Get to Know -- Foret Two

What is your Etsy shop name? What sort of crafting supplies do you sell?
We are ForetTwo - Extraordinary Vintage and Supplies. ForetTwo is your source for vintage beads, stone beads, cabs and cut gemstones, textiles, metal beads, shell, stampings, cinnabar, mineral specimens … lots of cool stuff!

What's your favorite item/line that you sell?
Hard to say. Mainly, I love it when a customer is thrilled with what they find in my shop. Seems that not that many people carry amber, so those sales are special.

Street clothes or Pajamas?
Both, sometimes at once.

Biggest indulgence or guilty pleasure?
Single malt scotch.

Favorite food?
Anything with green chili on or in it.

Favorite website(s) aside from Etsy?
http://www.enterprisemission.com/ If you like weird science and things like that, you will LOVE this website! Favorite craft website (not Etsy)? I am really digging the look and feel of 1000markets although I have not had any sales there yet. It is a great concept.

What goals do you have for your shop over the next year?
#1- Learn SEO and apply it to my own websites as well as creating another income stream by optimizing for others, #2- Sell my art, photography and digital art online, #3- Get my astrology website (for which I have had the domain name for three years, ahem..) up and running, #4- Move to the next great place which is awaiting me!, #5- Find my son a new agent and get him launched in film/TV, and #6- Become active in immigration law reform.

If you sell on other venues, where else can we find your items?
I have another Etsy shop for handmade goods. http://foret.etsy.com. I also have shops on Dawanda and 1000markets as well.

Coming Soon: First Weekend Event for March

Join us for the "First Weekend March Shopping Extravaganza sponsored by - Team ESST" during the first weekend of March.

This event will run from Thursday, March 5 - Sunday, March 8, 2009.

ALL Etsy Shops - Handmade, Supplies and Vintage - are invited to participate in the event by stating in your shop announcement "I am participating in the March Shopping Extravaganza sponsored by Team ESST from Thursday, March 5 - Sunday, March 8, 2009" and joining us with promoting on the "Official" Promotional thread which will be posted in the Promotions section of the Etsy Forums beginning on Thursday, March 5 - 12:00 AM EST.

More information will be posted as we get closer to the event.

Shop Advice: Getting Noticed in the Blogosphere

On Wednesday, February 25th at 4:00pm ET please join designers and bloggers, Kegan and Liz from Design Glut, in the Etsy Virtual Labs, to learn tips and secrets to getting your work seen.

Design Glut is a blog that posts articles about how creative firms get started, and answer questions you may have about design world.

If you're interested in hearing what the experts say about blogging, mark your calendar for this Etsy Virtual Lab.

Shop Advice: Website Grader

Ever wonder how well you are marketing your website, blog or Etsy shop? Well, look no further than the Website Grader. Just type in your URL and see what the results are. Best of all advice is given to better improve the marketing of your site or shop.

Website Grader is a free Search Engine Optimization tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.

Give it a go, and see how you can get more traffic and sales in your shop.

Thank you to The Seasonal Cottage for this tip!

Get to Know -- Pirates Dream of Pearls

What is your Etsy shop name? How did you come up with that name?
The story behind our username is really interesting, because we just happened to get lucky and find that our own separate usernames combined to make this one! Outside of PiratesDreamofPearls we are also PresentsforPirates and KnitandPearl. We wanted a username that represented the true combination of our crafts that is our shop, and we got one!

What sort of crafting supplies do you sell?
We sell everything! Mainly we destash from our own separate crafts, and since there are three of us in the shop it ends up being a wide variety!

Favorite website(s) aside from Etsy?
there are other websites besides Etsy???

Do you prefer Street Clothes or Pajamas?
Pajamas...without a doubt.

What is your favorite food?
I feel the need to say Corndogs.

What goals do you have for your shop over the next year?
We are a somewhat new supply shop, and I personally would like to just see us keep growing exponentially. We have several planned categories where we have no items, and I would like to see that grow.

If you sell on other venues, where else can we find your items?
We are currently all-Etsy based. We can be found at:
http://presentsforpirates.etsy.com
http://suenosdejmi.etsy.com (and suenos is also part of http://dreambirdphotos.etsy.com)
http://knitandpearl.etsy.com

Shop Advice: Pictobrowser

This is one of the coolest little tools out there to show off your Flickr. It's called Pictobrowser and it is more than easy to use. Just type in your Flickr name, pick a group, set or tag, choose your size, then copy and paste the code. You can add a permanent slide show to the side of your blog as a widget, or copy and past the code into the HTML of your post, as we have done below.

To get your own Pictobrowser, either use the link at the bottom of the one on this page, or to start from scratch, bookmark this link: http://www.db798.com/pictobrowser/builder.php Enjoy!

