingie together, revamped my Etsy shop, and when I was done, I had a sale!” — DollMakersMuse

What is your favorite part about the app?
Not being an Etsy seller myself, it’s hard to know what is the most useful thing to have, but when I test the site, I put myself in an Etsian's shoes and use SoopSee for real which kind of makes me wish I was creative enough to be an Etsy shop owner! It’s so satisfying to spend just a little time on something and get a pretty cool result at the end.

Anything else you'd like to add?
SoopSee has recently integrated a couple of Google tools. The first of which most Etsians are familiar with: Google Analytics. It enables you to add advanced visitor statistics to your website and track what is successful and what isn’t. Enabling Google Analytics in SoopSee is just as easy as doing it on Etsy — just copy/paste your Google Analytics site reference.

SoopSee is also announcing the integration of Google Friend Connect. I’ve noticed that a lot of Etsians are familiar with this already as lots of you have a Blogger account. If you are new to Google Friend Connect, it’s a set of tools that enables you to build a community / following around your work. Visitors to your site join as members and are able to follow your updates without you having to send out emails or prompts to say that you “just submitted a new blog post.” The great thing about Google Friend Connect is that you can take that network of followers across multiple sites, so the members on your Blogger.com blog are now members of your SoopSee site – and all you had to do was copy/paste your site id number!

For more information, check out the SoopSee FAQs here.

Are you using SoopSee? Post in the comments below!

More Handmade Code Posts | Seller Handbook

How-Tuesday: Tool Apron from Sew What! Bags

2009-07-28T16:23:00-05:00

The only toolbox I've ever known is my overflowing crate of crafting materials. Having my tools organized and easily accessible sounds too good to be true. Every quilter, crocheter, and gardener deserves a handmade tool belt perfectly suited for her needs.

For this week's How-Tuesday, we're sharing Lexie Barnes' Tool Apron project to equip you for a summer of crafting and gardening. Lexie's book, Sew What! Bags, is full of delightful totes, sacks, satchels, and purses that are pattern-free, so you can alter and tweak to your heart's content.

Lexie's Design Principle:

Sewing without a pattern may seem like a scary prospect to some... and liberating to others. Personally, I like the freedom and flexibility of pattern-free sewing. I want a bag to work for me, not the other way around.

I can't stand to read instructional manuals, stick strictly to a recipe, or follow the steps exactly as they are written anywhere. If there are too many steps, I'll skip them. If the instructions are too wordy or full of jargon, I'll ignore them and find my own way of doing things. In this book, from the first project to the last, you'll be able to jump right in and start sewing. You'll find simple steps and streamlined projects — fabulous bags you can make on your own to suit your taste, skill level, and style.

Click here to buy the book!

We made this apron to hold quilting supplies, but you can customize yours for any craft, hobby, or project. Be sure to choose your fabrics and pockets to suit the job. For gardening tools, you'll want canvas or maybe oilcloth. For crochet supplies, you'll want a variety of pocket sizes for slim hooks and skeins of yarn.

Our finished size: 8" x 16" with a 66" belt

Measure and Cut

1. Decide your size. For a good fit, base the size on your favorite kitchen apron, or measure your torso from hip to hip and add a couple of inches for seam allowance. For the height, measure from your waist (or hip, if you like to wear it low) down to anywhere you like. It's your tool apron, so make it as long — or short — as you need it to be.

Ease into it. Figure out how big your pockets need to be before you finalize the size of the apron. Lay your tools out on your fabric and measure them. Be sure to allow for some ease (a little bit of extra room to get your objects in and out of the pockets). Keep your tools handy while you're sewing and test along the way to make sure you've got a good fit.

2. Cut your fabric. Based on your measurements, cut:

primary fabric: one front and one back piece
contrasting fabric: one pocket panel and two belt pieces (We cut ours 4" wide for a finished width of 1 1/2". For the total length of the belt, we measured around the waist, and then added 16" for tying the ends.)

Put it Together

3. Make the pocket. Press under the top edge of pocket panel 1/4", then repeat for another 1/2". Edgestitch along the bottom fold. With right sides facing up, pin the pocket panel to front apron panel. Based on your measurements, stitch dividers for your pockets, backtacking at the top of the pocket panel. There's no need to stitch the sides or bottom, as that will happen in the next step.

4. Assemble the apron. Lay the back apron piece on top of the front piece, right sides together. Stitch the sides and bottom, leaving the top of the apron open. Clip the corners, trim the seam allowance, turn the apron right side out, and press. Fold under the top edge 1/2" to the inside, press, and topstitch.

5. Make and attach the belt. With right sides facing, stitch the two belt pieces together to make one long strip. Press under the edges 1/2" on all sides, fold it in half lengthwise, and topstitch.* Center the belt on top of the apron, aligning the top edges of the belt and apron. Pin the belt in place and topstitch it to the apron along the length (following the stitching on both sides of the belt), backtacking at the ends.

*More Details for Making Straps:

1. Fold the strip of fabric in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and press along the fold. Open up the strip, press each side under 1/2".

2. Refold the strip with the sides tucked in, and edgestitch along the length of both sides for greater strength.

For Larger Straps and Belts:
For a wider strap that will be used as a belt, the method is the same, but turn under the ends 1/2" before refolding. If the fabric is bulky, trim away excess fabric at the folded corners, then stitch across the folded ends.

Once you try out this Tool Apron, be sure to post photos of it in the Sew What! Bags Flickr pool! Your images could be featured on Lexie's website.

Thanks to Lexie Barnes and the good folks at Storey Publishing for sharing this useful project with us! Looking for more How-Tuesday posts? Check out our archive here.

All About Etsy FAQ Series: Get Involved in the Voter

2009-07-11T17:15:00-05:00

Have you heard about the Etsy Voter? It's a fun part of Etsy where people can vote on their favorite Etsy items. In this installment of the All About Etsy FAQ Series, I'll answer some frequently asked questions about how this site feature works and how you can get involved, whether you're a shopper or a seller. The more people who get involved, the more fun it is!

