In the first of my Needle felting supplies reviews I had a look at some glass eyes on wire from Amazon that a friend recommended to me
This is 100 pairs of glass eyes in a cute little box for under £8
It sounded too good to be true - so of course I had to order them
and I was fairly surprised. The wee box is so handy keeping them all together and the eyes are fairly good quality
My only worry was attaching them as the wire is shorter than what I normally use - but I had a glue to hand that works perfectly
If you are interested in these eyes click the image below (affiliate link that dosent cost you anything)
To see any of my other reviews for needle felting equipment and supplies go over to my youtube playlist
And please let me know if there is anything you would be interested in me reviewing for you
I am not sponsored for any of my reviews - I will let you know if in the future any are sponsored
For 2017 I decided to focus on YouTube a bit, I had been watching loads of youtube creators with loads of tips and tricks for how to grow a channel
and I thought 'This is so similar to growing a Etsy shop'
So for fun I decided to try and focus on growing my youtube channel a little. I really enjoy making my videos to teach about needle felting and dog training and I thought it would be good to try and give a little back to the Etsy community by also sharing some of my tips for growing a Etsy store
So how did I do??
Here are the stats of my growth on youtube for the first 4 months of the year
It really shows (I hope) if you really focus on something, take tips from the experts and have realistic expectations then you really can grow in anything online
but it takes consistent work, you cannot just post and sit back
anyway, for anyone who is interested here is my statistics on youtube
Today I share my method for felting a cats face
It took me forever to figure out how to make cats faces - it was so much easier with dogs because I had two models to look at right infront of me
The geek in me totally loves how they have used all the great statistics they have to look at how the position of an item in a search category is not fixed, it rises and falls because SEO is more than just the tags and titles we work on.
As Etsy has always told us recency, sales, views and hearts do all to differing extents effect our SEO
This shows very clearly how a sale or a renewal can boost an item all the way to the first page of a search and it depends on other factors as to how quickly those items fall away down the ranking.
As I thought this was such a good article I made a quick announcement video of my reactions to this post
I tried out a new art form the other day
2d needle felting - or wool painting
This is my 2nd ever painting, I hope you all enjoy
I created my own transfer by drawing out my leopard with an iron on transfer pen (I used the sulky one in the link below - affiliate link) and I found it surprisingly easy to use
Then I ironed the image onto a piece of felt to give me a guide of where to felt. Then about 8 hours of stabbing later and this guy appeared
For the month of April I decided to run a challenge for all of us
In the first video I give out my starting stats from the last month - so HOPEFULLY by the end of the month there will be a nice change.
The point of the challenge is every day we do one little thing that hopefully adds up to a big change
Also sometimes its overwhelming all the work you have to do in your shop - its better to get in the habit of doing one thing every day than trying to do it all at once. Its actually better for SEO to have constant activity - and you dont burn yourself out
Week one challenge is to use EtsyRank to change one listing every day to get it to an A grade
As some of you know I was creating a dog training video a day for the month of march.
It was a whole load of fun and really had me thinking. Subjects from behavioral terms like explaining the quadrants of learning, to what I feed and other random ramblings - I hope you enjoy
I hope you enjoy these, thank you so much for all your support. I dont know if I will do a video a day again :D but it was well worth it
If you are interested in more (better) information then check out this book (Im not selling it, its just an affiliate link - which dosent cost you anything) I really enjoyed it
Todays needle felting tutorial video we have a fab project for beginners - the needle felted Easter bunny
This wee guy is so simple, just 2 basic shapes, takes about an hour or less and is super cute
If you are a total beginner I would recommend checking out some of my basics videos before getting started
An introduction to the equipment
How to felt a ball
Bunny ears
I have been asked a few times if I sell felting supplies - I dont - but click my affiliate link for Amazon below and it takes you to some people who do sell felting supplies and look pretty good :)
Hands in art can be the most difficult thing - 5 fingers look so crowded it looks like you have sausages and not fingers
and in needle felting its even harder as the fingers are so very tiny you stab yourself or break needles on wires
This is my method for felting small hands from around 1cm to 1 inch with the least hassle
Have you ever wondered if reducing your prices will increase your sales?
Today I talk about that - how actually increasing prices can be better for your shop - and most likely SEO is more important than price
Whew, I have finally done it
A full needle felting tutorial of this cute tiny miniature schnauzer
Felt along with me in this step by step needle felting tutorial - over one hour of free tutorial to help you create your own first project Please feel free to share if you create a little dog of your own
Have you ever wondered who your target market it?
What is the point of a target market and how can you target?
In todays video I talk about how YOU are your own target market. If you are doing what you love then the groups you hang around in can be your target market, people like you who love similar things to you
Have you ever wondered how to needle felt long hair?
For years I struggled to make my long haired dogs look good.
In this video I share with you my methods for adding long hair
From the shaggy center part of my highland cows, and their fringes
Too fine and fluffy dog hair and fuzzy tails
Horse manes
and stay tuned to the end for a full real time adding fur to a little terriers face
Ever been stressed with your dog?
Feel they are naughty ALL the time?
Feel you spend your day telling them off?
Check out my video for a simple solution and a wee challenge
Find out why if you actually look for the good things your dogs are doing you can feel better about your dog, and they can actually be better behaved with no training
If you are interested in training for your difficult dogs I really recommend Control Unleashed
Have you ever wondered if paying for promoted listing are worth it?
