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Where is special to you? Custom map art…

I love maps. And I love when customers give me great ideas for new prints to offer. :) I had someone request a custom map art print to give as a gift to a young couple to commemorate the location where they got engaged! It was such a sweet project, that I thought it would be nice to offer custom map prints for others as well.

I made this as an example if you wanted a print to show your home state, or it could also show the place where you got married, or where your child was born, or a favorite destination from your travels .. any special location you would like turned in to a print! Or, of course, like the project that got me started on this in the first place – you could create a custom print for someone else, which could make a truly unique gift, as the holidays will start approaching before you know it. You get to choose the colors, the text, the location, etc. The details are here.

Where is a place that is special to you? Now that we have moved, I think I might just have to make one of these for our family, with a heart over Boston. :)

The Question No One Asked – Creative Biz Series

It’s time to kick-off the creative biz challenge! WooT! Thank you to all of you who volunteered to have your shop critiqued and posted your questions – it was great to have so many options. And of course while I won’t be able to do everyone’s shop, I hope that the critiques and the information in this series will be valuable across the board. And really, I think that won’t be too hard – everyone asked pretty much the same things! It broke down easily into just a handful of categories. But there was one HUGE topic no one really asked about at all … and that did surprise me. And it is the topic we are going to be taking about today. I’m curious if it jumps out at you…

All great topics, of course! But does anyone else find it interesting what is NOT there? What is the big whole section that no one asked about?

Products.

Our creative business products – the core of running our own small business. Now, of course I didn’t expect anyone to ask “what should I be selling?”. No one knows better than you what you are capable of making. And perhaps it is because of the more personal nature of choosing what products to sell that caused it to not be among the questions, and I understand that. There are a wide variety of product questions that are good to investigate, even just on your own. For instance, “Is this product marketable?” or “Should I consider adding a new line of products?” or “Should I discontinue this type of item?” … I know these are questions I had to consider seriously.

I don’t know if you know this, but I actually had two Etsy shops before my current one – both of which did only so-so. The first, at the end of a year, had only about 40 sales. The second shop, at the end of its first year, had about 75 sales. But once I decided to focus on this third shop, and close down the previous two, I had over 300 sales in about 3 months. What changed? Primarily, product.

And I’ll say this – I really did like the products I had in my previous shops: jewelry which I made from books pages, maps and clock parts, as well as vintage clothes and various other items. Here is kind of a sampling:

I liked it a lot! But even with promotion, marketing, tweaking descriptions, etc., while the products were selling, it was at a very slow pace. I started to let some products (like my sewing) go fairly early, while others (like handmade jewelry) I kept longer. But it was only because I was experimenting with different types of products that I finally stumbled on what started to really blossom and sell quickly (my art prints)- and that is what I now sell in my shop, FlourishCafe.

At this point you may be thinking, “Well, but I don’t have the time or know how to make a bunch of completely different products!” They don’t necessarily have to be in such a wide variety of categories. My friend Danielle, for instance, owner of the fabulously successful shop The Merriweather Council, has had a HUGE number of sales in her embroidered initial necklaces. Her shop did well, even from early on, with great photography, beautiful workmanship and everything else. But she didn’t start out selling the necklaces. I remember she sold her sewn buntings and there was more emphasis on her wishbone embroidered hoops at that time. And she has stayed within her field of sewing and fiber art and embroidery and added this new product of the embroidered necklaces … and her sales took off even more! Those necklaces even made an appearance on the Today Show. So you can stay within your field, but still come up with new products until you find what really sells well.

I’d say the majority of you who posted question have had somewhere in the range of 10-50 sales so far. We’re going to be talking a lot in future posts about aspects of how to approach marketing, getting traffic, target market, pricing, etc. … but the very first thing I want you to think about is your product. It might be a good product, like I had in my first two shops. The thing is, there are lots of good products out there that don’t sell very well – and that is what happened to me initially. But sometimes you have to let go of something good to move on to something great. You want to have a GREAT product, something unique and that has a direct target market. Because, after all, you will have a much easier time marketing if you have a highly marketable product. And, again, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to leave the type of category of workmanship you are in – but you might consider launching a related, but new, line of products.

