Ello Design

Ello Photos - Before & After

2012-02-29T12:39:00.000Z

One of the key areas of selling online is obviously your photos. As people cannot physically pick up your item and look at them, photos are the only means of seeing what they can buy, so in essence, they are what sells your products.

Some sites value product photography very highly and it can be the key to having your work featured (although that sometimes isn't the only criteria!)

Here I just wanted to show you how I go about my photos, although they aren't perfect and there is definitely more than one way to get good results.

Let's start off with a photo:

Some people use natural light and some use a lightbox, and I use natural light in a window sill (although i've since moved from my living room to my sister's bedroom, which has more light and no vintage net curtain)

My photos come up landscape in Photoshop so I rotate them and crop them for size.

The final result is a lot brighter and sharper and thats pretty much all I do to my photos; brighten and sharpen them. I do sometimes sharpen them too much though!

I usually have 5 different angles (one for each photo slot on Folksy) and take 3 of each angle.

I choose the best out the three then brighten & sharpen.

I compare all 5 photos to see if they have the same colour (having different shades can confuse people about what they are buying)

You might also notice from my shop, I try to use the same angle for my main photo for all my cards as they all look nice and uniform then :)

Photos can be a pain sometimes so its worth taking the time to try and get them right, as after all, they entice people to buy your lovely items! Don't give up!

And thanks for reading as always ;)

Leanne x x

Ello's Gone Travelling!

2012-02-28T09:52:00.001Z

Ello everyone, hope you're having a good week so far :)

You've probably heard me on Twitter and Facebook but last weekend we had our first international sale via Etsy! Hurray! Our 1st USA sale :)

And yesterday, we had our first Northern Ireland sale, so we've sent to all 4 corners of the UK too :)

I'm sure most of you have already got that far and sent to more far off countries, so i'd love to know where you've sent your lovely handmade products :) And what about the country you'd love to send to?

I think i'd love to send something to Australia, but thats a long way off yet ;)

What about you? Would love to know!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Roses

2012-02-24T10:00:00.003Z

Valentines may be over, but roses can be for all year round :)

My favourite colour roses are white, but i've had both red and pink for Valentine's the past couple of years and blue roses look great too!

Although we couldn't feature everything, you can find more rosy roses over at our Pinterest board. If you don't want your item featured through Pinterest, please let me know and i'll remove it.

So as always, enjoy our picks! ;)

Buzybee / I do crystals and blooms

Craftie Nellie / DawnRosieAndLilyToo

Ritzy Swish / Naturally Heartfelt

Jilly's Shop of Treasures / Old Wives Tale

Mrs Jones Handmade Jewellery / Made With Love X

As always, thanks to the wonderful makers of these items,

each are amazing in their own way!

Rugby's back on this weekend (go Wales!) so hope you all have a rosy time, no matter what you're doing ;)

See you next week!

Leanne x x

Your Shop On Facebook

2012-02-21T11:42:00.000Z

Facebook is a very common way of promoting your shop/business, so we're going to go through the basics of how that works today.

Many thanks to Susan from So Choosy on Folksy for suggesting this guide!

--------------------

By using this guide, i'm assuming you already have a personal account on Facebook, as it's needed for what we're about to do.

What we're going to make, is called a page, which is a separate page from your personal account. When you log in normally, it'll appear on the left hand side, like this:

But it wont' be there yet, as you obviously haven't made it!

So let's start by creating a page (click the link to get the create a page page)

You should be greeted by this, provided your logged in to your account

We're going to go for Local business or place

The box should turn into this:

Enter all your details and your page should be ready!

A page is different from a personal page as it looks more like this:

From this page, you can add all the info you like by clicking Edit Info by your shop name/location. You can also see how many like you and post things on your wall.

The key to your facebook page is likes.

The more likes you have, the more people get to see your updates on their news feed.

If you visit another page, you'll see this by their page name:

Now, for likes to register, you have to like them from both your personal account and your page account.

At the moment, we're logged in from out personal account, so go ahead and like the page. You'll get to see their status' in your news feed now.

To like it from your page account, you'll find this under Admin on the right hand side:

By clicking on Use Facebook as ..... , you are now logged in as your page. So all your posts to other people will link back to your page, not your personal page.

Now you can like pages from your own page account.

This is handy if you want to tag another page.

On the left hand side, will be a list of Likes:

This is a list of people you have liked from your page account and can tag in your status.

To tag someone, put the @ symbol in your status card and a letter. A list should appear of those you are able to tag:

Once you have chosen who to tag, their page link will appear in your status.

This link will appear on their wall and vice versa if you get tagged.

To go back to using your personal account, go back to the right hand side

And you'll be back to normal :)

One of the key areas of promoting your page is to get likes, so if you're on Folksy, they have a Facebook thread where you can like everyone and post your link so they can like you back.

Apart from that, make sure you update regularly but not too much (don't want to annoy people!) Like other peoples status' and comment on them (chatting is good!) Add photos to your albums so everyone can see your products (see Photos on the left hand side on your page) and maybe brag about a new product in your shop?

And thats pretty much the basics!

If you need help on anything in the guide, please let me know!

Thanks for reading ;)

Leanne x x

Picking A Folksy Friday Theme

2012-02-20T15:28:00.000Z

If you're familiar with a Folksy Friday, it's basically a collection of items chosen every friday with a theme in mind e.g. last week I chose pears.

Some find it hard to think of a theme every week (it can be hard, I know!) so I thought i'd put in a quick post on some suggestions.

I love Folksy Friday's so would love to see what you come up with!

Colours

I LOVE colour Folksy Fridays, some of my favourites have been colour themed. Using a colour can be great, as you're not limited by a certain idea and can feature an array of items without feeling tied down.

Colours are also great because you can use specific colours, so instead of pink, how about magenta? or fuchsia? or rose? It's up to you!

One of my favs, has to be grey:

Seasonal

Seasons can be very inspiring - maybe it's close to spring and you can't wait to see some flowers? maybe autumn is nearing its end and you'll miss the leaves?

There are so many things to do for seasons; animals, colours, weather, objects.

I chose snowflakes in December, an obvious but sweet choice!

Occasions/Everyday

Maybe it's someone's birthday or an anniversary coming up soon? It may even be something as simple as going out for a day somewhere, and finding something that inspires you.

For my birthday this year, I went with a song theme :)

I also did a cake theme for my boyfriend's birthday in December.

Animals/Birds

These are so much fun to do and have so many choices to choose from. If there's an animal you really love, why not try and find some items with it? Birds are great, especially as certain types like owls are very in right now.

My most recent (and fun) was my whale themed collection

Random

Random themes can be anything from fruit to knitwear to a country to a type of book. Some of my favourites have been random themes, for example my recent pear theme and my post office theme. It just shows you can use anything at all!

I love fairy tales, so made a collection back in July, random, but fun!

Hopefully this is of some help to those who are little bit stuck some weeks.

Just look around your house or work, there's bound to be something to inspire you ;)

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Pears

2012-02-17T10:24:00.001Z

Ello and happy Friday! This week, we've gone fruity and are featuring some

pear-fectly juicy items :)

All our picks this week are on Pinterest as usual too.

Enjoy as always!

BlueFoxWood / fluff and fuzz

Lil Sonny Sky / Little Brick House

CecilyMae Handmade / Eds Place

Kikichoo / Glassprimitif

The Turners in the Church / andamentomosaics

Thanks as always goes to the makers of these pear-fect items!

Our dotted thank you cards have been featured in a dotty spotty Pinterest Folksy Friday from A Litte Birdie Told Me - thank you! Make sure you pop over, some lovely products featured :)

Hope your weekend doesn't go pear shaped!

Thanks for visting/reading as always ;)

Leanne x x

Ello Loves Notebooks

2012-02-15T18:41:00.003Z

Everyone has a product weakness of some kind; for my Mum, its bags and for me, it's always been, and will be, notebooks.

My last 2 Folksy purchases have been notebooks, so that prompted me to blog about my slightly obsessive love with this papery product.

But first...what did I buy!?

This gorgeous a6 peacock notebook is from Lea Lloyd Designs, a shop full of printmaking loveliness (i'm also going through a printmaking phase at the moment)

I usually like my notebooks at a6 so this was perfect for me. At under £6, it's a steal and a must-have for those who love plain notebooks with awesome designs.

Now, I don't normally buy notebooks for anyone except myself or my best friend, so to buy one for my boyfriend is a slight shock for me!

This pirate-tastic notebook though from InkyPrints-Originals was just too perfect for my swash-buckling boyfriend that I couldn't pass it up. It's card cover makes it pretty sturdy and it's a just the right size for a certain someone to write down all their games' Xbox achievements (I have no idea, don't ask)

Again, at £5, you can't go wrong.

I've also found a couple of notebooks that I know i'll be adding to my wishlist:

Plain Jane Textiles / tangled ribbons

green grass / chicken and custard

Must resist urge to buy all of these!