Get to Know -- Yarn to Spin

What is your Etsy shop name?
Yarn to Spin. I chose my name about 9 years ago. Yarn To Spin or Yarn 2 Spin is a reference to my two passions. Fiber Arts and Story Telling. I have even been known to 'spin a yarn' while 'spinning yarn'.

What sort of crafting supplies do you sell?
I sell supplies for Fiber Artisans. Products for spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, and felting.

I really enjoy offering unique fibers for spinning. I do carry all the basic roving types. But what I really like is to find the unusual things like vegetable fibers, exotic wools, and novelty fibers. That is what makes this art fun.

Do you craft yourself? If so, what do you like to make?
I love to use the products I sell. I have been a fiber artisan myself for... uhh, 30 years or so. It all started with the first potholder that my Grandma taught me to crochet. Come to think of it, that was more than 30 years ago. I do have an etsy shop where I offer the items I create. They can be found at http://yarn2spin.etsy.com
Favorite website(s) aside from Etsy?
I don't have television, so I'd say it is either CNN or Wunderground. My favorite craft website besides Etsy is Ravelry
Please tell us one thing that nobody would know about you.
Hmm, well my personal friends know, but online you may not know that I have a blended family of 8 children, plus 2 exchange students. Some of my kids have flown the nest, but we still have 12 people and 15 angora rabbits that live in our home.

Biggest indulgence or guilty pleasure?
My biggest indulgence is unique jewelry. Usually from some of my favorite Etsy artisans.

What goals do you have for your shop over the next year?
I really want to get my online Fiber shop going in 2009. I have a dream of being a stay at home mom before my last kid is out of the house.

If you sell on other venues, where else can we find your items?
I have 2 Etsy shops: http://yarntospin.etsy.com for fiber art supplies and http://yarn2spin.etsy.com for my finished items I create myself.

I also have a brick and mortar store in Greenville, MI. http://www.yarn2spin.com
You can follow my ramblings at www.yarn2spin.wordpress.com

Thank You! Thank You!

Team ESST sponsored our first "Shopping Extravaganza" weekend, February 5th -8th. We would like to thank all of our members that participated and all of the non-member Etsy shops that participated!!

With such a successful weekend for our first time out, we are looking forward to our next "Shopping Extravaganza". Mark your calendar for March 5th - 8th. Again we invite ALL of Etsy to join us in this event.

Final Day of February's First Weekend Shopping Event

It is the final day of our February Promotion. We hope this event brought some new exposure to your shop and some sales too! Thank you to everyone who participated. Today we'd like to feature the following shops who helped out:

Jewelry of Note is offering Free USPS First Class Shipping until February 14th! For beautiful gifts for "Valentine's Day" and every day.

Cozy Girl Designs whose lovely handmade scarves will keep you warm for the rest of the winter.


Congratulations to Linda Butterfly Cards and Art on her sale of 3 cards. She has been helping us promote the event non-stop and we appreciate it.

Day 3: February First Weekend Shopping Event

It is Day 3 of our shopping extravaganza, and we are having a great time with it. Yesterday was another great day, and we thank everyone who is participating. Today we'd like to feature the following shops:

Bella Bags by Marcia who sells lovely handmade handbags, accessories and more.


and First Light Glass who is having a Valentine's Day Sale of fused glass. Buy any Valentine's Day pendant and receive a free 18" black leather cord necklace.


If you are participating in the sale and not on our team, please leave a comment here and we will feature you tomorrow!

Day 2: February First Weekend Shopping Event

It's day two and we've had such a great response to our First Weekend event for the month of February. The members of Team ESST have been working hard trying to keep the Promotions thread at the top of the list, and we've all discovered a lot of new and great shops. Today we'd like to thank the following non-team member shops for participating in the event and helping us out.

Cahaba Crafts specializes in bookmarks, cards, mini cards, and tags. There is a holiday special sale going on too, so please read the shop announcement for more information.

Cozy Girl Design has some great handmade scarves, shawls and hats. She has a Valentines sale going on, so be sure to take advantage of that.

Hannah's Hands is a passionate beader making lovely handmade jewelry with a beautiful selection of materials.

Sundown Findings is a fellow supply shop featuring lots of silver ear wires. She's having a special sale just for this event.

Bath & Beads Etc. also has a promotional sale going on. Buy one lip balm, get one free. The heart soaps are perfect for Valentines day.

Shop Advice: etsyhacks

If you haven't already heard about etsyhacks, you'll wish you had once you try them. Ian, the husband of an Etsy seller, is a coding genius and has created many 'hacks' that make selling on Etsy so much easier.

My favorites are the Shop Tools hack which adds a "shop tools" section to your shop and listing pages, the Cancel Transaction hack for those 'almost' sales, and the long requested Copy Listing hack, which allows you to create a new listing based on an existing listing.

