I worked really hard on switching from azerty to qwerty. I don’t think I want my poor brain to switch back and forth more than it does already! I am afraid it might fry the motherboard and the processor ^^

For the most part when I have to type something in French, I copy and paste the accents. What a waste of time! I naturally ended up not bothering anymore and dropped the accents. Bad bad bad!

Well, well, well. There is a way to insert characters as you type! All you have to do is press the ALT key while typing a 4 digit code on the keypad. As soon as you release the ALT key, the accentuated letter appears! Tidda!
Try it! Hold ALT and type the code: 0233. Héhéhé ^^

You can also insert characters that are used specifically in French such as cedillas (Ç, ç), the Euro sign (€), the square (²), the degree for Celsius temperature (°), angled quotation mark («») etc

I made a table for the accentuation and the most commonly used characters in the French language but you might want to make your own list.

All you have to do is find the shortcuts in the character map.
Open Character Map by clicking the Start button, clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, clicking System Tools, and then clicking Character Map.
You can also run the command “charmap”

I am not a Mac user but if you are, here is a tutorial to “teach your qwerty Mac to speak French”: Link

http://cr8tivity.com is a website that offers essential features for Etsy Shop owners.

You can get useful statistics such as the number of views per item and see who hearts your shop just like with a few other tools that are available to you  (Heartomatic and Etsy Shop Lovers). But what makes cr8tivity so very unique?

Well as I used pretty much all the stats tools available right now, I find them to be complementary but cr8tivity covers stats deeper by providing pie charts AND provide promotional tools.

Now let’s test it!

-First, you need to enter the name of your store. We will use my store for this tutorial. I will also analyze the datas to show you how you can take advantage of statistics and understand how important it is to pay close attention to them.

-A page with 5 different tabs will be displayed:

1. Shop hearts:

It gives you information on who hearts you, if they have a shop themselves, when they added you as a favorite and their location. I find important to know if they have a shop themselves as I make vendor aprons that can interest Etsy sellers participating in fairs.

2. Shop items hearts:

It gives you information on the numbers of views and hearts each items get, so you can see what are your key items, what sells, what brings you views.

What is unique to cr8tivity in this specific section is that you can facebook or twitter your item from this page. Etsy does offer you to share your recently uploaded item to facebook but it only does right after you saved your listing, so if you accidentally closed your browser you won’t be able to do it again. Well now you don’t have to pull your hair anymore!!!

Another plus is the possibility to share on facebook items you posted a long time ago possibly before Etsy offered a facebook share button or even before you joined facebook? Or what about sharing your items depending on seasons, holidays, event, you name it!

3.Shop statistics:

Listing and views distribution by section: I really like the pie chart display. It helped me visualize something I already knew but that became so obvious, it forced me to take action! I have too much jewelry!!! Going deeper in the analysis though, I could also see that I get a lot of views for the items in the “G e e k e r y” section meaning that it would be smart to have more choice there!

Shop hearts for the last month: Charts are a very quick way to see datas and having the possibility to see the hearts on an extended period of time is definitely something that I find useful. I know I get hearts from sellers after I posted on the Etsy forums, I usually make sure to spend time helping people that are trying to figure out how Etsy works or need advice on various issues and it pays off!

My shop is an ecclectic place, I sell jewelry, aprons, pillows, perler beads items and upcycled things. I create by waves of interest, I always end concentrating on one category at a time. Having the possibility to see the views for the last 30 days helps me see what works the best in terms of views but also understand the view/sale ratio.

I do not expect to sell everything, I think than more than a shop, my little Etsy corner of Heaven is a show case of all the things I like and how I like to express my love for them! Basically I am a girly girl (Jewelry) that plays and loves a lot of video games (Geekery), that has a sewing machine and loves prints and fabrics (Aprons & Pillow Covers), that occasionaly knits (Scarves) and like to experiment (Upcycled). Believe it or not this is the best description of myself. I love to make sales as much as I love to get hearts. Knowing that people love my work is a very satisfactory feeling and you know it!!! If not why would you want to study how many hearts you get a day? ^^

User as Buyer/Seller feedback: I already knew that I have 100% positive feedback so far! *Crossing fingers* Maybe this can help when shopping around on Etsy?

4.Shop helpers:

This is where cr8tivity is a unique tool! It offers you to create a flyer using one of your listing. You can make a single product flyer or a multi product flyer. You can use this for your website, print a portfolio or even a catalog!

Single product flyer: See the Etsy listing here: Link

Multi product flyer: Warning!!!! This tool makes a better flyer with square pictures. (1000 x 1000 pixels). It uses the first picture of your listing , the same one used on the main page of your shop. I tried with big rectangular pictures and it would only display 2 pictures per page that is a waste when printing and didn’t look neat at all since the pictures were not the same size.It matters if you are a neat freak like me otherwise it’s fine.