It may take some experimenting to hit on what works, but once you find that niche, the rest of it is much easier. I’d suggest, if you’re considering a new product, start out in small amounts at first. Don’t list hundreds of a new product, only to find out people aren’t really interested in it. Perhaps try a few different types of things (especially if they are related somehow) and list them, at least enough to fill one or two pages – and see what sells. If you find that the handmade dishcloths are selling well – then make and list more. If the crochet key rings aren’t getting many views or any sales, realize it might be time to let that go and try something else. Especially in the early stages of running a shop, I think it is good to do a lot of tweaking and experimenting to find out the market’s reaction to your products.

I’ve made a printable to help you think about your product….

And many of these questions tie into the topics you asked about in your questions – but I want you to look at them a little differently, and think of them in terms of examining your product first. These six questions will also serve as a loose guideline of the types of topics we will be looking at in future weeks of this series (for instance, this week was the first question – next week will be about your target market, as mentioned in the second question). I hope this will give you some good opportunities to brainstorm about your products, and consider whether you want to tweak them – or if you are happy with the product you have.

It is my plan, as I mentioned earlier, to offer a critique each week on the particular subject for that week. This time, though, since no one asked any questions about products, I feel it would not be my place to critique that subject in particular. I hope the printable and the points mentioned in this post can help you do a self critique this week — and I’ll plan to make up for the fact that I didn’t do one this week by doing two critiques in at least one of the future weeks. All of the rest of the topics are ones that various people asked about specifically, so there should be no shortage from now on. :)

I hope this has been helpful to you, though! What is your product? Do you ever think about branching out? Or letting a certain product go? Feel free to share some answers from your brainstorm sheet – or just your thoughts in general! I love to hear your reflections on these things. :)

And the winning topic for the next challenge is…

Drumroll, please…

So, the winner of the poll I put up for you to be able to vote for the next challenge is finished – and the Handmade Biz challenge is the winner! I think the timing of this is reeeeally good, because if you have a crafty or creative business, right now is is when you should really be putting work into your shop to be ready for the holidays. I’m planning for it to be a 6 week series, which will take us right into the beginning of November. In the last challenge (the blog redesign challenge) I used Lori’s blog throughout the whole thing to demonstrate how to make some changes. I won’t be making direct changes to anyone’s shop in this series … BUT I think it would be a lot of fun to offer this to any of you who have an online handmade business:

I will be giving individual shop/site critiques each week in the series!

Each Friday, I’ll be addressing one particular aspect of running a your own biz – and also offering a critique of one shop/site, addressing that topic specifically. And I’ll pick a different shop/site each week. The tips, just like in the last series, will be directed at that site in particular, but I’ll also be writing it for others’ benefit as well.

Soooo – if you have your own creative biz (such as an online handmade goods shop, or vintage clothing shop, or website where you offer services, etc.), fill out this simple form and I may pick your shop for the critique one week! And, of course, I’ll give a shout out to your site to send you some traffic, as well. Just copy + paste this into your comment:

My name is:
My business’ name is:
My business is about:
My Website is:
One or two particular areas I would like to learn how to improve in my biz are:

Leave your comments below, I can’t wait to check out your sites! :)

Life in the city


Boston Skyline Photograph by Elizabeth Thomas Photo

I’m really loving living in a city again. I love the busy-ness of a city, the variety of experiences. We explored Chinatown last week and tried some delicious new kinds of food … there was a strange bulbous brown thing on top of one of the dishes that turned out to be some sort of delicious marinated egg. Plus, I finally got to try bubble tea .. in mango, my favorite fruit!

Our little girl turned 5 within a few days of arriving in Boston, and her main present from us was that I told her that sometime soon I would get a day pass for the subway, and she and I would just ride all over the city exploring and riding the train together as much as she wants. She LOVES riding the train, so she was “a hundred, a thousand, infinity!” excited about this, to use her own words. We are planning to do that today. :)


Subway art photography by The BQE

There are always adjustments to be made, though, when moving from one area to another. There’s almost a culture change in some ways .. and then in other ways, it is more just logistics. For instance, realizing just how handy a messenger bag would be on the subway! Especially when we’re only our way to Bible study, and have Bibles and notebooks to carry and such. A briefcase … ehhh, not so much. So, we ordered a messenger bag.

Also, it is getting cooler here a LOT earlier than I expected. Which in one sense, I am looooving, because it already feels like fall, my favorite season. On the other hand, my warmer clothes are packed away and less accessible. While I was packing just a few weeks ago at the end of August in Kentucky, it felt like time for maxi dresses and white skirts and flip flops still had a long life to live – now, though, I’m craving jackets, light scarves and tights. I am so looking forward to the leaves changing – I’m sure I’ll be sharing pictures of that with you!


