Craft Blog UK

All Killer, No Filler - My Facebook Strategy

2012-01-27T12:59:00.000Z

All Killer, No Filler...

This is a term that people use to describe albums where all of the songs are great - 'killer', and none are just there to make it long enough to be an album - 'filler'. So don't be freaked out by the word killer! In this context it means awesome / great / top notch!*

I think this is a good expression to apply to building your facebook following. Try repeating it a few times before you log in to your facebook account, maybe not under your breath whilst in an internet cafe, people might be a little concerned! (ps it works with twitter too, but lets not complicate things!)

LIKE ME! aaaaargh! Why don't you like me!

I recently posted this on facebook, as I was keen to know what people felt about following ladders, buses and marches/armies etc on facebook. I too have a desire to have zillions of fans, but surely they need to be people who will actually have an interest in what I write about? Maybe even want to hire me one day?

I had an overwhelming response to this post of absolutely 'Do not bother' with these kind of things. Not only from people who had never taken part, but interestingly from many who had. They described the fans they collected as being merely quantity and not quality - all filler and no killer! I picked a few of the responses to share, you can see them all here -

Many of the replies suggested that fans found in this way quickly unliked or used the hide button in order to mute their posts. This renders the act of becoming a fan absolutely irrelevant - just a number in a side bar. No real connection or likelihood of interaction. If they don't read your posts they aren't really a fan, they're just filler.

Engage, and then do it some more

I've talked about this before, so it's back to my favourite phrase, 'facebook engagement'.

Find your fans by being an active facebooker and actually responding to updates on your friends and fans pages. Talk as much as possible on other peoples pages, but don't post too many updates on your own page, you'll drown peoples news feeds this way.

It gets easier the more consistent you are because your page is given a little edge rank boost, with each comment and like. Facebook will then actively promote you to your own fans - because you are a good facebooker. Mr Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg wants you to have a fun time on facebook with lots of 'serendipitous interactions', or in plain English, seeing updates from friends and liking, commenting and sharing (and clicking on adverts).

So, Facebook (as many of you will know) tries to help out and creates 'highlighted stories'. Some people hate this, but really it's only working with how you interact with your own fans and friends. You can just set your news feed to 'most recent' if you don't want to see highlighted stories or you can use the little corner tabs to highlight or un-highlight stories. If used right your news feed can be great and will save you time scrolling through every update... again needs to be worked at and used in combination with 'most recent' stories, especially if you follow hundreds of people/pages.

It works both ways, especially when you are a new page. If you approach facebook in a quality way (no filler), post great content (killer) and reply to and engage with people both on and especially off your page, then your facebook experience will be quality too, you'll make friends and it will become really enjoyable and genuine!

So all repeat after me... All Killer, No Filler! (It's all right you don't have to buy a t-shirt, but you can, which is good to know in case my gimmicky strategy name takes off ;)

via spreadshirt

Question -
Have you found these kind of fan building pages which silent tag or march, to have worked in building your brand and growing a customer base/ readership of your blog, or do you agree with the comments on my facebook page. Do you think that facebook fan numbers give off a good impression to new visitors and so this kind of promotion is worth it?

Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below or here on the original facebook thread

Thanks
xH

*if you have never heard the expression take a look at this image search for "all killer no filler" and you will see lots of albums people have described in this way! (excluding Sum41 that just named their album this!)
.

The Crafty Network

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000Z

Crochet Starburst Floor Rug - by Hand Knitted Things

I asked Linda from 'The Crafty Network' if she would like to tell me a little more about her facebook page and blog which are both supporting small handmade businesses.

The idea for The Crafty Network was started on the 1st May 2011, after 3 like-minded crafty friends, Linda, Kay and Lynsay sat in a pub (as all good ideas start in a pub!) discussing how hard it was to get noticed and sell our items on the Net and we all agreed promotion and networking was the key. We also knew we were not alone after talking to other crafters who were also having the same problems.

We agreed that if we could bring together all crafters, craft suppliers and event organisers to one place this would make it easier for them to network, promote and sell their products and services. But not only that we also wanted to be able to provide an informative service as well.

The Crafty Network was born and our Facebook page was launched on the 13th May 2011 and it received an amazing response, receiving over 100 likes in its first 24 hours. 44 days later we reached a milestone of 1000 likes and we held our first free to enter competition to celebrate. We now have over 2000 members and it is growing all the time.

This success inspired us to start our Blog, which was launched at the beginning of September 2011. We felt that a Blog was a natural progression for us as it would enable us to control and improve the information we provided, we could use it as a platform to feature and promote individual craft businesses and we could provide advice in a more reader friendly format.

The Blog has a number of features, which can be found via menu options across the top listing ‘Craft & Supplier Directories’, ‘Craft Fairs, Tips & Advice’, a section on ‘Selling Your Crafts’ and a Business Advice section written by our lovely and very experienced contributor Maeri Howard ‘This Crafty Business’. As well as regular featured posts, magazine reviews and showcase photos.

Unfortunately I am now running The Crafty Network on my own, but this means decisions and changes can be made quicker. I am adding to and updating the Blog on a regular basis and I am constantly coming up with more and more ideas that I think might be useful to the handmade crafting community (lookout for our regular feature just for Jewellery makers coming soon).

I already have 3 showcase albums planned for the next couple of months, featuring Valentines, Mothers Day and Easter gifts, so please look out for the posts on our Facebook page requesting photos. Also I am always interested in hearing from people who would like to contribute to the blog and businesses that would like to be featured or would like to be listed in one or more of the Directories and it’s all for free.

All I ask is for your support with helping our network grow, by telling your friends about us, shouting out and sharing the posts on Facebook and tweeting about The Crafty Network as it will all help promote your handmade crafts.

I hope you can join us.

Thanks, Linda x

www.thecraftynetwork.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/thecraftynetwork

Turn your talent into a business

2012-01-25T18:42:00.002Z

Turn Your Talent into a Business by Emma Jones

Emma Jones is the founder of Enterprise Nation, a hugely popular website for start ups which attracts in excess of 100,000 visitors a month. The site now produces books, kits, online tools, video clips, friendly forums and weekly classes for anyone wanting to start and grow a small business.

Just today Enterprise Nation announced that they were teaming up with social media giant Facebook to help UK StartUps use facebook as a networking tool to engage with customers and grow their business. Emma is also a co-founder of national campaign, StartUp Britain.

What I'm getting at, is that Emma Jones knows her onions when it comes to starting up a business! As a freelancer, working hard to build up my own business I was really excited to be offered a review copy from Brightworld Publishing.

"There's never been a better time to take the first steps to becoming your own boss. You can start whilst keeping the day job, on a bootstrap of a budget and in the knowledge you're not alone; the number of people searching for the term 'start-up' has increased by 25% over the last three months and Companies House are recording month-on-month increases in the number of people forming a new business." Emma Jones

Emma's book has been produced in partnership with Country Living, after the success of their Kitchen Table Talent awards and sell out audiences at the Country Living Spring Fair talks on how to turn a hobby into a small business. It is written in a very logical way, taking you step by step through the process of starting up a new business. Perfect for crafty types who feel a little overwhelmed by the abundance of info on the net and need a good starting point to get their idea of the ground.

The book contains sections covering the following areas, with useful web links on practically every page.

• Making sales beyond friends and family
• Promoting your brand and becoming well known
• Registering the company and managing finances
• Embracing technology to save time and money
• Conveying a professional image both online and off
• Creating a support network and working with partners

Emma has included 17 case studies from people who are successfully earning a living from what started off as a hobby - there's nothing quite as inspiring as to hear how other people have knuckled down and made a success!

ISBN 978-1908003232
RRP - £12.99 (Available on Amazon at the moment with 40% off)

Read more of my Craft Book Reviews

Crafting can be lonely!

2012-01-24T21:10:00.000Z

CORRELLCORRELL from PROJECT HANDMADE on Vimeo.

Imagine having someone like this so close to you, to share your crafting ideas, not someone who is just passively listening but a person who gets you entirely! This video shows two sisters who craft in New York, they seem really in tune with each other. Plus it's just a lovely video :)

That's why blogging helps - you get to connect with people who do understand, if no one around you quite does! :)

x Hilary

ps thanks to my friend Jose at Artesanio (a gorgeous Spanish online site) for sharing this on the Craft Blog Vimeo group! x

How to get featured on Cuteable!

2012-01-24T07:30:00.000Z

Hi it's Lynsey from Cuteable here! Hilary asked me to write a post for her and I have chosen some cute things to show you from UK based Designers. I will also tell you at the end how you can be featured on Cuteable!

First up here is some gorgeous bunting from Little Bundles Bunting. Perfect for the upcoming Queens Jubilee, the Olympics or any sort of party really.

These bright items can be either a badge or a magnet - get them from Oddpockets.

Planning a handmade wedding? Then this dress from La Costurera could fit the bill perfectly.

I would be thrilled to recieve one of these Marmalade the cat cards from Gooseberrymoon through the post - more snail mail needs to be sent!

These silver and resin earrings from Quercus Silver are just gorgeous - statement earrings if ever I saw them!

Skiprats are based in Yorkshire and make fabulous things from discarded wood including this nesting box for birds.

Cuteable

Cuteable is a blog run by myself (the finds) and my husband Matt (the technical side). It's updated twice daily and features all sorts of handmade, cute items. I sometimes have an idea of what I want to write about so visit online shops or blogs for specific items. Sometimes I have no idea and rely on the emails I get sent.

You can send emails to sharemycute@cuteable.com with links to your own items. You don't need to have an online shop to be featured but some online presence is needed so that I can use your images. This can be Flickr, Facebook, blog or a shop. Please do bear in mind that I get lots of emails and it may be up to a month before I get round to featuring you!

Another way to be featured is to add images to our Flickr group. A top tip is that I write Flickr Friday posts every week so get your images in sometime on a Thursday and they are more likely to be seen by me :)

Thanks and do get in touch with your items!
.

Best Blogging Platform

2012-01-23T21:06:00.000Z

'Tweet' - Blueberry Park

This weeks tweet chat (our first) was really busy with lots of bloggers getting involved to tell us what they liked best about their chosen blogging platform and asking fellow tweeters all sorts of questions. Search #cbuk on twitter to have a look, remember to click 'all' tweets or you will only see half the conversation.

Next weeks topic will be "What SEO tips have you found effective for your blog?" I'm hoping that all of us will discover some new ways to boost our posts in the search engine results pages! Sunday 29th, 9pm -10pm again. I'll post another reminder about this later in the week, please tell your friends craft blogging pals on twitter :)

Popular Blogging Platforms

The following is a quick post to review the gist of our discussions about which is the best blogging platform over on Twitter.

These are just a handful, they are the ones I personally am most familiar with - I have used all of these in the past. If you want a more extensive list, (there are so many more) take a look here.

Blogger
Wordpress.org
Wordpress.com
Tumblr

This tweet was one of my favourites from the tweet chat. It's also worth remembering that the quality of the content is the most important part of blogging - not just which blogging platform is best!

Wordpress

If someone tells you they have a Wordpress blog they either have wordpress.com or wordpress.org.

It's a bit like the difference between renting or owning a house - with Wordpress.org you can paint or knock through walls and build an extension if you please, with Wordpress.com you need full permission from the landlord, (who has very particular tastes) to do anything - that is unless you pay him!.

The free dot com version of Wordpress is not terribly customisable. You can use the free Wordpress themes that are available but not any others. You also have to accept that Worpress may place advertising on your blog. You can pay for upgrades but these can become quite costly once you start to add it all up (see products available and prices).

The most popular blog platform (or the platform people were most passionate about) in our Tweet Chat appeared to be Wordpress.org .

Self hosting doesn't mean you need to rush out and buy a server, you can simply pay to use a 3rd party hosting provider - use one of these that WP recommends. The amount you pay varies with the amount of traffic your blog receives, it's not that expensive (£4 - £10 month is quite normal for an average blog) and if you're paying for various plugins on Wordpress.com then it probably works out around the same. The download itself is free as Worpress is an open source project.

Many of the tweeters seemed to agree that Wordpress.org (self hosted) was the best option for blogging because of the complete control the blogger had over their content and design. However, it was noted by a few craft bloggers that sometimes paying for a professional to help design your blog on wordpress.org was well worth the money invested.

If you don't have that kind of cash then take a look at all these books available on how to use Wordpress!

Blogger

I use blogger - I pay a few pounds a year for this domain name and that's it - I've been hacking about with my template for a couple of years - it's probably time for a major redesign!

If it is a 100% free blog, with the opportunity to download free themes from designers all over the net, you may find Blogger is the best bet. It is very simple to use and can be customised using the 'Blogger in Draft' features or as much as your knowledge of html / css permits.

There are plenty of websites and blogs with the sole purpose of showing people how to hack blogger code and also offering free themes which can be downloaded and uploaded to your blog in minutes. I love tinkering with my blogger blog. If you are a complete beginner you might want to start here - 'Getting Started with Blogger'

Tumblr

I also use Tumblr, it's fantastic for very quickly sharing images and is a bridge between micro blogging sites like twitter and full on blogs like Wordpress. The site is set up in a very social way and encourages likes and follows between tumblr users. I recently had a post 'featured' by tumblr which sent my follower numbers soaring.

Tumblr is very customisable and is not solely for posting images - in fact you can use tumblr in a very similar way to blogger and wordpress. There are free and paid for themes. I have a free theme which I have customised by tinkering with the template. Click Gallery above to see my tumblr - I love it!

Back it Up!

My advice is to always back up your content, no matter what platform you use! It takes seconds to do this with blogger (settings/other/export blog) and then no matter what happens, your content is safe on your own hardrive! I'd be devasted if I lost my archive of blog posts due to some hacker or a blog platform accidentally deleting your account - wouldn't you!?

Please add your comment here, which do you think is the best blogging platform?

Craft BloggersTweet Chat #cbuk

2012-01-20T16:44:00.000Z

Join me on Twitter at 9pm on Sunday 22nd of January

This spring I've been invited to run a couple of workshops on blogging and social media engagement. I'm quite excited!

So my mind is on preparing useful information - I have a raft of tips for bloggers but it needs condensing and editing into a little booklet and workshop I can deliver without getting too swamped in details. I'm going to be giving this booklet to the workshoppers, which I will also make available online once it's complete.

I thought it would be a great idea to get some input from you! I've added a link party at the bottom of this post, for you to add your twitter address to by way of an rsvp - I won't hunt you down if you don't make it, but if you do leave your twitter link please help promote the chat in advance, or add this little badge to your blog or in a blog post if you like. Just copy the code, the link goes to the #cbuk twitter stream. Hopefully you might find a few new followers too :)

Twitter seemed like a good place to host the discussion, as we can have multiple voices all connected by using the hashtag #cbuk. So over the next month, as I write my booklet up, every Sunday at 9pm I'll be online asking and answering as many questions as possible for 30 minutes or so and I hope that lots of you will join in and help.It will be really useful to have bloggers with lots of experience of writing a craft blog as well as lots of questions from newer craft bloggers, or even would be bloggers!

If you are a social media guru, a business adviser I'd also love to get your input.

I will include a list of really good examples of craft blogs in my workshop pack / ebook too.

The first discussion is will be

"Which blogging platform to choose and why?"

I'd like to hear everyone's opinions on Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, Tumblr and more - what do you feel works best in your experience. I have my own opinions, but would love to hear yours!

What else should we discuss in the coming weeks, let me know your ideas in a comment below and don't forget to add your twitter link!

Fight for the Future

2012-01-18T22:44:00.001Z

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

New Crafts Council Event to Promote Makers

2012-01-13T10:51:00.000Z

New Event to Promote Makers by The Crafts Council, set to launch 2013

Exciting! Of particular interest is the section -

There has been a notable increase in high-quality domestic marketplace opportunities for makers over the last few years which is good news for the craft sector. It is the Crafts Council’s role to create fresh opportunities and identify new ways in which to engage buyers and collectors with contemporary craft and we will design a relevant, distinctive and dynamic new opportunity for 2013.

