Everyone likes to find a personal letter or card in the mailbox along with all those bills. In today’s Fantastic Five you can find the perfect solution for all your “snail mail” needs.
Your friends & family might hear from you often in email and on Facebook, but how about surprising them with a handwritten card?
This week’s Fantastic Five is a collection of greeting cards found on Zibbet by searching, greeting cards, photo cards, scrapbooking cards, and digital cards. I found over 2,000 cards on Zibbet for just about any occasion you can think of.
1. Shabby Victorian Vintage Style Butterfly for All Occasions by Creations by Gena $2.50: Many steps were taken to create this any occasion greeting card that is blank on the inside for writing your own special message.
2. Happy Birthday Card with Sheer Flowered Ribbon by Ruthie’s Girl Designs $4.25: A large, pretty sheer blue bow adorns the card as well as pretty heart shaped pins with glass beads and paper flowers. This shop has much more than cards. You’ll find a wide array of handmade gifts.
3. 5 Mini Recycled Coffee Notecards and Envelopes by eefink $6.50: The perfect little snail mail cards for the office. Send a coworker a hand written card instead of an email. Is there someone you’ve been meaning to ask to join you at the cafe?
4. Handpainted Watercolor Bird Cards by Enchanted Craft $6: These cards are more than a card to snail mail to a friend. They are original art, hand painted with watercolors, suitable for framing. Would make a nice gift.
5. Set of 8 Flat Notecards with an all over Iris Pattern by JCB Design Studio $13.50: This set of 8 thank you cards would be perfect to keep on hand. Pretty as well as distinguished. Suitable for both men and women.
When is the last time you sent a friend a snail mail letter?
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very top image - Photo Note Card - Western Screech Owl by Dolphin Spirit Photography $3.00
Judy writes the ‘Fantastic Five‘ column where she features 5 Zibbet items every week. She is the owner of four Zibbet shops: Portable Graffiti Graphics, Portable Graffiti buttons, Proofreader, and Wild Goose Chase vintage, crafts and supplies. You can follow Judy on Facebook.
Tags: Fantastic Five, Snail Mail
This week Zibbet would like to introduce you to Liza of Lillybuds Bespoke Bridal who makes stunning elaborate bouquets for brides and bridesmaids out of buttons, brooches and other beautiful findings such as door knobs and watch parts.
I live in Perth Western Australia, I’ve just turned 40, I have 2 children, age 7 and 3. Married for almost 18 years.Lillybuds is pretty much a full time job, apart from that I have a house to run, children to look after.Wedding trends, colors, fresh flowers, and magazines.My mother, who has passed away, she dabbled in many different forms of art over the years.
Meeting up with friends, sourcing supplies on the internet, and coffee.A major factor of me joining Zibbet is the Etsy importing feature.I’d like the shipping costs to be included in your purchase, not as a separate payment.I use Facebook you can find us as “Lillybuds Bespoke Button and Brooch Bouquets”, I also advertise on blogs, and in magazines.I am so new to Zibbet, I feel I’m not in the position to offer advice to more seasoned sellers!set up with a proper studio where brides can come to view bouquets, more financially secure, and taking more holidays!
Sophisticated Black and White… intriguing, mysterious, sexy, dignified are just a few of the words often used to describe black. Pair black with white and you get bold, stunning, daring contrasts.
When a buyer goes through checkout, they are presented with a ‘Commit To Buy’ / ‘Pay via PayPal’ button. If they click this button, the sale will show up in your ‘Sold Items’ section.
You currently have two options at this point:
Vicki is committed to assisting her fellow Zibbeters improve their shops for successful online selling. She is the owner of five Zibbet shops: LOC Design Studio, Denim and Pearls, A Stitch and a Prayer, Black Creek Crossing and Think Like a Fish. You can follow Vicki on Twitter and through her LOC Design Studio blog.
Tick-tock, tick-tock….time goes by quickly and we suggest you order your clocks and watches now for the holiday gift giving season.
This week Zibbet is excited to introduce you to Diana Hughes of Atlanta, Georgia. She is passionate about her craft as you can clearly see in her profile page.
Most days I feel like the luckiest person on the planet. Oh, not to say that everything in my life is perfect or anything, far from it. It’s just that there is so much to see and do, so many things to try (and even fail) – what a splendid thing it is to be here. To be doing what I love. To be making things. And to have the chance to share them, globally, in a place like this.My passion is for dyeing – adding (and sometimes removing) color, particularly in garments, mostly for women. Once a piece of clothing leaves me, it has only one job – to make its wearer feel unique and beautiful. Clothing that celebrates the human form in color that moves and shapes that flow. And, while I’ve been doing this for quite some time, I still discover magic in the making of every piece. Whether I’m removing shibori stitch resists or unbinding a shirt from its arashi pole, whether I’m printing with vintage woodblocks or slicing bamboo into noodle scarves – there is wonder and joy. And oh, that moment of reveal after ceding control to the mystery of the dye!So, aside from all that… Let’s see, I live in Atlanta where my studio is my home. I’m happily married to a brilliant man who is an inventor, musician, and golfer. I am a nut for handmade soap. And coffee. And chocolate.
I’m so grateful to my mom and my grandmother, both endlessly creative and who taught me I could do just about anything I wanted to. I look up to all the ordinary people who have a smile for a stranger, who do little unplanned acts of kindness – the joy spreaders. And I look up to all the dyers and surface designers who have made their work open and public, who have shared their expertise, and from whom I’ve learned so much. I hope to pay that forward when the turn comes to me. 
