Etsy, Oh Etsy, Where Have You Gone?

Anyone missing the merchandising desk?  I thought maybe August’s absence was a fluke but September seems to be MIA as well. Funny, I thought they used these tips for judging things like….oh I dunno…..the front page!!!!!!!  So if our guidelines are gone for FP treasuries, what is the new standard?

Well, you know what? We can make our own.  So I am introducing the first TPT Merchandising Desk, September 2012. Even if it is already September 10th! Let’s face it, a lot of this is common sense, repeat themes, seasonal holidays and the like so maybe we can write one just as well with maybe a bit of TPT fun and quirkiness thrown into it.

Okay, let’s see, you start with a picture first…okay. I’ll be right back.There – isn’t he a cutie pie? This sets the mood for the article.

Okay. The first section seems to be the common sense section. We all know that with September comes our time limit of only four months to Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, three months to Thanksgiving, and one month to Halloween. So now is the time to concentrate on gearing up for the entire holiday season. Work on your shop items with appropriate tagging, revamp old titles and improve any pictures you deem necessary. If you only have one photo of your listing, consider using the other available photo slots . Consumers want to really see what they are buying and you want to sell, sell sell!

All these holidays for treasury makers is like being a kid in the candy store.  No lack of good material here. Hmmm….insert another picture here. Okay.

That looks pretty Halloweeny! By the way, these pics are from TPT members posting there items on our September threads.   After all, it is promotion!

So in September we focus on the changing of the season, autumn colors and fashion, Pantone’s Fall Color trends, and prepping for the upcoming holidays.

While we concentrate on fall, remember the other half of the world is going into spring.  So what traditions come in the fall?  School has already started but are you ready for some football?  Tailgating? Camping trips? Hiking in the woods? Ocktoberfest means beer and lots of it so parties, German festivals, beer steins.

Did you know Halloween is the all time leading Adult holiday? Etsy is full of truly unique and wonderful quirky and spooky items. Time to par-tay!!! Steampunk Halloween items are in vogue – have you seen the banners? Awesome!

Think change in weather to cooler temps which means layers in fashion, revamping your home decor to more deep, warm and comfy surroundings.  Popular themes will center around the harvesting of crops, gathering of friends and family around festive tables , fireplaces and apples – lots and lots of apples. DIY kits for making beer, herb infused oils, candles and the like. Think in terms of winter planting, rustic farm settings, pumpkin patches with frost and big fat harvest moons.

Look for old school fashions with an upcycled twist. Mixing fabric textures, knitted and oh yes, those glorious felted items. Leather is never out of style.  Think of fall outdoor sports and sport gatherings, bonfires, cookouts and patio parties for donning casual clothes. Don’t forget to work on your Halloween costumes. Vintage clothing and patterns offer creative souls fantastic costumes for those fun parties. Halloween is the start of the traditional season of parties!

Consider looking at least six months ahead for future brides. Winter and Spring weddings are being planned now so make sure to include these seasons in your shop. Try using an unusual Pantone fall fashion color combo for wedding themes and go crazy with some zany off the wall Halloween weddings.

Beautiful Sapphire is the birthstone and zodiac signs are Virgo and Libra, changing over on September 24th. Let me go find a piece of jewelry to insert here.

Did mention that these photos are coming from TPT member items because they were tagged TPT and I could find them easily?

Now, since it is the 10th of Sept already, I have abbreviated the fun TPT calendar of events to days that simply begged for a treasury theme. Let’s face it – some days are just plain boring. None of that here!

On a serious note, of course tomorrow is Patriot Day with the WTC Remembrance. None of us should forget and there are probably treasuries already on Etsy with this theme. Since there are no other notable dates, we shall move on to the more obscure.

THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER

As an entire month, we celebrate Baby Safety, National Sewing, Read a New Book and “Women of Achievement”. Both Classical Music Month and Piano Month are in Sept. For our food groups, we are not as exciting as previous summer months with only Chicken, Honey and Rice ( sounds like a recipe) earning celebrity status.

SPECIAL DATES OF SEPTEMBER FOR GREAT THEMES

9/12 – Chocolate Milk Shake Day

9/13 – National Peanut Day, Positive Thinking Day and Scooby Doo’s birthday

9/14 – the First Department Store opened in 1848

9/15 – Both Make a Hat Day & Hispanic Heritage Month begins ( Sept 15 – Oct 15)

9/16 – Collect Rocks Day

9/17 – Citizenship Day ( Constitution Day) and National Apple Dumpling Day – yum!!!   Goes with that chicken, honey & rice.

