Dear Blog:
I want to start selling my handmade crafts on-line and I've started some on-line shops. All of the "experts" out there say you must do social networking to promote your shops including Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Well, I have a Facebook page which I started awhile ago to see other people's photos and then I created a fan page for my crafts with some help from my kid. I will never Tweet. I think it's kind of dumb. But I've read blogs by my students and friends' kids and some of the ones out there by crafters, so I thought I could maybe do that. Hopefully I can think of something worthwhile to say. Maybe it will turn into that great American novel I always dreamed about writing.
So for anyone out there reading me, I'm a 50-year-old wife and mother. I work full time in administration at a college in St. Paul, MN. My son is 19 and job hunting after finishing an associate's degree in radio broadcasting (if you have an entry level radio job for him, let me know). I've crocheted since I was about 8 years old. I also learned to knit but crochet was always my favorite. In the last year though, I've been knitting a lot more. I've always given things as gifts, but there are only so many people to give gifts to and some of them have now grown up or died, so the pool of gift receivers has shrunk. For years I've had co-workers and friends ask me to make things for them. I've sold things at local craft shows for maybe 8 years or so now. I do pretty well at them, but I usually only do them in November. Spring and summer items don't sell very well in November. So I thought selling on-line might be a good way to sell those things that don't fit a November craft show. And there's so many things I want to try and such great patterns that I need a place to sell them and someone to sell them to after I make them!
I make all kinds of things--basically whatever looks fun. There are afghans, dish cloths, dish towels, hats, scarves, wrist warmers, stuffed toys, dolls, purses, tote bags, seasonal things, clothes, and jewelry. I just finished several special order scarves and headbands. I tried starting a hat last night that is done entirely in slip stitch. I was not having good luck with it. The stitches kept getting tighter and smaller. I need some help to figure out how to prevent that. (If I learn some good tips, I'll pass them on.) So I quit the hat and went back to making another headband--this time in a really pretty pink. If I figure out how, I'll post some pictures here of some of my work. Over on the right hand side of this blog, all of my on-line places are listed. I hope you check them out. Please feel free to contact me at any time (brenda.piatz@gmail.com) if you'd like me to make something for you.
I feel kind of funny just doing a blog to promote myself, so I'll try to promote other things and pass along good ideas and share information. Maybe some little bits of wisdom or fun facts. I think for my first piece of useful information will be about the Half Price Bookstore Marketplace. We have several Half Price Bookstores here, and I love going to them. I love to read and watch movies. I just learned they have an on-line marketplace that sells hard to find items and such. It looked pretty good to me, so here's the link:
http://www.hpbmarketplace.com/
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