Crafty News Desk.....

Greetings from the Crafty News Desk...

Here I sit about to start a new knitting project while I wait for all of my roving reporters to come in with some newsy bits for the weekly report. 
No sign yet.... mmmmmmm..... what to do.......
Lets have a quick look around the country and see what market news I have  ..... 

• Crafty Market continues at the Sheeben Chic, Georges St on Sunday next 6 February 2011    craftymarket  
• Fashion Souk will take place on Sunday, 6 February at the Europa Hotel, Belfast,  from 11am-5pm. thefashionsouk
• Vintage and Craft Market in Airfield, Dundrum, Dublin on the last Saturday of each month airfield
• Milk Market, Limerick - every week  milkmarketlimerick
• Ferocious Mingle Market, Dublin is back on Sunday 13th February FerociousMingleMarket
• DesignerMart Temple Bar is coming back on Saturday March 12th designer_mart

Fi from patchworkdelights is having her very first giveaway on her blog    blogspot giveaway  of a fab Mug Rug with GNOMES..... I love Gnomes.....  Check out her blog and her shop for some amazing patchwork delights.  Best of luck - if you win let us know here at the news desk.

 

Have you often thought you might like to do a little writing about a passion you have for anything crafty?  If so, why not get in touch - we would love to offer you space to share.  If you don't want to put pen to paper (of finger to keyboard) send me your ideas and maybe we can put an article together... together!!!!

 

( By the way - I am running some Crochet Parties in people houses here in Dublin where the host gets the 2 hour class for free. If you are interested get in touch.)

 

That's about it for this week.  If you see any of the roving reporters on your travels will you send them back to me before next week. 

 

Until then - Cheers

Mo

huggleknits , mosbitsnpieces

Eyes Open Ireland - County Tyrone

Today's Eyes Open Ireland comes courtesy of Brideen (fatlittlepixie on Etsy), a wonderfully talented photographer from Tyrone.

on the web: http://www.photographybybrideen.com
on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photographybybrideen

(click to enlarge)

"Sally Lane" taken in County Donegal 2009 - The lane looks like it's leading to somewhere even more beautiful so I wanted to capture that along with the summer sun flickering through the trees.

(click to enlarge)

"Country Cottage" taken in County Tyrone 2009 - thought that this
cottage was really pretty even though it was falling apart!

These are wonderful, aren't they? That Sally Lane looks magical to me! And that Country Cottage looks like a lovely place to get lost in.

Have photos of your own you'd like to share?
Send them my way and tell me why you took the photo, which county it is in and your name and Etsy shop link. You can convo me on Etsy or email me at rach@balancedcrafts.com

Thanks so much for sharing with us, Brideen!!

Fab Five on Friday

Are you as fed up with your New year detox as I am? Then let's re-tox, and rejoice in these deliciously sweet treats from fabulous Craft ireland team members on Etsy! These are all such mouthwatering confections. I adore them all :)
What do you think?

Featured items:
1. Happy Birthday Cupcake, letterpress card, by TheLetterboxPress
2. Cupcakes x 5, embellishments, by LittleSnippets
3. Petals and Cupcakes, fine art photo print, by fatlittlepixie
4. Pink Strawberry Cake, mini coin purse, by BeeLiciousCrafts
5. Birthday Cake Pocket Mirror, by nicedaydesigns

Chosen by Beth of magpieandbutton.
As always, if you would like to suggest or curate a Fab Five on Friday of your very own, just send me an Etsy convo :) 

Tax doesn't have to be taxing...

 Mixed Media Cigar Box Assemblage (covered in old tax tables) by homespunireland

One of the big dates in the life of a self-employed person in Northern Ireland (and the UK) is the 31 January, which is your deadline for filling in your tax return online. You also have to pay any tax owed before the deadline. Unless you can afford an accountant, it's up to you to do your tax self-assessment. If you miss said deadline, a £100 fine is looming, so you better get your scates on!

Help Yourself, print by meluseena

If you want to do a paper return, the deadline is the previous 31 October. I have never done a paper return, because I once looked at the forms and my mind went totally blank. So I decided to check out the online version, which I found much easier to use than going through endless pages of tick boxes and other boxes and lines. You can tailor the online pages to your needs, so you don't have to wade through endless pages that you don't need. The online version also 'tells' you (in red!) if you make a mistake or forget to tick a box. Even better, it does the calculations for you!

