Letterboxers in the House!!

I'm going to a letterbox gathering on 12/20. For those of you who don't know what letterboxing is, it's a hobby that combines treasure hunting with handmade stamps and cool places! You can read more about it at http://www.letterboxing.org. Anyhow, I was looking at the list of attendees and I noticed that one of the attendees was a fellow etsian!

So I sent her a quick little note. Ended up she was nice enough to buy an item from me! You can check out her store at: http://www.m0llykate.etsy.com. She has some really cute jewelry in there! She says Trek looks just like her new dog! They'll be using it as a Christmas ornament too!

December has not been so fun

I've been sick since the 4th. The doctors have diagnosed me with an ovarian cyst, and I have pretty much been on pain meds, and in bed, trying to manage the pain!! I'm afraid this means I won't have much of a chance to make new Fuzzies this month, especially with the holidays coming up! I'm hoping to recover before then...

The good news though is that someone bought one of my Fuzzington ornaments! This one is going to Austin, TX! Glad to know this one will be sitting on a Christmas tree and bringing cheer this holiday season!

November Business was Pretty GOOD!

In the month of November, I sold 7 items!! Of those, I'm excited that one of them was a polymer clay pendant! I love working with polymer clay, but sometimes I wonder how well it fits into the portfolio of my shop. At any rate, the girl who bought it really liked it! The other item that I was excited to sell were my Election Pups! My first posting!!

Looks like all of these Fuzzies will serve as Christmas presents, so thank you Holidays for bringing some business to my shop! So far, the feedback that I've been getting from customers is good. They think that the Fuzzies are super-cute, and they're amazed that they're made of pipe cleaners. Many customers also have commented on my packaging, which I put some extra time into. Presentation IS everything! We'll see what December holds for us, but I would imagine that it'll slow down with the holidays coming up...

Got a Shop Critique Today!!

I sat in on one of Etsy's virtual workshops today to get my store critiqued. Overall, it sounded like I was doing most things right.

Things I'm doing right:
1) Good pictures, using angles, natural lighting, etc...
2) Cute items
3) Overall good look of the store
4) Good listing of other promotion sites like myspace, facebook, etc...

Things to improve on:
1) Shorten the shop announcement so items appear at first glance by customers
2) Add shop policies
3) Better utilization of tags - use all 14, and include colors in tags!!

I'm definitely going to do these things! While I think marketing seems to be the number 1 thing needed to get business, the look and feel of your shop is a close #2!!! Still trying to figure out the marketing thing!

A Fuzzington Comes to Life!!

We adopted a little dog last week. She is so sweet and adorable! We decided to name her Maggie. My nephew came by the other day, and said, "Look! One of your Fuzzingtons has come to life!!" She is my new muse. =)

Etsy Lesson Learned #1: Pictures Make a HUGE Difference!

Pictures really make a huge difference! I have some polymer clay charms in my store that I had taken pics of with a flash indoors, and the pics really didn't do the items justice. Here are some of my original pics:
All my other postings use natural light, and I noticed that items look way better in natural light. So I finally re-did these items in natural light, and here are the results:
YEAH, WAY BETTER!!!! I've doubled my views for these items since I changed them!!

It's all about natural lighting, good colors, angles, and a little photo editing to get the right perspectives and to get the colors to pop!!! Don't underestimate the importance of good photos!!!

Miniature Collector is a Fan!

This lady who makes the cutest miniature polymer clay items on Etsy bought two of my Fuzzies today, Cliff and Bluey! I'm glad to know that the person buying this will have an appreciation for the fact that my Fuzzies are small. They'll be shipped off to Arizona City, AZ in the morning!

More Sales!!

I sold two more fuzzies today!! Pinkie the Pup is going to Banning, CA. She was purchased by a WOM customer who heard about them through one of my co-workers. The power of WOM!! Pinkie is so adorable! She's one of my faves!

The other is Orange You Glad You're Home Pup? which has a polymer clay home in the can!! He is going to Las Vegas and will be a stocking stuffer Christmas present for a little girl who loves Polly Pockets. I hope she likes it!!

My First Sale! Whoohoo!!!

I sold my first Fuzzy today!! Goodbye Puppy Pair! Have fun with your new owner in Murrietta, CA!

First Item in My Store!!

This is so exciting!! I've finally posted my FIRST ITEM!!! Whooohoo!!

These election pups were inspired by the current election, and what a historic election it's going to be!! Hillary's out! Sarah's in! Obama! And a really old guy! Wow!! Should be VERY INTERESTING!!

I'm finding that taking pictures is the most difficult thing to do! I took tons of pics and tried to play with lighting, but I guess my desk lighting doesn't look quite the same on camera as it does in real life. But the cool thing is that it looks like I've got a spotlight on the dogs.

These things are SOOOOO CUTE (if I might say so myself)!! They're barely larger than a quarter!

And I love that I can dabble with some polymer clay too!! We'll see how these pups do!!

My Store is OPEN!!

I've started an online store for my fuzzy creations!!

http://fuzzington.etsy.com

I hope people will like my Fuzzies! I think they're cute, so I hope other people will too!!! Wish me luck!!

Fuzzington is Born!!

My latest adventure is here!!

My imagination has given birth to a place called Fuzzington!!

I am a pipe cleaner artist. I spend a lot of time twisting, bending, and fashioning pipe cleaners into cute realistic looking fuzzy friends. I've officially named them the Fuzzies.

My goal is to make the Fuzzies look like the AREN'T made of pipe cleaners. I love making these little fellas.

Hope you like what you see! Have fun!