FAQs

What is the Voter?
The Voter is an interactive tool built by our Flash guru Jared Tarbell. It allows people to vote on Etsy items, and at the end of the voting period, we can all see which items come out on top. Because it's such a neat tool, we're using it every week for informal, fun polls. The Voter can be used as a way to see which items resonate with the Etsy community. Ultimately, it's a way for shoppers to find some wonderful, fresh items.

The Voter is located at www.etsy.com/voter.php. When you go there, you'll see themed groupings of polls — the voting has closed for some, but you can still click in to see how the results turned out and how many people voted.

Who gets to vote?
Anyone! You just have to be registered and signed into Etsy in order to cast a vote. We encourage everyone to get involved in voting! After you place your vote, you can see the running tally of which items are in the lead.

How do I find out about rounds of voting and the winners?
Click on the "Voting" Featured Column on the left hand navigation of Etsy's blog, The Storque. Every Monday, we announce the winner and ask for nominations for the following week's vote. Every Tuesday we put up the call for votes for the current round.

Can I purchase an item from the Voter? Will that remove the item from the Voter and mess things up?
It won't mess things up! Absolutely, you can buy items from the Voter. (That's our not-so-secret mission, in fact!) Purchasing an item you see in the Voter will not remove the item from the application.

How do items get included in a round of voting?
When the top favorite is announced on Monday in a Storque post, we include a call for nominations for the next round. You may nominate one of your own items or any item that you think fits the described theme. Simply paste a link to the item page in the comments of the post.

We cannot include all the nominated items! The Voter performs best with about 45 or less items (60 at max). If your item did not get into a vote and you're feeling discouraged, it could just be that we didn't have the space. You may also want to take another look at your item photography and double check to make sure your item is not breaking any rules and is tagged properly. Here are some tips in the Seller Handbook.

How do Admin decide the weekly themes?
We plan our themes according to the Editorial calendar for our blog, which in turn is integrated with the Merchandising themes. Feel free to suggest ideas in the comments of the posts.

How do I know if one of my items has been included in a vote?
Etsy Admin try to convo each seller individually, but sometimes we're just too swamped with work! We're aware that we need a better way to notify sellers when their items are featured.

My item is included. Now what do I do?
Congratulations! You've been nominated for this week's round of Voting. Please spread the word about your nominations (Twitter, blog, paste the link in your Shop announcement, etc.) and get folks to vote. You should be proud!

What happens after the top favorite is announced?
For our informal weekly votes, the goal is to help shoppers find some great items and to help sellers make some sales or get their products noticed. We use the Voter to share the love (and some fame and glory)!

When the voting closes on Mondays, we will shortly thereafter feature the top favorite on Etsy's blog, The Storque. Etsy Admin use this Voter tool as a way to find a top favorite to feature on our blog, in the Members' Choice Gift Guide (or other Gift Guide if there's a specific one that fits the theme), and perhaps on the Etsy home page. We may include some of the runners up in the curated areas of our site.

If you are a runner up, we cannot promise that your item will be featured in these places — as some items sell or expire, some sellers may already be featured in the Gift Guides, some items may be inappropriate for the curated areas of the site, or we may discover a slight rule infringement preventing us from putting it in the spotlight. Sometimes our tools can be wonky and we have to do things manually (especially when items sell), so let us know if you think there's been a human error. We will do our best to include as many of the runners up as possible.

As a general rule of thumb, if you're a runner up and you've made a sale from the Voter or being in the Related Items in the Storque post, we consider that accomplishing the goal of this exercise!

My item featured in the Voter sold and the sold listing is still in the Voter. Can you replace it with another listing so I can have a fresh item in the running?
Because sold items remain in the running, we cannot replace them in the Voter with new listings once voting has started. Even if it's an identical listing, our tool does not have the capacity to swap out the item id number and retain the votes.

If your item hasn't sold, you can replace the main image of your item and ask us to "refresh," if you want to re-photograph your listing to make it more visually compelling. (Just convo Vanessa).

Wait a second, I thought my item was in the Voter, but it's just in the related items of the Storque post. What gives?
If your item is featured in the Related Items or main image of the Storque announcement, but not in the Voter, don't despair! We apologize if you got excited when you saw your item and thought it would be in the vote. Being in the Storque Related Items is actually really good exposure too. We need to illustrate our posts with eye-catching product, but we cannot repeat items in both the post where we call for votes and the Voter. (This was pointed out as potentially "swaying the votes.")

How come I've never heard of this site feature? Where is the Voter linked on Etsy?
Funny you should ask...We added the link to the Voter to the Community Hub in October 2009. Click on "Voting" under the Featured Columns on the left navigation of The Storque to find the latest post.

The items below are some of our previous top picks!

All about Etsy FAQ Series | Seller Handbook | Help on Etsy

We closed comments on this post and have started this discussion thread.

Handmade Code: Find Fabric with morecloth

2009-07-10T10:15:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. Recently, Etsy Admin daniellexo suggested we interview Catherine about her application, morecloth.

For years I've been fascinated by textiles and textile design. I like looking at fabric, stitching it into one-of-a-kind quilts and potholders, creating fabric designs of my own, and writing software for that purpose. I wrote the morecloth app partly just for myself ⎯ as a window through which I could look at emerging design and color trends in the make-it-yourself fabric world. But I also wanted to do something that might benefit small fabric-related businesses and, indirectly, the many ingenious designers whose work appears in this milieu.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
There's a lot of attractive fabric for sale at Etsy. This application selects some of what's available and groups it according to color, giving buyers a new, color-oriented way to browse through fabrics in many shops at once, as well as giving sellers another way to reach buyers.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL?
Go to http://www.morecloth.com.