Happy Days!

What you need to do is to register with HM Revenue & Customs online, and this nifty page tells you all about it.

I have filled in tax returns as a self-employed IT freelancer for the last three years and I find it difficult, although it does get easier with practise. Last year, I rang the helpline, and then made a big blunder and had to ring again! At least, I won't make that specific mistake again! I have to admit I am no natural in calculating my expenses and also lack the patience to work things out slowly.

This year was the big one - I did my first return for Purls of Colour!

In a previous business course, we were told to keep meticulous records for the taxman (or woman). A simple way of keeping receipts is to have an envelope for every month, and stick the receipts in there. Sounded easy enough, and keen and eager, I even bought myself a single cash book to be fully organised.

Well, I have to admit, it never happened.

Receipts were stuffed into one big envelope, and the single cash book was left blank - I rather scribbled the amount of anything I bought and forgot to ask for a receipt on bits of torn envelope, which were also stuffed in said big envelope, and I never added up how much yarn I really bought...

Don't do this at home!

So, came January this year, I spent two weeks trying to recreate records I should have had in the first place. At least I knew from experience not to do the tax return last minute (ie this week), because if you do it during the last few days of January, the website gets so busy, it is bound to crash, and probably just when you are ready to press the 'submit your return' button on January 31! So I started at the beginning of the month, and was soon chasing receipts, bank statements, Etsy purchases, orders and notes, trying to make sense of it all.

It wasn't pretty...

I was moaning constantly on Twitter about it...

I needed a lot of coffee!

Arabian Coffee Pot, Etching by bridgetfarmerprints

I realised that my sloppiness in keeping records wasn't just bad for the tax return, but also for me. I had no idea of the value of my stock (which I should know for insurance purposes), no idea how much I had spent in the last year, and was even surprised to find I had had more sales and income than I had thought!

Basically, if I had kept my records at least reasonably meticulous, I could have had a much easier time with the tax return. In fact, once I had everything worked out on a big excel sheet, it didn't take me that long to do my self-assessment.

So, my conclusion is...tax really doesn't have to be taxing, if you've done your homework throughout the year!

Me culpa!

So from now on (and I hope I am not eating my words next January), I will take a look at my income and expenses at the end of each month, and will dutifully put it on that excel sheet. I'll keep those pesky books in order, and fill those envelopes with receipts every month! And then I will pat myself on my back and tell myself:

You're Magic, letterpress greeting card by theletterboxpress

I might even treat myself to a nice handmade box on Etsy for those envelopes!

Now all I need is some magic to stop me from spending too much money on yarns and fibre, because although I know now the value of my considerable yarn stock, there is still the strong pull of more!

A small selection of my yarn stash, the yarn in the picture is by lindsaycrafts

(I have no idea how tax returns are done in the south of Ireland, so if anybody wants to write a blog article about it, you are very welcome!)

Treasury Time

Thanks a million to ByAmor for her treasury how-to yesterday, it was a great step by step guide. So now all of you can get started making team treasuries,also don't forget to post a link to them here on the treasury forum.

On a side note can I just say how great it's been browsing through all the new shops that have joined the team, it's been a while since I was a very active team member, and I'm bowled over by all this great new talent. I really want to go shopping now!

Today I'm doing a big Spring clean in my house, or at least I was until I got sucked into the addiction of treasuries, so I picked a bright and airy theme as that's how my house feels since all the clutter is being sorted at long last.

A Breath of Fresh Air- by Nice Day Designs

Speak Irish to Me (As Gaelige)- by Tirabaralla

A Taste of Irish Springtime- by ByAmor

Step by Step to Making Etsy Treasuries.

A request was made to post an easy tutorial on making Etsy treasuries. Anne-Marie here, hoping to make it eeeezy peeeezy without over-simplifying...here goes...

Treasuries are lists of items from various Etsy shops curated by Etsy members to showcase and promote each other. They are fun to make, and most of us find them addictive!


You'll find treasuries when you click on 'Buy' on the Etsy site. Click 'Explore Treasury' to bring up the page shown in this screen shot above. To start your own collection hit the big blue button on the right 'Create a List.'

This brings you to the window above. The first thing I always do is set the Privacy to 'Only you' while I'm working away but it's important to remember to set it to 'Everyone' when you are finished. Those who are more experienced and super fast at making treasuries probably don't bother to temporarily hide their list as they can get it done in one short sitting. I however, am slow and do it in stages rather than in one go, so I hide it until it is ready to share.

