Preparing for the Holiday Rush

The holiday rush has been called a myth on Etsy. This was my first year experiencing it because we moved last November and I did nothing to promote or advertise. I came in to this holiday season with no expectations but wanted to be prepared just in case.

During the slow summer I worked at increasing inventory. This can be a little depressing when sales just aren't coming in, but I managed to add about 100 items to my shop over the summer and early fall. It helped a lot. I didn't have to spend time during November and December creating much.

I printed extra address labels, do not bend labels and really small address labels. My die cuts go first class go first class so I need to take them to the post office. First class international get labels too. I printed 2 sheets and it was plenty. The do not bend stickers saved a lot of time too. The small labels were for customs slips. I asked at my PO if I could use a label and they said they keep that slip for 30 days so a label was fine. I pre labeled about 20 customs slips.

In August or September I placed an order for boxes and customs labels from the post office. Sometimes they take a few weeks so it's best to order these early. You'll use them eventually.

Promote, promote, promote all year long. All those hearts and all those past customers will come back to shop! I had a lot of Twitter sales and repeat sales for Christmas.

I hate to say it, but I trolled alchemy. I didn't bid on every single gift request, but I did bid on quite a few that I thought I could win. I won some and they led to larger orders. Yay!

I took out a Craftcult ad in November. These fill up fast and I got the carousel and not the sidebar I wanted but it still got me a lot of sales! Plan your ads early- August and September- to make sure you get the dates you want.

Stay organized! Before the rush I completely organized my inventory. I used clear plastic bags (my curtains came in them, but ziploc would work too) to separate like items. It has saved me a lot of time trying to find things.

I printed about 100 business cards and stamped about half and wrote in my coupon code and the thank you. When I need one I just grab it and it saves so much time while packing.

I never renew during the year but for the holidays I did renew if something had less than 2 weeks left anyway. I'm sure other categories have to renew to stay seen, I don't feel I have to.

Stock up on supplies. I do a mix of premade and make as they sell. I stocked up on checkbook covers, paper, and other things to make what I need to as it sells. I did run out of a few things and they will have to wait to be renewed.

Handmade Holiday Gifts Under $10

Purple Buds Mousepad

Purple Buds by kotibeth
Design mousepad online at zazzle.com

My tin is featured

I will be so sad when this tin sells. It's in the Etsy gift guide which has gotten me some great traffic and it's got something like 28 hearts. Here it is featured again on Nikki Makes Scents gift guide for $10 and under. Great blog and great finds, check it out!

Handmade Holiday Baby Gift Guide

Here are a collection of unique baby gifts for the holiday season. Thanks to all my Facebook fans and Twitter followers to help me pick items.

Teacher Gifts

Teachers are overworked and underpaid. Show your appreciation for a great teacher with these unique and affordable gifts.

Amy Butler jumbo paperclip. Use to hold notes, photos, pictures and more. Customizable with a name or school colors. $5.
Altered clipboards make great gifts for teachers. My son's teachers use a different clipboard to keep sets of papers organized. With an altered clipboard they can see at a glance which clipboard is which. Custom orders welcome. $15.

Altered clips are a cute way to keep papers organized. I offer sets of 6 without magnets and 4 with magnets. $3.

Altered clips can be used to keep papers organized or use as a photo or note holder. $4

Teachers use a lot of sticky notes. Give your child's teacher a cute way to display them with this altered post it note holder and binder clip. $3.50.

Succeeding on Etsy Photography

In order to have any success on Etsy, good photographs are a must. You can not expect to sell a stranger your widgets if the photographs don't show them off to the best your ability. The best SEO, the best tags, the best descriptions are all for naught if your photos are blurry or dark.

I am fortunate enough to have a hubby who spoils me rotten and got me a Canon Rebel XSi DSLR to play with. Would I buy one just for Etsy? No, not at my price point. If I were selling $100+ widgets then yes, I would seriously consider it. Selling $2-20 items, no, it's not worth it.

Wanna know the best kept Canon DSLR secret? The EF 50mm f/1.8 lens. Under $100. Regular price. Srsly. But, Cari, how great can it really be? It's amazing!! It's a plastic body so be careful with it. I've had mine for 10 months and it's been on my Rebel for about 90% of my shots. I take all of my product photography with that lens. The 1.8 gives me a great DoF. Yes the 1.4 would be better, but I can't complain at all.

The other important thing to remember is that you will need great light. Natural sunlight is best but only during the 2 hours after dawn and 2 hours before dusk. That's when the sunlight travels through all that atmosphere and gets filtered and gives a great natural glow without being harsh. It's best to have the sun behind you or to the side behind you.

Getting outside during peak hours isn't always possible. Enter the light box. There are many tutorials on Etsy to build one. You don't need an expensive one, just something to control the light. My hubby happens to be pretty handy so he made me a 15" cube with ceiling light tiles. I'm sorry, I bing-ed (is that a word yet?) and can't find a photo or link. It's the tiles that you install in drop down ceilings to filter the light. They came in huge sheets; something like 4x6 feet? It's textured and made of plastic. He made a cube by cutting those and using corner moulding for the edges. He just used silicon to adhere the moulding to the plastic. I then bought a 59 cent piece of posterboard and voila instant light box! Total cost was about $40 but if we'd have made it just a hair smaller we could have used one panel and saved $15+. It's lasted over a year.

I used to take the box outside or put it on my kitchen table in the afternoon (nap time) and open all the blinds in the bay window. This worked wonderfully! Now I have a portrait lamp because I do portrait photography. For a cheaper alternative to a portrait light, try the Ott lights. They are a natural looking bulb.

To finish my shots I use Photoshop. There are free things to use like GIMP, Picassa and more. I just happen to own an old version of Photoshop. I crop, resize, and adjust the levels to make the white really white.

Since I've improved my photography my sales have increased dramatically. If a buyer can't touch it and inspect it, you need to show all sides of your widget and show it the best way you know how.

Glitter Heart Die Cuts

These red heart die cuts are covered in fluffy glitter. Comes in a set of 8 but more are available. Available at Etsy or Artfire.

Handmade Holiday Contest

My contests are usually paper crafts related but for this one I'm doing anything! Paper, paint, crochet, fabric, metal- anything! As long as it's related to a winter holiday it's eligible.

The Rules:

• For this contest you may submit anything to do with a winter holiday. Paper crafts, jewelry, ornament, decoration. Anything!
  
• It does not have to be something brand new, but please keep it to only creations not entered in a contest previously.
• All entries will be emailed to me at kotibeth@gmail.com and I will post them all at once so each entry is a surprise :)
• You may solicite votes from your own blogs, Twitter, Facebook, or however else you'd like to get votes.
• Voting will last for one week.
• In the case of a tie, I will make every effort to have two of the same prize, but there may be substitutions.
• If you do not want to submit photos of your children, you may blur the faces of anyone in the photo.
• You may submit more than one entry but only one photo will be displayed for each entry.

Yes there are prizes! If there are 2-5 entries the prize will be a $5 gift certificate to my Etsy or Artfire shop. If there are 6 or more entries (from different people) the prize will go up to a $10 gift certificate! Gift certificate can include shipping costs.

Entries due by December 5, 2009 and voting will last one week until December 12, 2009.

Angel Wings SVG File

Here are some angel wings I created to cut with Sure Cuts a Lot. These are for personal use or you may use the die cuts in a product for sale. You may not sell the file or just die cuts made from this file. If you do make something from this file, I'd love to see a picture :)

Angel Wings SVG