9/20 – the First RR Station opened

9/21 – International Day of Peace

9/22 – Dear Diary Day

9/23 – Checkers Day

9/24 – First Toy Store opened

9/26 – Johnny Appleseed’s birthday

9/28 – Chinese Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival and the first Airport was opened.

9/29 – Scotland Yard was formed in 1829.

So there you have it. May this “merchandising desk” by TPT give you some ideas for treasury themes and that maybe, just maybe, Etsy might notice!

 

 

Etsy Teams to Check Out

We know you love the Treasury Promotion Team very much!  But we have found some other Etsy teams that are a lot of fun too.  If you have some super fun teams that you are a part of, post them in the comments section.

Top 5 Etsy Treasury Teams to Try

1.  Treasury Flash Mob – If you like to make treasuries for the sheer fun and enjoyment, this is a great team to join.  They have weekly treasury “flash mobs” where you make as many treasuries as you want around a theme.  This leads to a lot of creative treasury making.  The members are super fun too!  Search for the tag “flashmob72” on the treasury page to see the latest batch of fantastic treasuries.

2.  Treasury Challenge Non team – This team hosts a weekly treasury challenge based on the previous week’s winner.  It is fun to see how different people interpret the inspiration item.  And if you are lucky enough to win, it means a week of being featured in hundreds of treasuries.

3.  Treasury Playground – This is a relatively new team.  The threads are broken out by color groups to promote shop items.  But more importantly it helps treasury makers find items for treasuries more easily.
4. Treasury Punks – In addition to having an awesome team name, this is a promotion team that offers a great way for shop owners to promote treasuries and eachother.

5. Trendsetting Treasury Team – The team description draws you in “We enjoy the art of making treasuries; melange. Each space is its own work of art and the curator at hand blends the art to create another.”  A treasury can be a work of art all in itself.  This team encourages making treasuries for the love of being creative.  They seem to have fun games and challenges too.

AUGUST MONTH IS SLAP AS* FULL!

While we patiently wait on Etsy to straighten out their server issues today, now is as  good a time as ever to work on the month of August calendar for plenty of treasury making ideas. This month is over-loaded and often I think there are repeats, especially when it comes to food. I would like to know who makes all these up or better yet, grants the “national” or “international” status awarded to these dates. There must be some kind of board or something out there where I guess one can apply? Does anyone know? Some make perfectly good sense, while others, well…..you just be the judge yourself.

Okay – it’s a long list so here goes. First, for month long celebrations, we have some really cool ones:  American Artist Appreciation Month, Home Business Month (both of those very suitable for Etsy ), National Catfish, Golf, Inventors, Water Quality and Foot Health Month as well.

The first week of August is National Clown Week; the second week is Elvis, Apple and National Smile Week and the third week is Dance and Air Conditioning Appreciation Week – my personal fave as mine has been on the blink for quite awhile now. I try not to think about it , sigh. The fourth week must be a dud because it just flat got left out.

If you are still not inspired by the month long or week long observances, here is a daily blow by blow for you to mull over.

