Spring Trends 2013

Spring Fashion Trends!  Now is the time to start planning for upcoming holidays, and Spring Fashion trends in order to have your shop ready for customers.

We did a blog post not too long ago on The Pantone Colors of the Year so this post won't go over the specific colors trending again you can go here to read about them:  Pantone Spring Color Trends

Some of the upcoming Holidays to plan for:

Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day in February
St. Patricks Day and Easter in March
Earth Day in April
Mother's Day in May

Spring means Wedding season too, so any wedding jewelry sets, cake toppers, veils, wedding gifts would be popular in the coming months.

Don't forget the birthstones of each month, and birth signs as part of your upcoming collections too!

Fashion Trends - Straight From Marie Claire

1.  Water Trend - Includes the beach, sea blues and greens, beach nudes

 

jQjewelry Beach Jewelry 

 CalliopeAZCreations Beach Jewelry

2.  Black and White S & M style - called The Helmut Newton Effect

YudelevitzEco

3.  Stripes - Including Zig Zags, Mod 60's stripes, and chevron stripes

OhHoneyHush Chevron

4.  Mini-midriffs - showing a hint of the stomach

5.  Eyelets, laser cut holes, and panels

6.  Sheer see through panels

7.  Chambay & Denim

GlitterbirdGlass Denim

 8.  Mix of textures

How to Use This to Your Advantage

You have to try to upload inventory to your shop to keep it fresh for Google content, and Etsy searches.  Use these key terms/trends as the 1st few words in your titles, the 1st sentence of your descriptions, and tag your items.  This will help your shop get into more treasuries that are made with these trends in mind, will help your search results and even help your shop with possible blog features or magazine features!

Now is the time to style your photo's, and get inventory made and posted for the Spring!

January Birthstones Garnet

Happy Birthday, January children!


The January Birthstone is garnet. The word "garnet" comes from the Latin word "granatus," meaning "grain" or "seed." This name was given to the garnet because of its close resemblance to the succulent pomegranate seed. It is also the stone for the Zodiac sign Aquarius. Garnet may traditionally be given as a gift on the second or sixth wedding anniversary. 

Rose Photography Print - Home Decor

There are many myths and legends about the garnet. One Biblical legend is that Noah hung this gem on the ark to light his way through the dark and stormy nights of God's wrath. A Greek myth linked to the garnet is the story of the young goddess of sunshine, Persephone, who was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. Hades eventually released Persephone, but not before he offered her some pomegranate seeds, which guaranteed her return to him. 

Garnet Necklace

First mined in Sri Lanka over 2,500 years ago, the garnet is also found in Africa, Australia, India, Russia, Brazil, and in the United States, in Arizona and Idaho.  

Although most commonly known as a red gemstone, the garnet comes in a variety of other hues, including muted yellows, vibrant oranges, rosy pinks, lime greens, and violets—a virtual bouquet of colors.  This diversity is due to unique combinations of elements within each particular gem, such as iron, calcium, and manganese.  

Valentines Gift - Love Print

Garnets are a related group of minerals. Members of this group include: almandine (red to violet red); spessartite (yellow, rose, or orange to reddish-brown); pyrope (deep red); grossular (white, yellow, yellow-green, brownish-red, orange or black); andradite (colorless, yellow-green, or brown to black). The most prized garnet is an emerald green variety called demantoid and is a member of the adradite group.

The garnet is a protective gem for travelers. A gift of garnet is symbolic of love and the desire for a loved one's safe travel and speedy homecoming.  It is January's birthstone, but far from being only a winter gem, the garnet, with its brilliance and multitude of colors, is truly one for any season.

Garnet Swarovski Earrings

Spiritual Gemstone meaning of Garnet: 
The Garnet is known as the stone for a successful business. If your business is not as good as it should be, just put 3 or more garnets on your desk. It is believed that if a garnet is put under pillow it will cure depression. Garnets can be used to make a person popular and have self-esteem when worn as jewelry. It helps protect one on trips. Garnets bring constancy to friendships. Garnets are also known for stimulating success in business.

