Paper and Ink

Did you miss me? Well, no, you probably didn't. But just in case I'll tell you what has kept me hiding away at my computer for the past two months. My new project involves:

• 60 custom collage sheets
• Quotes from 8 printers
• 20 paper samples
• Packaging design
• 23 versions of new layouts
  
• Dipping prototypes in glue, water, resins and anything else to otherwise destroy them
  

And a total lack of sleep while figuring everything out. I don't think I've gone to bed before 2 am once this month. I have such a love/hate relationship with new projects. They can have a huge learning curve, which in many ways I love, but can also be so frustrating at times while I try to figure out the perfect answer.

And no, I haven't told you exactly what I've been up to. I will save that announcement for when I actually deliver the new product to stores. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Check back in a couple of weeks to see how everything turned out.

In the mean time, here's a sneak peek at some of the images from a new Steampunk collage sheet I have been playing around with. Enjoy!

How I (accidentally) Had My Best Week of Etsy Sales Ever

I LOVE reading tips for how to sell on etsy on other blogs, the etsy wiki, and especially in the Storque. Right now my favorite is etsy's Quit Your Day Job series. But at a certain point, to be honest, they all start to sound the same.

So I decided to ask in the etsy forums for some "secret" tips. Ones that were unique, special or worked really well. I included my own secret to get the ball rolling, then asked others to join in. The thread (which you can see here) includes some helpful tips from other sellers, with quite a few folks "marking" the thread to read later on.

Then etsy admin daniellexo chose the thread, which I had titled "What's your best etsy sales secret? Here's mine," to be in the etsy success newsletter. Sales started coming in within hours and continued at a high rate for several days. In the end, I had my best week of sales on etsy ever.

Plus (if that wasn't great enough), I've also been asked to host an etsy workshop at the beginning of December on How to Bring in Last-Minute Holiday Sales, which is quite exciting as well.

I admit that my accidental "tip" of getting picked to be in the etsy success newsletter might be a bit of a long-shot. However, in looking through dozens of other threads that have also been highlighted, there seems to a couple of ways to increase your chances of being chosen:

1. Keep all of your helpful information within the body of your forum post. In other words, don't say "hey, I found some great advice which I share here..." and then link to your blog. Many consider this spammy/promotional and it is not taken as seriously.

2. Similarly, this is not the time for self-promotional links to your etsy site, twitter account, or blog. If people want to find you, they will. But again, too many links to your information can be distracting.

3. Pick a great title that both summarizes your topic but also draws people in. Here are a couple of forums threads recently featured in the etsy success newsletter:

• Want to take GREAT product photos, I may have the answer!!!
• Advertising Ideas
• Sure fire way to increase SALES aka marketing for shy people
• Here's HOW I got my work in STORES!
• NEWBIES ~ Here's a few Etsy tips for you
• Sharing my Twitter Strategy : 11,000 followers

4. Strive to have a couple hundred comments on your post. This isn't essential, but will help keep your post toward the top of the forums, and thus more likely to be seen by an etsy admin. You can do this by promoting it outside of etsy (I announced it in my newsletter and twitter). You can also bump your thread up by being an active participant when people ask questions or are looking for follow up.

5. And perhaps it goes without saying that helpful information should be, well, helpful. Spend some time writing up your post. Spell check. Use paragraph breaks. Think about a tip you have that is unique or that has served you well. I'd also suggest subscribing to the Etsy Success newsletter both to get an idea of what is typically covered, but also because there are some great tips shared.

Nope; there's no guarantee that by posting a helpful thread that you'll be picked for the newsletter. But at a minimum, sharing your helpful advice with others will hopefully result in some good karma.

Full Time Crafting Six Months In

Two months before I "Quit My Day Job" in March 2009, piddix had its biggest sales month ever. At the time I had lunch with an etsy friend and told her my goal was to double those sales within a year, and I had enough savings to act as a safety net during the growth period. She commented that it might take the full year to reach my goal; but I inwardly scoffed that it would take that long. After-all, my sales had been climbing steadily for a while, I had taken classes, I was prepared (or so I thought)...

Then "Wham!;" I ran into four months of fairly low sales, which were both scary and depressing. To top if off, my husband was laid off from his job at the beginning of June. It was looking bleak for piddix. I immediately went to my old non-profit organization, one that I sill love and admire, to see if they had any work for me. See, they still had my old position open, and I always had it in the back of my mind that until they hired someone new, I could always go back, with hat in hand, and help out there. Fortunately for both of us (and you'll see why in a minute), they were in the middle of a hiring freeze. They could offer some contract work, which would help me pay the bills for a bit, but nothing permanent.

Rather than be sad or stressed at the news, I found myself rather relieved. At that moment I realized that I truly loved working on piddix. I loved working from home. I loved being able to scan books and play trains with Declan at the same time. Every aspect of the business--from marketing to designing new products--still fascinated me. While I had left a very nice job with wonderful people and benefits, rather than the traditional mind-numbing cubicle work that is easier to leave, I was still having more fun working for myself, on my own terms.

