Front Page Excitement

Hello lovely readers.

I have some excellent news. I was on the Etsy front page this morning!! Lovely Becci (from Momentsbymartha) took a screenshot for me (as did posh_doodles from flickr - thanks guys!) and here it is:

Can you spot me? I'm the centre of the bottom row, with my fab splodgy rings. You can purchase yours here. I'm so pleased! Seriously, I was jumping out of seat. The rings have received 20 new hearts and my shop has got 13 new admirers. Being on the front page has certainly boosted my creative flow, as a whole bunch of ideas came to me today sitting at my desk at work that I can't wait to get working on! I got paid today from my regular job, so I'm probably going to buy a printer so that I can print my own packaging. I love the idea of packaging and have been having some ideas for it recently, so I'll show you what I come up with!

Had some Etsy people round to my HOUSE believe it or not! Snapdragonbeads, momentsbymartha & lovealittle from the Handmade Oxford team came round to stuff the goody bags. I've been begging, stealing and generally hassling crafters across the world for their promotional items, samples, business cards and general stuff for weeks now, and had a huge pile of it in my living room. The girls came over and we filled the goody bags, they really are going to be a highlight of the day. Each has a bunch of business cards, notecards, earrings, phone charms, magnets, bookmarks. I want one myself, and I've been looking at the stuff for weeks! We'll be giving them out free to the first 200 people through the door to the fair, so you should most definitely make the trip and come along on the day, stop by my stall and say hi if you do! You can check out photos from the bag-stuffing day here, and don't forget we are still accepting promotional items, cards and anything you would like to be included. These bags are going directly into the hands of people who buy handmade, so don't miss out. We'll also be sending a number of bags with the best bits in to buyers for a number of high-end retailers, so it really is a great opportunity. Leave me a comment if you want more information, or you can email me at cakeadaykatie@hotmail.co.uk.

Hectic Week

My Dad had my teenybobble this weekend, so I was meant to be relaxing. Getting up at 6am every morning is still a daily shock to my system so I had a great sleep on Friday night. I went to the craft shop on Saturday and got some new square bezels, and talked to the guy about putting up a sign for the craft fair that I am in the process of organising with a few fellow Etsians. You can find out more information, sign up, and find out the latest goss at the blog and our brand new flickr group. We are still accepting table reservations, although Jewellery spots are now filled.

Also, in regard to the craft fair, we are working hard to have some great promo bags to hand out to customers. Our minuscule advertising budget is being stretched to breaking point in order to buy up some cute reusable shoppers, but we need to fill them. I have offered myself up to be in charge of receiving the goodies, and we have had loads of interest so far. We really want to make these bags a great promotional tool for Etsians and Folksy users across the globe, so I thought you might interested in a few tips for sending in promos.

• Contact me directly for the address. I'm just reluctant to put it out here in the public domain, but send me and email to cakeadaykatie@hotmail.co.uk, flickrmail me or convo me on Etsy and I'll send you the address.


• Quality is preferable to quantity. We will be using every single promo we receive (provided it has not been damaged in the post or have some hideously obvious flaw) however, you will reach customers more with 10 fab samples, than 100 badly printed flyers.


• You may choose to include: a small sample (a teeny pot of something, some earrings or a charm, a little notecard, any tiny doodad!), a coupon for money off at your online store, a flyer or business card. If you do decide to use more than one of these options, please remember to keep everything nicely bunched together. A whole load of plastic isn't very economical, but a little paper bag tied with a nice ribbon, or some other way of packaging to make it like a weeny gift for the bag-getters could really boost your business.


• I will be photographing each batch of promos that I receive. Bags will be carefully co-ordinated to include a range of samples and business cards. Don't freak out if you can't afford or don't want to include a sample, business cards can be just as good!


• Any bags left over (although, let's be honest, who would say no to a free bag stuffed with goodies?) will be donated to the next UK Team craft fair.


• We don't need to receive the items until mid October, but remember, this is international shipping we are talking about. I wouldn't post any later than the end of August from the USA. A couple of people have said they are going to start filling a flat-rate small shipping box between now and then, with little samples and anything else they find that may promote their business, this is a great idea!


• If you have any further questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact me. I check my email religiously throughout the day and night (I have a baby - I'm up at totally random times!) and I will endeavor to respond quickly.

I know this is a bit of a meaty entry, but just a couple more things! I have been designing and thinking hard about the direction that I want my jewellery to take this week. I have created these fab rocky charms, they look great as a bracelet, plus I used one to make this gorgeously girly-rock necklace. Check out that platinum chunky chain!

I'm going a bit wacky, and currently these are ONLY available in my brand-new Folksy store. I have yet to get a sale on this fab UK-based Beta site. If you are my first sale, I'll throw in a cute ring free of charge - so you should definitely get shopping!