Freezer Meals - Great Easy Way to Feed a Large Family

I have to admit. I've been large scale cooking and freezing meals all my adult life. There are days I just don't feel like cooking. Now that I'm living alone, I still like to buy a big pack of meat or veggies on sale and make a huge crockpot of whatever.

This week I made a massive serving of Ratatouille. Well, there actually wasn't much of that left over, but enough for a lunch. I love Ratatouille.

I really would love a small chest freezer, but I think I just ran out of room in the laundry. I guess If I got one small enough, I could have it in the kitchen and just have more "counter" space. Now I have to look for a tiny chest freezer. See what you made me do?

I was browsing on pinterest and saw this blog by an amazing woman who has it down to a fine art. She spends one day every 2 months making all her meals ahead of time. They just need to be cooked and they are ready to go. I admire her commitment and the free time she must have to spend with her family on a daily basis.

You can click on the picture to go directly to the blog, or this link A Turtle's Life For Me - Freezer Meals on the Cheap

Business Tips - Packaging and Tagging

I know, I'm sorry. I just don't give you enough tips for you business anymore. After all, who wants to hear about the crazy lady next door ripping open her garbage and throwing it all over the yard, or see pictures of the tree that fell on our house. You want to see better ways to sell your wares, right?

I had to share this one, because I'm very proud of the idea. I've been wanting to wholesale, because I really hate craft shows, but online just doesn't get the traffic I need. If only I could sell what I make at the winter holidays, all year round. But to be able to wholesale, you have to still have a profit with a hefty discount, and I didn't have many items that could support that.

Recently I started making bow ties. They're very popular and material cost is decent. Time needs to be worked on, but I see ways that making larger quantities can cut that down. My bow ties are easy to use and can be sold at a pretty decent price for bow ties.

The problem with wholesale is packaging. You can't just tissue wrap and tie with ribbon. Smaller items need to be carded or window boxed. I ordered clear pillow boxes, but those still need cards and the cost is bout $.25 each.

Then I thought that Post cards might do the trick. They're about the right size I could match them to my business cards, and have info and care instructions on the back.

Here's the front and back of the card. The bow will be on the front and the ribbon band will wrap across the middle of the back. I can reasonably make custom cards for the seller too. And I can whole punch the center for hanging.

There was a sale. So the cards cost about $.10 each and they are nicer than if I printed my own, which with ink, could cost more. Click to enlarge. I got them at overnightprints.com. Their quality is pretty good and I like their postcard size better than Vistaprint.

My daughter uses business card to print little tags, by having 3 tags printed across the vertical card. She cuts them in strips and uses a swift tagger to tag them on a seam of her clothing. Merchandise can't be returned to her if the tag has been removed. Another clever idea.

When you buy business cards on sale from vistaprint.com, they are incredibly reasonable. Much better than printing your own tags.

I'm also considering making fabric labels at spoonflower.com. Their quality is much better than my printer printed labels, and at $15 a yard, I can get a LOT of fabric tags made. I think I can use a spray fabric stay to keep them from fraying too.

Hope this gets your creative juices flowing. There's a lot of innovative ways you can use the resources available to you. Why you could make cute tags for your jewelry boxes from those little business card strips, couldn't you? Oh and of course you can make business cards or post cards too.

Tips on Life - Do What I Say, Not What I Do

I have a favorite dish sponge. It's like the one pictured. I get mine at Aldi. I love to shop there, the prices for EVERYTHING are great. Here's the thing. I just bought a new pack of 3, even though I've needed a new one for over a month. They kind of disintegrate after a while. The thing is, I'm so disorganized, I never remember to add it to the list, or buy one when I pass them at the store.

I'm really not organized like some people I know. Yes, you know who you are. My mom was obsessively organized. Maybe that turned me off to the whole thing. I am a bit more organized than some people. I make spreadsheets for everything (except shopping lists). I'm sure it's all byproduct of my ADD. You know, the lack of organization, and over compensation.

Anyhow, If YOU know a way I can remember to buy supplies (I've finally figured out that I have to buy dog/cat food once a week, regardless. BEFORE they run out). Give me some tips. Although you would have to know how my scrambled mind works first.

I am very happy to have the new sponge, not the shredded tiny piece of sponge I was cleaning with.

