Dancing out with the moonlit night..

I can't help but sing that title 'Dancing out with the moonlit Knight, Knights of the Green Shield stamp and shout!'  -- Yes, I'm probably showing my age since it's a line from a Genesis song on the album Selling England by the Pound.



Doesn't she look like she's dancing?

A play on words, I changed it slightly to fit with some new beads I've been making:



If you'd like to see what else I've been stocking my Etsy shop up with you can click here.

Today I...

Listed beads on Etsy. Thank you to everyone who has been an inspiration to me. click here if you'd like to visit my Etsy store.

Start the week with a Treasury!

How do you feel on a Monday morning? I know it's my least favourite time and day of the week, so I was thrilled to see that I've been included in an Etsy Treasury that my friend Meghann managed to snag!

It's the second one in quite a short space of time - I'm not sure what she's doing, but it's working!  Thank you so much for including my Once In A Blue Moon bead Meghann!

Here's the treasury, you can click through to see more details, it is full of artists and crafters from the Capital Crafters Etsy team and Etsy For Animals.

[caption id="attachment_1292" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Meghann's Monday Morning Treasury!"][/caption]

Wings in Treasury

I got up this morning to find that Cyn has picked my bead called Wings for her Etsy Treasury.  Thanks Cyn!  I took a look at all the other shops and favourited several items thinking ahead to Christmas, it's fun to see all the amazing things people are creating!  Click the image to visit the Treasury!

And one more!

Thank you Mallory for including me in your treasury!  Mallory is one of our newbie group on Wet Canvas, she does prefer the title FPM for Fairy Princess Mallory and that's the least I can grant her for this ;o)

You can see Mallory's Etsy Shop HERE .  Click on the image below to visit the treasury.



Two treasuries in one day - that is pretty sweet!

Etsy Treasury and news on a GIVEAWAY!!

I made it into an Etsy Treasury and I'm pretty pleased because it's beads that I consider nothing special, so it's nice to see them get a bit of exposure. Now if only someone would snap them up!
Thanks to Paisleybaby for including me!  Click the picture to visit the Treasury.

Big news brewing at Fireseed our FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!!

I don't have all the details yet, but stay tuned, over the next day or two all will be revealed, I can say it will involve Monkees In Space!

Alfy's had to make a quick return to Earth.

Alfy's a bit disgruntled that his first space walk was cut short, but excited to know that he's been hand picked for a top secret mission in New Mexico!

In his place is Space Cadet Tom Minor, of Ground Control to Monkee Tom fame!  Tom is now testing the Galactic regions of Etsy, here he is -

[caption id="attachment_842" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Ground Control to Monkee Tom!"][/caption]

First Space Monkee Heads For Etsy

Yes, that's right, Space Cadet Alfy  Centauri has made his inaugural space walk - right onto Etsy!

I'm not sure who's more excited - him or me!

[caption id="attachment_838" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Alfy Centauri, Space Cadet!  ***SOLD!**"][/caption]

An Etsy a day

They (whoever they may be), do say, that to be successful on Etsy you need to list items often, daily if possible.  So, this is my new goal - to try and list daily, or at least every other day.

I spent the best part of yesterday cleaning, photographing, processing and creating listings for the coming week.  I'm beginning to think it takes longer to do all that than it does to make the beads!

Last night I listed one of my two faced monkees - I like this design because it doesn't matter which way the bead is facing, you have a silly monkee face staring out.  I was idly thinking that they could be used like the 'Magic 8 Balls' - you know the ones you ask a question to, shake and then look at the magic answer.

You could ask these monkees a question, and depending on which one is facing you the answer might be "I don't have a clue" or "Don't ask me! I'm only a monkee!" - Could prove to be a big selling feature don't you think ;o)

[caption id="attachment_793" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Magic Monkees!"][/caption]

New On Etsy Today

[caption id="attachment_705" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Goddess Bead"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_704" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Red beads"][/caption]

Red Beads on Etsy, and one of my Goddess beads

New Etsy Listings

I've got some new beads coming up on Etsy, I added this cute little guy today

It will be hard to see him go, he's pretty adorable!

I also listed these dotty beads, two of which are hollow - I've been hoarding too many beads for too long!  It's time to send some of them out into the wild world.



More monkees will go into my Etsy shop in the next few days along with some destash beads.  It's funny, I never considered myself a hoarder until I started making glass beads!

Developing your Web Presence #1 - Being Everywhere and in One Place all at the same time!

This is my first post in what I hope will become a series, designed to offer ideas on how to have a good online presence for yourself or your small business.

Do you have business cards?  Advertise in different places?  In that case you've probably realised that what you need is one web address to direct potential clients to.

How do you acheive this when you've got what seems like a gazillion different places on the web that belong to you?  For example, I have - my blog, which is also my website (where you are now), my Etsy shop, my Beader's Showcase, my Flickr account, my Ottawa Glass Bead Artists' group, Facebook and probably a few others!  I'm all over the place - which for once is a good thing!



How are people supposed to find you in so many places, or how are people supposed to find you in one of those places in particular i.e. Etsy?

You need to have one address on the web that you can use on your business cards, at the bottom of emails, and in forums etc.

This single address can be any number of things providing it allows you to have links to all the other addresses.  It might be your blog, or maybe a website, or perhaps just a single page that acts as the sum of your presence on the web.

[caption id="attachment_627" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="With one central page clients can find all your other items"][/caption]

When you are planning something like this, it's important to think ahead, and also to understand your skills and limitations.  This way you can set something up once that will serve you well into the future.

Which one are you -

1. Little or no knowlege of how to build/upload/maintain websites - (you've probably got much better things to do with your time!)


