By Contributing Columnist Nina of Mamaslittletreasures
So remember, If you would like to receive these two appliqué designs FREE, just leave me a comment and I will send you the PDF files that you can download and print off to use on your next creative sewing project.
Picture image courtesy of
Thomas Flynn, Photographer
H A P P Y G I V E A W A Y S
Funny, that when you are involved in online selling these days, you find that Contests or Giveaways are the hottest thing going! While thinking of ways to get your name out, you must provide your prospective customers a sure fire way to visit your shop. Most of the giveaways that I’ve been involved in and have entered usually ask you to visit their shop and then leave a comment on their blog with your favorite item. This is when the customer starts to dream about owning one of your items!
So what happens next? You’ve now devolped a repore with the customers that have visited your shop, they have have left a heart or two and you never know….they may have found an item to purchase. If anything the shop holder now has some added views.
You may also find that the contest holder will provide more entries to their customers by asking them to Twitter about their giveaway, post in in Facebook and even do a post on their blog. Some of these postings can result in 5 or mor extra entries! Plus it now gives you as the contest holder more visibilty!
Since giveaways have been growing within the Indie community, Indiesmiles has just started their new section “Happy Giveaways” it’s a place for all of us to find the recent giveaways that are out there! So, when you stop by to read an article or to peruse the advertisers…you can also check out the “Happy Giveaways”. And most certainly if you have a giveaway that is going on in your online shop just purchase a listing for $1.00. We enjoy providing advertising for $1.00, after all the online craft business has taken a beating with a slow economy; so we at Indiesmiles want to make it easy on you and your budget!
Lets take a look at some current contests!
What a clever method to present a contest! Pinareis is amazing. You have got to, got to check out her video contest! It is AWESOME, along with her prizes! She is giving out 4 different designs to 4 different winners! So take a minute or two, watch her video and join in her fantastic contest…and the chance to win one of her fabulous prizes. I adore the scarves, they are incredible!
I spoke to the gal who runs Pinareis by email, she was so sweet and so appreciative of the “Happy Giveaways” listings!
Another fun contest is Adelle’s Resin Bangles! Her blog is so colorful and so are her Bangles, infact to win one of her bright and fun bangles you need to let Adelle know which color is your fav. Join in the fun here!
In the happy world of giveaways, you will also find that bloggers enjoy hosting giveaways for other artists! So is the case for Amazing Mae as she hosts the giveaways for “Grace Hester’s” Family prints. Now this also an awesome giveaway!
There are several other current “Happy Giveaways” and I do wish I could mention them all, but the fun is in the winning…so off I go to Twitter about one, Facebook post about another and don’t forget…comment…comment…comment!
Stop back often to see the new giveaways, there are always contests being posted in Indiesmiles…so don’t miss out!
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Join in our “Spring for a Deal” contest for a chance to win your choice of advertising on Indiesmiles!
You can choose from our Smiles Coupon Campaign, our Indie Finds Directory, our Big Smiles Ad Space, or our Showboat Feature. Read more about each advertising program by clicking on their respective links.
This month, our Coupon Campaign will feature our new “Spring for a Deal” theme where stores will offer our IndieSmiles coupon for $5.00 off with a purchase of $25.00 or more.
First, if you haven’t done so already, join our IndieSmiles Facebook group. If you for some reason cannot join the group, add El and / or Sue as your friend (that’s us!) and request that we add you.
Then, leave a comment on our Facebook group! Entries are accepted daily so leave a comment once a day to increase your chance of winning!
Its that simple 
Instructions are available here.
Welcome back to Tweetips! The place where you can find tips and tools for Twitter, the new social network that has hit the internet and Indie shops by storm!
I’ve seen so many of our Indie friends posting on Twitter, more and more are joining each and every day. If you have any questions about Twitter please feel free to contact me at info@indiesmiles.com.
Our last Tweetip included a great tool Twitter Karma, but unfortunately shortly after we included them in our Tweetips their site stopped working. Don’t know why! I’ve tried contacting the site owner and have not received any replies.
But have no fear, there is still a great Twitter organizer tool, know as Mytweeple
a great tool that can help you organize your Twitter followers. It will display for you all of the Twitters that follow you and you don’t follow back; so no longer are you going to lose followers because you may have missed them along the way. You can also see who you are following that are not mutual, because after all, if you have been following them for awhile and they are not following you back, you may not want to continue the relationship. You’ll see the profile of the twitters in question along with the website url that they have posted in their Twitter account. This information will help you make your decisions as to who is a “keeper” and well, who is not
Now, if you have more then one Twitter Account, lets say a business account and a personal account, etc. then this site is a must see. Also if you love a fun site with killer graphics, you may want to stop by even if you only have one Twitter account. It’s worth it believe me! The Mattinator is fun, fun, fun!
So, here’s the deal. You sign-in with one Twitter account and once you do, you can add as many Twitter accounts as you would like. Then post a tweet and define which accounts they should post to. Post to them all, or only some, or only one. It’s up to you! Now this app was built by the Carsonified team they built this application in only 4 days! You can read more about the Mattinator and why this team built this site so quickly by visiting their website. They even filmed the creation! Fun, fun, fun!
