I just want to make sure that everyone knows about this opportunity with Etsy:

http://www.mmart.com/oneofakindshow/etsyapplication/

It gives you a booth at the one-of-a-kind show and sale here in Chicago for $500 - that's $1425 of savings. It's going on the same weekend as Renegade Holiday (Dec. 3-6) but it may be worth it! The application deadline has been extended until Sept. 28th.

We are now the proud owners of a myspace. Befriend it! and spread it to others. I will keep working on it as the days come, so stay tuned!

www.myspace.com/chicagostylecrafters

It's a Chicago Style Crafters Orange Challenge Treasury! Now that it's expired on Etsy, you can check out the items and shops by clicking on the links. Then please comment and vote for your favorite. Go team!

We all know that photos are a huge part in selling our crafts on Etsy. I've found a nice guide at Photojojo. Here's the link : http://photojojo.com/content/tips/product-photo-tips-for-ebay-etsy-instr...

Meeting notes from 6/10/08 should be available by next Friday complete with polls and other important information!

Are you still looking for a unique gift or card for mothers?

Maybe you want something special to celebrat the wonder warm spring weather.

Take a look at these wonderful items creaded my Chicago Style Crafters for their Mother's Day / Spring challenge.

Letter Portfolio - Iris

donovanbeeson

This kit is made of vintage vinyl wallpaper. It contains 6 sheets of
Flutter-By stationery and 6 envelopes to get you started returning your
letters while on the go. It closes with blue baker's twine.

Mommy and me - Bottle Cap Magnet

CrankyPickle

The image in this bottle cap magnet is hand drawn/illustrated by me. It
was done in ink and then colored in. This is an actual little drawing
not a print out nothing computer generated. Making the image one of a
kind similar ones might be drawn but no 2 will ever be alike. The image
has been sealed in with a water base sealant and a magnet placed on the
back

Googly Flower and Little Bud card

jillhannah

The perfect springy Mother's Day or some other caretaker-type relation appreciation card-giving occasion card! Textured
4.25" x 5.5" (when folded) springy green cardstock is blank green on
the inside and light enough so that your written messages will be
easily read. The front has a one big and blooming and one little
budding pink and purple tissue paper flower with soft yellow fuzzy
pom-pom centers and carefully krazy glued googly-eyes. Big flower also
has tissue paper leaves.

Thinking of You - Greeting Card

Kathyy's Krafts

This card has a black base and comes with a black envelope. It is
approximately 6 1/4 inches (15.9 cm) tall by 4 1/2 inches (11.4 cm)
wide. The thinking boy, dog, and rose are not flat. They have
multiple layers to make them 3d. The ribbon surrounding the card is
sheer and light purple. The inside of the card has decorative purple
paper with decorative ends giving it a unique look. The inside paper is
light enough to write your own thoughts. I suggest using black or
purple ink to keep with the look of the card.

The Storque had a brilliant suggestion today: StumbleUpon the heck out of eachother's stores, blogs, Flickrs, etc. I'll start this off by posting my links. Everyone else should reply with theirs.

http://jillhannah.etsy.com
http://www.indiepublic.com/profile/JillHannah
http://myspace.com/jillhr
http://flickr.com/photos/jillhannah/

IF you already have StumbleUpon, just click on each link and give each one the thumbs up.

IF you do NOT have StumbleUpon, go to http://www.stumbleupon.com/sign_up.php and create an account. It installs a little thing on your toolbar with thumbs up and thumbs down options for every page. The more thumbs ups a page has, the more people StumbleUpon sends to that page when they hit "Stumble!" (or something like that). So let's start giving one another some love and attention while it's too cold to do anything besides mess around online, anyway.

And even if we don't all end up Stumbling, I'd love to have a list of the stores and blogs and things of the other Chicago crafters! So reply with your links even if you have no intention of clicking on mine!

team.etsy.com/index.html

Make sure you read the 'Teams and the Holidays' section, and the
announcement made to the street teams about the upcoming campaign.

We can bring this up at the meeting on Saturday, or you can post questions and comments here :)

-Nancy

Members:

This afternoon I was part of the weekly Street Team Roundtable
Discussion, and it was about Etsy's enormous move to hard-core
marketing for the holiday season, which is fast approaching.

Next week an announcement will be made explaining this further, with
details on who Etsy is partnering with to help drive home the idea of
shopping handmade for the holidays (and rumour has it that there are
many!)

Briefly, to explain the Handmade Pledge:

Etsy's pushing forward with an advertising campaign where customers
and Etsy members can go to sign the online Handmade Pledge, an
agreement that you'll buy & promote handmade this year, and along
with that will be links to places where you can buy handmade (including
Etsy of course).

We're doing, and if you're not doing it, think about it:
Online advertising!

http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/howTos/article/a-diy-friendly-guide-...

http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/howTos/article/i-heart-marketing-my-...

Tinaseamonster is a great writer for guides about how to successfully market your work and your Etsy shop - I highly recommend this article and the follow up which just came out today:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/howTos/article/i-heart-marketing-my-...

Just in time for the busy holiday shopping season - And we all know shopping is rapidly becoming a popular online activity!

nancy