I wonder if they will be hooking up with Folksy or Etsy to host an event or if they will have to be completely impartial. Will be very interesting to see, must be BIG if they are cancelling Origin for it! The original post can be found here.

x Hilary

Bloglovin and Google Friend Connect

2012-01-12T17:29:00.002Z

Little Squirrel with Heart - Fibrous

It has already been quite widely publicised that Google Friend Connect is on it's way out for non blogger blogs. Understandably people who have worked hard to build up their blog following using it on wordpress and other non blogger sites are quite perturbed! The changes take effect from March 1st.

If you have a blogger blog you are 'safe' from this bout of spring cleaning by Google. However regardless of this, I think it's definitely time to get involved with bloglovin'. In fact it was a facebook chat with 'Fibrous' who made this cute squirrel that made me think I must schedule a post about Bloglovin'.

Bloglovin' is set to have a huge surge of users, in fact it's probably already seeing the effects since Google announced that GFC was being removed. People are desperate to try and regain their readership and as Bloglovin' is so much better looking than Networked Blogs and really simple to use, I believe they will do very nicely from this, alongside any already well established blogs over there.

It isn't the same as GFC as there is no public display box of followers, but no doubt there will be soon. The social aspect is much better however and you can heart peoples posts and search for blogs to follow by category or keywords.

I posted about it briefly some time ago but have not done a thing to encourage followers on Bloglovin, I have 15 compared to 900+ with GFC! So I've moved my Bloglovin widget / button to the top of my blog from way down in the footer and we shall see what effect this has!

If you are a Bloglovin' veteran, GFC evacuee or just deciding to jump on the bandwagon and try and make some new connections or find some new blogs to read, then click the face below and you can follow me :)

If you are on Bloglovin leave a link to your blog so we can click your button too!

x Hilary

Vowels and V-Logs

2012-01-12T10:38:00.002Z

Vowels from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.

This short film (less than 3 mins) is based on an archival sound recording taken from the 1945 Linguaphone series 'English Pronunciation - A practical handbook for the foreign learner.'

If you are feeling in any way stressed or overwhelmed by your huge to do list, just sit back and let the images and words drift in... I promise that you will be feeling calm and happy with the world afterwards. Beats whale song any day!

V-Logs

I'm going to attempt some videos soon as I've been invited to run some bloggy workshops at a big craft thing happening in the spring and I thought it may help if I create a recording first and get a bit of feedback - eeep). I'm fairly sure I can record them on my D-SLR, we shall see, I have not experimented yet.

Perhaps I should be practising my pronunciation - I can never say analytics correctly. Apparently it's ANA-LYTICS not A-NAL-YTICS?

Hope you enjoyed the Video! Lots more if you click on the navigation link top right - it will take you to my collection of crafty videos over on Vimeo. You can even join the group and I think you should get an email when a great crafty video is added, makes good content for your blogs - just click on embed and copy the code in - ask if you need help :)

UK Handmade Valentine Showcase

2012-01-10T06:30:00.000Z

The UK Handmade Valentine's Day showcase!

Some exceedingly gorgeous handmade gifts - this is just a screenshot of the top of this great showcase! (note our Craft Blog UK give-away winner in pride of place top left! Congrats Welsh Egg Designs!)

Valentines day above all is the one day of the year where we should try and go that little bit further to find something unique to give. If you received garage flowers or a mass produced teddy bear from a high street card shop last year, it's about time you sent out some serious hints!

http://ukhandmade.co.uk/showcase/valentine

This is the link. I know there are probably not many of us that would email a 'want' list to our partners. So in the spirit of 'sharing the love' copy and paste and email it to any potential offenders you know, brother in laws, best mates other halves, dads, grandads, sons! (sorry for the blatant sexism chaps - if you read my blog it's unlikely you need any kind of help in this department and are most definitely an excellent catch ;)

New to UK Handmade?

UK Handmade is a not for profit, community focused site that celebrates all the many people around the United Kingdom that make things, regardless of what they call themselves, designer, maker, crafter - they are united by a passion for creativity and quality.

The site is packed with lovely hand crafted goodies to look through and has a huge archive of resources for start ups, interviews with artisans and even some delicious recipes. Four times a year UK Handmade collectively produce a knockout online magazine - I'm just in the process of writing my notes up for an article in the spring issue.

You can help UK Handmade to be noticed by adding a 'buy handmade' badge to your site (copy the code above) There are also opportunities for advertising, the profits from which help to keep the site up and running.

Or just join up here and start networking with other lovely creative types - it's free and you will get to hear all the latest offers and opportunities.

Advertise below your facebook profile image!

2012-01-09T06:30:00.000Z

ACEO's Cute and Quirky - Heidi M McDonald

Most of us have square profile pictures on our facebook pages - but why? Facebook allow images up to 600 pixels in height. They also allow us to edit the thumbnail so we can choose a perfect avatar too. What a waste not to play with this extra space!

An avatar, or profile picture advert, is a very simple way of creating a little extra space to advertise your latest offer, or just let people know a little bit more about your facebook page and what you do. Or you could simply use this extra space to add some images of your work!

Make the most of your facebook profile picture!

Many pages use this added 'length' as prime advertising space, other's use it creatively to make their facebook pages look great. Using a longer profile picture, (if done well) can make it look professional - Not on the High Streets profile picture is fantastic - their page really pops out, so much more than if they had stuck to a square profile picture.

You can change it regularly, mix it up and all without ever having to change your thumbnail. Noths thumbnail looks great.

This idea works particularly well for seasonal offers and newsflashes. Visitors to your page, your regular facebook fans and new fans have something interesting to look at or learn about on your page.

Handmadeology have cleverly added an extra dimension asking fans to 'Click the Pic'. When you 'click the pic', just like with any profile picture you are taken to the profile pic details, just add details of your offer in the description.

Thumbnails

The important thing is not only how good the long image looks but how the image will look when it's in thumbnail version. When you post as your page or on your page.

You will need an area on your tall image that is perfect to be cropped square.

Handmadeology as you can see above, have made a clear square area, which looks just like a normal profile picture. This makes it look as if they have somehow managed to find some secret space to add those arrows and extra text, but in fact it's all one image.

You can create an advert like this without it altering your 'display' avatar in any way, by just creating a long image with your existing avatar at the top. It's not too complicated to do with software like Gimp or Photoshop.

How to make your own long facebook profile

Use GIMP (great software - download for free) or Photoshop to create your advert. I've created one for Craft Blog UK to give you an idea of what you could do. I decided I wanted to use the space to let people know that I actively encourage sharing of their latest blog posts on my page.

The ideas are limitless and depend only on your level of design skill. Just try to be creative and always remember to have an area that works well in thumbnail format too. Ask for help if you are stuck! I'm sure we can all pull together and give each other some ideas and technical tips.

You need to create an image that is 180 pixels wide by a maximum of 600 pixels high. When you create a new file in gimp or photoshop, these options will present themselves, I went with 180 x 450.

If you don't want to change your existing avatar just copy and paste your existing square facebook profile pic into the blank image and drag it to the top.

You then have space below this to play with.

Text, images, colour? You can add anything here at all. Save it then upload to facebook! I like to save my files as png files rather than jpg or bmp files - they look cleaner when uploaded.

Remember to edit the thumbnail when loading up your new profile picture!

What do you think? Will you take a few minutes tinkering with your profile pic and make use of this extra advertising space?

Have a great day and please ask if you have any queries - if I can't solve them, someone reading will be able to I'm sure :)

Hilary x

PS - If you have a Craft Blog - please do add your latest post to my wall! Craft Blog UK Facebook Page

PS - I know my floating head looks a bit odd, I'm going to revisit this when I have a little more time!

I LOVE YOU! UK Handmade Showcase Giveaway :)

2012-01-06T13:31:00.000Z

Breakfast for lovers, of eggs or eachother - Heidi Burton

I really do love you...

... and here's the proof! I'm giving away a free spot in this years UK Handmade Valentines Day Showcase, worth £10! (thank you UK Handmade!)

If you missed the submission deadline last month and you would like a chance to win some absolutely 100% free, advertising for your Valentines day goods, read on as the deadline is tomorrow at 6pm! No time to waste and it's very easy to enter :)

UK Handmade Valentines Day Gift Showcase

The showcase is a Valentines day theme, so you need to have something relevant to contribute, have a scan through your current listings as you'll need to submit the item link asap if you are chosen as the winner tomorrow night - as per usual I've left this until the 11th hour, the showcase goes live on Monday the 9th January!

If you don't have anything relevant, why not tell a friend that does, they'll love you for it!

Take a look at past showcases here - Craft Showcase, they look great and are very easy for potential customers (and press) to browse through. They can just click directly through to your shop if they like what they see.

Some stats to pique your interest -

The UK Handmade website sees an average of 48,000 page views per month.
The UK Handmade community has over 3,500 members
UK Handmade has a highly engaged facebook page with over 7,800 fans
UK Handmade has a twitter following of over 8,100, and a loyal team that regularly retweets and shares content to their own networks.
The showcase is linked to from every page on the site and featured on the home page.

Eligibility to enter
You need to be able to tick these boxes!

I'm a craftsman based in the UK
I have good quality images of my work ready to send over
I sell an item suitable for a Valentines day gift (use common sense please!)
I have not already got a spot in this showcase (good on you if you did, but sorry the items must all be from different makers)

How to enter - Read carefully please :)

Leave a comment below with an idea, tip or question about how to promote handmade crafts online - could be anything and doesn't need to be complex! Also leave a link to the item you intend to submit (flickr, facebook or a listing link)
Tweet, facebook or blog, to let people know you have entered with a link to this blog post! I'm @craftbloguk on twitter or Craft Blog Uk on facebook if you want to tag me.
Deadline is 6pm Saturday 7th December (UK time, UK entrants only please)

Email me if you get stuck! I'm at haptree at gmail dot com and happy to help :)

Picking the winner

A winner will be chosen at random by me using a random number generator

Dark, blurred images, or images with dodgy backgrounds won't be accepted I'm afraid, so please check your images against previous showcases for a guide on accepted quality.

Whilst I have permission from UK Handmade to run this competition their word is final.

GOOD LUCK CRAFT BLOGGERS!

Reclaim your mind, write a blog!

2012-01-05T15:04:00.001Z

Terence McKenna - Reclaim your mind from Olivier Ferland on Vimeo.

I may be misreading this but what I think modern day philosopher Terence McKenna was trying to get across here, is that it is vital that you stop watching TV, stop buying mass produced goods, make some stuff and start writing a blog... what do you think, am I on the right track??? :)

(This type of video animation is know as Kinetic Typography - click for a few more of my favourites)

10 Crafty New Year’s Resolutions for 2012

2012-01-04T06:30:00.000Z

Guest Post from Fran Swaine of www.skullsandponies.com

I love making lists (who doesn’t?) and the New Year is a great excuse as a crafter to make a list of your craft related resolutions. Last year I made a list of all of the craft projects I wanted to work on, and you know what? I actually completed most of them, which as resolutions go is pretty good!
Here is my craft resolution list for 2012:
Attend a class
Last year I attended a screen printing class which was fantastic. I hadn’t done any screen printing since I was at school and it was such great value for money. I learnt several new skills and met some lovely people. This year I want to either attend a class to improve my current skills or try out something new. Perhaps I should attend a course on crocheting rather than having a tantrum every time I try it?

Source sustainable fabrics

Last year I did a bit of research trying to establish how ethical fabric is. It was really interesting to find out how much information fabric suppliers have on their supply chain. In 2012 I want to try and only buy fabric from places I know are ethical. Unfortunately this does exclude some of the cheaper fabric shops I have historically used, but will just encourage me to be resourceful and much less wasteful. I will of course continue to upcycle clothes and buy from charity shops as much as I can!

Make at least one thing from each of my craft books

I don’t know about you, but I have so many craft books; I think I’m addicted! Even though I’ve got tonnes and tonnes on my shelf, I keep buying them! It’s fantastic that so many crafters are putting together useful resources, but I need to make sure I’m actually making things rather than simply looking at the pretty pictures!
Start a Local Craft Club
A few years ago a few friends and I set up something called “Granny Club”. The whole point of Granny Club was that we couldn’t decide whether we wanted a book club, or a baking club, or a knitting group so we thought we’d have it all! It was a fantastic group to be involved in and I loved being able to share my love of crafting with like-minded people.
This time I’d like to have more structure to a club, and each session be led by one member of the group. I’d like it to be a place where people can teach what they know and learn something they didn’t. I’d love for it to become a group that people look forward to and can share their love of crafting.

Finish my cross stitch

Ever start a project that feels so massive you think you’ll never finish it? Well that’s me all over with my Emily Peacock ‘Hug’ design. I started it last January and it’s still nowhere near finished! The problem is it feels so far off completion, I never give it the time it deserves and instead work on projects where I can see an end in sight. So I don’t care if it takes me all year, but by Christmas I want it done! Otherwise I think I’ll never cross stitch again!

Design my own patterns
In the last 6 months I’ve really developed a passion for embroidery. I think I find it so rewarding because it’s so quick. I recently finished this complex sugar skull design and am completely in love.

I’ve done a few of my own designs and really want to try and spend more time on this:

I’ve already bought some graph paper so I can start working on cross stitch designs! This shows willing right?

Take better photographs of my makes

I share a lot of my makes on my blog and also have a small folksy shop. I’ve already started to try and think about lighting and composition when taking photographs but for 2012 I want this to be a real focus point for me. On Craft Blog UK there are lots of great posts on taking better photos and it’s my mission to start taking it all on board!
Make more time for crafting
I love spending time crafting, it’s fantastic for my mental health, it relaxes me and it makes me happy. Yet so many times, I will stick on the TV rather than pick up my knitting needles. Often this is because I haven’t started a new project, and if I don’t have something on the go then I don’t always have the motivation to start something new. In 2012 I want to make sure I utilise my spare time wisely. I know I won’t regret it; I just need to motivate myself and get in the habit of crafting more regularly.

Use my vintage sewing machine

My great aunt gave me this beautiful 1950’s Singer sewing machine. It’s a hand machine and utterly stunning. To be entirely honest, I only ever intended for it to be an object of beauty but I’d like to use it to sew something, even if it’s just a small cushion cover. My great aunt used to sew all her own clothes using this machine, so it’d be a nice experience and probably make me value my current electric singer even more!

Continue to be inspired by others

2011 was a great year for me; I started blogging and discovered a whole world of craft bloggers. So many of the things I have decided to pursue or make have been inspired by other craft bloggers. Whether it be finding an amazing pattern, having a comment or tweet from a fellow crafter that has encouraged me to try something new or just feeling excited at sharing and learning with other bloggers. In 2012 I want to continue to be part of that online community, to both inspire and be inspired.

So that’s my list! I really feel that this is an achievable list of things to do this year and hopefully I can put them all into action.

What are your craft resolutions for 2012?!!!

Fran Swaine
www.skullsandponies.com

If you would like to post something right here on Craft Blog UK, just get in touch - haptree@gmail.com - I'm not in the slightest bit scary, and I'm not a craft snob either! I would love to chat about guest post ideas and see some of your previous blog posts :)

Photographing Jewellery and Handmade Crafts

2012-01-03T12:25:00.000Z

Guest post by Rossi Ignatova – SilverSense - Become a fan of Silversense on Facebook for more great tips like these on all aspects of making jewellery and setting up a jewellery making and design business. The photographs used in this post are taken by Rossi, the beads are available at Rossi's online UK Jewellery supplies shop.

Photographing Desire

Is taking pictures of your lovingly created products the least enjoyable task for you? Are you at loss as to how to make your lovely handmade crafts and jewellery visually attractive in photos? Read on to find out how emotions can help you shape your product photography concept.

There are so many product photography tutorials on the internet. You can find it all – from the most detailed technical explanation to the tip sheets with best practices – with a single web search. You read the recommendations, acquire (according to budget) lights and props and set about to take pictures of your handmade crafts.

And here you may hit a hurdle. As, no matter how hard you try, no matter how many times you read the online advice and no matter how beautiful your creations are, the pictures come out boring and flat.