Hope you're all having a great week so far! ;)

and welcome & thank you to our new followers!

Leanne x x

5 Photos: Hearts

2012-02-13T11:55:00.001Z

Ello everyone and happy Monday!

This week, i'm trying out a new challenge for myself called 5 Photos.

Basically, I choose a theme and then have to find 5 items around my house to photograph, a bit like a Folksy Friday, with my photos instead of others products :)

As Valentine's is tomorrow, I chose hearts, and found these 5 items:

The items are: a Body Shop parfum, my favourite soup mug, a heart-shape candle holder, a vintage heart necklace and a love spoon :)

Obviously some photos are better than others, but it was nice to play around with light/composition. I also used my sister's room this time as she has better lighting than my usual spot.

I'm already thinking about next week, that was so much fun!

If you decide to give something like this a go, please let me know, i'd love to see what you can come up with! :)

Thanks for visiting as always & have a good week!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Hanging Hearts

2012-02-10T09:12:00.001Z

Ello everyone! As Valentine's is nearly upon us, this week's theme is hanging hearts, something that I love using when making card designs :)

As always, my chosen items are over on Pinterest if something catches your eye ;)

Hope you enjoy the selection!

Chicken And Custard / Prince Design UK

Rose Cottage Crafts / Lupin Handmade

happy fat penguin / Oh Sew Beautiful

Old New Borrowed and Purple / welsheggdesigns

Created and Felted by Claire Louise / The Rainbow Room

Thanks to the makers of these heartfelt items as always!

We've also been featured over at Tea With Rachael & Stephen today for their Folksy Friday, so please pop over and take a look :)

Hope you have a great weekend! (I know I will as the rugby is on!)

Leanne x x

This Week's Treasuries

2012-02-07T12:27:00.001Z

Ello again! Hope you've all had a good start to the week :)

One of my favourite things about Etsy, has to be the treasuries. It's so much fun to pick a theme and find items for it. Etsy really does have some lovely stuff!

I also love how, using this Craft Cult treasury widget, you can show them off to everyone in all their glory!

These are some of the treasuries i've made this week:

Perfect for rugby lovers and just had to be made after Wales' amazing match against Ireland on Sunday :)

A moleskine notebook inspired treasury, perfect for notebook/stationery
addicts like myself!

And an adorable Snow White inspired treasury!

I think after Pinterest, treasuries are my favourite way to collect items, and they can come in handy when it comes to Folksy Friday themes too :)

I've been featured in a couple treasuries lately too, so wanted to thank those who have featured any of my cards recently, so thank you!

Leanne x x

Useful Folksy Forums Threads

2012-02-05T10:53:00.000Z

When asked "where can I promote my shop?", one of the most common answers is Facebook, Twitter, etc and while social networking is a good source of promotion, the Folksy forums can be too.

There are a lot of useful daily threads that can help to get your work out there, all you have to do is know where to look for them ;)

The February Fruitcakes or The Daily Listing Club

Every month, a different daily listing club is set up with a different name. Run by Natalie of NOfkantsCurios, it encourages people to list every day and help promote others items.

Of course, you don't have to list everyday, but it does encourage regular listing, something that is needed to get constant views.

Everyone views/tweets/pins the other items on the thread and thus a lot more people get to see everyones work in turn.

The thread is also a good place to catch up and have a nice chat!

They also keep a record of your sales too :)

The Craft Juice Thread

Craft Juice is a very handy site which lets you list an item from your shop in a kind of directory, then people vote for it. Once an item gets to 5 votes, it is automatically tweeted through the Craft Juice twitter feed, therefore spreading to all of their followers!

The Craft Juice thread lets you post the link/s of your submitted items so everyone can vote for you. You can submit items from other sites such as Etsy, but only Folksy/your own website ones are usually posted on the thread.

Don't forget to vote for others too!

The What Did You List Today? Thread

A very simple thread where you post an item you have listed on that day. You can see what others have listed too :) A lot of these items end up on the Daily Listing thread too.

There's also a Have You Blogged Today thread and

a What Have You Sold Today thread.

These threads are updated monthly and last all month.

February Sales Target Thread

A thread run by me that lets you set a sales target for the month, then you report back when you have a sale and i'll edit your target for you.

You can set any target you like and can join as late as you like :)

This isn't really a promotion thread, but it is a good motivation thread!

The ACEO and Art Thread

If you're an artist, make sure you get over to the aceo and art thread. Updated daily, its a great place for artists to chat and show off their work to others.

Even if you're not an artist, its definitely worth a look!

The February Challenge Thread

A thread that started last month that again, isn't really a promotion thread, but is a great way to challenge yourself and your work still gets promoted anyway :)

This month the challenge is Wales and St Davids day. All you have to do is make an item with that theme before the end of the month and list it in your shop.

It's great fun and everyone makes Pinterest boards for all the items to be seen.

Today's One Day Sale Offers Thread
A very useful thread for those who want to grab a bargain and a great place to advertise for those who only want to put an item on sale for a day.

Found in the Offers, Promotions and Competitions , it's updated daily with promotion through Pinterest and Twitter.

-----------------

There are a couple of other threads such as the Featured Item thread, the What Do You Love In The Shop above thread and the Folksy Friday blog thread.

All of these can be found on the Crafty Chitter Chatter board so why not pop over and take a look around?

Remember, if you'd like to add a photo to your post, the useful code link is here.

Thanks for reading and hope to see you around! ;)

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Song

2012-02-03T09:17:00.002Z

Ello everyone, as it was my birthday yesterday, I thought a song was in order!

I found this one really hard to choose from as all the items I found were gorgeous.

As always, all my items are on Pinterest for you to take a look.

Thanks and enjoy!

Naturally Heartfelt / Swirlyarts

Dotty Bees / Mei's Origami Studio

Junky Chicken / Momma J

Handmade With Joy / I heart my art

Lucie Kate and Hazey Jane / Hooray Origami

Thanks as always to the makers of these lovely items and an extra thanks this week to those who sent my their birthday wishes, thank you!

I'm off down the pub tomorrow for a birthday meal before the rugby starts, so I hope you have something nice planned for the weekend!

Leanne x x

Ello Analytics: The Fun Part

2012-01-30T16:35:00.000Z

Ello again and welcome to another part of Ello Analytics, a simple guide to Google Analytics. Today we're looking at the fun part, or Real-time!

I know that all the statistics and figures and blue lines can be a bit boring, but the fun part about analytics is the Real-time results or results that show who is visiting your site right now!

To access this, we'll log in as normal.

Now, we don't want Standard Reporting (on the orange bar) for this one, we want Home, which is to the left.

You should be greeted with a screen full of wiggly blue lines, a pie chart and some tables with numbers.

What we want is on the left hand side, Real-time (beta)

By clicking on Real-time (beta), we get a drop down menu:

All these options can be used to check your real-time stats, but to see if anyone is visiting right now, we'll click on Overview.

You should now have a page like this (feel free to click on it for a better look)

This is your real-time overview. As you can see, someone is viewing my shop right now! How exciting!

From this page, we can see where they are coming from:

What page they are looking at:

If they are returning or a new visitor (new visitors will be blue):

How many visits i've had within the last 30 minutes:

And where (roughly) where they are from:

See? It's not so bad after all :)

If you want to just look at specific results e.g. the location, you can find them back at our handy drop down menu on the left:

And that's it basically :)

But there is one thing. Analytics has a habit of counting your own views too so to exclude your own views, i'd recommend this handy thread from the Folksy forums.

I'm not sure how it works myself, but hopefully the lovely people there will :)

Thanks for reading as always!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Whales

2012-01-27T09:46:00.001Z

Ello again, hope you've all had a nice week so far :)

It's time for another Folksy Friday!

I usually have some reasoning behind my theme, but this week, I just chose whales because I think they make cute designs...so that must be reason enough!

Pop over to Pinterest to see all the items I found this week.

As always, enjoy!

Papercake: Print & Make / Sock "N" Soul

mengsel / The Happy Whale

Dainty Delilah / Kirsty Elson Designs

Ellson Design / Dizzy Chi

Desultory Compulsion / Mini Monaxle

Massive thanks as always goes to the makers of these whale items,

such a great mix of products :)

Hope you all have a whale of time this weekend!

Leanne x x

Favourite Resources

2012-01-24T11:49:00.001Z

Ello everyone, been a bit run down this week so haven't had much time to blog, but I will be writing a new analytics guide very soon :)

This week, I thought i'd share some of my favourite inspiration resources. Some i've found recently, and others i've been using for a long time, so hope you enjoy this little read!

Design Seeds

Design Seeds is a site similar to Colour Lovers that showcases colour palettes that can be used for a variety of projects. What I love about Design Seeds, is that they use pictures as inspiration and we can use these colours for our own works. You can search by theme and colour too!

