Chicago Style Crafters

Our first meeting of the year is set for Saturday, Jan 16th at 1:30PM at Circa Ceramics Studio {3759 N Ravenswood, Suite 134, Chicago, IL 60613}. Please read "STATE OF THE CSC" in the Forums to be prepared!
-Donovan

When: This Saturday 10/17

Where: 1845 N. Western in the room beside Challenger Comics (thanks, Donovan!)
Just off of the Western Blue Line.

What Time: 1:00

What to Bring: 10 "Chicago Holiday" items with for our seasonal gift bag
valued at $5 - $15.

Those that don't have items ready but would still like to contribute can drop them off to the bag organizer after the meeting. For newbies, these bags are sold in our team etsy store (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5274399) to create funds for things like advertising, sales and other team expenses and promotions.

Our next in person meeting is April 11th, 2oo pm, at Shana (cookoorikoo) & Shawn's (pixel party) house 4516 Lawndale, Chicago.

I would also like to use this meeting to put together/gather promo items. We will be using the promo bags for the up coming Do-Division Street Fest. Only members in good standing can contribute to the promo bags. So if would like to be a part of this great marking opportunity and get our name/store out there be come a member.

- For the bag please bring a minim of 100 items, the more you bring the more bags we can have.
-- any left over items can be used in future bags if you would like.
- The items can be any size you want but nothing to big. Some example of items from previous bags are business cards, stickers, tea lights, magnets, buttons, hair clips, ect.
- This is a Promo Bag so please make sure your items contain a logo, URL or business name as the main feature. If you still have questions about what a promo item is you can find a definition here www.homeofthesampler.com/info/faq.html#difference

Jessica / Cranky Pickle
www.CrankyPickle.etsy.com
jesswhit(at)gmail(dot)com

so sorry that i could not transport myself to the meeting tonight! i just couldn't get a ride. i do have some coupons for the urban garden bag (if we are doing coupons) if so, can i send them to some one or drop them off somewhere? anyway, hope that all went well!
marsha
(spinalfusion)

Want to be in good standing with the "Chicago Style Crafters" and get all the benefits that come along with it?

Well here is your chance.

Our next face to face meeting will be Tuesday, March 10th.
The main purpose for this meeting is to put together our Spring Gift Bag an (Urban Garden Theme). It will be held at Betsy (FoxgloveAccessories) house on 2114 W. Potomac at 7oo pm.

- For the bag please bring about 15 items with the theme of Urban Garden.
- The items can be any price range that you want but they are usually between $5-$15.
- This is a gift bag NOT a promo bag. If you want to know the difference you can find a good definition of promos vs. items on www.homeofthesampler.com/info/faq.html#difference
Also check out our Winter Gift Bag in our store for examples of items that were submitted http://www.chicagostylecrafters.etsy.com

Want to know all the ways to be a member check out www.chicagostylecrafters.com/node/179 under Membership Requirements for all the membership details.

Hey csc members! Join us for the first online meeting of 2009 tomorrow at 7:00 in etsy's virtual lab. We'll be in the Sun Room:
http://www.etsy.com/virtual_labs.php

We'll be checking up on the progress of our newly formed committees as well as plans for Spring.

For any additional info, please contact me (Betsy) at foxgloveaccessories@gmail.com or convo me on etsy at foxgloveaccessories.

Happy New Year to you, C.S.C. members! We did a lot last year and we are certain to accomplish more this year. We hope to get committees up and running, and to get our own craft show underway. We also need to decide on meeting times for both virtual and physical meetings.

MEETINGS AND MEMBER INFO
If you have not yet done so- please send your name, shop name, neighborhood, email address and phone number to Donovan [thebluewoman(at)juno(dot)com] for the database. Using the data so far, the map of C.S.C. members looks like this [members are the white dots]:

Based on this info, the majority of our members are located on the North and West Sides. Our face-to-face meetings will be planned with this in mind. I know there are people who have not sent me their info; so obviously, as more data is obtained this may change. I propose that we meet virtually on a monthly basis and face-to-face on a quarterly basis. I further propose that we determine the dates of all of these meetings at our first meeting at Circa Ceramics Studio on January 23rd, Friday, at 7PM. It is too hard to try and coordinate everyone’s schedules the month beforehand. This way, the meeting dates will be set in advance so that you may plan accordingly.

