How To's for the Real World

Today we are loving The Common Craft Show's videos. They are entertaining and easy to understand. Don't really 'get' Twitter? Try Twitter in Plain English. You've seen the RSS button on your Etsy shop, but don't know why it is there, try RSS in Plain English.

Enjoy these awesome videos with their simplicity and brilliance and learn something new today.

Shop Advice: Etsy Mini

Many of you are already using the easy-to-set-up Etsy Mini on your blogs or websites. It is a great tool to connect your Etsy shop with your other online venues. Unfortunately, the way Etsy Mini is programed, it forces a white background to be displayed around your listings, which may not work for you, if you are not already using a white backgound.

To remedy that, we recently found this awesome tool/ script that you can use to enhance your Etsy Mini. Thank you Hyperart!

Hyperart states, "You can even change your username font color. But that's all it does. It doesn't hack the Mini in any way, but it just overrides the color codes that their code sets. You can make a simple edit to the Mini code (if flash), or load the script on your own site or host it on mine (if javascript). The instructions are all there on this page."

So if you'd like to spruce up your Etsy Mini please visit Hyperart at http://hyperartpro.com/etsy_colors

From Supply to Front Page

Congratulations to Yarn to Spin, who sells blank wool yarn, ready to be dyed. One of her customers ended up on Etsy's homepage! That is a wonderful thing for both supplier and artist.

To find blank wool for yourself, please visit Yarn to Spin's shop on Etsy.

Get to Know -- Kalliopi

Hello, my name is Kalliopi and my etsy shop is http://kalliopipaper.etsy.com

What do you sell?
I sell a mix of items including new and vintage items, beads and paper handmade by me. I try to sell things that are unique and things that I love!

What is your favorite item that you sell?
At the moment it is the buttons as I have been able to find some great vintage and new buttons. I also love making the handmade paper.

Do you make some of your own items?
I have another Etsy store where I sell brooches & earrings that I make http://kallliopi.etsy.com. You can see different examples of how I use the beads and buttons that I have collected in my jewelery. I plan to start incorporating some of my handmade paper into my jewelery too.


How did you choose your user name?
My first name is Kalliopi. It was my great grandmother's name and also the Muse of Epic Poetry! I came up with the name Kalliopi Paper because I was intending to only sell handmade paper and cards but then I had so many beads and buttons that I thought I should share some of them with the Etsy community.

Street clothes or Pajamas?
It is summer in Australia now which means I wear dresses everyday... I have a big collection of dresses including some fantastic handmade dresses by some local Melbourne crafty girls.

Biggest indulgence or guilty pleasure?
I have to eat a piece of chocolate every day.

Favorite non-craft website? Favorite craft website (not Etsy)?
Non craft: www.butterpaper.com
Craft: http://en.dawanda.com/ (I've only just discovered it)

What is one thing that nobody would know about you.
That I collect orange glass and Pyrex vases, jars and bottles. I have a little 'orange' corner in my apartment!

What are your plans/goals for 2009?
My plans for 2009 are exciting but scary at the same time as I will be leaving my secure day job to start my own small business as an architect and crafter. Fingers crossed!

I also hope to be more organised with my supply store as I have collected so many fantastic beads and buttons and I really need to find the time to put them online. I aim to post 2 or 3 supply items a day in 2009.

Where else do you sell? Other IDs, sites, local shops, etc
I only sell my supplies on Etsy but I sell my jewelery at various other places including a shop on Dawanda and an Australian online craft website called MadeIt.

I also sell at 2 stores in Melbourne including Incube.8r on Collingwood who support independent Australian artists and Charles and Calypso, a homeware store in North Melbourne.

Please visit Kalliopi on Etsy at http://kalliopipaper.etsy.com

Team ESST on Twitter

The team is now on Twitter! Please follow us at http://twitter.com/teamesst to enjoy quick updates, sale notifications and simply just to get to know us better.

Shop Advice: Analytics

Etsy announced today that as sellers, we can now add Google Analytics to our Etsy shops. Yay! Now we can more successfully grow our businesses.

Here are some quick tips to setting up Analytics on your shop page:

1. To set up Analytics on your shop, you'll need a Google Account. If you don't already have one, then you'll register for one at http://analytics.google.com. If you already have an Google Account (for example, Gmail or Adwords) but are not yet using their Analytics, follow the link and Log in with your Google Account to sign up for the service.

2. If you are already using Google Analytics, then you'll probably want to separate the data you'll be getting from Etsy from your other sites. To do this, log in and access your analytics. At the bottom of the page, you'll see in blue the option to "Add a Website Profile." Follow that link and select "Add a Profile to a NEW Domain." This will generate a new "UA" number that you can now input into your Etsy shop.

To learn more about this free service visit http://www.google.com/analytics/features.html and visit the Etsy Forums to discuss how other shop owners are using it.

We'd love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments.

UPDATE: Timothy Adams, an Etsy seller has a video on his blog to help out new GA users.
http://timothyadamdesigns.blogspot.com/

Get to Know -- SuppliesForU

Periodically, we'll post interviews with members of the Etsy Supply Street Team. This week, get to know a little about SuppliesForU. Linda offers all types of supplies for art pendants, from scrabble tiles to resin cab supplies. And, if I didn't know better, I'd have sworn these were my own answers!

What do you sell?
Mostly jewelry supplies; pendant trays, resin molds, memory/art frame pendants, charms, scrabble tiles, necklaces and more.

What's your favorite item/line that you sell?
Pendant trays, resin molds and scrabble tiles.

How did you choose your user name?
I wanted something with the word supplies in it since that is what I sell. I went through a few that were already taken and settled on suppliesforu.

Street clothes or Pajamas?
Street clothes.

Biggest indulgence or guilty pleasure?
Sitting down to watch TV with my nighttime snack.

Favorite food?
Shellfish; blue claw crabs and lobster.

Favorite non-craft website? Favorite craft website (not Etsy)?
Non-craft - Big Fish Games....Craft website HGTV Holiday Forums.

What is one thing that nobody would know about you?
If I told than everyone would know.....

What are your plans/goals for 2009?
To build up my shop and possibly sell in a few more places.

Where else do you sell?
I recently set up on Art Fire. I am in a consignment shop with handmade finished crafts in North Babylon, NY.

Happy Holidays!

Happy New Year! Welcome 2009!

Wishing all of our team members, fellow Etsyians and of course the wonderful crafters out there who have supported our businesses all year a very Happy New Year.