Healing properties of Garnet: 
Garnet comes in many colors, this refers only to red Garnet. The Garnet is associated with the thyroid and spleen. It helps cleanse and purify both when held over the area. The Garnet is usually held in the hand or placed on top of the head when searching or meditating on past lives. Information that is beneficial and helpful will usually be released for the searcher.

The Garnet is a stone of purity and truth as well as a symbol of love and compassion. The information released in a search may be painful, but it will always be what the searcher needs. The Garnet will help everyone's security level and spiritual awareness. It can help increase the sex drive.


Researched by Linda Blatchford, Linda B's Jewelry Creations

PFT Goals for 2013

We have had an AMAZING 2012 as a team.  We met all of the goals set:

PFT GOALS for LAST year:

ACHIEVED    1.  Have everyone work on their circles (minimum of 500 each)

EXCEEDED 2000+  2.  Improve upon our team Twitter account (1000 followers)

ACHIEVED   3.  Use Flickr team account more

ACHIEVED 4.  Master Google Buzz and Pinterest

ACHIEVED  5.  Have our team blog up and running

ACHIEVED  6.  Enter more contests, apply for Etsy grants, advertise and more!

I am SURE we did this!  7.  Well over 3000 sales for the team!

So let's get 2013 off to the same success.  Here are a list of goals the team leaders have for our team!  

1.  We would love to have everyone work on their circles, 750 each!

2.  Team Twitter Followers at least 5000

3.  Pinterest Followers at least 2000

4.  To have minimum of 2 blog posts per week, with MANY drafts ready to post each week PLEASE

5.   Blog Followers at least 500

6.  Apply for an Etsy Grant and start more advertising

7.  We want at least 150 members on the team all active and strong

8.  Strive for Quarterly PFT Events

9.  Start new activities through sites such as Wanelo or G+

10.  We want Team Treasuries on a weekly basis that hit the 1st page of the treasuries

11.  FP Treasury features for our team!

I think all of these goals can be achieved easily for our team.  Each year we will grow stronger and have more and more success as a team and with our shops. 

Here is to an amazing 2013!  We are thankful to all of our active members, and hope that everyone will jump in to help us achieve these goals.

Your Team Leadership.

Onward and Upward!

A Few Favorite Recipes

From members of the Promotional Frenzy Team on Etsy.

We all talk about food a lot, especially what delicious food we ate over the holidays. So I thought it would be great to make a collection of some of our favorites!!!

Baked Brie 
From Marianne of CalliopeAZCreations

• 1 package crescent rolls
• 1 wheel brie
• 1 egg white
• jam of your choice

- Unwrap the crescent rolls and press them together to make one sheet.
- Place brie wheel in the middle.
- Top with a fair amount of jam.
- Wrap it up with the crescent sheet and make it look cute.
- Brush top with egg white whipped with a little water.
- Cook according to the rolls directions and start watching it when they are supposed to be done.
- It will take a little longer than what the package says.

Based on the recipe for baked brie by Paula Deen.


Pizza Dip
From Crystal of CrystalGaylePhoto

• 8oz cream cheese
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 2 c. mozzarella cheese
• 1 c. cheddar cheese
• 1/2 c. pizza sauce
• 1/2 c. red peppers, chopped
• 1/2 c. green peppers, chopped




Mix first 3 ingredients, and spread in 9" pie pan. Mix mozzarella and cheddar cheeses and spread 1/2 on top of cream cheese mixture. Spread pizza sauce on top of cheeses. Add 1/2 of cheese mixture. Top with red and green peppers. Bake at 350* F for 20 minutes.


Veggie Roll Ups

From Crystal of CrystalGaylePhoto

• 6-8 flour tortillas

• 8oz cream cheese

• 1/2 c. ranch dressing

• 1/2 c. carrots, finely chopped

• 2/3 c. broccoli, finely chopped

• 1/2 c. red peppers, chopped

• 1/2 c. green peppers, chopped

• 1/2 c. onion, chopped

Mix all ingredients together. Spread about 1/4 inch thick onto tortillas. Roll tortillas up and let set about 1/2 hour before slicing into 1 1/2 inch sections.

