Thursday, March 05, 2009

Etsy Updates

I know I usually write about food and cooking, but I have been excited about some crafty things lately. To give a brief update on the topic of food, I made another batch of pizza dough, doubling it this time. Half went to a chicken basil calzone recipe which my husband Jack tried out, and the other half went into the freezer for a future pizza - maybe this weekend. If it's good, I'll be sure to write about it. In the meantime, here is a picture of a crocheted pizza from skymagenta.

Some of you know that I have been making beaded jewelry and selling it on an online marketplace called etsy. This is a site that specializes in handmade and vintage items. It's a community that I enjoy being a part of and love to support through my purchases. It's like going to an art/craft/antique show anytime you like - what could be better?

I am almost ready to post a new necklace and I thought I would show it here first just for fun. Terrariums are really popular on etsy right now and that was my inspiration.
I found some fuzzy green beads that I couldn't resist buying. A woodland theme emerged from there. The necklace is about 38" long. I need to make a shorter version with a little gnome pendant. Ha!

I need to play around with the mushrooms a little more before I'm ready to list it in our shop, StasiaTart.
I share the shop with my friend Heather, she has some amazing vintage inspired pieces. Here is a link to our wares on etsy.

I guess my cat was feeling a little neglected during the "photo shoot".

Yesterday something very exciting happened, One of my pieces was on the front page of etsy! I have a cropped picture of what the featured sellers section on the front page looked like. My avocado green necklace is in the first column, third row down.
This really helped improve the traffic to our shop. Yesterday we received 279 visits, many from other countries including Israel, Finland, Russia, Latvia, Argentina, Kenya and more. A tool called google analytics provides this fascinating information for us. I have much to learn about how to use it.





In other crafty news, I am learning to knit. I tried very hard to resist learning a new hobby, but failed.
Do I really have time for another hobby? I guess I'm about to find out. With a little help from friends, I have picked up some needles and inexpensive yarn and brought a little more fiber into my life. Thank you to Becky for lending me "Vogue Knitting: Quick Reference" and thanks to Kathryn for introducing me to your amazing knitting aunt and her fabulous craft night. Oh and you also introduced me to www.ravelry.com Thank you!

I am about to start a scarf, wish me luck on this next adventure..
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5 comments:

CaffeinatedFrenzy said...

Congrats on getting to the front page!
Learning something new is always a little bit of an adventure, enjoy the ride. The great thing about knitting is that there's always a new stitch to learn once you have the basics.

Artisan Clay said...

Congrats on being on the front page!! Chicken Basil Calzone sounds so good!

pjturner said...

Congratulation on being on the front page! How excited you must have been. I tried to teach myself to knit, just could not do it. Your work is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Front page? Sweeet! And the terrarium necklace would have fit right in with the color scheme as well! You're a-goin' places. :) Congrats.

Sandee said...

Fabulous on the front page and I love your new work. Thanks for visiting my blog. I really love yours!