Czech Glass Firepolished Beads

Don’t get frustrated and certainly don’t toss the camera away, as I once almost did. Just for a moment forget the technical side of things. Now sit and relax – grab (if you want) a cup of tea! Then look at your product – isn’t it simply stunning? The gleaming beads, the rough cut gemstones, the rugged surface of the hammered copper sheet?

If you had seen it in an online shop, wouldn’t you have wanted to reach out and touch it through the screen, wouldn’t you have imagined it draped round your neck or wrists, wouldn’t you have desired to wear it to a special event? To put it quickly in your shopping basket, pay for it and be happy in the knowledge that this special handmade product is just yours?

Let me take you out of your reverie here! To put it bluntly – you have hit the nail on the head. You have made a desirable product and you need to communicate this desire to your potential clients. Your main tool to achieve this is your product photography.

Leverback Earwires

So, before you get overwhelmed by all the technical photo taking details, start thinking in terms of emotions. What is the most salient emotion you associate with your handmakes? Are they playful pieces to set their wearer apart? Are they high value pieces giving their wearer that exclusive touch? What is the setting you imagine your product being worn in?

Get clear and specific in your head. Jot down emotive keywords. For example, when I worked on the pictures of our findings and beads, my list contained: irresistible, high quality, difficult to find, sexy, different and crisp.
According to your product, you may come up with lists such as:

mystery, allure, feminine, exquisite; dreamy; or
raw, powerful, rugged, precious; unique; or
fun, everyday, light, unusual; funky and so on.

Donut Czech Firepolished Beads

Setting the scene

Once you have come up with your own list of keywords, start your photography session by setting the scene. Decide on your background. For example a simple white infinite background works well for us, as it sets out the beads, highlights their lovely colours and helps us produce crisps and detailed pictures. You may want to pick a different colour for your background so as to complement your emotive keywords list and the style of your handmakes. For example, I love the look of handforged metal jewellery on a natural surface, like slate or wood. Think about your props – both visible and invisible. I try to shoot without visible props as they detract the attention from the beads, but I use a lot of props that stay out of the picture, but help me hang things from or straighten strands with.

Think about the layout

Think about the layout of the product. Are you draping it, hanging it, layering it or simply leaving it to lie flat? Would you stretch the chain or curve it slightly? Would you position the two earrings parallel to each other or would one of them be turned to the side? Play around with the different options. See which positions fit best with your emotive keywords and make a mental note of them. For example, I love to layer the strands of beads, so that they look three-dimensional in photos and I love to take an extra picture with the strands slightly curved so as to give jewellery makers an idea how the beads would look strung in a gorgeous necklace.

Purple Jade Microfaceted Beads

Experiment with different angles

Once you are clear about your layout, get your camera in hand and experiment with different angles. An angle in a photograph is like a point of view in a conversation. The topic is the same, but how you approach it makes all the difference in communication. You may come across as charming or you may bore her to death. So, start thinking of your photos as a visual conversation you have with your potential clients and try to capture their attention in the best possible way. Basic angles you may wish to explore are from above, straight on, from the left, from the right, profile. Then start to move the camera slightly up and down and sideways. Keep looking at the viewer. For example, I love the slightly from the right and slightly from the left angles, as they add a visual interest and make the eye of the viewer follow the lines of the photographed product.

Emphasise the detail

Don’t forget to emphasise the detail. Get closer to your piece and take pictures of what really makes it stand apart – a beautiful clasp, a neatly woven wirework, a hammered surface, an irregularly shaped stone. These add value to your piece and make the potential client appreciate your skills. As the viewer can’t touch your creation, close-up photos help her gain a better understanding of the piece and how it would look on her, thus increasing her desire to actually own it. Sometimes I place the camera so close to our beads, that they almost touch the lens. This helps me create slightly exaggerated but clear close ups, which show detail in a pure and crisp way.

Leopard Skin Round Jasper Beads

Once you have a clear idea on the four topics above, get snapping away. Take several pictures from all possible angles that you thought of. Then leave the camera aside for at least a day. Busy yourself with something else. This will give you time to disassociate yourself from the pictures and to look at them objectively. When you are ready to look through them, keep in mind the list with emotive keywords you created at the start of our exercise and for each picture ask yourself: Is it in line with the keywords’ list? Does it communicate desire to the viewer?

Make a note of the layouts and angles that work (delete ruthlessly all the rest!) and in future focus on them in your photo taking time. This will speed up the process and will create a consistent approach. It will also ensure that photo taking won’t be yet another boring task, but an opportunity to creatively emphasise your handmade products and how irresistible and desirable they are.

We'd love to hear your feedback about this post - are you inspired to improve your own product shots?

You can follow more of Rossi's excellent tips over at her facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/SilverSenseLondon where Jewellery makers are encouraged to post images of their latest creations too!

Strange referral traffic

2011-12-22T19:00:00.000Z

Just a quick fyi, not to be too alarmed if you are seeing large amounts of visitors coming from (often) Russian sites. Do not click on dubious referring sites, it's usually obvious they are not genuinely referals. From what I have read they are not a threat to your site, it is simply a way of boosting their own referrals and page visits. It's done using robots rather than a little person sitting in an office actually visiting your site.

It is a spammers trick to get hits on their own sites via your blogger stats. I have been inundated with these of late!

If you check your Google Analytics account, instead of your blogger dashboard stats, you will probably find these dubious sites have been pre-filtered out from the data. At least this is the case with my stats. On the blogger stats on my dash board I had 743 visits from Russia last month, whereas on the analytics stats I had just 44... so they must be identifying these spammers, even if they are not actually stopping them. I'll update this if I find out any more about what blogger is doing about this.

I'm really keen to hear if any of you have had issues too?

Here's some further reading on the subject of strange referral sites -

Referer Spam Is Needlessly Alarming Blog Owners

Referrer Spam

Killing Referral Spam

x Hilary :).

Create a blog badge including code box for your blog sidebar

2011-12-21T18:37:00.001Z

The Crimson Moon - Moonlight Brooch

Blog Button / Blog Badge Tutorial

How do you make one of those grabbable blog badges? In the US they call them blog buttons, the ones with the little snippet of code that's really easy for a fan of your blog to quickly copy and paste?

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a blog badge for your site including the little text box with code to grab, just like this one below which you can add to your blog sidebar or within a post.

NB! If you have added a CBuk badge you can head over to the 'Become a Fan' page and submit a link to your blog - as this is not part of the blog directory, blogs outside of the UK are welcome to add links too (that's a first!)

Step by step guide to creating shareable blog badge code

Create an image or advert. You could use a photo with some text or anything you like as the image, it doesn't need to be anything too amazing, just an eyecatching image or your logo. I use gimp software, its free and it works pretty well. Don't worry about the size of image too much as the code will take care of that. Most important is that any text is readable even when shrunk down to a sidebar badge size.
Create the Image Code - Once I had made the image I uploaded it to photobucket - it's really easy to open an account (and free) and it's a great place to store images.
Once you have your image uploaded to photobucket (or any photo storage place on the net) you need to get the code for that image. With photobucket under each image are a list of links, you need to copy and paste the "direct link".
My image link looks like this -
http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad358/haptree_photos/cbuksquare.png
The url address that I will be using looks like this -
http://www.ukcraftblog.com/2010/09/craft-blogs-list-of-uk-sewing-blogs.html
(If you ever get confused between the two, remember that links end in html and images will usually end with gif, jpeg, png or whatever file type they are - but not .html!)
Create the box code - Here is how to create the code for your advert/badge grabber. There are two parts to the code - the first part will show your image and the second part is the little box for people to grab your code.

<a href="YOUR URL ADDRESS"><img alt="Click Here" height="100" src="YOUR IMAGE LINK" width="100" /></a>
<textarea cols="31" name="textarea" rows="5" style="height: 100px; width: 100px;"><a href="YOUR URL ADDRESS"><img width ="100" alt="Click here" src="YOUR IMAGE LINK" height="100" /></a></textarea>
Add this code as 3rd party HTML gadget when you are in the blogger dashboard or as a text widget in Wordpress. Copy the code above adding your own adresses and image links where I have written YOUR URL ADDRESS and YOUR IMAGE LINK. With html code you have to be exact or it wont work so make sure you only change the text and leave all of these " " and these < / > and everything else in place!
Amend the dimensions. You will see in the code that there are height and width dimensions in pixels. If your image is square then change these to a proportion that not only fits the image you are using but also the column it will be added to, you don't want half of it missing. I would advise to make the code grab box the same size. Just experiment until you get it right.
NB. If you are changing the dimensions from 100 x 100 as above you will need to adjust the height and width in 3 places throughout the code where you see height and width written! They come in order - 1) is the actual image 2) is the text box size 3) the image size within code they will be grabbing.
Amend the 'Click Here' tag. If you want to change the text that appears when you hover over the badge you need to amend the 2 places where I have written alt="Click here" , just change Click here to whatever you would like it to say.

I hope this tutorial is fairly easy to follow - please let me know if there are any parts you would like me to explain further and I can edit this post to include additional steps - what confuses you is very likely to confuse others!

If your blog badges are all wonky and off centre here's a quick tutorial for centralising them! Tidy up and centralise your blog sidebars

PS - if this looks a little familiar it's because it was originally posted over on my (now a little unloved) blog Haptree and Me I've just updated it a little :)

Cool Craft from Bridget Bodoano

2011-12-20T18:30:00.000Z

I have a little assistant this week!

This is an excellent beginners book covering a wide array of crafts and projects. Designed to "lure style conscious people into craft with the promise of things to make that they can be proud and happy to wear or use". I think it does exactly that, the projects are cool and modern whilst also being very straightforward, so as not to confuse or annoy a beginner.

Each of the 50 projects has a number of step by step graphical illustrations. With sections giving the basics, such as this easy to follow casting on and off guide to knitting. Projects range from making buttons to sewing a laptop case, as well as some 'design and technology' projects which include ideas incorporating digital photography. I asked the author Bridget Bodoano, how she had gone about choosing which crafty projects to include?

I designed all the projects for Cool Craft so they reflect my own taste and influences. I find a lot of craft projects are quite complicated and sometimes daunting and as my craft skills are fairly basic I have always found that keeping it simple makes for a more successful - and stylish, result. I enjoyed working out the the step-by-steps and found it a challenge to illustrate them so that they were clear and easy to follow.

As someone who has 'write a book' written in capital letters and double underlined at the top of my bucket list, I'm always interested to find out how the author came to start writing and get published. Bridget has a fascinating story.

My background is art college - twice. I did shoe design in the late 60's and ceramics and 3D design in the late 80's. In the early 70's I worked at Vogue magazine leaving when I had my first child. After spending 11 years living in Wales running a smallholding I returned to London where I worked as Press Officer at The Conran Shop until going freelance in 1998. While writing articles on Interiors and design I also worked part-time at Quadrille publishing which led to writing and illustrating my own books as well as providing illustrations for other books including the 'how to do' instructions for Cath Kidston books. I have always enjoyed drawing, sewing and knitting...

'Cool Craft' would be perfect for a teen or adult that had shown an interest in making. It is not a coffee table book full of artistic photographs of the finished pieces, but a practical guide for newbie crafters, with projects laid out in a very concise and easy to follow format. The only thing missing is the 'how to start a blog about your new hobby' project! :)

ISBN - 978-1-908126-11-5
Vivays Publishing

Stupid Cats!

2011-12-19T10:42:00.000Z

Wol - Stupidcats

"I only discovered needle-felting last year and love it! One of my Craftbritannia teamies on Etsy asked if I could make her a little grey owl brooch as a gift for her mum, so I had a go, and now my little owls are my best selling items! They're such fun to make, and each one has its own character. Next on my to-make list is a tiny puffin! x"

Congratulations to Michelle from 'StupidCats' - Winner of the 'Conversational Craft' Christmas Link Party with a whopping 75 votes for her extremely cute little needle felted owl. Also, congrats to Annie from 'A Stitch in Time' for coming a very close second with 67 votes for her poppy picture.

Michelle has a wide array of needle-felted creatures available at her Etsy shop, Stupid Cats, as well as a number of quirky, stylised cat prints - that are far from stupid, they're fantastic :)

The link party was a lot of fun and I'll definitely be doing a few more crafty link parties in the new year, I hope everyone who submitted links benefitted from a little extra traffic. Leave a comment if you have an idea for a theme we can use :)

Most amazing handmade Christmas card ever!

2011-12-16T13:25:00.001Z

The Lion, the witch and the amazing wardrobe Christmas card!

How fantastic is this handmade Christmas card that came through the post from my friend Elaine! I had to share it, it came very coincidentally just after we watched the recent film too so the kids were quite mystified by it - it's on a very high shelf now! It stands up and is made from painted and airbrushed mounting card (not actual wood as I originally thought!), with space for a little message at the back - must have taken hours - hope you can see all the layers of coats and branches are 3d too from this photo.

Elaine was at University with me, we both did a BA in architecture, not sure what it says about the degree we did but despite both doing fairly well neither of us became qualified architects! She was fairly passionate about model making back then too and has now gone on to be a very successful scenic artist, with an impressive list of films and productions across the UK. Take a peep at her CV, especially if you are in need of a - Scenic Artist and model maker :)

Now, she's going to have to do something pretty impressive to beat this for Christmas 2012!

POWER OF MAKING: a poetic snapshot competition

2011-12-10T18:51:00.001Z

The Power of Making

I just had to share this fantastic album from the Victoria & Albert Museum and Craft Councils Power of Making exhibition - right now I can't think of a better way to spend the next half hour than flipping through this album and reading the lovely poetic comments! It's been up for a while have you had a look yet? If you write a little poetic caption you can win a V&A Membership, Crafts Magazine subscription and the exhibition book :) The Power of Making judges will be short listing their top 10 next Friday before a public vote :)

Now, what rhymes with 6 necked guitar...

POWER OF MAKING: a poetic snapshot competition

Christmas Link Party!

2011-12-06T19:02:00.001Z

Night Before Christmas - Sam Ossie

Happy Christmas Craft Bloggers!

I love a good party, especially a Christmas one, the problem with being self employed is you don't get to do the whole office party thing! (probably a good thing in many respects!)

To celebrate Christmas at Craft Blog UK, I wanted to throw a great big crafty link party for all of you to say thank you for all the support! Blogger tells me you are collectively viewing around a 1000 pages here a day on average!(hopefully it's not all my mother!)

So, help yourself to a glass of fizz! I've got the mulled wine on the go and the mince pies will be warmed through in just a few minutes. Relax, mingle and get to know all the other bloggers I've invited - they are a motley crew, but they don't half scrub up well! :) Cheers!

How to join the Party!

I have added a link party below where I am inviting you to add the most conversational piece of craft you have created to date, the piece you would bring up when you met someone new at a party and they asked "So, what do you do?". The piece you are most proud of or that means the most to you - link to a flickr, a sold item, a blog post telling us all about your piece, a facebook photo, a tumblr etc - wherever you have somewhere we can all take a look and go "ooh! - I love what you did there" or similar.

Please also leave a comment on this post, telling us a bit about your piece, we're all ears and a few of us may still be sober enough to share your links too! (I'll try and tweet as many as I can! hic ;)

I'll be allowing links to be added unitl the Sunday 11th of December at midnight, then we can vote on our favourite pieces - I'll write a blog post about the person who gets the most votes - that's your cue to share the link and ask all your friends to vote for you!

I've never done the voting thing on the blog before so please bear with me if it all goes wrong, either way we'll have some fun, a few virtual drinks and hopefully meet some new crafty folks and see some gorgeous handmade lovlieness!

Add your Links!

Storebeez - a brand new online market place!

2011-12-03T07:00:00.000Z

I was contacted by Alex of Storebeez last week -

"Would you take a look at our new online market place and mention it to your readers? We have a really good offer running for December, where it's entirely free to list and sell for 6 months"

OK! As it is a good offer, that is actually free, unlike many other offers I get sent to publicise, I said I'd love to share this new website!

