New Item - Modern Baby Card

I've added a new card to the Sanctum Design Studio Line.

The Modern Baby Card

Great for:
Baby Shower Invites
Gift Enclosures
Birth Announcements
Congratulation someone on their new "addition!"
and so on...

It's 4.25"x5.5" folded printed on linen textured card stock, and paired with a white envelope. It comes in Blue, Pink, Green, and Purple or I can do custom colors at no charge. Hop on over to my shop and check out the Modern Baby Card. There is also a set of 10 available, as well.

Another Feature! Oh how "fabulous!"

Wow. People really love my "Love Birds" cards!!

I got featured in another blog today, with a picture and everything!

I'm so excited how much everyone likes the design! Sales have picked up since it's getting closer and closer to Valentine's Day. I had 3 sales in the past 2 days, which is amazing for me. I don't make cards to make money. I just like sharing my designs with people and hope that someone can make a loved one's day by giving them handmade card.

Go check out fabulous fabulous! It's the blog of Jill Peitzmeier McNamara, a photographer and craft favorites blogger, located in Phoenix.

Her blog is full of her favorite picks from Etsy, and she really has great taste... obviously! ;)

Timothy Adam's Handmadeology

Timothy Adam is at it again, creating a great way to learn how to sell handmade items online, successfully. He is a wealth of useful knowledge when it comes to this topic and has created a site devoted to it. He will be starting his lessons starting January 26th, and you can sign up for the newsletter for free. If you have a small handmade business that you want to get off the ground, this is the guy with all the best tips.

Visit Handmadeology.com, now for more info and make sure to sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of the page!

From his bio:

"Timothy Adam is a self taught metal artist who makes a living selling
online. He is also dedicated to helping others achieve their goal of successfully
selling their handmade goods online."

Timothy Adam's Top 10 Monday

Timothy Adam's Top 10 Monday has been posted and so far the exposure is much appreciated!

If you have an Etsy shop, its very easy to be considered for the list. Visit the Top Ten post and follow the instructions for entering. All you have to do is comment on your favorite from that week and mention your shop. Go to the Etsy forum, do the same, and That's it! He picks his favorites out of the entries every week. It may be a little late for this week, but he does this every week.

You can stay posted on his blog and Twitter page.

Google Analytics - On Etsy!

This post is a little overdue, but I still wanted to share a link with you all.

For my fellow Etsians, you may know that Etsy has started to offer Web Analytics, provided by Google. This allows you to track page views and see where you're getting clicks from. I realized I am getting a lot of traffic from referral sites... Some I hadn't even heard of. It's really cool to see people are reffering to my site!

Anyway, if you have an Etsy shop, you might find it useful to start tracking your traffic and comparing stats. Timothy Adam posted "Google Analytics and Your Etsy Shop," with a great little video giving a basic overview of the different features of Google Analytics, and different links to help you get started. Tim's a wealth of information, so I suggest you hop over and check out his blog!

Time for Change - and I'm not taking about Obama!

My hair was getting long and starting to make me feel frumpy because I felt buried in it. I'm Hispanic, so that means my hair is thick and plentiful. Some girls would think this is a good thing, but believe me, it's not! It's really heavy and as it gets longer, all it wants to do is get tangled and split at the ends. So, since I am getting gradumicated (my word!) tomorrow, I decided to get a hair cut.

I've always liked the short choppy layers I see all the cool kids doing and thought it would be a cool look for me. Every time I go somewhere in the mall I end up with a basic layered cut. It's like they decide to keep it subtle. I'm not paying them to play it safe! So I went to someone my boss recommended and voila!

I got a great cut for not too much money. And he's a really cool guy too.

His name is Shea Lemons.
If you ever need a haircut, you should look him up!
He's located at the Plaza Salons in Irving, TX - Suite #52

Tell him Susie sent you!


P.S. This is merely a friendly recommendation. I'm not getting any perks for referrals!

Getting my first feature!

I am so excited! I entered my shop to be considered in a blog list, and I got on it!

