Fruit Sorbet Baby Mitts

Vibrant pink and melon orange baby mitts for your 6-12 month old.

This photo was contributed to our flickr photo pool by Knit Gallery by Arly.

Two Glassy Ladies

In my last post, I shared a video that I made of my product line and asked readers to let me know if they had anything similar to share. I am pleased that Amy and Elizabeth of Two Glassy Ladies have spoken up and pointed me to a video of their work.

Two Glassy Ladies is a mother / daughter and friend team that are involved in making some pretty spectacular glass creations. Together, they create glass beads, glass cheese trays, glass serving platters and many more beautiful items.

This video, taken at the Moss Street Market in Victoria BC, shows off their amazing work and their stunning smiles. Enjoy!

Two Glassy Ladies - Beautiful Booth of the Month from Mathew Augustus on Vimeo.

You can visit Two Glass Ladies online to find more information and specific product information.

Marketing Your Artisan Goods - Product Videos on You Tube

As we go forward into a new year, it is a great time to put things into perspective. Make note of your successes and celebrate all of the goals you reached. Feel proud about the work you have done, both creatively and more on the business side of things.

It is also a time to be honest with yourself and re-evaluate your product lines. Are you making products that people really want or are you making art or goods that you love to make and then trying to find a market for them? Neither approach is wrong, but if you are making what you love, and there isn't a market for it, you face more challenges in trying to sell your product.

I've had to re-evaluate my product line over the past year. I personally love working with vintage glass, and recycled items. There is a market for those types of items, but I've definitely had to diversify. So, I made the move into working with precious metals. This gives me the opportunity to do personalized and custom work which always sells well.

I haven't abandoned my love of vintage and recycled items. I still use them. Best of all, I found a way to marry my love of all things recycled with my new found interest in precious metals. I work with silver art clay, which is made from recycled silver. So I'm staying true to myself, as well as meeting a demand in the marketplace. I encourage you to find ways to do the same in your artisan or craft business.

One of the things I am going to do more of this year is posting videos to You Tube. I made one a while ago for my vintage glass cufflinks, and I just made one today to feature my handcrafted, fine silver jewelry. You Tube videos offer up all kinds of possibilities, from a straightforward product feature, to tutorials, to personal interviews, etc. I'm going to try and explore as many of these options as I can in the next year.

This really is a great marketing opportunity for artisans. Photographs don't offer the tactile experiences of shopping in real life. A video can offer a little more depth and help to diversify your customer's shopping experience. It may make you stand out from the competition. It can also draw traffic to your online venue.

Here is my video for your viewing pleasure. I made it using Windows Movie Maker, which is standard software with all PCs running a Micro Soft operating system.



If you have a video of your products (and are a Canadian artist or artisan) please let me know. I'd love to post it on CanArtisan.

Friday Five: Winnipeg, MB

Winnipeg is the largest city in Manitoba as well as its capital. Winnipeg is known for its festivals, urban forest and wonderful Etsians! I wanted to share a few of these Etsians with you today for the Friday Five. There's also many other talented Etsians from Winnipeg so be sure to check them all out in the local search tool on Etsy.

Aren't these prairie dogs cute? According to the item description "This couple just got together and they're still in the 'Honey Moon' faze, so don't try to get them apart just yet." So adorable! These cute critters and other creations can be found in Kami's shop, Marathon1981. This prairie girl at heart has a lot going on! A student, mother, crafter and thrifter, and Kami makes all her creations without a pattern so no two are the same.

Randy has so many cute art prints in his shop, Randyortiz! This one is my favorite. It so cute and makes me laugh, lol. Randy is a self-taught artist and according to his profile gets his influence from strange things such as "dead shells of insect vessels ravaged by parasitic cordyceps". Not sure how that inspired such cute pictures but I'm glad they did!

I was immediately drawn to this beautiful and delicate Antique Brass Heart Locket! I think it has gothic undertones and is simply stunning. This locket and other beautiful creations can be found at Mariza Treasures on Etsy.