• 8/1 – Francis Scot Key’s birthday; MTV debuted in 1981; Respect for Parents Day; Sports Day and Switzerland was founded in 1291.
• 8/2 – Interestingly, the first Lincoln penny was issued in 1909 ( have you seen all the items made from pennies on Etsy?) and it is also, my favorite, National Ice Cream Sandwich Day!
• 8/3 – Columbus set sail in 1492 and it is National Watermelon Day
• 8/4 – Coast Guard Day, Mustard Day ( there is a color theme) and National Chocolate Chip Day ( see what I mean about the repeats? )
• 8/5 – American Family Day, Friendship Day and National Waffle day.
• 8/6 – Tennyson’s birthday ( 1809), Picnic Day in Australia and are you ready….Wiggle Your Toes Day.
• 8/7 – Sea Serpent Day…….really?
• 8/8 – the US dollar was created…I am wondering if also in 1909 as with the penny?
• 8/9 – Book Lovers Day and National Rice Pudding day.
• 8/10 – the first steam locomotive was invented and it is also S’mores Day.
• 8/11 – Hulk Hogan ‘s birthday ( 1953 in Venice Beach CA) along with Play in the Sand Day
• 8/12 – IBM PC was announced in 1981 ( has it really only been such a short time ago?) and we have Middle Children’s Day …I guess they were feeling left out.
• 8/13 – Annie Oakley’s birthday ( 1860 – perhaps Goggle will celebrate this one), International Left Hander’s Day and National Filet Mignon day.
• 8/14 – National Creamsicle Day – now I can see a lovely peach and white themed treasury for that one.
• 8/15 – Julia Child’s birthday, 1912 in Pasadena CA along with National Relaxation Day.
• 8/16 – Roller Coaster Day – celebrates its patent from 1898! Can you imagine?
• 8/17 – Archeology Day and Davy Crockett’s birthday ( 1786 in TN).
• 8/18 – International Homeless Animals Day ( great one for a theme), plus the Wizard of Oz debuted in 1939 and ….wait for it……Bad Poetry Day! That’s what I said…bad poetry day.
• 8/19 – National Aviation Day with Orville Wright’s birthday in 1871 makes perfectly good sense and great theme material and then there is Potato Day.
• 8/20 – National Radio Day
• 8/21 – Sit Back & Relax Day ( now please go back and read Aug 15th the week before…so on this day I guess you get to only sit back?)
• 8/22 – Be an Angel Day
• 8/23 – the first photo of the earth from the moon was taken in 1966 by the Lunar Orbitor and it is also National Spongecake Day
• 8/24 – Peach Pie Day and Strange Music Day. Oh, the waffle was patented in 1869.
• 8/25 – Kiss & Make-Up day and Banana Split day ( you could share one after you made up)
• 8/26 – National Dog day and Woman’s Equality Day. Now, first I hope there is no correlation to the Dog part and the Woman’s part.  I don’t think so but it is sad to note the “equality” part only referred to the right to vote.  We’ve come a long way.
• 8/27 – Banana Lovers Day and Mother Teresa’s birthday ( 1910).
• 8/28 – is called Dream Day, taken from MLK’s “I have a dream” speech in 1963. It is also National Cherry Turnover day.
• 8/29 – the first Scout camp was opened – I am fairly sure this is Boy Scout.
• 8/30 – Frankenstein day – Mary Shelley’s birthday ( 1797 ) along with National Toasted Marshmallow day.
• 8/31 – National Trail Mix Day.

So this really is a great month of treasury making inspiration. Couple that with your own favorites, Etsy’s merchandising desk, team challenges and games, and the turning to autumn, you should have loads of fun in August.

Start now too on the spooky stuff – us adults just love Halloween and it is indeed great fun. Go back in and re-tag your items too, to fit what is happening and the upcoming seasons. Sales leap from Halloween straight into Christmas and everyone gets on that roller coaster ride. So get ready. Hard to believe we are already past the half way point of 2012. But there is still a lot of good treasury making days ahead! So have fun!

June Has Everything for Treasury Making!

The month of June is practically upon us and is chocked full of treasury making goodies – probably too much so. Let’s start with the blatantly obvious. We know June hails the beginning of summer and with that comes graduations, school letting out, family vacations and Father’s Day as main events.  But I bet there is a lot about June you do not know. This particular month is honored with the Rose as its flower and either the pearl or alexandrite for its birthstone. While pearls and roses seem to be romantically linked, I thought it odd there was no mention of the month’s greatest activity being weddings…lots and lots of weddings. As seen by the photo above, alexandrite is a beautiful stone, now only found in vintage pieces of jewelry, mainly Russian in origin. It changes color from a moss green in daylight to raspberry red in artificial light…what a lovely color theme for a June wedding! And how well it can been coupled with roses in the same color theme.

But I digress. June is also primarily documented with a lot of birthdays – from the famous to well known comic and cartoon characters. June also ranks very high as honoring various types of food, from healthy to not so much as you will see. Lots and lots of food. So for our appetizer, on a national scale we have the National Drive Safe and National Safety Month, the National Rose month, and National Tennis Month. Our main course consists of National Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Month along with National Iced Tea Month and Turkey Lovers Month. For animal lovers June is the Zoo & Aquarium Month. But my personal favorite of all time so far, is Potty Training Awareness Month. Let’s see some T’s on that one – I dare ya!

Month long observances also include Dairy Month and the Great Outdoors Month along with National Adopt-a-Cat Month. For week long observances, the first week has National Fishing Week; the second week is National Clay Week ( perfect for odes to our pottery Etsians) and the fourth week is National Camping week. I guess they skipped the third since the third Sunday of the month is Father’s Day. Let us not forget the second Sunday of the month is Racial Unity Day.

For more fun, here are specific date related little tidbits of the month you may not be aware of and these always bring a smile to my face. Sometimes I just don’t know where they come up with this stuff! Warning: you may gain some weight just reading this list  or at the very least, go grab a bowl of ice cream.

