Treasury Challenge Winner!

This weeks winner of the treasury challenge is The Bracelet Tree!  The working theme was Sweet Summer Sunshine.  Congratulations are in order for the magnificent work in putting this treasury together. 


Make sure you take a moment to visit The Bracelet Tree. Her work is amazing and she portrays it wonderfully in her photographs!

Sights Around Olympia

Bayside Quilting, Olympia's Finest Fabric Establishment!

Bayside Quilting is located at 225 State Ave in Olympia, Washington.  They are across the street from the Olympia Transit Center down town.


It is a world class quilt store.  They were recognized as one of the top shops in America by Better Homes and Gardens Quilt Sampler Magazine.


The store logo is "Rosie the Quilter" fashioned after 'Rosie the Riveter' and she wields a rotary cutter!


"Bayside Quilting carries supplies and equipment for the home machine quilter.  In addition to machine quilting notions, stencils and quilting designs, Bayside Quilting offers quilting machines and home machine quilting frames and much more!"  They have a great web site as well. Check them out here.


There is an ever changing display of quilts hanging all over the store showing off the latest fabrics and designs!

There is an amazing collection of Batiks and quilter's quality designer fabrics.

They have a huge classroom as well as a longarm machine that is available to rent!  (There is a required class, see details here.)

Currently they are displaying three quilts/projects created for a challenge they put out in April.

The Royal Stonehenge Challenge

This challenge began on the Friday of the Royal wedding.  And what could be more British than Stonehenge???  We challenge you to use a minimum of one Stonehenge panel and add any fabric you'd like to create your entry into the Royal Challenge.  Stonehenge panels are 50% off -while quantities last.  Use as many as you want. but you must use one.


The fun thing is each of the three entries use a different colorway of the designer fabric from Northcott.

There will be a viewers choice prize awarded to the entry that earns the most votes.  Check out the display and cast your vote.  One of the entries is by OlyEtsy team member PeggySue King, aka Cobaltquilter.

Real Time Etsy Shop Photo critiques

Photo Editing Tutorial

Today's critique is another real time shop review.  Today's review covers LaurelsArt, who sells wall clocks made from upcycled records. These reviews are a great resource to all of us with Etsy shops who struggle with quality photo's.



Thanks to Jessica from DollProject for putting these critiques together.

Real Time Etsy Shop Photo critiques

Photo Editing Tutorial


If I were to tell you where I needed to improve my Etsy shop, I wouldn't hesitate in saying "my photo's".  My hunch is that a large percentage of Etsy shop owners would tell you the same thing.  It's difficult to capture the accurate color, texture and most of all feel, of a handcrafted item, let alone sell it!
But with a little help from basic photo editing software, we can improve our photo's, even our already existing ones, and attract more viewers to our products.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be showing you real time Etsy shop photo critiques that will hopefully help you improve your own photos. 
  
This weeks tutorial is brought to you by Jessica from Dollproject.  

Photo Editing Tutorial

As our OlyEtsy team grows so will our blog!
 
We are introducing a series of videos to help Etsy sellers crop, adjust and finish their photos for better product listings.  The plan is to release one video every week, hopefully Thursdays if everything goes according to plan.

This first video in our series is about photo cropping.  Take a look and if you have any other tips to go along with the video make sure to list them in the comments section below.

Author: Jessica Hamilton of Doll Project 

8 Ways to Create a Winning Etsy Treasury

A ‘Winning Treasury’ is also referred to as ‘Front Page Worthy.’ The more front page worthy your treasury, the more exposure it is likely to get—people get excited when they see a well thought-out collection. Imagine you are the curator of a fine arts and crafts show—you want your collection to stand out among other collections. There are several actions you can take to create a winning treasury!

• Make sure all 16 slots are filled—keep these updated regularly as items will sell and/or disappear.
• Vary the types of items you feature—you don’t want a treasury showcasing 16 beaded bracelets.
• Create a theme or source of inspiration for your treasury. My last front page featured treasury was all about the variety of products made with recycled newspapers.
• When hunting for products to load into your treasury, add potential items to your favorites to help get organized and pull together a theme.
• Look for photos where the product is clear and you can mostly tell what the item is (close crops or artistic/intentional blur effects are fine!)
• Look for photos without visible watermarks or added digital text on them—these images will seldom allow your treasury to be Front Page Worthy.
• Every month, Etsy provides you with a cheat sheet for product and treasury inspiration--it's like a test with all the answers provided! Etsy Merchandising Desk
• Treasuries should stress the handmade aspect of etsy, but don’t forget the vintage items and supplies!

Good luck and have fun!