Handmade For Less!

I've created a new website called Handmade4less to help promote fellow artists and crafters who are selling their products online. Customers can browse this site for coupons to online shops that sell handmade products. They get great deals and the shops get extra promotion! The site has almost 30 stores promoted now and it's growing fast!

If you're a shop owner, this is a very cheap and fun site to use for promotion! If you like "Buy N Stay" promotion threads then you have to check this out! Shops from any online marketplace are welcome. We already have stores with their own sites as well as shops from Etsy and ArtFire.

I promote this site on Twitter through @craftydragon. I always post with each newly added coupon.

There's also a brand new Facebook Fan Page where I'll be posting updates about the site.

So check it out and let me know what you think!

Featured on Etsy Item of the Day!

Today my beeswax tea lights and my shop are featured on Etsy Item of the Day. This site is beautifully organized and a great resource for all of us who love Etsy!

They included a picture of my tea lights in the gorgeous wood holders made by Peg and Awl.

This has inspired me to get back into my work on this blog! So expect to see more entries soon.

In the meantime check out this great feature!

Team Tuesday: Barnegat Bay

This past Saturday I was one of the Etsy NJ members that set up to vend at the Barnegat Bay All About the Waterfowling Day. It was great to connect in person with these fellow team members! It was so fun browsing through these items in person that I just wanted to show off some of them here.

Team Tuesday: A Shop for Yarn Addicts!

As some of you know, I do some crocheting in my spare time to relax and create fun things for my family and friends. I don't go through much yarn this way, and that's a big problem ... because I love buying new yarn!!

I am drooling over the gorgeous yarn from Pancake and Lulu, one of the great sellers on the Etsy New Jersey team! I dare you to try and browse this shop without buying! As soon as I've worked through enough of my current yarn pile I will back here for sure. :)

Just click on the pictures or links below to buy or get more information.


Read more about Etsy New Jersey shops by checking out the blogs listed below.

Team Tuesday: Handmade Jewelry in NJ

"Team Tuesday" blog posts are part of an Etsy New Jersey Blog Hop. So to check out more great posts about New Jersey artists take a look at the list of links below.

This week I'm featuring some items from a couple of my favorite jewelry artists in the EtsyNJ team. Click on the pictures to purchase or find out more information about their items.



Join Us for the 1st "Team Tuesday" Blog Hop and add your Link to our List!

Rules

Blog post must be about an EtsyNJ member shop. To find an EtsyNJ shop, search "EtsyNJ" at Etsy.com. Please limit yourself to just EtsyNJ shops, you may feature more than one if you like, use whatever style or format you want, its your blog. Your post can be as simple or as elaborate as you want.

You do not have to be a team member to participate, but you MUST feature an EtsyNJ member on your blog.

Snowed In!

We got a snowstorm last night that left us with drifts a couple feet tall in the backyard. Our poor little dog just looked at the wall of snow at the door like, "Now what am I supposed to do?" :)

So since I'm stuck inside today I might as well enjoy it! I put together this lovely selection of picks from the Helping Others Street Team (HOST) and the EtsyNJ team. Enjoy!

Free Lotion With Every Order!

I now make cream lotions, and I know my customers will love them! This all natural cream lotion is made from a high quality, paraben free and vegan lotion base. It works in quickly, leaving your skin feeling silky smooth and not sticky or greasy. You don’t need to re-apply very often, and a little goes a long way!

Here are the scents I currently have available.

• Unscented
• Lavender (made with Lavender essential oil)
• Chamomile Neroli (made with essential oil blend)
• Vanilla (made with fragrance oil)
• White Tea & Ginger (made with fragrance oil)

And more scents are on the way! Custom orders are always welcome.

For more information and a complete list of ingredients, you’re welcome to check out the listings in my shop in the Lotions and Lip Balm section.

Free Samples!

For the entire month of February, I will include a free lotion sample with every order. I know once people try this they’ll love it! As well as a promotion for these lotions, this is also a thank you gift to my wonderful customers. This free offer applies to every order – no minimum!

The samples are ½ oz each and come in bottles for easy application. These bottles are also a perfect size to keep in your purse or use when traveling.

