I've been wanting to do a gift guide for a while.  I'm starting out with handmade gift suggestions for mom.  I'm sure that my guides will get better as they come along.  It'll be a learning experience that you're welcome to join me on =-)

View My Guide  

I think the universal realization made by crafters and artisans who have shops and studios online is that things are just plain slow!

We think it's due to the economy , but really, although I'm pretty broke myself, I do still have the urge to spoil myself from time to time and if I see something I REEEEally want, Imma get it!

Networking and exposure are the keys to online success (although I haven't mastered it yet, or even gotten close, I've heard this from many successful online sellers).  

Now, if you're like me, you tell yourself that you're going to get online, list a few things, do some networking, and boom- you're done for the day and will come back later to see how all of this helped.

If you're really like me, you sit down to your computer with the above mentioned list with all the intentions of doing just that, but find yourself playing scrabble on face book rather than actually networking, giving shout outs to your friends on myspace, and listening to music. (Those are just a few of the distractions I've come across, you know there's a million more! lol)

Where am I going with all this??

While browsing through the forums here on Artfire, I came across a thread started by
WildChildDzigns, which informed us that there is a way to get free advertising on Face Book!  I've tried Project Wonderful before, and it didn't really work out for me.  It was the first advertising that I tried, and while there is a way to get ads that are really worth the effort for next to nothing, I never really figured out that formula, so I gave up on the idea that little ole me would ever be able to gain exposure through ads.  It was just too complicated, and I was afraid of the cost. But guess what!  We have the opportunity to get 100 free dollars worth of Face Book advertising.  There is a company called Visa Business Network which is offering a$ 100 coupon which can be used towards the purchase of ads on Face Book - See the thread for more details. 

Can you tell that I'm excited about this?

I've been meaning to create a button which i would offer up for grabs on my blogger blog, but never got around to it.  Reading that thread motivated me to get it done, and so, here is what I came up  with:

I will be using my Ad monies to direct people to my Face Book fan Page just like WildChildDzigns suggested.  Because after all, you can keep a fan for longer than you can keep a random click.

 I haven't activated my ad yet, But will do once I read up on how to price and bid (something that I went totally wrong with on PW).

If you decide to give this thing a try, please come back and let me know how it works out for you - leave a comment about what you thought of the process and results =-) 

Lanee's Crochet

Hey folks,

Now that my 1000Markets shop is live (it's aliiiive!!! muah ah ah ah! ), I've decided to make it a shop that is offering just cotton good for now.

So far, I've moved my bath accessories there and will be working on getting the remaining dish cloth sets and coasters moved there too.

You can find my 1000Markets Shop here: http://laneescrochet.1000markets.com.

I also wanted to mention a change in a studio policy.  

Well... I don't know if it's a policy or not, but until recently, my items were made in a pet free environment.  Buuuut... My mom has a dog, which I usually try to avoid and close off my area to, but lately, I've been warming up to the little critter, so now she can stop in and say hi from time to time.

This means that if you're allergic to dogs, please note that my items may be exposed to one at some time. 

I hope this isn't too big of a deal, but felt it's definitely worth mentioning.

♥ 

As you may be able to tell when you visit my studio, blog, and other Lanee's Crochet places online, my favorite colors are blue and yellow.  I personally dig these colors because well, they look good on me 

Seriously, though when I decided that I was going to get serious about branding myself, I wanted to chose colors that inspired me and that were pretty neutral as far as who could love them ( I didn't want to turn pink and have guys that landed on my page feeling weird or anything like that). I also wanted to chose colors that could be carried through seasons.  

Sometimes, I get tired of looking at oranges and browns in fall, red and green in winter and pastels in spring.  With a few tweaks, I'm pretty confident that I'll be golden!  

And I very damn well better be- I just ordered 100 business cards with this theme!  

Anyway, after chatting with a fellow crafter, I realized that I need to pull my shop together a bit more and that I could do this by using a photo background color that went with the theme.

She was saying how it was difficult for most people, unless they really know what they're doing, to get white backgrounds TRULY white, so they tend to be gray looking.  And that is so true!  I'm guilty of this =-\

But not for much longer. 

I checked out how Stacey has her images set up with the nice consistently green back ground and how it makes her shop look so much like she cares and thought about how she wanted it to be.

I've decided to make a couple of items to help raise money for breast cancer awareness.- Here's more about it: