How to: The CraftStar Shop or Sign Up

Good Morning,

Some time ago I introduced readers to The CraftStar.  This neat little shopping site, is devoted to handmade goods, along with vintage items and crafting supplies.   Some things have changed a bit and I would like to take this opportunity to share how you too, can shop (no membership required!) or Sign Up for a shop of your own.  Yes, it is kind of like Etsy, but without all the nonsense.

Let's look at the Menu Bar first.

Fairly self-explanatory, the menu bar is at the top of the page.  There are a couple of cool features, click any of the links, Shop, Events or Blog and be taken directly to the site's Front Shopping Page.  Events is a calendar of scheduled events (via video) and include Flash Sales.  Blog will take you to the latest blog post.   There are other events as well like Holiday Boot Camp and The Creative Corner.

If you are interested in perusing the site there is no sign in or sign up required.  Click the Shop link and select a shop or category from the menu bar and see what amazing things you might find.  If you like, you can sign up for the Newsletter, but it is not necessary or required to Windows shop or make a purchase.  Neat, huh?

If you're interested in opening a shop or becoming a seller, click the sell link next to log in.  Sign up is quick and easy.  Psst, come'ere a minute... did you know that Seller Accounts on The CraftStar are just $5.00 a month?  Did you know that there are no listing fees and your items do not expire?  How's that for perks? 


When you reach the site you will be greeted by a Splash Page, this has all kinds of neat stuff to check out.  The menu bar is just above this section, there are more links further down the page as well.

Here you can watch videos of new items, or look through the favorites.  Continue to scroll down you can watch The CraftStar TV on YouTube, see some of the artists, and listen as they describe and discuss their items, artworks and sometimes methods of making their goodies.  Look through collections curated by other artists, along with Supplies and other items for gifting or crafting needs.

Once the Shop link has been clicked you will find yourself at the Home Page, filled with Featured Items, Collections and New items listings.  There are Forums, Clubs and you can share your items or finds with any of  the convenient Social Media links provided.  Don't forget to bookmark or follow your favorites.

Shop directly from any of the curated collections.

Have a look at what the shop owners have just listed in their shops, items or supplies at glance.

Thank you for stopping in and having a look.

The Alchemists Vessel would like to wish you a pleasant day.

Well, yes, The Alchemists Vessel does have a stocked shop on the site. 

Five Great Gifts to Give List 37

Good Morning,

Instead of Five Great Gifts, today we will look at five ways you can help others this Holiday Season.

Donate to your local Humane Society or Animal Shelter.  Food, Blankets, Toys, are always appreciated.  Contact your local shelter and ask what they may need in the way of supplies, every little bit helps.  If you have room in your home and your heart, you might also adopt a little furry friend of your very own. You could love them, and pet them, and call them, "George".

Idaho Humane Society Needed Items

"Miss Nora", the Boss-Lady Fur-person, adopted from the Idaho Humane Society in 2000.  Yes, she is 13 years-old. 
The Alchemist's Cat, or rather The Alchemist's Owner.


Donate a toy or your time to Toys for Tots.  Our economy is terrible, and many children do not get a Christmas or the opportunity to celebrate other Holidays.  There are lots of places that have inexpensive toys, dolls, books, race cars etc., that any child would love to call their own.

Coats For Kids:  When this California Girl moved from the sunny surf-washed beaches of San Fransisco, to the high desert of Idaho, she was not, I repeat NOT PREPARED for the Winter weather. Here in Idaho the Winters can be brutally cold, the temperatures can dip into the Below Zero degrees, -3, you bet that's COLD!    Not every place is as cold as Idaho, and many places get colder, this year (locally) Bruneel Tire Factory and Idaho Youth Ranch Stores are a couple of the donation locations here in the Treasure Valley Area.  Bring your gently used coats or outer wear and drop them off, the coats will be handed out during school hours to Elementary and older children.

Food Banks / Soup Kitchens:

When we think of Soup Kitchens or Food Banks many of us think of the old Depression Era images we have seen from books and History reels.  Just because we don't call it a Depression, don't think for a moment that this country isn't in serious trouble, there are hundreds, thousands, that go without a meal every day in this great and bountiful land of ours, let's make sure every one gets to eat at least once a day.  Donate canned goods, or your time to serve at one, for one weekend a month.

Senior Citizens are sometimes the most in need and usually the first to be forgotten.  There are so many things that one can do for our elders, the people that came before and paved the way for us to do and be what we are today!  There are lots of wonderful ways you can help a Senior, whether it be your own Parents, Grandparents or the Neighbor down the street, a small gift of your time can change a life and be worth it's weight in more than gold.  Here are some links to check out how you can help in your area.  Nursing homes, hospitals, other care facilities might be in need of volunteers to read to or just sit with and be company for those that are alone.  A trip to the grocery store, a ride to a doctor's appointment, simple things that cost you nothing but a bit of your time, and we can all afford to give some of it to someone else.

