Being eaten by fish at the Zoo!
How did we get up here?
The train brings food to our table?!
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Twitter: @MichellesCharmW
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Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photos. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
This Week in Photos!
Welcome to our week in photos! We had another Blessed week and cannot wait to enjoy our weekend! I hope you are having a fantastic Saturday! We are headed out to dinner to celebrate my birthday with friends and family!! (Yes, I had a birthday on the 23rd! I turned 31 YIKES!! Lol!
With the chill still in the air, we headed out anyway and hit one of our favorite hideaways on the bike path in search of river rocks for our nature table and rock project. we enjoy spending time together and being outdoors!
This week my youngest (he is not in school yet) and I worked on Easter wreaths! This was made of a paper plate and tiny eggs (will post more about this later in the upcoming week) and some ribbon. We plan on giving these out this weekend to family members to help them decorate their home for the Holiday!!
We also worked on our address book after school one day! We are sending out Easter cards and this helps my older two know how to address and envelope and get stamps etc. A fun project that gets everyone involved!
My oldest boy (I really dislike the middle son title! I don't like him thinking that he's in the middle, I know that probably makes me weird! haha) is leader of his school this week (They call it the Big Cheese) and he is all smiles about it!! I am very proud of him, as this is his 3rd time this year!!
We found this tutorial on how to make a felt bunny on Natural Kids, I am hoping to eventually make a pin for the teachers this year, but for now we are using it as a template to cut out Bunnies for our Easter Cards!!!
We made magnets out of a 1.00 puzzle and we had a BLAST!!! The process is so much fun for little fingers, but at the same time we can even use them!! They want to make more and for 1.00 I just may give in!!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Social Networking
Awhile back, I visited Social Networking Places and let people know how to make them work for you. I will be redoing this series and welcome any new places that you want me to check out. Please post these places in the comments. I will be discussing how these places have worked for me in the past year.
There are always places you MUST be online popping up ALL THE TIME! When I first started here, it was FLICKR that was the be all end all to online advertising. What many people didn't tell you when toting this site, was to stay AWAY from:
There are always places you MUST be online popping up ALL THE TIME! When I first started here, it was FLICKR that was the be all end all to online advertising. What many people didn't tell you when toting this site, was to stay AWAY from:*Posting your shop link ANYWHERE on the photo, tags, description.
*Having your Flickr Page be ALL about the items you sell.
and that you had to:
*Join groups
*Comment on other photos
*Send your photos to appropriate group pools
*Have your shop link in your profile
*Have a vibrant proile that isn't too plain
In order to make it work well for you. If you can play by their rules and dedicate about 10 minutes each day on commenting on other photos, making at least 6 new contacts each day and uploading at least 1 photo each day, Flickr could work very well for you.
When I upload a photo, I upload 2. I make sure 1 is something personal going on that day and the other is a work item shot. This way I'm keeping it balanced.
My Outcome with Flickr:
I have been on this site for over 2 years now and I truly love the amazing work I see in photos and have joined some great groups. Is this the answer to hundreds of sales? No. It's a great place to socialize and share what you do with other people doing the same. It has probably net 10-12 sales for me throughout those 2 years. This is NOT BAD at all! This is also why I suggest you spend no more than 10 minutes a day on it, if that's the only reason you are there. I began with that mentality and then found I enjoyed popping in on several photopools. I loved seeing peoples kitchens, what they ate, what people wore...it became addicting! haha! Before I knew it I was commenting a lot and not uploading for months at a time. It really depends on what you want out of it. I take it with a grain of salt when it comes to getting Sales from the site, and maybe that's how you should approach it. Any questions? Ask Away!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Thinking Ahead With Monday....
So we're thinking ahead to Spring Time today! I am so tired of the Winter Blues and the yucky snow and slippery roads, so I decided to start thinking Spring! Maybe if I think hard enough and wish long enough, it will be here! I started working on my Spring Packaging and Shop look over the weekend. I will be photographing on the Egg paper throughout the month of Easter and figured it would even still look Spring like if the items don't sell in that month. Since I am using the pink jewelry mailers for the months of January and February for that whole Lovey-Romantic Valentine-y feel, I figured I would change to blue and yellow containers for the Spring months. I will also be shipping my smaller jewelry in actual Easter Eggs the month of Easter too! I figured it would be fun!!
