hello from las vegas...

fancyThat--->
$16.00

"others"---->
$24.00

fancyThat---->
$18.00

"other"--->
$24.00



ew..right? Shop fancyThat and get more bang for your buck!
;D

xo

Wicked Halloween Party

Now that's how you do a Halloween party! So much fun!! I love the personal touch the printed tags and wrappers bring to the tablescape. Check out all the party decorations here. So many ideas I want to try!

Photos from the very inspirational blog, Hostess with the Mostess.

you are your own publicist

Let's face it. We don't have the big bucks to pay a publicist, so we are it.
According to Meg Mateo Ilasco, "You should spend at least a couple of hours each week working on your publicity outreach." Craft, Inc. Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business
The first step is to determine to whom do you reach?


maram.etsy.com

You could start locally with your local papers and magazines.
Pick those that speak to your target market.
Contact editors, send press kits ...


LarkStudio.etsy.com

But the easiest and best way to be your own publicist is to sell yourself.
Did you have lunch with a friend? Did you give him or her a business card?
Did you have a dentist appointment yesterday? Did you tell your hygienist about your work?
Did you chat with another mom or dad when picking up the kids at school?
Did you mention that you have your own business?
Did you go out to dinner last night? Were you pleasant with your server?


aSecondChanceVintage.etsy.com

Do you wear your product? Use it publicly?


renegades.etsy.com

You have to remember that you live in a fishbowl:
everything you say and do wherever you are reflects on your business,
whether it is online in forums, on social sites, or blogs,
or whether it is your daily contact with people in your everyday life.


dandee.etsy.com

You never know ... your server's mom or dad could be the curator of a gallery.
Your child's friend's mom at the playground could be a magazine editor.
Your hygienist might be married to a radio personality.
Your friend might know someone who writes for the local paper.


EnviroMental.etsy.com

And one of my favorite quotes from Glengarry Glen Ross
"A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing."

Could You Live Here?

Oprah toured this Danish home on her show. I am loving the clean lines and simple decorating. And the kids' bedroom is great. But I dont' know if I could have such a tiny fridge.

on the go go.

It's been a while since I've updated this thing...things have just taken off. I've been completely swamped with halloween orders! F.Y.I Halloween= Glitter Galore. I have seriously never used that much glitter in my life...especially when you're on the go. I have to be mobile for the next couple of months.. from NY,Vegas, to Sacramento..I'm so excited!! But no worries I'll be back and selling at my local spots here in L.A as soon as all this exciting chaos cools down. :p

On another note...There's nothing like feeling great when you know you've been apart of someone's special day...<3

My dear friend Laura wearing a fancyThat. Original.

xo

francis for fancyThat.

publicity

pub·lic·i·ty : a : an act or device designed to attract public interest; specifically : information with news value issued as a means of gaining public attention or support b : the dissemination of information or promotional materials c : paid advertising d : public attention or acclaim

When I think of publicity, I think of FREE!

onewomanstudio.etsy.com

"Publicity is different from advertising because it entails capturing the media's interest in your business. Very often the best way to accomplish this is by being aggressively bold." Martha Stewart, The Martha Rules

weddingstuff.etsy.com


"Plan to use more public relations campaigns than advertising, since they have the advantage of giving your business credibility while being nearly free." Meg Mateo Ilasco, Craft Inc. Business Planner



fashionsplatter.etsy.com

"Publicity is a good strategy when you're long on time and short one money." Meg Mateo Ilasco, Craft Inc. Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business



jewelrybyvicki.etsy.com

"Getting press mentions is ... about raising your company's profile and brand awareness. A press mention is essentially a stamp of approval from an esteemed source." Meg Mateo Ilasco, Craft Inc. Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business



ChaosSupplies.etsy.com

Next week, more on being your own publicist!

Project Time

I'm on the lookout for a cool project for my daughter and I. She has some canvases and we are trying to find something to do with them besides just paint. I like this idea...
Here is the tutorial.

