Chat Thread

[#1]

Here you go. Private and all.

[craftykittycrochet]

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! TGIF!!! What's everyone up to this weekend?

Sarah - I think silk scarves in fall colors would be beautiful!!! You have so many great ideas!

Crochetgal - good thought on the puffy paint for slippers, I'll have to remember that as I make a lot of them!! And thanks for the tip on cleaners, Crochetgal and Lisa - I know that toxic cleaners can be very harmful!! I should really start using more natural ones. You're so right, Crochetgal, that our grandparents did just fine with what they had. (I'm sure my grandparents were much cleaner than me lol!)

Deb - I know what you mean about blankets!! I was just telling my mom how much I hate making them, yet I will always say yes if someone wants to order one lol. Where we're moving in Albany, there's a Lion Brand Yarn Studio/outlet. So, since I've added her to my shop, I told her that maybe we can go there and if she likes some of the colors, she can make baby blankets for my shop and she can be in charge of that lol (she's only comfortable doing straight single crochet).

Lisa - that's so funny, you'd think cinnamon would attract ants cause it's sweet?! Good tip!

Susan - wow, sounds like you've worked very hard at all your different jobs! What a coincidence that you'd still be linked to the medical field even in your job as a nanny! The girls sound so cute. And you sound like an awesome housekeeper!!! Can I hire you? Lol!! :)

Joanne - come here whenever you need a break from whatever is going on on the forums!!! All we talk about here is yarn, food, fun stuff, and more food!!! Haha! (Still need to try Crochetgal's popcorn ball recipe - I've been practically dreaming about it but just haven't had time lol.)

Mary Alice - thanks for the faves! Safe travels this weekend!

Have a great one, everyone!!

[HowCuteAreYou]

Susan~ Your job does sound like your dream job. It's hard work but being around the little girls must be a joy.
I know that sometimes when companies do cutbacks it's the employees who have been there the longest and make the highest salaries that go first. Doesn't seem fair but it happens all the time.

Lisa ~ Thanks for the book recommendations. I will check your authors out.
I hope you get some down time this weekend.
Cinnamon as an ant deterrent, who would have thought!

I use vinegar and water for cleaning my tiles and my shower. An occasional mopping of my floor with water and clorox seems to get the grout clean and it smells fresh. When I had my tile floors replaced the tile man told me to only clean with vinegar and water. Not the best smell at first but it goes away.

I know there are some lethal combos of cleansers so I am careful. I would imagine that the powder chlorine is quite toxic since it's concentrated and a fine powder.

Joanne~ The forums are full of whiny, nasty people. If I see the question,
"Have you heard the Cha-Ching today?" once more time, I will go mad!

My brother's shop is in the test mode where only 3 photos are showing and he has no banner. He hates it but he has actually had some good sales this past month. Could just be a coincidence.

The only thing I like about the dashboard is that it shows me the listings that are expiring soon. Otherwise I like my stats page for shop info.

My mop is the Lipman Tornado. It works nice, a little heavy though. I got it at the supermarket for around $9.00.

Anyone ever use a Cuban mop? They are just a long handle with a small t shape at the end. You wet a rag and wrap it around the t and then just keep rinsing the rag and wrapping as you go. It gives you the ability to have a cleaner mop head since you are always rinsing or changing it as you wash the floors. Bit of a pain though.

I have to say the difference between having a dog that sheds and one that doesn't is like night and day. My boxer would leave tons of hair and my baseboards needed to be washed every morning. With Jimmy I just find little clumps every now and then. So much easier.

About crochet requests. I just told a friend who wanted to share my shop with more of her friends to be sure to tell them that I only make and sell what is shown in my shop. No custom colors or size requests. I am getting tough!

Kitty~ Lucky you to have your mom added to your shop. Let us know when you list her blankets. Is the move to Albany a go? A Lion Brand studio would be a dream. I wonder if they offer yarns not available to the general public.

Crochetgal~ laundry is my nemesis! When my kids were little I had to do 3 loads everyday, the folding and putting away is my downfall.

