Eyes Open Ireland

This weeks photos come from Hayley of 2boos. They were taken in Howth, Co. Dublin shortly after she first moved here.

"We went [to Howth] while we were still in Exploring mode. I particularly love the Lighthouse, mainly because it looks like some one actually lives there. The Harbor was just lovely and despite the weird weather (raining one minute sunny the next) there were heaps of people around. We had also heard that there are seals in the area and had the pleasure of seeing some of them around the boats. We also ventured up the hill to the top of the village where the view was great, we found the little stone passage way on the way back down. There is also a GREAT fish and chips shop near the bus stop!"

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/2boos 

 http://twoboos-sewlikeyournanna.blogspot.com/

If you'd like to contribute to this feature please send your photos to me at bridbird78[at!]hotmail[dot]com. To read the original 'call for photos' see THIS post.

It's On - The Crafty Ireland St Patrick's Day Treasure Hunt 2010

Game on! The 2010 Crafty Ireland St Patrick's Day Treasure Hunt is now on. Hidden in our members shops are 13 letters, find them all and work out the jumbled phrase and you could win over €150 worth of fabulous, wondrous, stupendous original goodies from a selection of the Crafty Ireland team. Wowzers!

*** Deadline is now extended to March 31 due to overwhelming demand ***


Use the SHOP DIRECTORY listing on the sidebar to the right to start hunting through our team's shops on Etsy. The letter will be the last image of an item listing, and the shop will have a blurb in their welcome text letting you know if they are hiding one of the letters, so you'll know if you're in the right place. We've even given you clues to the next shop in the trail with each letter you find! The hidden letter will look something like the above image.

After you get your next clue you'll need to come back to the SHOP DIRECTORY over there to the right and scroll through to find your next shop, as the clues will be targeted on the shop name.

Once you've found the 13 letters, work out the jumbled phrase and convo Ruth at nicedaysupplies.etsy.com or email her with your answer:
ruthcrean [at] yahoo.ie

All entries MUST be received by midnight (Irish time) on St Patrick's Day, March 17.
*** Deadline is now extended to March 31 due to overwhelming demand ***

All correct entries will be put in a hat and a winner drawn at random ... and he or she will receive a fantastic goodie pack of a selection of items from the Crafty Ireland team worth more than €150. Talk about beating the credit crunch!

To keep it fair, Crafty Ireland team members are not eligible to enter ... boo hoo ... but your family, friends, random acquaintances are all welcome. So give them a gentle poke on your behalf.

And because we're REALLY kind, we think this is an AMAZING competition. There's your first clue (hint, hint... Amazing ... go look in the Shop Directory for someone Amazing) so good luck and happy hunting. This is an international giveaway so no need to worry if you live on the other side of the world, we will still ship your prize to you. We're kind like that!

Fab 5 on Friday

1.Swannsandmerlin-2010 Linen Calender
2. 2Boos- Protect Your Books
3. TwinklingTrinkets-Teal Butterfly
4. Vivian Walsh-Sparkling Drop Rhinestone Earrings
5. Feltfeiltrofilc-Red and Khaki Felted Net

Collection chosen by Nice Art Things

Lovely new members - come and say hi

Four more lovely newbies to join our ranks this week. Drop in to their shops and say hi and share some love. Great to have you on board this crazy train!

Top left: Daisy and Bluebell Shopping Tote by Mukkymonkey
Top right: Luxurious Silk Scarf by Farapinalia
Bottom left: The Constant Gardener - Medium-sized print by Meluseena
Bottom right: Peacock Feather Silk Brocade and Silk Lined Clutch Bag by BagNoir

PS And apologies to all of you for cropping your pics to fit ... agh! Not cool I know ...

Full Circle - Irish Traditional Crafts

Chapter 1 - Spinning

We start our craft journey with the basic textile ingredient that was and has been available on most farms in Ireland from earliest times - sheeps wool and its preparation.

The sheep is shorn using hand shears (today many shearers use electric sheers for speed) and the fleece is taken off the animal in one continuous piece. It is then spread out and sorted. Some people will spin directly from the fresh fleece but that depends on the breed of sheep and the quality of the wool. If preparation is needed the fleece is broken up and washed gently so that it does not felt (fuse together). It is then spread out on a stone wall to dry naturally.