Give your list a short, title and if you wish, a brief description. You can edit this later if you find the theme evolves a little as you get into it.

Over on the right of the screen you can use up to 18 tags to describe your treasury, much like you tag the listings in your shop. Be sure to use the tag 'craftyirelandteam' for team treasuries so Ruth of Nice Day Designs can find them for the treasury report.

Next, open a new tab or a second browser and log into Etsy so you can find and copy the listings you wish to feature.

Search for items to include. If you are making a team treasury use the search term 'Craftyirelandteam', perhaps adding a second term to suit a chosen theme or colour. I've clicked into a listing from Daisy Chain Crafts in this example. Go up to the top of the screen where the URL for the listing can be found (highlighted blue in the screenshot above.) Right click on the URL to highlight it and click 'copy'.

1. 

Go back to the original tab/browser where your treasury is and paste the URL into one of the boxes labeled 'Listing URL.' Then click 'ok' beside it and the item will be inserted into your treasury.
Keep going back and forth between the two tabs/browsers, filling up your treasury with suitable items. You have up to 16 slots to use. You can move items about by dragging the image from box to box until you are happy with the layout.

A handy little tip is to save the list from time to time so you don't accidentally lose your work going back and forth, and then just hit the edit button on the bottom right to continue. If you do that, best not to worry about the layout until you have filled up all the slots.

It is not advised to include your own items or to use more than one item per shop, especially if you hope for your treasury to reach the front page.

Etsy advises us to 'make it beautiful' and how you do that is as individual as you are :-). If you are not sure how to approach the design, browsing the existing treasuries may inspire you. Some treasuries are based soley on colour and/or theme. Some tell a story. Some have a pattern, others don't. There is no set formula. Afterall, making a treasury is an art in itself.

When you are done, check you are happy with your title and tags, hit save and remember to change the privacy back to 'everyone' so you can share the treasury.

Many treasury curators contact the shops they have featured to let them know. It's not obligatory but it is nice and of course, it means your treasury will be seen by more people, and hopefully shared via their twitter and facebook accounts or blogs.

Here is my Springtime treasury if you would like a closer look at all the gorgeous items and shops featured.

The Crafty Ireland Team have a thread going where you can post team treasuries.

Crafty News Desk

Greetings from the Crafty News Desk.

How are you all doing? 
New Year - new collections in the ETSY shops and loads of new members in the Crafty Ireland Team.  Our membership is growing and growing - how many have we now?   Great to see the wide selection of crafters we have in our group.   Take a look at the last few groups of new members on the blog here > group A  group B

Not a lot of fresh newsie titbit's for you this week.  Everyone seems to be beavering away being creative.
 
Great news though about a new Europe office for ETSY being set up in Ireland  - see this earlier report Limerick Meeting  Loads of speculation going on as to where it will be located and how many staff will be needed as well as the advantages we as Irish Crafters will have when it opens.

Also some of our crafters are involved with the Showcase Ireland in the RDS.  Loads of luck to you all.  If you want to read more about this check this out rds

In case you need to keep in touch with the year of craft and what is coming up check out this link Craft Year    As to what we as a group might do to showcase our creativity, no news yet.  Any plans for regional meetings coming up?  There are loads of ideas out there that we need to harness.

www.irishshop.com is looking for new suppliers for their website www.irishshop.com  They cater for the Irish American market and would be interested hearing from new suppliers. 

Make contact here ; irishshop

Interesting item  ----  check out this website   http://upstart.ie/  art  throughout the upcoming election  !!!!

If you have any news items that you would like to pass on to the team e.g. markets, art/craft exhibitions, courses, meetings, selling opportunities, items to buy/sell (within  reason and only craft related) giveaways in your shop etc etc etc....  contact me through my shop here HuggleKnits

That's it for this week. 
Cheers
Mo

Welcome New Members

Today we have nine new members with fabulous shops to browse. Please click, click, click and leave a few hearts. We all love a heart now and then :)


Above from left to right:

Ice Flowers Brooch by bettyoctopus;

Original Oil Painting on canvas - Autumn in Ireland by Zdravtcheto;

Hand knit turquoise cowl by Ursidea Crafts



Above from left to right:

Of Bees & Bee Skeps DVD from Hands Series;

Glass Beads & Hemp Cord Necklace by Mouflon;

Roman Emperor Brass Coin Buttons from Sara Baldev



Above from left to right:

Hand-knit Aran Tweed Raspberry Pink Cushion from Where There's a Wool...;

Aqua Blue Elf Hat for Newborn Baby from Babies Republic;

and last but not least Madam Butterfly's Pendants Reversible Collection by Duliadesign



A huge warm welcome to all of you and wishing you many sales and lots of fun on Etsy. Until next time...

