…brought us a W I N N E R in the Cartoon Caption Contest!

By Susan Rosen, Publisher


The winner GreenCleanShop of Etsy, came up with this winning caption:
“Oh no, my handmade Pig broke! “Can I turn this into handmade bacon and sell it on Etsy?”

Wow, I hope everyone enjoyed the fun cartoon contest as much as the group at Indiesmiles did! As you know, everyone that entered needed to choose a cartoon out of the two cartoons that were provided and then add a cute or funny caption. Two independent judges chose their favorite and then a coin was flipped (using an online randomizer).

I interviewed Jessica of the GreenCleanShop and I thought you would love to hear about her cool shop and her thoughts on Indiesmiles!

Jessica, how did you hear about the cartoon “caption” contest?
I heard about the contest through the Black Friday fan page. I just thought it’d be fun to enter.

Have you been to the Indiesmiles website prior to the contest?
Yes, I advertised on the site and also browsed through the shops.

What are your thoughts on Indiesmiles and the Coupon Directory?
I love it. I’ve told my friends and family to check out the directory look for shops to buy Christmas presents from.

Do you think it’s important for Indie shop owners to advertise their handmade and vintage shops?
It is so important! If people aren’t aware of our shops, they can’t purchase from us. It’s our responsibility to inform people of the benefits to shopping handmade and vintage.

I then asked “GreenClean” to talk about her shop and how she markets (or intend to markets) her shop name to keep it fresh in buyers minds!

I recently was interviewed on for a filler story on the Channel 6 news here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They run that story at least once a week which is great!

I have a lot of word-of-mouth advertising.

I hand out business cards to the cashiers when I’m checking out with my supplies. They always want to know what I’m doing with it.

I also post flyers where I can.

Would you reconmend the coupon directory to other Indie shops, and will you be returning to the coupon directory and other advertising venues on Indiesmiles?

“Indiesmiles Coupon Directory was great for my Black Friday sale. While it’s not in my marketing plan at this current moment, I hope to include it in my revised plan for 2010.”

Congratulations goes to Jessica because she won all these wonderful goodies! Yay!

Handmade Bacon Image courtesy of hmmmbymel

ADD A C A P T I O N……

Read more…

by Susan Rosen
THE EXCITEMENT?
As one of the founders of Indiesmiles I cannot tell you how my soul has been warmed recently due to the excitement surrounding the Etsy Black Friday Extravaganza! I will be filling you in on what’s happening with this huge SALE, but first a little bit about the birth of Indiesmiles and the coupon directory history.

THE PAST INDIE COUPONS
When El and myself headed up a project for EFA “Etsy for Animal’s” Birthday bash there were over 180 shops participating in a very successful Discount Coupon Program. We had set-up a directory in the EFA blog so that customers could purchase from a one stop shopping place and find discounts in all of those wonderful shops. Needless to say, if you have ever ran a program this large you can imagine the record keeping nightmares of how work intensive the blog posting can be in regards to running this type of huge sale!

THE BIRTH OF INDIESMILES
After this successful Coupon Sale, El and I decided to start Indiesmiles with the Coupon Directory in mind. We thought that if shops were having a sale how would they normally be noticed unless you happened to stumble upon their shop announcement, a forums post, or a “sale” avatar. The hopes of getting the word out is almost futile! At the same time Artfire was in the midst of developing their coupon system and if you run a sale in Artfire your sale can get listed within, but we thought to ourselves, if you are not part of Artfire…how would someone find your sale?

SHOPPERS?
The main thought was “How can SHOPPERS find discounts offered in the endless amount of shops on Etsy, Artfire, websites and blogs! “

GET A SMALL TASTE:

SOLVING THE PROBLEM!
El and I sought to solve this problem by creating a portal where as you could submit your own text ad, so to speak, and then announce the details of your sale, using an online format. Then by advertising the portal in Google, Facebook , Project Wonderful as well as handmade blogs and other venues. We wanted to get the word out to SHOPPERS! Just as commercial shops are able to advertise their coupon codes in Coupon Directories, we wanted to have an Indie presence in regard to discounts! October of last year, the Coupon Directory and Indiesmiles was born.

