Eco Etsy: Handmade for Earth Day Auction

I have the great honor and privilege to be part of Etsy’s most dynamic and earth-centric street team: Eco Etsy. This group provides sellers with a community where we exchange thoughts, troubleshoot, inspire and collaborate. Shoppers can also benefit – when on Etsy simply type “ecoetsy” into the search field with your other criteria – the result is a page of sustainable shops helping your hunt.

Each year the Eco Etsy team members join forces to curate an Earth Day auction where you can place a bid for a fantastic basket of goodies from our team’s artisans. I’ve also donated one of my favorite designs: the “On an Apple Tree” upcycled dress.

The auctions commenced last week and run until Sunday, April 24th. This year all of the proceeds are going to Habitat for Humanity for Japan. Visit this link to see what goodies are available in each set – and place your bid today!

Share the Love: Sale

The “Share the Love” sale begins tomorrow and will extend until February 14th. Etsy shoppers receive 30% off their total purchase when they buy one item for themselves, and another for someone else.

Just enter the code “sharethelove” during checkout to see the discount reflected off the total price.

Enjoy!!!

All is full of Love

Being a lover of hearts, red, and…well….love, I always find joy in this time of year when everything erupts in these themes. I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t condone consumerism or gluttonous chocolate binging – but there is something to celebrating the people and things for which you have affections.

So in the spirit of the season I bestow you with a Pierogi Picnic valentine!

Product Photos: Let There Be Light!

When first starting my Etsy shop creating product photos was thee most difficult task in my quest to bring my handmade clothes to the masses. Having received my Bachelors in Film Production I knew a thing or two about lighting and set design but little about practical retail photography. So the experimentation commenced and years later I am more than content with the results – I am downright beaming with pride. Using the most minimal resources I have found a way to take a striking pic that captures the viewers attention while flattering the garments. Here are the tid bits that I have learned over the years.

Continue reading

Planning 2011: Goals, dreams, and putting things to paper

The key to making any indie business flourish is to have 4 Awesome Ps: Product, Presentation, Passion and a Plan. Without any of these you’ll find yourself stuck upside a wall and wondering why on earth your super cool crafted owl/octopus/fox screenprinted t-shirts aren’t selling. And since we’re still in the midst of celebrating the New Year – there’s no better time than the present to thing about P number 4: Plan.

I’ve been giving considerable thought to my New Year’s resolutions for Pierogi Picnic. Last year I came up with one specific goal and a flurry of hopes that I had considered early on. Some of those included scoring a wholesale account, building the PP website, getting more press, and hitting 300 sales on Etsy. While I have yet to get that account I was hoping for – I did make my other dreams come true. So now it’s time for me to ponder what is going to make 2011 stand out for my small biz. Will it be more craft fair participation, higher sales volumes, new creative endeavors, or getting into brick and mortars.

Before I sit down to pen these things out I have a list of questions that help guide my thought process: Continue reading

Soulful Sister: Eco Gift Guide #2

This will be the second year in which my family will be cutting costs and consumerism by doing a secret santa exchange for the holidays. After decades of buying countless presents, it was just one year ago that we gave this new concept a spin – and it was so successful that we’ve decided to do it again!

In honor of living sustainably, both financially and ecologically, here is my second gift guide of the holiday season. The subject? A stylish sister who already has the world but needs a lil’ something to cheer her up. All of these gift guides have one thing in common: the artisans are all part of the Eco Etsy Street Team! Support these small businesses by shopping with them for the holidays.