Twitter spring cleaning

I blogged recently that I was going to spring clean my virtual life...I've started with twitter!

If you're active on Etsy or Folksy forums you'll have seen many a thread along the lines of "you follow me and I'll follow you" and I used to do that when I started. As a consequence, I was "following" way too many people for comfort. Everyoen uses social media in different ways and we all need to do what works for us - and for me, I like to chat. I don't want to see streams of links, quotes, horoscopes and non-stop-advertising. So I've started using TwitCleaner and have to say I LOVE IT!

The initial page looks scary, you have to agree that they can post and delete stuff and other scary ideas, but that is just standard twitter stuff. It doesn't really happen. What *does* happen is that your following list gets categorised: people who don't ever tweet, people who only use auto applications, people who don't follow you back. Now some of those might not bother you, I don't care whether people follow me back IF I'm genuinely interested in their tweets (Hugh Jackman, you're forgiven)

You can check each one individually, you are not obliged to unfollow their suggestions. I discovered (eventually! must learn to read instructions) that I can also click-and-hold and remove whole swathes at a time if I wish.

Already I am finding that tweets from interactive people are more visible - result! However, if I've deleted you in error (and I am bound to have missed some pals), PLEASE tell me and I'll refollow. 

The app is very clever and deletes from your required list very slowly so twitter doesn't get upset with you. This means there is a daily limit, so don't worry if it all comes to a grinding halt! 

Twitcleaner, virtual friend!

YAY me! I win again!

A wile ago I entered a fiendishly difficult (but great fun!) contest on Laughing Daisy's blog. She showed us a picture of her button collection in which she'd hidden some birds - anyway, it brought my competitive nature to the fore and yesterday my prize arrived. I wasn't expecting anything like this much in the package!



There are some hairclips made from fabric-covered buttons, another couple of funky plastic hairclips, very retro! a temporary tattoo with which to horrify my grown-up kids, a dear little gift bag, a couple of gift tags, introductions to various new shops ... and some American candies!

Many thanks Mindy!

Please check out Mindy's shop LaughingDaisy
become a fan on facebook (I just have!)
encourage her to get going on twitter!

twitter friends

I've made some great friends on twitter - even met some of them in real life (how scary was that?) ;-)

Yesterday one of my new friends @NanasGiftNook sent me a link to a gift guide she'd created - and I'm in it!



Thank you Rashell! Check out Rashell's website here: http://nanasgiftnook.com/

eeeek, I've been given an award!

In her blog yesterday, http://ZaftigDelights.blogspot.com Sandie "tagged me" and sent me a blog award. The award states that you give 10 facts about yourself and “tag” 10 fellow bloggers....so here goes!

1. I'm a Brit, but I lived in Kenya for 3 years as a child. My father was in the Army at the time Kenya was gaining its independence from the UK, but rather than remembering anything of historical importance my main memory was that President Kenyatta's cavalcade held up my school bus and I was late home from school!
   
   
   
   
2. When I came back from Africa to the UK the Beatles were very popular, and the talk in the playground was all about who is your favourite Beatle. I only knew one name - so Ringo was my favourite at first!
   
   
   
   
3. My hair is *cyber purple* but some of my young pupils thought it was natural (bless)
   
   
4. I love knitting (that'll surprise you!)
   
   
   
   
5. I go thorough obsessive gaming phases - over the years I've been hooked on Warcraft, Starcraft, Freecell (I'm still working my way through that in number order, generally while waiting for treasuries to open) and the Sims. The Sims became more real than life at one time, and when we went on holiday to a villa which was advertised as having a jacuzzi I walked around and around looking (in vain) for a turquoise cuboid - well, that's what they looked like in the game!
   
   
6. I'm a life-long trekkie. My meerkat trekkies came about because I was invited to a twitter meet-up and someone suggested I wear my Star Trek original series Command sweater - I refused, but said I'd knit a meerkat wearing one - the rest is history!
   I refused because I didn't think the world was ready to see me in uniform - but you guys won't tell anyone, will you?
   