Lovely Stationery

If, like me, you're a stationery addict, then Lovely Stationery should be right up your street. It basically showcases some of the coolest and most creative stationery in the design world, most of which are industry work, while others are concepts and student work. They also tell you where the work comes from and a bit about it.

If you love packaging, make sure to check out their other site Lovely Package!

Fabric Rehab

Although I don't work with fabric myself, I do find it very inspiring in my work so when I stumbled upon Fabric Rehab, it was if i'd died and gone to inspiration heaven!

They constantly update with new fabrics so there's always something new to find and be inspired by. Sometimes i'm quite glad I don't work with fabric, or i'd buy too much!

So thats just a selection of some of my favourite resources,

I hope you find them just as inspiring as I do!

Have a good week!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Sunshine

2012-01-20T10:07:00.000Z

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you've all had a good week ;)

As January is quite a dreary month, I thought we needed some brightening up (although last week's daffodils were bright too!)

Yellow is my favourite colour at the moment, so here are some sunshine yellows to brighten up your day.

All my picks are over at Pinterest too if see something you like.

Enjoy as always!

Green Grass / Tillyflopscreations

Beep Beep / ffflowers

River Lily Textiles / Beledien

gooseberrymoon / Lydia Crook

Blue Fairy Designs / Lupin Handmade

I also wanted to point out this week that I know some people are worried about their items showing up in the Folksy search, but to reassure those who have been featured, I wanted to say that ALL my Folksy Friday items come from the search function :) So it is working!

Thanks as always goes to the makers of the gorgeous items above :)

And also an extra thanks to those who have put up with my analytics guides swamping my blog!

Have a good weekend!

Leanne x x

Ello Analytics: Traffic Sources

2012-01-18T11:10:00.001Z

Ello again and welcome to part 3 of our analytics guide

(we're getting through quite quickly!)

So far, we've set up analytics and have explained the basic stats on the home page, but I know you all want to know things in more depth, so today we'll be looking at just 1 part of the stats for now, but an important one, where all your traffic comes from!

We'd all like to know where people can find us and what they're looking at so that's what i'm explaining today.

You can always ask questions at anytime too ;)

---------------------------------

Ok, our guide starts at the Account Home, which can be accessed by logging into Analytics.

As in Part 2, we need to click on our blue shop/website link.

We should now be on the main analytics home page.

Traffic Sources is very easy to find, its on the left hand side of the page:

As with all these links, but clicking on them, we get a drop down menu. In Traffic Source's case, we get this:

Overview gives you a general overall view of your traffic stats, Sources goes into each different type of traffic e.g. from searches to referrals and Search Engine Optimization should show you how your items come up in searches, but I think you have to sign up for that and i'm not all that familiar with it (i'll go look like up somewhere)

Since we just want an overview for now, we'll click Overview.

The screen you should see next is called the Traffic Sources Overview and shows you the view data from the home page.

What we want though, is underneath it:

This pie chart shows the split between the different types of traffic to your site.

Search Traffic comes from search engines such as Google and Bing.

Referral Traffic is from places like Facebook, Twitter, even the Folksy Forums. If someone has been referred to your site/clicked a link, it'll be referral traffic.

Direct Traffic is as it says, traffic where people have directly put your web address in and visited you or have bookmarked you and visited.

Campaigns is traffic from a campaign, so if you've been featured in a recent Folksy seller e-mail or gift guide, then it is picked up by analytics. They even tell you which campaigns you've been featured in which is pretty nifty.

Underneath the chart, we can find out more in depth about where the traffic is coming from:

If your products have been found in a Search, they'll give you the keyword used to find it and the source, so which search engines have been used. Matched Search Query is for paid ads, so you won't have to worry about that.

You can also see the source of your Referral Traffic and how much they contribute to your overall visits.

Direct Traffic shows the landing page, so which page people went to when they typed in your address directly.

For Campaigns, we'll have to go back to the left hand side menu:

Instead of Overview this time, we go to Sources.

Campaigns as you can see is at the bottom.

You'll be directed to a page where you can see which Campaigns you've been linked in and how many visits you've had from them.

You can also have a look at the other types of traffic using the Sources menu options too and it'll show other things such as time spent on the page etc.

So, thats the traffic explained. Hopefully this will help you see which areas you need to improve on when you're promoting ;)

Is there any specific areas you'd like help on?
Then please comment & let me know!

Thanks as always and enjoy!
Leanne x x

Ello Analytics: The Main Page

2012-01-16T11:40:00.000Z

Ello again everyone and welcome to another installment of Ello Analytics, an easy and simple guide to Google Analytics :)

In our 1st post, we looked at how to set up analytics and today, we'll be looking at reading our statistics, or the scary part! Don't worry though, we'll be starting with the statistics on the main page.

As always, if you have an questions, don't be afraid to ask ;)

----------------------------

Ok dokey, so you've left it 24 hours since your tracker code was added, so you should have analytics all ready to go.

First, let's go log in to Analytics.

The page you should be greeted by, should look like this:

This is the Account Home, which lists the websites that we're tracking. I've got 2, but you should just have the 1 for now, which should be the website you entered the details for in Part 1.

So, let's add another website!

On the right hand side of the orange bar, should be this little gear image.

Click it and you should end up on a page like this:

Click on your account name which is highlighted in blue and you should be greeted with a list including the website you already have set up in Part 1.

To add a new site to this list, click New Property.

The next process is exactly the same as in Part 1, so all you have to do is add the name and address and you're done. You'll get another tracking code different from the 1st one that can be added to the site of your choice. Leave that 24 hours or so to get some results.

Once that's done, lets go back to the Account Home and back to the list of websites. You can do this by just clicking back or going back to the Analytics Home and clicking Access Analytics.

Ok, so we're back to this:

By clicking on the address of your website, a link should drop down underneath it. Click this so we can visit the analytics page for that site.

Now we enter the Main Analytics page:

(You can click to get a better look)

The blue lines indicate views. If you hover your mouse over a blue dot, it gives you the date and how many visits you've had that day. This is your website visits in general, not your listings.

As you've just set up your analytics, you shouldn't have as many dots as me, but in time you will :)

As you can see from the picture, you can see a pie chart with your new visit/returning visit percentages. To the left of that, you an also see things such as average time spent on the site and new visits percentages.

If you scroll down, you should be met with this:

Demographics gives information on locations, System is computer related information and Mobile is information from people viewing on mobile phones.

By clicking any of these, the statistics will show up on the right, where the arrow indicates.

These statistics also show your % Visits, or how these views make up your total visits. E.g. people visiting from London make up 9.64% of my total views.

Go and have a play around with these, the results may be interesting!

Right, thats the very basic statistics that can be found on the home page.
These aren't the only stats you can look at though.

If you look to the left, you'll see a menu like this:

By clicking any of these, a drop down menu should appear.

And we have even more menus that go into the nitty gritty details of your stats. I'll explain those in detail later on, but they aren't that complicated, although they might look a bit scary.

And thats should be it for the home page! Next we'll look at the analytics in a bit more depth.
Thanks as always and I hope this is of some help! ;)

Leanne x x

Ello Analytics: The Set Up

2012-01-15T11:15:00.000Z

Ello everyone :) Since the recent changes with Folksy, many have had to move to Google Analytics to see their views, but with all the changes to that too, it can be a bit confusing.

To help these people, i'm creating a very simple guide to the basics of Analytics :) Now, there are other guides out there i'm sure, so feel free to look elsewhere if mine is too complicated!

Anyway, please enjoy, and if you still have questions, feel free to ask!

-----------------------------------------

Google Analytics is a tool that can help you monitor stats from your website. This includes things such as where people are visiting from, which type of browser they use and which pages have more views than others.

The site is located at http://www.google.com/analytics/

This is the home page. To start, click Access Analytics.

Now, because Analytics is a Google product, you need a Google Account to log in. If you have a blog, like this one, from Blogger.com, you can use your details from that, as Blogger uses a Google Account.

If you don't have a Google Account, it's free and easy to set up. You'll have to verify your e-mail before you can enter Analytics though. All you have to do is click the link given to you in your e-mail from Google.

After you've logged in & verified everything, you can now access Analytics.

You should be greeted with something like this (click to enlarge)

Click Sign Up to get started!

Right, this page is where we enter our information for the site to track it.

All you have to do is enter our account name (it could be the name of your shop/site) and the address of the site you want to track e.g. your Folksy/Etsy shop.

Don't worry, you can track more than one site, we'll get to that later ;)

After entering these details and accepting the terms, you should be greeted by a new page with a tracking code.

This code is very important for tracking. If you're using Folksy, copy this code then go to your account, then under Your Shop, go to Edit appearance and settings.

Right at the bottom should be this:

Copy the code into here and save.

For Etsy, it's under Shop Settings, Options and Web Analytics.

Remember though, your code is for ONE site, you'll have to create a separate code for each website you want to track.

