Purses (enough for everyone)

Just updated my shop - all of these purses are available at £4.50 + p&p they make perfect stocking fillers for little girls and not so little girls too. Email me haptree@yahoo.com or message me at my Folksy shop if you are interested and I can make you up a custom listing.

Folksy Mini Treasury - Christmas Cards and Last Posting Dates

Quick - Buy stuff!

Time is running out folks - do you have your cards yet?  Why not take some time to browse around these gorgeous and unique Christmas cards available at http://www.folksy.com/  All of the images will click through to the sellers shops so please click click and take a look at all of their beautiful crafts.

Last posting dates are:

UK Last Posting Dates

• Friday 18th December for Second Class
• Monday 21st December for First Class
• Recorded Signed For™ has the same last posting dates as the 1st or 2nd Class service that the customer has chosen to apply it to.
• Tuesday 15th December for Standard Parcels
• Special Delivery™  - Wednesday 23rd December for Special Delivery™
• Parcelforce -  Worldwide, Tuesday 22nd December for express48, Wednesday 23rd December for express24, Wednesday 2nd December until Friday 18th December for Global Priority
• International Airmail. - Friday 4th December for South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Far East, Asia, New Zealand and Australia - Thursday 10th December Japan, USA, Canada and Eastern Europe - Friday 11th December Western Europe

(Copied from http://www.lastpostingdates.co.uk/ )

Centralise your side bars! - Blogging Tip

This is so easy but makes such a difference to the look of your blog.

Have you added things like blog awards, photo's, adverts to your blog sidebars and they stick over to the left?   (or even the little tags that you have to add to be on stumble or blogcatalog or other seo type site)

I recently added a section for doing badge swaps with fellow bloggers at the bottom of my blog and this will help to keep that whole section looking great too.  I have a tutorial for making a grabbable blog or shop badge here if you don't know how to add one to your own site for other people to grab.   So far I just have the lovely Dollipops  - I gave her my sparkly giveaway HQ badge which you can grab down at the bottom or I can swap for this badge which will go to my shop.  Let me know if you are interested in a swap, just leave me a comment.  

Centralise your Sidebars

Here's how to make them all neat and tidy and centralised, just like mine on the left are.

Open up the gadget/widget in your blog layout section or directly from your blog if you have the editing mode (little tools crossed over beside each gadget)

Before all of the html text write <center> and afterwards write </center>  (american spelling)

That's it, click save and you're done, all neat and tidy :o)  worked especially well with my project wonderful adverts which looked very silly stuck over to the left as they are so slim.

Happy blogging - see more tips and tutorials here.

Folksy Mini Treasury - Baby Folksy

...awwwwww booties

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to go a little goo goo ga ga over these cute baby knits!

I wrote this poem as a gift for my niece just before she was born.   (When the next one comes along I'll be visiting Folksy! - Just look at the amount of fab baby products available here that I didn't have room to include this week)

Baby

You are new!
Now clean, now dry,
A small bright marble
(you have fingernails and hair!)


So who is she, it’s ok she’s safe
She knows everything about you
Every single minute of you
Why, she even smells like you!

And him, he’s yours too
You just met, he held your hand
He cried - You are too beautiful
He will protect you and talk softly about the world.

Baby, be sure to show them everything about you
(and impress their friends too!)
But that’s all for tomorrow
You must sleep now.

I said SLEEP NOW!
Mummy needs to sleep too
Don’t you remember?
She just gave birth to you.

Hilary Pullen September 2005

(NEXT WEEK = CHRISTMAS CARDS!)

PS.
Children in Need - Still Need You!

To all of you with twitter accounts, please, please send out this tweet to support the folksy Children in Need shop on Folksy, especially if you are unable to buy something from there yourself!  Your followers may have money to burn?

Children in Need Folksy Shop, beautiful handmade gifts for xmas - all proceeds go to Children in Need http://tinyurl.com/ybkfb8z
Just click the link to tweet this now!  It's that simple and that will cost you nothing (the least you can do, right?!) The link is shortened but it goes directly to Crafter oos charity shop.

Folksy Sellers Location Location location!

View Folksy Shops in a larger map

This map has been created by Ravenwolf, one of our talented Folksy sellers, she creates gorgeous jewellery like this bangle below. Ravenwolf is putting together a list of everybody from Folksy that comments on this thread leaving their location, and a few details about themselves.  I just commented this morning, hopefully this will keep building and building. It will be so useful to know who is nearby for sharing craft tables, meet ups etc.  So far not too many people in Herts but looks like lots in London which is not too far for me.

