My New Business! May 16, 2008

     In March, 2008 I decided to branch out.  I have launched a new business, Start To Finish Supplies!  My goal with my new shop is to provide supplies to fellow crafters at a reasonable price while offering friendly service and fast shipping!  So far I have accomplished that goal and I have a 100% positive rating with 38 positive feedbacks! 

The business has taken off quickly and has been a smashing success.  I look forward to the future of my new business and seeing it grow. 

I have three online stores for my new business.  My first shop is located on Etsy and has been where I have made all of my sales.  Three weeks ago I signed up with Yahoo! and opened my own e-commerce site.  I am still working out the design kinks, so please remember that when you visit. 

This week I opened up my third shop which is located on BigCartel.  I have heard excellent feedback about BigCartel, so I decided to find out what all of the hype was about.  So far I really like it.  The site is easy to use, design and update.  I am most likely going to combine my Yahoo and BigCartel shops in the near future so that I will have the best of both worlds.  But for now please stop by and check me out!

www.starttofinish.etsy.com

www.starttofinishsupplies.com

http://starttofinish.bigcartel.com

Spring is Coming! March 5, 2008

I have started to work on my Spring Time Fun line!  New items in my shop include fabric covered button accessories and earring frames.  Thanks to my newly retired Pops for the help with my “Classy & Sassy Earring Frames”! 

 http://katiecarolinadesigns.etsy.com

Meeting Minutes

NC Triangle Etsy Street Team Meeting 

Date: Saturday, February 23, 2008

Time: 11:00am

Location: Food Court at Crabtree Valley Mall 

Attendees:

KatieCarolinaDesigns, DinnerTimeChimes, Megrnc, Memekiwii, RippasCustomSilver, Karen’s Soaps, Fearless Freak, MetaMorph, WhimsyPics, Ellemvee, CarolinaPatchworks, Bijou Savvy, SmuTopia, Lynns Crafts, Simply Notes and Totes, AeKeith, Crafts By Alice, Opal Light, BellaMiaDesigns, Vintage Scraps, Copper Cat Designs, DancingKat, SYFjoolz, Loriola

Speaker: Katie

• Hello and welcome
• Introductions- each person stated their name, store name, length of time on Etsy, their craft and where they are from
• Possible future meeting locations
  • Fearless Freak works for Panapolie, we can meet there on Sunday evenings if needed
  • Karen’s Soaps suggested her neighborhood clubhouse

• NC Triangle Street Team Blog and Forum
  • Amy with Aekeith volunteered to set up and run a team blog and team fourm
  • Blog: www.nctriangle.blogspot.com
  • Forum: www.nctriangleforum.com

 Speaker: Meme, Memekiwii

• Free Art Friday: leave art samples around town in public places with a “take me” note.  Contact Memekiwii if you would like to join.

 Speaker: Megan, MegRnC

• Monthly Craft Night
  • Recap of last months craft night: was held at Megan’s house and the group had a mini sewing class
  • Carolina Patchworks to host the next craft night
  • If you would like to host a craft night convo MegRnc
• Flickr Group:http://flickr.com/groups/603332@N23/  Please join in!

 Speaker: Erin, DinnerTimeChimes

• Local Craft Shows
  • Erin maintains a website with listings of area craft shows, http://www.city-data.com/forum/raleigh-durham-chapel-hill-cary/224550-art-craft-shows-local-2008-a.html#post2398513
  • Short discussion about show experiences
  • Share you experiences in the Triangle Forum about any craft shows that you take part in.  This way others can learn from your experiences.  A section has been set up in the Triangle Forum for everyone to share: http://www.nctriangleforum.com/shows-f12.html

 Speaker: Katie, Katie Carolina Designs

 Team Dues: group discussion:

• Dues: Collect a set amount from each member on a regular basis, the money collected is used to pay for advertising
  • Example: $5 collected quartlerly
• Volunteer needed to research advertising cost
• The research findings of advertising cost will be used to determine the amount of dues to be collected from each member.
• A secretary will be assigned- this person will over see the  dues collection and would prepare a quarterly balance sheet to be distributed to all members.
• Why pay dues?  What will you get from it? – Paying dues will allow you to be a part of the group advertising.  The advertisement would contain the team website.  The buyer would go to the team website and would see pictures/links to the shops of each of the dues paying members of the team. 
• Thoughts? Concerns?  A decision has not been made yet so post your comments in the team forum!   http://www.nctriangleforum.com/advertising-f3.html
• Promote others:Snag treasuries and feature others in blogs!  PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE!   
• Designation of team tag: nctriangle
  • Tag every item that you list
  • The tag will connect to the Team blog
• Every Thursday night at 7pm is “NC Chat Night”.  A chat room is opened at this time for NC Etsians to gather and chat.  These are Etsians from the Charlotte Street Team as well as all across NC.
• Starting a new thread
  • A new forum thread will be started.  Katie from Katie Carolina Designs will start the new thread.  A new thread will be opened up either weekly or monthly

   Photo of our 2nd group meeting courtesy of MemeKiwii!

   

Review: Swansboro Arts & Crafts Show November 17, 2007

Show: Swansboro, NC Pig Cook-Off Arts & Craft Show

Date: Friday, November 2, 2007 and Saturday, November 3 2007

Time: Friday 5-9 pm, Saturday 9am-5pm

Hosted By: Swansboro Area Chamber of Commerce

Minus a very unproductive first day, the Swansboro Arts & Craft Show was not a bad show to be involved in.  The Arts & Crafts Show was in conjunction with an area pig cook-off.  Local cookers got together and raced to cook the best pig.  Awards were given and speeches were made.  If you are from the south, then you can understand the thrill. 