WHAT DO THEY HAVE TO SAY?
Read what some bloggers have said about Indiesmiles:
From Tailortaste

Finally! Someone out there gets it. Indiesmiles is a one-stop-webshop for all things indie – meaning: emerging + unique talent.

And from:
Gifted Designs
We’re also lucky to have Sue, head honcho at Indiesmiles.com, support us in our site-wide effort at promoting handmade by offering us directory listings in her super fun Coupon Directory!

Indiesmiles has also been featured in Killer Startups
and our Twitter Background is featured in the Twitter Gallery:

SUE GOES SOLO
Coming from two different academic backgrounds, El with a technical background and myself with a marketing background the partnership was a good meld. We had many days of brainstorming and developing Indiesmiles together and it was a blast! But in time, sadly El found that hosting Indiesmiles as well as going to Med school full time was just too much for her schedule. Since I’m in home sales and business is slow in my “day job” I decided to keep Indiesmiles up and running on my own. I invited on wonderful Contributing Columnists with vast knowledge of running handmade shops or craft sales!

THE BLACK FRIDAY SALE EMERGES!
Now lets get to the bread and butter of this article! Deon of Poocheze had a thought. In the Book Titled the “The Greatest Secret” by Earl Nightingale, he speaks of all great things occurring with just one thought! Poocheze’s thought was to start an Etsy Black Friday sale and she began by getting the word out in the Etsy forums. With the Law of Attraction always putting the wheels in motion, many shops jumped on board. Several shops offered to help in any way that they could, one shop in particular, gifted designs, took on the big job of designed the all the images and another shop, Zeba, offered to design a blog. A Facebook Fan Page was also started so that ideas and deals could be announced.

THE COUPON DIRECTORY REVISTED!
Indiesmiles and Poocheze put their heads together and talked about Indiesmiles supporting the sale. After all, the coupon format was already in place. But it just didn’t seem right to charge everyone to join this endeavor, the coupon text submission usually runs $2.00 (which doesn’t break the bank) but since we were inviting a group to be part of the Coupon Directory, I offered the listings out for free!

VISIT THE SHOPS!
Presently we have approx 80 shops in the directory and it’s growing daily. Shoppers will be able to peruse all of the handmade and vintage shops and find their holiday shopping, at a bargain, all in one convenient directory!

WHEN???
The sale will run from Nov 27th (Black Friday) through Nov 30th (Cyber Monday) and the deals are tremendous. With so many shops participating it should be able to cover most of your shopping list, if not all!

CARTOON CONTEST!
Soon we will be announcing an exciting cartoon contest that will be open to both buyers and sellers of the extravaganza. So stop back and be sure to join in the fun of the contest. The winner will receive handmade items from some of the participating shops whom are donating these items out of the kindness of their hearts! I can’t wait to tell you about them all. If you want to be notified of the contest, please email me (provided below) and I’ll make sure you get all the details!

LET’s SHOP!!
In the meantime, take a look at the lovely items from shops that gave a kick-start to the Coupon Directory in regards to this fun sale! Be sure to visit these shops as well as the many shops that are listed in the directory, we hope to see you all there!

HOW TO GET LISTED FOR FREE!
HOW TO CONTACT SUE!
GET NOTIFIED ABOUT THE CONTEST!
Should you want to know more about listing your Etsy Black Firday sale for FREE in the Coupon directory, if you would like to hear about upcoming events via email, would like to help out with the contest or just have questions please feel free to email me at:
indiesmiles@gmail.com.

Hope you enjoy perusing the shops and also shopping the fantastic deals as much as I do!

By Brandy aka Knittaddiction

Can you believe it is already fall?! Where did the summer go?
Here in Colorado, the Oak brush is alive with wild tones of gold, orange, rust and bronze. Like looking into an old jewelry box full of antique treasures…
The Aspens, with their tall white bodies, are topped off with beautiful shades of gold, yellow, orange and fading green leaves, shimmering in the warn sun and falling around you when the cool wind blows.
Also at this time of year, the Pine, Spruce and Ponderosa trees are so much more noticeable.. Perhaps they stand out more because the other trees are baring all. The landscapes open up to reveal thick, coarse barks, and wild spiky branches. Reminiscent of a funky men’s haircut, and a rugged chunky wool scarf with old jeans.
As you can tell, Fall is my absolute favorite time of year.
So I’ve gathered up some of my favorite items from the world of “internet window shopping” and put them together in 3 collections that remind me of the Landscapes of Colorado and the beautiful leaves and fall schemes that saturate them. I also added a little battle, The Department & Online Retail Stores Vs The World of Handmade. A little comparison of sorts.