First Impressions of www.storebeez.com

I love the name Storebeez, it's cute and it's really easy to remember. The site has a fuss free, clean design and items and shops are not in any way overshadowed by heavy site branding or a large header area.

Whilst browsing, the products are the focus and when you land on the home page the very prominent search box encourages you to type in exactly what you are shopping for. There are also featured products and categories listed as you would expect - for now just a selection as it's so brand new!

What struck me most from the info Alex sent over were the words "Driving customers to their stores falls entirely on us". That's a pretty new concept for an online market place, that doesn't charge you an eye-popping amount to register. I'm really keen to see how this develops as users sign up and the ways in which they will approach the marketing of shops.

Facts of selling at Storebeez

If you open a Storebeez shop in December 2011 you pay no transaction fees for 6 months. Normally Storebeez would only charge you commission if you sell (no sign up, or monthly running costs), but they are waiving a whole 6 months of costs to the first shopkeepers to set up store!

So it's absolutely free, nothing to loose and free marketing from a team of experienced e-commerse entrepreneurs. If it all goes well you have an established shop and you can decide in 6 months whether it's worth the 10% commission, they will charge after your free trial ends.

It's open to all and ideally suited to people who want to quickly list item for sale - it's very straightforward to register, set up and list.

I was really pleased to find Blue Forest Jewellery over at Storebeez - it's brand new so it will be lovely to watch it fill with familiar faces! Her shop looks really good. I was able to comment about a piece directly beneath the item and share that to facebook with one tick of a box, which is a great feature for getting your work seen quickly. It allows conversation and engagement with your customers - and will work well for all of us crafty facebook junkies.

As with many other sites, you can also customise your shop, add a banner, avatar and with Storebeez you can also add a background image too.

You can list your items as 'on demand' rather than 'in stock' if you wish when listing, so there is no issue with having everything listed in more than one place if you make one of a kind items.

It is new though so there are probably a few things you'll not immediately gel with and maybe even find a few bugs, (I didn't meet any using the latest version of Chrome) - but then that's the beauty of a new platform, they are 100% focused on keeping their customers happy as they know that's the best way to grow their business - and they have that passion to get seen and succeed.

A shop ready to be filled and customised...

What do you think? Worth registering in December, even if you only have time to add a few listings - it's for free, every day for the next 6 months :)

x Hilary

Handmade by a fly?

2011-12-02T11:09:00.001Z

Whilst I was researching the symbolism of Turquoise yesterday I came across the most fascinating web page. I just had to share - CabinetMagazine - Hubert Duprat

The results of an unusual artistic collaboration between the French artist Hubert Duprat and a group of caddis fly larvae. A small winged insect belonging to the order Trichoptera and closely related to the butterfly, caddis flies live near streams and ponds and produce aquatic larvae that protect their developing bodies by manufacturing sheaths, or cases, spun from silk and incorporating substances—grains of sand, particles of mineral or plant material, bits of fish bone or crustacean shell—readily available in their benthic ecosystem. The larvae are remarkably adaptable: if other suitable materials are introduced into their environment, they will often incorporate those as well.

Duprat introduced gold leaf and precious gem stones into their environment and look at the reults! Isn't this absolutely stunning and quite grotesque all at the same time? - I'd like to farm these flies (if it were ethical - you know I wouldn't hurt a fly!) They could make me lots of these little golden cases! You can see them in action in the video below.

The article on the website is fascinating - do please head over and read the rest. There are some fascinating philisophical discussions about whether the fly is the crafts person or whether it is Duprat? I'd love to hear your take on this, please add a comment!

Handmade in Britain - the book!

2011-12-01T20:26:00.000Z

Appreciating Contemporary Artisans

'Handmade in Britain', was created as an initiative to support and promote designers who create their work in the UK. The book is written by Piyush Suri, the founder of the website and organisation www.handmadeinbritain.co.uk. The organisation aims to maintain high standards in the craft sector and to create opportunities for buying and selling craft.

Flipping through the book you are confronted with page after page of beautiful, arresting images of crafts, from ceramics and textiles through to glass, jewellery, furniture, metal work and more. A brief but fascinating, bio about each of the 90 contemporary designer-makers featured gives an insight into the lives of the makers and their inspiration. It's just enough to entice you to find out more.

The book will adorn my coffee table for the foreseeable future. I plan to visit the websites listed for each maker and take a look at their blogs too!

I asked Piyush how he chose the designers involved and whether he would be writing more books to support maker-designers in Britain, it would be a wonderful book to be a part of for any contemporary artisan based in the UK.

There was an application process to apply to be a part of the book, Normally in many books you only get to see famous names, but I wanted to select makers who don’t live in big cities so this could be an ideal opportunity for their work to reach members of public. I have tried to create a balance of up and coming designer-makers and few established ones.

I am in the process of thinking a new idea for the book, I want to create a series of Handmade in Britain books – with different concept and ideas and possibly my view as a director of Handmade in Britain, how to raise the profile of British Designer-makers.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Handmade in Britain, head to Vivays Publishing (who very kindly sent me this copy to review) for more details.
ISBN - 978-1-908126-38-2

Creative and Crafty Videos

2011-11-29T10:25:00.001Z

Illustrated Tea / Coffee cup by Heidi Burton

Hello, I have so many blog posts lined up for you... crafty book reviews, website reviews and a really huge social media icon post... but today I really wanted to share the new Vimeo group I have set up. I just couldn't wait!

Have you heard of Vimeo? It is a video sharing site, just like You Tube but it has a little more class. Yes, you will still find some dodgy stuff, but on the whole it's full of more artistic and creative film makers, who have a passion for videography or they are film students learning through experience. (Rather than people falling off pedalos, and kittens doing crazy stuff, fun but not quite so beautiful and clever!)

I've created the Craft Blog UK group as I'd like to have a place where we can all find beautiful creative and crafty videos. Apart from the news and a very uncontrollable addiction to x-factor (I know, it's a guilty pleasure thing!) I don't really watch much TV. To have a place like Vimeo to retreat to is fantastic. I can grab my laptop, plug my headphones in and just wind down watching beautiful and interesting short videos - try 'Couch Mode' and look through the staff picks - it's great!

Not all the videos added to the group will be explicitly about craft or people making craft - some may be inspirational films, or beautiful music videos where there is a highly creative element and beautiful depths of field for example - Thom York's 'Harrowdown Hill' is both beautiful and violent all at the same time. It uses dubbed smallgantics, a technique that takes footage of large objects and makes them appear as though they are actually miniatures - a bit like tilt-shift photography. The point is, it is amazingly creative and so it fits the group ethos!

To add a video to the group is simple - become a member of the group, then when you are watching a video click on the add tab where all your groups will be displayed - just tick the Craft Blog box :)

I've added a navigation link above so you can always click directly through to the group to see the latest - I'll also add my favourites here as posts and add a credit link to the finder!

Here's a video added to the group by my online friend Jose at Artesanio - a beautiful spanish online craft market - it appears most countries have their own versions of Folksy and Etsy! :) The video is great fun and has an excellent sound track!

Abuelitas Modernas from DOSDEVIDEO on Vimeo.

Friday 2nd December - Free listing day on Folksy

2011-11-28T18:43:00.001Z

Folksy announced today that they are having a free listing day on Friday.

*Even if you don't have anything new to list, my advice would be to de-list everything in your shop and then re-list! Do it one by one in case the site crashes. You will then have 6 months available on every listing! Time consuming but worth it, you'll be saving £1 for every four listings and if you are simply re-listing it shouldn't take too long...

Also remember that once you click preview your item is saved as a draft item so you can start listing in advance!

I wonder if Folksy will allow it for re-listing too? ~~I'll ask and update if the answer is no :)~~ They said there was no limits! woo hoo :)

Oooh - Great tip from Pam Southernwood of Avril Pam Designs - "Why not use it as an opportunity to rearrange your shop in whatever order you want!"

MGMT - All I ever wanted... fab video :)

2011-11-24T20:45:00.001Z

MGMT - All We Ever Wanted Was Everything from oneedo on Vimeo.

This is a great video, it has passed my watched 3 times, must share rule! I like MGMT anyway, so that helps but I do love this video - it was a staff pick on Vimeo :)

All we ever wanted was everything
All we ever got was cold
Get up, eat jelly
Sandwhich bars, and barbed wire
Squash every week into a day...
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/mgmt/all_we_ever_wanted_was_everything.html ]
Gotta love those lyrics!

Super Quick facebook tip for boosting comments, likes and reach

2011-11-24T11:52:00.001Z

Shoogly Beads - Winter Brights

Just a quick facebook tip for trying to boost engagement. It's very simple but a good way to help to kickstart your page, if your posts are falling on deaf ears.

Facebook can be sooo annoying!

Not exactly breaking news to many of you, but it's so true! I have a love hate relationship with facebook - when it's all going my way I love it, when it decides to hide my posts away from fans... I hate it and have to scream at my insight pages!

In order to increase your reach (number of people seeing your posts) you need to have an engaged page, lots of likes and comments will see your posts in your fans 'top stories'

Catch 22 right!?Sometimes you update your facebook page and it gets lost or ignored - so how do you get those likes and comments in the first place!??? Well I've written lots of tips on this, but I think this one is the most direct approach!

Posts have a shelf life on facebook of less than 48 hours, your updates will be removed from peoples friend and page streams after this time (if they ever made it into their live streams)- but of course they still exist on your page!

To find the link for an individual post you need to click on the date - if you just posted it may say 1minute ago or if it was last week it will give the actual date.

Once you click you will open up a page with just the post, copy the url. Through sharing this link you now have a way of reviving this particular post, or giving it a kick and turning it into a good discussion or chat. From my experience the faster you get likes the more time your post stays as a top story - so you could be much more proactive about getting likes and comments. If you auto post to twitter you could also use the url created in your tweet.

Here are some ideas for sharing the Facebook post link

Email the link to a few good friends and ask them help you out with a few 'starter' comments, obviously you would not want to do this too often or you may lose friends!
Post the link on twitter and then repost it, and then again for good luck! You need to change the way you phrase it each time.
Post the link on other facebook threads or in forums (relevant only or otherwise it is spam). For example you may say "I was just talking about this subject" or "I'd love some feedback on my latest listing, you can find it here" etc just reiterating that you need to make it relevant otherwise it's just spam.
Post the link in your latest newsletter, ask people to specifically get engaged in that post - sometimes that's easier than the slightly whingy 'please like my page' suggestions. You could set up a post especially - eg. "What did you think of my newsletter" and then ask for feedback to this link when you post - a great way to build up a few extra subscribers (as long as you get good feedback!)
Anywhere that you can create a hyperlink - would love to hear your suggestions!

Hope you find this useful! The page snip above is taken from 'SilverSense' - a fab bead supplies company - follow that link to their facebook page. You'll find me nattering about jewellery and beads over there as I'm looking after their social media! It's going to be full of jewellery selling tips very soon!

Do you have any facebook troubles, or G+ quandries... let me know in a comment and as always you are welcome to link over to your pages as long as you don't sell anything dodgy!

How interesting is your 'About Me' page?

2011-11-18T14:14:00.001Z

Believe in Yourself - JayHell

All About Me... ?

Looking after a craft directory like this means I have the pleasure of reading the 'about me' pages and profile widgets of many craft bloggers.

As a potential follower of a blog I want to know who's writing it, what they are passionate about and why should I become a blog follower - what am I going to be finding in my google reader that I just can't miss?

An 'about me' page or profile widget can be difficult to write - you sit in front of a blank page and suddenly you are self conscious and wondering who will read and judge and perhaps even decide not to follow or buy, just based on the next few paragraphs?

- did I mention Gin and Tonics too many times, does it sound like I love my dogs too much, should I talk about my children?...

Make it interesting!

Begin by writing your about me page from the heart, what are you actually trying to achieve with your blog? If you find it difficult to start, try asking yourself some questions like those below. Type your answers out and then edit them into a few powerful paragraphs that get the point quickly about what your blog is all about and why you think we should follow it!

Take care not to simply describe your domestic set up, I see this so often -

'I am a mother with 2 fantastic kids and a wonderful partner, I make my crafts and write this blog in my spare time. I really love knitting, I learned to knit when I was 8 years old.'

YAWN! how about -

'If you met my family, you'd understand why I had to start writing a blog - it's certainly cheaper than a psychotherapist! I've been knitting since I was 8 - whatever you do don't open my cupboard doors, you will be drowned by an avalanche of yarn!'

Rather than being turned off by the idea of hearing about some fairly average normality, we know you have a sense of humour and we're excited that we might find out some snippets about your hectic family life as well as your obvious passion for knitting and stash building.

Questions
- Why did you start writing this blog?
- What is this blog about?
- Who do you think would love to read your blog?
- Why should I follow your blog?

Links
Add important links so that people can quickly surf around and connect with you via your shops, flickr or social networks.

-What is your favourite blog posts?
-Where else can I find you on the internet?
-How should I contact you?

Share your profile with our readers!

Would you like to share your blog profile, please add your link to this linklist - I'll pick a couple to write about over the next few weeks - it will be great for the readers to get some ideas for their own profiles too - and please feel free to ask me a question or ask for a profile critique - I'm at haptree at gmail dot com :)

Rob Ryan Video from Etsy

2011-11-14T23:23:00.001Z

Handmade Portraits: Rob Ryan from Etsy on Vimeo.

What a fab studio Rob has! Can I sneak in with my laptop, do you think? I'd be really quiet, honest!

x H

Where would I be without blogging?

2011-11-10T07:30:00.000Z

Guest post, written by Natalie Howells of Misadventures in Craft

Just over a year ago, I picked up a pair of knitting needles for the first time (ok, I’m ignoring the fact that apparently my mum taught me when I was little, as I have no recollection of this!) and made the ubiquitous beginner’s garter stitch scarf.

My second scarf, for my brother, went slightly differently than I was expecting. I’d only bought one ball of yarn, as that’s all my scarf had taken, and I’d cast on the same number of stitches. Of course, my scarf was aran/worsted weight and I’d bought chunky for Richard’s, so you can see that it was never going to work out quite as expected. 3 emergency yarn purchases later, I had created a ribbed scarf that can pretty much stand up on its own.

Despite this small mishap, I’d discovered that I enjoyed this knitting thing, and wanted to continue. But I needed more information if I was to get any further. So I cast out into the ether of the world wide web and soaked up as much as I could...

And that’s where I discovered blogs. Knitting blogs. Hundreds of them, with real people out in the world making beautiful things to which I could aspire. Not just information about yarn weights (if only I’d known!) but also different fibres, colours, textures... The world of knitting opened up beyond jumpers, scarves and blankets.

Many of these colourful, crafty spaces had mentioned something called Ravelry, so I joined and got swept away in the possibilities.

With no concept of what was hard and what wasn’t, I jumped straight in and got going.

Reading knitting blogs showed me a world where handknitting a pair of socks wasn’t a crazy idea, where spending money on good, project appropriate yarn rather than scratchy cheap acrylic really did make a difference, and where people shared ideas and encouragement.

Pretty soon after finding knitting and knitting blogs, I found my own voice. I started a blog, tentatively and with the expectation that only my mum would read it. Having my own blog gave me the confidence to leave comments on others. In return, comments started to appear on my blog (and I can’t tell you how excited I was by that very first one!), starting a dialogue that encouraged me further, not just in blogging but in my knitting too.

I recently posted a series looking back over my early projects – my successes and, well let’s not call them failures, how about learning experiences?! The comments I got were wonderful, talking about how much progress I had made in one short year since picking up that fateful first pair of needles. But I never would have realised my absolute love for this craft, or discovered the possibilities, without reading and writing about it through the world of blogging.

I’d see people posting pictures of wonderful knitted socks, so I tried making a pair myself. I saw beautiful garments, so I knitted a jumper. I’d never even considered shawls before seeing them on the blogs that inspire me, now my queue is full of them.

