Prioritizing

I am the world's best prioritizer - at least, I used to be. Something about having a baby and now a toddler has spun my world out of control. I just cannot seem to keep up. Something is always dirty, messy, broken, missing, etc. I found all the animals to Aiden's Fisher Price Barn set up securely hidden in the hole of our stereo systems center speaker...along with the TV Remote and a harmonica.

I stayed up late last night to package orders to ship today, so at least that was done. It was so nice outside, I decided we'd walk to the post office. Don't be too impressed, we live in a small town so it's not that far. But then it started to sprinkle on us. Yes, I did see the clouds before I left, and went anyway. Thankfully, it never did rain. But because Aiden is on a first name basis with our local postal workers and crys every time we leave, I opted to use the mail shoot by the PO boxes and got the first package I put in stuck so I couldn't open the door for the rest. Nice.

The good news in my day is I've ordered tons of paper and it's all on it's way to me. When I first opened Tattered Tapestry, I also wanted to open an online fabric store. While my husband was game for the idea, we just couldn't make it work, logistically, in our 1100 sq ft house w/o renting space. And that sort of defeated the 'stay-at-home' part of mom. So I scrapped that idea. But once Owl Say started doing well, I thought about opening a paper store. Mainly because all the cute paper I liked was online - even though I live very close to a Metropolitan area, I could still get my favorite papers shipped to me cheaper than any local stores. So, after doing some research, I decided to do just that - open a paper store. Welcome to The Paper Hoarder.

Ok, if you just clicked the link, you are probably a little disappointed. I'm still working out the kinks. Basic stuff, like the banner, avatar, etc. And I don't actually have my paper to list yet. Which I guess, is the biggest kink since it's a paper store. I know, you're thinking I'm crazy. Three Etsy stores, is she out of her mind? Well, yes, maybe. But remember, I'm not really working Tattered right now. In fact, after the Oct 17th craft fair, I'm hoping the store will be void of all baby blankets, kitchen towels and purses. What I don't sell, I'll probably save as gifts. I've already deactivated the appliques. I'm only planning on selling key fobs. And if I sell out at the craft fair, then I'll basically be putting Tattered on vacation for a while. It's just a logistics thing. I don't have enough room to work 2 (let alone 3) businesses right now. Especially when I only have 1 table (the one we also eat at) to work. So, in my mind, it's my short term solution.

Plus, if I'm being honest, I had to put most of my fabric in big tupperware store containers to make room for all the paper. I need to be able to put the paper in the one cabinet I have and put a child lock on it so Aiden can't get to it. Especially now that he's been in to crafting and likes to cut (yes, w/safety scissors) and color.

Also, I think I made a critical mistake with Tattered that I've tried not to repeat in Owl Say...I had too many different product types. In my personal opinion, if someone can sew, then someone can sew. My mother-in-law can sew anything. I mean, anything. She has no limit. She's a better seamstress than I am. If she opened a store, (which she should) I'd know everything she made would be good quality. I think that way when I look at other sewing shops. But to someone, like my own mother, who doesn't sew, the cohesive appearance of a shop that only offers a few things or 'specializes' gives they buyer peace that what they are buying is well made. It's psychology, I guess. Perception is reality. All that to say, I will, eventually, reinvent Tattered Tapestry. How can I let go a name that catchy?

Owl Say

Ok, admittedly, I have neglected my blog. I have also neglected my Facebook fan page if it makes you feel any better. I haven't felt 100% (too long and boring to give details) and my father had a heart attack, so I have been understandably distracted. But, I'm feeling better, and so is my dad (thank you for asking), so it's time to get busy again!

I am sorry to say that I'm having to put Tattered Tapestry on the back burner for now. This is because my very strong-willed toddler has just about made it impossible to sit at a sewing machine! It's normal for a little boy to be fascinated with all things mechanical (right?). He's very intent on trying to help me guide the fabric, which does not make for very straight lines! And as his naps have gotten shorter and shorter, I just have to prioritize how to spend that time, and sewing keeps getting left off the list. I will still be offering new designs of wristlet key fobs, but all other items in my shop are on sale (if anyone is interested). I'm also destashing some of my fabric and unused patterns.

