May Team Challenge: Lilacs

In honor of Rochester's claim to fame as the lilac capital of the world, this month's challenge presents RNESTers' take on our city's favorite flower.

Cast your vote for your favorite on the poll in the upper, right corner of the blog.



Serenity Hand Flowers by A Different View

Sanctuary by A Different View

Domino Pendant - Lilac by In My Head Studios

Deep Purple Circuit Cuff Links by Beadwork by Amanda

Lilac Beaded Earrings by Kelley's Beading

Lavender Hand Knit Afghan by MF Crafts

Cast your vote for your Lilac-inspired favorite on the upper right of the sidebar! 

Make-it Mondays: Help us Make a Team Logo

Next month will be the 1 year anniversary of our street team officially meeting in person. It's about time we got a logo don't you think? A clear graphic representing our team could have applications on team websites, business cards, art market signage....possibly even t-shirts!

So team, we would like you to help out. Put those graphic design skills to use and submit logo for RNEST:

• Please submit your design to Jackbear's forum thread on the Ning site
• It should be clear and simple enough for print and website
• At least 300 dpi
  
• It should somehow include the name RNEST or a combination of the words "Rochester NY Etsy Street Team"
• All submissions are due by Sunday, August 8th, so we can vote on them as a team at our (1 year anniversary!) August 8th meeting.

Want to be a voter? Please come to that meeting or check out the thread and give us your two cents. Ready, set, go!

Jack's Pick: Chai Soap by FuzzyBunny

Each Friday I select an item created by a member of the Rochester NY Etsy Street Team(RNEST). What criteria do I use? I look for great looking items that I think are well made offered for a great price!

This week I bring you Chai soap made by FuzzyBunny!

I love Chai tea. All those flavors just feel so cozy. Chai to me is a warm blanket. What a relaxing way to enjoy a bath or shower with that smell of chai. The only problem with this is I might want to eat the bar before the bath time is over.

Not only do I like the flavor of this soap, but I like what Fuzzy Bunny stands for. From Fuzzy Bunny's profile on etsy:

The Fuzzy Bunny began as an experiment in sustainability. We use only vegan ingredients, a soapmaking process that results in no waste, and local botanicals as soap additives. We strive to create enjoyable natural products while minimizing our impact upon the earth.

Fuzzy Bunny gets her name from her two rabbit compainions, Lenni and Oxtoby.

Great work Fuzzy Bunny!!!

Make-it Mondays: Go Us!

Recently the local news seems to be, well...all about us. Our team leader Just Ice Jewelry, and several dedicated members have been featured in the newspaper, on local tv news and in online periodicals. Check them out below:

Just Ice Jewelry: The Rochester Examiner
Gock's Frocks: The Democrat and Chronicle
Just Ice Jewelry, The Quilted House, Jack Bear Stamps, and Paper and Tact: The Democrat and Chronicle
Duncan Creative: (as seen in the Yarn Bombing post) Channel 13 News
Bead Work By Amanda, Peaches Products and In My Head Studios: (For May Day Underground) The Rochester Examiner

Go us! P.S. Don't forget to keep adding secrets to last week's Make-It Monday.

Make- it Mondays: RNEST Garbage Plate

Happy Monday everybody. Today marks blog post #100. How amazing for burgeoning team and blog just over a year old. The blog, along with the team meetings, really started to expand this past September and we've gone from a handful of followers (mostly ourselves ) to 176! Awesome sauce.

Garbage Plate 3.0

Anyhow, I want to update you on the status of our garbage plate project. Not from Rochester? Find out what the heck that is here. So far we have a plate (the quilted house), a veggie burger (duncan creative) and some nasty meat sauce with onions (buenahelena). We are looking for RNEST members to volunteer to continue filling up the plate.

Possibilities include:

1. Sliced french bread
2. A red hot or a white hot
3. Macaroni salad
4. A pickle
5. Home fries
   
6. And baked beans

These can be made from any area of craft expertise, it just so happens that the first few contributors were fiber-licious. Leave a comment if you want to jump on this project. We will eventually turn it into a fun promotional giveaway.

Make- it Mondays: Why Our Street Team Works

On my personal blog, Buenahelena, I wrote about the recent successes in my Etsy shop today, and I owe much, if not all, of it to this team.

So, David Letterman style, The Top 5 Reasons Why Our Team Works:

5. We're held accountable by real people we have to face each month.
4. Bad things don't seem so unmanagable, when you can share Etsy horror stories with other sellers.
3. Word of mouth works a lot better when there are a lot of mouths
2. We freely swap everything, from ideas, to advice to market connections.
1. Because we're from Rochester and we're fueled by garbage plates! (see below)

***Here is Garbage Plate 2.0 by Michelle of The Quilted House (the plate) and Karen of Duncan Creative ( the hamburger)! Version 3.0 to be continued by Carol (me) of Buenahelena.***

Make- it Mondays: The Whole Package

From Buenahelena!
There are many reason why Etsy has been so wildly successful. The piles of unique, one of a kind items. The assurance of knowing who made the item your buying, the quality of their working conditions and the equity of their wages. Beyond all that good stuff, is that lovely feeling of getting something great in the mail. Not your email, twitter or facebook. Something in that little metal box at the end of your driveway. It's delicious and it keeps buyers coming back.

