The Results of Double Critique # 3

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A lot of hard work went into these critiques and it looks like everyone will benefit from the efforts. It's time to conlcude the critiques of BananaMiranda and iKnitQuiltSew's items. Thank you for your participation - you have opened your shops to help others learn too.

     Before                                                                   After

Sandi eloquently explains her changes in her Teddy Bear listing:

"To everyone who took the time to consider the listing for my teddy bear - THANK YOU! None of us ever have enough time and I truly appreciate your investment in me.

A common thread in all the comments was pictures. Though the pictures I had were taken in natural light, I realize they needed to be improved. Plus, positioning was also an issue as well as giving some perspective. All five pictures are new, and include a couple of perspective things... My quilter's ruler in one and a smaller bear in another (thanks SnapdragonLace for that idea!). I'm particularly fond of both bears waving goodbye in the last photo!

Michelle noted that the the shipping seemed high, and I agree. Sadly, the bear is 1/2 of one ounce OVER one pound. To try and offset the shipping-price-shock, I've noted in the description that the shipping weight is two pounds.


Michelle also asked 'what's this bear good for?' Perhaps the most valuable thing learned from this experience is that I need to remember that I KNOW, but visitors to my shop do not! And they're not their to ask, either! The first paragraph of the description is now a testament to what this bear can do for you!

All of my tags have been reworked. With the changes to the tags and the description, someone looking for a teddy bear that can be loved, snuggled, played with and then be passed down should be able to find this bear.

And finally, I am so very flattered that I was asked if the price was too LOW. The real answer is "probably." But I can live with minimum wage in a bad economy.
Again, my heartfelt thanks. It's so nice to know that people will still go out of their way to help a complete stranger!"

Thank you for sharing your shop with us!

The next two sellers will be announced soon!  Meanwhile Happy Tweeking everyone!

Thinking it's time for a few smiles :-)

It's been cloudy and rainy here in good ole Peculiar so I thought that a few smiles would be in order.  Here's the second half of the notes that mothers wrote to get their child excused from  school.

"Please excuse Tommy for being absent yesterday. He had diarrhea, and his boots leak."

"Irving was absent yesterday because he missed his bust."

"Please excuse Jimmy for being. It was his father's fault."

"Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday."

"Sally won't be in school a week from Friday. We have to attend her funeral."

"My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent a weekend with the Marines."

"Please excuse Jason for being absent yesterday. He had a cold and could not breed well."

"Please excuse Mary for being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps.

"Gloria was absent yesterday as she was having a gangover."

"Please excuse Burma, she has been sick and under the doctor."
...... and the grand finale......

"Maryann was absent December 11-16, because she had a fever, sore throat, headache, and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever, and sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn't the best either, sore throat and fever. There must be something going around, her father even got hot last night."
 
.... ahhhhh I don't know about you... but I feel much better now!
 
Don't forget to scroll down a bit and leave a comment on the critique posted below :-)

Double Critique # 3 BananaMiranda and iKnitQuiltSew

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We have two new sellers who are looking for advice.  I want to thank all of you for participating in this series, you are all terriffic!

Carmen, BananaMiranda opened her shop in May of '09 and is wondering why her Red Jasper necklace .  Carmen, we will look at your photos, description, tags and maybe poke around at other areas too.  She makes beautiful things and has so much energy it's nearly frightening! 




Sandi iKnitQuiltSew opened her shop only recently and offers a nice variety of hand made baby items.  She wants help with her Brown Furry Teddy Bear.  Being rather new she would like any advice that she can get.  She has plenty of listings already so she's one busy lady!

Again, I've tried to profile two types of my followers one who started following my blog from the first and one who has a new shop and looks to us for help. 

Let's go Peeping y'all!  Dig deep and have fun!  If any of you would like you are always welcome to post a link to these critiques from your blogs or Fan Pages.. (I won't complain!)

Conclusion to Double Critique #2

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Well this was a success!  You all were just terriffic with your comments.  ArtJewelry & Yarnabees busily worked on their items improving them and I"m betting the tinkering will just do the trick for both of them!  Way to go ladies!

                                       ArtJewelry's Results

    ArtJewelry Before:                                        ArtJewelry After:

It was suggested that she use a model for her display ... what a difference!

Patsy listened to all of the critique items and now has 5 photos of the necklace, changed the tags, improved the description and corrected the typo. (You didn't say one word about my typo of your shop name, Patsy lol! ---too late, I done already corrected that!) 

Here's what Patsy had to say... "

I just finished applying the suggested 'fixes'. All 5 photo slots are filled. I photographed the necklace on a mannequin which was a great idea. (I have 3 gorgeous daughters who could be models but they're always on the run.) Tati didn't like the tag - cubic zirconia - and after considering it, I don't either. So it's gone. I corrected a typo Thumbly pointed out and added color to the tags. Also added a sentence about what inspired the pendant. (Thanks to you.) iKnitQuiltSew suggested I change the title to be search friendly. This was more difficult than I thought but I think it's better.

