Thank You All So Much - My Goal Reached

A couple of years ago when I first started on Etsy, I made it a goal of mine to sell one item. I was overjoyed when that happened. I phoned my husband at work to tell him the good news. I was just so thrilled that someone would buy one of my pieces of jewelry.

I then decided my next goal would be to sell five hundred pieces and I'm so happy to tell you that I reached that magic number yesterday. It's certainly been extremely hard work but well worth the effort.

Thank you to all my customers for supporting me. To my repeat customers, it's a real honor to know that you're so pleased with the product that you've returned to the shop.

So with gratitude in mind, I thought I would feature some "Thank you" items once again found on Etsy.

ENJOY!

Tuesday Feature Artist - TheArtOfJoy

Starting today, each Tuesday I am going to be featuring a fellow Etsy artist. The feature will include products they're promoting for the holidays as well as special deals.

The first artist in this series is Joy from the aptly named shop, TheArtOfJoy.

Joy is fairly new to Etsy. She opened up her shop not long ago and plans to fill it up with even more paper goodies. When she's not taking care of her little rolly polly newborn, she can be found desk doodling on paper.

She loves the satisfaction of creating something new and sharing it with others. Joy is very willing to customize an order for you! There's some great ideas for hostess gifts.

Her favorite item in her shop is "A Bunch of Happy, Set of 6 Mini Cards"

Some great holiday gift ideas from shop include gift tags and mini cards.



Any specials customers should know about?

Weekend deals 10/23-10/25 - 20% off any purchase
Weekend deals 10/30-11/1: Buy one get an extra set for free on mini cards and tags

Here's where you can find Joy:
http://www.art.joycharde.com
http://facebook.com/theartofjoy
http://twitter.com/JoyCharde

Wednesday Featured Artist - Mbmclees

Today we meet Mary Beth and her Etsy shop Mbmclees. She has a wonderful selection of handcrafted cards in her shop! Read on to learn more about this very talented artist.

Tell us about yourself
I grew up in Atlanta, GA and now live in Clemson, SC. I'm graduating from Clemson in a few weeks and moving to Augusta, GA to start physical therapy school. Besides crafting, I love to exercise, travel, cook and bake, watch 24, and spend time with my family (older sister, younger sister, awesome mom and dad)and friends.

What do you like to create?
I create paper crafts, mainly greeting cards.

What is your favorite material to work with?
My favorite material is patterned paper (I get excited every time I find new paper!) and scrapbook embellishments. Also, I have recently started playing around with rubber stamps, which I have enjoyed so far!

Part-time or full-time?
This is part time right now, but one day I would LOVE to be a full time crafter. A dream of mine is to have my very own crafts store/bakery when I am older.

How do you manage your time?
I manage my time by making LOTS of to-do lists. If I don't have a list, nothing gets done. I write eveything on my list - laundry, exercise, grocery shopping, school work, phone calls, emails, craft time, time with friends, reading - EVERYTHING! Thats how I make sure everything gets done =) It usually works, too! Another way I manage my time is getting enough sleep. When I am tired, I can't focus and don't get any work done. Finally, when I am being super lazy and wasting time, I disconnect from the internet. I could spend all day reading blogs, looking at news sites, keeping up with friends on facebook, looking up recipes, and so on. When I can't do any of those things, I get SO much work done - its amazing!

What is your favorite item in your shop?
My favorite item is this set of mini greeting cards
I like them because they are so unique and personal. I love the colors too..."happy" colors without being too bright and overwhelming. And the font is so cute, too!

What are your goals for 2009?
My goals for 2009...I want to continue to build/market my Etsy store and blog, and to start getting sales that are somewhat regular. Nothing huge, because I think that is unrealistic, but a I'm aiming at a 4-6 each month by the end of this year. I will be staring grad school in a month, so my big challenge will be adjusting to that while maintaining my crafting.

And just for fun...

My favorite color is blue - like the sky on a gorgeous day, and the water in Cancun.

I love any kind of fruit, I love grilled chicken, and I love peanut butter. And Ice cream. That's just the tip of the iceberg =)

My favorite music is probably country, but I like just about anything except jazz and really loud/heavy metal stuff. I also really enjoy listening to old hymns.

My favorite "inspiring" movie is To End All Wars (Les Mis is a close second). My favorite chick-flick is Baby Mama. My favorite "just for fun" movie is Dan in Real Life. And my favorite animated movie is Ice Age 2. Can't pick just one =)