Ok, admit it. Sometimes you just don’t know what one of your Twitter friends just said! It’s not the 140 letter thing; it’s more the abbreviations or the terminology that they used that just made you feel like you are a fish out of water. Just when you wanted to Tweet something simple about the flavored coffee you were savoring, blurb…what was that you just saw twittered? “Ruby on rails” you are thinking to yourself, sounds like an old rock song, but you could tell from the conversation that they were talking about Twitter! Hurry, pull up your handy Twittonary and look it up, if you do you’ll find that the phrase meant “Ruby on Rails: the programming language used to create and develop Twitter. Well, if you see a Twitter abbreviation or phrase that stumps you, you can now look up those words on Twittonary by the first letter. This is such a brand new Indie site so they invite you submit new words. So, guess what that’s just what I did. What word did I add? Indie, of course!! Stop by and visit Twittonary.
Here is a newly introduced fun tool, that will let you see the Cloud words (tags) that are associated with your following! It’s just fun to check it and see if you agree with the context included in this happy tool. You can find your clouds, where else? At twittersheep.com
Hope you enjoyed this article on Tweetips and hope you stop back to visit us again. And from one Twitterholic to another, keep on Tweeting!
Our shop features hard-to-find VINTAGE craft and sewing items plus most recently I’ve added VINTAGE items that could be used for gifts or something for yourself to splurge on! Hope you enjoy all the items as much as I have enjoyed presenting them.
Many people ask me how Tackybackintime’s shop got it’s name. I had a Mosaic Shop that also incorporated the Tacky (after Tacky glue) title, so when I decided to start a vintage shop I put a contest in the Etsy forum to have all the creative minds go to work and find me an appropriate name! When “nothingtoofancy” came up with Tackybackintime, my shop’s fate was sealed!
I also get questions as to why I decided to start a vintage shop, my shop was vintage before vintage was “cool” on Etsy. I was thinking of a new shop and at the same time I visited a church sale and stumbled upon a huge box of vintage craft supplies. The walk back into memory lane was wonderful…Remember Sock Monkeys! Macrame supplies! 70’s crochet patterns of Mod sweaters! And more! There was an entire box of a new shop found at that church and Tackybackintime was born!
I’ve seen added non-vintage supplies and fun vintage items. It seems that the most popular item on Tackybackintime is the vintage fabric that I’m able to find from the 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond that I pass along at bargain prices.
I hope you stop by and step back in time!
http://tackybackintime.etsy.com
I also love to do special orders!
Tacky Back In Time accepts the Winter Wonderland Free Shipping Coupon from December 16 – 31!
Always Amy’s Nostalgic & Vintage Inspired Style
Meet Amy “a mostly self-taught artist with a penchant for vintage and an obsession with turning one thing into something else.” She’s a seller who loves to use color (one of my personal favorite elements of jewelery design) and the lady is into everything. Here she talks about her style & motivation for creating.
Sue: You say that you ‘get your fingers into everything’ tell me what crafts you are involved in?
OK, deep breath. Painting, sculpting, photography, jewelry design, decoupage, drawing, sewing, mixed media, found art & time management (which has definitely become an art form for me!)
Sue: What is currently your favorite type of craft?
I don’t know that I enjoy any one medium more then any other (& I NEED to be able to fluctuate between each of them depending on my mood) but I do get the most joy from repurposing old things into new art. I think the new trendy term for this is ‘upcycling.’
For example I made a 2 ft. tall robot out of discarded 8 track cassettes, board game pieces & random electrical bits. He is sitting in my dining room. There is so much waste in the world. I enjoy returning things that were once precious & exciting into something enjoyable again. I work this into just about everything I create from jewelry to painting; it’s a big part of what motivates me creatively.
Sue: Roughly how much of your jewelery is created from vintage items?
At any given time well over half of what I produce comes from vintage. The problem with vintage is availability. You can’t just re-order 50 year old buttons! But this is also the beauty of it because it means many creations will be one of a kind. I use vintage as much as possible – I am constantly trolling the town & the net for new sources.
Sue: Where do you find the vintage and recycled items your use to make things?
Garage sales, thrift stores, auctions, flea markets, old ladies basements, the internet – wherever I go, I am always on the lookout.
What would you say influences your sense of style?
I have always had kind of my ‘own’ style. However, the difference between private & public crafting is the need to be aware of trends. I generally have a good instinct for what will be popular & keep that in mind when I am crafting. I am obsessive about color & texture. I also squeeze in some personal art history research each month. I choose an artist & read their biographies & study their work & that definitely inspires me.
Do you have any favorite designers/resources that inspire you?
I am inspired by everything that comes from the space age era & all things plastic & shiny. I am inspired by vintage crafting books, little kids playing in the park, thrift store finds, pop art, old cars rusting in dirty allies, my husband’s offhanded comments, pictures from National Geographic magazines, the loves of my childhood, my need to repurpose lost items into functional bits & pieces & complementary colors.
What is your favorite type of jewelery to wear?
I feel naked if I leave the house without a necklace on. Let that be known! I love big chunky plastic necklaces: vintage, kitsch, shabby, colorful & necessary for leaving the house!
Where else can we find you?
I love to blog and if you want to keep up with me on a daily basis, then you will want to check on me here.
I am on Etsy under these user name AlwaysAmy, which is a shop full of my handmade jewelry & accessories. Also Amy is another department of my Etsy shops & houses all of my crochet, paper, fabric & mixed media creations.
You can also find me on DaWanda & ArtFire, slinging my quirky, colorful, upcycled goodies!
Click to read my Crafty Blog
Click to see my AlwaysAmy ArtFire Shop
Click to see my AlwaysAmy DaWanda Shop
Always Amy accepts the Winter Wonderland Free Shipping Coupon from December 1 – 15!
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