This is a great learning experience! I'll apply everyone's ideas to my other items as soon as I start moving them. (My photos are still a tad dark but I'll work on that.) "

Patsy... Nice job!

                                         Yarnabee's Results

                 Yarnabees Before:                         


It was suggested that Gina lighten her background and make sure she had all 5 photos showing. She changed her description to include a little bio of Country Bunny and it was believed that her price on bunny was too low. She's in the process of taking pictures (yet again!) for some reason she won't go out into the rain to take pics... go figure! lol Gina, your effort is obvious nice going!          Yarnabees After:

                                          

We all applaud both of you for your efforts! The results are great and you will not have those items much longer.

Go check out their improvements and have a wonderful day!

The next two shops who have offered items for critique are Bananamiranda and iKnitQuiltSew.

It's looking like spring finally so let's go outside and enjoy it!

Double Feature Critique #2

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Today we are featuring items from ArtJewelry and Yarnabees.  Each has submitted what they consider to be their "Help Me!" items.

Patsy - artjewelry has been an Etsy buyer since 2007 and has finally taken the plunge to become a seller.  She opened her shop (itself) only recently and has truly beautiful jewelry!  She would love feedback on her Ancient Motif in Bronze Pendant.

Let's give this "Seasoned" Newbie a great start shall we?  Actually, we can learn from her as she's been on the other side of the road as a buyer, so she uses the eye of a buyer when she's creating and posting her beautiful work.  She'd like your input on her photos and let's check out her descriptions too.  She had been wondering about opening a new account since her start up date reads from 3 years ago but decided to keep her regular account name.  Check out her banner it's a great combination of her "old" and "new" membership.  Patsy?  Step up to the hotseat!

And now... it's an item from Yarnabees shop - Gina has asked for help on an item that has had lots of views but still hasn't sold.  Let's look at the photos and description and see what we can suggest.

This is her Country Bunny and he/she? needs some tinkering. So let's hop to it, shall we?  Gina......I made a special hotseat just for you, ducky!  Come have a seat... this won't hurt a bit.

So my friends let's do what we do so well!  Let's give these ladies a great critique and get them up and running.  Tell your friends to come comment too!

Ok now go peek!

The results of ArtJewelry and Yarnabee's Item Critiques will be posted Monday, April 19....If you have any suggestions the time to do it is now!

(4/16/10)

Results from the critiques of Sesenarts and Tatimaia

Wow!  What great comments you all gave!  It is now time to see the results our helpful comments...  Sesenart and Tatimaia have both paid close attention to our comments.  Let's see what happened, shall we?

Sesenart - Julie worked wonders with an item that was already wonderful!  You all know how we detest taking pictures again and again but this time... she got it SO right!

This is her 5th shot you can't get much better perspective than this! She added the dimensions to her description in inches AND centimeters.  She changed the name of her item to better describe the work. She nicely cropped her shots and discussed a frame in her description.  The new background truly sets off her piece too!  Way to go Julie!  (I nearly made this my desktop background so I could see it all the time!)


Tatimaia - Tati painstakenly wrote down each comment!  A bit of sad news for the Tatimaia Etsy shop however.  I think it's best said in her own words:

"Unfortunately I am going to close my Etsy shop. The good part is that I am moving to my own shop which I'm working on. I really love Etsy, especially the community. I am an artist, not a crafter, and need something more professional and easy for my customers. Sadly I can't keep both shops, because of time -"

Tati thought long and hard about her decision and feels that she can only properly maintain one online store.  She was SO appreciative of all our comments and critiques that she literally wrote down each suggestion.  She took a picture of that notebook and this is what you see for her "completed critique photo". 

Our efforts did not go to waste as she will apply all of our suggestions to her new store.  She's promised to give us a link to the new shop and I will post it for all of us to visit.  Tati we will miss you in labs for sure!  Come back often to see us OK?

Thank you both for participating in the first Double Critique!  It is obvious that you both spent a good amount of time working on your shops and it truly shows!  And thank each one of you wonderful followers for your excellent input!

The next two Critique Victi....er Volunteers are Yarnabees and artjewelry.  Come in soon and see what they are offering!

Until then...... Have a Wonderful!

For those who need a laugh......

It's been awhile since I spread some cheer and frankly I could use some too.  No real reason I could just use some cheer!  I was wandering around the wild wonderful web and found a great site for grins and giggles.

Those of you who have or had children remember the excuses that you were forced to write for your child.  Here are some that just had to make those working in the school office shake their head in disbelief.

Parental Excuses for their child's absence from school.

Part 1:

1.  "My son is under a doctor's care and should not take P.E. today. Please execute him."

2. "Please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick, and I had her shot."

3. "Dear School: Please ekscuse John being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also      33."

4. "Please excuse Gloria from Jim today. She is administrating."

5. "Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip."

6. "John has been absent because he had two teeth taken out of his face."

7. "Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hurt in the growing part."

8. "Megan could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins."

9. "Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his side."

10. "Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels."

And we wonder why our teachers have such a difficult time teaching children ????  LOL!!!

Happy Easter everyone!

I do have the source for these goodies:  http://www.rinkworks.com/said/excuses.shtml