When dry it is teased - gently pulled apart, spread out - and any grass, twigs etc are removed. If very dry ( i.e. no natural lanolin remaining = the sweat of the animal) it is greased at this stage to make it easier to spin. Oil, paraffin and goose fat are just some of the substances that have been used. Once greased it is then carded to take out the tangles and rolled up ready for spinning.

The prepared rolls of wool are used to spin the yarn by either using a hand spindle or a spinning wheel. The same principle is used with both. To start you draw out a small piece of wool from the roll, twisting as you go, tie it to the spindle and continue twisting in the same direction drawing out the yarn and winding it onto the spindle. When the roll is used simply add another to the end of it and continue winding.

In Ireland there were traditionally 3 types of spinning wheel in use - the big wheel which was found mainly in the counties along the west coast of Ireland and was used while standing up, the smaller version of this wheel used in the southern counties and the small flax wheel which was introduced in the northern counties in the 1700s by the Royal Linen Manufacturers in Ulster. Not many of these wheels now remain in use. When I was on the lookout for a wheel last year there were none of those wonderful wheels available so I bought a small Ashford Traveller that I have named Jessie after a very special sheepdog that my grandfather had when I was a little girl.

I learned to spin on Clare Island last year with an amazing lady called Beth Moran (thats her husband Mairtin sheering the sheep). She also taught me how to dye the spun wool using onion skins to get a bright orange colour. The results of my first attempts are below......

Today in Ireland we have some amazing spinners and dyers who make yarn by spinning all types of natural and synthetic fibres. http://www.etsy.com/shop/LHogan and http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lysulka are just two of the CraftyIrelandTeam who are actively spinning and dyeing. You should check out their etsy shops.......

As yet I am a learner and spinning just for my own amusement. I am currently making a waistcoat from my first spun wool - I will show you how it turned out at a later date. For now I am just happy to spend some quiet time with Jessie when I can.

If you are a spinner, either wheel or spindle, and live in or near Dublin, Ireland, you are welcome to join the Dublin Spinners who are meeting next Sunday 28th February in the Powerscourt Balcony in Dublin City Centre. I am sorry I wont be able to make it this month unfortunately so I will miss out as Laura http://aranbrew.blogspot.com/ tells me that tea and cakes are also on the agenda.....

More information on the Dublin Spinners group at the following Ravelry page http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/dublin-knit-collective/859081/101-125.

Thats all for this month. Next topic is Natural Dyeing and Knitting coming end March.

Cheers for now

Mo

aka http://www.huggleknits.etsy.com/

Clickety click - St Patrick's team treasuries

We've got 3 fabulous St Patrick's Day themed treasuries currently twinkling away in the vast Treasury lists.

Seek and ye shall find has been snagged by TanyaMac with an impressive array of beautiful things. It's so great to see creative interpretations of the Ireland / St Patrick's theme which showcase the group's work and loving the warm gold and orange hues in there too.


And An Irish Holiday has been snagged by IrishWoolen, another varied and impressive range of items to get the Paddy's vibe going, with great green and cool blue shades. Great work.

And Quaint, snagged by Balanced is continuing the St Patrick's theme. The Treasury team are firing!


If you have time to visit and click, click, click and comment that would be great. Thanks to everyone's hard work at snagging the many Treasuries over the past weeks.

Belfast’s Fashion Souk: up- and recycled, handmade, and fashion conscious!

Belfast’s First Fashion Souk opened its doors for the first time on Sunday, 14 February 2010 in the Ulster Hall Lobby. This new exciting fair fashion market for second hand and handmade clothing runs on a trial basis for three months, during which it has to prove its worth for more funding, but it was about time that Belfast gets a proper clothes market!
Purls of Colour stall at the Fashion Souk (yes, and me…)

Our city certainly has plenty of charity shops to donate your unwanted clothes, but no dedicated market to sell your old darlings. Last month, I tried to sell some of my clothes at St George’s Friday market, but I realised quickly that most visitors there were more interested in bric-a-brac. If you want to sell your previously loved clothes, there are some shops that take vintage or designer clothes, like Déjà vu on the Lisburn Road, or the Rusty Zip on Botanic Avenue, but the Fashion Souk certainly fills a huge void. It gives fashion designers, artists and craftspeople an opportunity to showcase and sell their creations, and people who are clearing out their wardrobes can do likewise.

The Fashion Souk is Belfast’s first fair fashion market, intended to reduce the amount of clothing we throw away every year. Recently some powerful advertisements printed on Belfast Metro buses and black taxis appeared, telling us how many bus- or taxi loads of clothes we throw away each week. Scary!

