Sunday 16 December 2012

Monster Doll Cookies

For a creepy Christmas present

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/monster-doll-cookies/

Published on Oct 23, 2012 in Make

These spicy cookies are sure to cast spells on anyone brave enough to try them. They are a great addition to the Halloween treat table or you can present them in cellophane bags as party favors. Either way, guests will have fun invoking their own magic with pins made from candy and toothpicks.

The wiry doll hair is made from licorice laces. You can find these at most bulk candy stores and online. Cherry flavored black licorice laces made by Wilton can be found in the cake decorating aisle at most craft stores.

Baking

Cinnamon Spice Cookies
Yield: One dozen doll cookies

Equipment
5-inch Gingerbread Boy cookie cutter
Plastic straws
Parchment paper

Ingredients
3½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
½ cup molasses – not black strap, and preferably “golden”, “mild” or “sorghum” molasses
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, and salt into large bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat 1 minute. Add molasses; beat until fluffy about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low; beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture; beat on low speed just to blend.

Gather dough into ball. Roll to ½-inch thickness between two sheets of wax or parchment paper. Note: It’s important to roll the dough thicker than usual so the baked cookie will be soft enough to be pierced with the toothpick “pins.”

Transfer to refrigerator and chill for 4-6 hours. Note: The dough can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 (or 3 if you have them) baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from refrigerator and remove the top sheet of wax paper. Use a large gingerbread boy cutter to cut dough.

Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. Place 4 cut-outs per sheet, then transfer the sheets with the cut-outs to the freezer. Freeze for 10 minutes.

Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and slightly darker around edges, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan for only two minutes. Carefully punch four holes at the top of the gingerbread boy’s head with a plastic straw. The pan will be hot, so be careful! Have several straws on hand in case the one you are using becomes clogged.

Decorating

Materials
12 oz black licorice laces (strings), about 60 12-inch strands
¼ cup ready-made white rolled fondant
2 tbsp liquid black food coloring or black gel food coloring thinned with water
2 tbsp corn syrup
Red sanding sugar
2 Fine-tipped artist’s brushes
Small decorator’s piping tip or small bottle cap (about ¾-inch)
Marker lid or other lid smaller in circumference than the piping tip or bottle cap (about ½-inch)
120 Mike and Ike candy pieces (you may also use candy Dots or Hot Tamales)
120 toothpicks

Doll hair:

Evenly thread long licorice laces through each hole at the top of the cooled cookies.

Gather the laces or “hair” together and gently tie with another lace.

A single knot will do, and it’s best not to pull the laces too tight or they will break.

Button eyes:

Place black food coloring in a small condiment cup and have your artist’s brush ready to hand. Knead fondant for two minutes then roll out on a protected work surface. If fondant is sticky use confectioner’s sugar to dust the work surface before rolling it out. Cut 12 round pieces of fondant using the large end of a small piping tip or use a small bottle cap. Use the marker lid or other smaller lid to make an impression inside each circle.

Load the fine-tipped artist brush with food coloring and paint an “X” inside the circle and then paint a dot at each end to represent button holes. Repeat with remaining fondant pieces and allow them to dry for a few minutes, or until the “X” is doesn’t smudge. Using a clean artist’s brush, dab a small amount of corn syrup on the back of the “buttons” and affix to the cookie doll’s head, pressing gently to adhere.

Stitches:

Load a fine-tipped artists’ brush with black food coloring. Draw a large “X” to beside the button eye to represent a missing button eye. Paint a 1-inch horizontal line under the doll’s eyes for the mouth and make several vertical lines to represent stitches. Reload brush with food coloring as needed.

Draw a long vertical line from the middle of the doll’s chest to the bottom of the cookie where the legs meet.

Make several short horizontal lines to represent stitches. Repeat the “stitching” process on the tips of the doll’s feet and hands (shown).

Sugar heart:

Load a clean paintbrush with corn syrup and paint a heart onto the left side of the doll’s chest.

Pour sanding sugar over the painted heart and press it into the corn syrup gently with a finger.

Turn cookie onto its side and tap off excess sugar.

The sanding sugar will stick to the corn syrup revealing the heart shape.