My Big Fat Italian Turkey
From Bill of PaganCellarJewelry

• 1 orange
• 1 lemon
• 1 yellow onion
• Italian Seasoning
• butter
• fresh sprigs of:
   •Sage
   •Oregano
   •Thyme
   •Rosemary




- Slice your fruits and onion and break apart the sprigs of herbs. Insert slices of fruits, onion and some of each sprig into each end of turkey (after you cleaned the turkey out of course!)
- Stick turkey in pan with 1" of water (to keep it juicy and make gravy)
- Melt down the butter and cover turkey, sprinkle Italian seasoning all over butter. Cover with foil (poke a couple holes for air!) and cook for appropriate hours, at recommended temperature based on weight. When you approach the last 20 min of cooking remove foil and let the skin brown. 
- You wont need to baste, the water will keep the turkey juicy and the steam will stay in with the foil

- To make your homemade gravy, take some juice out of the pan and put in a sauce pan. Add flour until thickened and salt and pepper to taste if needed (remember your italian seasoning will be in there too)


WooooHooooo I have finally gotten the amazing Mac N Cheese recipe out of Janet!!!!! Your Welcome :)

Mac 'N Cheese
from Janet of TrinketsNWhatnots

- I recommend buying blocks of cheese and shredding them yourself. It really makes a difference in the flavor of the cheese.
- The secret to my Mac & Cheese is the type of Cheese. I LOVE Cabot's brand cheese. it is amazing.

• 6 oz. of Cabot's Seriously Sharp cheddar Cheese
• 6 oz of Cabot's Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 12 oz of New York Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 12 oz of New York Mild Cheddar Cheese
• 12 oz of Colby Jack Cheese
• 3 Tbls. of flour
• 3 Tbls. of butter
• 2 cups of Milk (whole milk is best for a treat of a dish)
• Box of elbow noodles

- Preheat oven to 350* F
- Start with melting the butter, add the flour and stir/mix well until you have a thick sauce. Slowly add the milk, stirring the roux (flour/butter mix) into the milk. Then slowly add most of the cheese. (I keep some cheese back to put on the top at the last minute of cooking).
- Cook the noodles per instructions on the box.
- Pour your sauce over the noodles, MIX well so that the sauce is in between all your noodles. Put into the oven for 20 minutes. 
- Take out to sprinkle cheese over the top, increase oven temp to 375 and let it bake for another 10 minutes until the cheese is golden brown on top and bubbling. 
 **TIP ** You can always add bacon on the top or play around with the cheese to make it different.
This is NOT a diet recipe, it is for special occasions.


Strawberry Layered Jello Salad
from Elizabeth of TurtleXIII

• 9 oz strawberry jello
• 4 c. boiling water
• 2 boxes frozen strawberries in syrup. I think they are around 10 oz each.
• 16 oz sour cream. I used the light sour cream and it came out just fine.





-Mix all the jello and the boiling water until completely dissolved.
- Add the strawberries and stir some more.
- Pour 1/2 the mixture into a 13 x 9 inch dish or a large round dish. Don't use a pie pan, its not big enough. 
- Leave the other jello on the counter top, and stir occasionally so it doesn't congeal.
- Refrigerate for at least an hour, until the jello is firm.
- Spread all of the sour cream onto the refrigerated jello.
- Refrigerate for another hour, so the sour cream hardens, and wont mix when more jello is added.
- Add the other half of the jello, pouring slowly/gently so you dont mix the layers.
- Refrigerate overnight.


Ginger Almond Biscotti
from Ariella of HausofAriella

• 3/4 c. dry toasted, unsalted almonds (you can toast raw almonds in oven for about 10 mins) 
• 1/2 c. crystallized ginger
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