Analytics will take 24 hours to work properly, so don't be alarmed!

So, that's the basics of setting up an account/adding your 1st site tracking.

Next time, we'll be looking at after Analytics is ready.

I hope this was of some help, and please remember to ask any questions if you're stuck :)

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Daffodils

2012-01-13T10:31:00.001Z

Happy Friday everyone :) This week's theme is daffodils, as mine are growing nicely in the cold weather and we're predicting they'll bloom early, but we'll see ;)

As always, my picks are also on Pinterest so feel free to take a look.

Thanks as always and enjoy!

Audreys Art / Quillmag

SP Jewellery / The Cheeky Pixie's Shop

Birdcage Creative / LynwoodCrafts

Sulwen Arts / Andrea Lesley Crochet

Photography by Gail Griggs / Embroidery Scene

And an extra Etsy treasury full of daffodils too:

Thanks as always to the makers of our chosen items, they'll be perfect for

St. David's Day in March! ;) Thanks for visiting!

Leanne x x

Feature Frenzy!

2012-01-10T11:44:00.001Z

Ello everyone, hope you've all had a nice start to the week :)

We've had a bit of a feature frenzy lately, so much so that I hope I can list them all!

Firstly, our blue panda card was featured on the Folksy homepage with the Winter Blues theme! The great news is that i'm guessing that the items came from a thread on the Chitter Chatter forum, where we all featured an item or two. Hopefully this will mean more items getting featured from the forums!

Yesterday I was told that our You're So Sweet ice cream card has been featured over at Fresh on Folksy, a gorgeous blog that showcases some of the most unique and inspiring Folksy items and I am happy to have been included for a 2nd time :) I'd definitely recommend the blog to anyone, its full of amazing items.

And i've also had a lovely mention from Karrah Designs, whose stunning gold bag I featured in our Gold Folksy Friday back in December, so thank you! Be sure to visit her blog too ;)

And finally, some may have noticed the Support British Handmade button, which is a new website/project highlighting the great talent we have here in the UK. You can list your site/shop in their directory and they have the usual social networking accounts, including a Pinterest account run by me!

You can follow the board here, and if you sign up for the directory, I might even feature your items on our board ;) It's all free too, so its great for promotion.

Phew. I think thats it for now, but seriously another thanks has to go to the people/sites who have featured our items/us this week, so thank you so much :)

See you soon!
Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Duck Egg

2012-01-06T09:47:00.000Z

Ello! We're going back to my favourite colours and this week we're looking at my favourite shade of blue, duck egg :)

Once I get my room sorted, this will be the colour of my walls (or at least similar!)

As always, my picks are also on Pinterest if you want to get pinning!

Enjoy! <3

Sew La La / November Garden

Jewellery By ZM / JoSara

TheCraftyPair / Dolly Knits

Helkat Design / Handmade By Vanda

Imogens Imagination / Daisy Dumpling

And as an added bonus this week, you also get an Etsy treasury!

Thanks as always to the lovely makers of these items!
Until next week! ;)

Leanne x x

Out of Hibernation

2012-01-03T11:13:00.000Z

I don't know about you, but i've felt like i've just come out of hibernation and its taking me a while to wake up (thats usual anyway, but I mean in a work sense!)

I guess when you've been out of it a while, you forget how much hard work promotion actually is, so this week i'll try and work a bit harder to keep up with everyone ;)

I've spent most of the last few days finding my way around Etsy and sorting the target thread on Folksy.

Anyway, I better get back to work as the weather is perfect for taking pictures.

I leave you with yet another treasury (i'm sorry, i'm hooked now!)

This one is called Peaches & Cream. Enjoy!

Leanne x x

Treasury Tamperings

2011-12-31T19:45:00.001Z

Happy New Year everyone! :D

I hope you all had a good evening and have a great 2012.

As you've probably heard from my yammering on facebook/twitter, i've re-opened my Etsy shop again (note the snazzy new link on the right!)

One of the things i've got instantly hooked on is the treasuries.

Seeing as they are similar to Pinterest (which I LOVE), I suppose it comes as no surprise that I ended up becoming addictive to them!

So, here's an example of my 2nd ever treasury, called Winter Plum:

I might even make a weekly feature on these treasuries so keep an eye out
if you're over at Etsy!

Now, i'm off to make another one, so hope you all have a great
week, month and year! ;)

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Tea

2011-12-30T17:47:00.001Z

Ello and hope you've all had a nice Christmas! :) We're running a bit late today so here's our Tea-licious picks for this week's Folksy Friday.

As always, you can find my picks on Pinterest too :)

Thanks and enjoy!

Blue Stripes / Little Bird Too

Tempo Designs / Knitterings

Kingfisher Crafts / The Knitted Duck

Cuppa Tea And Cake / Kayleigh O'Mara

Daisy Beth / Orange Bird Studio

As this is my last blog before the New Year, I want to thank everyone who has supported this blog and Ello and wish you a great year ahead ;)

Also thanks to the creators of these items!

Happy New Year from Ello!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Gold

2011-12-23T09:28:00.001Z

As this is my last Folksy Friday before Christmas, I thought i'd go with a festive gold theme this week :)

You can find all my picks over at Pinterest as always!

Enjoy!

Fox & Phoenix / Lollipop

Karrah Designs / Erica Trogal Jewellery

Ali Bali Jewellery / Hatastic

Wychbury / Songbeads

Crafts Council / PRINT for LOVE of WOOD

Thanks as always to the makers of these glittering items and of course to you guys who follow/comment/view the blog and support Ello in any way, because you've really made my 1st year in business an enjoyable one :)

Hopefully this will continue on next year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Ello ;)

Leanne x x

Xmas at Ello

2011-12-20T11:01:00.001Z

It's really hard to believe its only 5 days until Christmas!

I remember when this counter was on 48!

I spent yesterday running around Folksy trying to buy last minute things (which I can't post unfortunately, but you sellers know who you are!)

I've tried to get as many handmade presents this year, so thank you to all the lovely Folksy shops I've bought from, all the items were amazing :)

I also had good news last week in that my Plum Christmas Star Card was featured on the Folksy front page with the O Star of Night theme!

As I result, I only have one left, so thank you to those who bought one or any of my Christmas cards this year, I really appreciate it ;)

I'll be keeping them in my shop until New Year's but they'll be reduced after Christmas if you want a grab a bargain ready for next year.

Also, the calendar will be relisted around this time too, as my last one is being whisked away to a lovely welshegg as we speak! :)

Now, off to shop more and to sort out my Folksy Friday!

Have a good week!!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Snowflakes

2011-12-16T10:24:00.002Z

Although we haven't had snow ourselves yet (not that we get much anyway, being by the coast) I know some people have already, so thought we needed some snowflakes to get us into a wintery mood :)

You can view all of my choices this week over at Pinterest !

As always, enjoy!

Crafts Council / Sian Aldridge Photography

Sophia Victoria Joy / Jenny Feather

Greengage Glass / Abundant Glass

Handcrafted Jewellery by Corrina Smith / Made By Kate D

Hearts Of Dough / Wiv Wuv Creations

Thanks as always to the creators of the lovely items above, all are wintery wonders!

Off to do some last minute shopping today, so wishing you a good weekend

and Christmas week ;)

Leanne x x

Calendar Complete!

2011-12-13T17:40:00.000Z

Its been listed nearly a week, but I am happy to say our 2012 calendar is now complete! hurray!

You can find it only over at our Folksy shop :)

It says it all in the listing, but i'll post some info here:

Each month features a scene with a landscape and several birds.
Each landscape changes depending on the month.
At the bottom of the calendar, the holidays for the month are written and the boxes of those dates are also highlighted.
The calendar is A4 (21cm x 29.7cm) and made with 170gsm matt paper and held together with a treasury tag.

There is only 1 left in stock on the site, but if you'd like one, I'd be happy to make another one, just for you! ;)

My personal favourite month is June, but I have a soft spot for August and November!

Many thanks to those who have waited/supported our calendar!

Hope you like ;)

Ello Products: Prints

2011-12-11T11:33:00.000Z

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you had an enjoyable week :)

This week, i'd thought i'd highlight the area in my shop that is often tucked away, and that is the Other Stationery section.

Although Ello primarily makes cards, we also do a range of other stationery and I thought i'd use my blog this week to highlight these often forgotten products.

The first product is prints!

--->

My prints are basically glossy photo versions of my notecards.

Sometimes its nice to design something that isn't for an occasion and i've made several doodles (I don't doodle them, but lets just call them that!) that i've made into smaller versions.

My High Street Note Card above was featured in the Fresh On Folksy blog back in November and can be found under Illustration and Stationery sections. Woo hoo!

I only have 2 prints listed at the moment (and at £3.00 each including postage are very affordable!) and being 6 x 4, are very easy to find frames for.

I'd love to make more of these prints as i've got a couple more designs ready and waiting. I might even like to take a couple of my card designs and personalise them as prints.