Sharing Time - DIY Painted Shoe Rug

Thanks so much Maiden Jane for sharing your tutorial

DIY - Painted Shoe Rug

Does your mud room or entrance way look like this?  Do your kids use the "kick and flick" method of taking off their shoes?

Do you want it to look neat and orderly like this?

Then paint up this fun, whimsical shoe rug!

This rug can be customized to the shoe sizes that your kids wear.  It can be a gentle reminder to your guests to remove their shoes or boots.  It can be placed in front of the door to remind your guests to step on the rug and not your clean tile floor!



However you wish to use the rug, you will need less than an hour to make it.



Supplies

• Rug.  I selected a rug that is washable.  I would recommend a rug that does not have a high nap.  This rug has a boucle yarn, but is fairly dense.  I think a jute rug would work well.
• Fabric paint.  I used Tulip Soft fabric paint.
• Various size paint brushes
• Washable marker
• Shoes

1.   Layout shoes on the rug and trace using a washable marker.

2. Using a thin paint brush, paint along the outline of the shoes.

3. Fill in the space using a wider paint brush.

4. Allow paint to dry according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Enjoy!

Thanks, akaCinders for letting me share on your blog!  Come join the fun:



on Twitter

on Facebook

on Etsy

on my blog.



Don't feel like painting a rug?  I'll paint one for you - here!

Photo Tips on a Budget Revisited

Here are links to some great photo tips. elgarbo Etsy Forum Etsy Seller Merriweather Council

Artfire has a Photography guide But I think you can find better tips.

I have a few tips to add.

Your photography should be front page worthy. There should be enough contrast between setting and product to distinguish between them. Not necessarily a white or black backdrop. It can be something with character, a vintage table top, an old love letter, a slab of stone or wood. See Examples of Good Photography. Most sites display a square format, but Etsy for example uses a rectangle for Treasuries. Set up your picture so that the focus is within a center square. You can also do this with editing later. I will explain further in my next post. 

Star of the East                                         Shiny Adornments                                            Beau Monde

My first tip is don't do it yourself. What? Yes really! If you are not a pro, you can often get a student or fledgling photographer to take pictures for the exposure. Try local schools or listing on craigslist. You can find photographers and models (clothing, jewelry) at modelmayhem. Many will work for free or for product.

Second tip, if you must do it yourself - LIGHTING! Indirect, natural light is best. Don't use your camera's flash, It will create an artificial, 2 dimensional look and wash out your product. Best light is outside on a cloudy day or by a window. White Transparent film on the window helps to filter strong light. Another option is Halogen shop lights. I have seen some wonderful pictures taken with them. You will need two to distribute the light source. They can be pretty inexpensive. Make sure you keep an eye on them while working as they can get pretty hot.

You can also make a light box for jewelry and smaller items, like this one at wikiHow

Now that you have your layout and your light. What do you do with your camera? You can get decent pictures with just about any digital camera as long as the light and setup is good. MY digital camera was bought on eBay for $120, was $400 new. It is wonderful for the price.

Take time to play a little with the photography to get the right settings for your camera. You get better pictures if you can use your manual settings but, you can easily get good pictures with automatic settings too. Make sure your camera is set for the proper distance. A good trick for getting a bit of depth of field out of a less expensive camera is to focus on your merchandise, (this will usually be in the center of your item), move your camera so the focus is on the closest part of the item, then shoot. Take a lot of pictures, you will never be wasting time if your merchandise sells.

Get a good picture and then on to photo editing. If your pictures are not perfect this is where they can be touched up. Tips on next weeks post!

Craftcult Widgets

Did you know you can get Etsy widgets at craftcult? Well you can. You can get shop widgets just like the ones I have on my sidebar, or you can get Treasury widgets like the one I have here. They are really easy to get and pretty easy to install on your blog. Here are some instructions on installation. http://www.craftcultwidget.blogspot.com/ Have fun and spread the Treasury Love.

TREASURY TRICKERY

Now that the Treasury is all East, How do we do a speedy click and how do we get our clicks to count. How frustrating!!!!!

Well there is an issue with clicks and comments (see thread) http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6535713 that Etsy is still trying to iron out.

I'm going to give you a few tips on speedy Treasury Tricks viewing, clicking, and working with. There are Keys on your browser that can help make working your shops and treasuries a breeze.

I'm going to start with Google Chrome, because that's what I use. Most browsers have the same applications, some might have different key shortcuts.

