Decoupage!

My latest obsession is decoupage!  I have been practicing and practicing my technique and loving it!

I have started listing decoupage 10" wall letters in my shops.  I used the same wall letters I have used in the past for hand painted samples and covered them in a bunch of different styles and colors of pretty scrapbook papers I found!  Some even have more than one paper on them and have ribbons for decoration as well!  I have each one made so it will hang by its own little ribbon!  There are also keyhole cut outs on the backs, but I love the ribbons!

Here's a few photos of my favorites!

If anyone is interested in my samples, I'm selling them for $5.00 each, which is half off the price I'm selling custom ones for!  I have photos of all my samples in an album on my Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.157809937614716.39305.145497005512676&l=083ff5d4af

Since these were my practice letters, they might have some imperfections.  However, I will do my best to cover any mistakes up using things like embellishments, which is included in the $5.00 price.  Actually, with embellishments, I'm asking $12.00 (The extra $2.00 will probably barely cover the cost of the embellishments!  Scrapbooking supplies are expensive!)  So you're getting even better than half price!  Contact me through either of my shops if you're interested!

Decoupaging is letting me branch out in my work!  I'm loving it and plan on making at least a full alphabet of samples!  Decoupage tip:  Use a roller of some kind to roll air bubble out of the paper!  I didn't know to do that the first few times I tried and just used my fingers.  No where near as effective!

Thanks for reading!

Sara

Name Signs and Wall Letters:

http://sarashandmades.etsy.com/

www.Zibbet.com/SarasHandmades

Baby Gifts:

http://sweetbabyminebysh.etsy.com/

www.Zibbet.com/SweetBabyMine

Makin' Sales!

Well things are picking up a bit over here!  I've gotten several new orders for signs, and I'm super excited to say I got an order for a onesie cupcake in my Sweet Baby Mine shop on Etsy!

Here's one I finished just after the camo sign for Seth!

This was a surprise gift from a husband to wife!  They are expecting a new baby any time now and he got this to hang in their nursery!  Isn't that sweet?!

And here's an animal sign for Oscar!  This one is going to be a baby shower gift!

I've also got 3 sign orders I'm working on right now!  The day after I listed the camo sign in my shop, someone bought one!  I think it'll be another popular design!  That one will be for Chase! 

I also just got an order for a space sign for Luke's bedroom!  He loves robots, stars, planets, and spaceships according to my customer!  I hope he loves his new name sign too! 

The third is one I get to make for my Grandma.  My mom wants to get her one of my curly letter name signs like the Hannah Kate one above, but with mint green ribbon and just the green accents.  No pink!  It's going to be a Mother's Day gift for her to hang on the door to her room at her retirement home!  We just celebrated her 90th birthday back in January!  She was a wonderful artist and crafter when she was younger!  I think I must have gotten my "creativity gene" from her!

Finally, Sweet Baby Mine just got an order for an individually wrapped onesie cupcake!  I've been putting off getting the paper punch sets I need to make pretty gift tags to go on my baby items, but now I think I'd better get out and do that!  Perfect timing too!  I think Hobby Lobby has punches on sale this week!

Thanks for reading!

Sara

Name Signs and Wall Letters:
http://sarashandmades.etsy.com/
www.Zibbet.com/SarasHandmades

Baby Gifts:
http://sweetbabyminebysh.etsy.com/
www.Zibbet.com/SweetBabyMine

Zibbet

I decided it might be "fun" to join another handmade selling community to see how it works out compared to Etsy!  I kind of did it on an impulse, but there were a few important reasons why I chose Zibbet to try my luck on.

