Etsy Ireland - New Blog Co-Ordinator

BIG HELLO AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS!!!

It's just turned 2014 and I have taken on the blog co-ordinator role for Etsy Ireland. On behalf of the admin team and readers of the blog, I would like to thank Rebecca for all her hard work during her time as Blog Co-ordinator. It will be hard to follow-up on all her great work, but I will give it my best!

Me - Shen Wong

About Me
Born in Hong Kong, my family moved to Ireland when I was a toddler. Within a couple of months here, I won the title of Cutest baby in Drogheda of 1982. After my win, we moved away from the glitz and fame to North Dublin.

Recently I set up my own business selling handmade jewellery via Etsy at Shen Wong Jewellery. Whats sets my work apart is the drive that I have to succeed and be different. 'Wired by Shen' is a jewellery wrapping technique that I developed. This technique is unique to my jewellery, it not only eliminates links between beads, but gives my products a polished finish. Read my press release here.



Etsy Ireland Blog
With the new year, I thought I might added one or two new resources. Before I do, I would like to assess the interest. Let me know if you think either of the below would be of interest. I am open to suggestions and ideas.

Ideas:

- Updated Competition Post
List of competitions submitted by team members. This way we can all enter and help spread the word about our members. Win-Win!

 - Markets and opportunities Post
Updated with links to markets and pop-up shops around Ireland

To read my weekly posts, just click on 'Hot Topics' on the left of the page. Starting from next week I will post the following topics. Based on comments and feedback from readers, we will decide on future topics. 

Ideas for Posts:
- How to get government allowance/support (STEA etc).
- Recognition for your craft, how to register with the Crafts Council of Ireland 
- Social media - what's available
- How to draw attention to your market stand

Feel free to connect with me as I would love to chat!

Shen Wong

Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/ShenWongCo 
Twitter      https://twitter.com/shenwongco
Blog          http://blog.shenwong.com/

What do you want? What do you need?

Over here at blog co-ordinator HQ I've been thinking long and hard about how this blog can serve you all better. What do want to see more of? What do you need help with? Are there particular posts that you would like to see? Are there posts that you don't want to see anymore??

The blog accompanies all the other support options available to all Etsy Ireland team members and should be a place where you can get information, learn techniques and to also, of course, find inspiration so that your creative and crafty juices continue to flow. It should also be a place where you can meet like minded people and hopefully make a friend or two along the way!

So with all that in mind, what can we do to make things better for you? Do you want to learn more about the in's and out's of running an Etsy shop, or have you guys got that down? How about crafty techniques? We're a talented bunch, if I do say so myself, so lets share a skill or two! How about more practical information? Are you in search of craft supplies that you just can't seem to find, is there someone out there who can help you better?

Essentially, lets help each other to do better, be better and hey, sell better! The busy Christmas period is upon us so we'll all need a helping hand!

If you have some nifty ideas and you want to share, comment below or drop me a line at luckyrainbowdesigns@gmail.com - All feedback, ideas, suggestions are most welcome and I look forward to hearing from you all!

Etsy Ireland - New Blog Co-ordinator

A big crafty hello to you all! As you may have noted from Lily's previous post, she has stepped down as blog co-ordinator after a very long and productive spell. A big thank you for all your hard work Lilly and something tells me I have big shoes to fill! (gulp!)

Lets get this show on the road by firstly introducing myself. My name is Rebecca O'Hare and I've been a member of the Etsy Ireland team for a number of years now. I run the paper obsessed Etsy shop and blog LuckyRainbowDesigns, which is currently looking a tad bare as I'm in the process of moving house and if you're addicted to craft supplies like I am, then you'll know that organising and packing up your craft room is a long and laborious task! On top of all that, I'm a stationary addict, craft supply hoarder and dog lover and suffer from blog envy all day, every day!

I'm excited to get stuck into the Etsy Ireland blog, meet and interact with more of you great people, inspire you with some interesting posts and generally get to you know you all a little better while working hard to make the Etsy Ireland blog the best it can be. Most importantly, I'm hoping to help drive more traffic to our wonderful blog and corner of the interweb as well as drive some traffic (and sales) to your individual Etsy shops.

I also hope to shake things up a little blog wise, perhaps work a little on the design side of things, provide a new range of posts and increase our social media profile while collaborating with the other great Etsy Ireland co-ordinators.

Feedback as always is welcome and appreciated so drop me a line if you feel the need to do so! As a social media lover you can contact me on a multitude of platforms.Twitter and Facebook are favs but hey, good ole email will do too! (luckyrainbowdesigns@gmail.com). 

Until next time, happy crafting!

Committee Vacancies

Handmade greeting card by jmmcards

Our new Etsy Ireland Team Committee is nearly complete. However, we urgently need volunteers for the remaining jobs:

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

Weekly Crafty News Reporter: reports on interesting crafty events, markets and developments

Natalie from the Blue Sylph

Treasury Curator: publishes summary of the weekly Etsy Ireland Team Treasuries and runs Team Treasury Challenges

More Blog Hosts: responsible for assisting Blog Co-Ordinator in maintaining a complete blog schedule and help fill gaps where necessary.

Mo from Huggleknits

More people for the PR Team/Think Tank
 
Area representatives for Dublin, Belfast and Cork

Dublin: Natalie from the Blue Sylph

To keep the blog running smoothly and have regular content, it is important that we do have dedicated writers and a blog co-ordinator. I (Purls) will be hanging around and write the odd article, so whoever takes up my mantle will not be left hanging out to dry in this Irish weather.

Puzzled by fiorejewellery

It seems our potential crafty writers and editors are a bit shy. Step forward and shine!!!