Blogging Tips and Tutorials

EDIT - Head over to Craft Blog UK for even more Blogging Tips and Tutorials

I've been writing and collecting lots of tips to make your blogger  or any blog more appealing and easier to navigate.  Making your blog look good and be user friendly will help you to attract and keep more followers and readers and hopefully direct more people to your shops, exposing more of your beautiful handmade items to the public. 

There is a mix of easy html tutorials with some more conceptual and subjective tips here, but don't run off scared it's all really easily achievable, you just need to take it step by step. Please leave a comment and a way of contacting you if you get stuck with anything and I'll try my best to help! 

See Craft Blog UK for all my new blogging tips!

Blogging Tips and HTML Tutorials

Make it Pretty!

Add a Shop Slideshow to your blog Nov 09
Photography Tips - Good photos = good blogs in my opinion!
Add a horizontal link bar (aka navigation bar) at the top of your blog below your blog title.


How, Why and When!
Ok so your blog looks amazing now but what's your motivation?

Why do I need a Blog to sell craft?
Tips from Etsy Bloggers
Blog Post Titles - are they important for SEO

Social Media and Advertising 
Is anyone actually reading your blog posts?

Craft Link HQ - All the links you'll ever need to boost readers, increase sales and get yourself noticed!

Useful little Extras!

Make a grabbable blog badge - free advertising!
Make a Clickable Comment on someones blog, one click to get to your shop from their blog!
Add this - Social Media Sharing button - one click sharing.
Tweetable Links - Make it really easy for people to send out tweets, write it for them!

Let me know if you have any tips or tricks of your own for improving blogspot blogs, whether it be SEO related, html tutorials or just to make it aesthetically more pleasing! just write a comment.

I hope you have enjoyed reading through these ideas. :o)

haptree now 3D...

I had an idea for my display, to make it really stand out and today we made a start on it...  I'm getting a bit nervous as I've scrolled through lots of pictures of craft displays and I haven't seen anyone with a large sign above their heads yet...   hopefully it will look as brilliant as the idea in my head.  The idea is that it looks just like my shop and blog. Cost wise, we have most of the materials so it's working out pretty cheap.

W drew this up for me (I like that I'm a middle aged man!) and he's been working out all the logistics for attaching it, he's fairly expert at carpentry so I have faith that it wont collapse on me.  He's made it so that it is in 3 parts and it'll be lightweight and screwed together with a few bolts and wingnuts -  so easily assembled and dismantled.  The struts come up from the back of the table (my kitchen table, an ikea one with drawers, very useful!) and I'll be able to hang some of my bags up high, I have read height is important for impact but  have I gone too far?

We should really have been working on the house today, we have a bare concrete floor in the living room at the moment, but this fair is looming so I want to be sure it's all done in plenty of time.  Also had a lovely lunch out at an italian restaurant just next to the DIY shop, maybe diy followed by an Italian is a new cultural phenomenon, a bit like a kebab after the pub?  Why else would would they build them so close together?

Folksy Mini Treasury - Friday the 13th

...get lost Freddy!

Or was it Jason, horror movies aren't really my thing - but if you're battling with demons from beyond the grave or just hiding in your house due to your paraskevidekatriaphobia (yep wikipedia has it's uses!) then get to Folksy and check out all of these lucky treasures!  All the images are clickable (touch wood) or hover over for the prices.

PS.
Children in Need - Still Need You!

To all of you with twitter accounts, please, please send out this tweet to support the folksy Children in Need shop on Folksy, especially if you are unable to buy something from there yourself!  Your followers may have money to burn?

Children in Need Folksy Shop, beautiful handmade gifts for xmas - all proceeds go to Children in Need http://tinyurl.com/ybkfb8z
just click the link to tweet this now!  It's that simple and that will cost you nothing (the least you can do, right?!) The link is shortened but it goes directly to Crafter oos charity shop.

Shop Slideshow Gadget - Blogging Tips

I had a comment recently asking about one of the gadgets/widgets I have on my blog and I thought I'd share where they all come from over a few posts.  I'm sure some of you already have these (and more) so please let me know your favourites too.  Today I'll show you how to get the shop slideshow gadget.

Shop Slideshow

I think this will be particularly useful to any of you with a Folksy shop or other who is mourning the lack of an Etsy mini equivalent. Well in my opinion this is a better alternative and takes up less space in your sidebar.  I have removed my Etsy mini and when my Etsy shop is restocked I'll just use one of these instead.

My slideshow is on the right titled "Available at my shop now" - it scrolls through all the items I currently have for sale in my Folksy shop.  With one click people are taken directly to the item displayed.  You can add as many of these as you like for all of your various shops.  Neat huh! 