Of course, it’s not just the inspiration of seeing the incredible projects pictured on other blogs that propelled my progress; it’s also the invaluable commentary that accompanies them. The information that a certain pattern isn’t very well written, or that this particular yarn is frustrating and splitty. The descriptions of trials and tribulations when trying something difficult for the first time... Learning how other people go about their projects helped me to define how I knit, that I love the process but halfway through I just want the product, that I hate knitting with cotton (a sentiment I have discovered is not unique to me!) and that sharing my projects with the community I have been welcomed into is now an integral part of the knitting for me.

So, where would I be without blogging? Well, I’d probably still be wondering what went wrong with my brother’s scarf! I certainly wouldn’t be heading into a second year of knitting, with a sizeable stash and more projects in my head than I possibly have time for. I wouldn’t have made some wonderful online friends and I wouldn’t be writing this post and hoping it resonates with you too.

The Divided Brain - are you a lefty or a righty?

2011-11-09T23:56:00.000Z

RSAnimate series!

As creatives (right siders??), you will love this animation of a lecture by renowned psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist explaining how our 'divided brain' has profoundly altered human behaviour, culture and society.

Enjoy!

x Hilary

Conversations on the Coast

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000Z

Sleeping children, and a good book - bliss!

Last Sunday afternoon, we bombed down the M6, arguably the most boring, direct route possible through the middle of the UK. We were heading back from one of our regular escapes to my Mother's house on the North Wales Coast.

I sat in the back of our van, and (a little ironically) read a recently published book, 'Conversations on the Coast'. The book came about as a result of a 4,541 mile bike ride along the entire coastline of the UK, clocking up an average speed of under 7 miles an hour.

In 2009, Nick Hand, the author, took on this fantastic adventure, spurred on by a wild idea on a Cornish Cycling holiday. What would happen if we 'just carried on cycling around the coast'... ?

Don't panic, I haven't gone all Judith Charmers. Whilst Conversations on the Coast is pocket sized, it is not a travel guide, nor (thank goodness) a catalogue of puncture repairs and saddle sore. It is a beautifully curated collection of transcribed interviews with the most fascinating people. Nick has recorded his conversations with craftsmen and women, that he met and chatted with along his 'slowcoast' journey. He says that arriving at these interviews on a bicycle put people at ease, enabling them to talk freely with passion and pride about their crafts and what inspires them.

The short introduction describes the rather interesting, hows, whys and wherefores of the trip, (what do you pack for 5 months in the saddle?) However, the rest of the book is made up entirely of short one or two page interviews with craftsmen from all corners of the UK and Irish coast. You can hear the accents as you read!

"I never anticipated how powerful the collection of conversations I recorded would be. I was privileged to meet some amazingly talented folk who are working in traditional and new crafts, from potters, to musicians, to painters, to people who work on the land or sea. These craftspeople need our support to survive, and I hope the next generation respects and values the tradition and skills that they can pass on."

You can purchase 'Conversations on the Coast' from The Department of Small Works or head over to Nick's blog - slowcoast.co.uk where you can listen and look at all of the fascinating soundslides collected along the journey.

Google+ Pages Have Landed!

2011-11-08T10:28:00.001Z

Red Roof House - Hand Knitted Things

Exciting! You can now find Craft Blog UK on Google+ - Please +1 my shiny new page if you have a Google+ account :)

Look it's all bare and no posts, so dull! - what shall I fill it up with?

How to Create a Google+ Page

Click this image below to go directly to create a Google+ business page for yourself - no time like the present! It's very straightforward, just one form to fill in.

I've copied the following directly from the Google+ help pages - I'd advise a really thorough read through all of the help pages when you have the time. Take full advantage of this new platform to promote your handmade products - I'll be back once I've had a good play with any tips!

Promote your Google+ page

Try these different strategies to promote your Google+ page and gain followers:

Spread the word – While on Google+ acting as your page, click Spread the word on the side of the stream. This will allow you to share your page in a post with people from your personal Google+ profile. The sharing action will come from your personal Google+ profile -- not from the Google+ page. For instance, let’s say Raj has a page for his band Didgeridoo and the Kangaroos. If his page spreads the word, the people shared to will see the update as coming from Raj, not from the page.
Post updates frequently and keep your profile fresh – People are more likely to engage with a page that contains fresh posts and a complete profile. Learn about sharing in Google+ and how to edit your page.
Linking your Google+ page and your website – This is a great way to drive traffic to your page and it provides an excellent opportunity to engage with your customers and fans in an intimate fashion. Learn how to link your page and website.

+1 Craft Blog

on Google+

Please post a link to your pages once you have created them - or let me know on Google+

x Hilary

The Master Goldsmith

2011-11-06T23:53:00.001Z

THE MASTER GOLDSMITH from Marcus O'Brien

This video is so gentle, the soundtrack is beautiful and the jewellery created looks stunning - do you need any more reasons to watch!? Enjoy!

x Hilary

Is Etsy the best UK Handmade marketplace?

2011-11-04T12:07:00.001Z

Big Tree Decorations - Once Upon a Time in the North

Can you spare 5 minutes to answer a quick question about Etsy UK ?

I want all your opinions please, so do add a comment if you have a point of view on this subject. I know that some of you are certainly not shy to share your opinions!

As a British Etsy seller, buyer or maker of handmade goods based in the UK, how are you finding it now that the Etsy UK brand is emerging?

Are you seeing the majority of sales coming from the UK now or do you still find British based sites to be the best place to sell your goods to customers based here in Blighty?

If you don't sell through Etsy, do you think Etsy UK and the huge pr, marketing and investment power it has behind it, has impacted your sales on your own website or other handmade market places? Do you see it as a threat in anyway to the little guys out there?

Or, maybe you think it's just blooming fantastic for UK crafters to be publicised by a big firm like Etsy and that it will have a great effect on the market as a whole - do you care where you sales come from as long as your handmade stuff sells?

Please share your experiences and also leave a comment on which handmade / crafts marketplace you think is the biggest challenger for our UK handmade custom - hopefully it will help some of the readers of Craft Blog UK decide where best to concentrate their efforts with the Christmas gift buying season now biting at our ankles... (eeep!)

Comment box is just down there a bit!

Harris Tweed - From Land to Street

2011-11-03T16:49:00.000Z

Harris Tweed - from land to street - BOOK ON SALE NOW - Images by Lara Platman.

Lara Platman spent a year following the journey of Harris Tweed. 'From Land to Street' is a photographic documentary that shows the entire process from the shearing of the sheep to the making of suits at Saville Row. The photographs are stunning, what a fantastic idea for a book. I hope that it further adds to the amazing reputation of quality, traditional craftsmanship that Harris Tweed has gained over the past century.

"With an eye for character, colour and light, and an ear for a good story, she has created extraordinary portraits of these living national treasures, complemented by evocative images of the landscapes of Harris, the tweed patterns whose textures and colours seem to emerge from the land, and the use of Harris tweed in the work of fashion designers including Vivienne Westwood, Margaret Howell and Paul Smith."

Frances Lincoln Publishers

If you want to know more about the fascinating history of Harris Tweed, and why it is the only fabric in the world which is governed by it's own Act of Parliament, take a look at Harris Tweed Hebrides, the mill that produces 90% of the worlds Harris Tweed.

You can also hear directly from Lara about the book, she was interviewed on Radio 4's Womans Hour last month. Lara Platman Interview

What are you working on at the moment?

Do you know exactly where the materials have come from?

Imagine what a great sales tool and how much value it would add to your products if you were able to show your customers images of the journey of your own creations, or even just tell the story. Definitely worth a blog post and a link in your product descriptions.

If anyone writes up a post about the journey of their crafts, or has one written up already, please share it below, just add a link in the comment box.

Miniature Origami

2011-11-02T13:57:00.000Z

"Every Little Peace" by Mui-Ling Teh

"3cm Family Swim" by Mui-Ling Teh

I just discovered this fantastic photographer on Red Bubble. She has created a calendar containing her tiny works of origami, the patience and steadiness of hand required to make each little paper fold, beggars belief!

You can view the rest of the calendar here - Miniature Origami Calendar

Have you ever made something on a small scale like this? I once made a tiny coin purse, just big enough for one coin, an emergency trolly coin was the idea. I was going to create lots to sell, but couldn't face the fiddliness after making a few!

Would love to see any small scale makes, please add them to the Craft Blog UK Flickr group, or leave a comment and link below.

x Hilary :)

And the winner is...

2011-11-01T15:00:00.000Z

Hole in my Pocket!

Fantastic! The random number generator picked out number 3, so congratulations to Allistair, a very worthy winner of a spot in the UK Handmade Christmas Showcase normally worth £10. The showcase will go live on the 7th of November! :)

You can see all of the fantastic entries over in this facebook album Why not head over and show everyone who entered some love - do you have a favourite?

Many thanks to all who entered, I had a fun 24hrs with this. I especially enjoyed @strikk 's hot water bottle cover entry, Tanya was photographing like a mad thing this morning and squeaked her entry in quite literally at the 11th hour!

Hilary :)

Giveaway! Free UK Handmade Christmas Showcase spot up for grabs!

2011-10-31T12:00:00.000Z

I've been helping out as a volunteer at UK Handmade for a few years now, one of the perks is a little free advertising now and again, including a reserved spot in the UK Handmade Christmas Showcase!

However, my sewing machine is on vacation and I won't be selling any of my handmade coin purses and bead kits this Christmas, not even a single craft fair! (purse tutorial here if you fancy a go yourself!) I'm concentrating on the day job and any free time goes to Craft Blog UK!

I had a chat with Karen Jinks at UK Handmade this morning that went a little like this.

Karen - "Hey Hilary, why haven't you emailed over your Christmas showcase item yet?"

Me - "Umm, but I have nothing to showcase... sigh :(

*lightbulb*

Me - ...but I know some people who might be interested in a bit of free advertising!"

Karen - "OK, you have until tomorrow to choose someone!"

(imagine, scary finger wagging and stern "deadline imminent Miss Pullen" voice... not really, she's lovely of course and was very up for this 11th hour giveaway!)

Showcase Spot Giveaway!

So, I'm donating my showcase spot to one lucky Craft Blog UK reader instead! Yes, Woohoo indeed! The showcase goes live on the 7th of November, perfect timing for the gift giving season!

It's such a fantastic prize! The winter showcase is all about Christmas and Christmas gift ideas. The deadline for entries to this giveaway will be tomorrow at 12pm - that's just 24hrs to enter - so get cracking and read the rules below - entry is super simple!

What is the UK Handmade Showcase?

Just in case any of you are scratching your heads, UK Handmade is a community of crafters that produce an online magazine all about craft and the handmade lifestyle, the winter issue is launched tomorrow!

The showcases are one of the ways they fund all of the hard work and keep the site running. They charge £10 for a space in a gallery of themed images that link directly to a makers online shop. (excellent value for money)

The UK Handmade Showcase closed for applications on the 23rd of October. If you didn't have the time, or didn't have the spare cash to apply - now is your chance to win some very high quality free advertising!

Take a look at previous showcase the Wonder of Wool to see the format and the quality of submissions.

Some stats to pique your interest -

The UK Handmade website sees an average of 45,000 page views per month, this figure is set to rocket over the gift giving season.
The UK Handmade community has over 3,000 members
UK Handmade has a highly engaged facebook page with over 6,500 fans
UK Handmade has a twitter following of over 6,800, and a loyal team that regularly retweets and shares content to their own networks.

That's a potentially huge reach! The showcase is advertised from the front page of the website via a slideshow, giving each image a fantastic opportunity to be seen, as well as the direct link at the top of every page!

Eligibility to enter
You need to be able to tick these boxes!

I'm a craftsman based in the UK
I have good quality images of my work ready to send over
I make Christmas items, or items suitable for Christmas gifts (use common sense please!)
I have not already applied for a space (good on you if you have, but sorry the items must all be from different makers)

Karen tells me successful applicants will be informed over the next few days, they have had lots of fantastic submissions.

How to enter

Leave a comment below including a link to the item, either at Flickr, your website or other market place listing - please also tell us a little bit about yourself. The link must go to the item you want in the showcase and not just your homepage.

(I have a good spam filter that may go on overdrive with all the links, so if your comment doesn't show immediately don't worry I'll be checking the filter and manually approving them!)
Tweet, facebook or blog, to let people know you have entered with a link to this blog post!
I'll add entries to a Showcase Competition Entries facebook album as they are received - a little extra free publicity for your work!
Deadline is 12 noon November 1st (UK time, UK entrants only)

Email me if you get stuck! I'm at haptree at gmail dot com

Picking the winner

A winner will be chosen at random by me using a random number generator

Quilt Art

2011-10-30T10:13:00.004Z

Set to the song "Simple As It Should Be" by Tristan Prettyman, this movie highlights the making of a small art quilt - by www.simplyrobin.com The quilts are all made from hand dyed fabric which dries under the hot Hawaiin sun - bliss! Not so easy here in a very wintry blighty!

Watching the fabric strips go from the washing line to a work of art on the wall is fascinating. I think quilt art could be for me, my patience levels are way too low for creating a huge symmetrical bedspread and I really dislike following patterns, probably why my knitting is a little on the quirky / wonky side. The actual process of creating the art would fulfill all my arts and crafts need and now I can give it a name if anyone asks what is's for, why it's Quilt Art of course! I can make it whatever size I please :)

I took a little time to search flickr for more art quilts. Not everything that comes up was strictly quilted art for wall hanging, but it's all absolutely beautiful, from little wall hangings to huge throws - the level of detail is mind blowing in these quilts.

Sunshine Quilt by Blueberry Park

I'd love to see more quilters adding their images to the Craft Blog flickr group - here's a little slide show of all the work tagged 'quilt' we have at the moment.

Have you ever had a go at quilting or making quilt art - or maybe like me you're now keen to have a go?

I'd love to hear what you love about it, and any tips or useful tutorials you are aware of too?

Better value than a craft market?

2011-10-28T09:33:00.003+01:00

Have you discovered 'Things British'? It's a new shop in London selling handcrafted products, designed and created in the UK and was launched last summer. Unlike many shops that buy products at wholesale prices from designers, Things Bristish has a business model that is potentially very favourable for makers.

The shop rents out shelves and table top space to makers and designers at a flat weekly rate. If the item sells you keep the full amount. Prices vary depending on position and space, ranging from £12 to £29 per week. (latest price details here)

Here's Lennie from 'Things British' describing how this fantastic new shop on Carnaby Street works for designer makers -

Our Managed Retail Services provide designer makers with a share of an exciting brick-and-mortar retail environment where they rent their own dedicated shelf, wall or rack space. It’s not just about the space as Things British also provide the retail sales infrastructure and staff so unlike a market or trade fair Things British do all the selling for the makers as part of the service - so they don’t have to be there. On top of all that Things British offer social media advertising, joint promotions, events and marketing activities, free listings on our social ecommerce site and perhaps best of all - there is absolutely zero commission on anything sold. The makers are free to set the retail prices and all the net profits are theirs to keep.

From glass to ceramics, jewellery to paper craft, clothing to toys, artwork to well almost anything handcrafted here in Britain – Things British showcases and curates talent in a low-risk professional and supportive retail environment. For makers looking for an opportunity to showcase new work - test the market, or looking for a more permanent venue to sell their work, then Things British is the new way to go. Things British is more than a shop - it’s a gallery, a museum and a fun place to socialise and learn about British craft.

Things British also has an e-commerce market place on the way - sounds exciting!

Have you shopped at Things British yet?
Do you think it potentially offers better value than a craft fair where you are actively selling for 8hrs, time that could be spent working on new designs?
Or maybe you have a local shop which works in a similar way? I'd love to hear from you, please leave a comment in the box below.

Why I love online tutorials

2011-10-24T06:30:00.000+01:00

Online craft tutorials

Written by Fran Swaine of www.skullsandponies.blogspot.com

I absolutely adore online tutorials and luckily for me they are all over the internet. As much as I love craft books (and I have many!) I often find that I get really excited when they arrive, and end up disappointed that there are only a couple of things I want to make. Of course, the joy of craft books is that they sit on your shelf and you can dip in and out of them over months and years when you feel like it. However, for instant gratification the online tutorial is the definitely the answer.