Will it make much money?
Will it COST much money?
Is there any other benefit to Promoted listings on Etsy?
Check out my video for some answers to your questions, IMO they are very much worth it, they dont cost much and DO bring in revenue and they give you some really useful stats
Thankfully she was fairly calm with us and I actually had to go up into the hills (braes) to get to play in some snow.
This walk is from the carpark by the pylons at the Gleniffer Braes just outside Paisley
It is only about 1.5 miles but today it was a really tough workout as the ground was muddy under them melting snow.
At the most westerly side of this walk it is often pretty boggy underfoot anyway
The views are stunning as they are all over the Gleniffer Braes
Excuse the shaky video, I was trying hard not to fall over! Some of the walk - and some of my nutter dogs enjoying the snow with zoomies and snow dog angels
As you can see - stunning views around every corner
I will be back in better (different) weather for more photos
But today I very much needed my waterproof trousers! Click the image to see them in amazon
Have you ever though changing all your tags and titles for better SEO is a massive task??
Do you want a quick easy way to see the problems with your listing and change them?
Are you a swat and like to get graded?
EtsyRank (not sponsored :) ) could be the perfect tool for you
Check out my video taking you through some of the features of EtsyRank
Check your shop has links to all your social media
Make sure your announcements and policies are up to date
See if you are using all your tags and photographs
Check your key tags are featured in your titles and descriptions
Spot spelling and grammar mistakes
See how much competition your tags have
See alternatives for your tags
See where your item ranks on Etsy for your tags
All this in one website - its pretty amazing - check it out
Accessibility ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All on paths, fairly flat
Parking ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Two carparks, Castle Semple and RSPB
Amenities ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bins, Cafe, Cycle hire, shop, watersports
Length ⭐⭐⭐ Around 3 miles
Solitude ⭐⭐⭐ Popular around carparks but quieter further along
Livestock ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ None
Offlead ⭐⭐ A section beside road
Views ⭐⭐⭐ Stunning views over the water - no different views
On a very sunny Feb 14th I took a walk in Lochwinnoch, Here is a little film of the stunning walk
Obviously I took the dogs with me, and the winter sunshine really showed off their coats lovely :)
Mia loved the walk, no dogs to bother her, lots of kids which she loves :)
And Ben found so many things to roll in :D
I parked up in the Castle Semple visitor center. There is a wee tea room there (but I was good and didnt indulge - although the gingerbread is AMAZING) That is the star by Lochwinnoch on the map, and then walked anticlockwise onto the road and then up to the RSPB center up along the other side of the Loch
This is a very flat paved walk suitable for any age and ability and although part of it is on the road there are lovely vews the whole way. My walk was just over 3 miles. If you want a shorter walk you can park at the RSPB center and just walk up the side of the loch, that would be just over a mile.
The Castle Semple carpark is fantastic for bird watching
The birds are rather friendly - infact when photographing I often get a swan sneaking up beside me!
At the RSPB center there are lots of fun things for children to discover and some hides for birdwatching
The paths are good and flat and even in the winter they are pretty with all the moss and the light filtering through the trees
So although it is not the most challenging dog walk there is plenty of pretty things to keep you interested
Even beside the road the views can be pretty
Around every corner there can be a stunning or cute view
I hope you all enjoyed coming on my walk with me
The camera I used for all of this walk was my trusty Nikon Coolpix L820. Click on the image below to see it on Amazon
This is a great beginner level project and once you have the hang of it these little beads are really addictive.
Also check out the start of the video to vote on which large project you would like me to take you through step by step, in todays video I give you a close up at my needle felted dragon
In Todays video I try and cover a basic guide to SEO for small artists and crafters with shops on Etsy
SEO is search engine optimisation - its the way websites allow you to search for things of interest
Etsy's SEO is slightly different than other search engines so even if you know how to rank for Google or YouTube learning Etsy magic will really help your shop
Some factors to consider for SEO are
Tags and Titles
Recency
Listing Quality
Location
Customer Experience
Similar items
I hope this video helps :) Please feel free to like and share (if you like it)
So todays tutorial is a lovely simple project
Love hearts
This is a good beginner exercise to learn to manipulate the shapes of your pieces with either pressure from your hands or the way you use your needle
Give it a try, and feel free to subscribe, like and comment to my channel over on youtube
Here is a little of the fun we have been having in January - starring 3 of our dogs, Molly, Tilly and Fly
The course shown in the video is here
We have been working on wing wraps all month so after a deceptively easy start it gets a bit twisty
As ever there are many ways to run this - one change that flowed very nicely was a front cross after 16 to avoid the off course jump, turning the dog right over 17 which gave a nice flow into 18
If you do run this feel free to share
If you are interested in training your agility dog I totally recommend the control unleashed book, click the image below to check it out on Amazon
this was a great fun course for Christmas. If you have an amazing imagination it looks a little like a Christmas tree with a star on the top and oddly weaves and a tunnel at the side
It ran fairly nicely with a few challenges, mainly which line to take 14-18. Some teams did great with the handler on the takeoff side of 15 and flicking over 17, others did great on the landing side or 15 if they were able to get a little infront of their dogs
Also which way do you turn the dog over 6? and which way do you bring them round to 21?
Here is the lovely Fly demonstrating this course (not I always film at the end of the day and as soon as I bring out the camera the mistakes happen, but keeping a positive attitude means its still fun for your dog)