Neal was out of town these past 10 days. I had all the laundry done but didn't put it away until about 3 hours before he came home yesterday. I have no idea why folding and putting away is so daunting.

I do like folding towels though, it's such a mindless task and I have mastered folding them so they look like they do in the stores. I am odd, what can I say!

Have a good day!

[Former_Member]

I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one that doesn't like housework. Why is it that putting away the laundry is such an issue? I could wash and dry laundry all day long, but fold and put it away.... that part never gets done. I have a big pile of clean laundry that calls to me all day long.

ps. I hope you all know I was kidding about the dashboard. I love it, but apparently those over in the forums do not.

[hooknsaw]

Lol Joanne, I am avoiding the forums and facebook until my temperament improves.

My kids (as teenagers) decided to surprise me by cleaning house when I was away for a weekend. They used dish soap to mop floors and had piled clean laundry from the 4' x 8' folding table, clear to the ceiling. All I could do was thank them for being so thoughtful and hope they didn't notice the twitch in my eyelid and bulging blood vessels on my forehead. Omg, dish soap is a booger to remove from ceramic tile floors!

Don is pickier about how laundry is folded and does almost all of the laundry. Lol Debra, I like neat towels also!

Joanne, I used to just fold laundry and leave in piles on the folding table and the kids would grab from their pile. Socks went unmatched into a large basket and all 4 kids had different types of socks, so they knew to grab their own socks, only. Made laundry life easier for me.

Well, we are at the halfway point in August. Our sales have been slower this week, but we have matched last August for revenue, so hopefully the rest of the month is good.

Debra, I had another overnight shipping request yesterday. It seems customers either want the item immediately or are in no hurry at all.

Have a great day, ladies!

[Former_Member]

Joanne, the people in the main forums will find almost anything to complain about. When Etsy softened the corners on the avatars many years ago there was even a fuss about that! If you want a bunch of whiney kids then go to the main forums.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like putting laundry away. I've got a load now on the lines that needs to be folded and brought up and I think its been there a few days. I can't remember! lol I always questioned why builders put the laundry in the basement or on the main floor when the majority of laundry was created at the bedroom level. Must have been a man doing the designing.

With the upcoming holiday season, have any of you started setting up shipping upgrades on your listings? I'm not sure if its still in prototype or not (I can't keep track) but its a handy feature for customers to upgrade to priority or express mail (or whatever you offer) right as they make their purchase.

We did all our errands yesterday so today my partner is doing some of the primer painting on his car and I'm working in the office. Its really nice not to have to go anywhere for a few days.

[hooknsaw]

Crochetgal, I don't see anywhere in our shipping profiles to add the option for priority or express.

[Former_Member]

Lisa, when I'm listing an item, at the very bottom of the listing it says 'add shipping upgrades' and in each of my shipping profiles it has shipping upgrades.

After some digging I found the announcement about where to turn it on for your shop
https://www.etsy.com/teams/7716/announcements/discuss/13977182/

To enable Shipping Upgrades for your shop, go to Your Shop > Shop Settings > Options > Offer Shipping Upgrades. Or go here:

www.etsy.com/your/shops/me/options

After enabling this feature, you’ll see an “add shipping upgrade” link on all listings and Shipping Profiles

Hope that helps!

[hooknsaw]

Thank you, Crochetgal. I enabled it, but I am not sure how that would work if someone bought more than 1 item. I can stuff a scarf or potholders in the priority express envelope, but would not be able to send multi items that way.

[Former_Member]

The way i deal with it Lisa is I will do an 'upgrade to priority' for $5.00 on any of my 1st class items.

But if people purchase multiple items (such as 4 balls of yarn) and want a priority upgrade the extra $5 is usually enough to cover the costs or at least is within a few cents.

Don't forget that the amount that you charge for the upgrade is in addition to the regular shipping charge.

[Former_Member]

WARNING!!!!!!! Hide your Minions!!!

If you happen to have ANYTHING in your shop that even mentions a Disney character or movie that is still under copywrite I would strongly suggest that you remove it now.

Word on the grapevine is that Disney is doing another sweep and is going after offenders.