   
   
   by the way...I'm the one on the left. It's not a new pic, I'm in my pre-purple hair phase!
   
   
7. I'm a cat person, I'm not keen on dogs. We're petless right now, but our last cat, Tom, taught himself to use the toilet. Several mornings we got up to find the toilet had been used but not flushed - both my husband and myself thought it was each other and said nothing! Then one morning we heard peeing and looked at each other...! Eventually I managed to catch him "at it"
   
   
   
   
8. I went to boarding school - and no, it's not like the schools you read about in books as a child, although we did have midnight feasts occasionally.
   
   
9. I'm married - 29 years next month! - and have three wonderful grown-up children.
   
   
10. I taught myself html to build my school's website (I'm an ex teacher) and learnt by making a fansite for the Lone Pine books by Malcolm Saville. I own the set now, tracking them down from ebay and charity shops, but first read them as a child, borrowing them from the library in Deal, Kent. In a bizarre twist of fate the library building was sold and turned into flats, and my aunt bought one. The children's section where I chose my books is now my aunt's kitchen!

Over to you: here's 10 of my favourite bloggers (in no particular order)
I confess I don't usually follow through on blog awards, so please don't be embarrassed to ignore this award!

http://dawnonowyouseeit.blogspot.com/
http://kitschycoo.blogspot.com/
http://feltmeupdesigns.blogspot.com/
http://mytutorlist.blogspot.com/
http://etsytreasuryteam.blogspot.com/
http://alibalijewellery.blogspot.com/
http://www.5erg.com/
http://agnieszkasshoes.blogspot.com/
http://www.weaselmcpuppy.com/
http://www.tobyboo.com/

This is ... Kim

from KimsCraftyApple

Favourite colour?

Seems like a simple question but this is quite loaded for an artist. I would say my favorite colors to work with are the deep, rich jewel tones. But used in the right context every color can be absolutely exquisite. My 2.5 year old daughter would answer for me, Purple.



Favourite smell?

Right now, apple cider donuts...ask me again in a few months after I've made hundreds of them!



Favourite place?

Anywhere by water.

Favourite sound?

my babies laughing

Favourite way to spend your time?

Creating

Favourite item in your shop of all time?

Hmmm....another difficult one. I really like my Spring Flowers Quilt.



Why? I like it because I used such bright and beautiful colors on a design I created myself. I was influenced by others items but took the influences and made it into my own. I rarely make anything twice but I was inspired to make my Spring Flower's Quilts into a series...I have four total...so far.

Favourite shop that isn’t yours? (Apart from Niftyknits, obviously!)
Why?

I'm going to have to pick a few here:
www.allthenumbers.etsy.com has some amazing dresses for baby girls. I would buy them all if I could!

I bought the coziest, fun shirt from www.revivalink.etsy.com and hope to buy more in the future.

I love to buy fabric from fabricalacarte and karolsvintageart destash section.

I love the jewelry from crowsnestmountain.

I love so many etsy shops...I'm leaving out a ton but I do A LOT of my shopping on here!



What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt so far that you’d like to pass on to our readers?

You can't expect to set up a store on etsy and have them do all the work for you to get customers to your shop. In my personal opinion and experienbce you have to start out by:
One, having great pictures (I'm forever working on this)
Two , JOIN TEAMS...once I joined teams it made a HUGE diference.
Three, Take some time and promote on etsy...meet some people in forums and chat rooms



Four, Take A LOT of time and promote off of etsy...twitter does a world of good, a blog (super easy to do on blogger), facebook, handmade.me, project wonderful. So many sources taht are an inexpensive way to get people to look at your site
FIVE, tell your friends and family! Have them spread the word. Give you stuff as gifts whenever possible and don't forget to wear it yourself!




So...that's my five tips to you:) I'm still learning but it seems to be getting better and better and I'm getting closer and closer to my dream...simply being able to support my habit (Crafting).

