Filling up the shop

Happy Monday! I did quite a bit of sewing, promoting, and thinking this weekend....among helping throw a bridal shower for a dear friend! I realized I need to pay more attention to my etsy shop in the midst of completing Sew Cute! at home party orders - a task that is not so easy! I did have some wallets, coin purses and a bag sitting in my sewing room and made a goal to fill up my shop this week!

My cousin, Kaitlin, did this a month or so ago. She set a goal for herself to list one item a day for a week and see what happened in her shop. I started yesterday and listed a new item for Sew Cute! - I have branched out from basic, one pocket clutch/ wallets, to a wallet that has one main pocket, and then some credit card divisions. Here it is:

Find this in my etsy shop - click here

Wicasset by Moda Wallet

Today, I listed an item that is a bit more "springy". This floral mini-wallet is super bright and just wants to go inside your bag! I have a matching coin purse that will be unveiled soon!

In other areas of Sew Cute!, my huge order is slowly coming to an end! I have one and a half bags left to complete. I've learned quite a lot during this process as well as sewn every spare minute I have. Here are a few things I will put into practice:
1. Charge more for custom orders! They take time - more time to pick out the fabrics, go to the store, figure out which button the customer would like best, etc.
2. Put more in writing! I need to make sure I specify that custom orders cannot be returned. Customers need to be told to be very specific about their likes and dislikes if they are going to "trust me".
3. Order thank you cards and new business cards! I'm running low on business cards and I want to incorporate some matching thank you cards I can send to customers.

Finally, Here are some photos of a few of the orders I recently filled:

Cassie's Order: Black & White Mini-Tote, matching wallet and keychain

Melissa's Order: Custom Alchemy Order - Scoop Pocket Purse

Have a great day!

Friday Finds: Baby Style

Etsy Baby Picks!




When shopping for baby showers, why not buy handmade? These are just a few of the thousands of baby items on etsy! Thanks for viewing my very first mini-treasury! So exciting.

And the winner is...

The results are in! The winner of Sew Cute's first giveaway is....Kaitlin Gray of Rochester, NY!!!! Congrats, Cousin!!!

Kaitlin gets to pick her favorite fabrics for a Sew Cute! zippered coin purse! Thank you to all the participants. Don't worry; Sew Cute! will be having another giveaway in the future.

Still really want one? I'm selling them at an introductory price of $6.00 on my etsy.com site...check it out. If you don't see a fabric arrangement you like, send me a message, I have tons of cute fabrics!

Congratulations again, Kaitlin! Visit Kaitlin's etsy shop: kaitlineringray.esty.com

a little bit of Spring

Sorry, I haven't been around all week! I actually had to work, at work! Crazy, huh?
I have a few updates for you and a few treats as well!

Last Saturday's bag party was fantastic! I sold a ton of purses, wallets, mini-wallets and booked a party! I am extremely overjoyed that Sew Cute! is on it's way....feels hard to believe that a year ago I hadn't even thought up Sew Cute!. I need to remind my self of God's faithfulness and provision at all times of this business venture....even when I'm so tired from being pregnant and have HUGE bag order looming over me! So, the party took in over $500 worth of orders. Now the job is to order fabric, start making bags, and figure out how much is actual profit, how much goes to my investor (dear Mom) and how much to put back in the business. It is quite a learning process.

I am also toying with the idea of getting thank you cards made - I may do them myself with publisher or check out etsy to see if there are any crafters out there who can do it for me! I need bags as well for my bags! Or somesort of packaging. I've heard the Dollar Tree offers some great deals on smaller bags (for wallet, keychains, etc), but I need to explore larger options for the mini-tote and the regular totes. Hmmm....

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted the Spring table runner I was making? Well, I finally have the photos! It is so pretty and looks great on my kitchen table.

The finished product!

A close up view.

On an end note, the giveaway is almost over....so, go to the giveaway post and enter to win one of my new zippered coin purses!

My First Giveaway!

Yay! We did it! Now that I have at least 25 followers (through blogger and/or networked blogs), Sew Cute! is having a giveaway! Thank you for being a follower of the Sew Cute! blog and now you can have a chance to win my newest item - the zippered coin purse!



The winner will get to choose from three fabric selections!

Here's how to participate:
1. This giveaway is for my followers, so you have to be follower (or subscribe to my blog) to participate.

2. In order to get signed up for the giveaway, leave me a comment to this post saying your name, email address (so I can contact you if you win!)and which Sew Cute! bag you like the best - you can look at them on my esty mini sidebar or go to my etsy site
You can also be entered other ways ~ yes, more than 1!

