Etsy verses Arfire results

Thanks to all of you who voted in my poll, out of the 124 votes it appears 76% of you prefer art fire, with only 12 % of you favoring Etsy and a further 11% love both Etsy and Artfire. What a shocker I was sure Etsy was going to come out on top, maybe I am biased towards Etsy as I happen to be an Etsy seller. I don't know much about Artfire but am definately interested in learning more and would be fascinated to know why you all love Artfire. Artfire must be amazing as apart from the recent SEO problems with Etsy I am really impressed with the site overall as it is great for networking as a strong community, easy to use, great chat rooms and the new labs are brilliant, please leave comments and let me know how Artfire tops this. I will look forward to your comments and discussing this with you especially you Artfire sellers or customers.

Tools for getting more followers on twitter

As a crafter i have found not only do i need to be creative with the work i make and sell, i also have to find creative ways to promote my work. I currently have a shop on Etsy and a website of which without promotion both have limited traffic. This led me to trying twitter, which is a fantastic tool to promote my Etsy shop, my blog and my website, in just a few short months i have just under 2000 followers, so every time i tweet a link to an item in my shop i am getting about 20 to 25 extra views and that's just with 2000 followers which is growing everyday. Here i want to share some of the great tools that i have found on the web to increase twitter followers.

http://www.twitseeker.com/ this finds people based on what they are talking about or through their profile, you can follow 25 a time by subject which is quicker than following people individually and targets in to people with specific interests.

http://www.twibs.com/ you can add your business to this site to connect to more twitter uses.

http://huitter.com/mutuality/ this tool allows you to mass follow people who follow you or mass unfollow people who don't follow you, great tool to use when you hit your follow limit to unfollow people who aren't following you, this gives you space to follow others who may follow your back.

http://www.twitalyzer.com/twitalyzer/index.asp this tool analysers what type of twitter user you are.

http://tweeplepages.com/ this site allows people to connect through their interests

Twi.tter.me A new site i have just found to connect you with more twitter followers, still waiting to see how successful it is.

Hope these links help you to get more viewers and feel free to comment and share your experiences with twitter.

http://twitter.com/lillypodjewelry follow me on twitter

How I became a crafter

I have always been passionate about craft and design, creating for me is a way of life its almost a part of me, without it life would be meaningless. However I wasn't always a crafter, when I left school I went straight into full time work and worked in various jobs including business administration, customer service and factory work, of which I always felt like I was a round peg trying to fit into a square hole. In my early twenties i decided to go back to college to do art and design, for the first time in years I felt I belonged this was me and I progressed naturally into doing a degree in fashion, the flame was ignited and I haven't stopped making and designing since.

After graduating I signed up with a business advisor and set about writing my business plan. After eight months hard slog including market research,I finished my business plan and was privileged to get a grant for the business, of which helped me set up a website and promote my products at craft and trade exhibitions. I have found working as a crafter to be like a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs, while the ups have been exhilarating the downs have been the best teachers.

Inspiration

As a designer I am always seeking inspiration for my work, this inspiration comes from the things I love such as nature, fashion, African tribes and craft. I then kind of fuse it altogether to come up with beautiful statement pieces of jewelry.

I would say at the moment my style is quite eclectic with a major influence coming from African tribal jewelry. I am fascinated by African tribes and how their lives are so closely connected with their natural surroundings, I try to mimic this by creating jewelry that has been made from natural materials such as wood and semi precious stones, in an effort to connect with nature and celebrate the beauty found in nature.

In contrast to nature I am passionate about fashion, craft and design this can be a major influence over the style and shapes of my designs, I can be inspired by an abstract sculpture or a contemporary piece of furniture or fashion styles and trends. At the moment I am loving the trend for over sized chunky jewelry, its a great way of individualizing an outfit and making a bold statement. My sketchbook is bursting with new ideas, just wish i could make them as quick as i can sketch them.

welcome to my new blog

Welcome to my new blog and thanks for visiting.

If you love handmade or are a crafter or artisian I am sure you will love my blog as I plan to blog about all things handmade including art, craft and fashion.

Each week I will bring you news on my craft, including new products in progress, techniques I use, inspiration, craft events, where to buy, marketing and promotion tips, ups and downs and general day to day running of a craft business. Once a week I will be doing an interview with a new designer maker, about their work, inspirations and tips on running a craft business and later i plan to feature a craft buyers to find out what crafts they buy in and what are the current selling trends in craft and design.

I hope to make this blog an exciting interactive space to connect craft buyers to craft sellers so feel free to question, comment and or express yourself.

Bye for now!

Jennifer