MEMBER REQUIREMENTS

Our only requirement currently is that the member be a resident of Chicago or the surrounding area. I propose that in the coming year, we require active service from members in order to receive the networking and marketing opportunities of C.S.C. Active service will be determined based on meeting attendance and committee involvement. At our first meeting, we should decide exactly what denotes “active service.” I would personally like to make volunteering for a committee a requirement. [Yes, yes, harhar, a voluntary requirement.]

COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

As we grow larger, it is increasingly difficult to have everyone do the same things. Last year, we mentioned setting up some committees, but we were unable to get enough definite volunteers. Currently, our officers are:

C.S.C. Co-coordinators: circaceramics [Nancy] & donovanbeeson [Donovan]
C.S.C. Treasurer: ecram1 [Marcie]
C.S.C. Web guru: pixelparty [Shawn]

Committees should meet on their own and be able to bring decisions back to the whole group at meetings. Please think about what committee you would like to volunteer for. I have listed the approximate number of people needed for each committee. At our next meeting, be prepared with 2 choices for participation, in case your first choice is taken. Obviously, there will be a lot of cross-pollination between committees, but hopefully, by breaking these things up, we can get more accomplished at our group meetings and more accomplished in the Chicago crafting world.
These are the proposed committees and their descriptions.

Membership committee
The members of this committee will be in charge of the following: keeping a database of all members, screening members for C.S.C. participation, keeping the Etsy team page up-to-date, determining membership criteria, emailing reminders of meetings and events and keeping track of member participation. Committee members should be detail-oriented and organized.
[1 to 3 members needed]
Website committee
The members of this committee will help out with member login registrations for the C.S.C. forum, help out Shawn with the website, work on improvements to the website, and create C.S.C. website materials and other web-related activities. Members of this committee should have working knowledge of web design.
[2 to 4 members needed]
Meeting committee
This committee will be in charge of setting the dates, times, and locations of the virtual and face-to-face meetings or other events. They will need to work with the Membership committee to send emails to the members regarding meetings/events. Members of this committee should be willing to contact local businesses to see if we can hold meetings in their establishments and be able to communicate well with the rest of C.S.C.
[1 to 2 members needed]
Promotion committee
This committee will be in charge of coming up with promotional activities for C.S.C such as through The Sampler [www.homeofthesampler.com] and mailing postcards, order inserts, freebie/coupon bags, contests, etc. They will also be the leaders in planning the C.S.C. craft fair. These members should be energetic and driven to promote C.S.C. as well as have the ability to follow-through with their proposals
[4 to X members needed]
Funding committee
Committee members will be in charge of applying for Etsy/other grants or any other fund-raising activities for C.S.C. such as the gift bags. Members should be enthusiastic and be good bookkeepers.
[2 to 4 members needed]
Press committee
Members of this committee will be in charge of alerting the press to any C.S.C. functions worthy of report. The press includes both Etsy and online blogs, as well as local media. Members of this committee should have excellent communication skills and be deadline focused.
[1 to 3 members needed]
Content committee
These members are the core of the C.S.C. website information. They will write content for the forum including craft fair reviews, opportunities, and any other craft reporting news for Chicago and the world. Everyone should be participating in this, but we should get a group of people who really want to keep on top of the latest news and events and let the rest of us know about them by keeping our site regularly updated.
[4 to X members needed]

C.S.C. CRAFT FAIR

We all want to do a craft fair, but none of us really know where to start. We know we’ll need the following: 1) Location 2) Funds 3) Advertising 4) Insurance and Permits
1) Location: Many options have been discussed, but so far nothing is definite.
2) Funds: Our C.S.C. shop has sold 6 of our gift bags, giving us $120 to start with. When we have definite time/date/location, we can certainly apply for an Etsy Grant
3) Advertising: This is where most of our money will go. Recommend advertising everywhere free and look into The Reader/TIME OUT ads.
4) Insurance and Permits: According to the City of Chicago website, we’ll need to contact The Department of Special Events at 312-744-3315 for more information on this.

Okay, so again, Happy New Year! We’ve got a lot to get going on. I hope to see a big crowd on
the 23rd! Please convo or email with any questions.