Who is it for? How many people are using it right now?
It's for anyone who wants a quick, distraction-free glimpse of Etsy fabrics sorted by color. This is just a glimpse, not a comprehensive view; there are many ways to sort by color and far more fabrics at Etsy than the thousand or so currently visible at morecloth. But this changing sample of what's available has caught and held some people's attention. In the month since I started this project, over 4,800 have visited morecloth. And many have spent over an hour there.

How do you use it?
On the front page of morecloth, there's a collection of striped bands of color. Clicking on a band will take you to a page of fabric swatches in that color range. Clicking on a fabric swatch will take you to the corresponding Etsy listing.

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
No costs — the application is free for both buyers and sellers. Each week I add a few more Etsy shops. If you're a seller specializing in fabric, your shop may already be included, but you're welcome to email me (catherine@morecloth.com) to make sure I've come across it.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
If there's a problem, please email me: catherine@morecloth.com.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
Maybe the best feature of this app is its simplicity. It samples a wild abundance of textile patterns and colors, and presents them in a way that feels manageable.

Anything else you'd like to add?
For you sellers out there, I talk a bit about how listings get selected for inclusion on my blog.

Have you used morecloth before? Post in the comments below!

More Handmade Code Posts

Browse for Fabric on Etsy | Shop by Color on Etsy

Etsy Finds Decor: Community Gardens

2009-07-05T10:50:00-05:00

This weekend's Get the Look: Decor is inspired by the wonderful spirit behind community gardens. Even though I live in the big city, I am lucky to have access to many public gardens in my neighborhood that allow me to get my hands dirty. These little patches of green offer a peaceful setting in the middle of an environment composed of tar, pavement and skyscrapers.

Getting involved in a community garden in your area is a great way to meet your neighbors, help beautify your streets, and it is also an effective method to promote earth-friendly awareness. I’ve used the photos from Brooklyn’s Backyard Garden, a community garden located in the Columbia St. Waterfront District neighborhood as my inspiration for the following Etsy Finds.

Visit the Community Garden flickr pool to view even more photos of neighborhood gardening projects from around the world and be sure to check out the following Etsy Finds for a bit of inspiration to start your own community garden or to add a bit of character to your own backyard garden.

Gardening Tools

Watering can

By pankhurstpottery, $65.

View Item | View Shop

Garden Dibble

By WoodElements, $18.

View Item | View Shop

Blue and White Metal Tool Box

From hogeathog, $30.

View Item | View Shop

bright botanical garden/craft apron

By SewMerry, $18.

View Item | View Shop

Vintage Garden Hand Tool Set

From postroadvintage, $15.

View Item | View Shop

oak shed pegs - hang garden tools

By FuturePrimGarden, $9.

View Item | View Shop

Pots & Planters

Vintage Metal Container

From tentpitcher, $19.

View Item | View Shop

Borden Wooden Cheese Box

From ProperPactVintage, $10.

View Item | View Shop

Set of 2 handpainted ceramic pots

By MonkeyJunkieGoods, $14.

View Item | View Shop

Set of 3 Medium Chalkboard Pots

By moxiesisters, $35.

View Item | View Shop

Illustrated Fish Minnowbucket

From HelloVictory, $28.

View Item | View Shop

Prince Albert I

By changedminer, $110.

View Item | View Shop

Signs & Markers

Weeds Silverware Garden Marker

By monkeysalwayslook, $12.

View Item | View Shop

Herb Garden Markers

By JustWork, $12.

View Item | View Shop

Plant Markers for the Garden

By dbabcock, $24.

View Item | View Shop

Herb Garden Plant Markers

By NinaGibsonDesigns, $28.

View Item | View Shop

Herb markers and mushroom set

By kylieparry, $18.

View Item | View Shop

Clay Garden Markers Set of Four

By mudandfiber, $20.

View Item | View Shop

Lawn Ornaments & Decor

siamese mouse

By mudstuff, $39.

View Item | View Shop

Coffee Gnome

By FrankJWalker, $50.

View Item | View Shop

Metal Swirl Scroll Fence

By metalgardenart, $19.50.

View Item | View Shop

Garden Owl Statue

By claylady42, $39.

View Item | View Shop

Ceramic Snail Lawn Ornament

By fruitflypie, $26.

View Item | View Shop

Gnome / Fairy door with lion knock

By NothinButWood, $35.

View Item | View Shop

Garden Peace Sign Sculpture

By bluemetal, $95.

View Item | View Shop

Garden Flower Finial Handblown Glass

By alisglassdesigns, $68.

View Item | View Shop

Garden Wildlife

Cheepie Birdfeeder -Strawflower

By joepapendick, $115.

View Item | View Shop

Three Trees Bird Feeder

By gypsypottery, $35.

View Item | View Shop

Hand Made Pottery Toad House

By AnneMariesPottery, $24.95.

View Item | View Shop

Primitive Birdhouse

By birdhouseaccents, $45.

View Item | View Shop

Repurposed Teacup Bird Bath/Feeder

By ohthepollybilities, $22.

View Item | View Shop

white pottery bird house

By lilypottery, $25.

View Item | View Shop

Looking for more styles and interiors? Check out our video series, There's No Place Like Here, where creative types show us their unique spaces — infused with their aesthetic and filled with the treasures they collect. Get involved and show us your amazing space in this flickr pool.

Check out other Get the Look - Home Decor Editions.

Looking for more Etsy Finds? Try these outdoor inspired Gift Guides:

Gardening and Horticulture | The Summer Soiree | Alfresco

Need a daily fix of Etsy Finds? Sign up for the Etsy Finds e-mail! Conveniently delivered to your inbox!

Tech Updates: Share Your Favorites

2009-07-01T18:30:00-05:00

Today we rolled out a number of improvements to Etsy's popular Favorites feature. These enhancements are designed to make Etsy Favorites more usable, visible and sharable.

Use 'em

Sold items can now be added to your Favorites. Sometimes you just aren’t quick enough, and an item you want is sold out by the time you see it. You can still add it to your Favorites. Views and hearts now continue to accumulate on items even after they’ve been sold.
Tip: Convo the seller to see if they can make another item for you or if they're planning to list another.