Candy pins:

Press each candy piece onto one end of a toothpick. Dolls can be presented with 10 candy pins each. Package the dolls and pins together in a clear cellophane bag for party favors.

More Posts by Sprinklebakes | Halloween on the Etsy Blog

Heather Baird is an accomplished painter and photographer, but her passion is creating eye-popping, mouthwatering desserts. She writes about her adventures in the world of creative dessert-making on her award-winning blog, SprinkleBakes. She is the author of the new baking book, SprinkleBakes: Dessert Recipes to Inspire your Inner Artist. Heather lives in Knoxville, Tennesee, with her husband Mark and two mischievous pugs, Biscuit and Churro.

Wednesday 21 November 2012

How-Tuesday: Stitched Snowflake Ornament

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/how-tuesday-stitched-snowflake-ornament/?ref=fp_blog_image

Story by julieincharge

Published on Nov 20, 2012 in Make

Photo by miniaturerhino

We’ll be crafting in a winter wonderland with this week’s How-Tuesday post. Jessica Marquez from Miniature Rhino is here to lead you through a project glittering with seasonal cheer from her beautiful new book, Stitched Gifts.

A winter snowfall is something I never thought I’d look forward to. Growing up in perpetually sunny Southern California, I hardly experienced the seasons — I thought winter ended in December when all the TV programs stopped airing their holiday shows. When I moved to upstate New York, I learned that this is not at all the case. While I may never fully acclimate to blustery winters, I do love the snow. Nothing is more seasonal for me than white, blanketed streets and snowy days. Celebrate the season with this little snowflake ornament, and if you’re on the sunnier side of things, these will help you create your own little bit of winter. You can also find a ornament kit with all the materials you need to make this project in my Etsy shop.

You Will Need:
Ornament Template
Tracing paper
Pencil and eraser
Extra Fine Point Sharpie
Ruler
Transfer method (transfer paper or tear-away stabilizer suggested; see pattern instructions)
Water-soluble pen or hot iron transfer pen (optional)
3″ (7.5 cm) embroidery hoop
5″ x 5″ (12.5 x 12.5 cm) square of fabric, ironed
4″ x 4″ (10 x 10 cm) piece of Sulky Stiffy, or Pellon Stitch-N-Tear stabilizer (optional)
Sewing pins
Embroidery Thread (DMC brand thread shown in #3865/off white)
Size 5 embroidery needle
Fabric glue
Ribbon

Directions:
1. First, do you want to create a custom date? If yes, use the template to create the date on a piece of tracing paper. Trace the snowflake and the dashed lines under where your numbers will be to help with spacing. To add numbers for your custom date, line up the straight dashed lines with the bottom of the desired number and trace. You can use a pencil to make the initial marks, and then trace over with an Extra Fine Point Sharpie.

2. Choose your transfer method. If you are going to stitch onto a dark fabric, use transfer paper
method or tear-away stabilizer. For lighter fabrics, any transfer method will work well (water-soluble pen, transfer paper, or iron-on transfer pen or pencil). Transfer the pattern in the medium that is best for you.

Transfer Paper Method:
Transfer paper is a general-purpose crafting material, and itt works much like carbon paper. Layer the template over a sheet of transfer paper face-down over your fabric. Make sure all the layers are securely in place by taping them down to your work surface with painter’s tape. Then, with a dull pencil, pen, or tracing stylus, trace over the lines of the template. I like Loew Cornell and Saral transfer papers, which both come in a variety of colors, are easy to transfer, and are reusable. Do not use a graphite transfer paper, because it is permanent and won’t wash out.

Tear Away Stabilizer Method:
For this transfer method, use Sulky Tear-Easy, or a light T-shirt stabilizer. Usually, this material is used under your fabric, but here we use it on top of your fabric as a light, transparent medium. This might seem a bit strange, because you will stitch through the stabilizer over your fabric. But I use this method all the time, because it is fast and easy. Just trace your pattern onto the tear-away material, pin it with sewing pins onto your stretched fabric in the hoop, and just stitch as you normally would. Tear away the stabilizer from your image when you’re done stitching.

For the tear-away method, trace the template with an Extra Fine Point Sharpie onto a piece of Sulky Tear-Away Stabilizer. If you made a custom date, trace that too. Set aside.

