Crafty Business
Email newsletter sign ups
The next step in building my crafty emporium, is to start sending out email newsletters. If you want to get emails with new products, sales, blog posts and so on, please sign up here.
Cyclamen flowering on my patio yesterday
If you sign up, please let me know what the process is like. Kudos are very welcome, and so are complaints. I need to know what doesn’t work, so I can fix it. 🛠️
Collecting email addresses is a big step toward building my audience. Currently all my content is on platforms owned by other companies. We’ve recently seen what can happen when platforms change ownership. 😱 What Cory Doctorow calls the “enshittification” of platforms, is usually not as splashy as Twitter’s. But if you follow Etsy commentators like Pam Duthie or Kara Buntin, you can tell that Etsy is heading in that direction too. It’s a direct result of being a publicly traded company. It’s the same for YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, eBay and all the other content and/or marketing platforms.
I’m not leaving Etsy. It’s a useful place for me to sell stuff. But I am looking for more direct ways of communicating with people who are interested in my crafty output. I look forward to sending out newsletters once or twice a week.
Spring Instagram collab
On Instagram I’m collaborating with a whole host of other crafty peeps to celebrate spring. The details are still being ironed out, but the big idea is to share cards on a common theme on a weekly basis. This is the first time I’ve done anything like this. It’s going to be interesting to see if it moves the needle business-wise.
Spellbinders Craft Room Clean Out Sale
Spellbinders are having a sale on die cutting machines, dies and stamps. This is a great opportunity to build your stash. Here are some examples of dies that I think are worth buying:
Die De-Lites Sentiments One - Congratulations and Happy Birthday. Super useful if you’re just starting out and you can’t beat the price.
Layered Mix & Match Sentiments - includes a variety of sentiments plus their shadows. A little bit more expensive but the shadow layer (which you don’t have to use if you don’t want to) is great for lifting up and highlighting your sentiment. That’s particularly helpful if your background is a bit busy.
Typing Class - on-trend typewriter that fills a card nicely. It includes some sentiments and flowers. You can get so many different looks from this one die if you cut it from different cardstock, including specialty cardstock such as glitter, mirror, vellum etc. I have this die and love it!
Spellbinders Clubs for March
Spellbinders Clubs are a great way of building up your stash month by month. They typically include useful sentiments and embellishments in addition to the focal feature of a card. They’re a great value! Jennifer McGuire has a video on this month’s club offerings. They usually sell out pretty quickly, particularly when Jennifer features them in a video. The sign up window opens on March 6th, so you may want to put it in your calendar, or you’ll miss out. Here are some of the clubs I recommend.
Small Die of the Month great value at only $15. This month’s die set includes an all-over lace die and some very pretty butterflies.
Clear Stamp and Die of the Month is a steal at only $17.50. This month it elaborates on the lace and butterfly theme of the Small Die of the Month. Some useful sentiments are also included.
Large Die of the Month is a bit pricier at $27.50. A tree is the focal point this month and you also get dies to create a 3D layered card. Very cool!