Inventory: Last but no least, the inventory tool! You can download a .csv (Microsoft Excel) document with all your listing. No need to waste time making one, it’s there for you to click and voila!!! Because it has a “Category” column, I found out that 2 of my items were not in a category and that I had duplicates!!! Good thing I do have 2 in stock, it could have been a problem if I didn’t see this mistake >.<

Coming Soon: Oh my an invoice maker!!! Even tho I use the #!etsyhacks greasemonkey plugin I can’t wait to see what they came up with!!!

Twitter: I strongly suggest you follow them on twitter so you can know when new features are available.

5.cr8twitty

From this page you can post on your twitter, it creates a tinyurl link to your shop too so you can also target your advertising in addition to the items you post on twitter.

i.e: “Back to school with cute magnets @ EstelleDeParis”

Well that’s it for cr8tivity. I hope this helped, please leave your feedback and questions in the comment section!

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Note:  EstelleDeParis.com is not endorsed or affiliated by Etsy, Inc or cr8tivity.com

Etsyhacks is a website that offers free scripts to install in your Mozilla/Firefox web browser to turn your Etsy into a more efficient selling tool. A devoted and geeky husband has decided to make those wonderful tools for his wife’s website. I am telling you this is better than a pair of diamond earrings or a dinner in town!

He decided to share them with all of us Etsians. Thank you so much!

Why is #!etsyhacks the best invention since sliced bread?

I used to struggle a lot to edit items as I had to go back and forth from “Your Etsy shop” to the “Public Shop” to see how my modifications turned out to look like and was wasting a whole lot of time losing myself in each and every step of the editing process. Having the possibility to change everything from the public shop itself is instant gratification and I can spend more time creating or even blogging about it

In general, they all save you a whole lot of time. Tested and approved!

Each and every tool you find on Etsyhacks has a screen shot so you can see exactly the improvement you will get. I installed them all because they are all awesome!

My favs are:

The bulk uploader: it allows you to upload all the pictures at once!

The buyer info: In Paypal there is no mention of the buyer’s Etsy nickname, I found this to be very handy to verify Paypal/Etsy buyer’s info.

The buyer’s note:  It shows in the “sold items” page so you can manage the needs of your customers.

Collapsible Lightbox Tutorial: Link

–Why should I make a lightbox?
Taking good pictures is a key for an internet based business. Each shot needs to focus on the details that make an item unique and desirable. Your pictures need to provide the potential buyer with as much visual information as possible.

Remember that the only sense that is stimulated through internet shopping is the vision. Unlike at the store where the buyers can grab the item, feel it, smell it and turn it inside out!
The only way to give your customers an idea of the texture of your handmade items is to take macro pictures and this can only be done with a good lighting, a white environment and a tripod or something stable to rest your camera on (A pile of books?).

–The light

The idea is to use indirect light, so you have to point the light on the sides of the box. Direct light exposure tends to flatten the volumes by reducing the shadows. The amount and intensity of light needs to be sufficient enough so you do not have to use the flash. Basically what you want to reproduce is: A daylight environment.

I didn’t invest in good lights for the longest time and had to deal with a fluorescent light bulb and a halogen light. Fluorescent is just not working for this, I have to adjust the camera settings to balance the greenish tone it gives to every picture and fix them in an image editing program. What you need is a good old fashion lightbulb at least 100W and the best would be to use 2 light domes, this is the advice my photograph friend gave me.

So let’s do this!
So far the foam core panels (4) cost me $13.

It made a world of difference and it inspired me to retake pictures that were not doing any justice to some of my creations.

Here is an example of what I obtained, these earrings are really shiny and previous test with direct light never showed the creases in the wings. While now it shows the earrings just like I want!

I live in Washignton state, famous for its rain and therefore its cloudy days. If I wait for a nicer day to come around so I can take pictures, I might never take any^^
But it can also be a good alternative for the night owls from all over the planet and in general I find it to be a very easy way to take shots of your items.

Here is a picture of my new awesome macro studio and my old ghetto lightbox.

Funny thing: My dear cat tried to “rest” on top of my old crappy cardboard wannabe macro studio and fell through it. At least that box brought me a good laugh ^^

The good thing with frames thrifted at the good will is their price but you might not be able to find a lot of frames with the same tint of varnish or wood. With a little bit of work you can turn random and ugly into wonderfulness for cheap!

I framed pictures of Paris and prints of Mark Ryden.

What do you need?
-Frames
-Spray paint primer
-Foam paint brushes
-Acrylic paint
-Very fine paint brushes to outline the creases of the frames.
-A damp rag

Prepare your frames:
-First you need to clean your frames with a damp clothe and let them dry before you do anything else. Then sand them with a fine grain sand paper. Wipe the dust off with a dry rag.

- Coat the frames with primer. I used gray here because I wanted to paint my frames black, if you want to paint your frames with a lighter color you can use white primer. I recommend to use spray bottles more than cans, is is easier and the coats are more regular. Plus it is also really affordable.