Eyes Open Ireland - Call for photos

Eyes Open Ireland is back! yeah!
Bridget describes this best back in her original post. We'll be continuing this great idea this year on the blog.

I'll start us off with some of my own photos, but I will be needing your help!
Send me your photos and tell me why you took the photo, which county it is in and your name and Etsy shop link. You can convo me on Etsy or email me at rach@balancedcrafts.com

Let's jump in!


These photos I took on a little trip to the The Mill at Avoca Village in Avoca, County Wicklow.

(click to enlarge)

it's a charming little place...

(click to enlarge)

with a lovely history...

(click to enlarge)

I took these photos, and originally wanted to go here, because I am fascinated by the process of things being made. All kinds of things. It's so interesting to watch all the little parts become one big part. I know I'm not alone here, either.
It's commonly referred to as a tourist destination, but have you been? will you go?

Share with me in the comments! And get those photos out!

- Rach (balanced)

Fab Five on Friday

 

Valentine's day may be over three weeks away but romance is already well and truly in the air on Etsy, as love-themed treasuries and gift guides have popped up everywhere this week. With this in mind I've put together an adorable collection of amorous items from five fab members of the Crafty Ireland Team for you to enjoy... ♥

Featured items:
1. Red and Black Heart Coasters, by selkiecrochet
2. I "Like" You Facebook Valentine Button, by nicedaydesigns
3. LOVE, 3D Letters, by littlewhitedog
4. Love Letters, Rainy Day Printable PDF, by designbirdie
5. Queen Of Hearts, OOAK Necklace, by Tirabaralla

Chosen by Beth of magpieandbutton.
As always, if you would like to suggest or curate a Fab Five on Friday of your very own, just send me an Etsy convo :) 

Limerick Meeting With Etsy Rep

(l-r) Ruth, Rebecca, Bernadette, Helen, Nicola, Orla

On Sunday just gone a few of us team members met up with the lovely Bernadette from the New York office of Etsy. It was kind of a late notice thing, so I contacted as many Limerick based sellers as I could and we met up at the Sunday craft Milk Market in Limerick.

Let me first say how lovely and down to earth Bernadette is, she told us all about her office and the work that they do in the customer care team that she works in. She is part of the 'support' team in Etsy, some of you may have emailed them with questions or reporting abuse etc.

Some of you may have heard the news in the Sunday Business post that Etsy are setting up an office in Ireland, which was part of the reason for her trip here; to scout out the situation. At present they are deciding between Dublin, Galway and Limerick, and are meeting with recruitment agencies and business folk in each of these cities. They will be setting up another customer support team here to deal with all the queries that come through at night in the US. Ireland is a very desirable venue to set up an office because of the tax breaks, because we speak English, and we have a highly skilled workforce. As yet they have not decided on what city they will be based in but Bernadette assured us that she would keep us all informed! She said that they prefer to hire Etsy users/sellers as they have a good knowledge of the site, so that's good news for any of you that are job hunting out there. She estimated that it would take approx. 6 months for this venture to get rolling, but it's still very exciting news.

We went on to discuss some of the new changes in Etsy, most notably the currency conversion and how it's affected us. All in all we were very relieved with being able to list in euro, and Bernadette said at Etsy they were delighted to be able to offer it at long last, saying that 30% of sales are from outside the US. We also chatted about the new 'copy' function for listing items, which has made managing a larger shop so much easier (you'll see this if you click on any of your items, after 'renew'). There was also talk of the new teams section and the discussion threads that are there. I did ask that a group convo tool be granted to team leaders as this can made team co-ordination so much easier and less time consuming; telling her of the days when I was sending 100 individual convos to team members.