3. Mount the fabric in the embroidery hoop. If you’d like a sturdier stitch surface, use a backing stabilizer (such as Sulky Stiffy or Pellon Stitch-N-Tear) behind your fabric. Both the fabric and stabilizer should be pulled smooth and taut in the embroidery hoop. If you are using the tear-away method, pin your pattern to the mounted fabric with sewing pins, which is how I transferred this pattern.

4. Now let’s get to the stitching. The thread I’m using has six strands, or plies, which can be easily separated to create stitches of varying thicknesses. Here’s what I did:

Snowflake: 4-ply back stitch. Start from the outermost point of one of the snowflake’s arms. Because this shape is not a continuous line, it’s okay to jump around a bit. Plus, if you’re going to mount it in the hoop, who is going to see?

Date: 4-ply back stitch.

Small stars: 2-ply cross-stitch and star stitch. Create dimension by varying the length of the star arms and the thread count for a few stars. Do some 4-ply, some 3-, some 2-, and so on. Try different colors, too.

5. A 3″ (7.5 cm) embroidery hoop makes the perfect frame for this piece and is easy to hang as an ornament from the hoop’s hardware. To secure the fabric to the hoop, cut a 1/2″ (12 mm) fabric allowance from the back of the hoop and cut away all stabilizer. Cut the fabric edges into small sections, like tabs about 1″ (2.5 cm) or so apart.

Secure the tabs to the inner wooden hoop with fabric glue, or for a quick fix, use a glue gun. Paint on the fabric with a small brush and push the tabs of the fabric down with your fingers. While fabric glue will dry clear, it can darken the fabric. Make sure to keep your fingers off of the front of the piece and that your work surface is clear of any glue. Fabric glue takes a few hours to dry.

Attach a ribbon and hang up your ornament!

Sunday 14 October 2012

Mending moth holes with moths, a short tutorial

http://ninimakes.typepad.com/nini_makes/

This was meant for a magazine last year but the mending theme for the issue changed and I was too busy to follow it up so I happily tucked it away to share here for another day.

I often wear huge sweaters around the house with lots of layers underneath. My wintertime mantra is the same as my father's when I was young and complained about a cold house "Put on more clothes." This particular sweater was discarded by it's previous owner when his beer belly outgrew it so I snapped it up to layer with. Unfortunately the moths nibbled a big hole in the shoulder and some smaller ones in the front.

Lisa took some amazing moth pictures a while back and I thought, I might not mind moth holes so much if they were made by those beauties. Then thought, why not cover up the holeswith those beauties (I wouldn't choose the ugly little grey critters that really make the holes).

So I made some drawings of my favourites and pulled them into Illustrator, I was pleased with the way they turned out as line art. I then did some watercolour sketches of my moth selection and created a new pattern set of five moths. So I offer you up one moth patch, click here to download. If you'd like the whole page of five moth illustrations with my watercolour sketch as a guide they're available on my pattern page.

On this sweater I've used two moth patches. The patch above (antheraea polyphemus) I made by embroidering on to felt and needle felting a body. The patch on the front (gnophaela vermiculata) is mostly needle felted with a little black stitched detailing.

This is how to make the patches

First cut out the moth shape from paper.
Then trace it onto a piece of felt or felted wool that is a similar colour to the moth body. I find a ball point (biro) pen the best tool for tracing onto felt. You will want to either cut off the pen mark or stitch over it to hide it.
Next cut around the moth, not right on the line, leave space around it.
Then fill in the moth with embroidery stitches and/or needle felting. I used both embroidery and needle felting for both of these patches.
Referring to a picture of the moth, pick up the thread and start drawing with it. Just start stitching, if you haven't freehand stitched before you'll be surprised at how your hands can use the needle like a pencil. Moths are a particularly good subject to try this with because they are symetrical and therefore easier to position each element in.
When you finish the details of your moth, cut it out, close to the edge but not right on it.
Next prepare your hole for your patch. I mended the holes with a simple darning stitch using mending wool. If you've never mended a sweater before I just searched around for tutorials and found this one on Martha Stewart but any vintage family sewing book should show you. The mending step might seem silly since the hole will be covered up, but mending it first will help your sweater withstand future washes better.
Using mending wool or a couple of strands of embroidery thread, cover your mended hole with the patch and hand stitch around it. Be careful of your tension while stitching. If you pull the thread too tight while stitching the sweater will pucker around the patch, too loose and the patch won't look tidy.
Finally, add the antenae straight on to your sweater being sure to start your stitches under the top of the moth's head to hide the join, again, watch the tension in your stitching.