There have been lots of blog articles on copyright:
blog.etsy.com/en/?s=copyright&submit=Search

including one last month:
blog.etsy.com/en/2014/intellectual-property-4-key-questions-answered/

[HowCuteAreYou]

I believe I am part of the Etsy Shipping Prototype team and have added upgraded shipping to all of my items.
You never know when a bootie crisis might arise!

I was playing around with a new banner today. Found a site that lets you make an Etsy banner for free. It resizes the photos.

If you are not in test mode you can check it out and let me know what you think.

We checked out my shop on Neal's computer and it's in test mode so there is no banner. The shop looks kind of cool in test mode. Photos are larger, recently favored items are right up front as are the sections. My about page is at the bottom as are the latest reviews. Which are good but what happens if you have a bad review, that would stink!

Just thought I would get your feedback on the new banner. Let me me know your opinions. Honesty counts!!

[hooknsaw]

Debra, I like the new banner. Are you going to change your avatar to match? I thought your old banner went well with your avatar.

Thanks Crochetgal! I'm having major blonde moments with the shipping upgrades. Do the shipping upgrades only apply for domestic shipping? Our items are heavy and any time I sell more than 1 item it has to go priority domestically. Maybe, I am just making this more confusing than it needs to be :)!

I read that Disney was sweeping for Frozen items. There are a ton of minion items on etsy.

[Former_Member]

Debra - I think it looks really good. I like the photo you used in the middle of it. However, on first glance I would think your shop name was "Booties in a Box" I had to read carefully to see that your were "How Cute Are You". I think your shop name isn't as obvious. So, depends on what you are going for. I wonder if there is a way to have your shop name on it own instead of "booties in a box"?

[Former_Member]

Debra, I love the new banner! Its perfect! If you use your avatar outside of Etsy then you may want to change it as well. But if you don't then I wouldn't bother unless you want to.

Lisa, don't over think the shipping upgrade. I'll convo you with some examples.

[HowCuteAreYou]

I changed up the banner again and rearranged the wording. Booties in a Box won't come up when people search for my shop name but I want them to prominent in the banner since that's what I am mostly selling. I have to see where I am going with this but it has been fun playing around.

Thanks for the input. I am not going to change my avatar so I am not sure if I should just use the old banner. The banner might be a mute point if the new shop test look becomes permanent.

[hooknsaw]

Awesome Debra! Love the rework of the banner!

Thank you, Crochetgal, I think I have my brain wrapped around it now.

My poor Dad. He drove his car and the key got stuck in the ignition. He drove the car to the dealer and the mechanics found a young raccoon wedged in the motor chewing on wiring. He had to leave the car, the mechanics are waiting for game and fish or animal control to show up and get the agitated raccoon out. And, I don't think the warranty is going to cover the damage!

[HowCuteAreYou]

Ok, I changed the banner to have my shop name more prominent and then put on the side the bootie stuff. I am going to change my shop Facebook page and see how it looks.

[HowCuteAreYou]

Lisa~ That is the craziest thing with the raccoon! Was the key stuck because the raccoon had ruined the wiring or were they two separate issues. Completely nutty!

How is your dad doing in general?

[Former_Member]

Good to hear Lisa re the shipping.

Sorry but I had to laugh about your Dad, even though its probably not too funny for him. I can just imagine the mechanics opening the hood and seeing a crazed raccoon. That's a hoot!

[hooknsaw]

I'm still laughing about the raccoon. It is a new car with all the electronic stuff and the mechanics figured the raccoon bit into wiring that caused the key to lock into the ignition. We won't know the full damage until tomorrow. IF, they have managed to remove the pissed off raccoon. I can only imagine the mechanics surprise!

My Dad is doing really well and has been released to out patient therapy. He has been talking about doing some traveling and I have been encouraging him to visit some of his family in the Northern states.

I just checked the tracking on the overnight package and USPS left a note because there was not a secure place to leave the package. Will wait to see what happens next.

