Selling on Etsy - listing an item

First, I logged onto Etsy using my user name and password.  Then I clicked "Sell" in the top menu bar.  Next, I clicked on "List your Items" in the main body of the web page.

Step 1: Item description and list material used to make item.
Step 2: Categorize and Tag your item - I chose 13!!!  These tags are what is used to pull your item in buyer searches.  If I search for "red infinity scarf" my scarf should show up because those 3 words were also 3 of my tags.
Step 3: Choose the price you want to sell your item for, & create a shipping profile (listing the cost for shipping and what countries you want to ship to)
Step 4: Upload the pictures you want to use
Step 5: Review and FINISH!!

Now I just wait for someone to come along and buy it, right?  Click here to see my scarf on Etsy!

Selling on Etsy - creating a seller account

Etsy is a well-known site for buying/selling handmade items. It's a bit like Ebay in the sense that different people can list their items on it, but it's done with set prices (no bidding) and all items are hand crafted. I've browsed the site a few times, mostly looking for craft ideas, and until now, that's been the extent of my relationship on Etsy.  My neighbor keeps telling me I should sell my infinity scarves on Etsy.  So.....here I go.  I'm going to share my experience with you. Follow me!

Creating an Etsy Seller Account: The process of registering a seller account is pretty user-friendly.  Before you start, you'll need a user name, an email address (only one Etsy account per email address) and your credit card to verify your identity.

1) go to Etsy.com
2) click on "Register" in the top right corner
3) when creating your account, you'll need to choose a user name. If you become a seller, this will also be your shop's web address. I chose katesprojects, so my seller web address should be http://katesprojects.etsy.com. You'll also provide a password and your email address and click "Submit"
4) confirm your account by logging into your email account and opening up the new email from Etsy. The email should contain a link, clicking on the line will complete your registration and open a new window.
5) To sell something, click on "SELL" in the top tool bar.
6) Click on "Get Started"
7) Enter your personal info (name and address), click "NEXT"
8) Enter credit card information for verification purposes. You will be charged $1.01 to verify. Paypal can still be used to pay seller fees.

Selling on Etsy: Listing at item costs 20 cents and Etsy charges 3.5% of the sale price.  All listings get up to five photos for free and the listings stay up for 4 months. 

Shop Set-Up: Found as a link on the left hand side.

For simple steps on listing your item, click here.

Slippers that fit!

In case you don't remember my first attempt at slippers, but while they looked cute, they were much too big. So, I made another attempt and while I'm so pleased that 1) they fit, 2) they're the same size!!!, and 3)they keep my feet warm, they're not all that trendy - lol! I opted to skip the mary-jane strap for more coverage....I like my feet warm. I'm proud of my elf slippers non the less.

I just did continues rounds of double crochets. (I chained 3 at the start of each new row)
Row 1: 6 dc in a loop
Row 2: 2 dc in each dc
Row 3: 2dc in next dc, dc in next dc (repeat around)
Row 4: 2 dc in next dc, dc in next 2 dc (repeat around)
Row 5: 2 dc in next dc, dc in next 3 dc (repeat around)
Row 6: dc in each dc around
Rows 7-11: repeat row 6
Row 12: dc in next 19 dc
Row 13: turn, dc in next 19 dc
Rows 14-18: repeat row 13
To finish: I threaded the yarn down to the center and then folded the heal part in half and then single crocheted the 2 edges together. Then I single crocheted around the edge, doing 3 single chains together at the two corners and finishing off once I made it back around to the heel.

Saved $23.65 w/ coupons!

Good day for coupons! 

First stop was Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts where I bought a new crochet hook and some yarn.  I was need of a G/4 hook and decided to try out the soft touch crochet hook this time.  They're more expensive, so it was just the right time to use my 50% off coupon, saving me $3.50!

Second stop was Old Navy where I went to check out their clearance items.  All clearance items were an additional 50% off.  I bought a pair of shorts and 2 shirts for my oldest and 2 tanks, a dress, and slippers.  I had a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase that I printed off their site.  I was just under the $25 amount and had to throw in some clearance mints.  I spent $21.85 and saved $5 with my coupon (the mints ended up costing $0.39 after discounts).

