One of a Kind Spring Show

It's that time of year again! Handmakers are gearing up for the  One of a Kind Spring Show & Sale! Shop for your handmade goods in-person at the #OOAKS15 from March 25th-March 29th you can meet and shop from over 450 artisans, makers and designers across Canada, including, of course, local favorites.

There will be once again be a vibrant marketplace of Etsy sellers at the One of a Kind Show this year. To find out more about the Etsy section at the show, click here.

 

The incredibly talented Etsy sellers at OOAK this year include many of TEST's own sellers! Leslie Fruman of ClayShapes will be selling her decorative and functional pottery at OOAK in enthusiastically brilliant colours! Visual artist and illustrator Kelly Hu of L2R Studios will have her fun and lovely art for sale. Alexandra Harrison of light & paper will have her delicate and gorgeous papercuts and laser-cut wood pieces. Jamie Bennett of Little Bellwoods will have her charming and wonderous miniature stuffed animals. Find handmade soaps and candles by Heejin Kim of Malee By Nature. Get adorable poppets from Jen Moffat-Hallam of Pikelet Workshop. Get unique textile, leather and metal jewellery by Michèle Guevara. Anthony Kentris of Route 401 puts license plates to great use with his maps and home decor. Shannon Smith of Salvage Ink offers screenprinted textiles and housewares. Find nostalgic photography by Charlene Precious. Find the letterpress paper goods of Carolyn Draws. Get your eco-friendly hand-stitched goods from stitch & spoke. Find upcycled bags and purses by jool. Embroidery kits, screenprints and more are handmade by kiriki press. Screenprinted scarves and pouches are available from the new season by fionnahanna. Honest and quirky hand lettered greeting cards, art prints, journals, and various paper goods offered by sea & lake. Get your handmade nail polish and decals by beyond the nail. Find hand-lettering and whimsical paper goods from Doris Wai of LifeLongLove.   You can find more of your Etsy favs selling at #OOAKS15 here!     Meet the Artists

9 Tips to Create a Perfect Customer

You made a sale - Congratulations. Before you send the customer their purchase, make sure you have the tools to effectively contact the customer again. Get your customer's information!

 

Customers buy from people they like, know and trust. The customer already likes your product (and hopefully you).

 

Step back and get to know your customer, so they will trust you and come back for more.

 

Did you know that your BEST customer is an EXISTING customer.

 

Here are 9 simple ways you can create a perfect customer, build a relationship and keep them coming back for more.

 

1) Get their information: Ask for their email address

2) Get their information: Ask for their mailing address (you'll find out why ... see point 6)

3) Get their information: ask for their birthday (see point 7)

4) Note their purchase (listen): write a note for yourself (Ms. Smith, purple necklace for her sister)

5) Follow-up and make it personal. It takes 30 seconds, and will make your customer feel good (and potentially come back for more). Hi Ms. Smith. Thanks for visiting my etsy shop, I hope your sister loves the purple necklace as much as you do. Sincerely Sarah

6) send a handwritten thank-you... our mailboxes are full of bills - treat your customer to a hand-written card. A short simple note is perfect.

7) You know your customer's birthday ... and send them something special on their birthday. This could be months from when you initially met them, but this little interaction will keep you fresh in their minds.

8) Be an expert. You have their information, send them something interesting. Trending colours, new jewellery techniques. Maybe even a how-to or DIY.

9) Special Occasions. Remember your customers year-round. Mother's Day is coming up ... what a perfect chance to wish your customers a Happy Mother's Day, or send a sample or gift.

 

Written by Jacqueline Hunter (Show Director, Craftadian)

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What to get the maker? TEST has you covered.

DIY Kits & Supplies 

Ever found yourself stuck for a gift idea for the maker in your life? That person who always has the perfect, handmade gift, just for you? Changes are, she or he is a fan of fellow makers and would love a beautiful, handcrafted kit to try something new. Plus, you cannot go wrong giving them more supplies (there is never too much craft supplies)! Well, the Toronto Etsy Street Team has you covered. Check out our  TEST Gifts for the Crafty! You'll find kits, tools, supplies, patterns and more. Everything from hand-spun yarn, to origami paper, to bookbinding kits, beads, washi tape, stamps and sculpting tools.