KimsCraftyApple.etsy.com

www.theapple.etsy.com

www.kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com

kimscraftyapple on twitter

This is ... Shay!

from
simplydoodles.etsy.com and simplyshay.etsy.com

Favorite color?

Pink



Favorite smell?

Freshly baked brownies

Favorite place?

Morro Bay, Ca.



Favorite sound?

Quietness

Favorite way to spend your time?

Creating graphics, Etsy, and reading.



Favorite item in your shop of all time?

None

Why?

Because, I love them all.




Favorite shop that isn't yours? Designingit

Why?

Because, she has some beautiful jewelry.

What has been the most useful lesson you've learnt so far that you'd like to pass on to our readers?

Promote is the key to success and good communication!


simplydoodles.etsy.com
simplyshay.etsy.com
http://twitter.com/simplyshay

This is...Niftyknits

I've revamped my interview questions, and thought I'd use myself as test dummy!

Favourite colour?

Purple, always purple. Unless it's turquoise. Or maybe fuschia pink?

Favourite smell?

Bacon grilling to a crisp, ready for my favourite lunchtime sandwich.

Favourite place?

The Kent countryside around my home - you can probably tell by the number of countryside photos in my blog!



Favourite sound?

Birdsong in the garden (especilly when not accompanied by neighbours' children arguing! Playing is fine, that's a lovely sound... but when they start shouting...) Did you know there is a bird song radio station? LOL

Favourite way to spend your time?

Knitting and watching Star Trek, both at the same time.

Favourite item in your shop of all time?

My first knitted fuschia


Why?

It was one of the first items I made that was completely and utterly from scratch and unique to me. It's difficult to say a human figure doll, for instance, is utterly my own pattern because everyone knits dolls with two arms, two legs, head at the top - there are only so many ways of doing that! But I've never seen anyone else knit fuschias.

Favourite shop that isn’t yours, and why?

Goodness, where to start? I love Raisinlike and traded with her to own my own sales fairy and flutterbutt



Crochetbouquet was one of the very first shops I hearted, her pansies are so lifelike and delicate.



I very rarely buy from Etsy (or indeed from anywhere else - my disposable income is tiny!) but one of my first purchases was from MadArtJewelry when I discovered Steam Punk.



What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt (about online selling) so far that you’d like to pass on to our readers?

Promote, promote, promote! Online venues are just that - venues. It's no good thinking that if you fill your shop with lovely items they will be spotted by buyers. Joining ETTEAM has been fantastic, the support and mutual promoting is invaluable. My favourite ways of networking are through my blog and through Twitter. But I hate to be too *in your face*. I don't read blogs (or follow twitterers) who only ever post stuff like "I've made this gorgeous wotsit, I'm selling this gorgeous wotsit" so I try not to do it myself.

(Apologies to all makers/sellers of gorgeous wotsits)

I am always looking for more original artists to feature, so if you'd enjoy the challenge, please get in touch. My time is limited (like yours!) so please don't be offended if I don't have time to feature you.

Live music from Twitter!

Strange but true.

You know everyone says how careful you have to be when meeting folk from the wild world of the web?

True, of course, but I've made so many new friends via Twitter recently.

Yesterday was our third visit to the Hoodener's Horse pub where we met Twitter friends @HoodenersHorse and @pannage (and Mrs "@Pannage") and were entertained by a pair of trumpeters known as The Trumpettes (On twitter they are quite naturally known as @trumpette1 and @trumpette2 !)



It was a great evening, enlivened by the small girl who danced and encouraged us all to join in - so if you're looking for a novel entertainment get in touch with the Trumpettes.

I should also add (rapidly, before @HoodenersHorse gets upset) that the pub food is second to none, particularly if you're a fan of REAL Mexican cooking. See you there next time?

Meet my fairy godmother, Dawno

Anyone reading my blog or following me on twitter can't have failed to notice my excitement when my meerkat trekkies went viral.



It took me a while, but eventually I worked out the trail and it led back to a lovely lady known as Dawno who sent the first article off to boing boing.

