Sunday, September 20, 2009

I opened a Store - How Can I Advertise it? - Business Advice

You can sign up for Twitter and tweet about it (send a text message up to 140 characters in length, can include links) and let people who like the type of things you create know when you have new items up for sale.
 
Set your profile status on facebook to your store.
 
Advertise your store link in your signature for your emails and thus all your message posts to groups. (*General rule to keep your email signature to a maximum of three (3) lines of text). *Please note that when your posting anything to message groups and forums that everyone may have their own rules about advertising certain types of links from within your signature. Example: XYZ Clay Group on yahoo has an Official/ Dedicated supplier (one willing to give a discount off products to all members of that group in exchange for the privilege of having the groups membership base as their possible customer base) and thus you can not have links in your signature to a site or stores that may sell products of the same type as the official supplier. 
 
Put the link to your store online in anything you mail, or post, make some business cards and be sure to put the link on them in a font that can be easily viewed. On business cards you do not need to have the http:// part of the website address printed, just the www. DebsStore.com should work great. You can get 200 FREE business cards through Vista Print for like $1.99 and the price of shipping or something, its like cheep and they are nice cards. I have heard of other services you can get cards from online and you may find some less that are even better. I know the free ones with Vista have their logo on the very bottom of the back with their info/link. A very small price to pay for FREE cards for just the cost of shipping, but your image speaks of who you are. Your an artist and you don't use cheap materials and supplies in your art, perhaps you don't want to send a message that your cheap on your cards. Many people will not realize this or even care, but there may be few in your own mind then you may not wish to go this route. I have heard different opinions about this.
 
 
Depending on what you sell you can create specials and advertise them where those types of products would be of interest and need.
 
If you sell supplies you might wish to create a class where you can in turn sell the supplies needed to complete the class.
Make up starter kits of clay and tools, and maybe include a little tutorial or 2 in free with purchase, etc..
 
There is always a way to make your product/sale/service/idea more desirable to others.
 
Think of contests to win things from you that you sell that can get others to help you advertise.
 
Submit your site to the search engines. Most are free and there are free services out there where you can submit your site to many of them with just a few clicks of the mouse and your keyboard. *TIP* You may wish to use a separate free email account like yahoo, hotmail, or gmail so that you can register with the search engines using the email you don;t mind getting allot of email to because all those search engines will reply, as well this email account now may be used for other purposes, after all you just registered your website with many of them for free, there has to be a catch somewhere, of course they may send you notices when its time to renew your free listing etc..
 
Tell your friends and family.
 
If you have a restaurant, store or someone you know that wouldn't mind allowing you to put up a flyer or a business card stand (can make a neat one in clay) and leave it with them. You could have friends put their names on the back of the cards so that if someone buys something from you they can get 10% commission or 10% off anything you sell, etc... give them an incentive and you never know what you can get others to allow you do.
 
Craig's List and other Free to post online community classifieds. Post your link to your site and what your advertising in your message, choose the category that's appropriate and hope for the traffic to start flowing in or if you leave a number your phones are beginning to ring.
 
I hope these tips help you on your journey to new store ownership no matter what it is your selling Deb. I hope this can help anyone trying to open up a business of their own and market their items/products, services or whatever you wish to deal in. All basically the same principles. Advertise!!! You will get it all back at the end of the year when its time to answer to Uncle Sam.
 
Cre8ively Yours
Andrea "Cre8"

Friday, September 18, 2009

CDHM Miniature Forum: Live Tutorial

We have an exciting Live tutorial for you Saturday, September 19, 2009
that you will not want to miss. There is still time to gather your
materials and register for the class.

Learn To Make 1:12 Raffia Baskets
Instructor: Hanna Meronen (hannajaleijona)
Class: Sep 19, 2009 :: Time: 8pm Eastern (Eastern European Summer Time
(EEST) +0300 UTC) Finland
http://forums.cdhm.org/index.php/board,388.0.html

Check your local time conversion for this class:
http://forums.cdhm.org/index.php/topic,8884.0.html

Hope to see you there.

Regards,
The CDHM Miniature Forum Team

Sunday, September 13, 2009

The New Craft Smart Clay 88 Cents, Save 25-50 % Off Michael's and More

Michael's Crafts This week The new clay if you wish to give it a try for yourself if only 88 cents. Its supposed to be the lowest price of the season.
 
Sale started today Sunday September 13th and runs through until Saturday September 19, 2009.
 
Crafts smart Modeling Clay
2 oz./57g Reg. $1.29
 
50% OFF Michaels Coupon
Also if you get the paper you may enjoy the 50% off any one Regular Prices Item (excluding sale items) coupon. If not click
http://www.mycraftcoupons.com/ and find the coupons you want and print easily print them out. No registration or downloads required.
 
