In a Treasury: Thank you Brenda

Thank you Brenda from Bstudio for featuring me in your Treasury Shades of Pink   

Origami Crane Tri-fold Greeting Card - Garden Flower Pattern

The Return of West Coast Origami

Back in November 2011, I had to put my Etsy and Cargoh store on hiatus for a year.  It was a tough year as not only the store was put on hold, but also our lives as we were building our new work space. 

Now I’m easing back into handmade cards and loving every minute of it.  My favourite ones are back, my origami flower and Kimono cards.  I will be slowly building up more inventory in the next few days and will post updates on my Facebook Fanpage or Twitter

Origami Rabbits and Bunnies: My Treasury Was Featured

I was poking around the net and discovered someone featured a treasury I built for Easter this year by Frills and Bil’s Blog

Thank You!

DIY Crane and Heart Cards with Doily Envelopes

Don’t you love to find out something you did inspired someone else’s creativity?

For some reason, I randomly “Googled” West Coast Origami to see where I ranked and saw this link on the very first page:

DIY Crane and Heart Cards with Doily Envelopes

Gave me such a warm feeling   Olga also talked about making the doily envelopes, which is very brave.  I don’t work with paper doilies due to the reason the lacing is difficult to work with, especially with adhesive. 

Beautiful isn’t yet?  It’s worth the effort if you have the patience.

Have you inspired anyone lately?

Latest Projects: Origami Mini Cards

I have excess of tiny origami paper and didn’t know what to do with them.  I saw my stamps, had excess cardstock and it came to me.  Mini cards!  I always need tags for something and who doesn’t like a handmade card versus a store bought one? 

The peace crane birthday were the first ones I started making:

The tulip thank you card I started making last year. I’m thinking of discontinuing them.  I love them but they are time consuming for the prices I have to charge.  I’ll just start making them for myself to give away after they sell my last ones on Cargoh and Etsy.

I made these origami heart cards last year and mentioned in this post way back in October.  I never got around listing these.  I ended up using them!  I been meaning to restock these but new project ideas got in the way.  

These are my latest mini card.  I found inspirational stamps in a dollar store and had to figure out a way to use them.  These are so popular, I’ve listed them only a couple of weeks ago on Etsy and they already received over a dozen hearts and listed is several treasuries.

Making these cards were so much fun! I’m trying to figure out how to make more!

What projects have you been working on lately?

Latest Projects: Thanks and Luv U Clothespin Tags

 

I’m addicted to cute clothespins.  I have more then I’ll ever need so I needed to make room for new cute clothespin. 

The flower and heart clothespins themselves were originally in my Artfire Shop as supplies.  I’d list them on Etsy when it made sense to closer to Easter and Valentines. Though lots of views, they weren’t selling outside the holidays.  I knew it was due to the photography.  Since I wanted to retake the photos anyways,  and needed to take a small break from origami, I crafted these tags.

These “luv u!” tags were added in an Etsy Treasury curated by AngelaDesign the day i listed. 

Love it!  I hope you like them too!

Feature Etsy Shop: Benagami

I saw this listing not too long ago and I cannot get over how beautiful this chess set is.  Benjamin Coleman, the artist of this beautiful piece of work is amazing.

Origami Bonsai Chess Set IV

Folding an origami chess set is advanced however, took it a step further with miniture bonsai flowers.  A level of skill and technique that very few can master.  I will definitely attempt to make one of my own one day, with a few more years of practice honing my own skills!

West Coast Origami in Etsy’s Treasuries!

The last couple of weeks I’ve been busy crafting and listing on Etsy.  It was a great week because three of the crane cards I’ve folded were curated in three different treasuries. 

An Etsy treasury are curated by Etsy members.  Etsy’s Administration will often take an exceptional treasuring list and post it on the front page, the landing page when you first log on.

These three are the ones that made it.  It’s really an honour because anyone who curates a treasury is doing it because they want to make one. 

Having three items picked by three different members in a week has been such a motivator to focus.  Thank you!

West Coast Origami’s Etsy Store is Back!

Coming back with a vengeance!  I’ve reintroduced a few of my most popular cards.  Please come to my Etsy Shop.  I’ll be adding new products in the coming weeks so please check it out often

 

View Full Album

Feature Etsy Shop: Origami Kou

We watched the movie Megamind over the weekend.  It started off so cheesy it was hilarious!  I recommend watching this with your family.  Like all family movies, there’s the basic moral to the story type messages.