I’m really very happy with Zibbet. I love the look of my shop. However, as long as you’re asking… I’d like anonymous purchase. I’d like ‘copying a listing’ to actually copy everything and let me change it. I’d like a highly visible notification link in the header if I’ve sold something.I’d like a portfolio area – items not for sale, but that can be used for custom order selection. I’d like a more curated looking home page – even if you just used your color engine to select ‘like’ things.
Good photos! If you don’t have crisp photos with good natural color, you’ll never get people to read that excellent description you’ve written. Remember, those photos have a big job to do, to convey at-a-glance what a potential customer would get by stopping by your table at a real-life show – picking it up, turning it over, feeling the sleeve, whatever. Your photos are your MOST IMPORTANT THING!Take the time to browse through other shops, make notes of what works and what doesn’t. And if you see something that really strikes you as wonderful, reach out and tell the shop owner. I promise it will make their day! Finally, participate in the community. Learn from what others have done before you. Share what you’ve learned. And be ready to make some friends! I have met some of the most special people in my life in online venues, fellow artisans just like you.Whoever I become, through wherever this journey takes me. A better me, I guess. 
This week we would like you to meet Bill Sechrist. Bill’s shop on Zibbet is WVSechrist where you will find Native American inspired handcrafted jewelry. He uses semi-precious gemstones, beads and sterling silver to craft his jewelry.
I am not good at interviews or writing so please bear with me. My name is Bill Sechrist, I am 49 years old and live in Wilkes-Barre, which is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I worked for numerous years in the computer field at a Drug & Alcohol Rehab and then at a county prison. About 20 years ago I started designing and selling Native American style arts and crafts including jewelry. At that time my only method of selling was at craft shows, festivals, etc. Today my main method of marketing my jewelry is online. I am an artist who would love to sell every piece I create but I am also happy to just receive recognition for my work and to meet new people as a result of it.I spend most of my time doing the normal daily things which for me include cleaning the house and doing the outside yard work along with watching after a charming little 3 year old boy. When time permits I enjoy going to festivals, playing guitar, visiting family and of course hunting for that perfect piece of dessert.
As a young child I found pleasure in hunting for different types of stones. I really enjoyed them for all the different colors and patterns you could find in them. Then I learned I had Native American ancestors, Cherokee, and from there started learning about some of the different crafts popular with the Native Americans. When I was 16 years old my family went on a vacation and traveled throughout the Western USA, mainly Wyoming and the Dakotas. It was while on this vacation, with being able to see a lot of Native American craftsmen and jewelry, that my love for jewelry really took off. Around the time I reached my mid to late 20’s I started marketing some jewelry I purchased wholesale and found that boring so I started learning about and creating my own jewelry. Today the only jewelry I will even consider selling is a piece that I have created myself so that I know the quality of the product and the materials used to make it.My love for jewelry and gemstones has also more or less become a form of therapy for me. I suffer from Fibromyalgia and find that creating jewelry is great exercise for me, both physically and spiritually.
I look up to my parents. It has always seemed like no matter what was going on in life they were always there for my siblings and I. While growing up, if there was something we wanted to do then my parents always did their best to make it happen. They also taught me a lot of morals/values in life that I feel are very important.Recently my mother passed away with leukemia. I was fortunate to be there with her during her last couple of days. During this process I was reminded, by my father, how strong love can be. People came and went during her last week but it was my father who was there for at least 3 days without much, if any, sleep or rest for himself. He did all of this without complaining once about anything other than not being able to help her more. This experience was just one of many that make me thankful to have such great parents and to have been taught about compassion, love, honesty, etc… while growing up.I enjoy music, especially the Bluegrass and Folk genres. From time to time I will attempt playing the guitar and mandolin, sometimes with success. I also enjoy reading about Native Americans, musicians and artists.
I love the administration, community and ease of use. If you ever need help with anything regarding Zibbet all you have to do is ask, whether it be from administration or the community of fellow Zibbeters, they are willing and ready to help.The administration is doing a wonderful job at adding new features to Zibbet and I know that most of what I would like to see is already being worked on.I promote my work mostly through word-of-mouth and business cards. I have always believed that word-of-mouth is one of the best marketing tools, whether it is in person or on the internet through e-mail, chat rooms, online communities, etc… From time to time I will participate in craft shows and small festivals but do these mainly just for fun and the exposure.
Become active in the Zibbet community, spread the word about Zibbet and don’t be afraid to ask questions. As I stated before, fellow Zibbeters from the community are willing to help each other with everything from opinions on products to methods of helping market your shops.Healthy and successful with the opportunity to make a living from being creative.
Google Analytics is a great tool designed to gather data about traffic to a website. Currently, it’s not possible to install a fully functional version of Google Analytics in your Zibbet shop. However, when the next release of the Zibbet website is ready it will include the ability to install Google Analytics. You’ll then be able to collect traffic data that can help you make choices for your business that are based on factual information about where your traffic is coming from.
Listing items in Zibbet’s Gift Guides is a feature available to Premium sellers. Each Premium seller is allotted space for twenty-five items of their choice to be featured in the sixteen basic Gift Guide categories. Throughout the year, featured Gift Guides will be added for a limited time that focus on a holiday or special event. While these special Gift Guides are available, Premium sellers can add an additional twenty-five items in the featured Gift Guide. It’s a good idea to try to list items in each Gift Guide category if possible and to take advantage of the extra exposure provided by the featured Gift Guides when they’re available.
The most common reason that photos won’t upload is that they are too large. Item photos must be less than 3MB. All images have a maximum width of 800px and maximum height of 600px. It’s important to keep all of these numbers in mind when you’re cropping and resizing your photos in preparation for uploading them to your Zibbet shop.