What kind of Monday would it be, if I didn't mention it was time to CHANGE UP THOSE FEATURED ITEMS! Get into those shops and move stuff around! Go with a theme maybe? Or perhaps think of different items from your shop like a ring, a bracelet and a necklace? Just dust them off and bring them to the front! 
My first big box of charms and beads and baubles was listed today in my destash shop! It is full of tons of crafty goodness! These are my smaller trinkets! I have a box of my chunkaliscious charms coming and a box of miniatures coming too! Have a great Monday everyone!!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Time To Shop!
Shop Etsy for my Funky and Chunky LineCome on everyone! Enter the world of online shopping!! Join me in either of my shops today and get a FREE Bow Necklace with your purchase. Use the code 104Bow in the Notes To Seller after you check out! Free necklace will only be given to those that pay with Paypal today.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Wonderful World of Flickr
Today, we are jumping into the photographic world of Flickr. This is an AWESOME social networking site! If you love lots of photos when you read a blog, this one is for you! It's all about uploading photos and typing in brief descriptions. When you sign up, be sure to have a great profile, where you mention where you can be found. I list my Etsy Shop, my Lollishops shop and my Blog! Check out my profile here. I like fun profiles, that give a little hint to the personality. I will NOT click on profiles that JUST have FEMALE/MALE and their Shop link on them. That tells me, they are just there to sell things and not really there for the community aspect of it all. A Big no-no in my book AND in Flickrs are photos that are items for sale in your shop WITH descriptions that say FOR SALE ON MY ETSY SHOP check profile for link. That is NOT allowed and can get you shut down.
Some of my contacts that have recently updated
Ready to start adding friends? Use that search bar at the top right hand side of the page and type in some of your interests! This is a great way to find people that like the same stuff as you do and also you can find more people that like it, by checking out their contacts list too! When I add someone, I am sure to comment on their photos straight away or as soon as they add me too! Always comment on photos of those that add you too! Common courtesy! Post your link in any online forums your frequen, that's a great way to get people adding you too! Another great way is to check out the GROUPS! Click on the top tab that says GROUPS. Type in the FIND GROUPS bar, what you are looking for! Check for things you collect, your favorite color, where you sell, you name it it's there! You will be overwhelmed by the groups, but they are just so fun to be a part of! PLEASE make sure you read all the rules to the groups before posting and putting up your photos. PLEASE don't spam groups with dozens of your photos, just because they don't have upload limits, this is tacky :(
Ready to Start Uploading Photos? Click on the YOU tab at the top of the page and a drop down menu will appear, click on Upload photos and videos. There you go! It will then put you at a page to type in your descoptions and tags. DO NOT DO NOT use for sale lingo, see profile or anything like that. Remember, that if people really want to know this information, they will check out your profile themselves or message you their question. (I have made loads of sales this way!) DO not make your album ALL ABOUT what you sell. This is not a showcase gallery, it's a social site and they want you to be social, they want to see what else you do! supplies shots, family shots, studio shots, that sort of thing!Photograph the weather, your dinner, your starbucks! Anything you can think of! If your photos are ALL about what you sell, you can and will be shut down. If you use for sale, profile jargon, you can and will be shut down. How do I know? 3 of my friends were shut down (1 of them had a PRO account) with no warning at all, and me? Well I got a very stern warning. What made me get a warning and them just get deleted? No clue, talk on the Etsy forums seem to be it's just whatever admin is on duty that day. There seem to be no rhyme or reason. So be safe, before you get shut down! This is a fun site when used correctly! After my warning, I asked what was and was not allowed and those were the items that I was told! I keep many photos of my children private to only friends and or family members. It's safer that way and yet my album is still personal and not just a gallery!
