Telling Your Shop's Story

One of the things I like when we're selling our creations in person is being able to tell people about what we do and why we do it. How did we end up starting an arts and crafts business? Why did we do in the direction we have with our creations?  I enjoy telling people a little more about us and it seems to make customers more enthusiastic about purchasing from us.

When I was adding new products to our shop this weekend, I noticed a little spot to "Edit about page" and I wondered how long it had been there. Clicking it opened up to a wonderful new page that could be edited to tell our story, tell about each of us who create things for the shop, and add pictures.

Etsy has given it a bit of a scrapbooky feel by cropping the people pictures to a circle shape. The big picture at the top rotates and has a caption at the bottom. You're encouraged to use these picture slots to show your workshop and the creative process.

Want to know more?  Etsy has a blog post on it. I guess it's been available since last summer, but sometimes I don't notice the new stuff unless it slaps me in the face.  I wonder what else I've missed...

Etsy Variations and Apps Don't Get Along

I've been enjoying seeing increased sales of our Native American button sets on Etsy. When I first listed them, I was reluctant to make a separate listing for each set. Instead, I grouped several sets together on each listing and used Etsy's variations feature to allow customers to choose which set they were buying.  Until today, this was working pretty decently.

As I was working on our Easter dinner, I heard the "cha-ching" sound from my iPhone, letting me know I had an Etsy order. I just love that sound! When I logged onto Etsy to check on the details of the order, there was a notation saying that the customer hadn't chosen a variation because the purchase was made using Etsy's iPhone app. How could this be?! Etsy recommended that I contact the customer to determine which variation they wanted.

After thinking about this problem for a bit, I decided that it was time to list each of the button sets separately. As I spent some time copying and editing the listings, I remembered how difficult that would have been when I first joined Etsy. Back then, there was no "copy" feature available. I would have one item open in a tab on my browser and then would have another tab opened to the new item listing and would copy and paste, clicking back and forth between tabs.  So happy Etsy has progressed!

This all worked fine for the way I had used the variations feature.  If I had been using variations to let people choose the color or size of an item, I would have been much more upset about having to list them all separately.  Even though that's the way it used to be on Etsy not all that long ago, I hate to start going backwards.

Etsy Upgrades Activity Feed

Two years ago, Etsy added Circles and gave us access to an activity feed showing what people in your circle were doing as well as interactions with your shop.  I've been impressed with how the traffic to my shop improved as people clicked on what they saw in their activity feed. Each of us looking around on Etsy end up doing a little cross promoting and that helps everyone in the end.

Etsy has now upgraded that activity feed, giving it a prettier look and giving you a more logical way to see activity specific to your shop. The look will be appealing to those who love hanging out on Pinterest. Let's hope it's just as addicting as Pinterest!

This looks like another great change that well help promote Etsy's online shopping experience. Keep the activity feed in mind as you take product photos since you want them all to look in this virtual catalog environment.

What's Hot in 2013?



Emerald Green



For those who have gotten to know our style at Native and Pilgrim, you know that we don't worry much about what's in. It's not that we don't care. It's just that we made a conscious decision to pursue our own style, regardless of trends. We've seen a lot of people jump on the latest trend, only to get stuck with supplies and unable to sell when the trend fades away.



Even though we don't want to be slaves to what's "in" at the moment, it still helps to pay attention. We're able to adapt to some color and style preferences without sacrificing our own sense of design. According to an article by Examiner.com, serpents (Chinese year of the snake), angular looks, agates, and druzy stone are the top trends in jewelry for 2013. Jewelry Making Daily reminds us that emerald is the Pantone color of the year for 2013 and shows some great examples of gemstones using the trendiest of colors.

Leather & Lace

Etsy's blog had a story about trends for this spring. They mention trends that hit opposite ends of the spectrum - black and white as well as pastels, leather and lace. It doesn't match the other industry trends I've heard so It makes me wonder if they're trying to create some trends of their own. I know they choose treasuries to feature on the front page based on the trends they've announced. One cool feature that seems to have disappeared was the one where you could see what items recently sold. It always helps to see what people are actually buying. There is a "trending items" section, but I don't know exactly how they decide what's trending.

What trends are you seeing for 2013?

USPS Changes

The news here in the United States has focused on the U.S. Postal Service a few times recently. First there was the postage increase. Nothing dramatic, but it can add up after awhile and it's good to keep on top of the rates so you don't lose money on shipping your products to customers.  The bigger news was the announcement that USPS was changing their delivery schedule.

News reports on the delivery schedule change were overly simplified. Everyone was reporting that there would be no more Saturday mail delivery beginning August 5, 2013. Regular mail delivery is being trimmed back to Monday through Friday, but package delivery will continue to happen on Saturdays. That's an important thing to know. The USPS saw a 14% increase in package volume since 2010, most likely due to online shopping. I'm happy to know my customers will continue to receive their packages on Saturdays.

If you're selling online, you depend on these shipping services. Don't let the media lead you astray. It's important to find out the details so you know how to adjust for them.

Our Twist on Interchangeable Necklaces

Making jewelry more versatile has been a trend for a few years now. Remember those watches with the beaded bands on stretchy cord? The bands clipped onto the watch face and you could change the watchband to match your wardrobe choices.  It was a great idea, but people jumped on the bandwagon as the fad swept through. There were people who made some awesome pieces with very artistic arrangements of beads and stones. They took the time to find unique and better quality materials for their pieces.  Then there were the sellers who came late to the party and rushed to make watchbands from beads we've all seen at Michaels, Jo-Ann's, and Hobby Lobby. Every craft fair or boutique seemed to have at least 10% of the booths selling these watches and bands.

Why don't crafters take the time to put their own twist on an idea? They need to think like artisans instead of just trying to copy what they've seen.  What can I do with this idea that will be different from what others are doing? Style, uniqueness, and quality of materials can make all the difference.

The latest interchangeable jewelry item is necklaces that have a magnet on the pendant. These have been played with for awhile and now they are taking off using pinback buttons as the removable design element. I hadn't seen people wearing buttons much since my jr. high school years, but now they're making a comeback. JC Penney did a promotion during the Christmas shopping season where they gave out 1-inch buttons with a code on the back. Some of the codes were linked to prizes. People were wearing clusters of buttons now on their shirts and jackets.

We purchased a machine to make the one-inch buttons. This is no cheap investment! You also have to research the options since a machine with plastic parts will break sooner and some machines have parts that are slightly different from the more common sizes, leading to difficulties purchasing new supplies. You can get a variety of different backs for these buttons - zipper pulls, pins, tie tacks, earrings, magnets, and flat backs.

Our twist on these versatile necklaces is to keep with the theme of our Etsy shop. We have buttons done in some cool Native American designs. I also made some with tatted motifs. That was a challenge since I had to use the smallest threads. It's cool to see the tatting under the Mylar cover of the button. That's one way to keep your tatting clean! We created a new section for the shop where people can buy the necklace base and different sets of buttons.