~write a blog post about this giveaway (1 extra entry)
~facebooking this giveaway (1 extra entry)
~buy an item from my etsy shop (5 extra entries!)

How do you enter extra entries?!!

~In order to get the extra entries, you must come back to this post and leave a comment about how you promoted this giveaway, with a link to where you promoted it and your email address so I can contact you.

How will I pick the winner?!!!

~I'll tally up the entries, assigning numbers to each, then use random.org to pick a winner!

You have until April 6th to enter!

Shop Local!

Happy Friday! My mother-in-law's birthday is coming up next week and I was thinking yesterday that it would be cool to shop local. Maybe it is because I make my own handbags and sell them that I thought of this or because I have spent a lot of time on Etsy this week. I've been reading forums, blog posts and just acquainting myself more with the site and the world of crafting for business.

When I was perusing Etsy, I noticed a "Shop Local" tab and clicked it. You can search for Etsians who live in your area! I found a local Etsian who lives right down the road from me in Rochester and she has super cute jewelry. MamaLuna11 Her pendants are made from old Scrabble pieces...I'll let you check out her page for more info....check her out, seriously! So, I ended up looking through her shop and purchased a gift for my mother-in-law (hopefully, she is not reading this blog post!).
This is one of the pendants from Mama Luna's shop!

I just got me thinking about shopping locally. Outside of Lucy's Art Emporium in Dover, where I sell my bags, there is a big sign that states "shop local". In these hard times, it makes sense to support local artisans who are trying their hand at making some money doing what they love to do. And, if it is interesting and fits with our style/needs. So, next time you need something new or for a gift - shop local! Check out Etsy!

lists

If you read my last entry, I am trying to expand my blogging abilities. It is important to not just blog about Sew Cute! and my business ideas. But, today is a day for organizing my thoughts!

This morning, I was reading my etsy email and all the wonderful tips and tricks they give you to promote your business. Of course, it would be wonderful if I had the time to actually implement all of these ideas - maybe I would increase my sales! Day by day, right? At least, while I am at work, I can do research and find cool ideas, document them here and then go back when I have time. That's the plan, anyway! One of the featured tips was from the curious pug, an etsy seller who blogs and posts helpful tutorials. If you get a chance, check it out - it is a great list of how to boost your etsy business. The five tips I liked the best were:
~4. Add your shop address and blog url to your email signature. - a great tip, why didn't I think of that?
~19. Make a slide-show quick and easy with Google Picasa and post it to YouTube. - she even includes a tutorial on how to do this! It's a creative way to get a new group of people looking at your stuff.
~23. Use your 14 tags wisely. You can also include your shop name as a tag in a few of your items so buyers can find you by searching for you on etsy. - I just recently realized you could type in your own tag at this point of adding an item on etsy and adding your shop name is super!
~17. Host a giveaway. - once I have some more followers and my shop has more inventory, this is top priority!
~26. Thinking about taking custom orders? It would be wise to take a non-refundable 50% deposit from the customer before you even begin. Then have them pay the rest after you set up a reserved listing with images. Don't just go through email with a custom order. Set up a listing on Etsy. - I think I need to look into this, I thought I set it up, but might need to revisit!
Thanks, Curious Pug, for all your helpful tips! Here is The Curious Pug's etsy page - the curious pug. Check it out!

#1 thing to do this week: set up a flickr account!

Sew Cute! Saturdays

I just came across a great blog when I was reading my weekly Etsy newsletter. CarzooCrittters is a fellow blogger who sells on etsy and blogs about their crafting experience. In this article, they posted a "Giant" list of blog ideas...something we could all use a lot of! So, from now on, I'm going to try to be a little more creative with my blogging.

First orde of business: Sew Cute! Saturdays ~ one suggestion was to have daily blogging topics that you follow through throughout the week. Another friend of mine does this. So, Saturdays will be Sew Cute! Saturdays. I usually do most of my sewing on the weekends. This way, I can take photos of my new creations and post them to the blog on Saturdays. I'm sure more ideas will come, but until then, check out my projects for the day and read that blog!

Saturday, February 27 - Today, I worked on finishing up some wallets for Lucy's Art Emporium and a custom order I have. Birds are very popular right now, so the two small wallets feature fun bird fabrics in blues and blacks. The black and yellow fabrics are some of my best sellers and the blues are perfect for Spring! The larger wallet is a custom order for a woman who purchased one of my bags at a craft fair this winter. She wants a matching wallet with divisions in it and a small change purse.
r
Here is the wallet - I did have some trouble with it since this was the first time I made one. The clasp didn't want to work right at first with the divisions for the credit cards, but in the end with a little help from my seam ripper, the wallet is all ready! Now, I need to get cracking on the change purse!