When I searched for Etsy stores to see if there were Megamind themed products, it was a wonderful surprise that an origami artist actually designed a mask based on the main character!  I’ve heard of Jaime Kou the last few months.  His work is based on the preliminary foundations of masks designed by the late Eric Joisel.  I know many of you will wonder about the price point but remember this, it takes many hours to design and then produce this type of origami.  The paper he said he used is elephant hide paper (not made from elephants, it’s a description of the thickness of the paper) and it’s preserved in layers of Carboxymethylcellulose

I hope you enjoy his work of art, and if you do buy it please let me know, I’d love your opinion of it when you see it in person!

Megamind Mask, designed and folded by Jaime Kou

It’s All About Origami Love!

I was folding origami hearts with my daughter and saw my “LOVE” stamp.  I got inspired!   They are pretty simple but they conveys a huge message to the love of your life. 

I have been procrastinating on both my online store fronts lately, but they’ll be up and ready soon!

Toy Story: Feature Shops

 

Finally took the time to watch Toy Story 3 this past weekend!  My favourite characters has always been the three aliens.  I remember the first movie when it first ran in 1995 and how it spurred the comeback of Mr. Potato Head.  I thought I’ll try to find Toy Story themed products that were not based on paper goods.  These two items were so cute! 

Buzz Lightyear Logo Keychain by boxhounds

Alien Clippie by PixiePretties

A How To: Increase your online shop's exposure through giveaways by soupdeli

It’s been a while since I browsed through the Etsy forums but I’m glad I did.  I have been thinking of doing a give-away on my blogs but never done one before.  I’ll definitely be following this seller’s tips when the right time comes!

This is a long read, but it’s worthwhile if you are considering hosting a give-a-way.

A How To: Increase your online shop's exposure through giveaways by soapdeli

Giveaways are fun. They create excitement and can be a great tool for getting consumers to visit your online shop. The more traffic you can bring to your shop, the higher your chances of making a sale. And while all giveaways don't mean sales, what they do equate to is great exposure, name recognition, and possible sales down the line. Running a successful giveaway, however, can be trying and I know a lot of indie business owners who have been disappointed by how little traffic their giveaway has yielded. Because of this I've decided to share my tips on how to run an effective giveaway for promoting your shop.

Decide on a prize.

First and foremost you need to decide what type of item you'd like to offer as a prize. While it's tempting to offer that bracelet that never sold and sat in your shop until it expired, this is not the type of item you want to give away. Look over your shop or inventory and pick a product that has gotten a lot of positive attention. Even pick an item that you have sold and re-create something similar. Why? Because you want people to want to take the time to enter your giveaway and most will only do this if you're offering a product they like and can use. Think about who your target market is and what they would want. Also, be sure to keep in mind the retail value of your prize. People like big prizes - things they wouldn't necessarily be able to afford or justify buying without knowing the business or the product. Further, the broader the appeal of your prize, the more entries you're likely to receive as well. Remember that if you can't get consumers to enter your contest, then you're missing out on potential new traffic sources for your shop. Then decide on a prize.

Host your contest.

Now that you've decided what you're going to give away, you'll need to decide how to host your contest. If you have a blog or website, that's the best place to start. Not only will you increase traffic to your blog and potentially gain new followers, but you can set the terms you want for entering your contest as well. Don't discount having other sites host your contest for you though. Other blogs and sites often have different audiences which ensures you are reaching new people and not the same ones over and over again. If you don't have a blog, now would be a good time to start one with the giveaway giving you a big introductory push. There are free blogs that cost little to nothing such as Google's free blogging platform, Blogger. I highly recommend using Blogger for a first time blog as it's easy to work with and will automatically be indexed by Google.

Setting up your giveaway.

Setting up a giveaway really isn't difficult. Writing the copy is the easy part .After all, you already know everything there is to know about your product. However, what you do need to think about is what you want to gain from the giveaway. Do you want to increase traffic, gain sales, expand your social network? All of these are important things to consider. Personally I'd never pass up the opportunity to expand my social network through sites like twitter and facebook. Friends share things that interest them with their friends and so on, which can lead to a lot of indirect marketing the larger your network grows.