No more grey boxes to delete. Many Etsy community members have complained in the past about the clutter of anonymous grey items in their Favorites with the text “Listing expired or removed.” This would occur when an item expired, was being edited, or belonged to a shop in Vacation Mode. These grey boxes are no more. Here’s what happens now:

When an item you’ve hearted expires, it will be removed from your Favorites.
When an item you’ve hearted is being edited by the seller, it will not appear in your Favorites while the editing is in progress. When the editing is complete, the item will return to the spot you had it in your Favorites.
When an item you’ve hearted goes into Vacation Mode, it will remain in your Favorites — you will just be unable to purchase the item until the seller returns from vacation.

See 'em

A “heart counter” has been added to item pages. You can now see the number of hearts for any item, active or sold, along with views in the new “stats” section on the lower right of item pages.
Tip: If an item gets blogged about and then sells, it can still show off its street cred with more and more hearts and views.

Show off your Favorites on your Etsy Profile. You now have the option to display the last six items you added to your Favorites on your Etsy Profile page! These items will be displayed below the "Favorite Materials" section of your Profile. To turn this feature on, sign in to Etsy and proceed to Your Etsy > Public Profile. Check the checkbox at the bottom of the page next to “Favorite Items” and click "Save Changes" to start showing the world the cool stuff you find!

Share 'em

Don’t keep your Favorites to yourself! (Unless you want to.) Now when you sign in to Etsy and proceed to Your Etsy > Favorites, you will see a link for a new Share widget on the upper right. Pop this open for options to share your list of Favorites with your friends or with the world. With this widget you can easily share your collection of Favorites on Twitter or Facebook, embed them on your blog, or copy and paste the web address for your public Favorites page.
Happy hearting!

Tech Updates: Facebook Connect

2009-07-01T17:42:00-05:00

Today we made it easier to share your Etsy activity with your friends on Facebook, a social networking site many Etsians use.

When you sign in to Etsy, you will see a link at the top of the page (next to "Conversations") for "Facebook Connect." Click that link to activate an overlay that you can use to establish a connection with Facebook.

Once you're connected with Facebook, you will see your Facebook Profile Picture at the top of every page on Etsy.

What can I do while I'm connected with Facebook on Etsy?

You can share your Etsy activity with your friends! When you list an item or heart an item (add an item to your Etsy Favorites) while connected with Facebook, you will see an option to share that action on Facebook in the form of a story published to your Facebook News Feed. Click the "Post this item to Facebook" link to activate a pop-up from Facebook with a preview of your story before you publish:

These links to share your activity on Facebook will only be visible while you're connected with Facebook, and all posts from Etsy to Facebook are made explicitly by you. You can disconnect with Facebook at any time via the "Facebook" link at the top of the page. If you're not interested in connecting with Facebook from Etsy, you can remove the Facebook option by clicking the "don't show again" link on the Facebook Connect overlay.

We hope you enjoy this additional option to share the Etsy experience with your friends!

FAQs

What is Facebook Connect?
Facebook Connect allows you to bring your Facebook account into Etsy, so you can share what you're doing on Etsy with your friends on Facebook. You have complete control over what is shared.

How do I connect with Facebook on Etsy?
After signing in to Etsy, you will see a link for Facebook Connect at the top of the page, next to "Conversations." Click this link and then click "Connect with Facebook" to establish a connection to Facebook.

What can I do while I'm connected to Facebook on Etsy?
You can share select actions you take on Etsy with your friends on Facebook. These actions currently include adding an item to your Etsy Favorites ("hearting" an item) and listing an item on Etsy.

After hearting an item or listing an item, you will see an option to post the item to Facebook. Clicking that link activates a pop-up from Facebook where you can preview and annotate your post before publishing the item to your Facebook profile and Facebook friends' home pages.

Can I post items I've renewed or relisted on Facebook?
At this time Facebook Connect on Etsy allows you to post newly listed items on Facebook but not renewed or relisted items.

Does Etsy automatically post to my Facebook profile?
No. All posts to your Facebook Profile and News Feed from Etsy are made explicitly by you.

How do I disconnect from Facebook?
You will know when you are connected to Facebook on Etsy because your Facebook Profile Picture will appear at the top of all Etsy pages next to a "Facebook" link. Click this link and then click "Log out of Facebook" to terminate your connection with Facebook. This will log you out of Facebook completely.

I have no interest in connecting with Facebook. Can I remove the Facebook Connect link so I don't have to see it when I sign in to Etsy?
Yes. To remove the Facebook Connect link, click it to activate the overlay and then click "don't show again." The Facebook Connect option will no longer appear when you sign in to Etsy.

If you change your mind, you can re-enable the Facebook Connect option by going to Your Etsy > Account Info. On the Account Info page, you will find a "Settings" section where you can enable or disable Facebook Connect.

I signed in to Etsy and I was already connected with Facebook. Why?
This occurs when you sign in to Etsy while being logged into Facebook, if you've connected with Facebook through Etsy before.

I use the Etsy Shop application on Facebook. Is Facebook Connect the same thing?
Facebook Connect is separate from the Etsy Shop application. You can still use the Etsy Shop Facebook application and other Etsy Facebook applications. Facebook Connect allows you to share actions you take on Etsy, such as the items you list or add to your Favorites, with your friends on Facebook.

I have a Business/Fan Page for my Etsy shop on Facebook. Can I use Facebook Connect to publish my Etsy activity on my Page?
Not at this time. Facebook Connect on Etsy allows you to publish Etsy activity on your Facebook Profile, but not your Pages (sometimes called Fan Pages or Business Pages). We plan to enable this functionality in the future.

We're closing comments here since we want to follow your discussion in this Forum thread.

Handmade Code: Etsy Hacks

2009-06-24T14:17:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Ian of EtsyHacks tells us all about his most popular application, Copy Listing.