2. Know some .html, can make basic changes, understand how to resize pictures and how to upload or ftp files and images to a site.


3. Have a greater understanding of .html, can create websites, graphics, can ftp, understand c-panel and how to install programs etc. with your hosting company.


4. Are a whiz, completely up-to-date on everything new as it comes out, code your own sites in 20 different languages and probably make good money doing it!

I think I'm a number 3, I know for sure I'm not a number 4!!  If you are a number 3 or 4 you don't need to read any further because you've probably done all this already.

If you are a number 1 or 2 you've got options!

Things to Consider

You can use your blog or website to link to all the other things, I'm sure many of you already do this.  If you haven't got a website or don't want one you can have a simple one page presence that links to all your other places.

A blog is a good tool as it helps you to get noticed in search engines and can be a central place for viewers to find you.  You can add images / videos / slideshows to you blog so it's also a good place to showcase your art, work, product - whatever it is you want to tell people about.

A quick word on the www's

As far as I'm aware if you have a blog that is hosted online - Wordpress, Blogger etc. you are stuck with their url -- i.e. fireseed.wordpress.com I've found out that you can have your own domain name with Blogger see here and also WordPress see here.  If you have a different blog - check and see if they offer this feature!  If you have your own server space with a hosting company you can install a blog and then the url will be what you choose to register.  That's how my site runs.  It's a Wordpress blog, but my url is simply www.fireseed.ca

I'm not a guru -- yes, I know, you already knew that ;o)  so feel free to comment, tell me if you know something different to what I've posted here, or if you have an idea to share.

That's it for now, next time I'll write a bit about having your own domain name and what you need in order to do that.

CLICK HERE FOR #2 - The WWW's and YOU

Things are happening

I'm feeling excited, it seems like a lot of positive things are happening at the minute.  My thoughts are exploding in my brain!!  Oh wait, that doesn't sound positive does it?  Well it is, or it will be once they all get lined up and settled down.

So what is all the excitement about?

1. I just heard that my submission for the Women in Glass edition of The Flow magazine has been accepted!


2. The deadline for Artistry In Glass' next competition is almost upon us! I sent some pictures off for that this morning.


3. I am in a treasury on Etsy! Thank you PrettyCheap!
   
   [caption id="attachment_576" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="Etsy Treasury"][/caption]


4. I'm so happy to have found Meghann as we've got lots of ideas for future projects including fundraising for local animal charities.  Our first joint endeavor will be a donation to the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary who are going to be having an auction.  We are thinking about creating a two piece set - a bracelet and brooch, so I need to get the torch fired up for this!


5. The First Annual Ottawa Glass Bead Artist's Show in November is something I am so proud to be a part of.  If you click the link you will be amazed at the talented bead makers who are going to be taking part in this event!  If you can make it to Ottawa on November 15th - don't miss this event!


6. My online Wet Canvas friends have set up a Google group to explore ways in which we can promote our work and I'm finding it very helpful.  Online selling is a very competitive thing, but there are lots of tricks and tools to help you get your name and your beads - or other product out there for people to see.  One of our members Maxine just made a $100 sale on Etsy!  Congratulations Maxine!

BOO!!! On Etsy

I've just listed these two spooky friends on Etsy I had a lot of fun sculpting the glass for these two ghosts.

Etsy Teams?

Since joining Etsy last year I've been finding my away around slowly, every now and then I hear a new word like 'treasuries' and 'street teams'.

It's like learning a new language, but I'm happy to say I've finally plucked up courage to join two Etsy Teams.

What is an Etsy Team you might ask, well here's my definition -

An Etsy Team is a group of like minded people who work towards promoting the values of their Team.  This is an excellent way to raise the profile of your Etsy Shop, meet Etsians with similar interests and network in general.  Depending on the team there may be requirements to join, you may have to pay advertising costs or participate in different ways to promote the team.  Here's a link to the Etsy list of teams .

Here are the two teams I have joined -



Capital Crafters is a group of Etsy sellers who live in the Ottawa area of Ontario.  It's nice, because it's a friendly little group with quite diverse talents, to see what items are available from this group all you need do is search with the words ottawa team within Etsy.

My other choice is EFA (Etsy for Animals) - Artists Helping Animals.

[caption id="attachment_539" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Artists Helping Animals"][/caption]

I'll write a separate post for EFA as this is a large team with a lot of things happening!  I can say, I'm really excited about joining this team!

An Etsy Treasury

I'm not exactly a wiz when it comes to Etsy, but I do know that being in a Treasury is a good thing.  What a nice surprise to check my mail this morning and find that I've been included in one!  If you click the image you'll get to the treasury while it's active.



Thank you Tenneka!

In case you are wondering what 'M' for Monkee is doing in a 'C' treasury, Tenneka contacted me to say she hoped it was ok if she called my monkee a 'Chimp'.  If he's going in a treasury I don't mind what he's called!

The D.T's

It stands for deprived torchtime -- it's been over a week since I made a bead and I'm starting to get withdrawal. In desperation today I bought some small propane tanks hoping I can use them over the weekend. I figure they'll be warm when I take them into the sunporch, so maybe I'll get half an hour out of one before it craps out on me if I'm lucky.

I'm so relieved, my first Etsy sale to Maggie of Bead Towne has arrived, we were both convinced it had got lost in the mail somewhere! I've sold a few beads lately, Paula from WC bought a Goddess and so did Nathaly, Nath chose one that she's going to wear at her wedding on Dec 22nd. Many congratulations on your wedding Nath - I'm thrilled you'll be wearing my bead! I've also sold some to a work-mate, so all in all I'm not doing badly!