Here is how I set up my contests.

1. Start with a paragraph about the contest. What can visitors enter to win? Include a brief description.
2. Include a photograph of the prize.
3. Expand on the prize being offered and/or include information about what you sell in your shop. This is your chance to not only show off some of your best work through the contest, but to push your shop and the other items in it. If you hope to gain sales from this contest, include a discount code here or a special free shipping offer if a purchase is made. Be sure you include a link to your shop.
4. Include a spotlight of some of your other products if you like. Use a free program like gimp.org to create a photo collage of some of your other work to encourage greater interest in your shop.
5. Tell your visitors how they can enter your contest and set up your rules. When will the contest end? Who are you willing to ship to? How old do you have to be to enter? How many times can a contestant enter? Be sure to address how contestant information will be used as well. I always want visitors to have to browse the items available in my shop, so here's an example of what I might put here:

Want to win? Now through Sunday, May , 2010 11:59pm EST you can enter to win a free CONTEST PRIZE! To enter this contest simply visit YOUR SHOP NAME (WITH LINK) and pick out your favorite item. Then leave a comment with your favorite item to enter. This contest is open to residents of US and Canada ages 18 and up. Limit one entry per household/person/email. Please remember to leave a way for me to contact you if you win. Your contact information will only be used for acquiring your address information should you win this contest.

To increase exposure for your contest and to add to your social network, you can also add additional ways to enter. For example: You may complete each of the following tasks for one additional entry for each task completed. Please comment in a separate post for each task.

1. Tweet this contest. Comment with your tweet.
2. Become a fan of YOUR SHOP NAME on Facebook. Leave a comment. (Don't forget to include a link.)
3. Blog about this contest. Comment with a link to the blog post.
4. Sign up for my newsletter.
5. Follow this blog.

Marketing your contest.

Marketing is a never ending necessity. It's great for exposure and can be more effective than advertising in the long run if done properly. While advertising and marketing together make for the best outcome, I understand that not everyone can afford to run ad campaigns. Therefore, to market your shop, you must market your contest. Here's how.

1. Utilize your social networks. Use platforms like twitter and plurk to announce the contest to your followers with a direct link to enter. Share your contest with others on facebook. Post about your contest on other social network platforms and social communities you may be a part of. This may include forums like Crafster and blogs on sites like Ning networks.
2. Submit your contest to popular sweepstakes sites. You can google for these and pick and choose where you'd like to submit your contest. Ones I recommend are Online-Sweepstakes.com and CashNetSweeps.com I also like Etsygiveaways.blogspot.com as they directly target handmade interested consumers and will post your contest, regardless of venue, as long as the prize is not commercially produced.
3. Draw your winner. Once the contest has ended you'll need to draw a winner. A great way to do this is to use a random generator. You can find one at Random.org. You'll then need to email your winner for his or her shipping information. Be sure to ship out the winner's prize within a reasonable amount of time. If it takes you a month to ship the prize, this could reflect poorly on your business practices.

I hope this article helps everyone who has wanted to run a contest but hasn't been sure how. After all, contests are a wonderful marketing technique and are often less expensive than advertising.

Sherlock Holmes: Feature Etsy Shops

We recently watched Sherlock Holmes.  I read all of Sir Arthur Doyle Sherlock Holmes series and many movies in my teen years. 

What I loved about this movie is that the director, Guy Ritchie portrayed Watson more accurately to the stories.  Not a heavy set sidekick, no.  Guy Ritchie’s Watson kicks some evil butt in this movie.  I really enjoyed this movie.

So to continue my theme of Etsy searches based on movies, here’s my favourite finds!  I love the doll pattern.  Who says Sherlock has to be male!

 SHERLOCK HOLMES Girly Doll PDF Email CROCHET PATTERN by HandMadeAwards

Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ... mini wooden library book by elloh

SHERLOCK HOLMES Pendant - When you have eliminated the impossible by pretentiousjewelry

Mr. Potato Head – Feature Etsy Shops

We just returned from Disneyland and just wrote about my Mr. Potato Head Story.  I had to see if there were creative souls out there who loved the toy as much as my family did!

Feature Etsy Shops!