Seniors Helping Seniors
Seniors in Need
Boise Senior Center

 Thank you for stopping in and having a look.

The Alchemists Vessel would like to wish you a pleasant day.

Thursday Tutorial - European Speed Maille Weave

Good Morning,

As usual I am a day late and a dollar short, only backwards.  Unprepared for the post today, because I thought it was Friday, a tutorial will just have to suffice.

European Speed Maille Weave is a shortened version of the European 4-in-1pattern for which individual units are created and then linked together with a single jump ring.  There is no difference in the appearance of the chain, just in the way it is woven.

European Speed Maille

Materials - Enough for a nice practice piece or it makes a neat Key Chain or Purse Charm.
2 Pairs of Pliers (Flat Nosed)
39 *10mm Aluminum Jump Rings in Teal by Darice (6mm ID)
AR 3.7

*These rings are purchased from a local Craft Store and manufactured by Darice, in packages of 135 rings.  One package is plenty to create this short tutorial.  We do not recommend these rings for finished projects, but they are great for practice and color design.


Begin:
Open 13 jump rings
Close 26 jump rings.
Set one open ring aside.

Place four (4) closed rings on one open ring and close the ring.  Set the unit aside for the moment.

Set up the rest of the rings, pair two closed rings with one open ring.  There will be 11 sets of rings.

Or you may place the closed rings on the open ones.  Either is fine.

Take the unit you created earlier and arrange the four loose rings so the unit looks like this.



  


There are now Top and Bottom Rings.







1.  Slide one open jump ring DOWN into the bottom ring and UP through the top ring.









The unit looks like this.








2.  Add two (2) closed jump rings to the open ring and close the ring.  *If you placed your closed rings on the open jump ring before sliding it through the unit just close the ring.





3.  Fold or flip the rings you just added in the same position as the previous pair.  The unit will look like this.

 


Repeat Step 1.

Slide one open ring DOWN into the bottom ring and UP through the top ring.




Repeat Step 2.

Add two more rings, and close the open ring.





 
Fold or flip the rings just added to the correct position and close the ring.  *The rings will kind of go there on their own once the chain begins to grow in length.




Pattern Notes:  The Open jump ring when added, will sit beneath the previous ring in the row.

Each of the closed rings added will fold to either side of the center ring and lay on top of the previous pair in the chain.





When you have added all of the sets, slide the last open ring (the one you set aside) down through the bottom and up through the top ring and close the ring.  This completes and locks the chain pattern into place.  Done!

I turned the tutorial into a Key Chain.

If you would like to try this pattern in other sizes or materials you can use the chart at zlosk to check out the required AR sizes.

Thank you for stopping by and having a look.

The Alchemists Vessel would like to wish you a pleasant day. 

In My Studio - Earring Tutorial

Happy Wednesday!

Here we are in my studio, that must mean it's time for a project.  Wonder what I do at the workbench?   Wonder no more, below is  Earrings 101 a tutorial video. 

As promised, I have finally managed to create and upload a video on crafting a pair of very simple dangle earrings.  You can definitely try this at home!  The video covers, materials and how to's for finishing and attaching the parts and pieces to make and  complete a pair of earrings.

If you would like to participate along with the video or perhaps make a pair afterwards you will need the supplies listed.  Expensive tools and supplies are not required, you can find the wire cutters and other things at your local Walmart for about $5.00 each, I bet most you have pliers at home, those will work just fine.  Beads can be any material and color you like, you can also find the Headpins and things at a local craft store for around $2.00.

Tools:

1 pair of Flat or Chain Nose Pliers

1 pair of Round Nose Pliers

1 pair of Wire Cutters

Supplies:

2 Head Pins

2 Fish Hook Style Ear Wires

2 4mm Jump Rings (optional)

Beads of your choice (any color, size, shape to your liking).

If you are experiencing problems watching the video on the blog you can also try clicking the links to your right or following them from the links below,

Earrings 101 on The Alchemists Vessel (Official Website)

Earrings 101 on Youtube

Earrings 101 on Daily Motion

*Earrings 101 on Facebook

*NOTE:  This link will take you to The Alchemists Vessel Fan / Business Page on Facebook.

There is no pdf or written instruction, if I have requests for this I will write one out for downloading later.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tutorial on creating a simple pair of earrings.

Thank you for stopping by and watching.

