Long Time, No See....

Welcome back to our blog! My apologies for the huge gap in posting. Right after Thanksgiving my computer was infected by a nasty trojan that slowed my p.c. to a snail's pace.

Remember the good old days pre-highspeed DSL? The days of dialup internet connection? Going back even further to the late 80s - remember when the 'fast' modem was 12kbps? Ah, the good old days. And still better than my computer's performance in December.

After fighting Virtumonde (trojan) for the better part of a month, I admitted defeat, wiped my hard drive and restored my p.c. back to it's just-out-of-the-box (2004) state. A hundred or so Windows updates later, I'm back up to speed. I also invested in a second computer, which my household of 4 students sorely needs.

Over the next couple of days, I'll be updating our shop list on the side bar to include our newer members (welcome to the team!).

Next up: watch the portal site where I'll post an invitaion to join the Blog Committee (okay, it's a cry for help, really....)

Here's wishing everyone a happy, successful 2009!

Lisa

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Uber Amazing Blog Award

Sygnet Creations of the EtsyFriends blog nominated us for the Uber Amazing Blog award. (And congrats, EtsyFriends, on your treasury making it to Page 1 on Etsy this morning!)

Here's how the Uber Amazing Blog award works:

Q How is the award determined?
A. The award is presented to blogs that....

1. Inspire you
2. Make you smile and laugh
3. Or maybe give amazing information
4. Are a great read
5. Have an amazing design
6. Or any other reasons you can think of that make them uber amazing! If you receive this award:

To keep the blog love flowing, recipients of this award should do the following:
1. Please put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 5 blogs that you feel are Uber Amazing!
3. Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.
4. Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award
from.

It's going to be so hard to narrow down the amazing blogs on my list to around five. But here I go:

1. Just Something I Made - visually attractive, well written, inspiring artist profiles, and brilliant ideas (check out her post on Getting Clever with Business Cards).

2. A Little Bit of Violette - LouisianArtisan VivaLaViolette's blog. I like the template (violet of course) and photos of her creations (including new baby, Dax, as well as her Etsy items).

3. The Watermelon Tree - by the LArtisan of the same name. Great photos, and a great job of promoting the LouisianArtisans Etsy team!

4. Because I Said So - CheeseandChocolate nominated this blog. It's not an art- or Etsy-related blog, but it is very, very funny. I love the template, too. I'm a new fan.

5. ?????


Since this is a team blog, I thought I'd let YOU nominate a few blogs. Leave a comment with a link to the blogs that inspire you. I'll include the first 3-5 on another post.

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Featsy

I read about an interesting new 3rd party application mentioned on the Etsy forum, called Featsy (Featured on Etsy).

Featsy, introduced on November 4th, allows to type an Etsy ID, press Enter, and it will tell you whether the seller has been featured on Etsy's Front Page or on Page 1 of a Gift Guide.

You can sign up for email alerts if you - or a shop you're interested in - are featured. Featsy also provides statistics on Leaders of the Day, and Leaders of the Week (beginning with the inception of the Featsy site).

If you're interested in checking it out, the URL is: http://www.subsushi.net/featsy/index.html

My take on it: it's fun to check out whether you've been featured, but the statistics are flawed. From their FAQ page:

"Q. How are Gift pages calculated?
A. Here's how it works: if you get onto the first page of 20-50 that's counted as one, as long as your item stays on the first page it wont be counted again. If your item leaves the first page of the gift page, and is than reintroduced too the first page of a gift page and enough time has passed it is added again. "

So one appearance in a gift guide could show up at multiple features if it moves from one page to another.

Also, there's this:

" Q. The front page count and gift count are not adding up?
A. This small bug is persistent because I do not have a separate machine running my database. If i had a separate computer than i would do a full relevant update every 15 minutes, but for efficiency sake I do mini updates every 15 minutes and a full update every 12 hours. if the item you are tracking happens to be one that my stats table misses than the discrepancy could arise. "

In reading the Etsy forum threads about Featsy, some folks are suggesting that it fuels jealousy among those who feel that certain artists are featured much too often.

If you have been featured since November 4th, please test out Featsy and post a comment with your results. If you'd like to read a couple of Etsy forum thread, click here and here.

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St. Tammany Meet & Greet

The St. Tammany group of LousianArtisans held its first Meet & Greet on November 6th at PJ's Coffeehouse in Slidell, LA. We discussed local marketing opportunities, upcoming shows, promotional items, as well as shared our creations.

In the photo, from left to right are the owners of the following Etsy shops: JodieFlowers, Mamaslittlemonkeys, Cheeseandchocolate and LisaRaspino.

Clicking on their shop name below will take you to their Etsy shop. If you click on the photos, it will take you the specific item in their shop. I encourage you visit...great stuff!

JodieFlowers

These adorable appliques/patches measure 5 1/2 by 7 inches and are sewn for durability. They are perfect for kid's t-shirts, denim jackets, jeans, fabric totes, robes...the possibilities are endless!