So many of my favourite craft blogs provide regular tutorials these days, that I don’t even need to take a trip to Google’s search box! I find amazing things landing in my Google Reader or Twitter feed that I have a whole stack of craft tutorials bookmarked just waiting to be made.

One of my favourite blogs Crafterholic, regularly links to amazing craft tutorials, like this amazing rope and pom pom rug. How gorgeous is this!

Pom Pom Rug

Or this fantastic suitcase for storing your crafting tools:

Craft Suitcase Revamp

The quality of online tutorials, is better than ever. With tips like Hilary’s on how to take the best crafty photos - there’s no excuse and it’s obvious the craft community have caught on to the importance of taking a good photo.

Of course it’s not all about look, one of the things that turns a good tutorial into an amazing tutorial is how it is written. A good tutorial has a clear, easy to read style; an amazing tutorial is constantly being improved from the feedback of it’s readers and boy does it make a difference.

Often designers will use free online tutorials as a way of testing out their patterns and ensuring they will eventually sell the best quality product. Two blogs that are fantastic at this are Uhandbag and SewFearless.

Uhandbag sell PDF patterns for all kinds of bags. Often the lovely Lisa Lam will offer free PDF patterns when she is in the process of finalising a new pattern.

Sewing patterns by Uhandbag

SewFearless design and sell fabulous patterns for Pajama Eaters!

Pajama Eaters - Sew fearless

When the pajama eater pattern was first created, blogger owner Jodi offered the pattern up for free so she could get feedback on the creation and how to improve on the pattern before she decided to sell them.

This a great idea for businesses as it ensures you are selling a great product and also gets you a good reputation for offering a good service. From a customer/readers point of view it’s even better - we all love freebies and it means you get to be involved in the creation of a design you love.

This idea that the reader/customer can be involved in the process is probably why I love online tutorials the most. Not only can you feedback to the creator your thoughts once you’ve made it, but you can ask them questions and advice and get tips from other people that have used the tutorial too.

Any crafter can create a tutorial and it’s a great way of giving something back to your readers and getting more traffic to your blog. I recently did a basic tutorial on how to make an iphone case - an easy peasey tutorial but it had great feedback from my readers as well as gaining me new ones.

iphone case tutorial

I certainly won’t be casting out my beloved craft books just yet, but the online tutorials most definitely has a big place in my heart and an even bigger place in my bookmarks folder!

Fran – www.skullsandponies.blogspot.com

15 Designer Pumpkin Ideas

2011-10-23T18:29:00.001+01:00

I love these designer pumpkins!

I keep finding fantastic pumpkin decorating ideas so I thought I'd create a page of a few of my favourite 'designer' pumpkins from all across the web - some of the links go direct to tutorials.

Whether you celebrate halloween or not, displaying gorgeous pumpkins and gourds around the house is a lovely seasonal touch and a craft in itself. The pumpkins I've been looking at are somewhat far removed form the scary face jack o'lanterns I usually carve with my kids on halloween. In fact, you would have to throw a pretty sophisticated halloween party just to show off designer pumpkins like these!

Pumpkin decorated with upholstery tacks

Plaid tape Pumpkin

Country Living Crafts

Shiny bling pumpkin tutorial

Button pumpkin

Pumpkin City

Black and White Pumpkins

Pumpkin Owls

Leafy Pumpkins

Pumpkin Tree

White painted pumpkin with spider

Ribbon Pumpkin

Lacy Pumpkin

Thorny Pumpkin

Glitter pumpkins tutorial

I hope you enjoyed looking at these gorgeous designer pumpkins, I'm full of ideas now!

How to get on page one of Google

2011-10-21T20:58:00.003+01:00

How do you get Google to notice your blog?
How do you get on page one of Google with your craft blog posts?
How do you bring people from all over the world right to your crafty blog so you can show them your lovely handmade products and entice them to your shop?

You need to write Search Engine Optimised blog content!

Stop right there craft bloggers! I know, your eyes are glazing over at the thought of all the SEO, long tail keyword and keyword phrase jargon.

I'm going to try and make it really straightforward to start to make practical changes to your writing. Many of you write your blog to promote your handmade products, so you should be writing regular posts specifically targeted to reach page one of Google in a search for your chosen keyword phrases.

NB. This post is long, I haven't just posted a list of bullet points, I've tried to actually explain my own methods. Why not bookmark for later if you think you'll need a coffee to get through it - I certainly needed a whole pot to write it, you should come out the other side a better blogger ;)

How to get on page one of Google!

It's all about creating optimised content using keyword phrases for your blog. In layman's terms that just means killer blog posts that bring in lots of google traffic! Bloggers need to know why, how and where to put keyword phrases in a blog post to achieve page 1 rankings in a google search.

If you feel you've already done everything you can with regards to SEO and researching keyword phrases, please ask me any questions or specific problems relating to your craft blog via the comments box. I'm happy to have a look and give you a critique or some tips to help you improve your content - just leave your links and your queries here or on my crafty facebook page.

Art Wrap by Very Berry Handmade

How does Google work?

Only Google engineers know the secret google recipe! Google answers your search queries by checking them against it's enormous index of web content. Google continuously searches the internet using googlebots that scout for new web content to add to the index.

Google chooses which web pages to display in a search query based on an algorithm or formula. This algorithm is based on several hundered signals and the formula is constantly evolving and improving. Google now tailors search results based on specific users and has lots of search tools for people to find increasingly more relevant search results.

What is Google SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation is the process of designing web pages, writing content and building a network of links back to your website in order to rank at the top of a google search results page. The goal is to bring your page in front of your target market. This kind of search traffic is known as 'organic' and it is the most desirable google traffic because it's FREE! (well unless you are paying a blog content writer!)

Basic Google SEO

It's not actually that difficult to get on page 1 of Google in a search but you need to know your market and you need to have a good understanding of SEO and how to use keywords. You also need some time, I'm not selling magic online marketing wands - if you know someone who is, please hook me up!

There are different areas of basic SEO you need to address in order to get onto the first page of google. Some of these factors you can't control - for example the age of your site apparently holds weight in the google algorithm. I've seen new pages soar though, so don't assume you're lack of first page success is just because your blog is new.

Original Content - Content is KEY! Content is KING! (Did I mention content is really important)
Blog design and layout - Google bots need to be able to easily find and flow around your site. It's a good idea to have a label list somewhere in your sidebars, showing your most frequently used labels / tags and it's also a very good idea to make a site map. Read Google's help pages on creating a site map for more about this.
Content Frequency - Google bot is more likely to come back to see you if you post fresh original content regularly.
Relevance - Becoming an authority / expert on one particular topic by creating lots of posts will help *all* your posts to perform better.
Engagement - Lots of relevant comments really help your page get noticed by google.
Inbound Links - Links on relevant sites that point to your blog, especially clickable text containing your keywords (anchor text). Take time to network and build up these links, they are a really important factor. Think quality over quantity. Here is a list of useful places to network and promote your blog.

Grumpy Clara by Cupcakes for Clara

What is bad for basic SEO?

Copying content - Google knows if you copied and pasted text from elsewhere. Adding a credit makes it ethical but not original. If your blog posts are simply a series of copied chunks of text with a few of your own words as an intro your blog posts will not rank highly in the search results.
Over use / unnatural use of keywords - Don't go crazy, the content has to make sense - write for people, not googlebots.
Linking to 'bad' websites - keep a check of where you link to, being associated with dodgy websites can do you harm. Make sure you keep your comments clear of spammy links.

Has your blog been indexed by Google yet?

To check if Google has found your blog and indexed your past content use the search operator site: followed by your domain name. For example site:ukcraftblog.com (you don't need the http or www bits)

If there is nothing there, you need to get some inbound links to help the bots find your craft blog.

Register your blog with Google
Join Blog Directories
Network and leave blog post links on forums, Crafts Forum, Crafteroo, Folksy and Etsy are all excellent for this, in my experience they are always happy to welcome a new craft blogger.

Find your target market and build customer profiles

Research your market to build a profile of your potential customers. Remember the goal of SEO is to bring people to your blog who fit your target customer profile, if you don't know who that is, your net will probably be cast too wide. You need to know who you want to attract in order to know what keyword phrases they are likely to be searching for.

You need to be writing your blog posts with these customer profiles in mind. If necessary build up a number of profiles. The important thing is we are trying to target one profile and one keyword phrase at a time with each blog post.

How old are your customers?
What do they do for fun?
Which magazines, newspapers and websites do they read?
Which TV programmes do they watch?
When are they online?
Do they have a young family?
What irritates them?
Income bracket?

Joy Print in green - Alex Snowden

What to write about?

Good question! In general try to keep your blog posts focused on a particular topic or theme that is complimentary to the products you create. This doesn't mean you can't post about random subjects ever again, but keep in mind that if you want to bring new, targeted traffic, you need to write content that will be found with Google searches as well as read by blog followers.

If you get stuck for ideas use Google's search filter 'discussions' to find relevant forums and do some snooping. For example, if my target customer is a 40 something female 'good lifer' then taking a look at forums/discussions around the subjects of cooking and allotments will help give me ideas for a post.

Here are the results of a discussions search for veg growing - already I've found the Jamie Oliver forum, it's full of questions from my target readership, I just need to research some answers and write up a post.

Vary subject matter to appeal to different profiles. These optimised posts are designed to target a specific audience, bringing in search traffic and building awareness of your products to your target market indirectly.

Don't be put off by the word 'target', you are not leaping out from behind a hedge and waving a placard at people. You will (hopefully) be writing useful, well researched, interesting content. Through careful optimisation of well researched keyword phrases your content should appear on page 1 of Google and have a much greater chance of being seen by your target market.

Ensure that your products are noticeable on your blog, the sidebars are a great place to advertise - don't fill them with other peoples adverts - show images of your own products or your own networks! Do write posts about your own products as well, but take care not to make your blog feel like a catalogue.

What are keyword phrases?

I've mentioned them enough times already, but what exactly are they?

Some people refer to these as long-tail keywords. This is the phrase you want to get to the top of the search engine with. It's a good idea to think of it before you start to write the first draft. I would never recommend trying to target just one word, in most cases you will either be competing with huge websites or with dictionary definition or thesaurus sites. Try searching 'Jewellery' for example. H samuel, Debenhams, Argos. Much better to go for a keyword phrase or long tail keyword.

Keep Going by Jay Hell

Which keyword phrase should you target?

We now know a little bit about our target customers, so we should be able to make educated guesses about the kind of things they are interested in and will be searching for.

Create a list of interests for your customer profile and from this list of interests you can create further more refined lists of keywords for each interest. You can then take these keywords and find keyword phrases using Google's Keyword tool.

How to use the Google adwords keyword tool for SEO

Google has a free tool designed to help people who have google pay per click advertising on their websites called the Google adwords keyword tool It is a really useful tool for targeting the best keyword phrases.

Type in a keyword or keyword phrase, adjust a few options and it returns historical information about the search and a list of useful suggested ideas for long-tail keywords to target.

It gives you the 'competition' as well as global and local search volume. Focus on local search volume by setting the location to United Kingdom using the advanced options and filters.

Avoid keyword phrases which have lots of competition. Instead go for phrases that have a healthy number of searches per month. For each post click on the search and take a look at the live results, you will see the kind of competition you are up against.

In this post I want to get seen by craft bloggers who want to improve their seo. I had a think about my target audience and decided that they would not necessarily search for the word SEO as they may not have heard of it, so I picked the search 'page one on Google'.

From the results of the search analysis using the keyword tool it suggests to me it would be a good idea to use the words 'How to get on' before my phrase. With this advice based on real searches, I have tweaked the text and incorporated the whole phrase into my title and headings.

Also consider which 'match type' you are using when looking at results.

Broad match: The keyword idea, related grammatical forms, synonyms and related words - this is a good tool for brainstorming as it brings back lots of related keyword ideas.
Phrase match: All terms that include that whole phrase in whatever order.
Exact match: Just this keyword phrase in the order you have written it, including words before and after

Where do you put Keyword Phrases

Use your phrase in as many places as possible!

The title
Headings
The first paragraph of text
The body of the text
The label or tag
The URL of the post (with blogger this is predetermined by the first 30 - 40 words in the title )

Once you have written a draft post take time to edit and optimise it by changing and rearranging sentences so that your keyword phrase naturally flows through it. Text in he title, url and headings is given added importance - so ensure your keyword phrase is in there!

Keyword Density

How often the key phrase or keyword appears as a percentage of all the text. Experts suggest it should be around 1-3% but this is just an eductaed guess. What ever you do, do not over stuff your post with a key phrase or keyword, Google considers this to be spam.

Mini Bird Bag - Alex Snowden

Blog homework!

Research customer profiles
Brainstorm blog post ideas to suit your target audience
Research keyword phrases
Rough write a blog post on a relevant topic for your target audience
Edit and optimise the post, using keyword phrases in the titles, heading, and tags / labels
Publish!
Promote

Mesmerising Crochet Video

2011-10-15T22:22:00.000+01:00

www.helenrodel.com

8 minutes long, really worth setting some quiet time aside to watch this! It's all subtitled, I was so still whilst I was watching this I didn't care that a fly was crawling all over my keyboard.

I have never crocheted a thing in my life and I had no idea there was such a thing as catwalk crochet and I still enjoyed the beautiful photography and wonderful intense close ups of pink and green crocheting.

x H

Handmade Christmas - Submit your crafts and tutorials

2011-10-14T17:42:00.000+01:00

Little Wren Pottery - Porcelain Christmas Tree Decorations

Most craft bloggers and makers selling handmade crafts online will be busy making stock and promoting their Christmas decorations and gifts.

Christmas is perhaps the busiest time of year for the handmade market. Many people will be starting their Christmas gift shopping and buying new tree decorations by the beginning of November all the way through to mid December.

Handmade Christmas!

To help crafters and makers with their Christmas promotional push, I've created 'Handmade Christmas' where you can upload all your Christmassy items and link them back to your blogs and online shops. Another little boost of link juice to help you get found in the search engines. I'm still tinkering with the design, but happy enough with it to share it with the big wide world, I may yet change the design - there are a couple of bugs I noticed with video posts!

This is a specifically Christmassy blog. I've already started to fill it up and will continue to find festive items from all over the blogosphere and across all the handmade markets. Flickr, Folksy, Etsy and Vimeo as well as finding some heart warming Christmas quotes and crafty christmas makes to make the whole thing seem even more festive. I want to get people excited about handmaking christmas decorations, Christmas gifts and buying handmade.

Please share the site with your networks, I want to have lots of submissions coming in over the next month :)

It's easy to submit a post just click the link on the left side of the blog and fill in the form remembering to choose your post type. Leave a comment here if you get stuck with uploading and I'll help you out.

Why I'm doing this

I thought some of you might be wondering about my motives so I'll be straight with you...

I love quality handmade stuff, especially of the UK variety
I'm supporting the site UK Handmade, I hope this will be another vehicle to spread the word about this fantastic not for profit organisation.
I get so excited about Christmas every year, like 7 yr old excited (it's probably some Freudian thing about wanting to recapture my childhood!??)
I have a major blogging and photography addiction - tinkering with blogs is the equivalent of a fix for me, keeps me sane :)
Homework - I work in social media and digital marketing, so I'm always looking for ways to build facebook, twitter fans and direct traffic to blogs for clients. This is a personal experiment, which I hope I can apply in principle to other campaigns in the future.

Back soon with a post on SEO and how to get a new blog indexed as quickly as possible by google, i asked on my facebook page yesterday and lots of you were keen so I'll get to that asap!

A most beautiful alphabet

2011-10-12T19:01:00.001+01:00

A follow up refraction experiment featuring the Alphabet spoken by the late GREAT Richard Pryor. Jesse Zanzingar

Learning the alphabet has never been so interesting, my 3 year old loves this as much as I do :)

x Hilary

Craft Photography Tips

2011-10-12T13:46:00.000+01:00

Great pictures of your crafts are vital, not just for creating a beautiful blog but also if you have any intention of selling handmade products online. I'm fairly confident that accounts for many of the readers of Craft Blog UK!

