Minnesota Fabulous

There is a fantastic little studio that I've been dying to go check out.  It's called The Studio at Rush Creek.  They offer some really cool classes - Here  is the link for the schedule.  One of my fellow team members fro the Etsy Minnesota Street Team, Jennifer Clayton,  teaches some classes there.  This month she's teaching a class on how to spin your own yarn.  OMG, is that right up my alley or what?  There is an amazing variety of classes offered here and your sure to find something your interested in.  They also do kids parties and classes, and teen and adult parties in addition to all the cool classes.  They even have a coffee bar!  If you are in the Twin Cities areas, you have got to check this out.  

I'm not sure that Jennifer remembers, but I met her last spring at the Craftstravaganza craft fair.  I had the whole fam in tow, and it was colder than all get out.  She makes the most adorable little, and big, crocheted creatures.  My son was totally in love with one of the big monster/alien type ones and it was super hard to leave it behind.  I have often thought I should have gotten him.  It would have been worth it.  You can find more of her work on Etsy!  Her seller name is FuzFrenzy.  Http://fuzfrenzy.etsy.com  And keep up with her regularly on her blog!  

Featured Artist - Risky Beads

I recently made a purchase from Lori at Risky Beads.  With the Artfire buzz growing, I set up shop and wanted to go through the buying process myself.  I looked around a little while and quickly found Risky Beads.   I was surprise that I hadn't run across her shop on Etsy, but we all know how crowded Etsy is!!  Lori sells on etsy at RiskyBeads.etsy.com and has a destash bead shop there as well RiskyStash.etsy.com  , also on artfire RiskyBeads.artfire.com  and at 1000 Markets 1000markets.com/users/riskybeads

She has been selling on etsy for nearly 18 months and has a fantastic shop with stellar photos. She has even written about her experience in a little book you can find in her shop.  I look forward to reading it soon.  It's full of helpful tips and her great personality.   She's a true artist all the way around.  From intreaging write ups for her work to creative photo set up.  She is what I hoped to be when I started putting my etsy shop together, slowly, last spring.  

I purchased a couple pair of earrings ( here and here ) from her and was extremely pleased with my experience.  We had good communication and my package arrived quickly.  The contents were cutely wrapped, it was fun to open each little item.  The package was full of goodies, business cards, suggested sellers, a calendar magnet, and some other surprises!  I think Lori at Risky Beads has got it going on!  If you are a seller of handmade goods on line, you can learn something from her.  And if you are a buyer of handmade goods, you are going to love your experience.  If you are both, like me, you really can't go wrong!   I am really enjoying my new earrings, there are exactly what I was looking for.  Thank you Lori!

Lori has a very cool blog (included on my bloglist on the side) which you can find at riskybeads.blogspot.com  in addition to her other artistic abilities she's a fantastic writer.  I highly suggest popping over there for a while!  She is currently running a huge Artfire giveaway.  You won't want to miss it.

A Little Background

Grab a cup of coffee and snuggle under an afghan, here's a bit about my journey so far.  I am pretty new to this business - indie craft.  I have long been a crafter and creator, but turning it into a business is a whole new world.  It's been exciting and daunting at times.  I am constantly amazed at the wealth of information to be found and read on the web.  Most of the time since I first opened my shop on Etsy   has been spent timidly dipping my toes in the water hoping not to take a wrong turn and end up in over my head.  I have taken it slow, and with two rowdy little ones at home, that has worked well for me.  

But this fall as my oldest went to preschool and I have a little more time on my hands, I decided I really wanted to figure out what I was doing with this little handmade business of mine.  I was having computer issues and that makes online business a bit rough!  So I started with creating more inventory.  Sounds easy since this is why I opened a shop in the first place.  But,  do I make totally OOAK (one of a kind) items?  Do I find several items of interest and make many?  I am stuck somewhere in the middle.  I wanted my shop to have a uniform look, and I love to make things over and over - but I want to explore my options as well.  And I have more than one craft that I'd like to share.  I don't really want to manage more than one shop, so I guess it'll all have to go in the same place.  I decided I'll just have to figure out how to make it mesh.  

Photo's are a whole topic of their own.  I knew starting out that I'd need great photos, but I didn't realize how hard that was going to be!  Photographing blankets seems nearly impossible to me.  I will continue to work hard to get better photos of my items.  

Once I had more inventory and had taken pictures I got them all loaded up into my shop and felt like my little corner of Etsy was more of a store than a hole in the wall.  Yay!  Now I needed to get people to it.  Yikes.  I was still intimidated by that idea.  With the weather in Minnesota often being below freezing and even subzero temps, getting out and leaving business cards around isn't something I'm up for!  But I have a few stacks around town at coffee shops from the pre-frozen days.  The idea of craft fairs has crossed my mind more than a few times.  I would really like to get into a few, but am worried that I am not organized enough!

So I started reading.  Reading and reading and more reading.  I would not have believed that there are days and days worth of information out there on running, and promoting your indie online business, but there are!  I swear since Christmas I have spent more time on my new (hooray!) laptop than I have ever spent on a computer before.   Reading about handmade venues, Artfire  and Etsy   and Shophandmade   reading about social networking on Facebook  and Twitter  and reading lots and lots of blogs like TimothyAdamDesigns that I introduced you to earlier.  And I've spent hours looking at Project Wonderful   finding blogs to put cute little ads on.  Ads that I bought from Etsy at ThompsonDesigns.   It's enough to make your head spin around!!  LOL  But as a stay at home mom, I find the head spinning to be exciting.  I normally read things on the Dr. Seuss level - which I love, but reading all of this indie business info is making me feel a part of the world again.  Oh geese, how could I forget trying to read html code and Google Analytics etc...  I swear I can actually FEEL the synapses firing in my brain.  It's like someone plugged my brain in to an electric socket.  

That pretty much catches us up to now.  I had several sales over the holiday season and that was very exciting.  I hope that all my hours of reading and networking online are going to help keep them coming in the new year.  But, as you can see if you've looked at my shops, I am going to need a brainstorming session for products to sell during the warmer months.  So far my things are very, winter related!  I think that'll be my goal after Valentine's Day.  Thanks for coming by and getting to know me a little better.  I'd love to get to know you better too.  Leave a comment!  I hope you enjoyed your coffee and that you'll be back soon.

On the hunt

I am currently searching out sellers I'd like to feature here on my blog. I hope to get a list together before the new year and have one seller a week all set up to go for the full year. There are so many GREAT shops out there I don't think I'll have any problem. I also want to find other related blogs with helpful and interesting info to feature articles from. And lastly, I am going to try and take more photos of the creation process of my items for Blue Star Butterflies as well as including a 'Wordless Wednesday'.

The holidays have been absolutely wonderful and I am enjoying the visits from family who are normally far away.

Let me know if you like the new layout!

Snowy weekend

It was -9 when I woke up this morning. It blows my mind and I love it all at the same time. You'd think a girl who grew up in Southern California would have a more difficult time settling down in Minnesota, but I really love it. Our kids love it too and that's even better. They had so much fun yesterday playing in the piles of snow while Daddy used the snow blower, shooting streams of light fluffy snow into the air. The temperatures plummeted while they were out there so I cooked up some hot chocolate for all.

I stayed inside where it was warm and got to work on creating a cowl in every new color and a couple fun variations. Today I'll photograph them and hopefully they'll be listed by tonight. Snow days make good 'work' days. They also make for messy homes. So I'll be needing to do a lot of picking up and cleaning before I get started on my next project. I have a huge stash of yarn waiting to be worked into something exciting. So hopefully while I'm getting the house in order some of it will 'speak' to me and let me know what to work on next.

Hookers

I am part of another very talented group of artists on Etsy. EtsyHookers! We can make your wildest yarn dreams come true. LOL Over time I hope to feature artists from both of my teams here on this blog so you can get to know them better. There are several ways to keep up with us crochet chicks. Everyday in the Etsy forums we promote items from our own or each others shops. Todays link is http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5954235

Also we have a blog where we feature the Hooker of the Week. You can see Creative Challenges that are going on, and vote for the winner. And find links to the blogs of EtsyHookers members.
http://etsyhookers.blogspot.com/

Don't forget when you're on etsy to search 'etsyhookers team' to see the amazing crocheted things that these artists create. Your sure to find that one of a kind item you've been looking for.

TeamMN

I am a part of an excellent group of artist on etsy. All of these talented artist are from Minnesota - We are TeamMN! They sell on Etsy.Com, they sell at craft fairs and in local boutiques and galleries. Some of us are just getting started and some are very accomplished. Support local artist this upcoming year. When you shop on etsy, use the search feature to find 'teammn' members and check out all the fun and interesting things we do. You won't be disappointed!

Also come check out the TeamMN blog. http://etsymn.blogspot.com See who's been featured on the front page of Etsy! There you will also find a categorized list of all our members. And links to blogs of MN artists. How cool is that?

TeamMN is now on twitter as well!

Thanks for checking out this amazing team of artists.

And the craft blog is born!

I love caftithings, so much so that I realized I needed a seperate place to obsess about it. And Blu Starr Indie-Craft Rocks is born. Welcome! I hope we'll enjoy finding new artists to appreciate and chatting about new creations from myself. Thanks for checking in. See you again soon!

Krishell
http://bluestarbutterflies.etsy.com