I found Dawno on twitter and set about learning a bit more about my new fairy godmother!

She has found a very specific niche to fill with her Etsy shop, Dawno.etsy.com. As she explains: "I have to wear a badge at work and the shoestring lanyards just don't look good with professional dress. So I decided to make my own jewelry style lanyards and other people wanted their own."



Despite (or maybe because of!) her full time job this busy lady also finds time for two blogs:
http://www.beadedbadgelanyards.blogspot.com/
and www.dawnonowyouseeit.blogspot.com


and a jewellery shop, this time on Artfire!




Dawno on twitter
http://www.beadedbadgelanyards.blogspot.com/
www.dawnonowyouseeit.blogspot.com
Dawno on Artfire
Dawno on Etsy

I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU to the lady who kick started the wave of publicity which took my meerkats into the spotlight, and ask wach of you who reads this to have a wander around her stores and blogs. Thank you Dawno!

Winnie the Pooh giveaway!

Winnie the Pooh was a favourite of mine as a child, and my own children were brought up with the "real" Winnie the Pooh, not the Disney version. We went to play Poohsticks in the Ashdown Forest at the original location. Even Disney has its good points though - like this personality test!

Leave a comment telling me which character you are most like (you don't need to use the Disney test if you already know) and you will be entered into a draw to win a brand-new CD of Winnie-the-pooh read by Alan Bennett (it was a freebie with the Guardian recently).

Have a second go by following me on twitter and leaving a separate comment (yes, it's ok if you are already a follower)

I will use random.org to find the winner on Friday - and to start you off, I think I'm a mix of Pooh and Eeyore, I bounce between being happy and enthusiastic to occasional bouts of feeling everything I do is bound to fail...oops, I used the word bounce, didn't I? There must be some Tigger in there too!

Let's meet...AREjewellery.etsy.com

Amy makes fabulous jewellery which she sells both on Etsy and Folksy. Let's find out more about her:

Cats or dogs?
I love cats but I’m too allergic to own one.

Fruit or chocolate?
Chocolate – my mini eggs addiction will ruin me.

Favourite colour?
Raspberry red



Favourite meal?
Thai curry or risotto

City break or weekend in the country?
City break probably – although both would be nice!

Soaps or documentaries?
Both again! I am a bit of a tv addict!



Now we’ve got you warmed up…

What brought you to Etsy? Tell us about your shop, do you sell anywhere else?
I honestly can’t remember how I discovered Etsy (terrible memory!). www.AREjewellery.etsy.com opened in June 2008. I was looking to sell online as I am not the biggest fan of craft fairs – all a bit too much effort – having said that I am actually organising one which seems rather a contradiction! I also sell my jewellery on Folksy.

What’s the favourite item you’ve made so far?
Ooh this is a tough one. I kept a necklace I made from blue goldstone for myself – that is one of my faves. Of all the things in my shop, I would have to say the sparkly blue chandelier earrings. They are quite fiddly to make but really beautiful.



What has been the most useful lesson you’ve learnt (about Etsy) so far?
To not expect too much! Also, how to improve photos – the inspiration I get from other jewellery sellers and how they photograph their items has been really important. The community on Etsy is great and can be really helpful – so I’m not afraid to ask for advice if I need it.

How do you see your store developing?
I just plan to improve techniques try new things and try and make more bracelets as I don’t seem to make many – I can’t explain why though!



What have you been doing today that I’ve interrupted?
University work – I have coursework in next week! I’m studying for a Masters in Property Management and Development. I graduate in September and not very hopeful of finding a job at the mo. I‘m hoping the jewellery sales pick up massively!

What’s your top marketing tip for today?
I’m not sure I’m the right person to ask this as I am still not confident my marketing (or lack of) is working. I think getting out and about is important though.

Thanks Amy! Those all-important links again:

Amy's blog
www.folksy.com/shops/AREjewellery
www.AREjewellery.etsy.com
http://twitter.com/AREjewellery