Colorado

I also added a little battle, The Department & Online Retail Stores Vs The World of Handmade. A little comparison of sorts.

Oak Leaves by knittaddiction featuring YOANA BARASCHI

Don’t you hate it when you find that perfect Scarf… The best pair of knee high boots… That wool coat that fits just right… And then you see – the price tag, the fabric content, the big nasty stain on the hem or the back, or it doesn’t fit right! Either too big, too small, too long, too boxy…. There’s some aspect of it that ruins it for you completely. And oh how it hurts when it was ON SALE and you can’t justify buying it. Ouch. Or perhaps you looked at it and said, “I can make that, better and less expensive.”
You’ll notice, I slipped the department and online stores right along in there with the lesser priced Handmade and Boutique items. Laying alongside one another they work so well, and you cannot tell the differences between them. Without looking at each item individually on it’s own site, you would never guess one from another. There are so many Handmade gift options and treasures out there waiting to be discovered. And likewise, there are many many wonderful bargain items out there, that rival the price, beauty and quality of handmade.
You can search for your perfect find anywhere. (Even yard sales!) Stores are so obvious. Online clearance, also obvious.

Don’t forget the handmade sites.
Even Etsy.com has promotionals and sales, and IndieSmiles.com is gearing up a coupon directory, where their sellers can offer discounts for you to take advantage of.

These are not just there to generate more business but to give You, the shopper, a chance to get something you might otherwise hold off on.
Utilize these opportunities, it will save you time and money, and prevent last minute teeth grinding, hair pulling, nail biting and nasty looks at the ladies hogging the isles in the stores at Christmas.

So my challenge and question for you today is: Why let yourself be limited to the department or online retail stores?

I mean hey, I love a good sale as much as anybody and I’m a self professed bargain hunter myself. I love comparing my amazing deals with my family and friends to see who got a more awesome sale, or deal, or “practically-for-free-it-was-so-discounted!!” items.
But I am also willing to pay just a little more for something handmade. I am also willing to put my money towards a stay at home Mom or a budding artist.
Perhaps a vintage item preserved for decades in Grandmother’s closet or Grandfather’s study.
Something handed down and lovingly preserved, now collecting dust in the antique shop.
Something sewn with a needle and thread, with little imperfections and well hidden or brazenly visible mending, adding character and charm.
Something knit with 2 needles and loving hands, with fiber collected from their beloved pets or salvaged from Great Grandmother’s sweater.
Something vintage, it fits perfectly, is the perfect color and looks like it came from a high end boutique.
Something 50 years old that looks like it was never worn, or even so worn that you know if it was that good then, it HAS to still be good now.
Retail Stores vs Handmade.
New vs Old.
Purchases vs Treasures.
Thoughtless Shopping vs The Thrill of the Hunt.

I encourage you to search out those items you really love. Compare those high end items to a handmade item or vintage item. Enjoy the hunt, revel in it. Search for that long lost treasure waiting to be found. That handmade item lovingly formed with 2 living hands and old fashioned tools. Or even that bargain that you can’t pass up.
You don’t need me to remind you that Christmas is 2 months away. Perhaps something I’ve put here inspires you to either find, or possibly even create that perfect gift for your loved ones this year.
Special thanks to IndieSmiles for giving me the opportunity to hon my writing skills again, and to the Etsy artists for allowing me to feature their loverly items!
Inspired by Fall, my first set, and my first time guest blogging, I present to you, the Oak Brush..
Enjoy,
Brandy
My Shop: knittaddiction.etsy.com
My Blog: just4knitsandgiggles.blogspot.com/
Or find me on Facebook and say hello!

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