Hope you have a go. If you download the pattern let me know how you use it, or add an image to the Created with Nini Flickr Group. I'm no nature Illustrator so this art is not exactly accurate for the purists out there, the gnophaela vermiculata for example is much bluer than a real one, but my water colour dried darker than I thought it would and you know I love my blues :)

If you do regular mending and you're on Flickr, join Scrapiana's Big Mend Flickr group to share your mends. She also recently posted a moving piece about sandblasted jeans on her blog; read it, I gaurantee you will shop more carefully for jeans in the future, I know I will.

Happy Wednesday!

Crayon tinting

Found this when I signed on today and thought that it was a wonderful idea.

http://littledeartracks.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/crayon-tinting.html

Hey there crafty people, here is the next installment in my embroidery tutorial series, color tinting! This is a really easy and fun way to add extra color to your embroidery. Did you see the free embroidery pattern I posted here yesterday? That's what I'll be using for this project, if you missed it, you can find it right here. Besides your fabric, pattern and embroidery supplies, you will need some crayons, white paper, and an iron.

Step 1. Transfer your pattern to fabric. I used a plain pencil and light table for mine this time. Now get out your crayons! Place your fabric onto a hard surface and LIGHTLY begin filling in spaces with color. Get creative! your project will look great if you add a little blending. Start with the lightest color and blend in darker shades around the edges. For instance, on my leaves I filled them in with a light yellow green, then added a medium/darker green at the edges, then a tiny bit of aqua blue at the tips. It is important to not press too hard, but just use very light strokes. You can go back and make your colors darker if you want to, after step 2.

Step 2. When you're done coloring, place your fabric on a towel or ironing board and the paper on top of it. Iron over the paper on the hottest setting. This will set the color into the fabric, and also remove any access wax. Iron for a few minutes, until no more wax is being released onto the paper.

3. Embroider your lines any way you like! I like to use floss a shade or two darker than the colored areas it is outlining. When you're done you'll have a unique embroidery piece you can frame, use in a quilt, or use however you like.

If you stitch up the free pattern, please add your photos to the Doodle Stitching flickr group!

I hope you enjoy this fun little project! If you did, be sure and watch for my next book, Doodle Stitching- The Motif Collection, comes out in October! It's already up for preorder on Amazon. It has lots and lots of patterns, and some really fun projects too.

Saturday 6 October 2012

Make Custom Perfume Wedding Favors

pipettes

Tip: To make a dozen half ounce perfume tins, you will need 4 oz carrier oil, 2 oz beeswax, and 120-150 drops essential oil.

If you’re new to perfumery, stick with one essential oil or simple blends of 2 or 3 scents. Add your chosen essential oils to a small amount of carrier oil in a jar. (Tip: Jojoba oil is a favorite carrier, as it has little smell of its own and a long shelf life.) As you add the essential oils, carefully note the number of drops used (you may wish to make more of the blend later). For the smoothest result, add the oils in the order of heaviest to lightest – base, middle, then top notes. Test by smelling above the container (not into it) and on your skin, using a chopstick. Test a few times; oil blends change with time. I recommend waiting 48 hours for the perfume oil to settle so you can get an accurate whiff.

Measure out plain carrier oil and wax (start with 2:1 by weight, or 1:1 volume). Pour the oil into a stainless steel or enamel pot, and heat it gently on the stove using the lowest heat. Keeping the heat low, carefully add the beeswax, blending continuously using a chopstick until the wax melts entirely into the oil. Remove the pot from heat. Test the consistency by getting some of the mix on a spoon; let it cool off on a paper towel for a few minutes. When it is cooled and appears solid, test it with your finger. If it feels too soft, add more wax to the pot; if too hard, add more oil.

Add your essential oils to the base. Heat can ruin essential oils, so be very careful if you have to reheat the base; keep the mix under 120˚ Fahrenheit. Test your solid perfume with a spoon and on your skin; add more ingredients if needed, until you have the desired scent intensity.