I've also had a fondness for my calendar designs so will probably be turning those into prints at some point as well :)

You can find the prints in the Other Stationery section of our Folksy shop.

If you'd like to suggest a theme/commission a print, i'd be happy to help :)

Thanks as always for following, watching and reading!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Cake

2011-12-09T09:41:00.000Z

This week was my boyfriend's birthday, so in honour of the occasion, this week has a cake theme, hurray!

I don't have a sweet tooth myself, but couldn't resist doing such a sweet theme!

To see all the items I found this week, check out my Pinterest board :)

Thanks and as always, enjoy!

Very Berry Handmade / Little Bobbins

Jenny Arnott / I Love U

Quite Contrary Crafts / The Leaf Press

Miss Cake / Hello There

Crazy Dazy Knits / Needles

Thanks as always to those who made these delicious items, its so hard to pick as favourite, they all look so yummy!

Hope you have a great weekend ;)

Leanne x x

I Heart Pinterest

2011-12-06T15:54:00.001Z

Some of you on Pinterest may have noticed that i've started creating my Folksy Friday themes there, and i'm so glad I did! The toadstool theme went down really well last week and a few of the items I didn't even show got re-pins on Pinterest.

For those not on Pinterest, its a great site where you can made boards and pin items to a board to make a collection, kinda like a treasury.

My current boards are above if you want to take a look :)

Its good for me because I can pick loads of items for my Folksy Friday and then choose the ones I think work best together, as shown below!

If you're not already signed up (its all free by the way) then I think you have to be invited by a friend to join.

If anyone does want an invite, drop me a comment here and we can sort something out. Would hate for anyone to miss this site out, it can become so addictive!

Now, off to sort out my next Folksy Friday ;)

Until then!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Toadstools

2011-12-02T09:56:00.001Z

Some may have seen my latest Pinterest board or the Facebook post about it, but yes, this week's theme is toadstools!

December marks the beginning of winter and the end of my favourite season, autumn. So as a last goodbye to autumn, here is a mushroom theme feature :)

Enjoy as always!

Hippywitch Crafts / Bella Bobbin

Skull and Cross Buns / Tee And Toast

Crafty Clairy / Butterfly Bright

Catherine Waterfield / Ruth's Textile Art

Pixel Pyro Lampwork / Illydilly Delights

Thanks as always to those who made these items, they're all lovely and autumn-y!

Wishing you a lovely December & weekend (especially since the rugby is on, yey!)

Until next week ;)

Leanne x x

Feeling The Fabric Love

2011-11-30T11:04:00.001Z

This week, i've been totally feeling the fabric love because yesterday I purchased a gorgeous bag from the lovely Lemur Lady (if you need a bag, please visit her, her fabric choices are amazing!)

The fabric in question, is Kokeshi Kittens by Alexander Henry and features a pattern of Japanese Kokeshi dolls in cat form. I love anything Kokeshi anyway so its the perfect fabric for me :)

BUT, this isn't the first time i've bought something with this gorgeous fabric.

A while ago, I bought this pencil case from Green Grass on Folksy and fell in love with it so much, I had another pencil case and notebook cover made for me in teal :)

The first pencil case now holds all my business cards and stamps while the teal note book is used to chart my Not On The High Street sales. The new bag will be a replacement for my old riceball shape bag that has alas, become a bit tatty over the years.

Is there a certain fabric that has ever caught your eye?

Because until I find something new, this will remain my favourite!

Leanne x x

ellodesign.co.uk

2011-11-28T10:02:00.000Z

I finally got off my bum and re-did our website, this time using Create and I couldn't be happier with the result :)

I wasn't sure how everyone had such nice layouts, but after some fiddling, I made something that at least resembles my shops a little (and it has the standard Ello light blue & white!)

What's great is that you can buy any of my cards from there, so that includes the ones in both my Folksy and NOTHS shops.

I haven't uploaded all my cards yet (I have a lot!) but hopefully they'll be done very soon as I keep adding everyday or so.

So, as a shameless plug, please visit the website and tell me what you think!

Have a good start to the week! ;)

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Mistletoe

2011-11-25T09:33:00.000Z

Its officially a month until Christmas, so I can feature a Christmas theme without feeling like its too early ;) This is my first time using the Folksy search since the relaunch too! Eeek!

Wishing you a merry weekend and enjoy as always! ;)

Bee Smith Accessories / Phoenix Glass

HotchPotch / Lupin Handmade

HobbityDog / Kirsty Elson Designs

In-print / lauriepunzzle land

Cherry Pie Lane / Kristi-Krafts

Thanks as always to those who made these christmassy items!

Have a good weekend! :)

Leanne x x

Calendar Progress Part 2

2011-11-22T10:17:00.000Z

That's right, I have some more calendar developments - yey!

This week i've been finishing the designs for the months and arranging the important dates at the bottom so you know what's happening on what day.

Here's a sneaky sneak peak at June & May:

This is the mini calendar, so its 6 x 4 and printed on glossy photo paper.

I'm still unsure what to do with these; do I leave them as sheets so you can do what you like? Do I punch holes in them for you? Hmm...

Also, i've been looking at pricing. There are mini calendars on Folksy that are around £8-9, does that sound reasonable? That would mean the bigger one i'm making will obviously be a bit more, and its not glossy like this one so its hard to judge...argh! Pricing is hard!

Anyways, all the months designs are now done, so its just a case of the price and figuring out what to do with the sheets. Any ideas/help would be great :)

Thanks as always for supporting Ello!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: In The Garden

2011-11-18T10:16:00.000Z

Ello and welcome to another Folksy Friday :) This week has a special theme, because today is my Nan's birthday, so this post and its theme are dedicated to her. She was known for having green fingers so our theme today is a gardening one.

Even though its autumn, I hope you enjoy our spring collection! ;)

Little Brick House / Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics

Hattifer's Hand Sewn Gifts / FeltFace

Growing Gifts / RobDesigns

Button & Jewels Vintage Sign Co. / Bumbleblue

Emz Mosaics / Mosaics by Jan

Big thanks to the makers of these lovely items as always, makes me feel like i'm back in her garden with the greenhouse and runner beans!

For those wondering, her favourite colour was also green so it was an easy theme to choose this week :)

Hope you have a fun (and flowery!) weekend!

Leanne x x

2012 Calendar Progress

2011-11-16T13:55:00.000Z

I've been babbling on about it on Facebook for a while now, but I am finally getting somewhere with this calendar idea.

The calendar itself is only 6 x 4 inches so its a mini calendar. It's going to be printed on glossy photo paper and will be nice enough to frame if you wanted to (luckily 6 x 4 is a common size!)

The design features some hills, some birds and fence and this run throughout the months. I wanted a consistent theme throughout so it didn't look all messy and detached.

The style of the calendar will look like....this:

Ignore December slightly as it doesn't have the days on it, but that will be its design.
The important dates will be marked in a different colour, for November its gold (see the 5th,11th and 30th?)

At the moment, my personal favourite design is August, although I do have a soft spot for September too. The summer months were initially hard, but I got there in the end!

The only months I have to complete are April, May and July and it'll be finished! Hurray! I still don't know if the sheets will be loose, or tied with twine or something, so any suggestions on that would be most helpful.

Better get back to work!

Ello's Christmas Wishlist: Puds

2011-11-14T09:25:00.000Z

This week, I decided to do a theme wishlist and went with puddings :) I don't eat Christmas pudding myself, but its one of my favourite Christmas symbols.

If you like pudding or not, enjoy as always ;)

Shinta Shop / Quirky Boots

Lotus Blossom / The Nosuch Disco

CutiePies / The Mosaic Garden

Thanks to those who made these items, all look very delicious ;)

Only 41 days until Christmas! Argh, still presents to buy!

Wishing you a good week :D

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Snowflake Obsidian

2011-11-11T09:25:00.000Z

Ello again! This week's Folksy Friday theme was quite easy as i've wanted to feature this gorgeous stone for some time and my colour themes got in the way lol.

Snowflake obsidian is a variety of obsidian that has white/grey flakes that look like snowflakes and is one of my favourite stones :)

Since snow will probably soon be on the way, I thought it was fitting as a Folksy theme, so as always, enjoy!

Violet Haze Jewellery / Aingeal Designs

The Pretty Shop / Handmade By Vanda

Elle Bijou / Flamehaired Jewellery Designs

The Treasure Chest / The Jewelled Dragon

SP Jewellery / Unique Beaded Gems

Thanks goes to the makers of these items, all of which are lovely in their own way :) It was nice to have a jewellery based theme for once, as there are so many amazing items on Folksy.

Next week's theme is a little bit special for me, so be sure to check our Facebook page for a sneak peek ;)

Enjoy your weekend!

