Why I Switched to The Craft Star, and Why You Should Too

When I started out selling my jewelry online, I built my own website. But pretty soon I found Etsy, and I eventually let my site go in favor of selling on Etsy. It's a venue with 850,000 other crafters, and I thought there would be power in numbers. Apparently a lot of other sellers felt that way too.

I tried a couple of other sites: Ruby Lane had a creative branch, but I never had sales there. Same thing with Artfire. So it dwindled down to my Facebook page and Etsy.

Etsy has some rather serious pervasive problems. The company, for whatever reason doesn't seem to like sellers communicating too much with each other. They shut down the chat feature in 2011. They allow users to post on a public board, but randomly shut down the conversations. They don't allow disparaging remarks, which is apparently any question about the business or its practices.

Since shutting down chat, Etsy allows sellers to communicate, in a fashion through their BNS and BNRs. Those are not for explaining in detail in this article, but basically they’re about sellers selling products to each other and giving each other feedback. So it looks like you have sales. I did some number crunching and testing by going in them daily for a few months, then off for some months. I found no change in my sales or rank, except for one new team that asked members to ‘favorite’ each other’s items and the members, for whatever reason, actually did it. Like crazy. During that short (2 or 3 week) run I managed two random sales to buyers who found me without knowing me or being members of my TPJ Facebook page.

From the beginning, Etsy has touted itself, and become popular as a handcrafter’s venue. This page on Etsy explains the requirement for a seller: you must present supplies, vintage, or handmade items for sale. Yet the problem of finding resellers rather than handcrafters on Etsy continues to this day; they are often pointed out (by other sellers) and documented (because you can find their items on huge catalog sites at wholesale pricing). The company's sheer resistance to removing the resellers leave true crafters with a bad taste in their collective mouths, believing that for Etsy it's all about the money, not the rules. Not to mention that we can't compete. Why would you purchase my $35 hand beaded necklace when you can buy one from China for $9? 

In fact Etsy recently added a partnership level where the seller can outsource at least part of their work to a factory. As an aside, I found it quite humorous when I applied to do this with my t-shirt designs, and I was one of the ones flagged for 'proof' that I handmade the designs. My shirts are most clearly handiwork, probably not even saleable.(see them in this post) Yet perform nearly any search on Etsy and you will find hundreds of factory creations.

In 2013 I discovered The Craft Star (http://www.thecraftstar.com/). I felt like I had come home. At The Craft Star there are a few hundred sellers, but somehow the staff makes me feel like I am the chosen favorite. The owner, Bethan Davies, spends hours and hours every week finding new ways to promote us. She’s very transparent with her efforts, which not only informs but causes sellers to be extremely supportive.

"Buying from small businesses helps families directly." ----Bethan Davies, The Craft Star

The Craft Star features live shows on Monday and Thursday. They may be informational, educational, live sales or just fun. Sellers are mainly the attendees, and through our participation in the live shows we get to know one another.

There are Click to Buy videos, and videos that market products for the sellers right on the site. Here's an example:

All this works together to promote SMALL businesses --there are NO resellers at The Craft Star. We as sellers feel--and appreciate-- their 100% backing. And I love their last line:

"Please keep in mind, buying from small businesses helps families directly."

If you are a buyer and not a seller, all this may seem trite to you. But it's the difference between supporting small business and not. Etsy is a huge, multi-million dollar business. When you purchase (unknowingly, I realize) from their resellers you are perpetuating the lie. When you take your business to The Craft Star you know that you are buying from a small business.

I know this post sounds fairly salesy but I assure you it's not intentional. I simply love 'living' at The Craft Star. Find out for yourself. Become a member(it's free) and try out the forum and chat tools. You will find a helpful community -- no attitude; no bad vibes. When you're done, don’t forget to join us as a seller!

My Jewelry Shop at The Craft Star ThePerfectJewel4U

My Digital Design Shop at The Craft Star Digi Doodads

My jewelry show goals are killing me!

