Bazaar Update!

Dori and Char :)

Yesterday at the bazaar was a lot of fun! It wasn't super stellar with sales or anything - but it was decent, and the most important part, is that I'm having a ton of fun and still feeling pretty good! I had a lot of fun meeting Dori and Char in person, and I look forward to talking to them more today!

Today is day two, and I'm hoping we get a huge influx of people when the three Churches on the corner get out :P But even if we don't, if I even do what I did in sales yesterday, I'll be happy :)

I have a whole bunch of pictures and I'll be posting a much longer blog post either tonight or tomorrow with more pictures and my thoughts about improving my displays and everything :) Although...looking at my pics this morning...I need to give someone the camera and actually get a picture of myself...

Friday's Featured Artist - LiberTeas

I first met LiberTeas because of the Pacific Northwest Guild on Artfire...and then we became friends on Plurk! I'm a bad team mate - and I had completely forgotten where I'd met her until I started putting this post together - and realized we live in the same town! How fun is that? We'll have to do tea at some point :)

1. How did you get started making tea?

I started out as a tea drinker, really. I fell in love with a particular blend of chocolate tea that was available at a small antique shop in Orange, CA. When they went out of business, they took their tea with them, and I tried to find another chocolate tea to replace it with, but all the chocolate teas that I found were not quite what I was looking for. So, I figured, how hard could it be to flavor and blend teas myself? Boy, was I in for a big surprise.

After a couple of years of trying and failing, I gave up for a while. Then a couple of years later, I gave it another earnest try, and after about a year finally came up with a flavor that I liked! My Chocolate Rose Romance tea is the fruit of that particular labor, it has gone through many transitions over the last 7 years, but, I think I've finally created the blend I set out to create. It's very rich and decadent and very chocolate-y, just like the blend that I remember from the antique shop in Orange, CA.

2. What do you think is most challenging about making and selling tea?

The most challenging part for me, is absolutely the marketing aspect. I have learned the hard way that if you make it, they won't come unless you let them know it's there... and even then, they don't always come! I'm much more the artist, and not much of a business person, and not very good at all with the marketing/advertising aspect of the business.

3. Do you do any other crafts?

Yes. I'm an altered artist and mixed media artist, as well as an occasional zinester. Some of my collages can be found here: http://eccentricpastiche.artfire.com

4. What's your favorite tea in your shop right now?

Well, there will always be a special place in my heart for my Chocolate Rose Romance, for obvious reasons! Honestly, I love all of my teas, because I really create my teas for my own palate, if I like it, I'll sell it... I don't carry anything that I won't drink myself. Lately, I've been drinking a lot of my Green Apple Tea though, I think because it's really good iced!!!

5. Where do you sell your work?

I have several venues where I sell:

I sell at artfire: http://liberteas.artfire.com

Etsy: http://eccentricpastiche.etsy.com

Made it Myself: http://www.madeitmyself.com/user/liberteas.aspx

1000Markets: http://www.1000Markets.com/users/liberteas

6. Do you blog?

I do, sadly, I haven't updated in a while, but intend to get back to blogging often!!! I have a tea journal: http://liberteas.blogspot.com and an art journal: http://eccentricpastiche.blogspot.com In addition, I do reviews of tea (not my own! Hey, what can I say, I love tea!) for the tea review blog: http://teareviewblog.com

7. Are you on any social networks you'd like to share?

I am on Plurk and Twitter as Liberteas. I am just building a facebook page for Liberteas, and I all I really have done at this point is reserve the name for it! Same is true for MySpace.

8. Do you watch or listen to anything while you work? If so, what?

I am usually just listening to whatever anyone else in my family is watching or listening to... I have 2 daughters, one of them is usually either listening to music or watching TV.

9. Tell us one random fact about your self *wink*

I'm a paper junkie. I am totally addicted to paper! I go nuts when I go to a paper store like Paper Zone or Paper Source. My family think I'm completely crazy and are totally embarrassed because I'm walking around in a daze, gently massaging all the paper, and drooling like Homer Simpson with a donut. I don't know exactly what it is about paper... but I love it!

Tuesday's Tips #5

Can you guess what today's tips are about? That's right - joining teams and guilds! I chose banners from two of my favorite teams to start out this post today. The Etsy Bloggers and the The Stalkers. I'm on several other teams (more on that later) but these two hold special places in my heart! The bloggers because they are the team I have been a part of the longest, they have some awesome people, and they feel like family :) I'm still pretty new to the Stalkers over on Artfire, but I love the mission of promoting others, without telling them what we're doing! 