So I intensified my efforts with piddix (thanks Mom and Dad for the extra babysitting) and thankfully, this past August was a new record for piddix sales, and September looks good so far.

I've learned a million things in the process. The two that stand out at the moment are:

1. Know your sales trends. If I had paid much closer attention to my sales trends over the past several years, and done some additional research, I would have noticed that the February through May are traditionally a very slow time for selling supplies, since everyone has already finished up their holiday craft fairs but hasn't yet started on their summer activities. That knowledge would not only have factored into my plans of when to leave my "day" job, but also cushioned my ego, too. Now that I'm tracking the ups and downs better, I can be financially and emotionally prepared for both.

2. Try Everything. A friend of mine calls this the "shotgun approach," since I'm basically shooting a bunch of ideas out and hoping one of them will hit its mark. Or, as a member of my board of directors puts it, I'm wandering around in the dark hoping for brief moments of illumination. I may at some point write an entire post on the 243 things that I have tried in the last seven months--from the hand-letterpressed thank you cards I made to send with my packages (which are still sitting unused on my shelf), to the four different collaborations I've tried (two great, one so-so, and one still in the works). Needless to say I wouldn't suggest this for anyone else. A more surgical, practiced approach would save a bunch of time. But it actually worked well for me. Of the 243 ideas that I tried, about five worked very, very well and are responsible for my current sales record. I would never have found them without the other 238.

So, as always, wish me luck. It's been very nice to have a bit of an emotional and financial boost this past month or so. And looking forward I'm hoping that the "ups" outnumber the "downs."

Confessions of a Completist

I'm a completist. Not so much in the sense that I always finish what I start. In fact I wish that were more often the case. But more along the lines that when I start something, I want to do every single aspect of it thoroughly.

Let's take the example of a great book from 1912 with 300 steam engine parts. Instead of picking the 30 or 40 best engravings, which really should be all that I need, I will sit and scan all 300 ... just in case. In case of what exactly, I'm not quite sure.

So last week when I went to my favorite archive in the world--the one where I travel 1700 miles each way and only visit twice a year--I was prepared. I stopped by earlier in the week for several hours to narrow down my focus to about 100 colored plates that I knew I wanted. I told myself I would be steadfast in my determination and stick to just the 100 best to scan.

And of course you know what happened when I went back with my scanner. I spent the first several hours wandering around in complete bliss, pulling out all kinds of ephemera until I had amassed literally 3000 different colored plates, engravings, chromolithographs, and other fun bits. Then I proceeded to spend the next two hours whittling it down, and then the final few hours madly scanning as much as I could as quickly as I could.

In the end I was exhausted from hauling everything around, covered in a thick layer of red dust from all the crumbling books, and completely content.

Because while I'm not quite sure what I will ever do with this:
I also found these:
And these:

It was a lovely haul, including 31 really grubby botanical engravings from 1846; another 12 German floral sets from the early 1900s; almost 15 bird eggs, another 15 bird nests; and nearly 100 French Fashion plates. Many of the scans I may never do anything with. But so much of the joy is in the discovery. And at least I will have them ... just in case.

A Quick Marketing Idea for Crafters

I recently scored a sweet copy of Bread & Badger's marketing e-book, which I am quite excited to thoroughly read soon. But before I do I thought I would share a quick and easy tip that I have used to receive a decent amount of publicity for piddix.

How to Be a Spokesmodel

Do you have a product that you absolutely love? I've had very good response by offering to write up a testimonial or be a media reference. If you're specific, and even give examples of what you might say, chances are it might lead to something.

For example, several years ago I took an amazing business class through MercyCorpsNW. I really can't say enough good things about my experience. I had mentioned the class in a storque article on piddix and in a blog post, and so I sent the links to my MeryCorps contacts and concluded my email with the following paragraph:

"Also, if you ever need some quotes from participants for filling out the grant reports or anything, feel free to use this: Going through the MercyCorps NW IDA small business program was incredibly helpful for my crafting business, piddix llc. I learned critical information at every class from instructors who were incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, and I came away with a concrete plan for how to sustain and grow my digital image business. Almost immediately I began seeing the results of my new focus, and within three months I had doubled my income from piddix. Thank you so much for offering such a helpful program."

By emailing them articles where I talked about their program, as well as a sample testimonial, the folks at MercyCorpsNW were able to get a good idea of what I would say in an interview. And they took me up on the offer. I was interviewed as one of their "featured business." Plus, piddix was also highlighted in the new printed MercyCorps brochure.

When looking for places to pitch your "testimonial," think a little outside the box and look for organizations that already feature other businesses. For example, both my electric company and local hospital highlight a different customer each month in their printed newsletters. Constant Contact, whom I use for my e-newsletter, publishes regular "success stories" and says they are always looking for organizations to showcase.

And the easier you can make it for them, the more likely someone would be to respond. I often include a link to my "office" flickr photos or media-ready samples. I know from personal experience working as a journalist that you're often writing at the last minute and trying to fill space. Items such as pre-written quotes or readymade photos help greatly.