Check in daily on Flickr, sometimes it's hard with the 100 other things to do, but try and work it into your schedule. I always click the CONTACTS button at the top of the page to see who has recently updated and then I choose 10 interesting photos a day to comment on. I usually end up commenting on more, but at minimum 10. I check in on my groups every now and then and many have come through in a pinch for me! I once needed to know a place that I took a picture of in another country and within an hour someone knew where I was standing! hahaha!When used properly, Flickr can get you sales and get you a lot of friends! Be My friend and I will be yours!
Sweet Treats from my Lollishops Shop!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Blogging Tips and Tricks
My Diary Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld 7.00It's nearly impossible to keep up with a blog right? Thinking of topics, finding photos, hoping for comments all that good stuff! I have so much that goes around in my head daily, but when it comes time to sit here and actually start blogging, I can never get it straight! I figured that there are probably other people out there like me that just need a little nudge in the right direction! These tips are for you!
Topics are always the place to start, since without a topic there is no blog! Sometimes coming up with a good topic is like cutting down a tree with a knife, impossible! Just keep a notebook with you for when those ideas do pop up! Decide what kind of a blog you want to have, more personal or business like. I want to try and keep mine related to business as much as possible, but I will totally be all about personal stuff when good things happen! If you are going to promote your blog as a business tool though, keep an eye on the language and selection of topics, you may not want your customer base to know too much about you! I use the SAVE NOW draft feature a lot. When I'm up late and I get loads of ideas, I start NEW POSTS and just give it a title and tags and then in the body I put a few bullet points, so I know what to build on when I'm ready to finish that topic. Then when I'm stuck for ideas I head there and finish one up! There are some days when you just don't feel like typing anything at all, I'm a big fan of the wordless posts! (I've seen Wordless Wednesday, Things to Think About Thursdays, Word Free Friday) These are just posts of photos with or without captions. I usually try and do a Sunday post like this and call it: The Weekend In Photos. It's an easy way to not neglect your blog and give yourself a break. Just don't overuse that one, it's never good to not get any context out of a blog. Another good way to use up some posts is to do features on fellow sellers or reviews of recent purchases! People love to know all about what you like and buy if they are already following your blog!
Say Cheese Camera Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 13.00
On to the photos! These are HUGE! Even if you only have a one word post, use PHOTOS! Readers love having something to look at! Most importantly be sure your photos link back to something! If someone clicks on something from your shop, have it take them to that listing. If it's a photo of your kids in a playhouse, have the click take them to that playhouse for sale. Remember links are good! If you feel your photos are too plain, add some fun borders or a little text in them. If you don't have any photos to get your post across, promote other sellers by using their photos and have them link back to their listings! Featuring people is good! This is your chance to feature items from your shop, to show everyone a little bit of what you do! Keep the photos as relevant as possible though to keep your post flowing.
Typewriter Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 10.00
Link Links Links! Links are the most important! The more places you link to, the more people will find you. There are a lot of programs out there that are telling web owners who is linking to their sites and from where. It will get you traffic!! If your readers are falling in love with whatever you are talking about, you need to let them know where to find it!
The road to a friend's house is never long
Time! We never have time anymore. There is always something going on and believe me, I know all about being busy! I'm a mom to 3 kiddies (3,2,1) and they keep me busy non stop. Assign yourself a time to blog EVERY DAY! Even if you are only able to churn out 2 sentences (add 2 photos above and below the sentences and you have a post!!), do it! I blog every morning as soon as I get up. I wake up early enough to check my computer goings on and what not. It's quiet time before the kids get up and while husband is in the shower. I make it a point to blog at this point. Life does get in the way, but sometimes a pretty photo and a quote from somewhere will be great and just may make someones day. There is ALWAYS time for something. It's easy to say you will blog tomorrow, but then that becomes the next day and that becomes the next. It's a vicious cycle. There are so many blogs out there that I admire and love to read, the ones that keep me coming back for more all the time. I love those blogs! I want to be those blogs! I aim to help and really hope that this helps you all become great bloggers!!