Ok, enough about me, WHY am I bringing up teams and guilds? Because I think that they are a very important part of the selling experience. 

If you remember last weeks tips I talked about making connections through your blog. Well, another important place to make connections is in the communities that you sell in. Forums can be great tools as well, but I think that teams and guilds provide the core of the support you need.

Simply put, most teams exist for a purpose. It might be to promote a particular type of art or craft, it might be a unified passion, it might even be a common location, but whatever it is you are likely to be surrounded by a community of people who have similar interests. If you have a question or need support, these are the best people to turn to! I've learned a lot from my various team mates and I consider it to have been invaluable experience. 

I also know that MANY of my sales have been either direct sales too or trades with team mates. Now how great is that?

Before I say anything more I should say that I don't know as much about other selling venues. I'm on etsy and artfire - but look around whatever other sites your on and see if they have teams or guilds or something similar! 

So how do you find the team/guild that's right for you?

1. Location based is always a great way to start. It's the best way to find out about local events and resources.

2. Does your shop specialize in something? Like jewelry, paintings, cards, or knitting? Well there's probably a team all about YOUR medium! Which can be great for personal growth in your artwork :)

3. Do you have a passion like blogging, being a Mom, or living green? That's right, there's teams for that too.

Things to look at when choosing teams to join:

1. What are their requirements? Do you meet them?

2. What do they require of active members? Is it going to put to much on your plate?

3. Is it an active team? Or is it just kinda sitting there doing nothing? A team that's really active might be too much for you if your schedule is full, but on the flip side there's really not much point in joining a team that's completely stagnated.

Now since I'm talking about teams and guilds I want to give a shout out to my teams and guilds! Before I do...just be aware that I'm a stay at home disabled woman ... therefore I have more time on my hands than most of you!

On Etsy:

 ~ The Etsy Bloggers - because we love to blog and we love each other! Search "etsybloggers team" to find our stuff :)

~ Team Big Damn Crafters - geeks who love the show Firefly and love to create new items inspired by the show! Search "teambdc" to find our stuff :)

~ The Etsy Bead Weavers - because we love to work with tiny little beads to create beautiful creations :) Search "ebwc" to see our monthly challenge item and follow our blog to vote in the challenge each month! Search "ebw" to see the rest of the teams incredible work :)

On Artfire: Still getting to know these guys - but having fun!

~ The Stalkers - Not as scary as it sounds! Each week our fearless leader picks a different shop - and we all go out to promote it! I love doing this :) 

~ Pacific Northwest - There's that local connection I was talking about!

~ Blogfire - Um, did I mention that I love to blog? I missed the last carnival and I was sooo sad :(

~ Artfire Beadweavers Guild - Haven't really had a chance to get to know these guys yet, but I love to weave beads so there I am!

So what teams are YOU on? 

Guild Crazy

Now, I am not always what most people would call sane. Yesterday I think I proved that. *guilty grin* What else was I supposed to do the market I was supposed to be selling in was cancelled, and I had just upgraded to a paid artfire acocunt...

I've been on artfire for a couple of weeks now. Originally I signed up as a free member. I figured I'd start loading my shop and getting comfortable before I went paid. Unfortunately I have so much inventory to put on-line that I quickly ran through my free listings! So this weekend I bit the bullet and signed up for a paid account. Now I'm having way to much fun because there's so much I can explore! 

I knew one of the first things I wanted to do when I went to a full account was to sign up for the Artfire version of my dear Etsy Bloggers - Blog Fire. So I went searching through the guilds to find it. Um, yeah, I might have gotten carried away. >_> I made myself stop when I found the Blogfire group, but they damage had already been done! In addition to my 3 etsy teams I'm now in 4 Artfire Guilds! But seriously, they all look like they are worth it. So here are my new Guilds:

Honestly - as a BHR host - how could I NOT be a Stalker?

Pacific Northwest Artfire - because I live in a GREAT part of the country!

Blog Fire - because Blogging is what I do.

ArtFire Beadweavers' - because weaving is my passion!

I still have a lot to learn and need to get to know my new team mates - but I'm excited! If your one of my dear Etsy friends who's ALSO on Artfire, put your shop address on here so I can add your shop to my market. If your someone who'd like to be a new friend- all friends are welcome! Introduce your self and leave me your shop addy :)