Exciting Morning on Etsy!

If there is one place I can always go for creative inspiration, it would be Etsy. For those of you who aren't familiar with Etsy, it is a website that allows artisans of all types and from all over the world to sell their handmade or vintage items online within individual shops that they design themselves. I have been a member of the Etsy community for about a year and a half now and have enjoyed every minute of it! My shop is called CreativeTides and can be found at http://www.CreativeTides.etsy.com for anyone who is interested in taking a peek. Currently I am only selling mittens that I have knit myself but am hoping one day to branch out with other handmade crafts. Once again, it's the lack of focus thing.... : )

Anyways, Etsy is amazing! I am always blown away by the creativity and artistic abilities of the people out there in the world and wish I could surround myself with these fabulous artisans 24/7! Unfortunately, I can't show my full support by purchasing everything I come across that I love but, thanks to one of the features of the site, I can help promote other shops by creating something called a Treasury. A treasury is a collection of up to 16 items from different shops that the creator has chosen based on a cohesive theme such as color or holiday or mood... or maybe just a bunch of favorites. It's meant to be used more as a way of helping out fellow members by bringing more views to their items rather than for self-promotion, but typically creating a treasury brings attention to your own shop too. And quite possibly some of your items could make it into other people's treasuries. So it's kind of a circle of promotion!

Another great thing about creating treasuries is that, if you're lucky, Etsy will choose one of yours to feature on the front page of their website. Doubly lucky if one of your items happens to be in one of the treasuries they display! Obviously being on the front page is amazing publicity and brings a lot of traffic to your shop. Sadly, I haven't had any of my mittens featured on the front page yet. But just this morning, for the very first time, one of the treasuries I created was chosen!! I am so excited!! My treasury got over 300 views in less than 30 minutes! Not only did this help the shops I had chosen items from with their sales, but it also encouraged people to check out my shop too. I'm thrilled! I'm including a snapshot with this post of the front page of Etsy while my treasury was displayed. If you want to check out the actual treasury itself, you can find it here. Or you can take a look at all the treasuries I've put together here.

Screen shot of my Treasury on the Front Page of Etsy!

Yay! Now all I can think about is what other new treasuries I can create.......... : )

Random Fact About Me #551: Etsy isn't my first try at being an entrepreneur. Between the ages of 10 and 12, I spent part of my summers on the docks in Sitka selling my beaded jewelry to the tourists that came off the cruise ships.