Clicking on a link while holding the shift key will open it in a separate window. Try it!

When I receive a notification that I am in a Treasury I press the shift key as I click on the link. When I click, I open the Treasury in it's own window (not tab) try it! If I open a link from twitter and it is a tab, I can grab the tab and yank it off the window into it's own separate window.

Clicking on an image or link while holding the control button will open it in a new Tab. Try it!

Now for clicking. If I hit the control button (cntrl) while clicking, I can click through all 16 items quickly, They each open a tab in that treasury window. I can choose to look at the items, or I can close that window and I have clicked on each of the items.

I do this to send messages to each person in MY Treasuries also. With every item open in a tab, I copy my message and quickly paste and send to each person by convo. Speedy! Done!

I love Firefox, but it heats up my laptop too much. Shift and Control work the same way. Try it!

Internet Explorer works the same way with Shift and Control, but Much Much slower. Personally, I don't know why anyone would use IE. Get out of your old habits and try something new.

Play with your browser. There is a lot they can do to speed up your life on Etsy.

Next week an interview and Tips from SEOWebDesign

An interview with POPPY

This is the first of many interviews. I chose Poppy, because she has been selling on Etsy for over 4 years and was easy to find. She lives in the same house. At this point she is the more successful of us, as I am living in her house. Find out how she got so successful in this interview.

Tell us a little about your stores.

poppyswickedgarden is my main clothing shop. It was my first shop and is packed with beautiful fun clothing and accessories. I also have a more fun character and tutu shop Xpoppyswickedgardenx.etsy.com and of course we (my mom and I) share Poppysgardengate.etsy.com for home goodies and poppysprouts.etsy.com for the kiddos!

I started on Etsy over 4 years ago when I needed a place for my more unique clothing items that didn't fit into my Auction based shop. I heard about it from another designer friend and I was greeted by another clothing designer of about 10 that were on Etsy when I started

How has Etsy changed since you started?

Etsy has drastically changed in many ways since I started. I actually started before the changeover to Etsy beta. In general I think that aesthetically it has grown greatly, in most part due to the individual artists trying to better themselves.

Over the years I have had to adjust my clothing line from one of a kind to custom orders for most of my creations. It has become more desirable to have a custom made item since the economy has changed. I also have to do a lot more networking on Twitter and facebook where I used to use myspace.

How many hours a week do you put into your business? - manufacturing? - listing? - marketing?

I seem to always be working I would say that I sew about 20-25 hours a week 6-10 hours listing 10-20 hours of marketing 8 hours packaging and shipping of course my workload usually doubles between September through January.

Any great tips for newbies?

You can always improve your shop, take a really good look at your shop and compare them to shops that are doing very well. Ask yourself... Do your gallery photos look as nice as theirs? Are your descriptions clear and precise? Are you tagging your items with the right tags? Are you promoting as much as they do?

Also always remember that you need to keep making to get people interested, You may have an amazing creation but if you have 5 items in your shop they will likely be missed amongst the sea of other creations out there. I usually list or relist 3-5 items a day in each of my shops.

If I knew then what I know now I would.....

Take better pictures, otherwise I wouldn't change a thing. It has been a wonderful journey to get where I am and I feel very lucky to be doing what I love!

Next week I will be interviewing the ever Snarky VintageEye

How to Snag an Etsy Treasury

Etsy Treasury is a prize worth it's weight in Gold. You can get attention with it, you can make friends with it, you can even make the front page of Etsy with it. But getting a Treasury can be elusive to some.

When I am prepared, I always get the Treasury I aim for, and I'll share my secret with you now.

First trick is to be prepared. I usually get my 16 selections ready by picking them in my favorites. That way it is easy to retrieve when I get a treasury.

You need to have alternate selections to make it to the Front Page.

Next, calculate as close as possible when the next open treasury will be available. There are a few good ways to do this.

Craftopolis.com has a Treasury Clock will give you a pretty good estimate of when the Treasury will open.

Or you can calculate the time. Take the number of treasuries listed and subtract 333 (222 for Treasury West) . Click on Expiration with the arrow up. Now take the number you came up with. For example 435 - 333 = 102 and count back. Each page has 20. Skip the first 5 pages of Treasuries, on the 6th page the 3rd treasury from the top will tell you how much time there is left.