POTATO HEADS Lampwork Style Charm Bracelet Mustache by FyrestormCreations

 Cake Toppers. Needle Felted Personalized Custom Made by HeatherBays (Canadian Seller)

 Mr. Potatoe Head Ornies by BlueEyedPicapye

We’re Going to Disneyland!

We’ll be going on vacation to California and we plan to visit Disneyland!   I don’t plan to blog for a next couple of weeks.  However, I’m testing a blogging application on my iPhone so if I see any random crafts or handmade items and find access to free wi-fi down there, I might make a short entry or two!  If not, I leave you with two Canadian Etsy sellers who has disney themed products!

 Mickey Mouse Pacifier Holder, Toy Holder – rainbowstardesigns

   Cinderella Inspired Princess Hair Clip - sarahscreativeside

Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds

We just recently watched the Quentin’s Tarantino’s movie, Inglourious Basterds.  It’s focused on a American-Jewish aligned military group stationed in France during WWII.  Their mission: spread fear and terror among Nazi soldiers during their occupation in France in WWII.  There is an overlapping plot of a Jewish woman in hiding who wanted revenge for what the Nazi military has done to her family.   I really enjoyed this movie, how Tarantino scripts the dialogue in all his movies is so entertaining.

I thought it would be fun to see if I searched the movie title on Etsy.  I was delighted to see artwork that’s based on this movie! 

Inglourious Basterds Poster by claudiavarosio

Quentin Tarantino - 18 x 24 poster by dhildreth36

James Cameron’s Avatar

My husband and I finally watched the movie Avatar.  We really liked it but I did find it a slow start because there was a lot of focus on character development.  I recommend watching it if you enjoy CGI but be prepared as it’s a three hour long movie!

I thought it would be fun to search for the tags “Avatar Movie” on Etsy, to see what creative minds out there has come up and I was pleasantly surprised!  What a great way to advertise to the world you are a fan of the movie with these creative keepsakes? 

Avatar Na'Vi Rubber Duck Ducky Parody by OnlyDucks

Yellow Glass Avatar Eye Silver Wire Wrap - kimsjewels

I've got my eye on you vinyl decal for MacBook - MadmanIncognito

Etsy Self-Service Critique: Tips for Improving your Sales

I stumbled upon this very helpful blog dedicated to Etsy businesses!   I need to follow many of these tips when I can afford the time to focus on both of my shops!  Enjoy!

Etsy Self-Service Critique: Tips for Improving your Sales

Tweaks that Tripled my Takings! by Vintage Scraps

Browsing through the Etsy Forums, I keep seeing this post get bumped near the beginning even after I don’t check the forums for days.  It just got featured on a recent Etsy newsletter. 

Tweaks that Tripled my Takings!

I yet to follow her last advice to go local, it’s one of those things I want to do when I can afford more time to my business.

This is a simple copy and paste in green, directly off the Forums.

Tweaks that Tripled my Takings! by Vintage Scraps

I recently spent some time REALLY tweaking my business, and as the post is titled, have tripled my sales, I believe because of these actions:

PHOTOS

(of course!) look at my shop page, then look at my oldest "sold" page, and shudder with horror! Can you see the drastic difference? Buyers certainly have. I have the same cheap camera and amount of natural light as before, but simply discovered the go to my photos right click "EDIT" and "ADJUST EXPOSURE" options.
Good grief, how did I miss that for so long??

SEARCH WORDS

that short sentence you get to place under your shop title is pretty important, as it turns out. I searched Google for the most used search words to create mine, and now my items are often found on the first pages of Google, and Google Shopping. Who knew?

The STORQUE.

Pay attention to those articles, and when MaryMary tells you that Navy, Recipes, and Graduation are the buzz words for May, including them in your listings that pertain to them. These people know of what they speak.

CUSTOMERS

don't just sell to these people, PAMPER them. It's mainly women who shop here, and it doesn't take much to lift our spirits; sometimes just ribbon tied on a package will do the trick! Shipping out as fast as humanly possible is a nice gesture as well.

GO LOCO

(I mean LOCAL. You can go loco too if you want, but not in the forums please.) Local meaning, selling in your home town. Check threads about wholesale vs.consignment, how to approach a business owner, etc. and go for it!

I’m not a particular fan of vintage paper myself, I prefer art pieces like these.  Each of this photos are linked to her listings.  Enjoy!