The fashion souk is organised by Aly McElroy Jones, who organised the Changing Rooms, an initiative to make fashion fairer and more sustainable, and Belfast’s Stitch and Style workshops and fashion shows, where people have the opportunity to learn how to customise their clothes, and also see how customised and handmade clothes look on a catwalk. I’ve exhibited twice at the Stitch and Style shows, and have to say it is amazing to see your own creations modelled at a proper public fashion show.
‘As Pink as you can get’ Purls of Colour scarf modelled at the Stitch and Style Show, November 2009

Exhibiting and selling at the Fashion Souk was great fun, and it was amazing to see all the different stalls and creativity displayed there, for instance, there are belts made from bicycle tyres, rainskirts made from old tents, and rucksacks made from Coca Cola tins.
I have a whole list in my head of all the things I want to buy if I ever come into money.

And it wasn’t just Belfast stalls, since I spotted our very own CraftyIrelandTeam member Missy Bonkers from Galway, who was one of the crafters who had come up from the South. Team member Lilgreenshop from Belfast also was there as a customer, but we didn’t manage to meet up!

Running a stall at such an event is fascinating. As a non-driver, I am so used to bring my suitcase of knitted accessories to a stall, but this time, a friend of mine drove me, my knits and my boxes of second hand clothing to the souk. My non-driver mind forgot so many things I could have taken, like a big mirror and my wire mannequin. Still we set up, and I had a wonderful time chatting and selling to customers – although I did not sell any of my Purls of Colour creations. I did sell some of my previously loved clothes, and I am glad they found new homes, since I found it hard enough to part from them, even when I hadn’t worn some of them for years!

Chatting to some other traders, I heard the same thing again and again, namely how difficult it is to sell your handmade items, because people always expect to pay cheap chain store prices for everything. So I learnt that is really important to drive the handmade message home, to let people know what makes your item so special and more costly than chain store items. I find this quite difficult, since I am not a born seller, but I am planning to have some information at my next stall about the process of handknitting. And I will definitely bring a mirror…

The Fashion Souk is a great event for sellers and buyers alike. It showcases the talent of Ireland’s fashion community, and the buzz of creativity is infectious. It celebrates the joy of dressing up or down, of difference and wearing one-offs, and of shopping for clothes while you are doing your bit for the environment and reduce waste.

And it had cupcakes, which are the rage here in Belfast at the moment.

Dates of the next two Fashion Souks, which take place at Belfast’s Ulster Hall Lobby from 1-5pm:

Sunday, 14 March 2010
Sunday, 11 April 2010

For more information or to book a stall, email info@thefashionsouk.com

There are also Stitch and Style workshops (no fashion show though) at St George’s Market on 6 March 2010.

For further information:

www.thefashionsouk.com/
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/stitch/
www.thechangingroomni.com/

Exhibit with Craft Guerilla at Knitting and Stitching show in Dublin

An exciting opportunity has arisen for six individual designer makers to exhibit with Craft Guerrilla at the Knitting and Stitching Show in London, Harrogate and Dublin in 2010.

Six different designer makers will be selected to take part for each of the shows in London, Harrogate and Dublin, making eighteen places offered in total. Please be sure to indicate the nearest show to your hometown in your submission.

The Craft Guerrilla Manifesto

The Craft Guerrilla is a group set up to work with independent Crafts People, Artists and Designers Makers of quality hand made goods. The aim of The Craft Guerrilla is to join forces with other creative individuals and set up craft events in vacant or unused venues, associate with "friendly" businesses, provide a community to link and cross promote independent designer makers, sister armies in other cities, share web traffic, and provide helpful information to other designer maker groups as well as individual designer makers.

HOW TO APPLY

Read the submission criteria and information here.

If you would like to apply for this opportunity then please send up to five photos of your work by 11th March 2010 together with 200 words telling us why you should have a stall at the Knitting and Stitching Show, paying attention to the three criteria outlined in the submission criteria on their site (see the link above for this).

There will be interviews and requests for samples of work for those who are successful in the first round and a decision will be made by end May 2010.

Please send the photos as .jpg files no larger than 1MB each together with your 200 words, your contact details and the location of your nearest Knitting and Stitching Show (London, Harrogate or Dublin) to craftguerrilla@googlemail.com.