Large carry-all bag by HandmadeTherapy

Getting organized in a small space and with fewer belongings is also different. I can be organized when I NEED to be (for instance, in my craft biz), but organization does not come naturally to me. I’ve been reading Lori’s series over on In My Kitchen, In My Life, about “cerebral homemaking“, and it has definitely been a big help, and I hope to put more of her advice into practice, especially when we are a little more settled.

But in the end, I am just so tickled to be here. I keep squeezing Tim’s arm as we walk down the street near Boston Commons saying, “We are HERE!” We’ve been wanting to move here for so long, sometimes I forget that this isn’t just a visit – we have moved! And that our friends here, who have been SO kind and helpful during our move, are now our neighbors.

I feel so blessed.

Now I just need to find some shoes that aren’t flip-flops or high heels … that’s mostly what I have, and that’s not exactly great riding-the-subway-in-cold-weather material. ;)


Ballerina Shoes Photograph by magalerie

What about you? Do you like city life or country life?

Selling on Etsy Infographic

Well, my shop FlourishCafe is back open for business after our move! The vintage section of the shop will stay closed for awhile until we are more settled, but my typography and illustration prints are available again. Since some of you have been expressing an interest in selling on Etsy, so I thought you would enjoy this infographic. A group of designers made this and contacted me about sharing it on my blog, and I found it quite interesting and I thought you would too!

Etsy MBA
Created by: www.MBAOnline.com

If you have any questions about selling on Etsy, leave them in the comments below! :)

BOSTON!!

Today we arrive in Boston! WooT! Fun stuff – you know, like unloading the moving truck. I can’t wait to start exploring the city! In the meantime, here are some Boston-themed finds from Etsy – links below so you can check them out more fully. I think it is amazing to see where different artisans draw their inspiration from, whether it is a geographical location, or something more abstract, the possibilities are endless. And these all sing “Boston” to me. Don’t you wish you were here? ;)

1. Embroidered Necklace by MerriweatherCouncil 2. Boston Mapcut by StudioKMO
3. Vintage Dunkin’ Donuts Thermos by Tribute212 4. Boston Sky Line by ElizabethThomasPhoto
5. Vintage Boston Map by bananastrudel 6. Lobster Print Linen Napkins by madderroot
7. Jigsaw Puzzle Brooch by ME2Designs 8. Boston Skyline by FrescaPhoto

Have you ever been to Boston? Leave your thoughts and comments below, I love to hear from you!

August’s Half-Off Print (+ our moving date!)

Time to announce August’s print-of-the-month for half off! And also let you know that since it’s getting to the end of the summer, this is the last month I’ll be doing this. Also – I wanted to let you know we have a moving date! Lord willing, the day we are leaving for Boston will be August 25th!! WooT! I am SO excited!! However, I will probably be closing up my shop sometime around the 19th or 20th. So if you want the print-of-the-month, or anything else from my shop before we move, you probably will want to do that sooner rather then later.

Anyway! Enough chit-chat .. here’s August’s print of the month! It’s my “Six Impossible Things” print, which is a quote from one of my favorite books, Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass”. It’s 8×10, so it’s usually $25, but with the discount it is $12.50. Eek! And any of the colors variations are available for the discount. :) Just use the coupon code FROMTHEABODE

You can click here to see all the options for this print in my shop. The coupon code is valid only on this print, and only while my shop is open during the month of August. I’ll be opening back up shortly after we move, but it might be the beginning of September. Also, the moving sale coupon code LETSMOVE is still good for 30% off any vintage items in my shop (I don’t want to take it all with me!) – but only for a few more days until I remove all the vintage from my shop. I’ll probably keep the vintage section closed for quite some time.

So, naturally things are pretty hectic here as we’re trying to pack some things … and get rid of even more as we continue to downsize for our move. Busy, but happy. How is your summer going?
Leave your thoughts and comments below, I love to hear from you!