Valentine's Day Polymer Clay DIY

Hi everyone! Happy Valentines Day!!! ♥♥♥♥♥

In this video I will teach you how to make miniature heart cookies just in time for Valentines day. Thank you for all the support everyone.

Need to know how to make icing? See the video here.


Did you make your own? I'd love to see it! Share with me photos by using the hashtag #candiwarehowto on Instagram and Twitter!

Photography Classes - Special TEST-Member Only Rate!

Toronto Etsy Street Team members can now receive 40% on GTA Photography classes anytime!

Vendor Call: Beaches Artists' & Artisans' Spring Market

 Vendors Wanted for the 

Beaches Artists' & Artisans' Spring Market

 

  

at Beaches Presbyterian Church, 65 Glen Manor Drive,

March 28, April 25 & May 30, 11:00 - 4:00

Featuring...

Unique Gifts
Spring Fashions for You & Your Home
Creations in wood, metal, glass, pottery, paper,
leather & textiles
 

 If interested please contact

M. Livingstone

co-ordiknits@rogers.com

Vendor Call: Signatures 2015 Fall/ Winter Shows

Find all you need to know about the Signatures 2015 show here.

Good luck everyone and happy vending.

Great Toronto-made Valentines on BlogTO

Lovely, funny and yummy food puns by Gotamago

BlogTO did a round-up of fun Valentines by local artists to let you "bypass Hallmark cheese [...] by making dorky puns, poking fun at the awkward side of relationships, or making artwork so beautiful and intricate it'll melt even the coldest, Grinchiest heart." Amongst the selection of course is some TESTy talent.

minouette's thermochromic Valentine for the nerd in your heart

simple and sweet I Heart You by HeyRube

Gorgeous, customizable, hand-cut Valentines by Light&Paper

For true love, even first thing from Sea&Lake

Hilarious puns like "I love you a waffle lot" from new TEST member Queeniescards

VENDOR CALL

 

What:

CRAFTADIAN™ Spring Show (formerly Made by Hand Show)

 

When:

Saturday April 18, 2015

 

Where:

The International Centre, Entrance 6 (Mississauga, ON)

 

Cost:

starts at $155; 8' tables included

 

Deadline:

2nd round jury closes March 1, 2015

2000 - 3000 attendees

 

More Information:

http://www.craftadian.ca/spring-application/

Jacqueline@craftadian.ca

 

 

 

TESTy Valentines in person

Valentine's Day is here sooner than you think, which is why we've rounded up some great Etsy sellers who you can shop in-person from!

For Torontonians, head over to the Love & Rummage 7 trunk show on February 8th. Admission is free and you can pick up a beautiful cashmere slouchy hat complete with vintage doily, a hand-painted Valentine's Day card or tell your Valentine to wear your heart on your (coffee) sleeve. You can even find the ultimate Galentine's Day gift.
Sellers include TEST's own Dreamsouth, Nathalie-Roze, Your Heart's Haven and DotHandmade.

Also February  8 is the Annex Flea, where you can find things to indulge your sweetie, like rose scented bubble bath or indulge your pet with grain-free cranberry cat treats. Give the yoga-lover the divine OM. Sellers include TEST's own Sudsatorium, Designed To Life and House of Cat.

To find out more events near you, click here! And if you can't make it to any, don't forget an Etsy Gift Card is also a sure way to warm your loved ones heart.

Local Toronto Love&Rummage7

Annex Flea

Etsy Captains Summit

Our Captain Ele of minouette and Leaders Michelle of thunderpeep and Christine of Art That Moves were amongst about 50 leaders from teams across Canada who spent Monday and Tuesday at the Etsy Summit here in Toronto. Along with our  fellow team captains and leaders from across the country, Etsy staff and guests, we've been planning the (anxiously awaited) follow-up to our amazing Etsy: Made in Canada show! It was such an astonishing success, we're going to try to make it a yearly event. Saturday, September 26th, the Toronto Etsy Street Team and 416Hustlers are planning to do it again, at MaRS. There will also be many more simultaneous shows from coast to coast to coast!