That being said, Owl Say Designs is doing quite well. I've had 255 sales since June, and it's just more than I could have possibly anticipated. It's been pretty slow this week, but I think I was getting a little spoiled. I'm happy with a sale a day, or every other day, or just whenever.... Any sale makes me happy. I'm also excited to announce that I'll be going to my first Craft Fair Oct 17th. So all recent sales have basically gone to fund this...which, as it turns out, can be very expensive when you've never done it before. But that's ok. My goal is to sell enough to pay for the booth - a mere $50. That's just 10 passport or checkbook covers. Surely I can sell 10...at least I hope. I keep telling myself I'll be ok if I don't. I'll be ok if it's a complete bust and I'm out all my recent sale money AND the booth fee. I haven't convinced myself of this yet! I think I'll just have to cross this bridge when I get there.

That's all for today. I promise more later as I do have more exciting news to share!!!

Tattered's Dish Towels and Pot Holders

I love color. All color. In fact, I love it so much , I often have a hard time when designing a project or a room because I don't want to have to eliminate a color I love! This is one of the reasons I started collecting HLC Fiesta dishes. I love the options of all that color!!! Someday, in my new house in my new kitchen, I have this vision of white cabinets with glass doors, black granite counter tops, subway tile back splash and my Fiesta collection brightening up the room.

So when I decided to sew some new kitchen dish towels, it was Fiesta I had on my mind. It's so hard to find bright, colorful dish towels. I'm not really matchy-matchy, but I like for things to 'go'. So the colors I chose for these dish towels don't exactly match the Fiesta color palettes. But they certainly have their place in any colorful kitchen.

Featured in a Blog!

Yeah! I've been featured in a blog!
Dorana from http://www.myhandmaderegistry.com/ let me know that I will be featured on the FRONT PAGE of her blog with my ring stacker toy in a registry member's wish list!

I've just spent some time checking out her website and it's really cool. She lets you make your own handmade wish lists to share with friends, family etc and if you get lucky, she'll feature your wish list on her front page! What a great idea!

Reusable and Adjustable Book Covers

As I have mentioned before, I love to read. And I love to collect paper. Recently during one of my hunts for vinyl bookmarks to display some of my paper, I ran across these adjustable vinyl book covers. I had another AH-HA and thought they would be perfect to display an even larger section of paper than my checkbook/passport covers and the business card holders.

They come in tons of sizes, but after doing some research on the sizes of mass market books, I settled on two sizes 7"H and 8.5"H. Once I got my book covers and cut the paper to size, I discovered my idea wasn't so great. I had no way to secure the paper so every time you removed the book you'd have to deal with the paper inserts. "That's not cool", I thought. "No customer is going to want to have to deal with that."

So I toyed with brads and other embellishments. The brads were awesome looking on the outside. I have tons of brads for scrapbooking, so I could choose from hearts, stars, flowers, squares, etc. I liked that idea, but the more I moved the book in and out of the cover, I could tell the brads were not sturdy enough to permanently hold the paper inserts in place.

I finally settled on grommets (some people call them eyelets). I could use a tool to set the rivets and they would be permanent. I utilized my 'test' cover over and over again to see if they would hold. I wanted to make sure that the covers would really be reusable again and again with the paper insert.

SUCCESS!! I love these book covers. They just fit all the requirements I have for a project. They are super fun to make, beautiful and most of all practical and affordable. And I can pick a book cover to fit my mood.

Not too long ago, I had to travel regularly for my day job. I spent hours in an airport/airplane. I always hated nosy onlookers judging me by my Stephen King novel! I cannot tell you how many people would make snide comments or worse, want to talk about my book while sitting on a plane. People, I'm reading!!! On purpose - so I don't have to talk!!!! I so wish I'd had these book covers back then. Then, I could've just kept them guessing!

All that to say, now introducing Tattered Tapestry's vinyl book covers. Here are the specs:

• Reusable
• Adjustable to fit different book thicknesses
• Affordable
• Antimicrobial (that's right, unlike the paper of your paperback novel)
• Practical
• Have a built-in bookmark
• Currently comes in 2 sizes for mass market paperback books 7" (most popular) and 8.5"
• Decorative card stock or paper is backed with 65# card stock to take the usuage abuse. This helps keep the decorative outside staying pretty.
• Vinyl exterior protects your paperback and keeps nosy onlookers guessing about what you're reading!

Making G.A. Easier

Geeze Louise! I post about how to find your most viewed items and then I find a way to make it easier. Do this:

1. Sign into G.A.
2. See how your accounts are listed...go to 'Edit' on the right hand side.


3. Then you'll see your profile page. Click on edit again-top right corner

4. Your profile name should be your etsy web address. But make the web URL http://etsy.com/

See? Also make sure you have 'No' clicked on the two options 'E-Commerce Website' and 'Site Search'.

