Saturday, May 21, 2011

May's Treasury Challenge

This must have been a tough month! With all the trouble with Blogger this month being down mid-challenge and comments disappearing, we ended up with entries from Giggles and NewHopeBeading. Both of these fabulous treasuries are below, but seeing as how NewHopeBeading was our winner last month, I'm going to spread the love and hand this one to Giggles. Thanks you two for these amazing treasuries!

Vintage Feel May by Giggles
Blue Skies Yellow Sun by NewHopeBeading

Friday, May 20, 2011

Feature Friday - Chelsea Rainbow

Hello Lab Rats - It's Feature Friday time again!


I'd like to introduce you to Jacqueline Gikow/ChelseaRainbow and thank her for a fabulous interview! ~ Lori



Where can we find you?

Shop: chelsearainbow.com
Blog: chelsearainbows.blogspot.com/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/chelsearainbows
Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/ChelseaRainbow/

1) Tell us about yourself, your shop and what brought you to the Etsy community. 

My name is Jacqueline and I’m the owner of ChelseaRainbow. I live in New York City, one of the most vibrant urban cities of the world and also the capital of fashion. You may not be able to afford a designer dress, but you can always find my fashion forward jewelry to update your own looks and my elegant home decor accessories to enhance your home. 

In the past I have had careers in pottery, graphic design and industrial design with a sidetrack into computer programming early on in my work history. Ever since I can remember, art in some shape or form has been my passion. I am a graduate of The College of Ceramics at SUNY with a BFA in sculpture and art history, an MFA in Arizona State University in environmental design, and an MID in industrial design from Pratt Institute. A perpetual student, I am self-taught in handmade fashion forward jewelry with a tasteful backing as a professional designer. I have also written and had published two hip, smart books: Graphic Illustration in Black and White and Polymer Clay; Creating Functional and Decorative Objects.

What brought me to Etsy was having a job in a crafts gallery that also sold jewelry. I had been making jewelry for about five years, but not selling it. A cousin of mine bought a painting on Etsy so I decided to check it out. I liked the atmosphere on Etsy so I opened a jewelry shop last June. By December I had diversified to include home décor accessories and I decided to change shops to Chelsea Rainbow; Exploring Creative Embellishments. I’ve now been open as ChelseaRainbow for about three months and took a large step backwards in my visibility so I’m working hard to get to where I was.


2) Please walk us through a typical day in your life.

In a typical day, I get up early and check my email and do some neatening of my shop. Then I have breakfast and I do two hours of work at my virtual day job, where I work from home.

After that stint of work I spend some time making jewelry or photographing my work and also editing it in my digital software. 

Then I have lunch and do some errands. I then will promote my work in the various teams and social media.

After that I work two more hours on my virtual day job. And then I check out a few promotional websites. I subscribe to HARO (helpareporterout.com) and have been published a number of time from the site.


Then I might do some more promoting and I take the evening off. It’s handy having a virtual job because I can spend a lot of time working on Etsy, either in my shop or on my jewelry and home décor accessories.

3) Name your top 3:

Books
Purple Cow, by Scott Godin
Poke the Box, by Scott Godin
How to Make Money Using Etsy, by Tim Adam

Music
Melanie
Blue Grass
Classical

TV
Law & Order
NCIS
NatGeo

Web sites

Currently I’m working on some semi-precious pendants and necklaces as well as making some large (size 13) knitting stitch markers.

6.) Where do you hope your shop will be in a year?

I’m hoping to be more visible on Etsy and selling a bit faster. Since I sell jewelry, I have a lot of competition, but my work is unique and fashion forward, so I expect people to find me with the efforts I’m making to keep my shop up to date and well-stocked as well as approaching my target market.

7.) What suggestions/tips would you offer to someone new to Etsy?

Be prepared to work hard at filling your shop with products. Aim for at least two pages of items so that the buyer will be able to have a choice of products. Also be patient, especially if you’re a jeweler. It takes time to get known on Etsy both by the buyers and by the community. Join a team and make some treasuries so you can get seen. And finally get familiar with SEO so that you will also be visible on Google as well as on Etsy.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Mosaic Monday - like Sunshine!



