The last was for the twitter followers, and this giveaway is for the blog visitors and rss subscribers! Well, anyone can enter no matter how you arrive here, but I am only advertising it on here. First person to the be the completely randomly chosen visitor number 11,218 and to grab a screen shot of the counter on this site showing that number will get a 50$ Sixth & Elm virtual gift certificate for ANYTHING in the shop! Use it for a holiday gift purchase, or a random reward for yourself… your choice!

I say the FIRST to be number 11,219 because last time I did this I mysteriously ended up with 4 people with different and legit screen shots of the counter at the desired number. No idea how. Voodoo maybe.

You can email the shot to me at sixthandelm(at)gmail.com, leave an Etsy convo with the picture attached, leave a comment or send me a twitter reply with a link to the screen shot posted online (like at flickr or phototbucket ot twitterpic or something), or send me a facebook message. If I get more than one I will check the timestamp on each and award the 50$ to the first one!

For the Harry Potter fan in your life….

Also available in Natural Stain, but the lead time on that is 5 weeks since I need to order this box shape special and it won’t be ready for Christmas. In this series is also a map of Narnia, and one of Middle Earth, but again, the lead time on those two items is about 5 weeks. The provincial stain (above) id ready to ship now and WILL arrive for the holidays if you order soon!

After about 5 minutes in the store, I had my shopping list picked out. ShopGirls is my new favorite obsession, a classy boutique on Queen Street West in Toronto’s Parkdale district that features fine art and fashion from an all Canadian Artist base, with an emphasis on local work. Shop Girls is now carrying many Sixth & Elm pieces in their beautiful shop, and my work is in very good company there.

I fell in love with many items including some beautiful and unique jewellery, scarves and some very amazing mixed media pieces. Okay, fine, I actually did buy a necklace and pair of earrings and I had to keep reminding myself I was there to sell, not to buy in order to stop myself buying more. I have a feeling any money I make there will not last long and will quickly be used right back up buying goodies there for myself. Oh well, groceries are over-rated anyways.

Last night the blog hit 10,000 visitors and I ran a little contest in honour of that milestone. About 20 visits before the big mark I announced that the 10,000th visitor would get a $50 gift certificate to Sixth & Elm’s Etsy Shop if they caught a screen grab of the ticker reading “10000” and sent it to me.

Didn’t know about the contest? It was an exclusive for followers of Sixth & Elm on Twitter, so add us on if you haven’t yet. We will be playing more games like this, each with a gift certificate for the shop ranging from $25 to $250, so stay tuned to the Blog, Twitter and the Facebook Blog Network for your chance to win. (Hint: the Facebook Blog Network application is new with not that many followers yet, so you have a better chance to win if I do a Facebook-exclusive contest. Just join the network and I will post on the wall or send a message for the next contest).

By some weird internet magic, we actually got TWO confirmed winners for this contest. Both DigitalMayhem and 3zArt will be enjoying their $50 discount – in fact, DigitalMayhem has already spent hers!

Fellow Etsyian, Loopy4ewe is participating in the 60km Weekend to End Breast Cancer Walk next June, and she is attempting to raise $2000 to participate. Once she let the other Etsy sellers know what she was up to, they responded en masse by donating tons of items they have made – large and small and mostly pink – and listing them for her, all proceeds to go toward her walk.  She didn’t even ask for donations, but she didn’t have to.

I added my little bit by adding the most popular item I sell, the Scripted Box, stained in Antique Pink in honour of the cause. I sanded it down a bit it looks cute and vintage-y – like a little Parisian treasure. All of the money I raise from the sale of this item will go to Loopy and hopefully get her close to her goal.

Here is a list of some of the other Etsy sellers who have listed or donated items as well:

KritterKnitter

StuffbySteph

PaisleyBaby

NancyWallisDesign

HarvestMoonPaper

UxCritter

Loscann

Adornyourself

StringMeAlong

MyHandboundBooks

Gillian’sBeads

How can you help? Easy, buy something from someone on this list!

I really like this one….

Any suggestions on stain colours?

Boo! In time for Halloween, or the first term of school at Hogwarts… It’s Rupert the Reproachful!

What I need from you, dear reader, is advice on what colour to stain him.

Did I mention how much I REALLY want to go to school at Hogwarts, even though I am 30 years old and it… um… doesn’t exist?

Yeah, yeah, you’re supposed to be posting items in the shop or making a new ad banner for Project Wonderful, but you know you’re gonna spend almost the whole time looking at cute pictures of your friend’s new cat on Flickr or looking up old boyfriends on Facebook. While you’re there, you might as well get a little marketing done. Here are some ways to drum up some interest for your shop while wasting time on the internet.