I'm coveting one of Jodie's colorful spiders made from polymer clay and wire, which can be attached to a window/porch screen or made with a magnet on back. Check this out:

Mamaslittlemonkeys

Mamaslittlemonkeys is a great place to find baby items: clothing, cloth wipes, nursing pillows, bibs and blankets. She made this blanket and Sammy the 6-Legged Octopus set out of the softest minky fabric.



In addition to being an artist with needle and thread, she's also a talented graphic designer. If you're looking for a website banner, avatar or graphic for your social networking site, you can order one through her shop.

The same artist has a second shop:

Fleurdeink
This shop has beautiful silk flower pens for the person who likes to write with flair.



CheeseandChocolate
This shop is a mother/daughter owned shop featuring beautiful, trendy (yet not dated) jewelry, as well as original drawings, art prints, and ACEOs (Artists' Cards, Editions & Originals). Below is her new listed earrings.


The owner of CheeseandChocolate also has a second shop:

WorkingtheStash
WorkingtheStash sells supplies for making jewelry, scrapbooking and stamping. She has a nice selection of Christmas stamps, just in time for your holiday card-making.


LisaRaspino
This is my shop, where I sell handcrafted beaded and embellished chain jewelry. Below is a necklace made with purple glass beads and sterling silver.




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I hope you enjoyed the brief introduction to these shops. I encourage you to click the links and get better acquainted!

Also, be sure to let me know of YOUR local Meet & Greets. I'd love to write about them, too!

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Bayou Boxes!

What is a Bayou Box?

The LouisianArtisans team is kicking off the holiday season with promotional "Bayou Boxes." Louisiana Etsians have contributed a variety of promotional items -- including jewelry, kids items and more -- to be included in a series of Bayou Boxes. Which items a buyer receives will be a surprise!

This is the LouisianArtisans team's first big project. All proceeds raised by the Bayou Boxes will go towards Louisiana's coastal restoration – which helps protect Louisiana against hurricane damage. Starting on November 4th, you can purchase your Bayou Box by clicking here:

LArtisans Team Shop on Etsy.com

Our first Bayou Box recently sold and here's what the buyer had to say:

" I received my Bayou Box today and first of all I was very impressed with the packaging of the product! Secondly, everything in my Bayou Box is super cute & I will definitely be ordering from all of the shops listed for the LArtisans Team! My daughter & I fought over who got to keep what! :)Thanks so much for the fast delivery & the wonderful gifts inside!! :) "

Tell your friends about the Bayou Boxes. It's a wonderful way to support Louisiana artists and contribute to a very worthy cause.

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Another LArtisan Meet & Greet

The idea came about during Etsy Chat a week ago Monday. This meet and greet wasn't for a particular local team per se, but rather an open invitation for anyone who wanted to attend. Two LArtisans drove from the west, and two from the east, to meet at the Books-A-Million store in Hammond, LA.


Pictured below are: Tara (TheWatermelonTree), me (LisaRaspino), Nicole (tu2cute) and her lovely model, and Merry (CheeseandChocolate).

We exchanged business cards, tips and ideas - and shared samples of our work. Check these out (click on each photo to go to the Etsy listing):

These are earrings are by Tara of TheWatermelonTree. I love the movement of these earrings. The crystals floating on the teardrop portion and the swinging dangle positively shimmer!

Nicole of tu2cute made these adorable hair clippies. Her daugther wore one that stayed securely in place during the entire meeting. I love the pink and brown colors!





Below are Merry's (CheeseandChocolate) "Cosmic Swirl" earrings. The jet black cube on silver wire are stunning. And check out the coil - these earrings "screw" into pierced ears. Brilliant!





Finally, we have my (LisaRaspino) six-strand necklace featuring aquamarine, apatite, pearls, glass, seed beads and Swarovski crystals.



Conversation flowed for two hours before it was time to head our separate ways. It was a great opportunity to put 'faces' with the names we see on Etsy, in the Portal, on Flickr....

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Monroe Area LArtisans Meetup

Amanda (wildlifer78), Monroe Area Liaison, recently convo'd me with a link to her blog, where she wrote about the LArtisans Team and the first-ever Monroe LArtisans Meetup held on October 12.

Turnout for the event was great: Six of the nine Monroe Area LArtisans chatted, networked, shared information and showed samples of their work. From left to right are: Lori of LYoungStudio, Amanda of ChloeBoutique (Wildlifer78), Andy of ItComesInPhases, Monica of MonicaCrowe, Val of BabySewSweet, and Marina of BayouPrincess.

Photo by Amanda (wildlifer78). Used with permission.

Amanda explains that, "Because we have members from Sterlington, Monroe, West Monroe, Ruston and Columbia, we tried to meet as centralized as possible. The Corner Coffee Cafe housed our first meeting! We plan on moving the meeting spot around to help accommodate members."

The group brought samples of their creations, which included jewelry, children's clothing, and rcolor artwork. Check out Amanda's blog post to views more photos and to read more.

Val (BabySewSweet) said, "I sure had a great time. It was very exiting to meet people who share the love to crafting. I am looking forward to making good friends, share booths at craft shows, and maybe learn something new. I also loved to see what everyone was making, some great stuff."

The group plans to meet again in mid-November (date and location to be determined).

Amanda, you did a great job coordinating this meet and greet, and promoting LArtisans on your blog!

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