There are many aspects of having your own Etsy shop that are fun, exciting and rewarding. Managing your shop is not one of them. When my wife, Sara, started her shop twolittlewrens on Etsy, she found this out quite quickly. Once she found it out, I also found it out, because she started making me manage her shop so she could get on with actually making things.

I realized that Etsy's engineers probably had a to-do list of epic proportions, and any changes I might want would probably take time to appear. So, since my day job is in software engineering, I started building tools to help me avoid some of the drudgery until the features I wanted appeared on the site. (This backfired somewhat, since Sara announced that I could start packing orders in my newly-acquired spare time. Such is the life of the spouses of Etsy addicts.)

I started sharing my work on etsyhacks.com so that other Etsy sellers (and their long-suffering family members) could benefit too. There are now over thirty "Etsyhacks," varying from the simple to the complex, but one of the most popular is "Copy Listing."

Here I am with my daughter Evie, hard at work.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
Lots of Etsy sellers sell variations on a theme. The majority of their listings are the same, with only a few tweaks here and there to account for different colors, patterns, and options. Currently, if you want to make a new listing based on an existing listing, you have to find a similar sold item, re-list it, and edit it to suit. This isn't particularly useful if you're starting a new product line, or if you don't want to have to search back through your sold items to find the right item to re-list. What you need is a way to copy an existing, for-sale listing. The "Copy Listing" Etsyhack does that.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc.?
You can download it at http://www.etsyhacks.com/greasemonkey/copy_listing/

Who is it for?
It's for sellers who want to quickly list a number of similar items. Unfortunately, it's only for people who use the Firefox web browser at the moment, because it uses the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox. But the good news is that you can run Firefox as well as Internet Explorer, Safari, or any other web browser, and just use Firefox when you want to use "Copy Listing." (I love Firefox. It's a great web browser. You should try it even if you don't want to use Etsyhacks.)

How do you use it?
First, you need to have Firefox installed. Then, install the Greasemonkey add-on. (Greasemonkey allows you to run programs — like the Etsyhacks — that modify web pages when you view them, adding extra useful features.) Installation instructions for those are at http://www.etsyhacks.com/greasemonkey/installing_greasemonkey.html

Before:

Then, in Firefox, go to the Copy Listing page and click on the orange "install" button. Greasemonkey will pop up a box asking you to confirm that you want to install the software. Once you've said "yes" to that, you can go to a listing in your shop and there will be a "Copy this item" link in the "Page tools" section of the listing page (in the right-hand column). Just click on that link and you'll be taken to a "Create new listing" page with all of that listing's information already filled in. Make your changes as you go through the listing process, and then click "Finished" and you're all set.

After:

The one thing it doesn't do is copy your photos, because that is rather hard to do. Hopefully you're going to be uploading different photos anyway!

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
Firefox and Greasemonkey are both free, provided by a community of developers for the benefit of all. The hacks are free, too — I'm of the opinion that people should be able to use these tools, even if their shops aren't generating revenue yet.

Etsyhacks is supported by donations — people pay what they think is right, or what they can afford, if they want to, when they want to. Sellers can also "sponsor" a hack — paying a fee to have their shop featured on the hack's page.

You can also contact me and suggest a hack you'd like to see. Not everything is possible, but I'll do my best! Send me a message (just convo me at ehax).

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
Not Etsy! Because of the way the hacks work, it can look like a bug with a hack is a bug with Etsy. If you're using any Etsyhacks, the first thing to do when you find a bug is to disable Greasemonkey (click on the monkey icon at the bottom right of your Firefox window — the monkey will go grey) and then reload the page. If the problem goes away, then it's a problem with a hack, and you should send me a message (just convo me at ehax).

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
I often see forum posts and tweets from people who've saved themselves time and effort with the "Copy Listing" hack, or who had been putting off listing a new product line because it was going to take them hours. I like knowing I've helped people.

Are you using EtsyHacks? Post in the comments below!

Handmade Code: ColorMatch from 26OliveStreet

2009-06-11T10:30:00-05:00

As part of our Handmade Code series, we're bringing you news and how-to's about the innovations emerging from the Etsy Developer Community. Located at developer.etsy.com, the Etsy Developer Community serves as a hub for third-party software developers who are making neat and helpful programs for Etsy shoppers and sellers. In this edition, Staci and Alex of 26OliveStreet tells us all about their application called ColorMatch.

Love finding and hearting (favoriting) new shops and items? Get chills when the Treasury’s about to open up? Brainstorming for tomorrow’s blog post? Have something in mind for that gift and want to find it in a specific hue? Buying craft supplies by color palette? …Yes, we thought so. Try out 26 Olive Street’s ColorMatch!

Alex, the developer and web designer half of 26 Olive Street, whipped up ColorMatch after the exciting news of Etsy’s API release to not only enhance our own Etsy experience (we’re avid sellers, buyers, and browsing addicts), but also that of our fellow Etsy users and any other website or blogger fan of all things Etsy handmade and vintage.

What's the basic idea of the application? What need does it fill?
ColorMatch is designed to allow anyone to easily upload an inspiration jpeg and have the hues analyzed into a paint palette used for searching items on Etsy by color. Get even more creative by adding optional keywords.

Discover new Etsy favorite sellers. Find an Etsy item in that color you’ve been searching for. Find color-specific inspiration for Etsy Treasuries and/or blog posts.

Where do we go to find it? What's the URL, etc?
You can visit us and try it out at: http://26olivestreet.com/colormatch

How do you use it?
ColorMatch is a breeze! Here’s a little step-by-step tutorial if you’d like some visuals. Here we are…a fresh ColorMatch palette:

Start by clicking the "browse" button to open up a "file upload" window to locate your chosen image from your computer. (You’ll know if this worked if the image title shows up on the image line after the "file upload" window closes.)

(We used FoundVintageStyle's vintage buttons.)

If you’d like to narrow down your results, type in a keyword or multiple keywords at any time. Example: soap, purse, illustration, felt, bead, etc… Keywords are optional. You can leave this space blank if you’d like ColorMatch to give you a set of random Etsy items in your image’s colors.