Moving Sale! Vintage finds & the Print-of-the-Month

So, as many of you know, we are trying to move to Boston! As you also may know, besides my art prints I also sell some vintage items in my shop as well. What you probably DON’T know, is that I have a huuuuge inventory of vintage stuff – much more than is in my shop – and I do NOT want to move it all to Boston! So … the number of vintage items in my shop has been growing – and I want to have a sale on all vintage items in my shop: 30% off all vintage items with the coupon code LETSMOVE. I’m highlighting some of the items in the post below (just click any photo to go to the item), but the coupon is good for all vintage items in my shop … click here to see all the vintage items– and I plan to be adding more continually until we move!

PLUS, as I announced earlier, each month this summer I’m going to pick one print from my shop and offer it at half off just for that month. You’ll find this month’s print-of-the-month at the end of the post!

PLUS, just for fun, I’m throwing in some vintage tips scattered among the vintage items below, I hope you’ll find them helpful. :)

Tip #1: Why vintage? Quality > quantity. As we are trying to downsize for our move we are taking a much more quality not quantity approach to our belongings. Many of the things that I know I will keep in our move are vintage items – items that are sturdy and have lasted well through the years and previous owners already, items that are classic and won’t be some trend that feels “so last year” in a few months, items that are of a better quality than the cheap version I could grab at the store today. Plus, on a more personal level, I think vintage items have so much more character!

Tip #2: How do you use vintage in décor? Highlight, don’t go matchy-matchy. Working a piece of vintage décor into a room is similar to working a piece of vintage clothing into an outfit – if every single article of clothing in your outfit is from the 1950’s, you’re going to come off as costumey. Instead try pairing a 50’s skirt with a modern top. The same for décor – if every shelf is covered in old knick-knacks, it will just become overwhelming visual noise. But if much of the room is simple clean lines, you can highlight some special vintage items or furniture and let them really pop by working them in with more simple or modern pieces.

Tip #3: How can I tell if a clothing item is vintage? Labels! Clothing labels tell a huge amount of information about the age of the garment – you may not be able to date every garment by the label and there are many other ways to date a garment, but you might be surprised at just how much you can learn from labels. For instance, did you know that on Levi’s jeans labels if the e is lower case then they were made after 1971 – but if the E is upper case then they were made before 1971? This tip and tons more are available on the Vintage Fashion Guild website, where they have a huge a-z resource on vintage clothing labels.

Tip #4: What’s the difference between vintage, antique and retro? Age and/or style. Vintage items, according to Etsy, have to be at least 20 years old … elsewhere vintage is often considered to be need to be at least 25-30 years old. Antique is significantly older – generally 100 years old or older. (That is for furniture, housewares, clothing, etc. There is a different standard for vehicles, but that’s not really my area.;) Retro generally refers less to a certain age of an item than to certain styles, so it is more nebulous. For instance you could have something modern made, but made to look like the style of a previous time, and so it would be called retro. Often retro refers to the style of the 40’s or 50’s, but doesn’t always have such a narrow meaning.

Aaaand now it’s time for the print of the month!

This is a pretty popular print in my shop, and with moving and travel on the mind, I thought it would be a fun one to go with for this month. It’s a nice large print at 11×14 inches … usually it’s $35, but with the coupon code FROMTHEABODE it would be 50% off, for only $17.50. (Plus shipping. The coupon is only valid for this print and only during July 2012. Any other purcahses would need to be made in a separate transaction.)
WooT! Let’s go exploring!

Well, I hope you’ve seen something that tickles your fancy, or at least that the tips were useful. :)
Here again are the coupon codes-
For 30% off all vintage items: LETSMOVE
For 50% off July’s print-of-the-month: FROMTHEABODE
If you know someone who likes vintage, please consider sharing this post with them – I want to get rid of as much as possible before we move! Thanks! :)

Leave your thoughts and comments below, I love to hear from you!

News and Changes!

I’ve been making some changes to The Flourishing Abode, to make it easier for you to use, and to help keep it running! I’m pretty excited about some of these changes, and so I wanted to share them with you. There’s a ton of great stuff I want to tell you about ranging from free classic vintage clothes, to a DIY gallery, to a exclusive deal for my readers, to milkweed kisses. Um, I guess you’ll have to read on to understand that last one.

‣‣‣ First (and this is just a small change, but might make it easier to navigate and find posts on certain subjects) there is a new “Categories” drop down menu over on the sidebar, just below the search bar. Basically, you choose any topic from the menu, and it will bring up a list of all posts on that topic! Handy. :)

‣‣‣ Second (and this is one I’m very excited about!), The Flourishing Abode now has sponsors! These lovely sites help me to be able to keep my blog running. You can see their links over on the sidebar, right below the “Sponsor” bar … obviously. ;) But I thought this would be kind of fun – I went through each of their sites and decided to share a “you shouldn’t miss this” find from each site. So here you go!

