Some new little monkees

I've just added a few items to my Artfire shop - a Space Monkee and two Cold Monkees.
I have tried etching these beads for an experiment and I have to say I do like the way it makes them look. I could almost pinch their little pink monkee cheeks!

[caption id="attachment_1179" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Glass Space Monkee Bead"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1178" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="One little Cold Monkee!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1177" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="This little Cold Monkee has a fur trimmed hood!"][/caption]

Art Fire shop is brimming with cake testers!

I didn't get them all added on Saturday, so this morning I have cleaned and photographed all my latest cake testers and uploaded some of them to my Art Fire shop .  I'm about to send out my first newsletter and wanted to make sure I was well stocked before I did.

Here's the wackiest one so far.  I'd like to try and refine this design a bit, but I thought someone with a wild sense of humour might enjoy it.



Along with this crazy cake, you'll find space monkees, chef monkees, Bill the Baker and little Nobby amongst others.

Who's Nobby? Ahhh well, there's a story....
Little Nobby never did understand why his mother made him keep his hat on all day at school...

Two items in my Artfire shop!

Yesterday I worked at getting my Artfire shop up and running. At the moment I have just two items there, but am planning on adding more today. I have to say, I do like the fact that when you add a listing all the information is on one page. Listing on Etsy involves several pages of info and often I'll have to skip back and forth between them as I remember something I'd like to add. Seeing everything on one page made the process much more streamlined.

Here's who's up there!
Baker Bill - Cake Tester Extraordinaire - (sounds better than Chef on a stick right?!)

Isn't he a happy looking fellah!

And a Monkee on a stick the Primary Primate Tester!



Up next I have a Kitchen Cat who always loves to make things from 'Scratch' - this one will be going on Artfire today (that's the plan at least!)



I was happy with the way this cat turned out.  My first one had no ears, because I figured they were inside the hat.  Well, it looked a little odd, a cat with no ears, so I like this design MUCH better.  She promises she will NOT lick the cake batter!

As Artfire are still in beta at the moment this is the link for my shop front

Art Fire - sign up and plant a tree!

I'm always on the lookout for new opportunities to market and sell my beads online.  I'm hearing a lot about two new sites for selling -

1000 Markets - who I believe deal with finished pieces only at the minute and that is not my strong point, so I am checking out Art Fire.

They are brand new and still in the beta stage at the minute, but look and sound very promising.  I have to say I was attracted by the name!  And reading their beta blog it transpires they have 'code monkeys' - I just hope they are well fed and cared for!



For starters, they have $7 US/month memberships at the moment, this is definitely something to consider if you are used to paying per item fees on Etsy and have a lot of things in your shop.

One of the things I've learned from Etsy is that in order to become successful you should post new items often, daily if possible. Artfire's $7/month is less than one daily listing a month on Etsy.

Unlike some online stores Artfire will not take a percentage of any sales you make, so once you've paid your monthly membership there are NO MORE FEES - except of course the Paypal thing!

There's also a free option with Artfire, that allows you to have a shop and list up to ten items in it. A pretty sweet deal for someone starting out, or who doesn't sell a lot of items. The benefits of joining for the paid version are unlimited items, more photos per item and access to areas of the site that aren't available for freebie accounts - including templates for your shop if you aren't into doing your own.

From what I have read much is still to come including Guilds, Contests and the opportunity to Mentor other members. It's going to be exciting to watch it grow.

A nice aside is that Artfire are working with Trees for the Future and for every new account they will donate one tree to be planted in an area of the world that is in ecological crisis.

I'm still exploring and have barely scraped the surface, so I'll write more when I know more!
Register on ArtFire.com