People are always asking me what my goals are. Since jewelry – making is something I’ve decided to keep as a HOBBY I try not to have any. But it’s so my nature to approach things like a business: what are your goals? What are the steps to achieve that goal? What are the sub-steps? What supplies do you need to make that happen? Aargh. I drive myself nuts.

This week I actually do have goals, and I’m not meeting them. I feel like there’s an interruption every 10 seconds. It doesn’t matter how important it is – it’s something that draws me away from my craft. And since I’m actually doing my first craft show this weekend, these goals are important. At least to me. J

The show is in Rogersville at the Armory on Saturday. It’s from 10-6. I’m sharing my booth with Roslyn, who is RazzleDazzleMe on etsy. So I emailed her today and said I have 200 pendants, about 100 other beaded pieces, and maybe 50 sets of earrings. And I told her how I feel so far behind. I could feel her laughing in her response: its plenty, don’t worry, we’ll have fun. And yes – we will. If I can just get those other 50 earrings made…….

Here are a few pieces I plan to take with me:

 

                                   

Wednesday's Photos: Chalk Art

OK so I'm a day late posting :) This is chalk (sidewalk) art. I found the first few when I looked for Tampa, FL and their annual chalk art festival. Then I did a search for more. There's some r-e-a-l-l-y amazing chalk art out there. Take a look:

Artists, in order of pictures: Julian Beever (Muses and Coke), John Akers (heron), Ellen Reilley Marshall (cow), Mic Knight, and I believe the final close-up is also Mic Knight's. If you like those, you might also enjoy these spectacular 3-D works: http://www.tracyleestum.com/portfolio/3d-street-art

Yay! My glass tile "bat" pendant was featured in an ARTFIRE collection today.

Spooky White Hall...

  Curated By: antiquorama

ArtFire.com

Fine Art Paintings

Scribbling, Doodling, Zentangling

I have always doodled. I used to get in trouble at school; I'd finish my work, then illustrate it or doodle in the margins. So it was a surprise to me when I discovered that my doodling, or as my husband calls it Scribbling, is now a copyrighted art form. It's called Zentangle and you have to take a class in order to doodle exactly what I did in the 2nd or 3rd grade. Hah.

However, it's a lot of fun so I've tried to follow their rules. *My rule #1 is, learn the rules and then break them. That's what creativity is about!

So. Here are some of my first attempts at zentangle:

I'm not sure why I'm so into letters. I have others I'll share soon.....anyway I found an ATC (Artist Trading Card) group at Swap-bot.com that is currently trading alphabet zentangles. Aha! Perfect! So I drew the "E" above a little smaller and made a Trading card from it. I've been assigned a partner and I'm mailing it out tonight. I'm so excited! Here it is:

Tomorrow I'm going to show you how to make some cool Halloween jewelry. ;)

Creativity - where does it come from?

Someday I'll do a lot of research on creativity, and share with you the results. For now, this post is just about me and my musings.

I doubt seriously that creativity is in our genes, because I'm the only creative person in my family. They used to say "we don't know where she came from." In other families, it's considered a gift. In mine – I was just weird.I have creativity in droves.

Anyway, one thing I've come to realize lately is that I'm especially creative when I'm happy. If everything is good and well balanced, you can bet I'm painting, making jewelry, writing, making music, or trying to do all of them at once.

You can also get creative by listening to good music, like Bach, Beethoven or Mozart. For some reason these composers wrote music that has the effect of making you really think. You think deeply, as you must any time you're going to create something. Plus, by actually listening to the music you're calming your mind and probably your body as well. The added relaxation is another good benefit for inducing creativity.

I keep a notebook with me all the time, and jot down ideas or make sketches, no matter where I am. you never know when you might see or hear something you want to save for later.

If I'm feeling stuck, I might pull up Google images and glance at some pictures of flowers or something else that I like. Or sometimes I just read through other blogs that I follow, most of which are craft, jewelry or writing related. Usually by the time I've done, I've got an idea of what I want to make next – even though it might have nothing to do with what I was looking at. It's like my brain simmers an idea on one side while I'm reading with the other.

So that's how I draw in my creativity; how do you do it?