The Alchemists Vessel would like to wish you a pleasant Wednesday.

Friday - Flash, Pass and Drop Your Cash

Well, it's happened,  The Alchemists did not do her homework in favor of creating lovely items and is not only pressed for time, but is pressed for something to share as well.

Last week or the week before, I talked about the not so new Social Site "Pinterest".  This week I'd thought I share the link for Wanelo.  Pronounced wah-nee-lo an anachronism for "Want Need Love", is another online Social Shopping site of sorts.  As a user, you "Save" a store or item you like from any online shopping venue, Wanelo puts it up on their home page and categorizes it under things like Forever 21, Urbanoutfitters, Etsy and Pinterest etc..., it gets seen or it doesn't, the more "saves" an item has the higher up in rank and placement on the graphs it goes.  I have not ventured into the Wanelo world as of yet, but you may click through, and of course sign up with Facebook.  Wanelo Home

If you're a designer and looking to have a shop or things printed.  Try Cafe Press.   Create a design and have it printed on over 250 item of choice, T-Shirts, Coffee Cups, Hats etc...

I have posted this link before but it bears repeating.  If you own an online shop or are looking to get started this is a cool article.  50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence On.

I must say I am terribly disappointed in Etsy and the new way they are handling things.  It is awful.  On that note, there is a third party app that will take you to yet another version of my store, http://www.facebook.com/alchemistsvessel/app_259525164100619, not directly on Etsy's site, this also has automatic discounts, coupons, and various other things.  I may be deleting my Etsy shop in favor of promoting my Website http://alchemistsvessel.net.  Same stuff, same prices, just less hassle and headache.

Thank you for stopping by and having a look.  We would like to wish you a wonderful weekend.

Thursday - New Features On Facebook

Good Morning,

Today instead of featuring an artist, I thought we would take a look at the new Facebook Time Line pages for Business, as well as a brief discussion about what happened to your Etsy Shop on the Facebook pages.

First let's look at the new Header.  You can have a cover picture now.  I would suggest an item that you sell to show people what you do at a glance.  The old menu bar is gone and in its place are the boxes below the Cover Photo, you can select the application you would like to have appear here: Notes, Map, Events, etc.  This is also where your Etsy Theme Shop button can go, but we'll talk about that in a minute.  The About section is also here, just like your personal profile time line.

The Administration tools have been parred down and can now be found by clicking Admin on the top right hand side of you Business pages.  The box will show a list of people who liked your  page, their activity on your page and "Insights"  a brief line graph that shows you the pages stats. Useless, unless you click the "See All" button, it will then take you to another page and give  you details.

One of the nicest things about the new Time Line Business pages is that customers / visitors can now leave you a message directly from your business page.

About Etsy and where your My Etsy App went.  As usual the powers that be have screwed things up pretty good.  Facebook and Etsy "retired" the My Etsy App in favor of NOTHING!  You can still share your new items on Facebook, but your shop will no longer be available directly.  You can promote Etsy's "Theme Shops" with a button but not your own shop.  I am not interested in promoting Etsy, I am interesting in promoting  my shop and my items on the venue.  If you have an Etsy shop or are an Etsy customer you may want to have a look at the article by following the link below.  I am not the only one that is unhappy about this, it is a horrible idea.

From Etsy:

"Thanks for contacting. We have removed the My Etsy app from Facebook to support our more recent connectivity, which your shop is already set up for. You can read more about these changes in the forums: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7716/announcements/discuss/9837631/

If you'd still like to have your Etsy shop appear on your Facebook page, you're more than welcome to download the App, Themes. You can download this third party app here: http://www.etsy.com/apps/555054982/etsy-theme-shop

I would like to  mention that this "Themes" button is NOT for your shop, it is an ugly third party button that takes you to Etsy and a "theme" dummy shop to show you what it looks like.  I repeat, this is a horrible idea.  I would very much like to have the My Etsy App back.

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look.  Have a pleasant day.

Links and Promtions Friday

Happy Friday to you all,

I would like to begin with a brief and simplified explanation for the Free Jewelry Contest Participation / Entry.

Purpose:  To reach 500 likes on The Alchemists Vessel Facebook fan page by March 5, 2012.

1.  Create a post on The Alchemists Vessel Facebook Wall: 

"I am entered in the Free Jewelry Contest".  Click here to post

2.  Click the LIKE button at the top of the The Alchemists Vessel page, if you have not already done so.

3.  Get YOUR friends to click the LIKE button on The Alchemists Vessel Facebook page, AND on YOUR Wall Post for the contest, ask them to leave a comment "Your Name sent me".  That is two clicks and one comment total.  Easy-peasy!

