What the Tweet? and a WINNER!!

{your source for all things small-business}

{have a product or etsy shop you'd like to showcase here? Email me!}

Good Monday morning to all of my bloggy friends!! I hope you all had a MARVELOUS weekend! :)

So... I'm pretty sure I know what you all are waiting for, so I'll just cut to the chase... 

WE HAVE A WINNER for The Taffy Box custom stamped, sterling silver washer necklace!

#25, Brandy @ Oceanbelle who said...

Congrats Brandy!! 

Send me an email and I'll put you in touch with Koryn to order your lovely necklace! :)

Now, onward to the Monday Fun!

No matter how hard you may try and avoid it, there's just no getting around the fact that everyone and their dog is now on Twitter. It's the next big social networking front, and can certainly be an asset to growing your following. Since I, for the most part, am a total Twitter goof, I have asked Celesa (Lilly Bunns Boutique), a fellow member of the SAHM of Etsy group and the SAHM of Etsy Blog Leader, to share her recent instructional post about Twitter with you guys. She'll give you the 411 on setting up your account, as well as fill us in on some of these Twitter-specific terms we keep hearing everywhere. YAY! Take it away Celesa...

...........................

  

Twitter is so hugely popular, and is actually a great little social media platform.  Who'da thunk that posting short little blurbs would have taken off so much?  I've been on it for a while, but still have so much to learn when it comes to what all the darn symbols mean. Sometimes it looks like someone is speaking gibberish on their posts.  So I've decided to finally learn the lingo, and let you all in on it!  

Before we really get started with all the info, you'll need to set up your account.  It's so simple I'm not even gonna walk you through it.  Just follow the steps and you'll be great!  But if you just can't figure it out, here's a great tutorial on YouTube

Now that your account is all set up, it's time to change the appearance of your profile. You'll get to a page that looks something like this.  Just follow the links on the right to set up your avatar, and change your profile appearance.

Now your all ready to send out your first tweet!

The Jargon (click the term to see Twitter's definitions):

Tweet: The little 140 word message you send out.  

Hash tags: A hash tag will have the # symbol followed by a word.  For example #etsytreasuries might be one. it's a way for twitterers to post things according to a topic.  Popular hash tags, get moved up to "trending topics."

Mentions and Replies: Just like on facebook, you can mention someone in your post by putting the @ symbol in front of their username.  You can also reply to a tweet by doing the same. Twitter keeps up with replies and mentions under the mention tab on your account home page.

ReTweet: Shown in the tweet with an RT in the message.  

Following: Following is pretty straight forward.  It simply means that you choose someone who you'd like to see their tweets!  Don't forget to follow @lillybunns!

To get noticed in Twitter, it's a good idea to follow lots, retweet, and mention lots, and do hash tags on the trending topics.  

I hope that clears up a few things for you.  Twitter can be such a great way to communicate with others, and publicize yourself to the world!

You can find Celesa:

on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lillybunnsboutique

on her blog: Lilly Bunns Boutique

and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lillybunnsboutique

and of course... on Twitter!! http://twitter.com/lillybunns {@lillybunns}

Thanks Celesa! Now, everyone go get tweeting! :)

XOXO

Answering Your Marketing Questions + Free Stuff

~ your source for all things small-business related ~

~ want to feature YOUR shop on Merch Monday? email me! ~

Good morning!! My goodness this time change is kicking my butt. It probably doesn't help that it's all stormy and dark down here in southeast Texas, but I am finding it terribly difficult to get going this morning. Anyone else having trouble? ;)

In the last several days I have gotten a whole slew of emails from the business card swap post and from last week's Thankful Thursday all wanting to know the same thing:

Where did I get my 

business cards/return address labels/postcards?

Long story short, I generally purchase all of my print media from 2 sources:

www.moo.com

www.vistaprint.com

I use VistaPrint when I need a good deal on the cheap. {especially if I need really large quantities...} They always have awesome specials, and most of the time I don't need this kind of thing quickly so I can save even more by doing the slow, cheap shipping. They have thousands of pre-designed options to choose from, so I also go this route if I'm not planning on doing the designing myself.

The return address labels I ordered from VistaPrint... I got like 300 of them for under $3. Seriously.

I use Moo for my business cards, my mini cards, and anything else that I KNOW needs to make a great presentation every time. These are the areas where I don't mind spending a little extra, but honestly, as far as I'm concerned Moo's product quality can't be beat. Moo is also "designer friendly," which I totally appreciate because I really prefer designing my own print media so it's exactly the way I want it.

My business cards and mini cards. 

I've even used a version of my mini cards as tags for my merchandise at "in person" sales like craft shows and bazaars.

Please excuse the terrible quality of these photos... they are seriously not doing these products justice. It is seriously SO dark and yucky outside, there is no natural light whatsoever so I am stuck with my overhead light today. Sorry. :( This picture actually makes it look pretty out compared to what's actually going on outside. Yuck.