No special code is required to receive your sample. However, when placing your order, please let me know if there is a scent of lotion you really would love to try. Or if you would prefer unscented, just let me know. You can tell me by just putting your preference in the message to seller box at checkout. If you don’t mention a preference, I’ll pick a random scent for you.

My family and I are in love with this lotion! I hope you love it too! :)

Purple Friday Finds

Pretty, perfect, passionate ... PURPLE!

These are some of my favorite picks from the Etsy Freethinkers Team. Click any of the pictures for more information about each item.

Wordless Wednesday

Water on a Leaf

by Art by LAQ

Deals for the New Year!

I just wanted to share some of my favorite Etsy shops with my readers. And as an added bonus, all of these are either marked down or have free shipping. Click the pictures to shop or get more info.

Hope you like the selection. :)

Thank you!

This is just a quick post to say thank you to everyone for a great 2009!

• Thank you to my loyal readers! Your comments and clicks and encouragement mean a lot to me!

• Thank you to my customers! I hope everyone loved their items. Remember, I welcome all kinds of feedback. I want to make the best products possible for you!

• Thank you to everyone who has supported my shop through word of mouth and promotion. It means so much to me!

• On a more personal note, I took a lot of much needed "me" time this year. I want to thank all my friends and family who have supported me in this.

It has been a fun and successful year, and I'm really looking forward to 2010! There are great things on the horizon. :)

Etsy New Jersey Team Sale!

This great team sale starts tomorrow (Wednesday, November 25th). You'll find my shop in the list too. :) I'm including a free gift with every order (no minimum!). The gift bag will include samples from my shop and others. Come visit my shop if you're looking for candles, soap, lip balm and more! Dragon06.etsy.com

Check out the info below to see all the other great shops participating in this sale.



Happy Thanksgiving from EtsyNJ! The EtsyNJ team is hosting a team wide sales event that begins on Wednesday, November 25 and ends on Monday, November 30. With over 50 shops participating, you are sure to find something you absolutely love. Search "EtsyNJ Thanksgiving Sale" at Etsy.com Be sure to put "EtsyNJ Thanksgiving" in the notes to seller at checkout.

Reminder: Check each shop description for more details. Sale ends Monday 11/30 at midnight, unless otherwise specified by the individual shop owner. You must pay each shop individually, contact shop owner with any questions.

To browse participating shops by sales promotion, click on the following links:

Free Shipping

10% - 20 % off entire purchase (not including shipping)

Free gift with every purchase

BOGO - Buy One Get One Half Off

Or, see http://etsynj.com for the entire list of participating shops!

Stuff that stocking!

Here are some great handmade stocking stuffers from the Helping Others Street Team (HOST) on Etsy.

Enjoy! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Three Wise Ones
by PetitBijouArtShop
For sale in the Etsy HOST team shop

Caturday Etsy Picks

Here are a few of my favorite handmade picks today for Caturday. Enjoy! :)

Kitten print
by Red Linc Art

Cross Stitch Sweater
by Dreams of May

Cat Nap Furniture Protector
by Susan's Treasures

Halloween Candles Blog Special!

Looking for spooky candles to add to your Halloween decor? I have a great variety of handmade Halloween candles both scented and unscented. The most popular scents are Pumpkin Spice and Witches Brew. Pumpkin Spice is a sweet and spicy scent that is just like pumpkin pie. Witches Brew is a spicy blend of Cedarwood, Cinnamon and Patchouli.

Halloween Blog Special: As a special for my blog readers only, take 20% off your entire order! Your order must contain at least one Halloween item. This special lasts as long as there are Halloween items listed in my shop. Just put "Halloween blog" in the Notes to Seller section on checkout. Then wait for me to send you a revised invoice before paying.

Click on any of the pictures below to go to the items or visit my shop at dragon06.etsy.com.

Friday Finds: Promote Your Shop!

I've found a shop on Etsy that is perfect for all your promoting needs. This shop is called Bitsy Creations, and there's a sister-shop called Bitsy's Greetings where you can find all kinds of great cards and stationary.