4.  The POST that has the most LIKES / Comments will win the Sterling Silver and Citrine pendant. 

There are second and third place prizes, too!

*NOTE:  Remember you or your friends can hide the feed from the page at any time!  I will never spam, e-mail or other wise contact your friends, no records (except Facebook's archives for the page) will be kept of any names, id's, personal profile or fan pages.

This week I was kind of stuck for links.  And instead of sharing the same old ones I just surfed the web for a while and came up with five interesting if not unique links to be clicked, checked out, surfed, bookmarked or deleted at your leisure.

I love the weird, the odd, the off beat.  "Stumbling" is a great way to find some pretty cool stuff.  Like these realistic Disney Princesses, what if these girls really did exist?  What would they look like?  Click here to find out.

Here is a link to Pearltrees a load screen will appear and you will taken to the home page.  This is another Social Site I am guessing, I have not signed up or created an account, but it looks likes delicious or Pinterest at first glance.  Sellers, Artists and others, perhaps this is worth a look as another venue to share and get your items out to the public.  They are also connected to Faceboook and Twitter and Google (there is a Plus, Google + folks!)

We can't be all business all the time.  That gets boring, so in the spirit of fun and Friday the links below are purely for entertainment value, there isn't a serious one in the bunch!

Warning bright colors follow abruptly from this link Draw on the screen with your mouse.   (Maybe later...)

More fun, run your mouse over the dots (keep going, make them really tiny) to discover something new... Koalas to the max (it's not a Koala, honest!)

And a last bit of entertainment from Deviant Art, a neat little drawing program that you can play with for free or upgrade to a more powerful version.

Thank you for stopping by and having a look.  We would like to wish you a happy weekend!  Enjoy.

A Featured Website

Usually on Thursday's I try to feature an artist or something that is unique and interesting.  I would love it if those that read the blog (or just know it exists) would like to participate by sending me bios and links to your products, artworks, jewelry, whatever, and we can feature you and get you out to the masses or at least a new audience!

Today's featured site is a new one that I have come across called "Pinterest".  Many of you that have an Etsy account may have seen the new button "Pin It".  This is a direct link to the Pinterest site, like clicking the F for Like on Facebook or the +1 for Google.

Pinterest in currently an invitation only sign up.  I can invite friends!  If Delicious is for links than Pinterest is for pictures.  Set up like a bulletin or cork-board, you can "pin" things you like on to separate boards, create categories on anything, and save these things on your Pinterest Boards.  You can look at, share and "re-pin" other users finds and boards as well.  I am unsure if you can view the boards without an account, but the link to mine is below.  I just started yesterday so I don't have much "pinned" yet.  If you would like an invitation, please e-mail or leave a comment here. Or follow the link and sign up at the page.  All that is required is an e-mail address.  They do ask that you sign in with Facebook, you cannot, however, directly pin things from Facebook to Pinterest, which is stupid, but that's the way it works.

Pinterest.com

Alix's Boards

56 Ways to Promote yourself on Pinterest

They do ask that you do not use the boards for self promotion and this where your friends and networking comes in!  You may pin something that you made, sure, but do not use the boards to sell, promote or push yourself, your items or other things down the throats of others.  Get your friends organized, pin each others items, products, whatever to each others boards.  You will not only get views but an entirely new group of people will see your stuff!

So get in there and start pinning!

**NOTE:  Edited by the author the correct site for links is Delicious, not Digg.  I apologize.  All is right now.

Five Great Gifts To Give Sites

Instead of listing five great gifts to give, I thought I would list the sites on where to find those five great gifts.

Your favorite and mine Etsy.  Many of you I am sure have seen the big orange square with the letter E.  This is Etsy, a web site full of handmade gift goodness.  They do require an account for buying or selling, but the venue is free!

The Web Site Uncommon Goods has some unique and interesting gifts like this wood tie.

This site "The Best On Line Gift Ideas" is just that, a site that has hundreds of ideas from Gormet Food, Faher's Day, Birhtdays, Anniversary suggestions!  There are hundred of categories to check out!

Findgift is rather like Etsy, categories and a home page full of items to look through or purchase.  The prices seem fairly reasonable as well.

Tip Junkie has a great page full of fun and unique ideas for making a homemade gift all by yourself and sometimes those are the best gifts of all, something from the heart, made with your hands!

Remember the idea of gift giving is that the gift reflects or in some way is a measure of how you feel about the person.  The gift should be something they will like, use or reminds them of you.  Gifts are not about the amount spent, they are about the thought and time the giver has taken to select one.  Buying something from the $1.00 aisle in Wal Mart would do, if it is from the heart and the recipient will like it, just take more than five minutes deciding!