There was general other meanderings into topics of the snow, surfing, Irish tourism etc, and it was lovely just to have an aul' natter! Here are some pieces from all the members who were at the meeting. (l-r)

The Letter Box Press,

Nice Day Designs,

Lucky Rainbow Designs,

Stained Glass Fayre,

Farapinalia

Also Bernadette gave us all one of these beautiful letterpress Etsy calenders, it's already hanging on the wall in my studio!

Team Treasuries for the New Year

Hi, this is Ruth, your new team treasury co-ordinator. I'd just like to say thanks a million and well done to Rachel from Balanced for doing a fantastic job over the last 6 months, I hope I can do half as well as she did. If you are making any team treasuries don't forget to tag them with 'craftyirelandteam' so I can feature them here in my weekly post. Also the team treasury challenge will be starting back again soon, I just have to get my thinking cap on for some nice themes.

In the meantime hear are some lovely team treasuries, enjoy, and don't forget to leave lovely comments on the treasuries if you have a couple of minutes to spare.

Home is Where the HEART is by me-Nice Day Designs

Ireland's got Talent for Valentine's Day by -Crystaleye

A Fairy Tale Romance- ByAmor

A Warm Welcome......

Here are some beautiful shops from our newest members for your browsing pleasure.

Above from left to right:

Set of Three Rosey Red Gingham Hanging Hearts by The ThistlePatch;

Occasional Chair by CiaranTreanor;

Hand knitted baby overalls by YarnSweetie



Above from left to right:

Silver Real Grape Leaf Necklace by Knight Time Designs;

Vintage Sixties Lilly of the Valley Satin Wedding Dress from White O'Morn Cottage Shop;

Small Square Vessel - Feather by Living Ginger Designs

Above from left to right:

White Chiffon Silk Stole with Handfelted Rose Motif by FineFibre;

Hand Dyed Wool Yarn by kerryfelter;

Happy Birthday Cupcake - letterpress birthday card by The Letterbox Press


A huge welcome to all our lovely new members. I hope everyone has time to drop by your shops and leave a few hearts. Until next time.....

Crafty News Desk

New Year Greetings from the Crafty News Desk. 

Having just emerged from under a couple of viruses - one in my body and one nasty one on the computer - I am now ready to embrace the year ahead. 

So lets say goodbye to the old year and give a Golden Globe to the Crafty Ireland Team.

The year was 2010 and what a year it was for the Etsy Ireland Team of crafters.  We started the year with just about 100 members and as we step into the new year the number has passed 180 and still growing. It was a year of achievements both individually and collectively - here are just some of them. 

• Craft Markets have sprung up all over the country, both North and South, and many of our members have had a big part to play in their development, as well as taking part.
• This blog was nominated and made it through to the final of the Irish Blog Awards in the Specialist Blog category in March.
• Numerous magazine and newspaper articles have highlighted the work of some of our members - Prudence Magazine featured 6 of our crafters in May and Purls was interviewed on Radio in August.
• Others were featured on ETSY sites including Blog articles, the Storque and front page Treasuries.
• A number of teddy bears went advertising for us in late summer and turned up in the strangest of places (Mary put labels with our blog address on some teddy bears and we left them in various locations around Dublin)  if anyone has come across them or knows where they are now could they let us know.

There are many, many more as this is a very prolific team of crafters.  So I say a collective WELL DONE ALL ON A GREAT YEAR.

And so we come to 2011

The Crafts Council of Ireland (CCoI) and Craft Northern Ireland (Craft NI) have designated 2011 as Year of Craft. The year marks the 40th anniversary of the Crafts Council of Ireland and will be celebrated through a diverse range of dynamic events and programmes at home and abroad to showcase the very best of craft made on the island of Ireland.  President Mary McAleese will be Patron for Year of Craft 2011.

A dedicated website www.craftinireland.com  is now live with the most up to date listing of events for Year of Craft 2011.
It might be worth our while doing something as a group to highlight our group and tie it in with the national events!!!!!  There have already been some suggestions given on the team blog. 
Something for the new team to get their teeth into.  
What do you think?
Should we organise some meetings to pool our ideas?
Comments welcome at the end of this blog post.

On a similar note  there is a big Irish Craft/Arts campaign going on in the US this year - is there any way we can link into it in some way?  Especially as most of the ETSY community are in the States?