Click the "analyze" paint splotch button, and voila! ColorMatch will start loading and extract out the different color hues of your image and compile an Etsy item grid with items that...well, match!

The first ColorMatch "quilt" is made of a random selection from the palette.

Now here comes the extra fun part…. Go on and click any and/or each individual palette color and ColorMatch will find images that match that hue predominately.

See an item in the "quilt" you want more info on? Click it and a new window will appear that shows a mini Etsy listing hosted on the 26 Olive Street website.

Click the item title, picture, or "see additional details" link to go straight to that item on Etsy. Click the shop name to go straight to that shop on Etsy.

Easy as pie! And more colorful!

Are there any costs or further opportunities/ways to get involved?
ColorMatch is free to anyone who would like to use it and free to anyone whose item happens to be viewed. Ah yes, that explains the traffic coming from 26 Olive Street! :) Yes guys, we advertise you for free!

We’re in the process of allowing an option to customize size and embed your ColorMatch color "quilt" results straight to your blog or website! Keep an eye out on the news section of our blog for updates.

What should one do if there's a bug or a problem? Who should one contact?
If you having trouble or have got some questions, please don’t be shy! The idea behind ColorMatch is for others to enjoy it, so we will be more than happy to help in any way we can.

There’s also bound to be some bugs, so if you run into any, let us know! We want to keep everything running smoothly.

Suggestions? Send ‘em over! We like a good brainstorming! Contact us regarding ColorMatch at colormatch@26olivestreet.com.

What's one surprising/fun/amazing story you've heard about someone using your app? Or what is your favorite part about the app?
We just relocated cross-country from NE to CA. Alex happened to mention ColorMatch on his first day of work at his new faculty position at a nearby university and found to his surprise that several colleagues already knew of and use the application! Small world!

We’re so glad to see people using ColorMatch and have been featured a few times out there in the blog world at The Glass Onion and by Celeste Frittata. Celeste actually said, “Using ColorMatch is like being in heaven!” Ah, an Etsy user after our own heart!

Below are a few of our favorite listings from the above tutorial including our inspiration image and some of our reviewer shops…

Post in the comments below if you use ColorMatch. And tell us your favorite color!

Why We Make Treasuries: Inspiration and Visual Storytelling

2009-06-10T14:00:00-05:00

So you counted backwards, did the math, and figured out that with 20 lists on each page you should start paying attention right about...now.

You’ve opened a new browser window and you keep one eye on it while you pretend to be doing other things. 340. Waiting. Watching. 339, 338. The lists tick down, slowly. You’ve got your title copied and ready to be pasted. 337. You’re actively resisting the urge to refresh your browser. 336. You’re second guessing your title, but it’s too late to change it now. 335. You wonder why the expired lists don’t actually disappear once they’ve expired. 334. Third guessing your title. 333. Oh boy, here we go...

You all know what I’m talking about. You’ve all stayed up late to do it, shushing a husband or child who tried to interrupt you at that crucial moment. You’ve probably at least once experienced the agony of defeat due to a bad internet connection. Even after you’ve labored over your choices and made the perfect list, there’s a chance that not so many people will click on your title and take a look before it expires.

So what compels us to make a Treasury list?

I recently asked myself and a few other Etsians this very question, in an effort to verbalize that feeling we get when that magic box appears.

I’m a package/graphic designer and part-time Etsy seller. For me, Etsy is a vehicle for thinking creatively about many things — my store, my brand identity, the value of my time, the value of my artistic creation, refining my skill, coming up with new ideas, being inspired by and in awe of other craftspeople here. Treasuries are a natural extension of the reasons I spend time on Etsy.

I make lots of different kinds of Treasuries: lists that are color-based, visual tributes to my favorite songs, books and movies, interpretations of ideas or sentences that strike me as interesting, and the completely random lists that happen when I have the Treasury open and the box suddenly appears. However, my favorite inspiration is my own memory, and making a Treasury is most often about evoking a very specific instance or event and then assembling a collection of Etsy items that bring that memory into sharper focus.

I like picking a certain date, a family trip, a childhood experience and then building a collection of items around the memory. My amazing mother passed away a few years ago, and she's always on my mind, so there's always some sort of personal reference to her in my Treasury lists. Her name means star in Gujarati, so I often like to find an interesting star item to include. No one gets the reference except me, but that's kind of the point.

This Treasury list is based on a trip I took to India for a cousin's wedding a long time ago... It really did feel like this, very saturated colors and sort of dreamy.

I love Treasuries that hint at a bigger story than the 12 items we’re seeing...a back story, kind of like a Bob Dylan song. I may not have any real idea what he’s singing about (like a story intended for someone else), but he’s always singing about something evocative. Or when a character in a movie picks up the phone. I don’t need to know what they are hearing, I just need to believe that there’s actually someone on the other end of the line.

Certain people have a knack for pulling together collections that convey a layered rich narrative in just a few pieces, and Becky of beckykazana is one of those folks. I am drawn to her very imaginative (and visually stunning) Treasuries, which read like compelling short stories. The Treasuries link to her blog, where she comments on each item and fleshes out the story in greater detail.

Says Becky: “I make Treasuries for many reasons. I love shopping Etsy, and I'm constantly discovering talented sellers that I want everyone else to know about too! If I can't purchase something, perhaps someone else will, and how great is that? I also like the process of making a Treasury. It's very much like creating an online inspiration board that I can share with lots of other people. It usually starts with one amazing item that I love and grows from there.”

Treasury curated by suezybees.

As a designer, I’m drawn to Treasuries that just look good! The talented Sue of suezybees curated the gorgeous Treasury pictured above. I asked her how she approaches Treasury-making:
“I always get really excited when I have the chance to make a list! (Maybe I need to get out more?) I see it as designing my own poster and giving other sellers the opportunity to have their work seen. Making a Treasury is a really good way of sharing your special finds with others.“

Sue and Becky both touch on the interesting opportunity that Treasuries give us to promote the work of others, often complete strangers. Maybe this is the best reason to create Treasuries — sellers all know how it feels to see that gold star which tells us we're in one. We can satisfy the creative urge to tell stories and relive memories, all while brightening someone else's day!