But my focus is on promotion items today. Now is the time that shops should be getting the materials they need to get the word out for Christmas shoppers. This postcard would be perfect to include with current orders. You could remind people about buying handmade Christmas presents, or you can promote a sale or just highlight a few items from your shop. Now's the time to start planning, and Bitsy Creations can help with Custom Postcard Design.
Or maybe you've just started your own business and you're looking for a professional logo to start the branding process. It's good to put your brand on your business cards, online or print advertisements, and product labels. Here's a great package to get you started with a custom logo and branding package made just for you.

And last but not least, I think it's very important to include thank you notes in with your orders. And it's even better if you can put your brand on those too. Bitsy Creations has these great customizable Thank You Cards. They're just the right size for including with your orders.

Find out more about Bitsy Creations through her shops, Twitter, Blog and Facebook.
http://bitsycreations.etsy.com and http://bitsysgreetings.etsy.com
http://twitter.com/BitsyCreations
http://bitsycreations.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BitsyCreations/103261504547

Mismatched tea lights discount batches!

I've been making a lot of custom candle orders lately. As a result of that, I've got many small batches of leftover wax in all different scents and colors. Often the colors don't really "go" with the scents. I've been letting these mixed up wax leftovers build up, but now's the time to make something of them. I'm making tea lights out of this leftover wax and offering them at a HUGE discount!

I just listed these in discount batches in my shop at Dragon's Den on Etsy. These are HALF PRICE of my regular tea lights. They're in batches of 20 and totally random colors and scents. But if you tell me your favorite scent, I'll do my best to include a few in your batch.

As with all my candles, these are made from a high quality beeswax and paraffin blend with cotton wicks. They are long-lasting, with good scent throw and are virtually smokeless when burned properly.

Here are my available fragrance oils to give you an idea of what you might get in a batch.

*Fragrance oils (sorted by category):

Clean/fresh scents: Clean Cotton, Sea Shore, Sea Moss, Green Garden, Rain, Eucalyptus Leaf

Earthy/herbal scents: Amber, Hemp, Sandalwood, Pine Needle, Tall Grass, Dragon's Blood, Witches Brew (blend of Patchouli, Cinnamon, and Cedarwood), Warm Sand (handmade blend of Cinnamon, Sandalwood and Patchouli)

Spicy scents: Cinnamon, Peppermint, Perfect Pumpkin, White Tea & Ginger (sweet and lightly citrus), Cinnamon/Sandalwood blend

Decadent scents: Vanilla Bean Noel, Vanilla Buttercream, Vanilla Hazelnut, Chocolate, Maple & Brown Sugar, Gingerbread, Coffee, Mocha, Raspberry Truffle

Floral scents: Gardenia, Honeysuckle, Fresh Zucchini Flower, Rose, Lavender, Lilac, White Lily & Amber (currently my favorite fragrance oil)

Fruity scents: Pear, Mulberry, Pineapple, Black Cherry, Apple, Apple Cinnamon, Strawberry, Mango Papaya, Mint Mango Tea, Peach, Lemon, Birds of Paradise (coconut, fruit and floral), Tropical Islands (fruit and floral), Jamaica me Crazy (reminds me of pina colada), Passion Fruit & Guava, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Spiced Cranberry, Lychee Red Tea.

New Flavor for Lip Balm!

I just wanted to introduce my newest lip balm flavor - Mango Mania! This lip balm is fresh and sweet!

I designed my lip balm formula to glide on easily and protect your lips for hours - with no greasy feeling! The ingredients are as natural as possible. I use beeswax, cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, hemp oil and vitamin E. The only artificial ingredient is flavor oil, and I do have some scented with essential oils to make them all natural.

Worried about how these ship in the summer heat? I have small re-usable cooling packs that I include with my lip balm and lotion orders in the summer.

Mention this blog and get 20% off your lip balm order! Just use the code "blog20" in the message to seller box. Then wait for me to send you a revised invoice through PayPal. This offer does not expire and is good for all my different flavors. Honey Bee Mine, Peppermint, Natural (unscented), and Mango Mania.

Caturday Finds

Here are a few Caturday Etsy items I found while browsing today. Enjoy! :)

Paws (set of 5 cards)
by Heidi Shaulis

Custom Kitty Cat Shoes
by Em & Sprout

Little Enid in Red Chair
by Harry Boardman