- Preheat oven to 300* F.
- Next, coarsely chop your crystallized ginger and almonds. You can chop them together, since they'll go into the recipe at the same time. Note that the ginger is sticky inside.
- Next you'll need to sift together the flour, sugar, ground ginger, salt and baking soda. If you dont have a sifter, a neat trick is to take a metal strainer and use it to sift the ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, beat the whole egg, the egg white, and vanilla together. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix them together well. Then add the crystallized ginger and almonds and mix some more.
-Don't expect the biscotti dough to be very wet or mix well. When it's all mixed together nicely, you should have a substance that looks a bit like very lumpy oatmeal.
-Grease your baking sheet or cover it with non-stick aluminum foil.
- Wet your hands before you pick up the dough to make it easier to shape. Shape the dough into a large log for long biscotti. Keep in mind that while the dough will spread somewhat while baking, it won't rise, so dont make it to thin.
- Bake for about 45 mins, or until it is a nice golden color.
- Take the loaf out and let it cool for 30-45 minutes. In my experience, cool biscotti loaves cut much better than warm ones.
- Using a serrated knife, cut the loaf crosswise, across the thinner part. I usually cut mine into 1/2 inch thick slices.
- Place the slices back onto the cookie sheet, and put them back into the oven at 300*F for about 15 minutes until the get crisp. They'll get a bit crispier once you take them out and cool them, so if they're looking darker after 15 minutes, but haven't reached the level of crisp you'd like, let them cool then check them.


Brought to you by Elizabeth of TurtleXIII
Handmade Sterling Silver Jewelry

The Importance Of Owning Your Own Online Content As An Online Seller

Hopefully you are reading this post at a time when holiday sales, product completion and pre-holiday shipping is all out of the way. With the new year upon us, I thought I'd focus my new series of blog posts on ideas to help you be more successful online for the coming year. I have a series of topics in mind, so be sure to check back regularly, but today I want to focus on one very basic and very important topic

The Importance Of Owning Your Own Content

If you are like most online sellers you probably have you information spread out over multiple social media sites and selling platforms. This includes having an online shop with sites like Etsy and Artfire, and having a personal site or blog with a free service such as Blogger/Blogspot.com or Wordpress.com. These are common practices and ideal for the beginner online seller. 

Regardless of how popular or well known you are on these sites, there is one concept that you cannot forget. YOU DO NOT OWN YOUR CONTENT OR INFORMATION. If a third party website is hosting your information, they may decide one day that 'hey, we don't want you anymore' and your entire website, with all your hard work on content creation will disappear, JUST LIKE THAT!!

I'm sure you've heard the stories of someone's Etsy shop getting flagged or shut down without a proper explanation. One day they are a well-known and respected seller, and the next day they are gone, just like that! We've also heard of blogs and free-hosted websites disappearing for a wide variety and equally BS reasons. 

If your entire online efforts were focused around these sites, you have probably lost a major if not sole income stream. And even if you can take the time to rebuild, you have already lost out on hours, weeks, even months of efforts building your online presence. 

Many artists start out using a free service like blogger or wordpress.com. These platforms are ideal for someone just starting out as the information is all set up for you, and you can create blog posts and webpages with a few clicks of your mouse and inputs on your keyboard.

But I mentioned this is ideal for when you are just starting out. Remember, you don't own the information on these sites. And if your site is flagged or banned for any reason, your information may disappear just like that.

Let's assume for a moment, that you are honest and down to earth. You only share relevant information on your website that is designed to build a relationship with your buyers and attract loyal fans. They should have no reason to ban your site, right?

WRONG! If you do your job well enough, meaning you create a website that does such a good job attracting an audience of loyal followers, your traffic will start to eat up the bandwidth allowed for a free website. Your free blog/site host provider may decide that your site generates too much traffic which in turn is slowing down other websites hosted on the same free server. So in essence they punish you not for being bad, but for being too good.

And now what happens? You have just lost an entire website along with your list of loyal followers and subscribers. As you see your site and followers start to grow, I recommend you take every effort to ensure that you do not risk losing these fans. And this of course leads to the idea of owning your own website. By owning your own site I mean getting a custom URL and private hosting. Depending on the hosting package that you purchase you will know how much space you have for content and traffic. And hey, If you realize that you need more space due to a large loyal following, then by all means, UPGRADE. At this point we'll assume that your loyal following is made up of customers who help you earn enough of a profit to justify this upgrade.

To avoid information overload i will hold off on the ideas of private hosting and custom URLs for a future post. I just wanted to take this time to make you aware of what can happen if you get to be 'too good' in the hopes that you will take this information into consideration as you plan for a successful coming year for your online business

This post was brought to you by Leah from MagicByLeah
Leah is a sculptor of fantasy creatures and sock monkey trinkets, you can view them in her Etsy shop HERE

Its That Time of the Year Again!!

