Thursday, 19 December 2013

How to Engage your Facebook Fans ~ Part 10

Are you looking for new ways to engage your Facebook fans?
Do your current Facebook engagement tactics need a little more flare?
Your visibility in the news feed depends on engagement like never before.

#22: eXamine Comments and Shares as They Happen

Some of the most active Facebook page admins are guilty of going missing in action as soon as their update is posted.
Studies have shown that likes, shares and comments are generally made within the first few hours after an update is posted.
Check back early and often to see if users are engaging with your update so you can answer any questions and encourage further engagement.

#23: Your Promotions on Facebook Provide Customer Data Via Open Graph

A Facebook promotion created through a third-party app provides an added benefit of being able to collect user data including age, gender, location and Facebook likes of a user (available via Facebook’s Open Graph).
This information allows brands to analyze who their users are—and send targeted emails by segmenting users based on these data points. Use this tactic to stimulate further engagement from these segmented user lists.
The caveat is that you must abide by Facebook’s policies for data collection and use.


DIY: How to Make Easy Christmas Decorations with Gold Leaf



Getting crafty with ornaments has become one of my new favorite things about the holidays. And apparently I like my ornaments with a bit of bling. Last year it was all about glitter, and this year it's gold leaf. These gorgeous gold leafed ornaments are crazy simple to make, as long as you don't mind getting a tiny bit messy. Gold leaf flakes do tend to fly everywhere, so make sure you have newspaper or other paper underneath to collect them. It makes cleaning up so much easier!

Supplies


  • Clear glass ornaments
  • Tacky spray
  • Gold leaf flakes
  • Acrylic paint

1. Paint the Inside of the Ornament

Step 1

Remove the ornament cap and squeeze paint into the top opening. Shake and swirl until the entire inside is coated with paint.

Step 2

After the inside is covered, give it a day to allow the paint to fully dry. You can place the ornament upside down in an egg crate to let any excess paint drain out.

2. Apply Gold Leaf

Step 1

Lightly spritz the outside of the ornament with tacky spray. The more glue you apply, the more gold leaf will end up on the ornament, so don't coat it.

Step 2

Apply the gold leaf flakes either with your hand or by just rolling it in the flakes. If you do use your hands, try to not get too much tacky spray on them or you'll become gold-leafed as well!


Step 3

Give the glue a couple of minutes to dry and then rub off the excess gold leaf with your hands. Keep rubbing until you're satisfied with the texture and amount of paint showing.

3. Seal the Ornament

This is an optional step. Apply a coat of mod podge to the ornament to seal the gold leaf. Once that is dry, all you need to do is put the ornament cap back on.

Decorate with Your New Luxe Ornaments
These ornaments are so festive, and they would make a great gift too!
In this tutorial, you learned how to cover clear glass ornaments with gold flakes. You can apply these skills to other Christmas crafts to give them a luxurious and decadent edge.

Source: tutsplus






Christmas Countdown: 5 Days ~ 6 Gifts Made From Your Family Photos


There's nothing more special than displaying your favorite personal pictures. Instead of tucking them in frames, though, make a cute DIY that really shows off your favorite pics. From using them to cover coasters to creating cute bling, all of these projects are easy to put together and only require a few basic materials.

Photo gifts can be fun, memorable, personalized, and even practical.


1. Photo Collage Tray


Add family photos and cover them with Modge Podge for protection! Read more


2. Personalized ‘Home’ Sign


Choose the photos you are going too use and make them look as letters through a photo editing program. Read more


3. Photo Pendants


Want to know how to make a glass tile pendant?? They're super easy & fun to make - you can do this! Read more


4. Tile Photo Coasters


Perfect for any special holiday, a set of these tile photo coasters will cost less than $5 to make... Plus they are so cute, you'll probably end up making another set for yourself. Read more


5. Photo Ornaments


These Christmas ornaments are not only great for your tree, but they also make wonderful projects for the kids and can be used as homemade presents to people. Read more


6. Photo Gift Tags


Set the bar high with your own personal gift tags. These homemade, sweet little creations are easy to make and won't break the bank. Read more

Happy Holidays!


Wednesday, 18 December 2013

How to Engage your Facebook Fans ~ Part 9

Are you looking for new ways to engage your Facebook fans?
Do your current Facebook engagement tactics need a little more flare?
Your visibility in the news feed depends on engagement like never before.
If your page is experiencing a drop in engagement, using different post types and making a few content adjustments can bump it back up.