If you prefer, you can post your submission information to arrive no later than 11th March 2010 to:

Craft Guerrilla
c/o Lisa Margreet Payne
10 Winns Terrace
London
E17 5EJ
UK

PS. UPDATED TO ADD: Any craft is eligible for consideration - not just knitting and stitching - as long as creations are interesting, original, hand made and great quality then yes ... we'll consider them!

How-to-Tuesday: Photography

As always people are talking a lot lately about photography and how to get good product shots. Now I don't claim to be an expert but I may have a few handy tips that might help you out along the way. There also tonnes of really good resourses onthe Etsy forums, just do a search of the titles.
One good place to start is to research your area on Etsy, see what other sellers are doing in your catagory, so what works and what doesn't and try to avoid the mistakes that others have made. This can be a good way of figuring out the style and feel of the photographs that you want. I think people often don't know what they want until they see what they don't like. Some questions to ask. Do I want to use a model? Do I want a plain background? Do I want the pictures to be fun/bright or moody?
Any of the Irish sellers I've been talking to recently have said that they've struggled with light in the gloomy Winter months. I've now made a rule that I don't photograph after 2pm, it may look bright but for a camera there just isn't enough light this time of year to take good shots. The number on rule is NEVER use your flash, ever ever! It will destroy the colours of your item and make it look flat and mawkish.

You don't have to have an amazing camera to take crisp pictures. I used to have a beautiful super duper posh camera until we were burgled and now I'm working with a basic point and click Canon IXUS, it set me back 200 euro and it does exactly what I need it to do. Obviously it makes life a lot easier with a good camera, and you will get phtotos that look that little bit better, but it's not the huge hindrance people think it is.

The products I'm usually taking pictures of are small so I always have the macro setting on (that's the button of the little flower your camera has). All camera have this setting, some lenses are better than others, play around with yours and see what your camera is capable of. When you are taking close up shots it's essential that you have this setting clicked, or your photos won't be crisp and in focus. I also have my ISO set at 200, and usually I have the shooting mode set to vivid to try to combat the grey daylight. I never use extra lighting as it adds a yellow cast to the colour of your photos. You can buy white bulbs in photography shops, but as yet I've never needed one.

Remember to take you time when taking the shops, if you are using a cheap camera make sure you are very stable when shooting the image or you will get camera shake. I tend to place my elbows on the table. Or small table top tripods can be very handy for this. I also try to keep in mind that the image will have to be cropped to a square for the thumbnail on Etsy. At the start I was very frustrated at having to crop nicely composed photos, now I automatically gear the images to this format. I usually take 6 shots of each item. A couple of arty interesting shots for the listing, and then others that show the basics of the object, like the back/clasp/underside. Here is where all that research comes in for the arty shots. It will help you decide what you want to do for your 'magazine' photo. Lately I've started doing playful things with the background, when I was phtographing a friends jewellery I placed them on a mirror so it looked extra luxurious.
After taking the pictures your next stop is photoshop, which is your best friend if your camera isn't too good. I try to take my pictures on a background that is a very different colour from my object, it makes this stage far easier. Here are a few steps that i put every picture through:

Go to Image>Adjustments>Replace Colour : then high light the background colour, adjuest the fussiness level until you have most of the background but not your object, and increase the brightness. Try not to bleach out your shadows, and don't make it look too unreal.

Go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast : I push the brightness up a little bit if the image is a little grey, the contrast helps here too. If the vivid setting on the camera has over saturated the colours I can take down the contrast a little here

Lastly use the crop tool (the tool on the left 5th from the top that looks like 2 set squares put together). In the grey bar at the top I type in my measurements of 25cm x 25cm with 72 dpi, and that means that all my images will be a uniform shape. It's very important that you do this step last after all of your changes as you are decreasing the image size/quality so much it makes it difficult to work with afterwards.
There are lots of other things you can do with a stubbourn image like using the clone too to get rid on marks or dust. Or using colour adjustment to get rid of a yellow cast, but i rarely have to do this. As I said this isn't the complete guide to phtography just a few things that have helped me get a better piture over the past while. I've included some before and after shots of images from my own shop and from friends whose photograghy I did. The jewellery is from DBDesigns and the scarves from Farapinalia, and obviously the buttons ar mine from Nice Day Supplies

Ps:sorry if there are a tonne of spelling mistakes, I'll check it later, I've to run to work...agh late!

Balanced makes the front page of Etsy

Congratulations Balanced! As I logged on this morning and had a peek at the front page of Etsy, who should be there shining brightly but Balanced. Well done.