It's the season that many of us have been waiting for all year, the time to display our hard work and love to strangers everywhere, in the hopes of making back some of the money we spent doing what we love. This years Holiday Art & Craft Show season has wrapped up for the most part! Hope you all had lots of sales, made lots of friends, and met new customers.

We all wonder about our displays. Are they as good as they can be? How do other artisans set up their displays? Am I creative enough? What can I do to attract more customers? Is my brand apparent?

Here is your chance to look at the displays and goodies of some of the members of the Promotional Frenzy Team on etsy.com  You can see their ingenuity, creativity, and the beauty of their displays and products.

TrinketsNWhatnots.etsy.com

BijiBijoux.etsy.com

ChanelledCreations.etsy.com

DLitesbyDorene.etsy.com

KatersAcres.etsy.com

LindaB142.etsy.com

LoriBergmann.etsy.com

MtBaldyGlassWorks.etsy.com

TurtleXIII.etsy.com

Turning Your Holiday Shopper into a Repeat Customer

Given that this is the holiday season, you will likely have many first time visitors to your online (Etsy) shop Your goal as shop owner, especially if you are offering discounts during the holiday season, should be more than just making a pre-holiday sale. Your ultimate goal should be to impress these new customers so strongly, that they turn into loyal fans and repeat customers. If you make a positive impression on your buyer, they will have no choice but to come back and seek out your shop the next time they have a gifting need There are a number of very important factors that will play a role in impressing your buyer

Quality of your work

This should be a given. If someone is purchasing from you especially if they are purchasing handmade, they expect to get a high quality item, one that you have put your heart and soul into. They likely spent alot more in your handmade shop compared to a local or online chain selling factory made and important items. Confirm their belief that handmade is better When you create this custom work of handmade art for your customer, make sure that you give it your utmost attention. Treat each sale as if it was your one and only sale for the year, and put in more than 100% effort into quality and craftsmanship

Reachability

When a customer purchases from your handmade or related shop, they want to feel that you as the shop owner that you are there for them to help them with their order and any additional questions they may have. I am not suggesting that you check your email 100 times a day. But be sure to check at least once a day and answer any customer questions tin a friendly and professional manner.

Timely delivery

Customers like to know when they will receive their item. Be sure that on your website, you cleary state how long it will take for them to get their item. And be sure to ship their order in a timely manner. Even better, attempt to ship the customers item even FASTER than anticipated For example if you state two to three days shipping average, try to ship the next day if possible. Obviously you may be overwhelmed with holiday orders, which is why you have that time limit set in the first place. But try to over-deliver to make your customers extra happy.

Presentation

Remember your customers are purchasing from your handmade shop because they are looking for something unique. Don’t just take the item they purchased, stuff it into a box and ship it off. Make this item look professional and gift-like with an added personal touch. If you have to wrap the order, don’t use old newspapers. Go ahead and purchase some professional tissue paper. And lets not forget the impact of a handwritten note. Never send the item alone. You can pick up a set of holiday stationary, small enough to fit in with the gift item, and add a few handwritten words. “Dear customer, thank you for your purchase. I hope you enjoy...” and then sign your name. I like to add a little smiley face. This is just an idea. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate but you want to show your personal touch.

Customer service

If there are any complaints or there are any questions regarding the item, be sure that you try to address this in the best manner possible. Worst case scenario, if an item breaks, perhaps you will have to eat the cost of this one thing if this means that you will ultimately satisfy your customer and impress them so much that they will return to your website. (of course be on the lookout for scammers, do ask for proof of the broken item or perhaps offer to pay the return shipping) Remember holiday season is THE season of shopping. Once the holidays are over many online shops face the post-holiday slump. However, if you ensure that you impress every holiday shopper in every possible aspect, they will have no choice but to think of your shop for future gifting needs. They will even tell their friends thus bringing you qualified referrals. This will ultimately lead to a healthy sales for your shop in the coming seasons.


This post was brought to you by MagicByLeah
Leah is a sculptor of fantasy creatures and sock monkey trinkets, you can view them in her Etsy shop HERE