This is by no means breaking news, I'm sure most of you would love to have professional photographs taken of your handmade pieces, but the cost of hiring someone is prohibitive. It takes time and lots of practise to find your own photographic style and learn how to create beautiful pictures of your work, but it's definitely worth the effort if you are serious about selling online.

I've dedicated a whole blog to curating photos that I think are beautiful examples of great product photography. I've added a link in my navigation to 'Gallery' and each item added gets tweeted out via @craftbloguk. I chose a tumblr blog as with one click I can share images submitted to the Craft Blog UK flickr group. I have also started a list of links to photography tutorials down the left column too, I'm hoping to make the blog a top resource for photo tutorials. Of course, it's also a nice place to find some great handmade gifts too!

All the images I use to illustrate my social media and blogging tips are also chosen from the flickr group, so if you'd like to see your work on Craft Blog UK, please add it to the group.

Craft Photography Tutorials and Tips

I wrote the following tips for photographing crafts in 2009. The principles of great product photography haven't changed much in 2 years but I'll be attempting to update these articles when I have time. The articles have also been translated into Spanish for the site Artesanio, tutoriales de fotografia.

Thanks for reading, please do comment if you want to say hello, or have any questions about photography flickr or even tumblr blogs, I'm rather fond of them all!

Secret Island from Daniel Schmid

2011-10-08T18:48:00.000+01:00

Secret Island – Monophon – Videoclip from daniel schmid on Vimeo.

If only my morning jog was as interesting! This was spotted through one of the Vimeo staff picks. So much to see in this and some really insane landscapes too. I'm already on my 4th watch and for me that means it's a definite share - hope you enjoy it too :)x Hilary :).

Handy New Facebook Page Insights PDF

2011-10-07T09:52:00.000+01:00

Busy Day today, but I quickly wanted to post this useful pdf all about the new facebook insights. So many people were taling about my 'are talking about this' post last week, I wanted to ensure you were all really aware that this wasn't the only change. The pdf below is available as a link from your page but I lost it this morning and having refound it I thought I'd share it here in case you lose it too! I'm going to read this in full, but not until I've had a very strong coffee and walked my dog - fresh air and caffiene, that's brain food!

I've been asked to write a post about the facebook changes, quite a serious one and nothing to do with craft, so I need to take it all in and make some notes on how to best use the insights to optimise my pages as well as thinking up an angle for my post. I find it's best to get the info from facebook rather than relying on 2nd hand info, however I'll be back with a crafty bloggy version too! Facebook Page Insights Guidex Hilary :).

How many people are talking about your facebook fan page?

2011-10-06T14:57:00.003+01:00

Red Salt pig - Little wren Pottery

This week facebook have rolled out yet more new features. This time there are some new metrics for facebook pages. I've used these new metrics to compare some popular crafty pages and see which is the most engaged, the vital stats are at the end of the post!

"... are talking about this"

Most interesting and what I'm focusing on in this post is the addition of the publicly displayed 'x people are talking about this' just below your follower number.

The figure is calculated by -

Follows
Likes
Comments
Wall posts (from others)
Tags and Photo Tags

Facebook Page Engagement Metric

I'm always banging on about how it's engagement on a facebook fan page that is important and not just fan numbers. 500 fans and lots of likes and comments is a better page than 5000 fans and no comments. This new metric is just that, a measure of engagement. It's very similar to the way 'edge-rank' create their score.

Fan numbers do of course count as the more fans, the more chance you have of a fan seeing one of your posts. Return on investment with social networking is notoriously difficult to measure, so stats like this where you can quickly compare how well you are doing based on differing approaches are great.

More Engagement = More Reach
More Reach = More Fans

I know, I've said that all before very recently - sorry, I'm just quite passionate about convincing people that my job (social media consultancy) is actually worth the investment.

More figures to obsess over!

I'm certainly going to find it hard not to frown and scratch my head as this figure goes up and down, but to be honest I do this already when a post that has worked so well in the past seems to bomb out of facebooks good books and not get seen. It can be frustrating but each page has a different audience and it's usually case of educated guessing to find what suits your audience. So don't beat yourself up!

Kirsty Elson Designs

I think this new figure is a great way to quickly compare your efforts with that of competitors, or even the industry greats. You can simply take the number of fans a page has and divide that by the number of people 'talking about it' and use that figure to determine if their page is better engaged than your page. A low figure being desirable as it denotes most engagement.

I'm going to use a page I've talked about in the past. It's one of the best examples of a well engaged page within the craft community I've found.

Kirsty Elson Designs

Vital Facebook Page statistics!

Using my way of rating a page, and taking Kirsty's page stats, she has a very low score of - 6.38 (the lower the score the better remember) There's actually no reason why the 'talking about' figure couldn't be higher than the fan figure, if it is, you are so engaged you are married with a baby on the way!

Now look at some of those bigger crafty fish! (figures as at 6/10/11)

Name	Fans	Talking About	Score
Not on the High Street	15,094	268	56.32
UK Handmade	6,227	374	16.65
Folksy	7972	260	30.66
Etsy	514,407	14,373	35.79
U-Handbag	4084	155	26.34
Mollie Makes	20,431	716	28.53
Craft Blog UK	1093	97	11.26

So you see, Kirsty's engagement is super high! Now that means her fans are very supportive of her posts with lots of comments and likes. These fans are genuine. They haven't been scavenged and collected through silent tagging and marches. They are actually people that are prepared to talk about her work and no doubt buy it too, she always sounds very busy, and Folksy announced in their seller email that her shop was the in the top 5 most visited this month! (ps Hello Kisrty, promise I'm not stalking you!)

Do the sums and then please come back and share your facebook page link and your Facebook Engagement Score with us, it will be really interesting to see if any one can beat Kirsty's score of 6.38!

Hello, I like you

2011-10-06T09:19:00.002+01:00

"A Short Film Conveying Happiness" was the brief for this beautiful video. The video makers, 'Mixtape Club' describe the video as "the simplest of inanimate objects, transformed into a tapestry of playful, choreographed dance for your enjoyment"

I love close up photography - you get to see the textures of objects you would never otherwise notice... this video really works, makes me very happy indeed! Hope it cheers up your day too :)

Dynamic Views! Will you be embracing the new format?

2011-10-04T14:14:00.000+01:00

Have you tested out what your blog will look like using one of bloggers dynamic views yet? They were talking about this some time ago but it's now very much live if you want to go for it and update your blog.

Read through this post from blogger buzz 'Seven new ways to share your blog with the world', posted a few days ago to find out all about it - looks exciting but a little daunting too (oh and beware high energy music in the video I've embedded above!)

In the post it explains the changes as well as giving you the opportunity to put in your blog url to preview what your blog will look like using the seven dynamic views. The idea is you are giving your viewer the choice, but you do need to pick a default view from the seven if you want to make the switch.

There are 7 ~~looks~~ Dynamic Views -

Classic - A modern twist on a traditional template, with infinite scrolling and images that load as you go
Flipcard - Your photos are tiled across the page and flip to reveal the post title
Magazine - A clean, elegant editorial style layout
Mosaic - A mosaic mix of different sized images and text
Sidebar - An email inbox-like view with a reading page for quick scrolling and browsing
Snapshot - An interactive pinboard of your posts
Timeslide - A horizontal view of your posts by time period

"Adding a Dynamic View to your blog is as easy as changing your template. Log in to Blogger, click on the Template tab on your dashboard, and select whichever view you want to set as your default. Note that readers can still choose to navigate your blog in a different view by selecting from the pulldown in the upper left of the screen.
If you want to add your own touch to any of these new views, you can upload a header image and customize the background colors. We’ll be adding more ways to customize Dynamic Views in the coming weeks."

I'll no doubt be back with more on this as it's quite a big change! I have a test blog where I'll be looking at how I can customise the themes. What does everyone think? Will you be switching to a new default dynamic view?

I'm Supporting a UK Handmade Christmas! #buyhandmade

2011-10-04T11:25:00.000+01:00

Newly Finished Handmade Purses by The Custards

To show my support for all of the hard work that the UK Handmade team do to celebrate independent artists and crafters from the United Kingdom I thought I'd tell you a little more about them, my involvement with the team and why I'm in full support of a handmade Christmas this year! Are you?

For the past 2 years I've been very proud that this blog has been the official blog roll of www.ukhandmade.com. It's a great community that collectively produces an extremely high quality online magazine. I've also recently taken on some work with the team as a social media consultant and I'll be helping out with the planning and execution of a fantastic competition to raise awareness of the #buyhandmade campaign in the spring. (it's a bit flippin' exciting!)

The UK Handmade quarterly magazine features articles that celebrate unique characters, places and events from the UK Craft Scene and it has a healthy dose of articles on generally living the good life as well as useful articles on how to run a successful craft business. You can take a look at the most recent articles here - Handmade

The UK Handmade forum is a hub for artists and crafters in Britain - it's a place where you can discuss market places, websites, craft fairs and any issues with running your craft business. You can also meet makers from your own area by joining groups. It's a good place to promote your latest blog posts and creations too ;)

Handmade Showcases

UK Handmade have recently launched 'Showcases'. These handmade showcases look set to become a fantastic way for makers, artists and crafters to promote their work, offering a fantastic return on investment. It is a monthly themed feature where you can buy a slot at just £10. So for the price of a couple of bottles of wine, it's a pretty fantastic deal for Christmas advertising. UK Handmade will be really pushing their #buyhandmade campaign as well as drawing traffic to their showcases on the run up to Christmas.

If you would like to help support the #buyhandmade campaign you just need to blog about it, tweet about it and generally tell all of your friends why they should consider buying handmade this Christmas. Best of all if you want to promote a handmade Christmas, make your own gifts or buy gifts handmade by one of the 3000+ members of UK Handmade!

This is the badge! Go grab one for your craft blog!

Are you a member of UK Handmade? - if so come and say hi over at the Craft Blog UK group :)

Flickr Group Friday

2011-09-30T12:25:00.002+01:00

1. Pottery Brushes, 2. brown mugs, 3. in the shadows - SOLD!!, 4. Zebra Finch Keyrings

I love browsing through the Craft Blog UK flickr group, here are 4 of my favourites from the last few weeks,, please check out the rest of their flickr streams by clicking on the links above. I'll be publishing details of the next CBUK flickr comp soon too!

Jewellery Business Week 2011 3rd-7th October

2011-09-29T10:12:00.004+01:00

Cherokee Charm Bracelet - Claire Williams handcrafted jewellery

Jewellery Business Week

Guest Post written by Claire of www.beadsdirect.co.uk images from the Craft Blog UK Flickr group
Have you always wanted to sell your jewellery or handcrafted items but don’t know where to start? Are you already selling your jewellery but needing that extra boost? Or maybe you just want to make a bit of cash for your next bead purchase? We want to help!

That’s why we’re running Jewellery Business Week from 3rd-7th October 2011

What is it?

Jewellery business week is a free online conference, making it easy for you to dip in and out when you want to get the information you need. We’ll have different experts providing articles to help and advise you on many aspects of starting or running a craft business.We’ll try to cover everything from deciding when to make your hobby a business, selling online, offline, choosing your range and more. We’re really excited to have Hilary from Craft Blog UK to give you some in-depth advice on using social media for your business, so make sure you’re there so you don’t miss her pearls of wisdom!

Where can I get involved?

At home, in your office, at the local library...you can get involved anywhere! Just make sure you can access a computer.

In depth articles will be posted to the Beads Direct Blog. They will be posted onto facebook too, sparking off discussions between members of our 8,000+ strong community of jewellery makers, who we’re sure will offer opinions, experience and questions, adding depth to the articles. Some of our experts (like Hilary) have also offered to be on hand for Q&A sessions on facebook, so you can ask them direct questions yourselves.

There will also be quick tips via twitter every day so don’t forget to follow BeadsDirect on Twitter.

Special offers and discounts from Beads Direct and other specially selected partners will be available too, so make sure you’re subscribed to the Beads Direct email newsletter to keep up to date with all the offers.

Lime and Olive Button Cuff - Iryna Hamilton

Why go?

Running a business isn’t easy, whether you’re trying to make a living or just a little extra cash. We have found you a whole host of expert advice to help get you started, boost your knowledge and (hopefully) your sales too! Ask those questions you always wanted to know the answer to, and make sure your jewellery business is on the right track.

We’ve already been inspired by the expert blog posts we’ve received and we’re sure you will be too. Even if you only take one idea away from the event, it might just be enough to give your business or your confidence a boost.

The same principles apply whatever craft you’re selling, so please come along whether you’re a beader, jewellery maker or any other crafter!

How can I get prepared?

Follow us on Facebook to make sure you don’t miss out on Q&A sessions with the experts.
Follow us on Twitter for quick-fire tips and advice all week.
Bookmark our blog for more in depth articles.
Visit our Event Page for more information about what’s happening when.
Sign up to our email newsletter to make sure you receive special business week offers and discounts.
Tell your friends, they might need a helping hand too!

We hope to see you there! xx

Are you comfortable with your blog identity?

2011-09-28T06:00:00.000+01:00

Written by Fran Swaine of Skulls & Ponies

It took me a while to find my feet in the world of blogging and to establish my blog identity. When speaking to my fellow bloggers it seems a lot of them have had a similar experience. It sounds silly when you say it out loud, that you might not know who you are on your blog – after all, I know who I am in real life and I’m pretty comfortable with that person so why is it so difficult and full of uncertainties online?

My current blog Skulls & Ponies I started back in January. I had set it up to be primarily a craft blog as I had become particularly prolific with my sewing after suffering from a rather nasty bout of depression and anxiety for several months. Being ill had unfortunately meant I was signed off work for 6 weeks, and the one thing that helped me through was sewing. When I went back to work in January, I wanted to make sure I carried on my new found hobby, and discovered that sharing my “makes” on a blog gave me an extra buzz.

It was also about this time that I discovered there was an amazing blogging community amongst crafters. At first I was dumbfounded by the amount of talent out there. Mothers, wives, students, full time workers all squirrelling away in their spare time making the most fantastic creations! Not only were their blogs inspiring (and addictive!) but spurred me on to make even better creations. The added bonus of the online craft community, is of course the social element – crafty bloggers love to talk and share and comment. As any blogger will tell you, getting comments and feedback on your blog is a great feeling. Receiving great feedback and being able to contribute your thoughts and opinions makes you really feel part of a community.

The problem however when following so many amazing blogs, is you start to question whether yours is good enough and that perhaps, you should be a little bit more like ‘Blogger X’. Blogger X is smart and witty and has beautiful photographs of their makes, and in all honesty you are rather in awe of Blogger X. So then you start trying to write a little bit more in the style of Blogger X, or write similar posts. However, you also really, really love Blogger Y’s blog and decide that actually you don’t want to be like Blogger X anymore, but you want to be like Blogger Y. Before you know it you are back to acting like a teenager; trying to figure out which popstar you should be dressing more like. Unless you are a very self assured person, I expect most bloggers go through this at some stage of blogging.

Of course, the best thing you can do when you run a blog is just be yourself and for me my most successful posts are definitely the ones where I am honest about who I am. However, being myself also led me to another issue – how much of myself did I want to share on the Internet? As many blogs do, mine developed and grew and with it came change. I started writing blog posts that weren’t related to craft and found not only did I really enjoy it but I got great feedback from my followers. This was great, but how much information was I willing to give away about myself? I know that several of my family members read my blog so this is always something I have to take into consideration when writing posts - would I be happy knowing my family were reading this? But what about strangers? How much information did I want the people of the internet to know about me? Where did I draw that line?

This change in my blogging style also made me concerned that I wasn’t a craft blog anymore, and if I wasn’t a craft blog what was I?

All of these issues, made me question and reassess my blog identity. I realised that being me was the most important thing; if people don’t like my blog then they don’t have to read it and that’s fine – but the people who do like it will most likely keep coming back if I’m just being myself as they’ll like the style of my writing and the type of blog posts I write.

