I have a serious addiction to clutches

I cannot get enough of them! And it doesn't help that they can be so darn cute. This one from Fred Flare was too adorable to pass up. I can't wait until the weather is warmer and I can pair it with a dress and cute flip flops.

Tea Rose Bow Clutch by Fred Flare

i left my heart in tokyo - a treasury

I made my own treasury featuring some of my favorite things that remind me of Japan. The treasury features the following shops: maceymack, BountifulGoods, vivatveritas7, arigatou, jaimebeattie, nutsato, MinLe, catherinefilippelli, tarinchan, XOHandworks, EmiShimosato, kenshop. Many of these sellers are from Tokyo, though some of the items are just Japan related. Either way I think the combination made a beautiful treasury, my favorite I've made thus far. I wish I could buy everything!

Link to the treasury: Expires Saturday

Check it out before it expires!

Calling all Graphic Designers

I need a new banner, badly. Which is why I am requesting your help. If you are a graphic designer, whether you have an etsy shop or not, I would love to see samples of your work. I am seeking people willing to do this for basically nothing. I cannot afford to spend any money. For your services I will send you one paper rose or one 5x7 photograph of your choosing from my shop, free of charge! That is my fee. I will also credit you for the banner in my shop's profile if you'd like.

I would like a new banner for my shop and blog, it could be the same one just sized appropriately but having two different ones would be nice. Also a square image with the words "Reserved Listing" kind of like this. I'd like everything to coordinate. What I want:

Title:

snapadream 

(note: all lowercase, no spaces)

Subtitle:

unique handmade treasures and photography

(would like an extra set of banners without the subtitle as well in the event that I just want it to say snapadream)

Font:

Examples: one, two, three, four, five

In a sweet, cursive style font. I would rather have a unique one from dafont.com and not a stock one from microsoft word. Number three isn't cursive, but I like how the font itself is decorated, though I'm not a fan of all that black. I also like white lettering more.

Colors:

Pinks, Purples, Light Blues

Size:

shop banner - 760 pixels wide, 100 pixels high; blog banner - 649 pixels wide, 100 pixels high, Reserved listing - square 500 pixels

Theme:

Cherry blossoms, sprawling branches, butterflies, spring type feeling. Does not need to be from a real photograph

Idea:

I'd like the cherry blossoms to be pink and white or just pink, the background to be light blue and/or purple.

Now this is the idea in my head, that doesn't mean I don't want to see other ideas. I am not a graphic designer (as shown by my lovely shop banner made in my computer's paint program). If you have ideas I'd love to see them! I'd like a cherry blossom/spring/soft colors/japanese type theme to it. I suppose this is a contest of sorts, so please remember that I may not be able to choose your work so no hard feelings! I appreciate any submissions!

Send submissions or questions to snapadream@gmail.com

Many thanks,

Stephanie

p.s. I suppose I'll give a deadline of March 30th, but who knows I may extend it.

The snapadream dream-catcher

I've given this dream catcher thing a lot of thought and I've finally come up with my own version. I think it really works well in my shop and goes along with the look of my products. It also gives a whole new meaning to "snapadream," doesn't it?

Dream catcher: Pink Hummingbird - $22

Dream catcher: Yellow Hummingbird - $22

Featured in a treasury!

My paper cranes were featured in this beautiful treasury by shavingkitsupplies titled "Never Been Kissed: Shops that have never been on the front page of etsy." This is the second treasury I've been in in the last week or so. It's so nice to finally get some recognition. I always felt lost in the sea that is etsy, but things are looking up a bit! Who knows, maybe I'll be lucky enough to make it to the front page one day. I'm also going to Craftopolis more and checking to see if my shop name pops up anywhere. Things like this make me smile and give me more encouragement to keep on with my crafting.

Link to the Treasury: Expires Sunday

Dream-catchers...maybe

I've always wanted to learn how to make a dream-catcher and I bought supplies for it today. After a little googling, I discovered that it is surprisingly simple, not at all complicated like it looks. I thought that maybe, if I like it enough, then I could come of with a "snapadream" version and sell them in my shop. It'll take some playing around but who knows, maybe it'll be a new addition to my shop sometime soon. I'm not even sure if there's really a market for it but for now it's just for me.

An unfinished dream-catcher with purple trim

And in other news, another one of my etsy purchases arrived yesterday, this one is from Boneca Linda. It's a beautiful camera strap with lavender flowers and it's so feminine! It makes my camera super girly, but I'm okay with that. I sort of have a thing for purple and actually, many of my recent etsy purchases have a purple/lavender theme. I didn't even realize that until now. How funny.

Camera Strap by Boneca Linda

Google Analytics and why it's awesome

I only recently became aware of this feature on etsy. It was simple to set up and provides me with a lot of info about how often my shop is visited and even keywords people used in searches that led to my shop. It's so helpful! I can even see what parts of the world people are viewing it from. If you have an etsy shop, this is invaluable information. I recommend you check it out.

Setup:
-Go to "Your Etsy" and click on "Web Analytics" under Shop setup
-Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/

Clicking on different areas of your country or world map allows you to even see which cities people are viewing from, neat huh?

Snowed in again

I thought that getting snowed in would make me more productive, but it did not. I got a couple of projects done including another paper origami crane strand and a bottle of lucky stars. I did not get much photography taken though. I've realized exactly how much light I need to get the best shot. Perfectly clear days provide too much light so I need cloudy days. The soft lighting that comes though my window is perfect. It doesn't cast crazy shadows and gives just the right amount of light; early afternoon is also the best time. So of course now I think I'll be a nut about watching the weather so I can photograph my new products. I don't plan on rushing it either. As much as I want to list new items I don't want anymore crappy, inconsistent photos. This means waiting for the best light, even if it's a week from now. Sigh, I just need to be patient.

In the mean time, I wanted to show you my newest purchase from etsy, these lavender sachets! They're super cute and smell wonderful. I have one in my drawer (I'll leave it up to your imagination which drawer I mean) and I think I'll hang one near my bed too. She has many other sachets for sale so check out her shop!

Lavender Sachets by Hope and Joy Studios

This is only small part of the etsy shopping spree I went on recently. I am still waiting on two more packages which I will be sure to post here when they finally arrive. A girl's gotta treat herself every now and then, right?

Paper Cranes added to snapadream

My newest item is now available for sale on etsy! It is a strand of five origami cranes strung together with pearl like beads. I suppose it's like a mobile, but it's only one strand. I made one for myself and it's been hanging in my window. Kawaii desu ne! (Isn't it cute!)

Strand of Paper Cranes - $25

Revamping continues

I spent most of the afternoon photographing new products and redoing a couple of old ones. The lighting was just so great I couldn't pass it up. It snowed last night and it was still a bit cloudy so it was the perfect amount of sunlight to photograph with. I'm going for clean and simple, no crazy background colors distracting from the product, and consistently using white as a background. I like where this is going, though it still needs a bit of work. Eventually, I will redo every photo in my shop, but that will take some time.

"Winter cleaning"

I've decided to do a complete revamp of my store. I'm not happy with the way my products are displayed, the photography, and even the selection. Since I'm beginning to add different products to my shop, I want everything to be balanced out. I have too much photography grouped together, same with the flowers. I know I can rearrange it how I like, but I still don't have enough variety.

I may even run a "contest" of sorts, looking for graphic design submissions to give me a new banner. The winner would win a free rose from my shop and I'd credit their work in my profile. Look for more details on that later (should I decide to actually do it). I'll admit, I made my current banner using the paint program on my computer. It was good enough to start, but I'm getting bored with it. Sometimes I really wish I had taken a graphic design course in college.