1. FREE MEMBERSHIP!  There is a basic free membership that allows up to 50 free listings and no sales fees.  Completely free.  I thought this might be a good way to test the waters before I commit to spending money on another shop.
2. COMMUNITY!  From things I've heard and read, Zibbet is very supportive of it's sellers and has a great community of people willing to help each other, network, and even just chat a little.  Not that I've had any problems with Etsy yet, but it's nice to think you're going into something other people have enjoyed.
3. POTENTIAL!  Zibbet is still building up.  I think I read that they have 1/2% of the visitors that Etsy has.  While that may not sound great, I feel like that means there is a lot of potential for growth, and I want to be there while it's happening!
4. PRODUCT SEARCHES!  Only some of Etsy's shops have their items listed in Google product searches.  I know it's not Etsy's fault, and they're getting to everyone as fast as they can, but it still stinks.  Zibbet works with both Google product search and Find.com, which are the two biggest product search engines right now.  Just by being on there, my items can now be found in those searches.
5. FEATURES!  The site seems to have a few improvements over Etsy.  Like better analytics.  Less bias about front page and features.  Much simpler listing process, even though it includes all the same information.
6. SATURATION!  On Etsy, my categories are SATURATED!  On Zibbet, 3-5 pages of items when I search my product categories.  On Etsy?  Well over 100 pages.
7. PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP!  SO many more customization options for premium sellers!  And a flat fee paid monthly or yearly for unlimited listings, still no listing or sale fees.  Advertising potential, increased likelihood of shop views, gift buying guides, and lots more features on the way!

So all in all, I thought I'd try it out.  What will it hurt?  It's not costing me anything.  I uploaded my Etsy listings and did a few quick changes to them and had everything up and running in 2 different shops in just a couple of hours.  And the best part?  If I decide I just want to work with Etsy, I can leave my listings on Zibbet FOR FREE and link them to the listings for the items in my Etsy shops!  That's right, they don't care if you direct shoppers away from the site!  So it would end up another place for my items to be seen!

I'll let you know how it goes!  Tell me what you think!
www.Zibbet.com/SarasHandmades
www.Zibbet.com/SweetBabyMine

Sara
http://sarashandmades.etsy.com/
http://sweetbabyminebysh.etsy.com/

Finally Finished The Order!

Sortly after I opened my shop, I started working with someone on a custom sign for little baby Seth.  His parents wanted to decorate his nursery in a light blue and brown rock and roll theme, but family members had other plans!  Someone very generously bought them crib bedding in a camoflage theme!  So we redesigned the name sign to fit this new theme, and I think I like this one even better than what we had originally planned!

Here's how it turned out!  I love the little animals and the trees!  Their camo theme was a woodsie hunting type theme, so I went with tan forest leaves painted over a sponged on camoflage pattern made from several greens and browns.

I also have an idea to adapt this to fit a military theme!  I have a tank cutout I can use, so I'd have that hanging from the middle and hand paint unfinished star cutouts in the camoflage pattern.  Or maybe in the solid colors used to paint the letters!  I was also thinking about painting solid colored stars in tan over the camo on the letters.  Or I could leave them just the solid camo!  It'll be up to whoever wants to order it!

This could even be something I do in pinks or blues to match bedding!  I know exactly what ribbon I'd use!  There's pink and blue camoflage ribbons available at my supply stores!

What does everyone think?  I just love this design!

Sara
http://sarashandmades.etsy.com/
http://sweetbabyminebysh.etsy.com/

Shop Updates

Well, so far this is the 10th day since I opened the second shop and I haven't had a sale yet.  I'm not too discouraged yet though.  I know it takes time to be found, and to be found by the right person.

In the meantime, it makes me feel better to be included in people's treasuries, item favorites, and shop favorites.  I already have 10 people calling my shop a favorite!  That's 1 each day!  My items have also been in 6 treasuries so far!  In comparison, my hand painted signs shop has been open for over 1 1/2 months and has 12 people calling it a favorite and items have been in only 2 treasuries.  The difference there is on Sweet Baby Mine, people are favoriting the whole shop and not specific items as much.  On the other hand, Sara's Handmades gets items favorited all the time.  Some of my items (if you add together all the sizes for the same item) have a ton of people who have chosen them as favorites!

The down side of this is that favorites don't equal sales.  However, people are marking my shops and items for a reason!  And that's a good thing!  It could be that they want to purchase later, really like it, want to show others, etc.  There's nothing bad about people liking the things you make!

Sara's Handmades has been doing a bit better!  I just got 2 sales in 2 days!  Both are for the animal themed name signs.  The funny thing is the boys' names rhyme (Brayden and Caiden) and they are both going to the same area of the country.  Actually, they will both go to the same large city, but different parts of it.  That's a pretty interesting coincidence!  It makes me wonder if it's a coincidence at all!  I may never know.

I'll post pictures once I get those signs done.  Lots of work to do at least to keep me busy!

Thanks for reading!

Sara
http://sarashandmades.etsy.com/
http://sweetbabyminebysh.etsy.com/