How Do I Make a Treasury List? | View the Treasuries

Tech Update: Announcing New Art Subcategory Showcases

2009-05-12T15:45:00-05:00

Attention Artists,

Following up on the launch of Jewelry Subcategory Showcases, today we begin selling a new set of Subcategory Showcases in the Art Category. Art Subcategory Showcase spots are on sale now and available for purchase on the Showcase Gateway. These spots will begin appearing on the site starting tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 12am EDT.

The new Art Subcategory Showcases increase the availability of spots for this popular category, and will also allow you to reach an even more targeted group of shoppers interested in your specific medium, be it printmaking, painting, sculpture, etc. These spots will be priced at $7 per 24-hour cycle. There will be 25 spots in each Subcategory Showcase. The subcategories in Art include:

Aceo
Collage
Drawing
Fiber art
Illustration
Mixed media
Painting
Photography
Print
Printmaking
Reproduction
Sculpture

The Art Subcategory Showcase spots will display the same way as the Jewelry Subcategory Showcase modules (as shown below), and they will be shown on all pages within the subcategory.

These new Subcategory Showcases can be purchased in the same manner as the other Showcases — through the Showcase Gateway.

Remember, in order to be placed in a Subcategory Showcase, your item must be tagged accurately. For instance, an item going into the Collage Subcategory must be tagged with "art" (as the first tag) and also with "collage" as the second tag. (The second tag determines which subcategory your item will fall under.)

Artists and art-lovers, we hope you like this new promotion!

What is this Showcase thing? For a general introduction to Showcase, read Matt's Storque article 13.5 Questions about the Showcase, and for deeper thoughts on figuring out if Showcase is right for you, see Beth's Showcase Deconstructed article.

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Another Etsy & Moo Partnership: Special Extra Limited Time Offer for Sellers

2009-05-06T15:00:00-05:00

Etsy and MOO have teamed up yet again to offer a great deal to Etsy sellers! Buy 1 pack of MOO MiniCards and get your second pack at half price, now through May 19th, 2009.

In case you didn't know, MOO is a printing company. They print beautiful products using images you upload directly to their site, and we long ago said that they are one of our BFFs. In fact, MOO let's you print a box of cards with a different image on each card. That's neat. And now they print and ship from the good old USA as well as England. And that means it's quicker and more affordable for US folks.

Here are the instructions: Add 2 packs of MiniCards to your basket on MOO.com. Then use coupon code 'etsymoomini' at checkout before May 19, 2009. Remember, both packs need to already be in your basket for the code to work. Voila! You'll get the 2nd pack for half price.

Etsy sellers have been using MOO MiniCards in many ways. The traditional: business cards, promotion & coupon cards and trade show cards. And the non-traditional: price tags, hang tags and earring cards. So dive in and print MOO's famous mini-cards, business cards, postcards, greeting cards and stickers. At right, you can see how peelapom gives her packaging that special handmade feel that her customers love. What will you come up with? Let us know in the comments!

Click here to get started making fresh printed products for your Etsy shop now! Check out the Labs' how-to with a plethora of ideas for using Moo products for your Etsy shop.

Please note: this offer is only good through May 19th, 2009 and cannot be combined with any other MOO promotions or discounts.

Mother's Jewels, by Popular Vote

2009-04-27T10:30:00-05:00

Congratulations to torque, who works with Jody McGill aka 1ofmykind — her locket piece has won last week's round of voting! The popular vote has nailed this one: mothers around the world would just melt if they received this piece as a Mother's Day gift. Don't you think? You could put a cute little picture of darling daughter or son inside, and presto! Mama would be beaming.

Congrats to all the runners up. You can see the next 21 top favorites in the related items below. Look for these in the Mother's Day Jewelry Gift Guide as well.

Want to get involved in next week's round? Post links to your suggestions in the comments below. We're looking for new baby items.

Tech Update: Site Maintenance on Community Flash Applications 4/23/09

2009-04-22T13:43:00-05:00

We will be performing site maintenance on Treasury, Chat, Virtual Labs, and the Voter on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 from 3pm to 4pm EDT. (Click here to translate this time on a world clock.) We want to give you a heads up, since many of you use these site features every day. (For those of you who haven't tried them yet, you're missing out!)

Thank you for your patience while we keep these features performing at their best (in other words, with flying raccoons, gold stars, and satisfying "ping" sounds). We are not anticipating any problems with restoring Treasury lists, but we apologize in advance if your lists are lost.

Check out these Community site features and let us know which one is your favorite in the comments below.

How-tos about Treasury | FAQ about Virtual Labs | Voting Posts on Etsy's Blog

P.S. If you want to get the breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox, then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Vote! Which Jewelry Would Make Mom Feel Special?

2009-04-21T10:25:00-05:00

We asked for your jewelry picks for Mother's Day — so many gorgeous choices rolled in, my friends. Now it's your turn to vote! The top favorites will be featured in the Gift Guides and here on the Etsy blog, so show your favorite sellers some love and get out the vote!

VOTE HERE!

Want to get involved in next week's round? Post in the comments below with your favorites from the Pets Category. We want your nominations!

Voting Posts | Mother's Day Showcase | More Jewelry Posts

Ruler of the Earth (-Friendly Items)

2009-04-20T10:00:00-05:00

And the winner is (drumroll please)...johntunger with his Recycled Steel Fire Pit!

The Great Bowl O Fire from john t unger on Vimeo.

I think this is such a cool item, and it's great to see it's a community favorite too. Look for this beach bonfire flaring up in the Eco-friendly Gift Guides, along with some of the other top favorites voted in (see these pictured in the related items below).