Make sure to do this outside or in a well ventilated area away from pets and kids and proceed to the spraying fun! Allow the paint to dry as recommend by the merchant.

Paint the frames:
-It might take two coats of acrylic craft paint depending on the kind you use. It is an average $1.5 per 2 fl. oz bottle.
For this project, I bought one pure black as the main color, one metallic pure gold and one metallic silver sterling to outline the creases of the frames.

Outline the creases:
-Your frames might have creases in the wood work and because an all black frame is kinda dull, you can outline them with gold, silver or hot pink or whatever color you’d like.
To do so you need to use extra fine paint brushes size 00 or 000.

Wipe any excess of paint while still wet with a rag.

Tadda!

You do not want a soggy pie/tart!
No you don’t!

You can buy expensive weights specially made for precooking, or use beans or you can make parchment paper discs. All three methods have one thing in common: they prevent the crust from raising and you absolutely need to chose one!

Here is an easy tutorial to make parchment paper discs to prevent your crust from raising while it precooks.

I recommend precooking your crust from 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated 325 °F oven (160 °C).
I would also recommend you start with 15 minutes and prolong one minute at a time until the crust start to color a little bit.

Once the tart/pie is cooked I usually reuse the disc, presenting the tart on the disc. It makes it easy to serve and won’t stick to the plate/serving dish.

1. Cut a rectangle of parchment paper,

2. Fold in half, you obtain a square,

3. Fold on the diagonal, you obtain a triangle,

4. Fold on the diagonal, again and again or at least as much as you can. Here in this example, I use mini tart dishes so I do not have to fold so much.
Then grab your scissors and cut the tip. That will be the center of your disc. The reason why you need to cut a hole in the center is to let the air circulate.

5. Now place your thingymaggig aka parchment disc on the radius of your pie crust and cut just at the edge. It is better to make it bigger than smaller so do not worry if it’s not perfectly perfect.

6. There you go!

7. Now put it on your crust, insisting on the corners. Because there is a lot of butter in homemade crust, it should stick just fine.

Voilà!
You are now ready to precook them for 15/20 minutes in your 325 °F (160 °C) preheated oven.

When I moved to my new place a year ago, the post office offered me free magazine subscriptions. Hooray! Free stuff!!! I was excited to open the first one and read it, I then just opened the second and left it on the coffee table shelf and the third one ended up unwrapped until today!

In the mean time I started collecting Coke caps to redeem rewards on mycokerewards.com and I ended up getting more magazine subscriptions!!! You’d think I learned my lesson! Not to mention that I also buy some at the store once in a while.

My coffee table shelf was so crowded I couldn’t add anymore magazines so I went through them and picked up the pages that inspired me to make envelopes and cards.
Some will go to my Etsy shop, some will be sent to my friends for the new year. But with Halloween coming up you might as well try to make some spooky ones!!!

So take all these magazines and let’s start! You can also go through your posters, illustration books, children books, even your junk mail!

What do you need?
-Magazines
-An X-Acto knife or a pair of scissors
-An envelope you take apart or a template you made in illustrator, photoshop or that you draw.
-A fine point or ultra fine point sharpie
-A ruler and/or a triangle. Triangles are neat to mare square edges.
-Glue
-Craft paper, card stock, Scrap booking supplies, stamps, you name it!
-Optional: Lick & Stick Envelope Glue 1.5 Oz. Remoistenable or scrapbook/photo mounting tape You might consider getting some if you sell them or if you give them as a gift

Note:
-I use 3 different size templates that I lay on the illustrations I preselected and use the one that covers the picture the best.

The Envelopes

For this tutorial I’ve selected a painting from the magazine Antique, one of my favorite source for making those fancy envelopes of mine.

1.Lay your template on the picture and outline with a pencil.

I personally prefer to cut paper with an X-Acto knife as it makes the edges perfectly straight but if you don’t have one, scissors work fine.

It should look like this

3.Fold the flaps.

It should look like this.

4.Line the inside. (Optional) You can line the whole envelope or just the flap, it’s up to you. Just note that lining the envelope makes a thicker material that would not rip easily. It can be a good idea if you consider mailing it.

First, make a template of the desired size. I copied the envelope template and cut it.

Glue your flap.

5. Glue the side flap and the verso of the envelope.

Recto

Verso

You can make tons and tons of them!

The cards

Depending on your selection you can make one that opens like a check book or one that opens like a regular book or a single sheet one. Here are a few examples.

For this tutorial, I chose 3 pictures that I thought were matching the style of the envelope and decided to make a “tryptich” card. It is up to you and what you have to work with. I find it easier to make the card with preselected images rather than make the card and illustrate it afterward.

1. Make the card 1/8″ smaller than your envelope all the way around. It is very important to do so or your card will not fit the envelope!!!

2 Outline your picture with colored paper or card stock.

3.Glue the pictures on the card and voilà!

Please come back and share the cards you made