Finally, if you do include a sample quote or if they ask you to write one up, be sure to mention the name of your business several times. Especially for online posts, this is a great opportunity for them to link back to your website.

While being featured by your electric company may not seem as glamorous as somewhere like modish, think of the thousands and thousands of people who will see your smiling face and learn about your business. Plus, there's way less competition, and you never know who may be reading it.

Getting the Most Out of Your Collage Sheets

Digital collage sheets by piddix are 8.5x11 inch .jpg files delivered to your email within 24-hours. Most people print them out as-is, cut out the individual images with scissors, and then use them to make beautiful pendants, collages, cards, and other jewelry (see lovely example from Under the Looking Glass on left).

But what if you want an image to fit a particular size or shape that is not offered? With four pretty easy tricks, you can re-size just about any image offered through piddix to fit your needs.

Step 1: Know your "mms"
Many pendant settings are listed in millimeters, while some collage sheets are only listed in inches. One mm equals .039 inches. So to find out a good size for the 25mm pendant tray you just ordered, multiply 25 by .039 to equal .98 inches--so the one inch circle or one inch square sized collage sheets will be the best fit. Here's an online calculator to find the same answers.

Step 2: Use your printer to re-size
One of the easiest ways to re-size an entire sheet is to print the whole file at a smaller percentage. Let's say you have a 1.5 inch sheet, but you want to print it out at .85 inches for scrabble tiles. Divide the size you want by the size you have, then round up to the nearest percentage to allow for trim room, to calculate your printing size:

.85 / 1.5 = .567 (or 57%)

To print a .jpg file out at 57% go to file/print, then change the scale to 57%. Here's a couple of sample print windows (click the images on left to enlarge). Basically, you're looking for an option that says "scale" or "print size."

Also, since all piddix images are 300 dpi and high quality, you can use the same steps to enlarge a whole sheet to two to three times larger as well. However, you'll only get the images in the middle, or it will print onto two sheets while cropping the edges. To avoid missing any of the images, use the steps below to select and enlarge individual images or groups of images.

Step 3. Re-sizing Individual Images
For those of you with a graphic design program, such as Photoshop or CorelDraw, it's fairly straightforward to copy and paste individual elements of a file then re-size them as you'd like. Every program is different, but the basic steps include:
1. Open your piddix .jpg file in your graphic design program.
2. Find and click on the "marquee" or "select" tool. It normally looks like a dotted circle or square.
3. Draw a circle or square around the individual image you want by clicking on a blank space near the image, then holding and dragging until you have covered the whole image.
4. Copy the image.
5. Paste it in a new file.
6. Enlarge or shrink the new image in several ways. Most software programs will allow you to click on the new image, then grab one of the corners and drag it to make it smaller or larger. Be sure to hold down the shift key to keep the image the correct ratio so it doesn't get warped.

I also have a free, 5-page step-by-step tutorial with photos that shows you how to do the same thing in MS word. If you're a piddix customer, convo me or email me from the account from which you ordered your piddix files and ask for the re-size tutorial and I'll send you a free copy.

Step 4: Changing the image shape
So far, all of these steps have been good if you want to shrink or enlarge an image while keeping it the same basic shape. But what if you want to change a square into an oval or vice-versa?

One easy way is to find a shape punch in the size you'd like, such as this circle punch from Annie Howes. They're also available in most craft stores and online. Then find a collage sheet that shows a whole image, like these fairies or French fashions and punch away.

You can also make your own, hard-copy stencils specifically tailored to your needs. Let say you would like to make 13x18mm ovals, and you have a sheet of one-inch squares to start with. First, create an oval the right size in any graphic design software. To do it in word (click on the image at right to enlarge and follow along):
1. Choose a circle from the objects palette and draw it on the page.
2. Double click on the circle. This should bring up the size options.
3. Change the size to 13mm width and 18mm height. You can write in mm and the computer will change it from inches to mm automatically.

Then print your file and get creative. I like to print the oval out on cardstock, then cut it out and put it on top of a printed collage sheet and trace around the edges--like you would with a bottle lid. You can do the same by printing on clear mylar. Or even take your paper oval, put it on top of a recycled plastic (like a clear cookie box lid) and cut the lid out in the same shape. Oh, and be sure to try your new template oval out in the pendant first to make sure it fits well and adjust accordingly.

Putting on My Sunday Best

While scanning images from old books, I often get caught up in the text--reading about countries that no longer exist or fairy tales no longer told.

This past week I've been scanning the most amazing hand-colored engravings of 16th-19th century French Fashions. The hair and hat descriptions are the best (think Marie Antoinette):

"We find the "Cascade of Saint-Cloud" style, consisting of a cataract of powered ringlets falling from the top of the head, the 'kitchen garden' style, with bunches of vegetables hooked in to the side-curls, the 'rural' style, with landscapes representing a hill-side, windmills which actually turned, a meadow crossed by a silver stream, with a shepherdess tending her sheep, mountains, a forest with a sportsman and his dog in pursuit of game, and so and so..."

Here's a sneak peek. They'll be made into collage sheets for the shop soon, or find the large, full-sized images here.