How can you make an irresistible and professional package with each item you send out?

1. Brand: Always include a business card for your shop. Create your own invoices with your brand and logo as the header. Stamp your items and packages (perhaps with a personalized stamp from JackBear Stamps). Stay within your shop style throughout the whole package. For example I upcycle a lot, so I've used silly things like Mighty Taco tray paper for my gift wrap. (Clean of course.)

2. Have you own Back: Print your shop's return policies and contact info on the back of your invoice if possible. Many folks don't bother to read it on your Etsy profile and it's better for them to know your policies and willingness to remedy problems before getting negative feedback.

3. Beautify: Make your package look awesome. Stock up on: Gift boxes, gift wrap, patterned packaging tape (now sold at JoAnn's), stickers, handmade envelopes. I recently sold something to someone who lives within 2 miles of me, but she wanted me to ship her item simply for the joy of the packaging!

4. Butter up: Send a personal thank you. Add a coupon code to your note or the back of your business card to show return shoppers your gratitude and persuade them to shop again. Give a small freebie, ie. Anything you'd sell for a dollar or less like magnets, key chains, samples items, a tiny zine or an artist trading card.

5. Branch out: Promote your team with a pack of business cards from other team members. Create a stand alone team business card promoting your blog or team website. Make a flier of upcoming shows or markets you'll be attending.

Follow these five B's. When you take each step of a transaction seriously, buyers will appreciate it and come back. They may very well bring back more buyers with them too. Let me hear what your put in your packages!

Make-it Mondays: Reviewing R-Nest WinterFest

The R-Nest WinterFest Door Prize Winner!!!

Oh the Monday mopes, I am sick! Despite my Dayquil haze and failing vocal chords I, along several amazing ROC Etsy street team members, enjoyed our first (and not last!) successful public sale. The R-Nest WinterFest was our first large scale team effort. We gathered at our meetings to plan, sent tons of emails back and forth, bombed the town with signs that we staple-gunned in mall parking lots, and traversed murky insurance issues. All in all it went well, but now we must come together to see how to improve.

Some suggestions:

1. Start later in the day or on a Saturday.
2. Don't put up signs before snow storms. And advertise even more!
   
3. Check out wifi capability and fees of the venue (we were credit card ready, with our own shopping site until...da-da-da...the $150 dollar fee.)
4. Check ATM's. We had one, but it was busted. Lame.
5. A larger location, like a church or school to pull more people and vendors.
   

Leave me more suggestions and I will add them to this post.

Things that rocked were:

1. Our raffle table and humoungoid door prize. I saw a lot of action there.
2. Networking with other ROC Etsy vendors.
3. Inspiration from vendors displays, packaging and products.
4. Sweet trades and word of mouth sales, by modeling what other vendors were selling.
5. Super supportive, friends, neighbors, colleagues and family who love to buy our stuff.
6. WIDE variety of vendors within our group.

Leave me things you loved and I will also post them.



Now, one more thing. My photos of this event suck! Send your photos to buenahelena@hotmail.com and I will post them here as they come. Let's keep this post ever updating for the next couple weeks as a reflection and even greater direction for the future!

Make-it Mondays: And by "make" I mean SHOP!

From Buenahelena!

This Sunday marks a milestone for our street team. On December 13th we are holding our first organized, public sale event as a team, the R-NEST WinterFest, at the RIT Inn and Conference Center (5257 West Henrietta Rd. Henrietta, NY 14602). Join us from 9 am-4 pm to support fellow team members and shop, shop, shop for great, handmade holiday gifts. Every purchase of $10.00 at an individual seller's booth will buy you a raffle ticket towards free prizes from individual sellers and one grand prize basket of goodies from ALL of our vendors and other street team members.

Top 5 reasons to shop local this year:
1.) Your gifts will be unique! No embarrassing double gifting!
2.) You'll boost small entrepreneurs in Rochester in a tough economy and support its Arts community.
3.) You can rest assured that you are getting a quality item that was ethically produced. Not in a sweat shop. Not by small children working for a pennies a day...(cough, cough Walmart).
4.) You won't get that nagging mall headache. You know that brain overload of too many colors, lights and choices?
5.) You will avoid horrendous traffic and that angry, overtired shopper who will invariably yell at you for "pulling into their space" in crowded parking lots.


If you can't make it to the WinterFest, be sure to visit our team member's Etsy shops. This holiday season many of us are offering specials sales and deals from discounts on multiple purchases to free shipping. (Team members leave you deals in the comments section of this post!) Happy giving! Don't forget to give a little TLC to yourself as well...