And for those of us who spend way too many hours on the forums, grab the Forum Wrangler hack. This hack tracks your forum reading, and highlights posts to make it easier to keep track of threads you're interested in. It also brings you back to the page you posted on after adding to a thread. You'll don't know how you survived the forums without it.

Please note this - etsyhacks is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Etsy. Anything provided on these pages is done so free of charge, and with no warranty. Use at your own risk. Spread the word - selling on Etsy just got easier.

There are many more than are listed here, so please visit the etsyhacks Blog for more information, or view all the IE Hacks or FireFox Hacks at once.

First Weekend - ESST Sponsored Event

The Etsy Supply Street Team is sponsoring a "First Weekend Shopping Extravaganza" for the month of February. We invite all Etsians of every category to participate by placing an announcement in your shop and join us with promoting your shops on the Promo Thread in the Etsy Forums.

This is not a Sale, it is a Shopping Event sponsored by the Etsy Supply Street Team. On the first weekend of each month, Team ESST will sponsor the event from Thursday - Sunday by promoting it both on and off of Etsy.

This month's event will occur from February 5th -8th. Please look for the post "February Shopping Extravaganza sponsored by Team ESST" in the Promos section of the Etsy Forums beginning on Thursday, February 5th around 12:00 AM EDT.

Because Etsy is a Global Marketplace and the seasons, cultures and holidays can vary quite a bit, there is no overall theme. However, we do strongly encourage shops to have a feature, theme or sale as this can pique interest and help draw people to your shop.

You do not have to participate for the whole weekend as we will be posting a fresh new thread each day of the event. You can easily find the new link by checking the last post of the old thread each day.

To join our Shopping Extravaganza, the only requirement is to help promote the event by joining in and bumping the Promotion Thread throughout the weekend. In the thread, please let us know about your shop and what you have to offer our shoppers.

If you blog or twitter, please promote this event to those outside of the Etsy community. It will provide the Etsy community with publicity and add visibility to our shops. As this will become a monthly event, it will be something for shoppers to look forward to.

The First Weekend Shopping Event is sponsored by Team ESST, not by Etsy. More information about our team can be found right here on our blog. If you have any questions about this event please convo one of our members at TheArtistsCloset.etsy.com

Search for the Promo Thread on Etsy.

Sewing Patterns on Etsy

For those of us who enjoy making our own clothes, there is an abundance of patterns on Etsy and especially among our Etsy Supply Street Team members.

Vintage 1976 Girls' Annie Hall-Style Jacket, Vest, Pants and Skirt Pattern from Gremlygirl's shop. This vintage girl's pattern from 1976 begs to be made in corduroy and plaid. Unlined jacket has wide notched lapels and princess seams. Flared pants and skirt have back zipper. The vest has 3 button closure.


Do you knit or crochet? Patterns and Such has an entire category which makes it easy to find knitting and crocheting patterns for babies to adults.

This classic pattern from Sandritocat's Shop will always be in style. I have always loved a button dress, and this pattern is so classic that this style will always be in fashion. It's certainly an any occasion dress.







Last but not least is Creativejnee's Shop You can purchase patterns from the 1920s up to the 1990s. My personal favorite is the Vintage 1980s Nicole Miller Designer Dress and Petticoat Ruffle Square Dance Sewing Pattern







It's true. Team ESST has a great selection of supply sellers with some phenomenal vintage and classic patterns. Visit these shops today:

GremlyGirl
PatternsAndSuch
Sandritocat
Creativejnee

An Idea by Fabric Samples

Shelia from Fabric Samples has a fun idea to share.

Try using Designer Fabric Samples with grommet holes on a drapery rod pole. If you thread them back and forth, they can become a valence, a café curtain, or a half curtain. Some of these samples are gorgeous and could be used alone as a wall hanging on a metal rod. This idea would be great behind a bed, as a faux headboard.

Another fun idea is to attach them to each other with a belt to make a skirt.



These fabric samples come in a variety of color lots and coordinated pattern lots as well. The most fun ones are the 8” wide x 18” long; but, the 12” x 15” are great too.

Shelia at Fabric Samples is full of great ideas for her samples, but would love to hear about more ideas of how to use them. Please leave a comment to share your idea.

Update on CPSIA

Giving themselves more time to figure out how to accommodate small businesses, the CPSA has delayed mandatory testing of items geared towards children for 1 year.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously (2-0) to issue a one year stay of enforcement for certain testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of regulated products, including products intended for children 12 years old and younger. These requirements are part of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which added certification and testing requirements for all products subject to CPSC standards or bans.

The decision by the Commission gives the staff more time to finalize four proposed rules which could relieve certain materials and products from lead testing and to issue more guidance on when testing is required and how it is to be conducted.

The stay will remain in effect until February 10, 2010, at which time a Commission vote will be taken to terminate the stay.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html