Post your comments at the end of this blog article or on the our chat line on the ETSY Ireland team blog on ESTY Craft Year Chat

For those of you who may be new to this group >  a big welcome to you all.  There is a wealth of articles on this blog that will help you if you are starting up on ETSY or if you want to improve your shop and the way you approach your selling.  You will also get a look inside some of the work areas of our members and learn about their secrets to success.  We are a friendly bunch and are here to help


MARKET NEWS
A new Home Souk will be launched on Saturday, 5 March, and will run bi-monthly in BELFAST.

Home Souk criteria:
Previously loved/owned furniture and soft furnishings
Revamped, upcycled soft furnishings & home wares
Lovingly made soft furnishings, crafts, homewares
Fairly Sourced soft furnishings & home wares

A new Fashion Souk website at will soon be up at http://www.thefashionsouk.com/
To book a stall, contact info@thefashionsouk.com


~~~~~~~~~~~
That's about it for this week.  Have a look at  the previous article by Purls on the new Team leaders for the group.  If you would like to step up and take an active part get in touch with her.

Keep the news coming in
See you all next week
Cheers
Mo
aka huggleknits and mosbitsnpieces

Put Your Paws Up...

I've temporary emerged from my winter hybernation to give you the bear eyes!

*rubs sleepy bear eyes*

The Etsy Ireland team still needs keen volunteers for the new team committee. So I am drumming up some support here!

*drums on floor with all four paws*

On my fur, it's a great opportunity to learn new skills, get to know other crafters and help the team. So far we got some crackin' new volunteers. Will you follow their pawprints?


Web Designer: Maggie (thebowmakers)
Crafty News: Mo (huggleknits)
Treasury Currator: Ruth (nicedaydesigns) 
Fab Five: Beth (magpieandbutton)
Tea and a Chat: Rebecca (luckyrainbowdesigns)
Eyes Open Ireland: Rach (balanced)
Blog hosts: AM (by Amo'r) and Ruth (nicedaydesigns)
New Members' welcome: Letizia (ooakie)
Facebook Page: the thistlepatch

Letizia and Purls have agreed to stay on in their positions of Team Admin and Blog Co-Ordinator, unless somebody new steps proud and bearlike on the scene. So these fabulous posts are still up for grabs!


Team Admin (rotated every 6 months)

• responsible for making newcomers welcome and passing on links (facebook/flickr/blog...)
• encourage members to tag items correctly with 'craftyirelandteam'
• add new shops to Shop Directory on blog
• add new members to the Crafty Ireland team page
• be on hand for general queries from new and existing members
• email the New Member Admin weekly with the names of new members for inclusion in the 'Welcome' post on the blog

Blog Co-ordinator (rotated every 6 months)

• work with the 'blog hosts' to provide daily content on the blog
• create a blog timetable/ calendar through shared docs, for instance Google Calendar
• write articles, especially when there are gaps in the schedule
• edit submitted articles if necessary
• deal with minor technical glitches on the blog
• add blog hosts/ regular contributors as blog authors to the blog so that they can publish their articles themselves
• encourage members to submit content, this involves mentioning the blog in the team forums and to new members, as well as publishing calls for new content on the blog regularly
• co-operate with the Blog Designer to have regular design changes
• be the contact person for the blog and respond to queries

Blog Hosts

Responsible for assisting Blog Co-Ordinator in maintaining a complete blog schedule and help fill gaps where necessary. There are regular hosts and hosts who don't have a weekly slot.

Regular slots:


'Treasuries' (at present on Wednesdays)


The Treasury Curator will be the contact person for all treasury makers in the team and will publish blog posts with screenshots and links to active treasuries which feature Etsy Ireland team members. Also will publish regular treasury competitions. It's a fun post for somebody who loves Treasuries!


'Tea and a chat with' (published on Saturdays)


Fun, friendly member interview blogged by host - also responsible for sourcing contributors. This feature doesn't have to be a weekly one - this term it was published every fortnight.

Blog Hosts without a regular slot:

Submit articles regularly and help the Blog Co-Ordinator to fill gaps.


PR Team/Think Tank (long term role for 3 - 5 members)

This term the Think Tank didn't get off the ground properly, but this is a team effort by a bunch of proactive creative thinkers and most importantly 'doers' to help generate publicity for the team, online and offline. This includes writing press releases, organising team promotions and publicising the team at events or organising publicity events for the team. The Think Tank works closely with the Team Admin and Blog Co-Ordinator.

The Think Tank is also responsible for applying for team grants and informing the team of progress via blog, facebook, twitter, Crafty Ireland Team forums, and Etsy chat room.

