DAILY GREETINGS: Good Monday Morning!

Good Monday Morning from The Creative Seller

GOOD MONDAY MORNING!    

Going to finish a new Fiverr gig banner today. Fiverr is a selling platform where creatives of all types offer services and products. There are a lot of graphic design, coding and writing gigs available there.

Pretty much letting my Positive Words Artwork Etsy shop listings expire out for now and focusing on my printables and graphics shop, Printaphoria. Positive Words Artwork is my general handmades shop. I try to focus on listing handmades and artwork there that features positive-thinking, motivational and uplifting words and designs.

Printaphoria is my newer shop where I design and list printables, digitals, graphics and downloadables.

What changes are YOU making  this summer to your creative life and business?

Retiring this year and lots of changes and reorganization coming!  What changes will YOU be making this summer?

Images Credit: Facebook and Google

BUSINESS: I Left The Meraki Market Because

Meraki Market craft group at Facebook

I joined The Meraki Market & The Meraki Market Vendor Planning pages at Facebook, two closed crafters' groups where various events, sales and promotions are held. I had learned about them through a post at the Buy Sell Handmade Marketplace , where I asked a few questions after I visited the market's pages. Since I could not glean much info at the pages, I joined.

After I was approved, I commented and asked questions regarding if the listings were ever seen by the public. All members are admins, with a few who manage the groups designated as top/main admins. My comment was pended, to be reviewed by the managers, but my post was never published, nor did anyone ever contact me with answers. Sadly, my moderated comment also disappeared from my pending posts.

I wrote two more pended comments about a week after my first, but that morning when I saw that my first comment had disappeared without ever hearing from anyone, I immediately wrote a third, informing them that I was leaving the group. My new comments were there in the pended record, so I knew that the moderation/pending system was working. Apparently, my first comment, where I asked pertinent questions, was deleted.

I assume that The Meraki Market is a group where advertising is done among the members only and everyone is selling to each other. It's a visually attractive setup with good organization of events, it seems. The graphics are beautifully-designed, but none of this makes the group worth the time, since no listings are seen by the public.

I find the activities, navigation and general interface to be confusing, complicated and frustrating. I saw at least one other comment from a member who expressed similar frustrations. I could have learned how to be active there, but none of my listings would have ever been seen by potential customers on the outside. Therefore, there would not be enough sales to make all of that effort worthwhile.

If you like the friendly, cloistered-type of sales environment where only about 550 or so members get a chance to peruse your wares, The Meraki Market seems like a great place to work with. I did appreciate the well-designed images and banners. I do, however, take issue with the little link in the right-hand sidebar. It states Very Responsive To Messages. Maybe this is true to get crafters in, since this is a Messenger link accessible from the outside, but I think the questions from a new member, via comment, are just as important.

CRAFTING: Easy Patchwork Bottles Decor

I like working with glass because of its sparkling transparency. Even when covered up, as I've done with these bottles, it's still exciting to feel the heftiness of glass in my hands.

Quick, decorative craft technique for bottles.

I had thrown so many bottles away that I put my foot down and declared I'm going to find a quick, decorative technique so that I can salvage these bottles.

Wire-wrapped, paper patchwork, decoupaged bottles.

Before I tore up my papers, I decided on a color scheme of: 

• whites/creams/silvers for the 1st bottle,
• pinks/mauves/fuchsias for the 2nd,
• and golds/silvers/cremes/whites for the 3rd.

Once I tore up a supply of various papers, it was easy to apply glue to each piece and stick it to the bottle.  I started from the bottom and worked up to the top of each one.  Once finished, I painted each bottle with a matte sealer.  I decided to add another fav medium, craft wire, to the largest bottle.  I chose a golden wire and twisted a design with wire pliers.  Wrapping it around the bottle, I crimped each end back onto the wire, securing it.

Salvage old bottles and cover with paper scraps and wire.

I painted and embellished a wooden ball for the top of one bottle, attaching it securely with tacky glue.

Glitter, wire, paint, bugle beads and tiny Styrofoam ball used to embellish wooden ball topper for patchwork bottles by Artsy Craftery.

I kept the black, plastic, twist-on cap on the silvery bottle, decoupaging it with silver paper. I then formed a sculptural design on top of the cap with another piece of the paper.

White paint and gold metallic pen used to decorate cork bottle stopper.

Salvaged metal ring and beads from costume jewelry attached with wire.