Not exact as some people will end their Treasury early. Go early and wait for about 10 minutes to be sure. Ten minutes seems long, but little time for the reward.

Final tip. You have your selections, you know when, Now you need a title. Make it brief, like twitter you have a limited amount of characters. Type your title and copy it. You are going to paste it on the title box. Now go to the Treasury page, sit and wait at the bottom of the page. As soon as the box opens, paste in your pre-written title and hit create.

You can then go to your pre-selected item in favorites (open another browser page to make it easier).

When you are finished it is always nice to contact people in your Treasury. Copy the link at the bottom of the Treasury page. Click on an image and it will take you to the seller site. Click contact and you can send them the link to your treasury.

P.S. You need a decent computer and server to get a Treasury. Windows 98 with dial up? You might get a Treasury West in the middle of the night. LOL

Next Tip: How to save money on Fees

Phote Editing on a Budget

Getting good photos first is always best, but, if your images are a little less than perfect, there are several things you can do to improve them. Photo editing is a wonderful way to improve your images, even if they are not quite perfect.

Of course Photoshop is the best program to use, but it can be very expensive. Here is a link listing several free image editing programs and the pros and cons. www.readwriteweb.com/archives/free_alternatives_to_photoshop_with_all_the_bells.php I always get my free software from downloads.com I find their rating system to be helpful and they are pretty safe. Although nothing is free, just make sure you have a good spyware and adware removal program running on your PC.

Now that you have a photo editing program, play with it. Your less than perfect photo CAN be improved on. I always take my photos with a fairly high resolution. This will make a crisper picture. You can always reduce your resolution later.

Here is an example of an edited image:



The first picture is too light, not enough contrast and definition, and the composition could be more interesting.

First: adjust levels. Play with these settings until you get a look you like. This can add definition and contrast.

Second adjust brightness and contrast. In this case I would make darker and raise contrast.

Your photo editing program may not have a levels setting but they all have brightness and contrast.

Third step is color balance. Have your item in front of you and adjust the color on your screen to match what is in your hand. This will not be perfect, as all monitors do not have the same color settings. You may get complaints about your color, but it is impossible to have your color match every screen in the world. The best you can do is match yours and add a disclaimer on your site.

Once your photo is perfect, crop your image. Try a few different compositions, until you get the one that looks the most interesting and show off your art. Remember, your first image is a teaser to make a buyer want to see more. Your remaining pictures should show your complete item with as much clear detail as possible.

Finally reduce your resolution to your sites specifications.

Now look at your pictures. Would you buy from this shop? Would you add these pictures to a treasury? If yes, you have done a great job. Congrats!!!

Photo Tips on a Budget

Etsy Storque has some wonderful tips on photography, (see http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/shop-makeover-series-are-your-photos-frontpage-worthy-3178 and http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/shop-makeover-series-feature-friendly-photos-3222 and http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/give-props-how-to-style-your-photos-1079)

I have a few tips to add.

Your photography should be front page worthy. There should be enough contrast between setting and product to distinguish between them. Not necessarily a white or black backdrop. It can be something with character, a vintage table top, an old love letter, a slab of stone or wood. See Examples of Good Photography

First tip is don't do it yourself. What? Yes really! If you are not a pro, you can often get a student or fledgling photographer to take pictures for the exposure. Try local schools or listing on craigslist. You can find photographers and models (clothing, jewelry) at modelmayhem

Second tip, if you must do it yourself - LIGHTING! Indirect, natural light is best. You can use your camera's flash, but it can wash out. Best light is outside on a cloudy day. You can shoot by a window, but sometimes it's hard to setup by a window. Next best option, Halogen shop lights. I have seen some wonderful pictures taken with them. You will need two to distribute the light source. They can be pretty inexpensive. Make sure you keep an eye on them while working as they can get pretty hot.

Now that you have your layout and your light. What do you do with your camera? You can get decent pictures with just about any digital camera as long as the light and setup is good. MY digital camera was bought on eBay for $120, was $400 new. It is a wonderful for the price.

Take time to play a little with the photography to get the right settings for your camera. You can easily get good pictures with automatic settings. Make sure your camera is set for the proper distance. A good trick for getting a bit of depth of field out of a less expensive camera is to focus on your merchandise, (this will usually be in the center of your item), move your camera so the focus is on the closest part of the item, then shoot.

Get a good picture and then on to photo editing. Tips on next blog!