The Importance of Branding for Your Handmade Business

It takes only takes 7 seconds to make a first impression. You want the first impression someone has about your business and handmade products to be memorable and recognizable and this can be achieved by proper branding. Branding is more involved than just picking a logo. It’s everything from your logo, colour scheme, packaging, the style of your product, photographs, websites, marketing materials, craft show displays, store displays and even how you write product descriptions. The goal of branding should be to make your product and business recognizable with just a quick glance. This way if a customer comes across your website, blog, Etsy shop, craft show booth or your product in a brick and mortar store they instantly recognize that it’s yours.

Etsy Success Symposium with April Bowles-Olin

I’ve been a follower of April Bowles-Olin from Blacksburg Belle since I first came across her blog around the same time I opened my Etsy shop and started my blog. She is full of wonderful information to help creative entrepreneurs and she is always friendly and supportive. April was given the opportunity to present two workshops yesterday at Etsy’s Success Symposium in Brooklyn, New York. Her first workshop was focused on finding and marketing to your target market and her second talked about how to reach your creative goals. For those of us not lucky enough to be there, the video are available to watch online. If you didn’t have a chance to watch live, or you just would like to see the videos again you can find them here along with the worksheets to download and work along with the group. You will also find links to the other wonderful speakers of the day as well!Enjoy! ♥

My Inspiration…A Follow Up Entry

I hope by now everyone has had a chance to read the Guest Blog entry written by April Bowles-Olin about how to find inspiration in every day things. If you haven’t take a minute now to do so, it’s a wonderful article.

I’ve decided today write a follow up to her blog entry. As she explained, regardless of how creative you are “life has a tendency to get in the way”. This has been very true over the last two weeks for me. I’ve been busy with other commitments and haven’t had the time or energy for my creativity to come through. This past week however I was signed up to take a class to learn enameling. It’s something I’ve wanted to learn for quite some time and a class I was very much looking forward to. The only problem was that with how busy I’ve been I knew I needed to get back into a creative mind frame to get the most out of the class. So the day before my class I decided to take April’s advice to try to get those creative juices flowing.

I’ve been staying in a beautiful area of Toronto and it was a gorgeous day so I decided to take a walk with my camera. Just as April suggested I left my cell phone at home so there would be no distractions. I walked through the streets and listened to crunching leaves under my feet, looked at beautiful displays in store windows, hunted through some antique stores for interesting things, sat in the chilly wind on the lake front and spent some time people watching. It was just what I needed to have some time to myself and get back to my creative mind frame. These are a few of the pictures I took during my walk.

Whether you realize it at the time or not what you see in your everyday life has an effect on what you create. I realized this later after my first day of class when I was looking at the photos I had taken and something caught my eye. I noticed I had taken a picture of an old rusty door lock. One of the pieces I had created in class had a very familiar rusty look to it. Have a look for yourself and you’ll see what I mean. It became clear that what you see and experience comes through in what you create whether it’s intentional or not.

Guest Post: How to Find Inspiration in Everyday Things and Moments

Take a minute to remember a magical moment in your life.

Are you thinking about the moment where you fell in love with your husband? Are you picturing Christmas morning as a child? Did the image of you crossing the stage at your college graduation in your cap and gown pop into your mind?

These magical moments make life exciting and sepcial. But, what if you could have more magical moments? Even have them each day?

Many creative people find inspiration all around them already—and you might be one of them. But, life also has a tendency to get in the way.

When you’re busy getting your children ready for school, feeding your dogs, or trying to meet a deadline at work, the everyday things and moments that could feel magical and inspire you might get lost. That’s normal.

Live in the Moment

 

It’s important to remember how to get back to finding inspiration in everyday things and moments. Start taking advantage of every moment by being fully present. If you’re washing the dishes put all of your attention towards washing those dishes. Pay attention to the warm, soapy water, the sounds, and the semll of the dish washing soap. If you’re taking a walk, unplug yourself. Leave your cell phone and ipod off or at home, and pay attention to the colourful leaves on the ground, the smell of the crisp fall air, and the way the wind feels when it brushes past your face.

When you live in the moment, you start to notice things that you wouldn’t otherwise notice. On your walk, you might observe lover’s initials carved into a tree or the innocent laughter of a child walking ahead of you. 

Take Photos of Ordinary Objects

Another way to push yourself to pay attention to ordinary things is to take your camera wherever you go, and take pictures of ordinary objects that catch your attention.

I’m not a professional photographer – not even close – but I’ve learned so much from taking photographs. I might take a picture of my dogs lying together ont he grass, a photograph of a bicycle propped up against a house, or a picture of the way the light hits a bunch of fall leaves, making them seem magical.

Give yourself a goal to take at least 10 pictures per week. At the end of the week, review your pictures and see if anything inspires you. Use that inspiration in your art, jewelry, or other crafts.

Go On A Treasure Hunt

I love going to my local thrift store, yard sales, and flea markets to hunt for lovely objects that need a new home. I might find an old dictionary that I can use in my mixed media, a t-shirt that I can turn into a pillow, or a map that I can use in my art journal.

Try it yourself. Go to your local thrift store, to a yard sale, or to a flea market and look for objects that inspire you—that seem magical. You don’t have to buy anything if you don’t want to—just the experience of “hunting” for inspiring objects will spark your creativity.

When you make finding inspiration in everyday things and moments a habit, it will start to come more and more naturally to you.

April Bowles-Olin works with creative women to lead more fulfilling lives while they make money doing it. She also attempts to add a little prettiness to the world with her art and jewelry. You can learn more about her at Blacksburg Belle and connect with her on Twitter @blacksburgbelle.