I will not make the virtual meeting tonight, but here are the minutes [as remembered] from the In-Person meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 11th.

-A big thank you to Erin Donnelly for hosting the meeting at her space.

-Attended by 6 members and assorted family

-Marcie has volunteered to take charge of the collecting and posting of the CSC gift bags. At the meeting, she collected the following:
-small Chicago journals from Donovan [donovanbeeson]
-Chicago photo postcard sets from Erin [erindonnelly]
-Chicago snow scented tealights from Marcie [ecram1]
-Felted brooches from Shana [I don’t know Shana’s etsy name]
-Chicago stamp pendants from Betsy [Foxglove Accessories]
-Chicago parking tags from Nancy and Andy [Circa Ceramics]
-Chicago map envelopes for coupons from Jill [JillHannah]

-A price of $20 per gift bag was agreed upon. This price may change depending on additional items that members may mail in. The deadline for mailing in items is this Friday [send them Priority mail and they should arrive]. Email me for the address if you do not have it.

-The money raised will go towards advertising for CSC and for a CSC only show.

-We discussed the possibility of making a CSC only show happen before Mother’s Day 2009. Erin may have space available at that time. It was also suggested that we contact Schuba’s [spelling?] for possible use of space. This will be discussed in greater detail at subsequent meetings.

-We decided to not meet again face-to-face until after the holidays.

-Jill snagged a treasury for the ORANGE challenge [you can see it just beneath this post]. Do an etsy search for "csc_orange" to see all the entries. Please leave a comment as to whom you think deserves the donated goodies as a prize for participating.

-Betsy has offered her services to professionally photograph items for members. She will pick a day and for a small fee of $30-40 dollars will expertly photograph a set number of items for you. This is a great opportunity for those members who may find photographing their items challenging or want some more variety. Great photos are KEY for selling on Etsy.

-Members are reminded to let everyone know about any upcoming shows they know about. We’re supposed to be an open resource for Chicago crafting. If you know about any opportunities, SPEAK UP! Post it on www.chicagostylecrafters.com, Email me at thebluewoman [at] juno [dot] com to put it on the calendar.

-Have a great holiday season everyone! Remember to come out to the DIY TRUNKSHOW this Saturday, 22nd of November at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, 1419 W. Blackhawk, from 10AM-5PM.

Hi All,

In November we will once again have two team meetings one in-person and one on-line. Please mark your calendars, save the dates, and join us on 11/11 and 11/19. Team meetings are open to current members and those interested in joining the team.

In-Person Meeting
• Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
• Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
• Location: Erin's place (log in and view the comments for the address)
• Topics: This meeting will consist of several components:
  1) Swap and/or sell supplies (optional, you are not required to participate)
  2) Packaging of Chicago themed goodies bags to be sold in our Chicago Style Crafters team Etsy shop
  3) Networking and socializing - please bring a snack and/or drink to share

• Other: Please bring 15 items (Chicago themed) to be included in the team goodies bags. You may bring something you created and/or a coupon for your individual shop. If you are creating a coupon it should be standard business card size (3.5 x 2 inches) and include a code that buyers may enter when shopping at your store.

On-Line Meeting
• Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
• Time: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
• Location: Etsy Virtual Lab, Business Room
• Topics: Updates on current marketing efforts, reports on recent and upcoming shows, and other business as time permits

RSVP here
• post a comment indicating that you plan to attend so we can get a rough count of how many people to expect
  -or-

• send convo to one of our leaders circaceramics or donovanbeeson

---- Posted by Kathyy ----
http://KathyysKrafts.etsy.com
http://KathyysKrafts.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathyyskrafts

Marketing Strategies and More / October Virtual Meeting
Wednesday, October 15th
7:00 pm until you leave (probably around 8:30)
Etsy Virtual Labs - Teams Room

Please bring . . .

• marketing ideas
• info about upcoming fairs
• anything else you want to discuss

RSVP here

• post a comment indicating that you plan to attend so we can get a rough count of how many people to expect
  -or-
• send convo to one of our leaders circaceramics or donovanbeeson

----Posted by Kathyy----
http://KathyysKrafts.etsy.com
http://KathyysKrafts.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathyyskrafts
http://twitter.com/kathyyskrafts