And interesting that an Irish-themed treasury has hit the front page, sadly not one of ours :o( but hang in there, we'll get there. Time to hit the treasury clock again ...

Introducing Monday... Faerytopia

Greetings from fairyland !

My name is Rachel Allkin and I have been making fairy folk for the last 8 years in a wooden workshop at the bottom of my garden (appropriately !) hidden in the woods of east Galway.

I trained in mixed media art and craft at college in Northamton , England and furthered my studies with short courses in silver smithing, weaving and felt making.

After a number of years living and working as a musician in Spain the call of the west was too great and I settled in galway with my lovely hubbie Ade. Our family now consists of Oscar (nearly 5) , Twig ( a hairy terrier), Frida (a startled cat), 2 unnamed goldfish,and a hoard of fairies (too many to count !).

The very first fairy i made was for my Mother's christmas tree and after friends and family begged me to make them one too i thought I might be on to something.

From there I started fashioning fairy folk on a regular basis under the bussiness name' Away with the Fairies' and selling them on the wonderful St. Nicholas' market on a saturday in galway . If you're ever in galway on a saturday please check it out as its a wonderful mix of organic and homemade produce and lovely local crafts.

i have also had wonderful support from many of the lovely craft outlets around the country including O'reilly-Turpin in westport and Glor in Ennis.

Each fairy starts her life as a flat piece of fabric (often vintage, recycled or sari) , then she is sewn together on a machine and stuffed with lavender and fluffy stuff. i then decorate her (my favourite bit) with lots of lovely embellishments, buttons, braid, ribbon, beads, feathers , shells..... and create a face for her with tiny seed beads as cheeky fairy peepers. Her hair is created with hand dyed wool and a silvery thread is sewn to her head so she can be hung up to float around in the breeze. Lastly but certainly not least the fairy is christened and her name tag is tied to her spindly wire arm so that any proud new fairy owner will know what to call her when she finds a new home.

My range has expanded from just 'freshly caught fairies' to fairy folk for all special ocassions and seasons. Some of the bestsellers include fairy bride and grooms and new baby fairies which can all be personalised eg. hair and eye colour, names and dates etc.

We are often found at craft fairs around the country and of course the market in galway so please stop by and say hello.

I also run craft classes in and around loughrea for kids (adults classes coming soon) convo me for info.

I'd like to take the oppourtunity to say hi to all the crafty ireland team members really looking forward to getting to know you all, I haven't been on any kind of team since school but this is so much cooler !

My Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/Faerytopia

My personal blog http://awaywiththefairies.ie/blog/index.php

Eyes Open Ireland

This week's Eye Open Ireland photos are from Claire.

"[these photos] were taken outside my house in Derry Castle in Tipperary...I was snowed in one day during the Christmas break and couldn't get to work, so I took my dad's camera on an adventure. I just tried out different things, seeing what worked and what didn't and ended up with some nice shots I think."

Claireanncrafts.blogspot.com

Fab 5 Friday-Neon Delight

1.Photos Worldwide-Eiffel Tower II, Paris
2.Silkstone Designs-Seahorse Sea Glass Necklace

3.Lysulka-Hand Felted Flower Brooch
4.Faerytopia-Happy Birthday Fairy

5.TanyaMac- A Happy Hairband

Ps: here is a little reminder for team members that we will be having a team chat this Sunday night at 8pm, talk to you then everyone :)

Clickety click - gorgeous greens in Gayle's treasury

Gayle from AmazingBabe has scored a treasury - hoppity hop over and click away and support the featured team members.


And the ever-impressive Treasury master Ooakie has also created another beautiful green-themed treasury too. I'm feeling the good green vibe of St Patrick's Day.


And if you've ever wondered if you've made it to the front page of Etsy ... Craft Cult has an archive of treasury lists that have made it to the front page. You can search by your user name too (just hit the SEARCH BY MEMBER option) and see if you've made the grade and popped up on the front page while you were sleeping or away (!) from your Etsy site (gasp! I know! but sometimes it happens.)

And another useful tool is the Treasury Clock which shows when the treasuries are opening up and you can search here in the Treasure Hunt to see if you're currently in a treasury somewhere.

I will take off my school teacher hat now and find some coffee. Mmmm, coffee.

Thanks Gayle and Ooakie! Go say hi and click, click, click.

Update!!
Rebecca from Lucky Rainbow Designs also just snagged a treasury...and I think it may be her first as she is one of our many team newbies...share the love!