[Former_Member]

Lisa--your story about using dish soap on the floors reminds me of a story. Out where I take care of the girls they have someone come to clean and the girls grand mother was teaching the new help what they were supposed to do. She used furniture polish on the wooden stairway. They were so slick! It took me all afternoon to get the slick o enough that we could use them.

[Former_Member]

You all are so funny with all the cleaning talk! I have to say I love to clean! I am very OCD about it and hat mess and clutter. I use alot of vinegar for cleaning but I add lemongrass essential oil to it for better fragrance :) I don't mind laundry but will admit I don't like the put away part and neither do my kids apparently since I find all their clothes piled on top of their dressers rather than in them! LOL

I removed my Disney items from my shop mainly because I don't want to make any more of them! I expect this fall to be slower for me here on Etsy but that's ok cause I really want to be able to do my local craft fair and need time to do build up my stock

Well off to spend the day working on orders, have a great day everyone!

[HowCuteAreYou]

Lisa~ I just reread the post about your kids cleaning. I must have missed it yesterday in my banner frenzy mood! That is a good one!!

I guess they must have figured you can wash a car with dish soap why not a floor.

Sarah~ Your story reminds me of when I was pregnant and working Neal hired an older Italian women to clean our townhouse. I like the smell of pine-sol and asked her to wash the floors using it. Well instead of just adding a drop to the water she just poured it on the floor and mopped it. It must have taken me a week to get the stickiness off the floors. She wasn't invited back to clean.

So it seems it's unanimous, no one minds doing laundry it's the putting away that is the real problem.

Rebecca~ I am really obsessive when it comes to clutter. When I was reorganizing my office last week I went kooky getting it organized and neat.

When I watch the shows about hoarders I start cleaning while the show is on, it just makes me so nervous to see people live like that.

Today I have a wedding shower to go to for my girlfriends future DIL. It's at a
cooking school so we are going to get a cooking lesson and lunch. Sounds like fun.

Glad you removed any Disney items. Did your ice princess hat continue to sell well for you?

The month started out so crazy busy and then the last few days have slowed down. So weird how it goes up and down from one day to the next.

Have a good day Ladies!

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone- Happy Saturday!

Lisa- oh, man! raccoons under the hood! Glad to hear your dad is doing well with his new knee.

Debra, your wedding shower sounds like so much fun! I love those cooking classes- there is a shop in downtown Boise that does them on Saturdays, and the whole block smells good when the class is in there-

I'm inspired to remove clutter as well this time of year- back to school cleaning. I had a discussion with my son in the car yesterday about why we have so many collectible McDonalds Coke glasses. We negotiated down to I get to decide which kitchen stuff to keep, except I can't touch his collection of Garfield mugs. So I am up early and about to make a stealth run on the kitchen cabinets. When he was little, I had to get up before dawn to get rid of his old junk. He's better now, because he likes to collect old things and send them to Goodwill. He'll hand the bag to the collection guy and say, "I want you to have this."

I'm experimenting with dyeing yarn using the shibori indigo technique- wow! so much fun! Have a great weekend, everyone!

[Former_Member]

Lisa - I can't believe they found a racoon under your dad's hood. What a great story that will be for him to retell over the years. I've hear of mice under a hood, but never a racoon!! Glad to hear that your dad is doing better and better all the time. What a relief that must be for you.

Rebecca - Good thing you removed your Disney Items. That would really suck to have your shop shut down. I don't think your shop is going to slow down this fall though. I think you will continue to be busy. BTW, I'm sorry to hear about you having RA. My mom had that, and it was terrible to watch her be in constant pain. We do live in a wet climate, so it wasn't the best weather for that condition. My parents would spend a month every March in Palm Desert, CA to help her through the end of the rainy season here.

Debra - Have fun at the shower. AND... please send some of your organizing fever over here. I really really need it. I am most def one of those messy artistic types. My dh is totally organized. He bins and labels EVERYTHING. I feel sorry for him having to live with me!!

Looks like my handspun fingerless gloves are going to be a hit. I've sold a few pairs this month already. Guess I should make some more. YAY - I really wanted some crochet stuff of mine to sell. It is after all my passion.

Well, we are off on a family day to the Vancouver PNE (summer fair).