 The Arts & Crafts Show started on Friday night in the Swansboro Civic Center as the cooks began to set up.  This was not the highlight of the show.  It is hard to think about anything good to say about the Friday night portion.  It was a good time to get to know other vendors, otherwise I recommend sitting this part out.  There were very few shoppers and as a result very few sales.  Basically a waste of time.

 As the cookers stayed up all night slaving over thier pigs, the rest of us went home.  We returned in the morning in time for the Arts & Crafts Show to open back up at 9am.  

What I love about a small town is how the locals are willing to come out and show their support!  I was continually amazed by the foot traffic.  The place was so busy that it was hard to spare a minute for the rest room!  All in all the show was good, but on a scale of 1-10, 1 being a loser and 10 being spectacular, I would give this show a 5.  Here are a few specifics on why I give it a 5.

 Pros:

• Good foot traffic on Saturday:  As I mentioned before, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of interest and the number of shoppers on Saturday.
• Friendly vendors:  I had a great time getting to know some of the other vendors.  My favorite was Caroline Bailey.  Caroline makes decorative scallops.  She spends 3 hours each morning scouring the beaches for scallops to use in her creations. 
• Good food:  I would not expect anything less!

Cons: 

• Very few shoppers on Friday:  As I mentioned earlier, I would sit Friday out. 
• Poor leadership:  This is one of the reasons that I am not sure that I will do this show next year.  It is amazing to me that in the course of a two-day show, I never once was able to find the person who was in charge!  The lack of leadership was amazing. 
• Due to the lack of leadership there was no one there to enforce the close up time.  The show was supposed to go until 5pm on Saturday.  Since there was no one around to enforce the 5pm rule, many vendors began packing up as early as 3pm.  Even the band, who were paid to be there until 5pm, packed up and left shortly after 3pm.  Why not, there is no one there to remind them of their obligation!!
• Too many jewelry vendors:  Out of 25 vendors, 13 sold jewelry.  This is a very high percentage!  It makes selling harder because of the amount of competition and it takes away from the show because of the lack of variety. 

Planning the Triangle Area Etsians Craft Show November 8, 2007

Meeting Recap:

A meeting was held Wednesday, November 5, 2007 at 6pm to begin planning the Triangle Area Etsian’s Craft Show.  Those in attendance were myself, Bonnie with HelloCrafty and Karen with KarensSoaps.  Responsibilities were dispersed among the Committee Chairs and plans were hatched. 

The group spent time sharing ideas and pouring over the results of the Charlotte Etsy Street Team’s Craft Show that was held this past October.  Thanks to SoCaliGirl for giving us her valuable insight on the do’s and don’ts of show planning. 

So far the details are very fuzzy, but we are excited to be underway.   We are going to begin looking into locations and dates.  We are looking to hold the Craft Fair on a Saturday in the Spring (2008) in a hotel conference center. 

 

Each committee chair has been assigned a role with duties that she is responsible for:

Bonnie & Carrie, Marketing Gals: Bonnie and Carrie will work every marketing and advertising angle out there.  They will be in charge of getting our event on as many calendars as possible!! 

Karen, Location Scout: Karen will spend time finding the best possible location for our Craft Show.

Katie, Treasurer/Vendor Assistant: Initially I will begin by assessing the vendor interest.  Later I will be in charge of collecting vendor applications, applicable booth fees, etc.

As you can imagine there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle.  The group will be meeting again in early December to go over our research findings.  We will likely be reaching out to our fellow Triangle Etsians for assistance as well.  I will keep my blog up-to-date, so please check back often!

First Ever Meeting of the NC Triangle Area Etsians! October 8, 2007

This past Saturday, October 6, the first meeting of the NC Triangle Etsians was held at Cup A Joe in downtown Raleigh. We are starting off small but have the potential to become a large and very active group. We are off to a great start with 10 attendees at the first meeting and around 30 others that want to join our group! Those who were at the meeting were:

Bonnie aka Hello Crafty hellocrafty.etsy.com

Karen aka Karen’s Soaps karenssoaps.etsy.com

Carrie aka Rippas Custom Silver rippascustomsilver.etsy.com

Rhonda aka RK Creations rkcreations.etsy.com

Kathy aka Dancing Kat Design dancingkatdesigns.etsy.com

Stacy aka Hippofabulous hippofabulous.etsy.com

Emily aka Carolina Patchworks carolinapatchworks.etsy.com

Kim aka Sweetgum Handbags sweetgumhandbags.etsy.com

Lindsey aka Purple Daisies purpledaisies.etsy.com

For those who could not make it some of the items covered were:

• Local Craft Shows: The discussion included details on what craft shows we are involved in, what craft shows are still open for applications and which craft shows to stay away from.
• Photography: Stacy with Hippofabulous is well versed in photography.  She took time to discuss proper lighting and set up for taking professional photos.
• Triangle Etsy Craft Show: We established a committee that will be assigned to setting up a craft show in the area.  The craft show will be in the Spring of 2008 (probably April).  Vendors must be registered Etsy sellers.  The committee will start planning the show in January. 
• Picture: We gathered and shared advice and information with those that share our particular craft while Stacy’s husband took our group photo

Upcoming Meeting:

Since the Holidays are upon us and many are busy with upcoming craft shows, our next meeting will be in January when everyone has a bit more time.  Bonnie and I look forward to setting up the next meeting and seeing what fun we can have!!

Katie Carolina

katiecarolinadesigns.etsy.com

Hello world!

Hello everyone.  I am finally stepping out into the blogging world!  I have to say, I am not 100% sure what I am doing.  My inspiration for starting a blog has come from the numerous people on Etsy that have told me that I need to start blogging.  To all those pushers, here I am.  Thanks for the advice and the push!