The Store Is Open For Business!

Sooo...I've finally {FINALLY} added all of my new items to the store (minus two that I forgot to photograph...oops)!  Let me just say that creating titles, discriptions, tagging and adding photos was much more work than I had imagined.  I'm the type that thinks of doing something and then assumes it will be done in a matter of moments...I am always wrong in my estimation of time! 

Anywho...here's a little peek at all of the new stuff!  I would LOVE for you to check out the whole store!  I will be adding some more new items very soon...I can't wait!!

A Fresh Start...

Well hello there...I don't really know where to begin.  Months and months and months ago I decided to take a wee little break from blogging which turned into a ridiculously long break that left me feeling a bit stumbled and confused as to what I should do with this sad little place on the worldwide web.  This wee little break also turned into a semi-break from my Etsy store.  Okay, let me back up a bit...

So, back in November I had already completely slacked on my barely breathing blog when I went to this fabulous craft show that is held twice a year here in Vegas.  Seeing many of these booths that were so inviting and lovely, I decided that this was going to be my new calling for my store.  When Etsy changed their automatic viewing to "relevency" about a year ago, I had become increasingly discouraged and exhausted with all of the new work that this was creating for me and with very little reward for all that I had to do.  I had lost my desire to create.  So finding this craft show gave me renewed energy to sit behind my sewing machine and sew away.  I came up with a few new designs and items for my store and updated my existing designs.  I was starting to get on a roll and was feeling some renewed excitement.  I had made the plan that I was going to enter the November '12 craft show and was coming up with all of these fun ideas for my booth.  BUT...I had also read that this particular show was going to be downsizing without really downsizing the price of a booth!  $595 (not including all of the things needed for a booth) is quite an amount to pay and if I wanted a corner booth it would be another $100.  That's quite a chunk of change in my piggy bank!

Fast foward to April, my mom and I went to the spring craft show to shop around and also see how this new downsizing change would effect the greatness of this craft show that I had become so excited about.  Well...my excitement fizzled!  It just wasn't the same.  Call me wishy-washy, that's fine but I could not see spending that amount on a booth when the luster was not there anymore.  I know there are many other craft show events and I would have entered those as well but the dream was gone.  For now at least.  

Which brings me to now, I feel like I have come full circle in my decisions for my store.  I have renewed my love for Etsy and I have a renewed view of what I want my Etsy store to be.  Previously, I had seen my store more as a hobby, which allowed me to pick and choose when I wanted to put something new in it and be lazy when I didn't feel like creating.  Calling it a hobby was a great excuse for not having to focus or put massive amounts of effort into it.  I could disguise my lack of confidence and insecurities as a "Oh well, I'm just doing this for the fun of it" kind of additude.  The truth is, as much as I loved my quilts, I was absolutely insecure about what others thought of them.  Even more so, (and this sounds so stupid), I was insecure about what my competition thought of my quilts.  I was focused on the wrong people.  But somewhere in all of this, I realized that not everyone is going to love my quilts but there are people who will really, really love them and it wouldn't be fair to those people if I just gave up.  More so, I would be doing an injustice to myself if I didn't do what I loved! 

So, I've pulled up my "big girl undies" and have decided to grab the bull by his balls, I mean horns, and start anew!  Yep, I'm gonna do this!  I'm also thinking I want to rejuvenate this blog with more than just showing you a few quilts here and there.  So beware...I may talk your ear off about what it's like for me to restart and refocus my intense desire to create...as well as other random tidbits about who knows what.  And don't say I didn't warn ya...I can be a chatterbox!

Thanks for stopping by...have a SUPER Day! ~ Mary Carole 

A Little Annoyed but Ruby Sure is Making Me Smile!

So, I'm sure that all of you who sell on Etsy are well aware of the new changes (specifically one) that have taken place this last week.  Some of you (those who have 100's of items that are now everywhere within the search listings) are probably overjoyed with the new change but me...not so much!

Prior to the 10th of August the item search was set to Most Recently Added.  Not that I was a gigantic fan of that either but at least I knew that when I renewed my items they would move to the front of the page listings so that when someone did a seach for "Rag Quilt" mine would be at the front for at least a little while.  But as of August 10th, they have changed the automatic search to Relevancy.  The problem is that I don't see how they are figuring the relevancy.  And for my little store that only has 10 to 15 items at a time (and that's on a lucky day), I feel like it gets swallowed up by all these other stores that mass produce their items.  What happened to the one of kind, ready made items that made me want to sell on Etsy? 

Granted, even with the "most recently added" search, there are a few stores that seem to renew EVERY single item in their store 15 times a day (which is also very annoying) but at least I had the option to renew as well and get mine closer to the front if I wanted.  Now, the same items stay at the front of the relevancy page for DAYS and they haven't renew those items for weeks!  I've tried to figure out the keywords that will move mine closer...and some of my items are close to the front but I don't want to spend half my day guessing what will work!  UGH...

Okay, sorry for my ridiculous complaining...it's just that it has eaten up my desire to create for my store.  So much so that it took me 4 days to list my newest item.

Speaking of my newest item...I.AM.IN.LOVE!  It's a rag baby quilt  using the lovely new fabrics from the Ruby collection by Bonnie and Camille. 

Check her out:

Isn't that the most beautiful fabric? 

Okay, so I'm pulling up my Big Girl undies and I'm going to learn to deal with these new changes...I do NOT like change! ;-)

If any of you have any ideas as to what keywords will work...let me know.  I've been researching for days now! 

Thank you all for reading my boo hoo's and still liking me afterwards!