From top left clockwise:


The Mosaic Monday Treasury is HERE!
...and guess what? other Lab Rats may be in the treasury with the Mosaic Monday featured shops...go peek!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

May Treasury Challenge

Vintage Tupperware Salad Fork Set from RomasMasion

A late start to the May challenge, but it is here! When I was looking at the merchandise notes for this month it caught my eye that May is known as National Barbecue, Bike, and Photo Month. A good Google search led to a few other topics May is "the month" for. It's National Hamburger Month, Motorcycle Safety Month, and National Family Month. You can take any of these ideas and run with them or choose your own topic to make a treasury that screams "May" for our challenge. Link them here by the 15th and we'll get a votin'.

Here are the rules:
  1. Use at least 8 Lab Rat members. You can use the list on our sidebar.
  2. Include "Treasury Challenge" in the title of your treasury
  3. Tag your treasury with "labratsteam"
  4. Tag your treasury with "team treasury"
  5. Tag your treasury with "may trends"
  6. Link back to this post to encourage others to participate
  7. Leave a comment on this post with a link to your treasury for official entry
  8. Promote & have fun!
Some more tips - include a variety of items with a range of prices, don't include yourself, and tag your treasuries with a few more relevant keywords. Head to the Treasury to get started or read up on how to make a treasury first. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mosaic Monday - Flowers!


From top left, clockwise:

TangoCreations
justbecreative
BySaraLynn
WhiteThistleBridal
CafeD
AngelPearls
glassali
Rolyzcreations

Center:

ORomeo

In an effort to give our team and shops a bit more exposure, I'll be featuring the shops chosen for the Mosaic Monday feature in an Etsy treasury too.

treasury link here
So be sure to keep listing new products in your shops and tag with: labratsteam so I/we can all find you!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Introducing.......

Its that time again to introduce our new members. 


I am sure we have already met them in the labs but I would like to take this time to officially introduce them to the rest of the rats and I hope you all welcome them with open arms and lots of virtual hugs.

Drum roll please...................... here's our April members

Newhopebeading
newhopebeadingWhat is your given name?
Personalized Silver Initial Necklace PMC Handstamped Fine Silver One Artisan MonogramCaroline Magda

What made you want to start an Etsy shop?
Well, actually  I tell the story in my Etsy profile so if folks would like, pop over there to read it :) 

Which item in your shop is your favorite? 
Oh no so hard to decide... so I will give you 3 :
1) my family tree because it seems to make so many people happy http://www.etsy.com/listing/52976306/personalized-family-tree-necklace-fine
3) and this necklace ... well because I just like swirls! 

Where does your shop name originate from? 
See question #2 LOL

Spring and Summer Scarf Handknit from Handspun  Fair Trade Eco Friendly Renewable Resource Vegan Banana Fibre Fiber in Teal by ImpossiblyAlice
ImpossiblyAlice
What is your given name?
My name is Sheryl 

What made you want to start an Etsy shop?
Simply discovering etsy made me want to start my shop. After I found it, I needed to be a part of it!

Which item in your shop is your favorite?
Since we're so close to summer, I really love my summer scarves. One reason is because it was a challenge to create a scarf that is beautiful and also lightweight to wear with summer clothes. The other reason is because they are made with banana fibre which is a completely renewable resource and it was handspun in a fair trade women's co-op. It is both eco and globally conscious!

Where does your shop name originate from?
I started the idea for this shop last spring when my toddler was still a baby and I wanted it to be tribute to her. Her name is Alice so that part is obvious. Alice in wonderland also came out last year and I've always loved the quote about believing 6 impossible things before breakfast and I want her to grow up believing that she can do or be anything so the name came from that. 


Welcome to the team and we hope to see you in the lab soon.

Squeak Squeak!

Poppy

(Poppyseedcats)


Sorry about the lateness of this post but I have had some major computer problems this week and have only just got back online.