The Craft Off x Nottingham Etsy Team
Last week saw our Nottingham Etsy Team collaborate with The Craft Off to bring an evening of fast paced and competitive crafting!
Hosted with our friends Rough Trade Nottingham, The Craft Off is like Art Attack meets pub quiz: Our attendees were given an hour to craft under a secret theme with only a select range of materials available. The winners being named Craft Off victors and winning some incredible prizes!
Last week saw our Nottingham Etsy Team collaborate with The Craft Off to bring an evening of fast paced and competitive crafting!
Hosted with our friends Rough Trade Nottingham, The Craft Off is like Art Attack meets pub quiz: Our attendees were given an hour to craft under a secret theme with only a select range of materials available. The winners being named Craft Off victors and winning some incredible prizes!
Our theme for the evening (since we were hosting the event at the legendary Rough Trade) was 'dancing shoes' and the breadth of creativity was absolutely amazing to see!
Our winners were extremely lucky to win a heap of craft prizes: Workshop vouchers from The Bead Shop and Sunflower Design, Rough Trade gift cards, Etsy goodie bags as well as exclusive Craft Off prints designed by myself, printed by Dizzy Ink.
Poster designed for The Craft Off event
Photo by Dan Hodgett
Prints coming soon to The Craft Off shop
Photo by Dan Hodgett
I was also so bowled over by the generosity of Steph and Rhea (The Craft Off organisers) who so kindly got me a gift for my help in organising the event!
We had such a blast working on creating this event not only for our Team members but also for the local Nottingham crafting community - there's no greater sight than watching people come together to find joy in the handmade, even if it's for a slightly competitive reason!
Until our next event, here's a beauty pageant-esque photo of me holding a giant crayon.
Photo by Dan Hodgett
Deborah x
Nottingham Etsy Team Presents: Meet The Maker, 10th March 2016
Last week saw our Nottingham Etsy Team host our second meet up of the year at Rough Trade, showcasing three of our talented who talked about their Etsy shop journeys so far!
Last week saw our Nottingham Etsy Team host our second meet up of the year at Rough Trade, showcasing three of our talented who talked about their Etsy shop journeys so far!
Our Meet the Maker feature, which Team Leader Katherine Jaiteh runs, is such a popular fixture in our social media content that we thought it would be a great opportunity to bring it to a live event. These talks are a lovely way to get behind the story of the Etsy shop, and to see that each shop starts somewhere with it's own goals and motivation.
Speaking at the event were Hilke Kurze of Buchertiger Supplies and Buchertiger Press, Charlie Marshall of C Marshall Arts and Katie Abey of Katie Abey Design.
It was pretty inspirational to hear how these three ladies came to open their shops, what drives them, and most importantly their advice for running their shops. These were some seriously tough ladies, each trying to balance work and personal commitments around building a craft business. And that is no easy feat, believe me!
Their advice for budding or current Etsy Shop Owners?
- "Etsy = Personal" Katie Abey explains how receiving little handwritten notes or extra goodies in your orders is the difference between a one time buyer and a repeat buyer. And let's face it, we all love free stuff.
- "Treat Yourself!" Charlie's belief in the power of giving yourself a pat on the back is really not to be underestimated. If you've finally conquered that photoshoot, or listed those 5 listings which you thought you'd never do, then you deserve to give yourself some recognition and maybe a sweet treat.
- "Give Yourself Goals" Hilke constructed and ran her Etsy shops by setting herself short and long-term goals. Even if she didn't reach them within the time frame she expected, there was a framework to build her shop by.
Before I end this post on yet another successful meet up I wanted to share a quick snap of myself with the other Team Leaders who work hard to make it what it is! We haven't been around for very long (only since July 2015!) but we work hard to make our team the most supportive and creative community that it can be! So big shout out to (from Top left to bottom right): Amy Phipps (Social Media Leader), Rachel Ward (Senior Social Media Leader), Becky Kennedy (Team Captain), Katherine Jaiteh (Social Media Leader), Me! (In-Person Events Leader) and Michaela Bere (Team Navigation Leader).
We have a lot of exciting meet up's planned for the year, but pay particular close attention to April's event which we will be hosting with The Craft Off! Here's a little teaser to get you in the mood...
Have a great week!
Deborah x