If you love vintage clothing, you should definitely be aware that over on the “Dressed Her Days Vintage” blog, she is GIVING AWAY a series of gorgeous pieces from her vintage collection. (Hard to beat free and classy, eh?)

If you like the yellows in my blog design, then you shouldn’t miss the mustard scarf in the knit section on Neckstyles.
(I love yellow!)

If you love tea (like me!), then you should be sure to check out this lovely teapot pastels painting by Cynthia Haase Art.
(Mmm, tea….)

If you’d like a free pastry from Panera bread, and find out about other deals and coupons, then Frugal Living and Having Fun will be right up your alley.
(Panera pastry? Um, yes, please!)

If you’re looking for something simply beautiful and fresh, you should see this summery painting from Finnell Fine Art.
(“Old Garden Rose” … ahhhh.)

If you want to see something that just makes you feel cheery when you see it, then you should check out this adorable “fete” bunting embroidery by CatShyCrafts.
(Cuteness … to the max!)

If you like foxes and whimsy (and foxes have been so trendy lately!), you should see this lovely piece by Bettina’s Tree House. (Who wouldn’t want to kiss milkweed seeds after seeing that?)

If you enjoy things that smell good (and, I mean, who likes the alternative?) I’ll tell you I’ve bought from Gardenmis before and loved it … and these lavender map sachets are calling my name. (Sachets: “Apriiiil…”)

If you like vintage jewelry, then you should definitely see this beautiful vintage cameo pin from Vogel Haus Vintage.
(Unless I buy it first…)

If you like zebra print (fun!), then you should definitely see this zebra dinner set from Made 4 Home … and I have to say, it’s an awfully good price, too. (Hm, I should probably put some clever play on word about stripes here, but I’m drawing a blank. Check it out and suggest your own witty line.;)

(By the way, if you are interested in sponsoring The Flourishing Abode, you can check out the information here.)

‣‣‣ Third (and I’m also very excited about this one) – I’ve set up a visual gallery of all my DIY, how to, and tutorial posts! Do you see the light bulb icon right below my banner? Previously, that led to a fairly boring list of links. Now, though, after a weekend of designing and coding, it’s a visual gallery of projects! Here’s is a sneak peek of how it looks:

There are over 30 of my own original projects and how-to’s there – each picture links to the tutorial or tip post. I hope you’ll enjoy it, and find lots of fun projects and inspiration! :) Click the light bulb under the banner … or just click here.

‣‣‣ Fourth (and last) – I’ve decided as a special thank-you to all my readers here on The Flourishing Abode, that each month this summer I’ll be picking one print from my FlourishCafe shop, and offering a ridiculous 50% off coupon here on my blog for that print for the entire month! Here is June’s print (it’s one of my favorites..):

Just use the coupon code FROMTHEABODE for 50% off this print, just for the rest of the month of June. (This coupon is valid ONLY for the “Tea is my cup of tea” poster, shown above, and ONLY in the month of June, 2012 – so snatch it up if you want it! Any other prints you wish to purchase must be bought in a separate transaction.)

So that’s the news and changes around here – I hope you’ve found some fun new things!
Is there something you’d like to see here on my blog? Maybe a blog topic you’d be interested to read about? (I noticed recently that there were some searches on my blog for curly hair care … hm, maybe!)
Leave your thoughts and comments below – I do a little happy dance in my mind each time I get a new comment. :)

Creative Business Q&A Vlog

I’ve been getting creative business questions from various people, so I decided to make a vlog to answer questions, and hopefully help more people at the same time! Spoiler .. there’s a fun little “fast forwarded” packaging video toward the end. :) Disclaimer: These are my opinions! I’m not in a position to give any kind of actual legal advice, so please understand that these are opinions. Thanks! :)

Thanks to Sierra McClain for this week’s questions!

Some useful links:
Etsy teams: helpful to join a team of experienced sellers in the same field
Import/Export Information: the section labelled “Individual Country Listings” is what I referred to in the vlog
Etsy Seller Handbook: full of resources on how to set up and grow your shop

I hope that was helpful! I may continue this series if it seems like it is something you would like. So if you have creative business questions, be sure to leave them in the comments below!