Blog About Crafts

Fall in western North Carolina is always decorated with so many colors that one can’t help but think of boxes full of crayons. Reds, oranges, yellows, rusts, golds and lush greens abound in every direction for as far as the eye can see. We spend much of fall on the road just enjoying the beauty of our mountain home and the surrounding states. Even though we live here, we join the thousands of other eco-tourists that come to this part of North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia every year to breathe in the crisp mountain air and be dazzled by the kaleidescope of natural fall colors as the leaves turn.

The temperature this time of year can vary as much as 40 degrees from sunrise to mid-afternoon. Dressing in layers is not about making a fashion statement but a way of survival. But, it’s so worth it. And this is the best time of year for sleeping. Chilly enough to need a blanket, yet once you put that blanket on the bed and snuggle in its warmth - to sleep you go.

Ah, but today’s been a day of even greater beauty and wonder.

There are many wonderful crafters and artists who submit to Crafty Tips. The busiest category (and the one with the most listings) showcases the works of Jewelry Makers from all over the world. As you can imagine, I’ve seen a variety of photography styles and techniques. Some do a wonderful job of showing each piece to its full beauty, some are almost there and sometimes the photo is lovely but still fails to explain the piece.

One of the problems is that many pieces are hard to imagine in action. In action? Yep. Think about the action of jewelry - earrings and pendents hang and dangle and necklaces and bracelets drape. Pins are often designed with a specific top and bottom. While some jewelry is designed to wear a variety of ways; many jewelry artisans fail to make it clear how they envisioned or designed the item to be worn.

When selling jewelry online, you can never forget that your customers can not touch the piece and most will not take the time to email you to ask, “So, how do you wear this piece anyway?”

Off all the pieces of jewelry I look at when reviewing jewelry websites, artisans often make mistakes when selling pendents…

It was brought to my attention that I may have been neglecting the crafty side of Blog About Crafts. Ironically, it was not a crafter who reminded me but a fellow directory owner who rejected my blog for inclusion among the other Art blogs because most of my recent posts have been about SEO, marketing and reputation management.

My “day job” is working with business owners on all of those things. With new customers and loading as many pictures as possible on Reusable Art for crafters getting ready to make their Christmas fair products and gifts, I haven’t had much time for crafting. Perhaps that’s reflected a bit in my overall jittery and bored state of mind. Of course being virtually trapped at home as gasoline continues to be hard to find in this region has not helped much.

I did find this great little owl project the other day. The blogger who seems to be somewhat credited with starting what appears to have become something of a trend, Alexandra, got her idea from one of those great Japanese crafting books.

The basic pattern looked perfect to be translated into crochet - it was originally a really quick sewing project. Making the little guy from crochet stitches takes decidedly much longer than it does with a sewing machine and fabric but I hope many will agree my version is just as, if not more, cute than the original Japanese or modified sewn version.

I can’t believe it’s already been a year but one of the best events for fiber enthusiasts is just around the corner.

The annual Southeaster Animal Fiber Fair is once again being held at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center just outside of Asheville, NC.

This year it is being held the weekend of October 24th-26th. (Many of the Friday events are for exhibitors and classes only.)

In my last post, I talked about actively reacting to what other people are saying about our businesses and websites. Actively Reacting As A Marketing Strategy can be a time consuming task but there is one great way to make the task much easier.

In order to actively react to blog entries, forum posts and other conversations that relate to your website or business you first have to find those conversations. For small websites and businesses, it might be as easy as conducting a few Google searches for their company name. But, there’s an even better way to find out who’s talking about your site(s) and go directly to the page where the conversation is taking place.