Third and final stop was the commissary.  The big score today were in-store coupons on a few items I buy regularly like UP frozen fruit and Presto sandwich/garbage bags.  The coupons don't expire for a while so I stocked up!  We use frozen fruit in our smoothies and I usually buy at least a couple of bags a month - those coupons don't expire until September 2010!  It's only $0.35 off 2 bags, but since I buy them regardless, this was exciting (cheap thrills, right?).  Today's commissary savings was $15.15. 

Add all this to my $69.05 saved since my last trip plus $2.00 in RedBox coupon code savings and that brings my 2010 coupons savings total to $94.70!!

Hat's off to me!

After making the cute little teddy bear beanie hat, I was inspired to try to make a beanie hat for myself.  Not as easy as it seemed.  The one pattern I tried to go off us, gave a gauge instead of a hook size and I guess wrong - the hat was way too big.  I tried again changing the pattern up a bit and the hat didn't seem to be coming out even.  Before I gave up completely, I decided to make another baby hat instead since I had better luck at that.  Except this time I used a lighter weight yarn and the hat is way too tiny for any new born I'm sure.  While flipping through Step by Step to Better Knitting & Crochet, the other book I picked up at the library last week, I found a hat pattern that listed a crochet hook and set off again to make a hat for myself.  I modified the pattern a bit to get the stripe that I wanted, worked in continuous rounds, and used an F/5 hook....And Viola!  It was a success! 

Someday I'll laugh at these....

I'm starting to hate slippers. After making my own pair, my eldest said he wanted some too. Does anyone realize the struggles I go through? After many failed attempts and a few patterns-gone-wrong, I successfully made slippers that will fit my 6-year old's size 12 (kids) feet - thank goodness! Are they pretty? Heck no! But they fit and they're about the same size, so in this, we have success. Of coarse, he then tells me, "Mom, I told you I wanted boot slippers." Really, kid? Really?

To make these, I pretty much used the little bootie pattern from the bear paw booties, but made them bigger. I tightened at the heel to make sure they'd fit since that was the error I kept coming across. And I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but before this last successful attempt, I traced my son's foot on a piece of paper so that I at least had a better gauge to work off of. I really want some slippers that fit, but not sure I'm ready to start that all over again. In the mean time, I'm making a scarf....it has nice straight lines and does not require a matching pair ;-).

Bear paw booties

My sweet friend loved the little bear beanie cap I made for her soon-to-arrive son and thought it would be even more perfect with bear paw booties. My experience lays mostly with square/rectangular objects so there was a lot of starting over with this project. And am I thrilled down to my toes? Okay, they're really cute! But the raging perfectionist in me wants to start all over again. At a certain point, I had to wave the white flag and be happy with my newly modified skills. I must say, I'm starting to understand crocheting much more now - now that I'm experimenting outside the box / outside the baby afghan - lol!!! And to make sure I'm not stealing anyone's credit, I based the booties off of a pattern from CrochetMe, but had to make them quite a bit smaller so that they would fit an infant. The bear paws are just little circles that I made and then stiched on. Not bad, right?

Don't laugh, I made slippers

Remember how I posted that I wanted to make slippers? Let me just start off with saying that it wasn't as easy as I thought. I'm pretty good at reading patterns, but something went arye. Making blankets and scarves is much easier since you don't have make a duplicate that's the same! The first slipper I made was WAY too big for my skinny little narrow foot so I took it apart and tried again making it smaller. The second slipper (but my 3rd attempt at this point) was even smaller and I swear I made it just like the revised smaller slipper. Regardless, they're both still too big, but I'm not giving up yet. I must say, they are very cozy and kept my feet warm on our 11 hour drive home from visiting family for the holidays. I WILL try this again as I am always wearing slippers and prefer this mary-jane/ballet slipper style since it's not so obnoxious to caught wearing when I answer the door in my slippers. I've seen some other patterns I might try, or might just work on modifying this one. I like it that they're one piece. I also need to squeeze in time to make slippers for both of my boys. I swear, they think these things grow on trees! Never mind the hours and blood and swear that goes into them. Alright, they weren't that hard to make ;-).

Next project - slippers!!

I'm obviously on a crocheting kick.  I'm so excited to make myself some slippers!  I found this awsome design and step-by-step directions here.  I can't wait to try them out.  I bought a pair of mary jane knit slippers from Target last Valentine's Day and wore them out - we're taking big holes in the bottom!  So, for Christmas, I asked for more slippers like those.  But the new ones I got don't have a mary jane strap, more like a ballet flat and they keep falling off.  Since I crochet, I thought, why don't I try to make these myself?  So, that's my next project!

Teddy bear baby beanie hat

I have two good friends that are due with baby boys within the next month. Initially, I was going to make them baby blankets, but after completing the elephant afghan, I felt invigorated for something new. I found this pattern for a beary cute hat and decided to give it a try. I had just enough left over yarn from my last project that it seemed like the perfect project. I'm always a bit nervous about sewing things on, but think that these little bear ears turned out great.

This was my first time following a pattern for something other than a blanket and it was fun to try something new. I really need an infant to try it out on. It seems a bit small to me and while I've had two babies of my own, they're heads are much too big now. I tried it on a doll, but still don't know how accurate that is for size. I'm in the process of making one a little larger and we'll see which one fits. I can't wait for baby Jasper to be born so that he can model my hat!

Elephant Afghan in complete!!!!

I started this elephant afghan back in October and I'm so happy that I was able to get in done in time to give it to my grandmother for Christmas.  My grandmother has collected elephants since she was a little girl.  Just to give you an idea, this is a sample of her collection.

I've been crocheting for years, but mostly baby blankets and a few scarves.  I've never "dropped" yarn like this before nor have I done a pattern.  It was fun, challenging, and a learning experience.  I designed the elephant design myself.  I searched all over the internet for just the right elephant.  A front view looked too baby-ish and many side views had four legs and I didn't want to deal with that many color changes. 

I used MS Excel to make my pattern.  Hoping that the gauge would be accurate, I made the cells 3x as long as they were wide and crocheted the blanket using all double crochets.  I found the closest elephant picture I could find to what I wanted and made it a watermark in an MS Excel spreadsheet.  This allowed me to see the picture behind the grid/spreadsheet.  I then shaded in all the cells over the watermark, making adjustments so that it was more what I wanted. 

I made a total of 6 squares and then crocheted them together for the final product.  I used Vanna's Choice, 100% Acrylic yarn in Taupe and Linen for this design.  Because I dropped yarn vs. crocheting over the secondary color, it was a challenge until I got past the trunk/tail as I did this pattern from bottom to top.  At it's most challenging, I had seven different skeins going at one time and since I didn't always have that many skeins on hand, there were times when I was working off both ends.  Every time I started a new row and had to flip the blanket, all the yarns would get tangled.  I was always so relieved to get past the tail and trunk when I was only working with 3 yarns.  Getting past the legs was also a joyous occasion. 

Despite my desire to make the afghan with just 4 squares so that I could make more infinity scarves, I pressed on and made all 6.  It's a very warm, soft blanket - maybe a bit on the heavy side for my dear old grandmother who is soon to be 80.  But none the less, I consider it a success and another fantastic gift made with love :-).

Infinity Scarf

I like to crochet and mostly make baby blankets for friends. I love that they're smaller projects. An even smaller project is scarves and they've become so much more trendy the last couple of years. While at my friend Christina's house, her mom showed me an infinity scarf that she knitted. It's one continual loop of a scarf and I love the concept! Plus it's something new to make and it's always fun to try new things. Mostly, you wrap it around twice. The first one I made is for my mom. It's already wrapped up for Christmas and in the mail. I made another one the other day and wore it yesterday. Here's the one I wore. If I wasn't busy making an afghan for someone this Christmas (deadline is quickly approaching and I'm barely half done, yikes!), I'd make scarves for everyone I know - I love these! A friend loved it so much, I'm actually going to give it to her....shhh. I can make more for myself after Christmas when that afghan is done.