Area Representatives:

Represent your Area! Hosting a team meeting is a great way to do that! We need reps for
Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Limerick and Cork. If there is a significantly large group of Etsy Ireland team members elsewhere, do let the Team Admin know and discuss where to set up meetings for said group!
Each rep will be responsible for setting up meeting time/location and inviting members in your locality to come along. No big agenda! Just meet up, chat, show off your latest makes, maybe have a craft supply swap and have fun. We’d love each rep to blog after each meeting with some photos and a little summary of what you all got up to!

Belfast
Dublin
Galway
Limerick (West and South): Llinos Designs
Cork

***

Now I am going back to lying on my bear hide and continue my well-deserved kip! Be sweet as hunny and volunteer while I dream of the spring sun's arrival!

Bear Hugs
Jacob

*curls up under blankets, grunts, starts to snore loudly*

Fab Five on Friday

 

Today I've put together some amazing items in turquoise and lime.
I just love this colour combination.
It really pops doesn't it? :)

Featured items:
1. Ice Flowers Brooch, by bettyoctopus
2. Mirabelle Portrait Print Mounted on Canves, by jolieart
3. I Love Lime Set of 2 Flower Bobby Pins, by thebluesylph
4. Polkadot Ceramic Earrings, by TheBusyBeadCompany
5. Summer Festival Hat, by purlsofcolour


Chosen by Beth of magpieandbutton.
As always, if you would like to suggest or curate a Fab Five on Friday collection of your own, just send me an Etsy convo.

Pop up Shop Opportunity in Dublin

Hi everyone! Below I have copied a press release from the RHA in Dublin. They are looking for proposals for a pop up shop for one or two weeks in Feb/Mar/April.

If anyone is interested in doing an Etsy Crafty Ireland Team pop up shop in the RHA, please let me know today that you are interested and I will include some photos of your Etsy shop stuff in the proposal, which has to be submitted tomorrow (Friday 14th). If more people are interested later, then you can be added and we'll figure out the details and all that later if the proposal is accepted!!

Email me:
thebluesylph@gmail.com

Click on their website link at the bottom for more details.
Thanks!
Natalie


PRESS RELEASE *RHA POP UP SHOP! *


Calling all aspiring designers and young creatives, the RHA is launching the RHA POP UP shop.


We are inviting submissions of interest to operate from a retail unit in a prime location in the gallery for periods of between one and two weeks. The POP UP is open to designers of fashion, furniture, craft, creative start-up businesses, and any innovative retail ideas. The POP UP offers the opportunity for small businesses or start-up projects to test out their ideas in a retail unit for a concentrated period. The footfall through the gallery is consistently high with an average of 2000 visitors per week.

The unit measures 3.8 x 3.8 meters and is fitted with 6 adjustable shelving units. The RHA is not in a position to offer any additional outfitting or modifications to the unit. The unit is shared with a small, separate bay of shelving of RHA publications and catalogues. The cost of the unit is €100 for one week or €175 for two weeks; the install and removal period should be factored within this. You will be responsible for the staffing of the shop and the opening hours must coincide with the gallery’s hours.


To submit an application for the RHA POP UP please send in a statement for your intended use of the space, some sample images of your work or a reference to your website. Art exhibitions will not be considered.

Please indicate whether you would like to take the unit for one or two weeks and what is your preferred month. The slots will be scheduled during the months February, March& April. It is hoped that following this pilot programme, the POP UP will be offered on a continuing basis so applications not chosen on this occasion may be referred to later slots.

General enquiries to Ciara Timlin, ciara@rhagallery.ie or tel: 01 6612558.

Applications should be emailed to Ciara@rhagallery.ie by 14 January 2011.

See RHA website, www.royalhibernianacademy.ie for images and further details.

Pop Up Shop info on their website here:
http://www.royalhibernianacademy.ie/html/gallery/gallery_popup.html

Opportunity for Artists with an Irish Flair

Irish Fireside Blog and Podcast is planning an ongoing feature of Irish-interest artwork and is looking for independent artists.

Each week, Artist's Eye on Ireland will be showcasing an artist whose work represents or is inspired by Ireland. It's pretty straightforward and there is no charge associated with this feature. Submission guidelines can be found on the A Call for Artists page.

Check it out!

Fab Five on Friday

Happy New Year!
I hope none of you are suffering from the January blues, but you know what?
Even if you are, these gorgeous items will cheer you up for sure ;)

Featured items:
1. Blue Mohair Mix Beanie Hat by selkiecrochet