This Ice Cream Hemp Necklace is so cute! I love the colours too! This cute necklace is made by Sharene who gets her inspiration from all sorts of areas and styles. You can see the variety of influences in her Mad Fish Market on Etsy shop! There's a little bit of everything and she accepts custom orders so if you don't see something that fits you, she'll do her best to make you something that does.

I am always amazed by anyone who had mastered needle felt techniques! Heather of Heather Bay's on Etsy certainly has some impressive needle felt skills! Just look at this little needle felted mouse! So cute and your kitties will love them too (even if they do end up demolishing them). Be sure to check out all the other creative goods in Heather's shop, there's lots of fun stuff to be found!

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

May you have much success and good fortune in the year to come, and look back with fond memories on 2009.

And the Winners Are...

The people have voted for their favorite entry in the ''Have a Happy Holiday with a Good Book'' promotion.

Among the entries, Sarita Baby received the most votes, and is the winner of the $25 gift certificate from Chapters Book Store.

For our voters who left comments, a random integer was chosen using random.org. There were nine comments, and the number two was generated by the random integer program:


The number two comment was left by Maria, and she wins the two pair of vintage glass earrings.

Congratulations to our winners! And a Happy Holiday Season to everyone.

Fontayne Necklace

A lovely necklace for everyday wear or out on a special evening. Works with a layered jewelry look too.

This beautiful necklace was added to our flickr photo pool by 72 Studios Jewelry.

Vote for Your Favorite Entry!

Our ''Have a Happy Holiday with a Good Book" contest received five entries. Now is your chance to vote for your favorite. The entry that receives the most votes will win a $25 Gift Card for Chapters Indigo Book Store!

Please take a moment to visit each blog so that you can read each individual entry. These are very well written posts, and the memories, traditions, and photos that they share are amazing. After you've read each entry, return here to vote for your favorite using the poll below. Voting closes on December 22, 2009 at 11:59 pm.

Here are the entries:

UxCritter's Place: Sharing Christmas for CanArtisan

Sarita Baby: Christmas is Almost Here

String Me Along: Christmas Memories

Chicki's Musings: Fond Memories of Christmas

Tangente: Christmas Tree '09



Now, I didn't want to leave my voters out in the cold, so you also have a chance to win something. After you vote, leave a comment at the end of this post and tell me about who you voted for and why. I will make a random draw from among the comments for two free pair of vintage glass earrings as pictured below.

Additional entries into the draw for the vintage glass earrings can be earned by:

• Subscribing to or becoming a follower of CanArtisan
  
• By becoming a fan of CanArtisan's Facebook page
  
• By tweeting about this contest (please use @canartisan in your tweet so I can find it)
• By blogging about this contest
  
• By mentioning this contest in your facebook status
• By grabbing our badge from the right hand column and adding it to your blog or website
• By following or subscribing to the blogs that entered the contest (one entry per blog followed or subscribed to)
  

For each entry please leave a unique comment here telling us which action you took, with a link (if applicable) to your blog post etc. You must leave at least one comment if you want to be entered into the draw!

It is possible to have multiple entries per person.

Please make sure I have a way to contact you. If your account doesn't have an email associated with it, please leave one for me.

The contest will close on December 22, 2009 at 11:59 pm AST. The winner will be drawn and a post announcing the winner will be made the following day.

This portion of the contest is open to US, Canadian, and International residents.

Thanks for visiting CanArtisan!



I handcrafted these earrings myself, and a description of the size, materials, and additional pictures can be found by clicking on the images.

Bobbie- Damaski Pinafore dress

Bobbie- Damaski Pinafore dress
Originally uploaded by sarita baby

This mod dress is made with a cotton black and white damask fabric with a basket weave print cotton in the panel.

This lovely toddler dress was posted to our Flickr group photo pool by Sarita Baby.

Happy Earth Handbound Leather Journal

Happy Earth - handbound leather journal (treeless paper)
Originally uploaded by la paperie

This journal is made with coffee paper - entirely treeless. Organic coffee papers are made from combining tree free agricultural bio-products coupled with 100% post consumer content to create a beautiful 24 lb. bond weight paper that is a joy to write on!

This gorgeous journal was posted to our flickr group by La Paperie.