Thank you to all the Etsians who suggested eco-friendly items for this past vote. You can see all of the entries that were included here. It was so exciting to see the community come together and fill up the entire 60 item voter with your handpicked suggestions!

This week, you can vote on Jewelry picks for Mother's Day gifts. VOTE HERE! Help us make those mamas even more gorgeous than they already are — not an easy feat. We love you, Mom, and we have the jewelry to prove it!

You can get involed in our next round too. Post in the comments with your suggestions for items from the Pets Category. Our animal friends want to see all that Etsy has to offer, so show us your favorites!

VOTE! Which Eco-Friendly Item is Your Favorite?

2009-04-14T12:03:00-05:00

We asked you for your suggestions and you delivered! Now it's time to decide which eco-friendly item will win the popular vote. Use our snazzy Voter and let your voice be heard.

VOTE HERE!

This group of 60 items represents just some of the talented and Earth-conscious sellers on Etsy. Check out these links for more:

Handpicked Environmentally Friendly Items | Earth Tones

Explore Etsy Vintage | Search Items Tagged "Eco"

More Voting Posts

Join in next week's round: stunning jewelry for Mother's Day gifts. Paste links to your recommendations in the comments below.

Hey Procrastinators, Get Inspired by the Winner of our Tax-Time Vote

2009-04-13T13:15:00-05:00

diffractionfiber's Alt - Ctrl - Del Three Pillow Set is the winner of our tax-time inspired poll! These ingenious throw pillows set a playful tone for all the banging-head-to-desk we are all doing right now. Thank you, diffractionfiber, for inspiring us and for giving us a chuckle. Thank you to all who voted too. You can see how the votes played out here and look below for the top 21 runners up. You can also fine some of these items in the Gift Guides. Procrastinators, take heart — you have one more day to stuff those tax returns into the mailbox!

I also wanted to mention how moving it was to read all the comments on the post where we called for your votes. Despite so many Etsians' job losses, you are keeping a positive attitude and continuing to support each other in this economy. Share your stories here.

This week's round of voting focuses on eco-friendly items. We had a huge response from the community in terms of suggested items, and we're sad we couldn't include every one. Now it's time for you to VOTE and to get the word out about your favorites!

Want to get involved in next week's round? Post links to your suggestions for Mother's Day jewelry gifts in the comments below. Look for these voting posts every Monday here on Etsy's blog, The Storque.

More Voting Posts | Jewelry for Mothers | Environmentally Friendly

Tech Update: Announcing New Jewelry Sub-Category Showcases

2009-04-08T12:34:00-05:00

Hello Sellers,

On Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 12am EDT we will begin selling Jewelry Subcategory Showcase spots. (Translate this time on a world clock.) They will be available for purchase at the Showcase Gateway. These spots will begin appearing on the site starting Friday April 10, 2009 at 12am EDT.

If you have tried to buy a Showcase spot in the past, particularly in some of our more popular categories such as Jewelry, you might be interested in this upcoming trial offer. Not only will the new Subcategory Showcases increase availability of spots, but they will also allow you to reach an even more targeted group of shoppers interested in your specific type of item.

These spots will be priced at $7 per 24-hour cycle. There will be 25 spots in each Subcategory Showcase. The sub-categories in Jewelry include:

Subcategory Showcase spots will display just as the Showcase modules on the recently updated category pages, and they will be shown on all pages within the subcategory. These new Subcategory Showcases can be purchased in the same manner as the other Showcases — through the Showcase Gateway.

Remember, in order to be placed in a Subcategory Showcase, your item must be tagged accurately. For instance, an item going into the Necklace Subcategory must be tagged with "jewelry" (as the first tag) and "necklace" (as the second tag). (The second tag determines which subcategory your item will fall under.)

This is the first trial offer for Subcategory Showcases and we welcome your feedback in this forum thread. (We will close commenting on this post in order to consolidate feedback.) After we evaluate feedback on these Jewelry Subcategory Showcases, we will consider launching Subcategory Showcases in other Categories.

What is this Showcase thing? For a general introduction to Showcase, read Matt's Storque article 13.5 Questions about the Showcase, and for deeper thoughts on figuring out if Showcase is right for you, see Beth's Showcase Deconstructed article.

P.S.
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VOTE! Get Your Career in Gear

2009-04-06T13:16:00-05:00

It's tax time and you could cut the tension with a knife. On top of that, many people are losing their jobs. The hope in all of the economic turmoil may be that some of the creative types are turning their layoffs into opportunities to start their own small businesses and pursue their dreams. ("I didn't get laid off — I quit!") But with this economy, it's nothing short of the challenge of a lifetime.

This week's round of voting goes out to you, friends: not only those of you who have lost your jobs and need to get your home offices/studios organized, but also you workin' stiffs who secretly daydream about getting laid off. Keep your chin up!

VOTE and let us know which of these 60 items would get you motivated!

And let us know how your office is doing in the comments below.

Want to get involved in our next round? Suggest your favorite eco-friendly items! You can post links to your suggestions in the comments below.

More Voting Posts | Office Items | Geek Chic

Your Favorite Fall and Winter Items Are In!

2009-04-06T11:42:00-05:00

While we in the Northern Hemisphere look forward to spring, our friends on the Southern half of the globe are easing into fall. We asked you to tell us your favorite cold weather items and you responded! The winner (by a hair!) is the Nicotiana Earrings from cynthiadelgiudice. Congrats! I'm sure I'll be wanting some of these in a few months! The next top 21 favorites are in the related items below. You can also look for them in the Gift Guides. Check out the results and all the great fashion here.

In honor (um, more like dread) of Tax Day, this week's vote is all about your home office. Vote for your favorite stuff to work with! Crunch those numbers, baby!

VOTE HERE!

Want to be involved in the next round? We're looking for your best eco-friendly items, so post links to your favorite recycled, upcycled, environmentally friendly gear! We're serious about Earth conservation, and we want to see your favorites! Post your nominations below!

More Voting Posts | More Fall Clothing | More Fall Accessories