• 6/1 – Donut Day, Flip a Coin Day, Oscar the Grouch’s birthday.
• 6/2 – The radio was patented in 1896.
• 6/3 – Is Egg Day, the first US Spacewalk occurred and Repeat Day, Repeat Day…
• 6/4 – Aesop’s Birthday along with Cheese Day while Ford’s first operational car was “born” in 1896.
• 6/5 – Hot Air Balloon day, Richard Scarry’s birthday ( children’s book author) and World Environment Day.
• 6/6 – Was D-Day and hopefully was remembered today (Memorial Day) as I write this post. But on a brighter side, the first drive-in theater opened in NJ – get this, in 1933! Also National applesauce cake day and Yo-Yo Day.
• 6/7 – National Chocolate Ice Cream Day.
• 6/8 – One of my favorites, Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday ( 1867) along with World Ocean’s Day.
• 6/9 – Donald Duck was born in 1934
• 6/10 – Ball Point Pen Day, Iced Tea Day Day ( why do they have a day when they have the whole month?) and Judy Garland was born in 1922.
• 6/11 – Jacques Cousteau was born in 1910 and ET premiered in 1982.
• 6/12 – Anne Frank’s birthday in 1929, Magic Day and supposedly Baseball was invented in 1839.
• 6/13 – Another personal favorite I can not wait to celebrate – Weed Your Garden Day, like that needs a day. More like the whole month for me!
• 6/14 – Flag Day and World Juggling Day
• 6/15 – Fly a Kite Day along with the Power of a Smile Day.
• 6/16 – National Fudge Day, oh yeah, baby!
• 6/17 – Eat your Vegetables Day ( since you had all that fudge the day before )
• 6/18 – International Picnic Day
• 6/19 – Garfield’s birthday – he debuted in 1978 but not to be undone by the Tasmanian Devil who was born in 1954.
• 6/20 – Bald Eagle Day and wait for it….Ice Cream Soda Day.
• 6/21 – the first “official” day of Summer
• 6/22 – Let’s have Chocolate Eclair Day on the day the US Dept of Justice was formed! As good a reason as any.
• 6/23 – King Edward the 8th was born in 1894, as was Gutenberg in 1400 they claim and June Carter Cash inf 1929. It is also Pecan Sandies Day, in case you didn’t get enough eclairs and own stock in Nabisco, along with Pink Day and Soap Opera Day. (Sometimes you just have to use your imagination how you are going to celebrate.) Oh, I forgot – the typewriter was patented in 1868.
• 6/24 – UFO Day – I like this one – it is supposedly the first documented sighting.
• 6/25 – LEON day – spelled backwards is NOEL – to let you know it is 6 months to Christmas. Better get started on all those fabulous items you are going to create for the buying season!
• 6/26 – The bicycle was patented in 1819. And for chocolate lover’s we have National Chocolate Pudding Day. BTW, it is also the day which the toothbrush was invented in 1498 – WOW! I would like to see what that looked like.
• 6/27 – Captain Kangaroo ( Bob Keeshan was born) as was Helen Keller (1880).
• 6?28 – Paul Bunyan Day
• 6/29 – Camera Day
• 6/30 – Meteor Day and perhaps related, Superman’s birthday.

Etsy’s big shindig in Sydney Australia is June 2cd. Movie releases are nominal – Snow White & the Huntsman is this Friday, June 1. For sci-fi lovers we have Prometheus Friday June 8th. Rock of Ages takes the big screen June 15th and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World opens June 22cd. (Unfortunately GI Joe is on hold.) All of these might make good themes. One is called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter which is curious. I’m sure it is not the same honest Abe. On June 5th (June 6th for the Eastern Hemisphere) Venus will trek across the sun’s path, like a little black dot, which is actually a type of eclipse. This will not happen again for another 105 years. (Remember to use a filter if you plan on checking this out). June is also full of local festivals and celebrations.

So there you have it. Of course, do not forget your mermaids, nautical themes, summer fashions and summer home decor themes, nor our woodland friends and geometric shapes & patterns. Look for Etsy’s Merchandising Desk for June coming at a website soon. In the meantime, happy treasury making!

 

Feb Challenge Winners!

So sorry I am terribly late announcing our Feb team challenge winner. We do appreciate the time everyone puts into making lovely treasuries. This time was once again a hard one to judge. You are all so so talented and clever.  Thanks to everyone who entered.  We will be announcing our March challenge soon!

Winner is  bstrung with Asian Zing!