I think some sort of mixed media would be fun for her. Maybe this...
Here is the tutorial.

Or we'll just skip the canvas and do this to my chair...
Here is the tutorial.

When the weather cools my creative juices start flowing. I need projects to keep me busy indoors. And I think this may be a long winter so send me your ideas.

I Need A Stripy Skirt

Skirts found here and here

Have a Spooky Halloween

If your Halloween is going to include ghosts and goblins then the right lighting is an easy way to create a spooky atmosphere. Turn off all the electric lights and light the room with candles. Put them every where... on tables and shelves, on top of amoires and cabinets. To avoid a fire put each candle in a lantern or votive holder like the ones shown below.

branding

On my last post about advertising, Green Works mentioned branding.
brand·ing : the promoting of a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand

"By creating an identity or image, you are communicating a message about your company; this is often called branding." Meg Mateo Ilasco, Craft Inc. Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business



"Your brand is an idea." Are you carefree and fun?



Or are you more classic and traditional?



When you create your brand, you want it to represent you, your products and your shop.
Try to be consistent: your colors, your logo, your banner, your blog, your packaging, your business cards and stationary.



You want to establish an identity and make it easy for your customers to recognize you.

Jodie of Lake Erie Beach Glass does this very well!
You can find her on various sites - Etsy, Art Fire, 1000 Markets, Ebay, MySpace, blogspot -
and she uses the same branding on every one of those sites!

What's your brand?
(click on the banners and avatars to go to each shop!)

So Sweet!

I'm so in love with this wedding. Everything about it is just beautiful. So much detail and thought put into every part of the day. And isn't this such a cute wedding program?

The quote at the end is so romantic. I'm swooning!

TrashTalk vol.1

Starting off my TrashTalk series is an interview with perfumer and budding trashion artist Diana Rajchel of Magickal Realism.

Primarily a designer of perfumed potions, Diana is currently working to expand her line of 'trashion' offerings to include decoupaged bottles and diffusers, as well as one-of-a-kind gift/shipping boxes- all recycled and repurposed, of course!

Here's what I was curious about...

*Did you grow up with a green family, or is recycling and reusing something you taught yourself to do?

Not exactly. I grew up with a pseudo-green family. We would go spend time in nature, and my mother would repurpose some things out of frugality. We did grow our own food some years, and other years we didn't. Since there was no recycling and no mass transit where I grew up (Crown Point, Indiana) it was all a bit haphazard. We were certainly concerned about air pollution but we just had no options except to keep driving and keep polluting.

*Where do you find the materials that you plan on turning into trashion art?

Just from the things I bring in my home every day. Product boxes (like cereal, mac and cheese) get repurposed and reinforced for shipping. Bottles, like worcestershire or wine, get decoupaged. My flagship trashion is incense paper I make by converting my junk mail into something pretty-smelling. Even among my perfumery goods I'm trying to make it so every single bottle and box sees at least one reuse before it leaves my studio.

*How did you or do you come up with your ideas?

I think that's one of the  great unanswerable questions in the arts. My process is "hmm, I have this object. What can I do with it?" I let that cook for awhile. Sometimes I literally dream the solution.

*Why is it important for you to continue on this artistic path with trashion art?

The world's resources are drying up rather rapidly, and as a perfume designer I have to contend with extinction and related disasters on a daily basis, too. While papering boxes with old stuff won't solve the world's problems, it will slow them down, and trashion causes us to look at and rethink the everyday objects around us and gets us to pause, reconsider, and recreate instead of going out and just buying something brand new that puts further strain on the world.

*How do you feel the community has taken to your art?

When it comes to the trashion fragrances themselves, I think some people don't quite get them - a lot of "perfume snobs" are so conditioned to the scent and behavior of synthetics that they don't see that I'm not just doing all my perfumes up with the chemicals I use in trashion. I think the other things I create - the vials and bottles and especially the incense paper - are easier to understand because you can physically see what the objects used to be before they were repurposed.