#20: Vary Where You Spend Your Time Online

Sometimes the best-laid plans will go astray. The most important thing is to remain flexible about where you spend your time online and create strong, active presences on social networks where your customers and prospects hang out.
You may have a personal connection to Twitter or Pinterest, but your customers may be more inclined to spend time on Facebook. It’s a good idea to vary where you spend your time to see what combination receives the highest level of engagement.
Be sure to seek out engagement where your customers are willing for you to connect with them.

#21: Widen Your Reach With Scheduled Weekend Posts

If your target audience is online during their free time on weekends and you’re not posting, you’re missing out on engagement.
Schedule posts to publish over the weekend and be prepared to answer any questions that arise come first thing Monday morning. Better yet, find someone who can keep an eye on the activity over the weekend and respond as needed.
To schedule a post, simply click the clock icon in your status update.



Christmas Countdown: 6 Days ~ Holiday Ideas for Gifts In A Jar


Gifts in a jar! These frugal consumable gifts feature kits, cookie ingredients or holiday beverage mixes.

Mason jars make easy homemade Christmas Gifts. Topped with a colorful fabric circle and a free printable gift tag, they're a welcome holiday present.

We've got all you need to know to make gifts in a jar. Get started with our instructions, tips and mason jar recipes and ideas for holiday giving.

Extra Tip: The key to a successful jar, besides including items that are actually useful, is color coordination.  It makes the entire gift look more cohesive and ups the cute factor.


1. Housewarming Gift in a Jar


Pull together a small housewarming gift for your beloved ones. Included yummy and useful goodies that can easily be put to use. Read more


2. Smores Cake in a Jar


Mason Jars make any kind of dessert very portable and easy to serve! These desserts will be perfect on those cold, winter nights when you are snuggling up and sharing dessert. Read more


3. Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti


These festive cookies are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee and will last for up to 3 weeks. Read more


4. Sewing Kit in a Jar


With just a little retrofitting, an old-fashioned Mason jar can become a new sewing kit with a built-in pincushion on top.  Read more


5. Candy Cane Bath Salts In A Jar


Pretty layered bath salts make a perfect gift for teens, co-workers or teachers. Sparked with the holiday scent of peppermint, Candy Cane Bath Salts are a seasonal treat. Read more


6. Homemade Snow Globe


Fill a jar with plastic figurines, water, and glitter to give loved ones a winter wonderland that never ends. Read more


7. Mason Jar Manicure Kit 


A manicure kit looks nice in a mason jar. You can choose at least one nail polish. Consider a red or glittery shade for the holidays. Read more

Happy Holidays!

Christmas DIY Videos ~ Roundup 2

Christmas is almost here and we have gathered a collection of 3 more videos with 3 DIY ideas for your home holiday decorations. check them out:


Christmas Decorations and Decorating Ideas for 2013 Snowflakes



DIY Holiday room Decorations + Easy ways to decorate/organize





DIY: 3 Holiday Room Decor Ideas





You can check even more videos at our channel: MISI on youtube

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

How to Engage your Facebook Fans ~ Part 8

Are you looking for new ways to engage your Facebook fans?
Do your current Facebook engagement tactics need a little more flare?
Your visibility in the news feed depends on engagement like never before.
If your page is experiencing a drop in engagement, using different post types and making a few content adjustments can bump it back up.

#18: Try Uploading Video to Facebook

Video is becoming increasingly important to brands that are looking to engage with their audience.
Earlier this year, Socialbakers found that post updates with videos uploaded directly to Facebook received 40% higher engagement than posts that linked to a video on YouTube.
Experiment with where you upload your videos, and if there’s a difference in engagement levels when you post them in an update, you’ll know where to make the change.


#19: Update Your About Page

An incomplete or out-of-date About page can leave prospective and even existing fans with the impression that something’s not quite right. When that happens, their engagement will begin to drop.
Revisit your About page often to make any needed changes like adding a new email address, product updates or a life event.





Christmas Countdown: 7 Days ~ Crochet Christmas Tree Decorations


Make your own vintage style home-made Christmas decorations with this very easy tutorial.

You will need;

  • Felt in Brown/White/Red
  • Red DK/Light worsted weight yarn for sewing
  • Yarn needle & scissors
  • Toy stuffing
  • Ribbon
  • PVA glue
  • Black DK/Light worsted weight yarn (robin eyes)
  • Green DK/Light worsted weight yarn (holly leaves - xmas pudd)
  • Small red button (xmas pudd)
  • White DK/Light worsted weight yarn (gingerbread man eyes)



Happy Crafting!

What to do when you have no inspiration?