While your perfume mix is still liquid (reheat gently if necessary), pour it into the tins. Wait until the mix is set (hardened and cooled), before moving the tins, closing the lids, or cleaning up any spills; this should take under 10 minutes. Decorate to your heart’s content!

Decorating Ideas
I have a weakness for sealing my perfume tins with Japanese washi paper tape — it’s easy, eco-friendly, inexpensive, sturdy and comes in irresistible colors and designs. You can also incorporate ribbons, twine, rhinestones, dried flowers and other small decorations in colors that complement the theme of your day.

Happy sniffing!

Getting Financing for Your Business

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/getting-financing-for-your-business/

Story by Dana Mauriello

Published on Aug 16, 2012 in Seller Handbook

Photo by annasee

Sometimes it takes money to make money. Most sellers start their businesses with very little cash, but reach a point in their growth where they need access to more money to achieve their goals. There’s no doubt that loans can be intimidating and scary. This post is intended to make the whole world of capital access a little more approachable.

Before You Get Funding

First, consider your goals and your budget:

decoylab

1. Know your goals
What are your business goals? You have to know where you want to go before you can figure out how to get there! Try to put your goals in financial terms, such as: “I would like to sell enough to make $x this year.” Avoid the tempting trap of making loose goals, like: “I want to make as much as possible.” I’ve found that it’s much more useful to create a few smaller goals than one big one. For example, you can easily turn “I want to make as much as possible” into “I want to make $x next month; $y by the end of the year; etc.”

2. Know your budget
Once you know where you want to go, think about the path to get there. If you want to make $x this year, how much money do you need to spend? Maybe you need a new piece of equipment to make your production more efficient or maybe you need to run a big marketing campaign to drive traffic to your shop. Be as specific as possible with your budget and research costs thoroughly so you aren’t guessing – there’s nothing worse than finding the money to get a new piece of equipment and realizing it actually costs more than you thought.

Learn more: Budgeting tips

3. Be cost efficient
Go back over your budget; what do you really need to spend to reach your goal? It’s easy to think that you need to spend more money than you really do to reach your goals. Here are some common mistakes to look for:

Su Evers

Tina of Better Off Wed saves money by using equipment in a co-working space. Read more in her Featured Seller interview.

Overpaying for materials or equipment – A brand new, top of the line sewing machine would look great in your studio, but is it necessary to reach your goal? Could you share equipment costs with neighboring artists, barter a trade with others on your team for used equipment, or use equipment at a co-working space, like Tina from BetterOffWed? On the materials side, are you getting the best prices by buying in bulk?
Overpaying for marketing – Sometimes the best marketing is free. Before beginning to raise capital for a Super Bowl TV spot (just kidding… I hope!), think about how you can leverage PR, word of mouth, social media, and Etsy community resources like theTreasury, Teams, etc.

Funding Option 1: Making More Money

You have an operating business, so option 1 for getting more money should be increasing your revenues. Consider the following:

Reconsider your pricing: In addition to raising your prices, consider other elements of the pricing equation. Finding less expensive supply sources and finding ways to save time will help you create better profit margins.

Learn more: The Art of Pricing for Profit

Creative marketing: Hosting events such as trunk shows, teaching classes (I loveSkillshare for this), sales, social media, cross-promotions with other artists, reaching out to bloggers, and finding ways to get more traffic from Etsy and various search engines are just a few of the many ways of getting out there.

Funding Option 2: Outside Sources of Funding

Your second option for capital is to look for outside sources. If you go this route, it’s important that you feel like you are offering a great opportunity to those who put money into your business, not asking for a handout. If you aren’t confident in your business, you can’t expect anyone else to be. If you are confident in your business, here are some great capital options to consider:

Friends and family fundraising: This is one of the most common ways that businesses get money when they are getting started (even big companies like Whole Foods). Financial gain is not the primary motivation for most friends and family lenders – they lend because they believe in you and your business. No one is saying this is easy – taking loans from people close to you is often uncomfortable and can stress relationships. You can prevent that by using clear, fair terms (you can make a simple contract), including people in your journey (sending frequent updates, free products, etc.), and taking smaller amounts from multiple people.