*What draws you to a particular found object?

Its presence in my studio, mostly. How much space it takes up, whether it's washable, and in the case of bottles glass color can really catch my attention. I love blue and red glass.

*Do you know right off how you will use your found materials, or does the inspiration come later?

Sometimes I know right away. In the case of perfume vials, they can hold liquid. So that's all they're going to do before and after I work with them. In other cases, an object may sit for awhile while I puzzle at it - especially stacks of old magazines. I've started exploring shredding them and making paper, but the reward of that type of work is very small and frustrating so I may leave that to other dedicated paper makers.

*How long have you been making trashion art and when and why did you start?

I got started a few weeks after I joined Etsy. I was around when someone brought up starting a trashion team, and I was looking for new arts to explore to make my perfumery different from the others already dotting the landscape. It's become somewhat more of a passion for me since, as I've found new and creative ways to repurpose the items that pass through my hands. I've certainly started doing more with trashion in my home decor, hopefully I'll get a few things up to show on my own blog soon!

*What new projects are you working on? Is there an idea you have that you'd like to develop on in the future?

I am preparing a line of decoupaged diffusers using items that are from my daily flotsam (sewing notions, magazine pages, etc.) I'm also arranging for "trashion packs" that have a variety of samplers to go out. I may also soon have my answer to requests for scratch'n'sniff (I'm being mysterious on purpose) but it's a fairly time consuming project so that day is a ways off yet!

Thanks Diana, it's been nice talkin' trash with you!

To find out more about Diana and Magickal Realism visit:
magickalrealism.com
dianarajchel.com

Brass Razoo

This weekend I checked out the Brass Razoo in Nampa. It was so lovely. And the owner, Elise Vaughn, was so friendly and helpful. It was one of those shops that you just can't wait to go back to. There were so many amazing pieces of clothing and jewelry and I really wish I had some major money to throw down. I heard about the shop here. You never know what amazing places are hiding right in your own back yard!

trash talk

So who are those amazing trash-defying craftsters who make up the Etsy Trashion Team???

Find out right here! Starting next week, I'll be posting an interview with a different Trashion Team member each month. Get a glimpse into the trashion artists' world- their inspiration, insight and ingenuity- complete with photos!

WARNING: contents may be trashy :)

inspiration: where the wild things are.

=

Inspired by just about everything around me..I really wanted to make hair accessories and handmade jewelry (coming soon) that reflected our latest pop culture lives.

As a child Where the wild things are written by Maurice Sendak sacred the heck out of me. At a young age i was afraid of getting in trouble and being sent to my room without supper like Max in the story. I have a wild imagination, as you could imagine. Anyway..back to fancyThat.. I'm really dign' these new accessories. I'm loving the fur like feather with the rustic colors and the outside feel of being one with nature. So far my consumers would agree. As soon as I post these pieces they're sold within minutes.

I love the feeling of know what people want and what they love.

When i feel something..I run with it.

xoXo

francis for fancyThat.

advertising

ad·ver·tis·ing: the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements

If you are on the Etsy Trashion Team, you know the rikrak studio and Kristal.
I placed my first ad on her blog. (she even designed it for me!)



Advertising is necessary for promoting your product.



The how and where are important to determine to get the most out of your ad.



Advertising should make you want to look, shop and buy!



How you determine where to advertise should be based on
your product, your message, your customer, and your budget.



Where do you advertise?

Fall Has Fallen

It is cold and foggy here today. Perfect hot cocoa weather. Do you need some good fall decorating inspiration as much as I do? I've been surrounded with bright, happy colors all spring and summer and now I'm starting to feel the need for muted, warm tones. I've been thinking of slip-covering my pillows with sweaters and felt and plaid. Here are some looks I'm loving right now...

Photo fromCountry Living

Pillow from this cute etsy shop.

Photo from Country Living

Photo found here


And this sweater is from Anthropologie, last year. I really, really, really want someone to make this for me.