In the  'layout' tab on your blogger dashboard click on 'add gadget'.  Search for 'Slideshow' and click the plus sign.  Change the dropdown 'source' menu to 'Other'.  You now need to copy and paste the RSS feed from your shop into where it says 'Feed url' . 

Finding your RSS - On Folksy this is a large orange button that says RSS just to the right of where your name is displayed on your main shop page, click it and then copy the address from the top of the page.  With etsy you'll find the RSS by looking for the orange square in your tool bar called 'feeds'. 

The RSS for my Folksy shop looks like this http://www.folksy.com/shops/haptree/rss  and like this http://www.etsy.com/rss_shop.php?user_id=6302819 for my etsy shop.

You now need to click save and then drag the gadget to your desired location.

This will work for anything with an RSS feed!

Christmas fair and shop Update

This week I have mostly been buying bits and pieces for my craft fair, ever the optimist I will of course be making back every penny (no self doubting here, no not me....  Aaaaargh!)

here's a few shots of what I have been making...

So lots of bead kits, wristlets and coin purses!  I'm also hoping to make some library bags, they will be appliqued with a flower like this on a plainer fabric - if I used the Japanese fabric they would be way too expensive.  I've bought yards and yards of new fabric but I've decided I must use up some of the fabric I have already - only 2 or 3 more things to make and I can start on the new stuff which has kittens, owls more gorgeous flowers and even some chritmassey stuff.

I've also got masses of millefiori beads and lovely opaque candy coloured seed beads which I have started turning into some very cute and bright jewellery.  I'll take some pictures next week as the packaging is going to look gorgeous but I haven't printed it all up yet. Still LOTS more to do! 

The shop is understocked at the moment but if you would like anything and you don't see it just convo me and I'll add a custom listing.  Thanks x H

The fair is on December 5th at Bentley Priory in North London - it's an amazing venue and there will be antiques, collectables, books and crafts...  if you live nearby please come and say hello!

Stumble - I need more Stumbling!

This post is a recap from way back in June when I had just discovered Stumble, I have found so many interesting websites through using it since!  Like finding Tokyo Plastic - wow, just keep clicking that red dot! The video I have embedded is from them too. 

Check out some of my other favourites here, please bear in mind I share this computer so they are not all my favourites!  If you are on stumble already click subscribe on my profile and we can be stumble buddies! (I'll subscribe to your too!) If you aren't using stumble then register it's so much fun!

Here's the post I wrote back in June -

Warning - reading this could rob you of many hours of your life but you'll also discover an amazing array of things you just never knew existed! One of the Folksy guys mentioned it in a chat room the other day.  [that was Woody of WoodJewellery]

Stumble is an awesome idea where you click a button on your toolbar (it only takes a few seconds to download) and it takes you to a completely random website based on a few selections you've made about your interests - I chose humour, food, photography and craft. Then as you 'stumble' across these sites you can click like or dislike buttons (also on your toolbar) and stumble will take these choices into account and progressively bring you better and more interesting websites tailored to you!

Also you can add your own website, another way of getting people to visit my shops!

So if you do download stumble make sure you click 'I like it' next time you're on my blog! Leave me a comment if you want me to do likewise for your website or shop.

True to my word from June, if you let me know you clicked 'I like' then I will return the favour, just leave me the link!

Folksy Mini Treasury - Children in Need

...please help any way you can!

A selection from the fantastic Crafteroo shop in aid of Children in Need.  Custom animal portraits, jewellery, badges, cuddly toys...  lots more too!  Please click on any picture to take you directly to the shop for a good nose around!

All items for sale here [crafteroo] have been handmade by members of the Crafteroo forum (http://www.crafteroo.co.uk/). All proceeds will go towards Children in Need, so please don't hesitate to purchase- your money is going to a worthwhile cause in the UK and overseas

You can't buy Tess Daily at the Folksy Children in Need shop but you can help out in lots of other ways! Please read the rest to find out how!

Make a small donation and get a digital bandana for your twitter profile pic!

This link takes you to the official BBC Children in Need page where you can find out all of the amazing things that this charity does with your money and add a bandana to your profile pic to let everyone know you are supporting children in need.

To all of you with twitter accounts, please, please send out this tweet to support the folksy Children in Need shop, especially if you are unable to buy something from there yourself!

Children in Need Folksy Shop, beautiful handmade gifts for xmas - all proceeds go to Children in Need http://tinyurl.com/ybkfb8z
just click the link to tweet this now!  It's that simple and that will cost you nothing (the least you can do, right?!)

And for those of you with blogs - a quick mention of the Folksy Children in Need shop will really help to raise some more money for vunerable children who really need your help :o) Feel free to just copy and paste this post if you like.

And of course to those of you who would like to make something to donate - then click here for details of how to do so.