Featuring an Etsyblogger Newbie - Bliss Soybean Candles and Gifts (Just because)

Bliss Soybean Candles & Gifts is an established high-end soy candle vendor based out of the very beautiful Grand Haven, Michigan! Susan developed all of her own marketing, labels, branding, products, and ideas! Her goal in candle making is to provide a high quality product - the best available - while providing an attractive container and packaging.

Bliss Soybean Candles and Gifts

She started her business by accident... yes, really. she was reading a magazine article about melting old candles together back in 2004 and somehow that led her to the internet to look for soy candle making supplies. She knew back then that soy was much healthier and since she has terrible allergies and asthma, that was a big plus! Check out more great items in her shop and her blog

Get Stuffed -Slow Cooker Stuffing Recipe

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
12 ounces sliced mushrooms
12 cups dry bread cubes
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups chicken broth, or as needed
2 eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS
Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, celery, mushroom, and parsley in butter, stirring frequently.
Spoon cooked vegetables over bread cubes in a very large mixing bowl. Season with poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram, and salt and pepper. Pour in enough broth to moisten, and mix in eggs. Transfer mixture to slow cooker, and cover.
Cook on High for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to Low, and cook for 4 to 8 hours.

Make A Plan - How do I intend to use my blog for promotions and sales?

One thing I learned from the Block Head Rod Talk show was that I needed to sit down and make a plan for how I intended to use my blog for promotions and sales. How do I want it to look and how do I promote? Funny thing is I NEVER did this. I created my blog in order to be a part of the Etsybloggers team. I did start to enjoy it once I got started but my purpose and focus have evolved since I started blogging. With all that said I took John’s words to heart. Fact is I have felt quite aimless the past few months..not knowing what I am doing and why, joining everything under the sun with no sense of purpose though everything I joined has the potential to serve to advance my business. So where do I go from here? Well first things first. I need to be a student and take John’s advice.

How do I intend to use my blog for promotions and sales?

Promote other sites with the first priority being to my Etsybloggers Team members. Goal: Driver bloggers to my blogsite and then to my Etsy Store hopefully to make a purchase
Allow other artist (Etsy or not) to advertise on my site. I am a little green at this so will ask John the best way to go about this because truly I am clueless though know that I want to have multiple means of income.
Share my personal life – I want the readers/bloggers to see that I am a real person with struggles and joys just like the rest of the world. I want to be personable.
Post pics of my items as I create them. Allows the customer to see my creative process and know that it truly is hand made and to see that I work hard to develop a quality product. Besides I know people are quite visual!
Post actual sales items on my shop – Now UNTIL John mentioned this I SERIOUSLY never thought about it. I think I was more intimidated by the thought of figuring out how to do it than anything. Now that I know I have access to support and based on John’s explanation that it really is not that difficult! I am ready to give it a try.
BLOG CONSISTENTLY – I know that the more I blog, the more exposure I will get and hopefully the more sales I will get!
Networking with other Bloggers – Use my blog by whatever means to meet other bloggers and creative artist to learn from, share experiences and ideas with. I am confident this will help my sales and build upon my blog exposure!

Those are the things I have in mind so far. Please feel free to share your thoughts and offer your feed back.

10 Tips for a successful Craft Show by memoriesforlifescrapbooks

I was on twitter the other day and Memories for life Scrapbooks mentioned she did a craft show and showed us pics of her set up! I would love to do a craft show one day soon and suggested she do a blog about her experience with her show to help those that are new to that Venue. She did it and here is the link to Memories for Life's blog to check it out!

She gave some incredible tips and posted pics! I hope it serves to help your business to grow!

The Block Head Radio Show ROCKS!

Yesterday was my first time participating in the Blockhead Rod Radio Show! It was a very positive experience! What is funny is I had no clue what I was supposed to do so I call into the number posted on the site and ended up being a guest on the show. LOL! That is what I get for being the unknowing new kid on the block! LOL! Good thing though because now I have no fear of calling in and will surely do it more often. ‘Blockhead’ – I mean “John”—LOL gave an incredible training on Making that Blog Sell Part 1.

I joined Blockhead Rod, A Good Witch Too, Sew Happy Designs, and Huckleberry Arts for a fabulous night of education and fun! A Good Witch lovingly jeered at John. John and his wife Huckleberry Arts sit in the same room and host the show. I think that is sooo sweet! The chat room was full of energy. Debra Linker won the Artisan Challenge. I won the fast fingers contest. What that means is when Huckleberry Arts types in Fast fingers in the chat room - the first person to get their shop/blog typed in the chat room gets their shop announced on the show. Exceptional benefit in that many people listen to the show after it is over! Tilt Creations answered the Trivia question correctly and won the chat room giveaway prize which was a beautiful Magenta Butterfly Limited Edition Block Print by Blockhead Rod. All in all - it was an incredible show!

I enjoyed it and look forward to the next! Hats off to the Block Head Rod team members!

Wordless Wednesday

Unique Commodities

Stormy Designs Rocks

I took a look at Roseworks Jewelry new blog and was floored! It was a beautiful site so I asked her who designed her new blog and she quickly told me Stormy Designs did. So I asked the awesome Stormy what it would cost me to redesign my blog! Well she doesnt charge a specific fee but takes donations and is more than willing to barter! The end result for me is this incredible site that Stormy Designs did for me. Not only that but she did a new banner for my store and an Avatar! Way above and beyond anything I could have designed myself or paid someone to do for me!

Polymer Clay couch Business Card

Stormy Designs is one of the most giving Etsyblogger team members I have met! She is very active in the Etsy Community. She is a member of the Etsy Bloggers Street Team and Organizer of the EtsyBloggers Carnival. She is such a sweetheart and gives to her family so above and beyond. Stormy told me she has 10 grandchildren! That is so awesome! I love her spirit and her giving heart! Hats off to one of the most encouraging Etsy Artisans!

Glitter Star Crackle Earrings

Tip from Palleiko Designs - How to create a screen shot

Tip from Palleiko Designs re: how to create a screen shot! Worked for me – see my treasury shot below!


* Hit F11 to view full screen, then hit the print screen button.
* Hit F11 again to return to normal screen mode.
*Use whatever photo editor tool you have, paste the screen shot there & save as a .png or .jpeg
* Crop wherever needed and there you have it!

Note: If for some reason it is blurry – you may need to check your monitor setting or how you are saving your document in your photo editor software.

My First Treasury - Yippee!

OMG! I am sooo excited! The awesome LazyTcrochet just featured me in my FIRST TREASURY ever! At least that I know of! I was so excited and it made my day! Thanks LazyTcrochet!

check out LazyTcrochet's blog