Leanne x x

Ello's Xmas Wishlist #5

2011-11-09T09:58:00.000Z

Due to the absence of the wishlist on Monday, its been moved to Wednesday this week, hurray! As always, i've found some gorgeous Christmas items this week so just had to feature them in our wishlist.

Happy shopping! ;)

Chalk Hill Studio / MillyMollyMandy

ilovehearts / Simply H Designs

Lucy's Cards / Betty and the Bean

Thanks as always to the makers of these cheerful Christmassy items!

As the weeks go on, i'm getting more exciting for Christmas! I still have a lot of presents to buy, so will have a snoop around Folksy to see what everyone has ;)

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Leanne x x

The Weekend of Forgetfulness

2011-11-07T09:46:00.001Z

I'm sorry to those expecting a wishlist today, but because of the vast amount of Motogp on yesterday (it was the last race after all!) I erm...forgot to make the wishlist for this week. So, it will return as normal next week, providing there isn't another sport that I get distracted by!

But, in the absence of the wishlist, I do have some Christmassy things!

--->

Those who read my Christmas Works In Progress post might remember a certain snowman card that needed a bit of tweaking. Well, I did a bit of chopping and changing and the result became the blue card above.

I don't normally do text on curves but the slope of the snow was too nice not to try it lol. I've also got a couple of cards to translate into Welsh for Christmas too :)

Also, fans of my high street note card, which was featuring in the new Fresh On Folksy blog this week, will be happy to know that i've decided to revamp it for Christmas! :D Its one of my most favourite cards so I thought a Christmas version would be quite nice to do.

I'm still finding these Christmas cards hard to do (it doesn't help that Folksy has been swamped with gorgeous cards lately, that actually put me down rather than inspire me!) So hopefully i'll come up with something this week.

Wishing you a good start to the week!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Indigo

2011-11-04T08:55:00.001Z

Another colour theme Folksy Friday (this is my 3rd in a row now, i'm sorry!) I just saw a programme on indigo dyeing and since I hadn't yet picked a theme, I did a search and some amazing items came up! So my mind was made up for me lol.

As always enjoy! :D

Natty Maid / PRINT for LOVE of WOOD

green grass / Hunt and Gather Design

Dormouse Designs / Anna King Jewellery

O V Gillies Jewellery / Whirligig

Ribbonreal / Buzybee

Thanks as always to the makers of these items, i've really enjoyed these colour themes (you can tell can't you? lol)

And a big thank you to those who comment/follow our blog! I really appriaciate all the support i've been getting lately, so thank you! *hugs*

Wishing you a good weekend!

Leanne x x

Ello Interviews: Sconch Textiles

2011-11-02T09:32:00.001Z

This week's interview is with Sam from Sconch Textiles!

I'd definitely recommend her Folksy shop and Facebook page ;)

Enjoy as always!

Firstly, why don't you tell us a little about your products?

I make and sell textile products, working with both fabric and wool. I make a wide range of products, from hats and scarves, to cushions and bunting. New products tend to come about when people approach me asking for something.

What inspired you to start your business? and what inspires your designs?

Believe it or not, I was never really very good at textiles at school – woodwork was my passion! I had always planned to be a teacher but due to health problems (I have M.E.), this didn’t happen. These health reasons also meant I needed a job that could be flexible and home based. Last year I enrolled in a textiles class to get me out of the house a bit. I was the only one there under 50, but I loved it, and found that somewhere between leaving school and now, I had developed an ability to make things. So last Christmas I decided that everyone’s presents would be homemade. And it sort of took off from there. I took the plunge in January to open an Etsy shop, and then started going to craft fairs, and I am loving (almost!) every minute of it. I am lucky enough that in the short term at least, Mr Sconch’s job can support us whilst I get Sconch off the ground.

My designs are inspired by many things, but recently I have found that I have been dreaming of new products! Aside from the dreams, I find that looking at materials (such as curtain swatches, which I get from my local curtain shop and turn into make-up brush rolls) can inspire me – it’s about working out which fabric works for which product. I love taking old fabrics and buttons and making them into a new product to be used again.

You use a lot of different materials, which is your favourite to work with?

I go through phases. Between March and August I didn’t do any crocheting as I was concentrating on the sewing side of the products. But I had an order for a hat, and picking up the crochet hook again really reminded me how much I love wool. Not that I will ever get bored of cotton – patchwork, dressmaking or heavyweight, I love them all. Going into fabric shops – especially ones that sell fat quarters, is my idea of heaven! I often drag Mr Sconch with me so that I don’t get lost in them!

Are you planning to expand into other areas in the future?

I did briefly dip my toes into the water with selling supplies – I sell vintage buttons (Mr Sconch was beginning to despair with the number I had), and had started to make felt and wool flowers for crafting after a few customers asked me if they could buy them separately (they adorn my hats and hair clips). But I found it quite hard juggling both – but the idea of doing this in the future, perhaps with fabric as well, is definitely appealing!

Which of your products is your favourite and why?

At the moment, it is probably my ‘Santa Stop Here’ Door hangers. They have a pocket for Santa’s cookie and a pocket for Rudolph’s carrot. I’m a big kid at heart, so this really appeals to me.

Do you have any special products lined up for Christmas?

Along with the door hangers, I am selling tree decorations. These are already selling quite well – particularly the robins, puddings and gingerbread men. I seem to spend most evenings in front of the TV making them up!

And finally, if you could try any other craft, what would it be?

For my birthday, I asked for a felt making kit – the kind you do with soap and water. It looks like so much fun. I was very kindly given all the equipment I need, as well as smaller project kits, and can’t wait to get going with this. With any luck, this might lead to a new product range. I also quite like the idea of dying my own fabric. Ooh, and spinning – I recently had the chance to have a go on a spindle at a fair, and although I was useless at it, I loved it. I’m a bit obsessed with crafts, aren’t I?!

----------

Many thanks to Sam for taking part in the interview!

It's always interesting to see how other crafters work :)

Hope you've enjoyed the read ;) until next time!

Leanne x x

Ello's Xmas Wishlist #4

2011-10-31T09:31:00.001Z

Another week full of Christmas delights! I've arranged the pictures like my Folksy Friday choices, so we now have 6 items per wishlist. All these shops are definitely work a look ;) Remember, shop handmade this Christmas!

The Shabby Tiger / Stephanie Short Stationery

Sconch Textiles / Happywrap Fabric Gift Wrap

Court & Spark / Pure Paper

Big thanks as always to the makers of these gorgeous items :)

I'm not a big fan of Halloween myself, but hope those who do celebrate

have a great time!

Look out for our next interview on Wednesday too with

Sconch Textiles featured above!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Grey

2011-10-28T09:25:00.001+01:00

I've changed this theme a couple of times this week, but finally decided to stick with my original theme, which was grey.

I've been feeling a bit grey lately, with the Motogp crash on Sunday and the weather has certainly been grey the past few days. Also, my Mum has a gorgeous Mavala nail varnish in Moon Grey so i've got a couple of excuses for choosing the colour!

If you're feeling a bit grey, hopefully this will cheer you up :)

Enjoy as always!

Imogens Imagination / Mutti and Tochter

made by lolly / Hazel Made It

Glitzy Gecko / Melisa Dora

Homemade Gems / velvetpaws

The Felt Menagerie

Many thanks to those who made the lovely creations above,

its very hard to choose a favourite :)

Hopefully i'll be more decisive on my theme next week!

Leanne x x

Ello Interviews: Lotus Blossom

2011-10-26T10:01:00.000+01:00

This week, to try something different, I interviewed the talented Sarah Dodd from Lotus Blossom! This will be the first of many interviews I plan to do on Wednesdays, so it could be you next week ;)

Many thanks to Sarah and hope you enjoy!

You can visit Sarah's Folksy shop here.

Firstly, why don't you tell us a little about your products?

I make a range of environmentally-friendly products, from free-machine embroidered greeting cards to crocheted art/gifts & sewn art.

What inspired you to start your business? and what inspires your designs?
I started sewing when I was studying art at GSCE, and I always put textiles into my creations. This then lead to me studying Textile Art at university.I sold cards throughout my studying from the age of 16, and it has grown from there. I have always wanted to be independent, so instead of getting pocket money I started a little mini business, and have never looked back :D

My designs are inspired by my day to day living, the environment around me and my friends! At the moment, its birds, as it seems to be a connecting theme through my friendship groups. A wonderful phrase that I recently saw, which somes this up is 'birds of a feather flock together'.

Being environmentally friendly is a main theme in your products. What inspired you to become more eco-friendly?

From having a rural up bringing in the Ashdown Forest, a lot of my childhood was spent outside with my cousins & sister thinking up all sorts of adventures. From an early age I decided that whatever I did, I didn't want it to impact our lovely nature in a negative way. I am a strong believer in upcycling, and using whatever resources we have before buying new. For the past 5 years I have only brought secondhand items where possible, and I endeavour to have as little impact on the environment as possible.