1. Upload all your item photos. *Given*
2. Search the Flickr groups for keywords related to Etsy or your craft and join the groups.
3. Upload a few photos to each group whenever you are on Flickr.  Etsy sellers, buyers and bloggers all frequent the groups as well as more popular design bloggers.
4. Make sure you have a link to your website in your profile. As per Flickr rules you are not supposed to use Flickr for marketing so you are not supposed to add your Etsy site address, just your blog address, but I haven’t been caught yet. Please don’t rat on me.
5. Search for users with tags related to Etsy or your craft and add these artists as a contact. Chances are they will add you too and see the your new items when you upload them to Flicker.
6. Comment on other artist’s photos - a lot. People follow the link back to your profile if you do, I promise.
7. Add me as a contact

1. Search Etsy forums for “Twitter” to find other Etsy buyers and sellers to follow. They will probably follow you too.
2. Go to TwitterFeed.com and set up your Etsy shop RSS so you will generate an automatic Tweet whenever you post an item to your Etsy shop. While you’re there set up a tweet for your blog too. Contact me if you need help with RSS or finding your Etsy RSS URL.
3. Fill out your profile and make sure there are links to your Etsy shop, blog and/or Flickr account.
4. Go to your favorite design blogs and look for a “follow me on Twitter” link to follow them. Even if they don’t follow you, they will probably still at least check out your webpage.
5. Of course, follow me on Twitter!

 

1. Add the My Etsy Application to your Facebook Profile - Go to the App page and enter your ID. While on that page (after hitting submit) go to the very top of facebook and go to Settings>My Etsy Settings (the settings menu beside your name) and chose the “Profile” tab, then click “add” beside the Box selection. You can try the Etsy Shop App too, but I just got an error when I tried to add it.
2. Join the Etsy Sellers Facebook Group, upload some pictures, explore the group page and write on the wall or participate in the discussions. Sellers can be buyers too, and I have referred more than one buyer I could not help to Etsy Sellers I talk to on facebook, Flickr or forums.
3. Add photos of your shop items into albums in your Photos section.
4. Add other Etsyians as friends by searching for “facebook” in Etsy forum posts (like this thread, or this one) to find people who want to add other Etsy sellers or buyers to their friend lists.
5. If you want to get REALLY into it, you can make a Facebook page for your store, and encourage other Etsyians to become your fans if you become theirs. I have not done this yet since I don’t have time to maintain a store on Facebook too, and this list is mostly for quick ideas you can do while puttering online.
6. Add me as a friend: (make sure you let me know you’re an Etsyian, or I’ll think you were a random serial-friender).

1. Add shops and items to your favorites, especially new shops. They shops with 1000+ hearts don’t always have time to visit each shop when someone favorites them, but the newer sellers will without fail.
2. Choose an interesting shop item of yours for your avatar. When people see your avatar in convos or forum posts they will be curious and click through to your shop.
3. Participate in lots of forum threads. Lots. Talk it up, baby.
4. Join street teams.
5. Create treasuries, or make friend with people who do!
6. Pitch story ideas for the Storque to the editors. If accepted, you will get a lot of exposure for authoring an article.
7. If you have nothing new to list, renew items on a regular basis to keep your page appearing in the recently listed sections.
8. As always, check out my shop.

Other Online Distractions:

1. Check out your Etsy stats at Majaba.org
2. Comment regularly on the Indie and design blogs you read
3. Add your name to the Etsy Sellers Blog List
4. Check out my blog! Oh, wait, you’re there now…

Yay for justifiable online puttering!

Sixth & Elm is on Scribbit this week, with a glowing review by the magnificent Michelle. If you aren’t a regular subscriber, consider adding Scribbit to your feed reader. It’s a fun read and Michelle is possibly the nicest person in the blogosphere.

I mentioned these in a previous post this week, but the first of a new series is finally up in the shop. This woodburned map of Middle Earth is the first of the fantasy maps I have been working on lately and will soon be joined by other famous fictional literary worlds such as Narnia, Hogwarts, Oz, Treasure Island, Alagaesia (from the Eragon Trilogy), Lyra’s World (from The Golden Compass), Neverland and others.

The maps are carefully burned onto 8×10 pine plaques, but custom sizes are also available. I would love to decorate a child’s room in large versions of these, creating a fantasy slumberland of children’s literary classics for them to dream by.If you would like to suggest a map to add to this series, I am always open for ideas. These maps make a great gift for fans of children’s fantasy stories, movies buffs, and anyone who enjoys getting lost in their imagination.