I really like my design for the cork stopper that I used for the gold and silver bottle. I painted it with a spiral design and glued it into the top of the bottle. I created a sculptural topper for the bottle cork out of reclaimed metal, wire and beads. The metal disk had a metal post on it (it was part of an old pierced earring), which I stuck into a glue-filled hole in the cork.

Felt used to pad bottoms of paper patchwork and wire bottles.

The most time-consuming part of this technique is, of course, designing the paper patchwork design. Once you get started it goes very quickly.  I like my work to be finished on all surfaces, so I cut and glued craft felt to the bottom of each bottle.  It helps keep them from sliding off of shelves, and protects surfaces.

Silver metallic paper used in decoupage.

I like looking at these bottles.  They dress up any table or shelf with a pretty flash of creativity. Get busy!

Make your creative flash today!

DAILY GREETINGS: Happy Crafty Saturday

Have A Nice Day at Pinterest

A New Jersey botanicals-lover bought my Ortho 3-book pk about annuals, shrubs/hedges and trees.

Buy craft and gardening book pks.

Wishing him many lush plantings and gorgeous growth!

Follow my Nature Crafts DIY board at Pinterest

I need to work on some printables today for my Printaphoria shop and add a printable gig at Fiverr. What are YOU working on today?

HAPPY CRAFTY SATURDAY!


Good Morning Image Credit: Life's Cheerleader

NEWS: Bijou Bead Boutique Linkup Party

Michelle's Creative Compulsions Linkup Party

Michelle is hosting her

Creative Compulsions Linkup Party #5

at her blog

Bijou Bead Boutique.

This is what she says,

The guidelines are simple. The party opens at 4AM PST on Thursday, April 11th, and closes at 11:59 PM, Wednesday, April 17th. You may share as many projects as you like during that time. I would appreciate if you would post a link to the blog party when linking in order to spread the love. Lastly, take a look at what others have shared.

You can share anything on the Internet – blogs (mostly what I will be sharing); Instagram, Facebook and Twitter posts; pictures; and YouTube videos. The only requirement is that it be of something you’ve created. 

Hop on! Share what you're doing or have done. See you there!

PRODUCTS: New Easter Egg Hunt Clip Art Pk

Easter clip art for your egg hunt party at Printaphoria

If you want to print out Easter clip art for your egg hunt party or other spring children's event, here is a low cost, economical pack for you to download. It is listed at my Printaphoria shop at Etsy.

49 total printable Easter graphics at Printaphoria

There are 49 total printable Easter eggs, rabbits, baskets and a background element on 11 digital sheets, each sheet is regular-sized 8 1/2 x 11" printout, .jpeg images in a .zip file format, at 300 dpi high resolution for crisp printing.

  Printable Easter graphics by Artsy Craftery Design Studio

What is included in this Easter clip art file:

27 Eggs (various sizes)

9 Rabbits (various sizes)
2 Baskets (1 per 2 8 1/2 x 11" sheets)
10 Words (on 2 pages)
1 Background (on 1 8 1/2 x 11" sheet)

Buy Easter clip art for your bulletin board.

Print, cut out and use for party or egg hunt signs, on bulletin boards and in collage, mixed media, journal designs and all types of papercrafting projects. 

Printable Easter party clip art for your flyers.

Print these high quality .jpeg files on your home/office copier. Save them to your flash drive and take it to your favorite quick copy center or printer to be printed on premium paper. Be sure to take a copy of my included copyright agreement with you in case there are any questions about the copyright.

Printaphoria printables always personal and commercial!

Remember that PRINTAPHORIA Printables are always PERSONAL AND COMMERCIAL for anything that can be used in your crafting and art projects, and can be printed as often as you need.  This means that you can use my printables to add to the creation of any of your own handmades that you want to sell. Of course my license does not including selling my files or printed graphics from my files.

No attribution is necessary, but is appreciated whenever you can mention Printaphoria or Artsy Craftery Design Studio.

Thanks for visiting The Creative Seller and Printaphoria!

NEWS: Craftsy Changes Names

Craftsy.com became Blueprint.com on January 8.
  
The website is a venue where designers and crafters can list their patterns and templates for sale. The site now boasts improved shopping and selling features, a personal library and a streamlined profile.

What Blueprint says about the new site,

The Classes + Supplies You Love Are Still Available

The Craftsy experience you're used to, with affordable supplies and accessible classes, is staying the same - it's all available at Bluprint.

At Bluprint you’ll be able to

• Watch all of your previously purchased classes
• Order project kits + high-quality supplies 

This is a subscription website at $7.99 monthly or $79.99 yearly. For that fee they claim you get unlimited access to 1,300+ classes, plus thousands of patterns and recipes.