What materials/techniques are your favourite to use?
I find crochet very therapeutic but a lot of my time flies by when i'm surrounded by scraps of fabric at my sewing machine, thinking up new designs. Looking at a piece of material and imaging what I could turn it into. My mouth waters just looking at a collection of beautiful fabrics & ribbons.

You currently make greetings cards, but are you planning to expand into other areas?

I'm always trying to produce more art, and ideally I would like to start creating more wall pieces and prints.

Which of your products is your favourite and why?
My bunny brooch, it just makes me smile :D and I just love garden twine!

Do you have any special products lined up for Christmas?
I will be sewing lots of different robins, which will be for sale at various craft fairs that I am doing.These will all be unique one off's, I launched them last week and so far they have literally been 'flying' out!

And finally, if you could try any other craft, what would it be?

Needle felting, a few of my friends do this and it always looks amazing! A felting needle is on my christmas list...

----------

Again, many thanks to Sarah for answering my questions :)

You might notice i've used a different font, this is because when I copied the interview, it wouldn't change to my normal font, so I kept it as Courier, as Sarah uses it :)

Hope you enjoyed the read!
Leanne x x

Ello's Xmas Wishlist #3

2011-10-24T10:20:00.000+01:00

Another week, another wishlist! Another set of 5 gorgeous items that i've found this week, as Christmas is just over 60 days away (I shouldn't use numbers, it scares me how close Christmas is!)

As always, hope you enjoy this week's picks!

Felt Christmas Pudding Decorations by The Happy Whale

Personalised Mug by Laura Lee Designs

Christmas Hessian Gift Bag by Daisychain Handmade Gifts

Little Donkey Christmas Card by Loopy Linnet

Sunset Orange Glass Bauble by Corrina Field Handmade

Many thanks as always to those who made these lovely items :)

You can tell I enjoy making these blogs because all the items are slightly colour coordinated, as I do with my Folksy Friday themes! (i'm too picky lol)

Wishing you a good week!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Plum

2011-10-21T09:01:00.001+01:00

Plum is my favourite colour at the moment! I bought a gorgeous waterfall cardigan from Tesco (they have lovely knitwear *drool*) and its so warm! I've seen a couple of Christmas catalogues that my Mum has brought home and they all seem to feature this colour, so I thought it would be perfect for a Folksy Friday theme :)

As always, enjoy!

The Knitted Duck / A Knit 4 All Seasons

Anna King Jewellery / AMIdesigns

Rebecca Surgey Knit & Crochet / re:made

Chikako Jewellery / Blue Forest Jewellery

Ribbonreal / Oakwood Soaperie

Thanks as always goes to the makers of these items!

It was nice researching for this theme as there are so many shades of plum, it was fun to work out what would compliment which item :)

Enjoy your weekend!

Leanne x x

Christmas Works In Progress

2011-10-19T09:14:00.001+01:00

Even though the first ever cards I started making were Christmas cards, I still find them one of the hardest to make. This is down to the fact that everything has pretty much been done before and its hard to put a new spin on things, especially when using all the popular images associated with Christmas.

So this week, I had a play around and came up with these two:

My sister is in love with the first design and that'll probably be the ones she'll give this year. She started this whole card thing off, so she can choose what she likes ;)

The second one is going to be tweaked a bit more as its not shouting "Christmas!" to me, i'll work on that. The position of the text is getting moved a little too.

I'm going to put together some more colours for the first one; maybe some dark reds and greens to go with the plum? (I love that colour right now!)

Back to the drawing board!

Leanne x x

Ello's Xmas Wishlist #2

2011-10-17T09:16:00.001+01:00

I've found a couple of new shops this week which I just had to feature in some way.

I usually favourite a shop if it catches my eye, and these certainly did ;) Thanks to those who made these items, i'm sure they'll sell out fast!

My Ello Xmas list items this week are:

1. Union Jack make up bag by It was meant to Bee

2. Pencil Stencil bag by The Catkin Boutique

3. 4 Upcycled black and white comic mini notebooks

by The Paper Garden

(one for the boyfriend!)

4. Small pudding tags from Charlotte Macey Textiles

5. I Heart Bags Original Pocket Mirror by Polka Dot Handemade Gifts

(one for Mum, the bagahloic)

Hope you've enjoyed this week's list and found that certain item you were looking for.

Have a good week!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Polka Dots

2011-10-14T09:58:00.001+01:00

I've gone dotty for dots at the moment so this week's Folksy Friday theme is all about dots. I love that no matter what colour you use, the pattern still looks great :)

Enjoy as always!

Lillibee / Art & Mabel

MillyMollyMandy / lotus blossom

Nana / polka

Grace and Firefly / Nosey Rose Parker

Bobbin & Bumble / Betty Loves Boho

Thanks goes to the makers of these dotty items as always, thank you!

Hope you all have a good weekend and fingers crossed for Wales in the rugby ;)

Until next week!

Leanne x x

Ello's Habitat

2011-10-12T09:46:00.001+01:00

There's been a post on Folksy lately where people show the spaces where they create their works. So, since I had nothing to blog about, I thought i'd have a go too, although I warn you, its probably not as interesting as the others!

A stated above, since my area doubles as a normal computer area, it looks nothing like a craft area should, although there is the table next to the computer which is usually where we pack everything for posting. There's also my boxes full of supplies, but its very neat and tidy :)

My iMac was bought in 2010 while I was in college and I bought the Adobe software so I could do work from home (which rarely happened) but I now use it for my cards, so money well spent!

Hidden under the desk is my shiny Canon printer and it just about fits in the space provided, its a lot bigger than my last Brother printer, but its been very good to me and Ello.

My Apple mouse, unfortunately, was broken by a tampering Dad and I now use a lovely floral mouse from Boots. I wasn't keen on the Apple mouse to be honest as i'm so used to having buttons on a mouse and its easier to right click with the one I have now.

And...I think thats it. That's where all things Ello happen, ta-da!

Leanne x x

Ello's Xmas Wishlist #1

2011-10-10T11:48:00.001+01:00

Because its getting closer to Christmas (as we constantly are reminded!) I thought i'd revive the wishlist into a Christmas one, as there are a mountain of things i'd love on Folksy and can't keep up with them all.

So, every Monday i'll list 5 things that I would love for Christmas (and so you can snoop around the shops featured too!)

Hope you enjoy!

1. Coin Purse Vintage Quilt

Beledien

2. Script Mobile Phone/Mp3/Ipod Pouch

Phoebe Bee Bee

3. "The Street"

SophieSew

4. Organic Floral Purse

Peris & Corr

5. Blue, red and beige fabric basket

Alexia Claire

I can tell already this list is going to last me until Christmas!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Welshness

2011-10-07T09:15:00.001+01:00

Due to our amazing efforts in the Rugby World Cup and an upcoming order from North Wales, i've gone with a Welsh theme this week! Its so nice to be patriotic when the rugby is on :)

Enjoy as always!

Molly Moo and Jessica Too / earthdeva

Pili-Pala Jan / Millie's Market

Y Tylwyth Te / Peris & Corr

Sulwen Arts / Aileen Clarke Crafts

Rock Rose Jewellery / Handmade by BirdcageCreative

Many thanks to the makers of these lovely items! It was, as you can probably tell, a great theme to research for :)

Wishing us the best of luck in the rugby tomorrow!

Have a good weekend :)

Leanne x x

A Card for a Moogle

2011-10-05T13:55:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I mentioned on Facebook that I was working on a card for my sister's birthday and although I haven't taken a picture yet, I do have the digital version of it here:

The moogle card...and a moogle used for inspiration :)

My sister is a big fan of moogles from the game series Final Fantasy (although the moogle I used for inspiration is actually from Kingdom Hearts. She loves those moogles best!) so I ended up making a moogle card for her 18th.

I'll take a picture once I get the camera as its so much nicer in real life, she really liked it, although she knew she was getting a moogle card!

This has actually made me want to make more animal inspired cards so I might get on that sometime this week, so keep your eyes peeled for news ;)

Leanne x x

Almost at 100!

2011-10-03T14:15:00.001+01:00

It's been nearly 6 months since we first opened our Folksy doors and we're almost at 100 sales, 7 off to be exact! I'd love to get to 100 by the 21st (our 6 month anniversary) but getting past 10 was enough to make me happy :)

I really want to thank those who have purchased from Ello, follow me on twitter, facebook and here because you've really made the last 6 month enjoyable, so thanks!

Unfortunately, some may have noticed I can't always update my shop as much as I used too. Thats because the camera I use for listings belongs to my sister who is in college most of the week. Although, with over 106 items in my shop already, maybe I can afford to slow down a little!?

These are my newest creations, including my personal favourite tulips card:

All of these can be bought/seen at my Folksy shop :)

Wishing everyone a good month for sales!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Bees

2011-09-30T09:26:00.001+01:00

I'm not a big fan of bees in real life, but from a design point of view, I quite like them! So they are this week's Folksy Friday theme. Enjoy as always!