Ryan and Tilney of MAN vs. GEORGE raised money with their Kickstarter fundraiser. This is the print they gave to their supporters.

Crowdfunding: When you crowdfund, you use a site like Kickstarter to publicly tell your story and raise money from many people to reach your financial goal. Contributors get something from you (a thank you card, one of your products, an invitation to a special event, etc.) based on how much money they contributed. There’s a great fundraising story in this article from Man vs. George, an Etsy seller who wanted to raise $4,000 on Kickstarter to go to the National Stationery Trade Show. It can be a lot of work to successfully implement a campaign, but there are great marketing benefits in addition to the fundraising.

Small business loans from an MFI: When you think of getting capital, you probably think of bank loans first. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are a different type of lending institution offering smaller loans, looser lending criteria, and financial education. This is a good option to consider if you want to build your credit for future loans and growth. ACCION is a great MFI to consider – you can learn more here.

Loans based on sales: You might also consider taking out a loan that is repaid based on how much you sell. Kabbage is a lender that will lend to you instantly through an online application based on your current sales on Etsy — lean more here. If you are starting to get into wholesale, this could be an interesting option for getting the money to buy materials to produce the order before your invoice is paid.

Money doesn’t make your business. A successful business takes having great products that people love, creative marketing, thoughtful management and much more. To be sure, you can do it all with very little money, but you know that you have options. It’s up to you what goals you set and which path you choose to get there. Onward!

The Seller Handbook | Four Lessons for Financial Success

Getting a Helping Hand

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/etsy-success-getting-a-helping-hand/?ref=fp_blog_title

Story by Dana Mauriello

Published on Oct 04, 2012 in Seller Handbook

Photo by ChronicArtAttack

The holidays are approaching and with them, increased demands on your time. We’re here to tell you that you don’t need to do everything yourself! Everyone could use a helping hand. This post is all about practical advice for getting that aid in ways that are consistent with building a sustainable, responsible business on Etsy.

Friends

When Nguyen of KnitKnit got a big order with a quick turnaround time, she knew she couldn’t do it herself and considered turning it down. Instead, she got a little help from her friends. Nguyen had recently been to an Etsy Craft Party and met a group of new friends whom she called on to save the day. She ordered a good dinner, put on a funny movie, provided the supplies and invited them over for a night of knitting. She was prepared to pay people or make a trade, but it turned out that everyone was just happy to participate in the fun experience that she created.

This strategy works well if you have a one-time task to do that takes just a few hours. Invite a few friends so it’s social. Even organizing inventory can be fun if you have three people participating in a sing along — get creative!

Barter

The friends method is not as effective if you need recurring help or if you need specialized skills. In that case, think about bartering. You might barter with your team. For example, The EtsyNY Team, has a system in which sellers can ask for help with something (assembling or packing items and distributing marketing materials are common requests) and teammates who help them are given points. These points can be redeemed for priority access to the team’s craft shows or advertising on the team website, a system that they created to reward those who participate most heavily in the community. Team leader Jason says, “It’s important to reward small business owners for helping each other, especially in a cooperative team environment. The EtsyNY Team’s points system works so well because it creates a common currency that makes perfect reciprocity less necessary, it broadens the overall base of support and enables business owners from different trades to support one another.”

If you need the help of someone with a specific skill, like photography, consider finding the person that you want to work with and offering them a trade. Stephanie Ann ofStitchesByStephann, finds photographers on Facebook whose work she likes and sends them a message to see if they would be interested in a trade. She says, “There are so many photographers out there who are looking to get a bit of advertising (and some free photo props as well). I send them a hat I would like photographed and they send me 4 or 5 pics back that I can use in my shop. They get to keep the hat and get some free advertising. I get free photos. So it is a win-win!” There are even teams to help you facilitate these trades including the Professional Product Photography for Props Trade Team and thePhotographers and Prop Makers Team.

As-Needed Helpers

Sites like TaskRabbit are a great solution if you need on-demand help with tasks related to your Etsy business. Think packing up your orders, taking boxes to the post office, or picking up supplies. You can post any task that you need done on taskrabbit.com/etsy and local people in your community will quickly start sending you offers to do the work. The people who are responding to your requests are already vetted for safety and ability via background checks and interviews.