5. Save it. Then go back to view your report and click on Content.
6. Top Content - view 100 rows, now you should be able to click on 'view link' and it will take you directly to your listing as opposed to having to type it into craftcult.
7. Content by Title - this will show you the actual pages and/or categories Yikes! Feedback was actually #3!!!

Google Analytics and Negative Feedback

Ok, I've been wondering what the most popular items in my store were. It took me a while to figure out how to use Google Analytics to find out this info, but I did finally figure it out. Apparently, this is easier for me than figuring out links :). Here are the steps:
1. Log into G.A.
2. Click on Content and then Content Drill down
3. Here you'll see all content visits your website gets. If it's like mine, the first few most visited links are just pages to your website or specific categories, but I was interested in items. So...
4. You may have to change the view at the bottom right to show more rows. I showed 100 rows.
5. Ok, look for this
/view_listing.php?listing_id=25148478 those last #s are your listing #. That's the info you need.
6. Now, go to http://www.craftcult.com/ and sign in under your shop name.
7. Go to the 'Single Hearts Tab'
8. Cut and paste or type in the item #.
9. Voila! It will show you the item most popularly viewed in your store.

I was VERY surprised that the two most often clicked on listings were the two ring stacker toys I made. I would NEVER have guessed that! I mean, don't get me wrong, they're awesome!

The other statement I would like to make is that my feedback was #8 on the list of most views. Now, for me personally, this currently makes me a little heartsick. Unfortunately, I had a person leave me very horrible negative feedback about a blanket they purchased from my shop. I was very, very confused because the statement was outrageous and quite honestly, impossible. I'm not going to give the statement any validity by addressing it point by point. I'll just let my other feedback speak for itself. After trying to make it right with the customer and numerous ranting emails from the customer, I discovered this was purposefully done in an effort to get something for nothing. Some people do go through life looking to be disappointed.

My DH tried to console me by saying if you made 98% on a test, you'd feel great! But I know I check people's feedback and it's a different principle when you are buying something handmade. The neg. feedback was carelessly left and was quite damaging. Especially when you are actually trying to start up a business.

Let me just say that for days, maybe weeks I was utterly embarrassed. Not because I feel the feedback was deserved, but because Etsy does not allow you to post a response to Neg. feedback. Prior to finding Etsy, I was a powerseller on Ebay. A POWERSELLER! This means you have to sell a min of $3,000 in 3 months to be a powerseller. Do you know how many sales that entails? HUNDREDS! With all positive feedback. Hundreds of positive feedback. But if someone were to leave me neg feedback, you have the ability on Ebay to respond. Etsy does not give a seller that chance. I don't know if returning the money and letting the customer keep the blanket would have convinced the customer to change the feedback. Not only did I not feel I could trust the offer, but I decided to just take the hit. I don't negotiate with terrorists - so to speak.

Now, I may have a degree in English, but God gave me a mind for business. And because I'm a Christian, I don't just try to treat people as I would like to be treated....I try to treat them better than I expect to be treated. It makes me sick to think of how many people would like to have purchased something from my shop, but hesitated and opted out to buy something from another shop because of that feedback. But I believe that everything happens for a reason, so here's my second lesson for the day.

Please, please carefully consider the feedback you leave. Be forgiving. If something isn't packaged or presented the way you thought it should be, a string is hanging off, etc, just remember that you don't know anything about that person or their life or their day.... And remember, you are buying something handmade. It's not machine manufactured. It's going to look handmade. That's what makes it special.

If you receive negative feedback, whether you deserved it or not, don't stick your head in the sand. Be better. Work harder. Fight back. Have a clearance sale and ASK for feedback so you can bring up your feedback percentage. Actually put a strip of paper in the package with a coupon and ASK for their feedback. This was my strategy. I listed about half the items in my store at my COST prices. And I spent all the money I earned on other purchases so I could get that feedback too. The psychology behind this is to bury the negative feedback with REAL positive feedback. And the higher your percentage comes to 100%, the less people will even look at your feedback page to see if you have neg. feedback. If they read the neg. feedback, you just have to hope they will come to the conclusion it was a fluke and not hold it against you.

If your friends/teammates receive neg. feedback, send them an encouraging note. Cheri from Itsmecheri did that for me. Partly because I posted about it in the ETC thread and I didn't realize that was part of Etsy and I shouldn't do that. But Cheri doesn't really know me and she sent me a sweet encouraging note. It took a while to sink in, but I needed it.

I considered blogging about this from the first day I started my blog, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. So this is my way of officially no longer hiding my head in the sand. I work hard with the talents God gave me and I'm proud of my work. So there.