Hobbity Dog / Beadish Delight

Kettle of Fish / Come day go day

Cwtch / Bee Bee Crafts

Steampunk Storm / Josephines

Shinta Shop / Miss Pettigrew's Prints

Thanks as always goes to those who made these lovely items :)

Until next week!

Leanne x x

This Month's Folksy Purchases

2011-09-28T14:11:00.002+01:00

This month i've made a couple of Folksy purchases and couldn't be more pleased :) All the items are gifts so unfortunately won't be kept by me but I do love buying things online!

Maxine Veronica Jewellery

I've never bought a PIF (pay it forward) item before but had to nab this lovely bracelet from Maxine Veronica Jewellery. I love the mix of beads and colours; beautiful! Giving it to Mum for Christmas ;)

Dottie Doodle

Mum needed a present for a friend's 3-year-old daughter's birthday so I recommended a crayon roll. We decided upon this lovely roll from Dottie Doodle and Mum pretty much fell in love with it! She's now a crayon roll fan, haha.

Jessicas Jotters

So, after the crayon roll, I suggested a notepad for her to doodle in. I'd seen Jessica's Jotters on the listing club thread but we had a hard time choosing which design to go for! We finally went for this sweet cupcake design and it looked good enough to eat ;)

KerryLou Design

Finally, I needed something for my sister's 18th next week and then remembered this gorgeous notepad from my favourites list. It actually arrived this afternoon and is so pretty in real life I might just keep it (wouldn't be the first time!) My sister is always doodling for college so I know she'll love it.

So thats this month's purchases :) Its the most i've bought in a month as i'm still dipping my toes into purchasing. I can't wait for christmas now if all the items are going to be like these ones :) Many thanks to the makers of these items, they really are all amazing (and so well wrapped!) so thank you!

Giveaway Results!

2011-09-26T09:32:00.001+01:00

Big thanks to those who entered my mini giveaway, it was nice to experiment and see how these things are done :) Now for the results!

First place:

Winner is MerryBerry! Congrats!

You win the main prize of:

2 greetings cards of your choice (fully personalised!)

2 set of stickers of your choice (4 sheets)

And now for the 1st runner up:

Winner is Lorna May from Dab and a Dash!

And 2nd runner up:

Winner is Dannie from Colour Me Fun!

Both runners up get:

1 greetings card of your choice (fully personalised!)

1 set of stickers of your choice (2 sheets)

I will be contacting you shortly for details :) big thanks to everyone who entered, hopefully it'll be a proper big giveaway next time!

Leanne x x

Folksy Friday: Books

2011-09-23T09:17:00.000+01:00

One of my favourite things to do is read a good book, especially this week since i've been ill. Most of the books I read are fiction with a dash of history and romance thrown in. I do love a good manga book too!

So for those who love books too, this one is for you ;) enjoy!

Bookity / Phoebe Bee Bee

Mauve Magpie / EllyMental

Zebedee / Castle On The Hill

Hand printed by David / Emily Parkes Art

Forever Foxed / Made4yourBooks

Just had to point out that I read the paper everyday too! (I read too much)

Thanks as always to those who made the items above :)

and thanks to those who visit as always too!

Have a good weekend!

Leanne x x

Get Well Soon?

2011-09-21T19:16:00.000+01:00

Bleh. This week i've come down with an icky cold and now a cough. Couldn't sleep for 2 nights and I had to do orders without sneezing on them! (I can assure those who did order from me, no germs were added to your cards!)

I commented on my Facebook page that my get well cards would have been perfect for me...and just about everyone else I know because we all have colds!

I've had a good couple of days rest now and feel a lot better. Had a bigish order to fill today though my printer seems to have a cold too and decided it wasn't going to print my borders right. Anyone who has bought a card from me will know I have nice white borders on my cards, but not today due my printer!

After a few choice swear words and threatening to buy a new printer (which we might do anyway if I keep getting enquiries) I FINALLY got the order done. Phew.

So a disgruntled printer coupled with some awful medicine has not made a good day, but the order is done and I am content for now.

I celebrated my 90th Folksy sale and my 50th Noths sale this week so not a bad week really :) Thanks to those on Facebook for your kind words!

Maybe a get well soon Folksy Friday is in order??

Folksy Friday: Puffins

2011-09-16T10:00:00.000+01:00

Taking a break from the autumn theme this week and chose to go with puffins! I think they're adorable and we have our own puffin island reserve off the coast near us called Skomer Island. We have quite a few bird islands around here :)

As always, enjoy the collection!

Also don't forget about our Mini Giveaway!

owlhouse / Priscilla Morley Leather & Textiles

Tempo Designs / eastwitching

NOfkantsCurios / Wolf In The Woods

The Mosaic Garden

Sparklehen / Cow Bag

Thanks as always to those who made these pretty puffins :)

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Leanne x x

Ello Finds...New Shops!

2011-09-14T15:26:00.001+01:00

Due to the giveaway blog this week i've given the wishlist a miss and thought i'd post about some shops that i've recently found on Folksy. I love finding new shops, especially since Christmas is almost here :)

So here's a couple of shops i've found (and loved!)

--------------------

Little Blue Button Cards

As a card maker, I obviously have a thing for cards, so when I found this shop, it was an instant favourite. I think the thing that drew me in was the 'natural' look and feel of the cards, esepcially in the look and colours.

The shop only opened recently, so i'll be keeping on eye out for new cards!

-------------------

The Hunny Bunny Company

A shop I found during research for my woodland animal blog post last month (some might recognise this adorable squirrel that was featured). The shop makes various cuddly and lovable animals, the majority of which are utterly adorable.

A must see shop for all animal lovers.

--------------------

Moonpie Designs

You only have to look at my cards to see why I love this shop! As a graphics girl at heart, I feel in love with this shop straight away. The shop has a bicycle theme throughout and sells a number of items from the lovely badges above to cards and prints. Can't wait to see what they come up with next!

--------------------

I'm always finding & favouring new shops so keep an eye out for similar posts in the future! I might feature your shop! ;)

A Mini Giveaway

2011-09-13T10:50:00.004+01:00

Hello! In light of the recent rule changes on Folksy resulting in many shops having to close, I thought it would be nice to do something to cheer everyone up so decided a giveaway would be a good idea.

I've never done one before so the winners will be the first to get some free Ello goodies :)

I'm offering 3 prizes; 1 main prize & 2 runner up prizes.

--------------------

Main prize:

2 greetings cards of your choice (fully personalised!)

2 set of stickers of your choice (4 sheets)

Runner up prize x 2:

1 greetings card of your choice (fully personalised!)

1 set of stickers of your choice (2 sheets)

--------------------

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment stating what would be your ultimate birthday card? If you could choose the colour/design/wording, what would it be?

And thats it! Obviously if you advertise on Facebook/Twitter to help spread the word, that would be great too :)

The winners will be picked at random and the deadline for entries is Sunday 25th September, so in nearly 2 weeks time.

Best of luck to everyone! :D :D

Folksy Friday: Autumn Leaves

2011-09-09T09:32:00.002+01:00

I think this week's theme is self explanatory because it wouldn't be autumn without a smattering of golden, red and orange leaves around somewhere :) Enjoy!

Jinja Jewellery / Artisan Silver Jewellery & Keepsakes

Red Berry Hill / Sunny Day Stationery

Jane Lightfoot Designs / Rowan Tree Design

Amitola Jewellery / NOfkantsCurios

ialbert / lauriepunzzle land

by sally / Craft where Art thou

Lupin Handmade / Earthworks Journals

Thanks as always to the makers of the items above, they really get me in an autumn mood (as if the last couple of blog posts havent'!) Have a good weekend!

Leanne x x

Folksy Wednesday Wishlist #11

2011-09-07T09:31:00.000+01:00

This week's wishlist is looking at all things pumpkin, not because of halloween, but because this season reminds me of the harvest festivals we used to have in school, with all the yummy fruit and veg :) Enjoy this lovely selection as always!

The Snail Emporium / Cloudberry Designs

QuirkyBird / Kaela Mills

Genevieve Cseh Art / CutiePies

Handmade Mania / Cranberry Charms

I Love Cookies / Fabulous Beasts

Many thanks to those who made these items, they're all amazingly made and unique in their own special way :)

We'll be carrying on the autumn theme again this Friday so keep and eye out!

Thanks for following as always!

Leanne x x

4th Featured Item!

2011-09-05T11:11:00.002+01:00

Wow! Woke up to check Folksy and saw my stationery stickers are a featured item! This is my 4th featured item in the 5 months i've been there so i'm very grateful to Folksy and those who chose my items.

You might notice these on the front page!

This is the 1st time my stickers have been featured so i'm very pleased!

It's for a school theme too :)

My other featured items have been for the orange, red & books themes:

Thanks again to Folksy & those who chose these items!