It's that time of year again and everybody is busy. So I won't waste your time or mine. We have a sale on framed 8x10 prints. These are $15.00 each but until 1/01/10 you can get 2 for just $22.00. Plus these come with FREE SHIPPING in the Continental USA. Go to our shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/OldTimeCountryCrafts and have a look.

While your here, sign-up on our e-mail list for other special offers.

Finding that special gift

Finding that special gift takes time and effort. You know the person so well that you really want your gift to be meaningful. You have several options available for shopping. You can go to the mall and look through several different stores. You could go to one of several department stores and look through lots of everyday items. Or you can shop online. Still nothing jumps out and tells you this is the right gift.

One option online is going to a "HANDMADE" site. Many designers and crafters, like myself, make and sell our products on ETSY.com. On ETSY, you will find thousands of shops making a wide variety of items, all unique in their own way. Because it's all handmade no two items are exactly identical. I make my products out of wood. The grain in the wood is different causing each finished piece to have just a little different look, all it's own.

One other point that I need to mention is that most of the people who sell on etsy can design an item just to fit your needs. This is not an option at the mall. Some of the products that we make are pictured here in the right side of this blog. To get to our shop just click on the words OldTimeCountryCrafts on the right and it will take you there. It's located just above the e-mail sign-up form. Sign up for our e-mail list to keep up with our new products and promotions. We don't e-mail often, only to let you know of new products or special offers just for our subscribers.

Week-end Craftshow

Getting ready for what I hope is a good show this week-end, but don't we always hope it's going to be a good show? I mean really, would we go through all the work that's required to do a show if we already knew that we had no chance at any sales? We all love what we do but I'm sure most of us like to sell it almost as much as we like to make it. People love to shop, but the real challenge is to get them to buy from you, not someone else. Your presentation and your product don't stand a chance if the show isn't promoted well and attendance is poor. So many things to consider. Oh well , in reality it comes down to us promoting ourselves. Craft shows are good exposure for us. We will give out business cards and get e-mail addresses for future contacts and hopefully make some sales. I know that I will see some old friends this week-end and I will meet some new ones, so it will be a good time.

Promotion

It's not taking the time to promote, it's making the time to promote. You can make a great product but if shoppers don't know it's there, how are you going to make a sale? Making product and promotion have to work together to get the sales . I'm trying this idea of making time for promotion. I have my products up for sale so now I need to concentrate on getting people to know what I have and where it is . So as much as I like working with wood, I'm leaving my saw alone and I'm going to be hard at work on promotion.