MOST IMPORTANTLY Don't forget your Etsy Mini or a collage of your goodies and a LINK to get people to your shops!!! I go to so many blogs and CANNOT for the life of me figure out how to get to where they sell! Get going!
+++++++++HAVE A SECOND?+++++++++
Copy This link: http://www.Lollishops.com/Node/5709
Then Go here: http://lollishops.blogspot.com/2008/12/lollishops-gingerbread-contest-lets.html
and it will take you to a contest i've entered! To vote for me just click on POST A COMMENT and paste the link you copied before there! Thank you for your time!:
http://www.lollishops.com/node/5709 <----my gingerbread house
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Have a Minute? I Challenge You!
With this one, I think the backround is competing with the bracelet
Somtimes a shop can get stale and needs a little TLC. This can happen to shops that only have a few pages and even ones like mine that have waaaay too many pages!
Take a look through the 'dusty' pages of your shop. Those ones in the waaay back. It's time to give it a little tidy up. Taka a new photo, maybe add a little something to the piece or take something away? Change up the chain? Change up some colors in it? Give 2 pieces in your shop a face lift today and let's see if that makes a difference! It's time to do a little holiday cleaning!
Conversation Heart Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 9.00
I will add on another heart charm to this and take a clearer photo
Thanks to all the voted for me! I won the contest this month!! Yay!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Photos...The Be All, End All?
Ahhh....we've all heard it right? Go into the forums and ask about being a successful shop and at least 75% of the replies will be about photos. GO ahead, try it, I dare you ;) Yes, your photos should be clear and a bit bright, but don't stress over them! Don't take 10 photos of each and every one of your products hoping for the right one, or your items will end up costing 50.00 each! (Yes, you should be adding in your photo taking time into the cost of your items.) Don't go running out to take photography lessons and buying 50.00 lightboxes. HOLD UP! WAIT! Take a deep breath and have a look around. light boxes and lessons take money. Wait until you have it in your business account to do it if you really want these things. If you don't and just think it's a necessary thing to sell anything, then wait and keep reading.
Tea and Crumpets Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops
I have 1100 something sales or something like that, I do not have a lightbox, take my photos at night in a dark room sometimes, change my backround like all heck and worst of all? My photos are blurry sometimes! Go ahead, I will wait here, Check out my sold items section and go waaaay back to my last page. Did you see them? The blurry, pixelated messes I called photos? They were awful, dark and unedited. I made my first sale within an hour of being open! I knew right off the bat I needed a new camera, but it was not in the budget at the moment. I had a craft show lined up for a month after opening and until then I asked for advice. I started taking photos outside in natural light and that helped ALOT! Then the midwest reared it's ugly head and sometimes it was 100* outside and there was no way in heck I was going to photograph outside, so I started doing it by a window, this was also good!! Then sometimes my kids wouldn't take naps on some days and I was stuck waiting until my husband got home at 430 and sometimes it was already getting dark?! So I started using a photo editing program!! That has been my BEST FRIEND! My photos are still not great, not even good sometimes, but I'm selling regulary and you can at least see what it is you are buying :) MY new camera eventually was purchased after a successful craft show and though it was not the magic answer to my photos, it did help! (Macro setting was a must!).
Conversation Heart Rings by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops
Now take a look at some of the shops out there, some of them have THOUSANDS of sales and their photos are so dark, half the time I don't even know what I'm buying without reading the description. (Maybe people like the grab bag idea?! heehe). Some shops have photos that are excellent, but so overpropped, you don't know if you are getting the 5 strands of pearls are part of that bottlecap key chain, and yet they have loads of sales. I think it's all about a catchy thumbnail, combined with a CLEAR, DESCRIPTIVE title. (No need to get creative with your titles, I find my creative titles have the least amount of views). If you've been here yesterday, you will also note that I made the front page too! So see, just try hard, but don't overdo it. Perfect pictures are not always the answer. I've seen some FAB-YOU-Less photos out there in shops that have been open and avtive since 2005 and they still only have a few sales. It's all about your product. Work with what you have and don't stress!
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