Some of Dandelion Daydreamer's Favourite Illustrators

Hi everyone, Sorcha here from Dandelion Daydreamer. Sorry this post is a little late in the day, my electricity was cut for 2 days (you gotta love French administration!) For this week's post, I thought I might introduce you to a few of my favourite illustrators. Be warned though, hide those credit cards and be prepared to lose an hour of your life as you browse their enticing shops!

 

 

 First up we have a big favourite of mine, Catherine Campbell. Expect to be blissfully enchanted by girls in tea-cups with wise owls perched on their wind-swept hair, beautiful mosaic style collages and pretty sirens of the sea calling out to long lost sailors. Gorgeous!

Rob Ryan is the mister of romance, never before have I yearned so much to own an original piece by an artist! His work varies between intricate paper cuttings and 2D stylised screen-prints. Like an infinite love story, his body of work heralds all things romantic and sweet. The dress above is a piece which made the cover of Vogue. If you are going to buy one thing of Rob's, I recommend his book, "This Is For You", probably the most delicious coffee table book ever to have been created.

I love Leigh Viner! I recently had her on for an artist interview on Dandelion Daydreamer. I have an art giveaway every Tuesday and never before have I seen such a reaction to a giveaway! Leigh's illustrations evoke a sense of sensual feminity, they sweep you into a world of tender fleeting moments where contemporaory fine art meets fabulous fashion illustration. I love the brave brush strokes, the melange of mediums - light and airy pencil meets dark broody acrylic and they hit it off! Most of all I favour the forgotten watercolour droplets carving their own paths on the canvas.

I hope you enjoyed my favourite illustrators! Feel free to pop over to Dandelion Daydreamer to meet some more of my cherished ones  :)

Welcome to the Pleasuredome

And with a title like that, yes, I grew up in the 80s. Without further ado, introducing the newest, loveliest members of the Crafty Ireland team ... drum roll please:
Top to bottom:
Single White Female by AMG-arts
Fun Irish language brown paper parcel with red ribbon bow Card by Paperpennies


L-R, top to bottom
Citrine Dragonfly Earrings by Silkstone Designs
Freshly caught fairy by Faerytopia
Cosmic Collection Orbital by Ojeejewellery


L-R, top to bottom
Sheep blanket by Fishcrafts
Pearly Stone Necklace by Neadie
Calligraphy by VictorDesign

Gorgeous stuff. Welcome to the team!

Paddy's Day Ideas...and Etsy Chat

Image: Tanya Bond- Paddy The Rat Drinking Guinness in a quiet pub

Hi everyone it's Ruth here again, I just wanted to give you a brief run down about what was talked about at the 'chat' last Wednesday night. Firstly thanks to those who made it, it was lots of fun getting to know you all better.

-Firstly we talked about making the 'chat' on Etsy a more regular thing, so people would know when it's on, and join in if they were free. We talked about having it either weekly/forthnightly on a Sunday night at 8pm. But that would depend on the feedback we get from you guys...so leave comment here if you are interested.

-We discussed local markets and fairs, so if there is a market in your locality could you leave a comment here with some details, as it's very hard to get a comprehensive guide, so we thought you guys might have some tips.

-Trust the Irish! We discovered that the chatroom is sensored and that you can't curse there, typical!!, but very fun to play with, I highly recommend it. Although it did turn us into compulsive potty mouths!

-Obviously Paddys Day was discussed. Etsy have said that they will be promoting this holiday, and seeing as we are the Irish team we want to make a huge effort with it. So the plan of action is:

-Treasuries-if you can nab one, do so, not every single one has to be Paddys day themed but a large percentage should get us noticed.

-Tag all your Paddys items under holidays(as discussed in the post below this one)

-Make lots of Paddys day items and get them listed as early as possible, as the American market is the one that will mostly be buying you need to allow time for shipping etc.

-We would like to do a giveaway as part of the Paddys Day promotion, so if any of you have small items that you could donate for the prize please get in contact with me and I'll give you details for postage etc.

-Myself and Alex have talked about the team doing a treasure hunt for this prize. Including hidden messages in peoples shops. This means people will have to search through all our shops to find the clues to win the prize. I will need 13 shops for this so if you are interested please leave a comment on this post and I'll pick some at random. I'll explain how it works exactly if you are one of the chosen shops. Either way everyone will get increased traffic because all shops will have to be searched.

-If anyone has any more suggestions for Paddys Day, let myself or Alex know and we'll try to work it into 'the grand plan' to paint Etsy green.