25-40% AC Moore
Enjoy various 25%-60% off coupons* for AC Moore locations. Coupon valid Sunday, September 13, 2009 through Saturday, September 19, 2009.
40% OFF Joanne's Fabrics and Crafts
Enjoy 40% off any one regular priced item* at Joann locations. Coupon valid through Wednesday, October 7, 2009.
40% OFF Hobby Lobby
Enjoy 40% off any one regular priced item* at Hobby Lobby locations. Coupon valid Monday, September 14, 2009 through Saturday, September 19, 2009
 
Enjoy!!!
Cre8ively Yours

Andrea “Cre8”

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

New September Edition AIM Miniatures Magazine FREE Online Edition

   No matter what craft your into, most are into miniatures or should be...so here is a little something to infect you all with the miniature bug if you have not already been bitten =-)
 
 
 
 September edition (Issue 15) of the FREE AIM miniatures magazine is now 
available to enjoy online at (http://www.artisans inminiature. com/
 
 
 
Enjoy!
Cre8ively Yours
Andrea "Cre8"

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

New Craft Smart Clay at Michael's

New clay or another brand with the Michael's Crafts brand name? See what Angela from CraftyGoat's Notes wrote about it on her blog.

The new Craft Smart Clay may not be as smart as they think!


CraftyGoat's Notes: New Craft Smart Clay at Michael's

Enjoy!

Cre8ively Yours
Andrea "Cre8"

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Jane Zhao Rose Tutorial & Spotted Lily Petal Cane NOW ON DVD!!!

The very 1st real (beautiful) flower cane I ever made was a rose cane I made thanks to my good friend Jane Zhao. She is a member of my polymer clay guild and was teaching a class on a night I had planned on driving up and sitting in on the guild meeting to see how it was. Since I live far away from where the meetings were held and far from where Jane lives here in Florida as well as where she is willing to travel to teach I thought it a great opportunity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and do both. I was taking a class from Jane live on how to make a rose cane from polymer clay. I brought in just the materials she requested, the colors were up to me what I chose and I beautiful rose cane was born, one of which I still have quite a bit of and use in my beads quite often thanks to the methods Jane has taught me.
 
Jane has just come out with two videos on making her canes. I hope they are just a coupe of more from her to come. She is such a wonderful teacher even though she herself thinks her English is not as good because she is Chinese.
 
Jane's Rose Cane making video is Two hours worth of making two (2) types of the rose cane.  She shows you how to reduce the cane for cutting and slicing into beads for a nice necklace she shows how you can make. She makes beads and shows you how you can roll your own beads by hand without using a machine, how to pierce the beads to make holes in them for stringing and how to use up some scrap clay as well as some other nice things like the skinner blend, using the pasta machine, a nice blend of clay for making a nice clear translucent clay and more. Its  $39.99 and can be purchased through her website or at Polymer Clay Productions as they were the ones who helped her make the videos.
 
The Lily Flower Cane making video is 1 Hour of her showing you how to make a skinner blend, a skinner plug, two type of lily petals small and large, her way of reducing canes, using the pasta machine, fan folding clay, creating lily flower pendent, pin or one that's both a pendent and a pin using different findings, as well as how to make and place an eye pin in the clay, enforce the clay to make jewelry items that wont break etc.. This Spotted Lily Petal cane, Spotted Lily flower and Spotted Lily Jewelry was in the Spring Edition of the 2007 PolymerCAFE' Magazine Vol. 5 No.2. Jane was featured in this magazine along with Charlene A. Therien who made a beautiful Calalily flower cane tutorial and many other nice project how tos are in there as well. The video is only 29.99.
 
 
So if you make your own beads and jewelry items and want to learn her methods you now can in your very own living room with Jane on these DVD videos.
 
Jane Zhao is from Shanghai China and there she was a Chinese landscape artist. When she came here to the US she was not able to do her landscape paintings but instead found polymer clay. A new world was opened up to Jane and she continues to use polymer clay as a way of transforming the same concepts she learned with painting into her wonderful polymer clay canes of flowers, butterflies, fish, leaves, feathers and many other wonderful things. Jane is also a certified Instructor for Donna Dewberry, Bob Ross Certified and also Studio By Sculpey Certified to Teach and Certify others.
 
 I do her website and she has been such a good customer always providing me with her products she sells like her wonderful wet dry color coded micro fiber sandpaper set. I got one of her most beautiful and should be famous for polymer clay beaded watch band watches along with a matching set of earrings. She made me another set of earrings that matched my website and I have a painting by her that was one that got her certified in Bob Ross oil painting. She is a wonderful artist but when it comes to polymer clay canes and replicating images in them she is a master and will take any image and make it into a clay cane.
 
Cre8ively Yours
Andrea "Cre8" 
 

Monday, August 10, 2009

Weldbond Glue

I was simply amazed at what this stuff can do when I read about it just now on this website for WeldBond. 
 
There is a contest going on apparently and you can see lots of nice eye candy of things made using this stuff.
 
This stuff is amazing from what I can see. Most cases you mix it with water so you get more out of it dependent upon use. I have seen it sold in Wall-Mart and it was under $3US for what I think was the 8oz size.
 
I like that it can be used for image transfers, not of photos but of magazine printed type images where you apply it to the image, leave it to dry clear and then let it sit in some water until the paper will be soft enough to remove and the image will stay which can be used for so many different applications. Not to mention decoupage, reinforcing those plaster molds to keep them from chipping, bonds wood, glass, ceramics, porcelain, marble, granite and so many surfaces for so many different craft as well as other helpful uses.
 
Enjoy!

Cre8ively Yours

Andrea "Cre8"