 

Our Honorable Mention is Here’s Looking at You, Kid by Rose from Rotifera

Here are our Top  Contenders

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/OTYzOTUzOHwyMjU4MTQ0NTU0/gifts-dedicated-to-the-dragon-bring-muchI

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTE5NTIyNjB8MjIyMTE1MjY5Mw/my-inspiration-is-the-ocean

 

 

January Challenge 2012

January TPT Treasury Challenge!

Our monthly Treasury Challenge is back!  To celebrate our one year anniversary we have decided to make our Challenge theme:

Firsts! 

Rules:

• You can enter 1 or more treasuries in the challenge by posting a link to your treasury on the tpt official thread using the theme of “FIRSTS”.  The official thread is HERE
• The entry must be tagged properly “tpt team” (with a space)
• In the treasury description include a link to our team or challenge thread.
• Entries will be accepted until January 31 at midnight (central standard time)

What’s in it for me, you ask?

• Winners and honorable mentions will get an ad featured on our blog for the entire month of February.
• Shop promotion on our team board and facebook pages
• The satisfaction of a job well done.

Other info:

• The treasury can be posted on the main threads as usual.  But the challenge thread has no comment requirement.  Although you should check out the competition.
• As an added chance for promotion all entries will be posted on our Picasa Board.  Check out all the entries here.

Here are some examples by our team leaders!

Day 5 Surprise Gift Guide Challenge Winner!

Our Super Secret Theme for this Surprise Challenge is

Gift Guides for the HOSTESS

Today we chose from several great treasuries that had wonderful hostess gifts to offer.  Remember if you want to be considered to be a surprise gift guide challenge winner, tag your gift guides with “tpt team”.

Our winner is Adrienne Zavalick of Zavalick Designs

You can check out the shop  HERE

You can show love for the treasury HERE

To Learn more about our Daily Gift Guide Challenge (going on now to Nov. 23) go HERE

Surprise Challenge #2

Our Super Secret Theme for this Surprise Challenge is

MANLY Gift Guides

Our winner is Robin Hood Couture with this Masculine masterpiece!

You can check out the shop HERE

You can show love for the treasury HERE

To Learn more about our Daily Gift Guide Challenge (going on now to Nov. 23) go HERE

Surprise Gift Guide Challenge Winner

As you may know our team has stopped doing challenges until January.  This is only because our volunteers and our team members are so busy this time of year.  We thought it would be fun to have a challenge that you didn’t even know you were entering!

We will be looking for gift guides to feature on our team blog.  We will also be having a few “winners”.  The way we find these treasuries is by searching for treasuries that are tagged “tpt team”.

Our first “Winner” is Daffydowndillies treasury Gifts for the Young Adventurer

Stay tuned for more gift guide features here!

Etsy October Merchandising Tips

Each month Etsy releases a post on their blog that lists the trends for the upcoming months.  This is important to let you know what shoppers are looking for and what Etsy is looking for when selecting front page treasuries.

This month, Etsy didn’t really reveal any new trends.  The focus going into the holidays seems to be more on preparation.  They did post this tidbit

Treasury tip: Create and label treasuries fitting seasonal themes for a chance to have your collection featured on Etsy’s homepage, linked from promotional emails, and new shopping pages. We’ll be looking to highlight specifically themed gift guides throughout the holiday season. If you’d like to create a gift guide encompassing a full theme throughout your treasury, be sure to use the term “gift guide” as one of your treasury tags. along with the overarching theme of your guide (using the “gift guide” term with several smaller themes is not the ideal use here).

I haven’t checked out the new shopping pages.  If you have seen them, I would love to hear your thoughts.  I think making gift guides around themes is a great idea for a treasury.  These are a few ideas that come to mind, but please post more if you think of some.

Gift Guide Ideas:

• Wedding Gift Guide – So many weddings are DIY and Handmade lately, wouldn’t it be great to get some fab wedding gifts on Etsy.  I think a Wedding Gift Guide with all the things a new couple would need could be awesome.
• Kids Toys – People are moving away from mass produced toys, especially for the younger kids.  Show what clever sellers are offering.
• Gifts for the “xxx” lover – no the xxx doesn’t stand for….. you know.  That is a place holder like “Gifts for the Vampire lover”, “Gifts for the Bird lover”, “Gifts for the Mustache Lover” etc.  (I suppose you could have xxx lovers, but you might want to make those private).
• Vintage Gifts – This is one of my favorite things to give and to receive.  Love the nostalgia and kitsch of vintage items.
• Gift Packaging – Doesn’t sound too exciting, but it really is.  I love making wrapped presents look extra special.  There are tons of great handmade gift packaging on Etsy.

If you do make a gift guide, post it here.  We would love to share it.

xxoo Maggie