{Anyway, obviously I have to tell you that neither of these companies sponsors me in any way, 

this is just an honest-to-goodness product/company review from my own personal experiences.}

That being said, I got an email this morning from VistaPrint {another perk... email specials} with all kinds of great deals going on right now. Free postcards, free return address labels, free premium business cards... there's like 7 deals going on this week. So if you're in the market, you might want to check them out, there's lots of free stuff happening over there from now through March 18th.

VistPrint FREE Offers

All of you that emailed me, I hope this helps! You guys know I'm always happy to share whatever info/knowledge I can in order to make your lives easier. :)

Don't run off too far, 

I'll be making an announcement 

about our next giveaway later today!

XOXO

Guest Post at SAHMs of Etsy!

Hey all!!

Just wanted to let you know that I'm guest posting my little Silhouette project tutorial from earlier this week over at the SAHM of Etsy blog today!

Go check it out! 

{Especially if you're a stay at home mom yourself... there are tons of great women in this group!}

If you're interested in joining this group, go HERE for more info.

Also...

Kaleigh over at Lottie Lou and Brother Too sent me her pics of the sweet little elephants she made for her kiddos from our Eli the Elephant tutorial. They are just too cute! She even included pics of her precious tiny baby boy snuggling with his. {sigh} My heart melts!



Thanks Kaleigh for sharing with us! She's a new blogger, so be sure to pop over and say hello to her! :)

Thanks so much to the SAHM of Etsy team for letting me share! Have a great weekend!

XOXO

Sharing the love with a business card swap!

~ your source for all things small-business related ~
~ want to feature YOUR shop on Merch Monday? email me! ~

I know I have mentioned this great etsy group that I am a part of, Stay at Home Moms of Etsy, but today I have a special post inspired by these awesome ladies!

First of all, Nicole at ScissorGoddess on etsy put together this really awesome idea for us all. She divided us into groups of 4 shop owners whose merchandise complimented each others. Then the members of each group mailed the others 15 business cards for their shop. {Stay with me here, lol} After all the trading was done, we each were left with 45 new business cards {3 shops, 15 cards each} to package and send out with our orders... A really fun way to share "hand picked" businesses with our buyers.

I thought it was a brilliant idea. What better marketing is there than word of mouth? Especially coming from someone who has an insight to what you're shopping for! YAY!

However, I did feel a little weird about just tossing the cards in with my shipment... people get confused. haha! So I came up with this little idea to let them know I'm doing something special just for them.

I used my handy-dandy Silhouette machine to make the tags using some leftover paper from our wedding invitations. {Yes, that was awhile ago, but I save everything! You never know when it might come in handy. Case in point. :)} And I used clear labels in Word for the text.

Next time, I would want to print directly onto the tag, but this particular paper doesn't take to printing very well so I opted for the labels. {which I had leftover from my baby shower invitations... my case just keeps getting better for saving everything! haha!}


I uploaded both the file for the labels and the Silhouette working file to Google docs so I could share them with you. It seems that Google docs re-formats things, so you will have to do some tweaking I guess. And, obviously, you would have to change the shop name for your own usage, but at least you have a starting point. :)

Link to Lables in Google Docs
Link to Silhouette file in Google Docs

Here's a quick rundown of how they came together:

Printed labels to the left, and cut pieces above. 

I cut the green about 1/4" larger than the frosted white so it would make a nice border. 

All pieced together!

Assembly line, baby!!

I also cut a couple of little slits in the top and bottom so I could 

thread some ribbon through and tie them all together. No ugly paper clips here!

 More work? Yes. But I feel like presentation is everything. 

How special to get a little ribbon wrapped package inside your box of goodies you ordered?

I hope you all find this helpful, {I know you SAHMs will!} I'm so excited about sending these out!! 

XOXO

SAHM of Etsy: Feature Shop!

Hey everyone!! I am still struggling with the no internet thing, but I found a neighbor who's left their wireless connection open so I'm squeezing in to share this link with you. Hopefully they don't catch me sneaking their internet and I can get some work done, haha!

Today the wonderful ladies over at SAHM of Etsy (Stay At Home Moms) are featuring my etsy shop!

...

Stay-At-Home-Moms-of-Etsy: Feature Shop: Little Birdie Baby Shop: "Each Wednesday here on the blog, we'll introduce you to a different member of the SAHM of Etsy Team. Today, I'd like you to meet Rachael, th..."

...

Let me tell you, these are some of the most amazing women I have ever had the privilege of working with, and I am really enjoying getting to know them and all of their shops. I mean, we are talking a seriously awesome pool of creative talent here. 

Go check out my little interview and show some love to these incredible ladies. While you're there, be sure to browse their shops, you won't be disappointed I promise!

XOXO