Valerie, of Walnutstudiolo, recently used TaskRabbit to find someone to mail out her orders while she was on vacation, which gave her peace of mind and ensured she didn’t come home to a crushing amount of work. Her advice to making the relationship successful is: be as specific as possible in your request, hire someone with direct experience in the task, and be patient if they don’t do the task as quickly or in the same way that you would do it yourself. She also hires people for tasks with the intention of considering a recurring relationship if the person does a great job. This way, she only needs to train someone once.

We set up a page on TaskRabbit for Etsy sellers with sample tasks involved in managing your shop already filled in for you. You can use TaskRabbit from anywhere in the world if you are looking for virtual help (listings, online marketing, etc.), but it is currently only available in certain US cities for in-person help. If you are looking for in-person help and don’t live in one of those cities, let us know so that we can try to find solutions in your area too!

Interns

Interns are a good solution if you need ongoing help and have the patience and interest in training someone new to your field. Often interns, or apprentices, are happy to work without cash compensation if you are providing them with the education and experience that they crave. Nicole from LadyPancake is also an art teacher and had offered students the opportunity to work with her to learn how to make a passion for creating art into a profession. She took on as many as 6 interns at a time and loved the sense of community and the fresh voices around her that kept her spirits high on tough days. She recommends asking your intern what they are interested in learning and making sure that you are giving them an experience that provides the kind of education and exposure that they want. Providing a great experience might require a lot of your time to train and answer questions, but it can be a fair trade if you aren’t providing monetary compensation.

Many schools have formal internship programs year-round and you can get in touch with their Career Development Center to post your opportunity.

Assistants

If you need really reliable business-critical help on an ongoing basis, you should find someone qualified, put a contract in place, cultivate an ongoing relationship, and pay them a fair rate.

But how? Rebecca of Rschone hired her mother (whose smiling face is on the shop About page), the talented seamstress who taught her the craft, to help sew her custom wedding dresses. Money was a sensitive subject and at first her mother refused, but Rebecca insisted on paying (per piece based on market rates) and signing a contract. “It’s easy to take free help for granted, but in the end it’s just not fair to take advantage like that. Also, if the help is free, then it is a favor and I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking her to rush an order or be accountable to deadlines.” Rebecca puts together an organized package of materials, patterns, and instructions for her mother to work on in her own time. She also tries to give her similar dresses to work on so that she can develop an expertise in that style. She leaves the unique custom pieces and rush orders to do herself.

Sharon and Jim from Bumbershoot Supplies hired their 18-year-old daughter Emma to help with marketing. They set up weekly contracts with Emma that outline the work to be done, their expectations, and the pay. By keeping the contracts to only one week, Emma can leave at anytime if she decides the relationship isn’t working for her. Sharon and Jim also try to make the experience as valuable for Emma as possible with lots of mentoring, exposure to business issues, and opportunities to offer opinions and ideas on strategy.

Not everyone’s lucky enough to find the talent they need in their own family (or wants to work with their family!). The same advice from Rebecca, Sharon, and Jim holds true for finding assistants or professional service providers outside of relatives. Starting someone on a trial basis and paying by the piece, project, or hour without an ongoing commitment is a great way to begin a relationship and learn as you go.

Just a reminder that Etsy’s policies welcome you to include assistants in the production of your product and the running of your business, as long as the relationship meets the criteria in our DOs and DON’Ts. Here’s a quick summary:

Oversee your helpers. The responsibility for running the shop still falls on you as the shop owner.
On Etsy, it’s “handmade by you.” You can use a production assistant or outside vendor to help only with a small part of creating your items; the majority of the making should be done by you or members of your shop who are noted on your About page.
If you’re only using occasional outside help for tasks like packaging, photography or marketing, then you don’t need to consider those temporary helpers members of your shop.
If you develop a great relationship with a specific helper who becomes a regular and vital part of running your business, give credit where it’s due, and mention them on your About page.

We believe in the power of independent, creative businesses at Etsy. We support you in your journey to grow your business to whatever level you chose — remember that “independent” does not have to mean alone!

What do you need help with as you manage and grow your business?

Little Things