I have been having an awful time finding the desire to write.  What’s even worse is the lost need to crochet!  I do not know what is wrong with me as of late. It may be that I am more focused right now on my children and getting my house in order (spring cleaning/organizing anyone?) Or maybe, my wonderful muse is just on a vacation.  Whatever the case may be, I need to kick myself in the pants to get going!
So, here are some ideas to bring back your motivation when you are in a rut (for whatever reason)!

Discover an Artist of your craft.  Every craft has a few people who have taken that craft to the level of “mastermind artist“.  You know the ones, they create marvelous master pieces that can sell for hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars a piece.  The best way to start your search is to go to google:images, and type in “{craft} artist”, like I would type in “crochet artist” and be bombarded byyarn bombing images, or Olek (who does some pretty incredible stuff).  Even if you don’t find a famous artist from your craft, I can guarantee you will be inspired to become great!

Create something for yourself, or just because.  You’ve been focusing your craft on your business for the past however long…you might be getting tired of creating creating creating, and then sending all of your hard work right out the door.  You earn something from all of your hard work, but you don’t really get to appreciate what you have made.  So, take a break and make something for yourself.  You can admire it for a long time because it is all yours.

Go on a vacation.  I’m not talking about getting plane tickets and going to Florida.  Just take a break from creating.  Don’t set any time-limits, just decide that you are going to stop selling until you are motivated to go at it again.  This is ok to do.  Yes, your business will lose momentum, but in the end, it might’ve died out completely because you were burned out.  Take a break until your muse returns and you are rearing to go again.

Get some new ideas.  A lot of the time, we slide into a *routine rut*.  In every-day-life, it could be just doing the exact same thing every single day with little to no variation.  Same thing can happen in your craft-selling.  You make the same thing over and over and over again.  And sure, it doesn’t bother you a whole lot (you wouldn’t be selling if you didn’t like making the same thing multiple times), but after so many times, you just lose the desire to keep doing it.  It isn’t fun anymore.  Try adding new items to your inventory. Do some research, get some ideas.

Try mixing crafts.  One of my personal favorites is quickly becoming crocheting right into fabric.  There are so many different applications this can have, and it can add a whole new level of *creative* to your work.  Don’t be afraid to mix paint with tapestry, or sewing with card-making, origami with scrap booking.  There’s a lot of different ways you could go with this.

Purchase different materials.  This is one of the easiest ways I can think of to find some motivation.  If you usually work with acrylic, go for cotton or oil based.  You don’t have to change the color scheme, or make any huge changes to your product, but a lot of times just having the opportunity to work with a different type of the same medium, it can bring some excitement back.

Simple things.  Sometimes it can be a simple act or experience that can re-motivate you to create.  Try taking a walk, reading a book, watching the sunrise, calling up an old friend…

Write about how to become motivated.  Hahaha, that’s what I’m doing right now, and it seems to be working!




(Read more at FamilyBugs)

Monday, 16 December 2013

Listing Tips: How NOT to Price your Handmade Goods

You know what they say – “you get what you pay for” or “buy cheap buy twice”. Both phrases hint at the idea that if you pay a low price for something, chances are it’s low quality. And yet, time and again, crafters are some of the worst when it comes to pricing their handmade goods.


For many craft sellers it seems to be a race to the bottom in terms of pricing strategy, with the main thinking being that undercutting competitors will guarantee sales. We have lost count of the number of times we have seen crafters underselling their goods in the misguided belief that the lowest price is always the best price.

Of course we know that this idea doesn’t bear out in real life. In reality, when you walk into a retail store cheap and cheerful products sit alongside luxury and the £3 lipstick doesn’t put the £23 lipstick out of business. Some small part of us knows there can’t be a huge difference in quality and yet feel assured by paying a higher price. Because price is the first indicator and differentiator of value, customers believe they get what they pay for and are willing to pay a higher price if they perceive a product to be ‘worth it’.

All this means that the price you choose for your handmade goods says a lot about how YOU value what you make. Just as you meticulously research craft materials and painstakingly put together each item, so should you take time to find the right price for your work.

Related Post: How to Price your Handmade Products

If it is the case your items are not selling, try other things like better photography or better promotion before resorting to dropping the price. It’s easy to think that if you’re not selling, the price is too high. In the long run, underselling your work does more harm than good so you may indeed be pricing too low. If need be, raise your price – looking at other sellers of similar goods should give you an indication of the most people are willing to pay. It’s a little bit of trial and error, but with any luck you may find you’re worth more than you bargained for!