Certified Handmade

Yeah! My Artfire design studio has been certified handmade.

At ArtFire thier is a program to help their artisans promote their individual creativity and recognize their contributions to the ArtFire community.  It is called the Artifact Program .

Just another of the many reasons why I love Artfire!  They try and do so much for their Artisans.

In mid July they started accepting applications for the Handmade Artifact.  This artifact is a certification that an Artisan has made a choice to only place handcrafted items in their studio.  All of the items have to be handmade and not factory crafted or reproduced.   In the application I had to describe my craft, the design and creation process I use, demonstrate work in progress, and display the workspace that was used to  for the creations.  I am proud that My Twised Stone Designs studio displays the Handmade artifact.

This artifact will help distinguish the handmade artisan goods on Artfire. If you are looking for handmade goods on Artfire look for this artifact in the individual studios.
 

I Followed My Bliss…Now What?

I have chosen Artfire for my primary selling venue.  They have a wonderful administration, the other Artfire artisans are great for support and just everyday relationships, and promotional tools they offer are outstanding.

The latest promotional tool on Artfire is the Artisan Curated Collections. These collections are made of hand-selected item from an artisan and then published in the Collections section on the website.  My pieces have been featured in a few of the collections.  It is such an honor to be recognized by another peer.  Every time I get a notification that you have been published in a collection, you think “how cool!” and it puts a smile on your face.

The collections on Artfire have been very popular with a lot of the Artisans, to date there are over 1000 collections that have been made.  Many of the Artisans are reporting an extreme jump in their viewing statistics on their studios once they have been featured in a collection and there are many that are selling the items that are listed in the collections.  The collections are a phenomenal promotional tool, and just in time for the start of the fall and holiday season.    And the collections are so fun to make, they are almost addicting.  It gives you such a great opportunity to view some the great talent that can be found on Artfire.   There are a lot of items that I have found when creating a collection that normally I would have never looked for.

These are a couple of the collections from my Artfire guild, I Followed My Bliss…Not What?.  The guild is a group of Artisans that have chosen to follow their passion but also have full-time careers in addition to their creative passions.

ArtFire Christmas In July Sale

The ArtFire Christmas In July Sale is almost upon us! Beginning on July 12th and running for twelve days many of the fabulously talented artisans at ArtFire will be offering a variety or combination of discounts, free shipping, coupons, free gifts, bogo and other types of promotional incentives. It’s a great time to find fantastic deals on wonderful handmade items.

 The “Christmas In July” trend page will be up and running on the 12th so it will be easy to find the studios that are participating in this exciting sale. Just go to ArtFire’s Home Page and then look in the Trends Section for “Christmas In July”. You will be able to search for specific types of items from that page or just browse through all that is being offered.

The Twisted Stone Designs Studio I will be offering free shipping on all items for the duration of this sale.  I will also be having daily specials sales on specific items, keep an eye on your favorite items.  I hope you will stop in… 🙂

Etsy and Artfire

I can not believe it has been six weeks since my last post. 

I have been working really hard on getting everything ready to get my Artfire and Etsy Store open while trying to get a major deadline out with my day job.   Both the Artfire store and Etsy store are now up and running.  I actually got a few things listed last night and this morning.  Here are a couple of them.  I am hoping to get more up there soon.   I have to say the whole process of setting up both the Artfire and the Etsy store was a fairly simple process.   Have a great week everyone.