2. Vintage Swooping Swallow Hairslides by ABoxForMyTreasure
3. Tiny Beaded Bottle Set, Teal/Black by Balanced
4. Big Crochet Flower Bracelet by AlejandraJacoby
5. Midnight Blue Silver Claddagh Ring Irish Language Card by paperpennies

Chosen by Beth of magpieandbutton.
As always, if you would like to suggest or curate a Fab Five on Friday collection of your own, just send me an Etsy convo :)

Search Your Own Shop. A Handy Tip for Etsy Sellers

Happy New Year! Anne-Marie from byAmor here with a handy hint for Etsy sellers.

Those of you who buy on Etsy are probably well familiar with the search 'this shop' function.
But it is also something you can put to surprising good use in your own shop, especially if you have a lot, or a growing number, of items listed.



You will find this search mode in the top bar when you go into the public home page of your shop (not in ‘Your Esty’, which is only seen by you.) It wont be much use to you yet if you only have one page of items but the more you fill your shop, the more this simple search can become your friend. I'd like to share a few ways to utilise it.

Straight after the holidays the first thing I did was make sure I had nothing still tagged as Black Friday or Cyber Monday. These were sales I took part in until 14th December. In the box next to 'this shop' I typed in ‘Cyber Monday Etsy’ and hit the search button. Although I thought I’d removed all such tags after the sales, up cropped several items. Oops. Some urgent editting required there.




I decided to keep some items on special offer and add a few more. I made a new shop section titled ‘January Sale’ for them and amended each listing. Afterwards, another quick search for ‘sale’ within my shop reassured me I hadn’t forgotten to move any from their old section. The correct number of items came up, corresponding with the items now in this new section.

Such cross checking isn't a bad thing to do from time to time. When listing something new it isn't that difficult to forget to put the item into a section. A few months back I suspected I was missing an item from the bookmark section. A quick search for the term 'bookmark' helped me dig out the stray one and put it in its rightful place.



From time to time I use this search mode to check the balance in my shop. For example, On Monday I did a search for ‘men’ in my shop....read that as you will ;-)....and learned that I now had only two lonesome items tagged 'men' across my shop. Time for me to rebuild my stock of keychains and bookmarks, or perhaps develop a whole new line for the boys.



A shop search is also helpful when pondering what colours to use in your next project. On Monday this week, a quick search for each colour showed I had, for example, 25 items tagged with black, 5 purple and only 1 white. That helped me decide what to make next; a white beach glass pendant, which by the way, I made in a unisex design so I could tag for ‘men’ too.

Another great use for this search is when linking within your listings. I’m no techy expert, but I understand that linking to other items within your listing descriptions is supposed to help your SEO (or ‘googleability’ as I call it.)



More to the point, it entices buyers to go deeper into the shop. For example, when listing some Connemara marble earrings, I will add in a link to the matching necklace, or to the Connemara marble section of my shop, or maybe the general earrings section. Stats gleaned via Google Analytics lead me to conclude that it is working as people are not bouncing straight out of my shop. However, sometimes I like to link to the less obvious. This is where the shop search comes in handy.

For example, at the bottom of a description for a large, chunky pendant, buyers might like to take a look at other large pieces I have listed. A quick in-shop search in a second browser for the term ‘big’ drums up several statement pieces crossing 3 or 4 sections of my shop. I copy the URL for this search from the very top and paste it at the bottom of my listing. Two sentences long, It's a little clunky looking, but it serves the purpose, making it easier for the buyer to find something they like (I hope!)



Alternatively, I could include a link to all my listings found in the same stone or same matching colour or whatever seems to be a logical step for the buyer. For example, when listing the unisex seaglass pendant, I included a link to items for men. I don't have a section for men so a link to this search is almost like gaining an extra shop section, albeit within a listing.

Once you put yourself into the mind of a shopper, you can discover all sorts of possibilities for linking. However, less is more. If you include more than one or two such links, it becomes confusing and could be off-putting.

These are just some of the ways you can utilise this versatile search function. Obviously, the more you fill up your shop, the more invaluable it can become. I can’t wait to discover new ways to employ it. If you have any ideas, please do post them below.