It’s always interesting to find out how other people perceive you and your blog and sometimes that can help you establish your identity. In the last few months I’ve been lucky enough that other bloggers have liked my blog so much they’ve featured me in one of their posts, and seeing how they have described me has helped me see where I fit in to the blogging community. I don’t have to just be a craft blog, or just be a lifestyle blog. I can be whatever I want! So like my bio says – my blog is predominantly about making things and being crafty, but it’s also about me engaging my brain and sharing my thoughts and opinions.

The sharing of information is always a tricky one, but I think the best thing you can do is try and find a balance you are comfortable with. I don’t for example post many pictures of myself and certainly don’t see myself doing “What I wore” posts – yet I am happy to talk about issues that are personal to me such as mental health. It’s what you are comfortable with.

Finding your blog identity is a lot like real life; it’s mainly down to experience and trial and error. Hopefully establishing your blog identity doesn’t however have to be quite as traumatic as figuring out who you are in real life - being a teenager once was quite enough thank you!

Read more from fran Swaine at Skulls & Ponies - Great post, would love to hear your comments...

More Facebook Fan Page Tips... how to be 'Tickertastic'!

2011-09-26T14:59:00.000+01:00

Green Afternoon - Bugs and Fishes by Lupin

Facebook confirmed at the f8 conference that not all stories are guaranteed to get into even the recent stories section (yep not even the bottom of the bottom bit!!) let alone 'top stories' in your fans facebook streams. (via edge rank blog)

So before you post another listing update, or set up another auto feed for your flickr or tumblr - read this post with useful tips for improving your facebook fan page and learn how to create a good strategy for increasing your fan numbers and engagement on facebook. Aka being tickertastic! (yep I invented a new word there)

In my last post "Want more facebook fans, comments and likes?" I concentrated on activity off your page, networking on other peoples fan pages to bring them (and their fans) over to your own. In this post I'm looking expressly at activity on your page.

As you would expect, I've been reading a lot about the new changes to fb. Industry experts claim that minimising the number of posts per day will help with engagement (likes, comments). I agree with this and have seen an excellent increase in engagement across all of the facebook pages I manage using a 'quality not quantity' strategy. Rather than posting 6 times in a row think about maybe two or three times a day and mix it up a little. Posting rapidly straight after another update may see it not reaching many news feeds and also impacting the previous posts staying power. Use a scheduling tool, like tweetdeck or hootsuite if you don't have time to log in more than once a day.

Mix it up a little!

Use different types of posts - status updates, photos, links, polls, videos and notes. Minimise where just links or just photos are being posted in a row even if they are a day apart. Remember, the more engaged your fans are the more likely they are to see your posts the next time they log in - so it needs to be interesting and the new facebook (just like the old facebook) favours variety. The aim is to get into peoples top stories as often as possible.

Who are you talking to?

As fan page owners we want to make sure that our posts are not being 'demoted' if they ever do reach the lofty heights of being someone's 'top story'. So make sure they are of interest to your fans. Write down a few notes about what your fans want from you - to be amused, to be enlightened, to be inspired, to find out the latest news on your craft, or about your shop? Chances are it's a mixture of all of these, create a plan to offer variety and to appeal to all the different fan types you have across the course of a weeks posts.

Word of Mouth - Tickertastic!

The new ticker in peoples sidebars should be showing little updates about who just liked *your* status update and who just added *your page* as a fan. Photo's boing out of it like this photo from a page that I am now very much 'liking' as a result.

This is why it's so important to 'engage' your fans to comment and like your posts to increase the chances of their friends finding your page.

Measure your results

As long as you have 30+ fans you can start using facebook insights. There is much more to look at, but a quick indicator of how you are doing is a look at the list of impressions available in the 'interactions' tab. Sort this by clicking on the top of the impressions column to show which posts did particularly well.

Impressions are not clicks, facebook measures the amount of times your post got seen, it also does not represent unique people seeing your posts, it could be the same person seeing the update 5 times. You may find that although some posts don't get many impressions, they get a lot of engagement / feedback.

Pay particular attention to which types of post work for you and what time they were posted. Do increased number of posts per day / per week seem to affect the number of impressions per post? use the information to update and improve your strategy. You could use a resource like Crowdbooster to find out when the optimum time to post is based on analysis of the history of your posts to date.

Thanks for reading!
x Hilary

29 Ways to Stay Creative

2011-09-24T09:21:00.001+01:00

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

I had to share this, such a lovely video, I do like my kinetic typography! although this one has lovely pictures too. Spotted this morning via @askaaronlee - a nice twitter chap to know if you are in need of a bit of social media chit chat :)

Hilary :)

Hey Handmade - Would you spend £35 on a Craft fair?

2011-09-23T13:18:00.003+01:00

Mouse Mugs - Little Wren Pottery

Craft fairs can mean 8 hrs on our feet and the return on our investment in time and money can be a bit of a gamble. Sales often vary wildly from event to event dependent on the organiser, the advertising and the weather! I've always wondered whether investing the money you spend at a craft fair in advertising your online shop and the 8hrs you spend at the stall in updating and improving your online shop would be a better use of time and money. (even if not as exhilarating and sociable).

So if you are comfortable spending £35 on a table at a craft fair with a thousand or so visitors, take a look at the following offer to market your Etsy shop as an interesting alternative this year.

'Hey Handmade' is a new website from Tim Adam of Handmadeology. The website is offering an online marketing opportunity for Etsy sellers at £35 ($54) for 3 months of advertising and link juice from a dedicated listing page. Is this a better long term investment than your next craft fair?

I emailed Tim to ask why we should buy a listing on Hey Handmade:

I have been selling on Etsy since 2007 and in that time I have grown my social network far beyond what I imagined. Handmadeology has also far exceeded my expectations reaching 1 million visitors in its first year. Through Hey Handmade I am allowing Etsy sellers to tap into my extensive social network, SEO knowledge, and readership.

For only $54 you will receive:

A 1 item 3 month targeted promotion (via social media and Handmadeology)
A permanent page on the site with backlinks that builds SEO and Google Page Rank
The 7 day promotion Check List
Etsy Traffic Goal Tracker
A Copy of the E-catalog

For a limited time you can get 2 items for the price of one... details HERE.

You will also have the confidence of buying right on Etsy in your Handmadeology Etsy shop!

Tim Adam is one of those people that has a great idea and tends to make it work, I'm sure this site will be popular in the US, but I asked him whether he thought it would also work for UK Etsians...
He said - "Ok.. so i just checked out Handmadeology's traffic in the last 365 days. The Uk takes up 3% of over 1 million visitors. The Uk is the third highest country as far as traffic is concerned"

So it's clear that Handmadeology and most of Tim's social media connections are in the US / Canada, and many will be fellow Etsians / Crafters - However, Etsy is a global market place, Christmas is 3 months away and crafty etsy people tend to be the types that enjoy buying handmade too...

If you go for it make sure your photos are outstanding - if they are poor, it will be a waste of your money - go for the craft fair option instead! You are paying for 2 listings, so you will also need to choose images that will tempt people in. See my Craft Photography Hall of fame for examples of great craft images I love. Hey handmade will be making treasuries too, so if you have a great product and good shots you could benefit from even more exposure.

Your comments make my posts way more interesting so I'd love to hear from you - do you think this is a good offer - are you tempted to go for it?

x Hilary :).
(all the images I use are chosen from the Craft Blog UK Flickr group)

Understanding Facebook Subscriptions - Are you going to be going public?

2011-09-22T15:34:00.000+01:00

2 in 1 bag pattern - clutch

What are facebook subscriptions?

Facebook have introduced a way that we can see selected 'public' posts from people in our facebook streams. This will allow us all to decide which updates will be seen by everybody and which will be seen just by specified filtered lists, or just all friends - the default is 'friends' unless you have already changed this. It sounds familiar because it's exactly like google+ circles works. Also when someone subscribes, it's not reciprocal so this is a little like following on twitter too. That wont neccesarily suddenly enlighten you, so I'll go on.

Facebook have created filters for your status updates on your facebook personal profiles. Just write your update and then decide who you want to see it. Public means everyone can see it including subscribers, Friends mean just people you are currently friends with can see it and then you can further filter who sees the post using facebook lists, like family, uni pals etc - you curate your own lists.

In order to allow other facebook users to subscribe to your public posts click on the 'subscriptions' link over in your left sidebar. This will bring up a list of the people who you have subscribed to. It will also give you the option to 'allow subscribers' - I say go for it, remember they will only see your 'public updates' and not anything else.

When you are on a friends profile you will now see in the top right that you are subscribed with a tick - this is automatic if you are friends. Have any of you been using the lists to downgrade friends to aquaintences? It means they don't pop up in your feed so often - read this funny post! FB will alos make auto lists but I'd be wary of these, they certainly need checking that your boss hasn't accidentally found his way into your family list.

To subscribe to someone else posts you can search for them and click subscribe.

Or if you come across someone interesting that you don't want to friend but do want to 'follow' hover over their name and the option will pop up. I chose this one at random for the screen shot, I'm not into body building!

You can also decide how many of their posts you want to see, just use the drop down arrow next to their updates to edit this. Or if you have a friend with lots in common, why not look at who they are subscribed to, you may find lots of interesting people to ~~follow~~ subscribe to.

So that's the kind of nuts and bolts of facebook subscribing but what can you do with this - is there potential for using it to promote your crafts...? ...Yes lots!

Well it's all about sending out the right 'public' profile - another marketing excercise for you. As an independent crafter you need to put across a public persona that is inline with your products and your target audience, that's what blogging is all about. Writing a blog is a way of offering people interested in your work a peek behind the scenes. Use facebook subscriptions in exactly the same way.

Make your public status updates representative of your brand. Try not to be spammy and remember your facebook friends will also be seeing these posts. As far as I can tell you can't update just for subscribers which I think would be a great addition to give business people extra flexibility with this feature.

If your have a public profile (like mine is Hilary Haptree - this isn't a fan page it's my alter-ego, don't tell fb!), a profile that you already use in a promotional way for your blog and products, it's still in your interest to build up subscribers too. It's another way that you can be found as your name will appear in their 'subscriptions' list, and so it enable s more people to find you, regardless of the fact that all of your updates are in fact public - they don't know that! Having lots of subscribers is a definite positive!

'so sweet' Lollipop phone covers

Mark Zuckerberg, aka Mr Facebook, has rather alot of subscribers already - a staggering 5.5million! How did he manage that when most of us have only just started getting on board with subscribing to people... ?

He migrated his page fans over to his profile as subscribers. We have been able to migrate facebook friends over to fans for a few months, you know for all those people like me who "accidentally" made lots of friends with people they didn't know personally. So now we can send them all back again from our fan pages as subscribers - from friend to fan to subscriber and then presumably fb will enable us to turn subscribers into fans at some point... mmmm? I don't think the migration feature has been launched across the board yet - can't see any options available on my fan page.

Page, Profile or Both?

I'd recommend having a page and a profile if you are a small business, you can tell any subscribers about your page in your 'public' updates and equally you can invite people to 'subscribe' to your personal updates from your page. But don't post the same updates, try and clearly define the fan page from the profile. A profile should be a little less formal and more about you, not just your business. Eg. if you went to a museum and you loved it, use that as a public update "Tate modern is awesome, such a great exhibition" then on the page you could add a link to a blog post about your visit. This way the person both subscribed and a fan will not be bombarded - it's really easy to unlike a page and unsubscribe from a profile.

Reciprocal subscriptions will no doubt become similar to how they are with twitter, people advertising that they will 'subscribe back' etc

You can find me - Hilary Pullen on Google+ , @haptree on twitter and Hilary Haptree on facebook - I'm fairly ubiquitous :)

What do you think of this new way of using facebook? Please comment as your comments make my posts much more interesting ;)

I use my favourite images from the Craft Blog UK Flickr page to illustrate my posts - you can find more great images here

Facebook changes... what do you think?

2011-09-21T10:27:00.000+01:00

Kokeshi Kittens - Gretel Parker

New Facebook Features

Lots of new features being rolled out, it's always a bit of a marmite time - do you love it or hate it?

So far I'm finding the real time activity and quick view news feed over on the left really useful, I've seen loads of stories I may have missed otherwise. I also have been chatting alot more with friends now I see they're online so clearly.

Facebook Top Stories

There's also more coming, it's already been rolled out in the US - Would you like to see what the new facebook newsfeed looks like? If you just can't wait all you need to do is head over to your settings and change your language to English US - I'm sure it wont be very long to wait but I had to have a look and I'll change it back next week. You will be greeted with a little message to take you through a few of the changes.

Basically 'Most recent' and 'Top Stories' has been combined and you now have a little blue corner to show you that facebook has marked this as a top story - you can mak a story as a top story or unmark a story as a top story for when facebook gets it wrong. Top stories appear at the top (you guessed that!) and most recent is a little scroll down.

AND.... More interesting is talk of some new facebook buttons (oooohhh!) - read, watched, listened and want.

Do we need Read, watched, listened, are we more likely to read something if someone 'read' it rather than 'liked' it? The listened is apparently part of the whole new music streaming thingon the horizon and clearly watched relates to videos. There will also soon be a 'want' button which is particularly interesting for any of you using facebook to market your goods... (further reading - Technolog - facebook news )

I'm looking forward to all the new changes and how they will affect the way we use facebook for promotion of our crafts and blog posts but then I get all excited by this kind of new stuff - although it usually means I have to edit lots of my posts so they still make sense! What about you, love it? hate it, couldn't care less?

x Hilary :)

Craft Blog UK

All Killer, No Filler - My Facebook Strategy

The Crafty Network

Turn your talent into a business

Crafting can be lonely!

How to get featured on Cuteable!

Best Blogging Platform

Craft BloggersTweet Chat #cbuk

Fight for the Future

New Crafts Council Event to Promote Makers

Bloglovin and Google Friend Connect

Vowels and V-Logs

UK Handmade Valentine Showcase

Advertise below your facebook profile image!

I LOVE YOU! UK Handmade Showcase Giveaway :)

Reclaim your mind, write a blog!

10 Crafty New Year’s Resolutions for 2012

Photographing Jewellery and Handmade Crafts

Strange referral traffic

Create a blog badge including code box for your blog sidebar

Cool Craft from Bridget Bodoano

Stupid Cats!

Most amazing handmade Christmas card ever!

POWER OF MAKING: a poetic snapshot competition

POWER OF MAKING: a poetic snapshot competition

Christmas Link Party!

Storebeez - a brand new online market place!

Handmade by a fly?

Handmade in Britain - the book!

Creative and Crafty Videos

Friday 2nd December - Free listing day on Folksy

MGMT - All I ever wanted... fab video :)

Super Quick facebook tip for boosting comments, likes and reach

Facebook can be *sooo* annoying!

How interesting is your 'About Me' page?

Rob Ryan Video from Etsy

Where would I be without blogging?

The Divided Brain - are you a lefty or a righty?

Conversations on the Coast

Google+ Pages Have Landed!

Promote your Google+ page

The Master Goldsmith

Is Etsy the best UK Handmade marketplace?

Harris Tweed - From Land to Street

Miniature Origami

And the winner is...

Giveaway! Free UK Handmade Christmas Showcase spot up for grabs!

Quilt Art

Better value than a craft market?

Why I love online tutorials

Written by Fran Swaine of www.skullsandponies.blogspot.com

15 Designer Pumpkin Ideas

How to get on page one of Google

Mesmerising Crochet Video

Handmade Christmas - Submit your crafts and tutorials

A most beautiful alphabet

Craft Photography Tips

Secret Island from Daniel Schmid

Handy New Facebook Page Insights PDF

How many people are talking about your facebook fan page?

Hello, I like you

Dynamic Views! Will you be embracing the new format?

I'm Supporting a UK Handmade Christmas! #buyhandmade

Flickr Group Friday

Jewellery Business Week 2011 3rd-7th October

Are you comfortable with your blog identity?

More Facebook Fan Page Tips... how to be 'Tickertastic'!

29 Ways to Stay Creative

Hey Handmade - Would you spend £35 on a Craft fair?

Understanding Facebook Subscriptions - Are you going to be going public?

Facebook changes... what do you think?

Facebook can be sooo annoying!