Timothy Adam, a very talented metal artist, is also an avid blogging and marketing guru. His blog is full of great tips and trick for people who like to sell handmade items online. Every week he features his favorite picks from certain Etsy shops. His blog gets a lot of traffic, so the feature is very exciting!

I already got a sale, just because he announced his picks on twitter!

I'll be posting a link to his list when he posts it on Monday. I just couldn't wait to share the news.

Make sure to stop by Timothy Adam's site and blog. He sells handcrafted metal jewelery, jewelery stands and art... Well... actually - All his stuff is art! Some of it is just wearable!

:)

New Item - Red Poppies - Flat Thank You Cards

Here's a simple card I created to throw in with an order yesterday.
I liked it so much I want to offer in my shop.


4.25" x 5.5" Flat note cards
Left blank on the back for you to add your own hand written personal message.

Set of two for just $4

Larger sets available in two's
Save when you buy more!
4 - $6
6 - $9
8 - $12
10 - $15
and more, just ask!

All designs are © Susana Ortiz - Sanctum Design Studio

Commencement... finally.

I started school back in October of 2005. Seems like such a long time ago. Especially for it only being a 2-year degree. But nonetheless, I have finished school and will be graduating this Saturday. It's finally starting to hit me as I have been inviting people to come -last minute. With the short notice, it looks like not many will make it. Those who will be able to make it will share the day with me as I finally finish what I started. It's probably going to be an emotional day for me. I worked really hard for something a lot of people take for granted.

This moment came close to not happening at all, when I tried to re-enroll for the last few classes I had left. I had to sit in front of a committee and promise that I would finish my two terms, with not one absence. I did it, as promised.

My hard work hasn't gone unnoticed. I'm lucky to be doing what I love, everyday, and still have time for what matters most to me: my family. I'm not, by any means, wealthy, but I'm able to provide for my daughter and that's all that matters.

I couldn't have done it alone though. Over the past few years I had the full support of my friends and family. If you're reading this, I want to Thank you all.

Project365 is underway!

As I posted yesterday, I decided to take one picture per day, as a project for this year. I started off on the 1st, but just got a chance to upload my pics yesterday and today. I went ahead and posted all the pics I have so far. Please feel free to follow this blog, and keep up to date with my little project. I hope to make it interesting, but in reality, it will probably be a lot of pictures of Gennie.

I might have to change the name of the project to Gennie365 ;)

01-01-09 - Gennie in the tub

01-02-09 - Gennie Rummaging :)

New Year Creativity Goals

As the new year arrives, I've been thinking of ways to get off my butt and start exercising my creativity a bit more. I've gotten lazy when it comes to my side work, and I decided to challenge myself a bit more.

1. I'm going to take a picture a day.

This doesn't sound like a lot, but for me it's a starting point. For someone who doesn't use their very expensive camera as much they should, it's an effort to try more. Plus, I noticed I started slacking in the "mommy-needs-to-document-everything" area.

I started yesterday with some pictures of Gennie in the tub, being oh so cute. I can't post it now, since I'm at work, but I will as soon as I get home, along with whatever today's picture is. Notice the slacking of POSTING a pic a day.... lol. I started a new sanctumds flickr account that I will use to document each day.

2. Design AT LEAST one card a week.

This is a lot. I don't have a lot of free time to devote to designing, but this will at least give me a minimum goal. I'd like to do a card a day, but I've already tried this and it's not as easy as I thought. So I'm staying realistic and factoring in the listing and blogging process. I will shoot for more cards than just one, so keep following and you'll see all the new designs I come up with this year!

3. Just Do MORE!!

I need to up the ante and start venturing out, more. I have already started twittering and networking, and looking for outlets to start marketing my cards. I have also talked with my dad about starting to do some leather work, so we can collaborate on that. He's all for it, but I have to keep on him and go over there more so we can work together on it. I already have some designs I'd like to try out, so I'll keep everyone posted on that.

All in all, I'm not really asking much of myself, really. I just need to try a bit harder and push myself to do more than nothing with my creativity.

Any other suggestions or words of encouragement would be great.

Happy New Year!!

-Susie