Besides meeting like-minded makers, sellers and leaders, we had a chance to really learn from everyone else's experience.
Some of the highlights included talks from our peers. The tireless powerhouse from WEST (the Winnipeg Etsy Street Team), Ruth Schulz Smith shared her Event Management expertise and enthusiasm. It's no coincidence she won the only award, having been nominated by her peers. Jessika Hepburn, one of the Halifax leaders and creator of Oh My Handmade! gave an amazing talk about community building and working with partners big and small. I don't want to sound corny, but it was really inspiring. One captain said she felt her mind so teeming with ideas that she couldn't sleep. As a group, we are consciously coming from the vantage of the handmade movement; we all want to grow our small businesses, but we are also fostering an economy that values the artists, designers, the handmade, the local, the eco-friendly, the repurposed or vintage treasures over the mass produced.  All of the captains and leaders volunteer their time for their teams, and are working to make things easier for all of these handmakers and vintage sellers to run their businesses and maybe even make a life from what they love. Maybe it isn't surprising that they had such interesting things to say about community, partnerships and creative businesses working to improve their corners of the world.

Ruth with rapt audience

Jessika talks about getting involved

We also heard from Etsy. We had some fun PR role playing with the lovely Etsy PR folks as well as their publicists. There was a great talk from their guest colleague Moishe Lettvin, an engineering manager for Seller Growth. He started his talk with images of his mother's pysanky (Ukrainian style) eggs to explain how he'd grown up surrounded by handmade items. While his creative outlet is writing code, he explained that finding a job at Etsy, after Microsoft and Google, felt like coming home. I enjoyed a peek at the technical stuff about the back end of Etsy, but it was also great to hear his enthusiasm for the things we do, and making it easier to run our businesses. Lastly, we got a chance to ask some questions about what the future may hold! I think people left reinvigorated, full of new ideas and happy, which is wonderful.

Our TEST leadership team is getting together soon to plan all our events for 2015. Be sure to let us know if you have any great ideas for what we can do as a team! Bigger and better shows, get-togethers, workshops, and more partnerships are all on the table and we always love hearing from members.

Charity Craft Supply Swap at ArtsMarket on College

T.E.S.T.'s own ArtsMarket will be hosting a Charity Craft Supply Swap at their 846 College Street location on  February 21st from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The premise of the event is akin to your regular clothing swap, however on this occasion we'll be swapping crafting supplies. In lieu of asking for a financial participation fee we're asking attendees to bring a donation for PARC (Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre).

They're keen to bring in some much needed supplies for a great, much needed community resource at PARC (and any left over crafting goods will be donated to Story Planet).

If you have any questions about the event, feel free to email steph@artsmarket.ca  and follow the event page here.

Enjoy a cuppa tea on Etsy today

White vase with brown rim by Akai Ceramic Studio

 
DAVIDsTEA will be offering a free cup of any tea, hot or iced, to Etsy members on Wednesday, February 4, 2015.

All you need to do is pop into any shop, at any time of day, and download the Etsy app to your phone. Flash the Etsy app screen to an employee and enjoy your free tea!

Not only that,  DAVIDsTEA will be featuring some of your favorite sellers' wares, including the very talented local seller Toronto’s Akai Ceramic Studio! You'll remember their gorgeous ceramics with beautiful simple forms from our Made in Canada show last September.

Creative Bookbinding workshop

Join TEST member Carolyn Eady of Sprouts Press and learn how to make your own journal!
In this creative class, students will first learn basic techniques to decorate paper and then how to transform this into a hand bound journal using the Longstitch technique.

Workshop fee: $65
Where: Little House in the City, 555 Parliament Street
When: Sunday February 8, 2015  1pm - 4pm

For more information and to register, please visit: www.littlehouseinthecity.ca
This is a hands-on class, everyone will leave with a finished project.
No previous bookbinding experience required.
All materials provided and tools available for in-class use.