Artfire and Thank you Catnip Studio!!

What a SWEET DEAL!! I am so excited about a new buying and selling venue that I have just joined a few days ago called ARTFIRE! I have to tell you that the more that I navigate the site, the more excited I get!! Right now they have a SUPER SWEET DEAL! It is important that you know that this offer is only good for the first 5000 people who sign up. As of this posting that 5,000 limit is decreasing every single day, so if you are interested JUMP IN before you loose the opportunity!! You can sign up for a Verified Artfire Account for $7 per Month FOR LIFE as long as you keep your verified account active! When the offer expires the cost for the verified account is $20 per month. So hurry if you are interested!

You get UNLIMITED LISTINGS, NO LISTING FEES, NO RENEWAL FEES, NO COMMISSION FEES, NO SALES FEES!! JUST $7.00 PER MONTH FOR LIFE!! Okay, now that is great all on it own, but let me tell you some other things that really that really impressed me!

Artfire has made a commitment to advertise! They state that they are budgeting between 7 and 10 MILLION DOLLARS on advertising costs in the next 12 months!!!!!! Now I don't know about you, but that really impressed me! Looks like they want to make ARTFIRE a household name!! They have already locked up on the back cover of CRAFT magazine for the next TWO Years! And they are all over the web too with ads on Faceboo, Google, arts and crafts webzines and lots of blog sites as we all help spread the word!! And get this as a verified member you can even link to your Etsy store on every item and they will even help you track the traffic!!! There are also Social Bookmarking Tools where you can list an item and upload it to lots of places like Twitter, Facebook, Google, Kaboodle, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Technorati, Yahoo Bookmarks, MySpace, Propeller and MANY other social bookmarking sites! That really helps to get your name out there!!!

And just look at some of these great features!

One button relist!

One button Vacation Mode!

Google Base Auto feed!

Customized Shop Banner !

Member Shop BLOGS!

Guilds!

Kudos! (Feedback)

Real Time Statistics!!!!!!!!

Sales Mode!!!!!!!!

Automated Markdown Manager!!!!!

A Market Hub!!!!!!!! Yes, right from your Artfire studio with a click of one button people can go to your Etsy shop, your Twitter, your Facebook and several other Market Hubs!

I love it that you can decide to have a sales for let's say.... 20% off for a certain period of time as one of the features and not have to mark down each item and then mark it back up when the sale is over. NO!!!!! You just use the feature and Artfire's system does that automatically for you!! Makes having a sale SUPER EASY!!

And listing your items is super easy too!! They have a ONE PAGE LISTING FEATURE! And get this....... you can feature 10 PHOTOS OF EACH OF YOUR ITEMS! !!! No extra cost for that either!!

Does this sound as great to you as it did to me? Well...... check it out for yourself and see if ARTFIRE is for YOU!

Now onto the next thing that I am excited about!! I am the lucky winner of Kathy at Catnip Studio's giveaways!

Thank you so much Kathy!! I just love it! Kathy has two shops over at Etsy! Catnip Studio and Catnip Studio, Too! Please stop in and see all of her beautiful jewelry creations and home decor! You'll be glad that you did!!

Dream Fibers and Textiles

Ok....the secret is out! I am a fiber & yarn ho! (blushing) I love to knit and crochet and so I guess being a yarn ho just goes along with that. I have stashes and stashes of yarn, but am always looking for more, more, more!! Sometimes you just have to have a yarn and fiber fix, you know? If you are a knitter or if you crochet or partake in any fiber arts you absolutely know what I mean! I adore beautiful yarns and creations made from beautiful fibers, laces and textiles! Lately I have been searching Etsy for art yarns, fibers and creations made from them and all I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW!! I have a feeling I am in real trouble!! My heart is beating like crazy and I am feeling the fiber fix brewing!! My cup is running over and I am in absolute tea totalling AWE! Yes..... I am going to be in trouble!

Tonight I also intended to share another Etsy artist with you but my camera battery wasn't charged and I couldn't take photos, so please come back in a few days because you don't miss her!

Lots of love,

Barbara

I WANT ONE!!! Roaring 20's Flapper Mannequins

A special thank you to Nostalgic Corner for granting permission to me to share these photos with you!

Recognize this lady? Last week I featured this beautiful Roaring 20's Flapper Mannequin in a treasury on Etsy. The artist sells her awesome hand painted creations in her Etsy Store called Nostalgic Corner.

After creating my treasury, I went back to Nostalgic Corner to check out all of her mannequins and noticed that the mannequin above was actually ordered by Courtney Love with this specific mannequin design!! The artists mannequins have also been used to display jewelry on both US and British television. It's no wonder!!! Just look at these!!

My goodness! How do you choose just one????

I am so impressed with this artists work! The more I look.....the more I WANT ONE!! How many is it that makes a collection? I try to stay out of her store, but I keep going over and looking and wishing and dreaming that maybe, just maybe, one day I might be the owner of one of these ladies!

I hope you will visit Nostalgic Corner! She also currently has an original mixed media painting on canvas that would look great in your romantic style home!