Birthday Card

My friend Julie's birthday was last week, so I created this cute typography birthday card for her.  She loved it!

I'm thinking of adding it to my Etsy shop as a custom personalized item where my customers can choose the name and maybe even a custom message for their friend:)

Law and Order

Did you know that Etsy has an in-house attorney? Sarah Feingold represents Etsy regarding various legal matters. She also contributes regular posts on Etsy's blog, including her "You Be The Judge" series.

I found Sarah's blog posts this week as I was reading an interesting forum post about copyright infringement. Laws pertaining to copyright infringement impact everyone in the handmade/creative community. I've bookmarked Sarah's blog link so I can read her posts regularly. There are so many great resources on Etsy!
http://www.etsy.com/storque/authors/SarahSays/

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Friday's Forum Wrap Up

There's always something interesting going on in Etsy's forum discussions. Etsy sellers are a wealth of knowledge and more than willing to share their experience. I enjoy reading the Business Topics section to learn some insider tips that can help me be successful during my first year on Etsy.

Here are some worthwhile posts I found on the forums this week:

Tips for Holiday Season Prep. Can you believe it's time to start thinking about holiday shopping already?!?  Etsy seller TheTinyFig provides tons of great advice in this post.

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6626479

Three Sales A Day Diary.  Etsy seller KathyPanton set herself a goal of selling three items each day and started this forum thread to keep herself accountable.  Great idea Kathy!  And she's documenting all the 'tweaks' she makes to reach her goal, which is a great resource for the rest of us.

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6627594

Don't Quit Your Day Job.  Finally, this is a hilarious post by KnotWorkshop who interviewed Etsy seller crownofrue for her Don't Quit Your Day Job series.  crownofrue actually has a real full-time job and sells her soap and jewelry on Etsy for fun. 

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6636224

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Birds On A Wire

Birds On A Wire
Originally uploaded by TheColorBee
I love creating custom prints! This print was requested by a creative buyer who wanted a print with custom colors for her daughter's bedroom. She loved my "Birds On A Wire" print, and wanted it in fuchsia, chocolate brown and lime green. And voila! Here's the result of our collaboration. Enjoy!

September Treasuries

I just had to share with you some really nice treasuries I've been featured in lately.  They're all great collections, especially since they included one of my prints LOL:))

Sunday Favorites by magalerie
Featuring Ctrl Alt Delete - by ColorBee

September Sapphire by eireanneilis
Featuring Change The World - by ColorBee

Pucker Up by miascloset
Featuring Love Is All You Need - by ColorBee

Etsy - August Sales and Stats

Etsy just released August stats and wouldn't you know it, they are stellar!  You would think August would be a slow month for online buying, what with summer vacations and outdoor activities.  Most people don't spend as much time shopping online, or so you might think.  Check out these numbers:

The stats as reported on Etsy's blog:

• $25.5 million of goods were sold by our community in August, 7.1% higher than July's $23.8 million.
• That represents 1,404,248 items sold for the month, 7.2% higher than July’s 1,309,740.
• 2,117,388 new items were listed in the month, 6.5% higher than July's 1,988,188.
• 278,208 new members joined the Etsy community in the month, up 17,941, or 6.9%, from July.
• 777,607,777 page views were recorded on the site in August.

The $25.5 million of goods sold by the community represents a 75% increase from 2009's total. At the same time, items sold were up 58%.

Wow, over 270,000 new members! While this means there may be a lot more competition for sellers, it also means much more selection for buyers and a higher profile for Etsy. Overall sales are up 75% compared to this time last year. In this tough economy, these are very encouraging numbers to say the least.

The holiday season will be here before you know it, looking forward to more stellar stats from Etsy!

No Day But Today

Summer is over and it’s back to business.  Hope everyone enjoyed the summer season.   

September always represents the beginning of a new year for me, I guess it’s because it reminds me of starting a new school year.  I think it’s about time for some new year’s resolutions for ColorBee.

ColorBee's New Year's Resolutions:

1. ColorBee will be creating many new prints and posters for the fall/winter season.  Check my shop regularly for new items or, even easier, subscribe to my shop’s RSS feed for automatic updates.
2. ColorBee's product line will be expanding to include cards, invitations and digital graphics for scrapbookers.  Yay!
3. ColorBee’s blog will be updated at least twice a week.  Check back often to read posts about ColorBee news, the handmade community, Etsy happenings, tutorials, DIY projects and more!
4. ColorBee’s facebook page will be updated regularly with more fan discounts and special coupon codes exclusively for facebook fans.
5. ColorBee’s twitter page will continue to provide regular updates about news and happenings here in the ColorBee home studio, as well as promoting other artisans.  Follow me and be one of my “tweeps”!

Hope you’ll enjoy keeping up with ColorBee, thank you for following me on my blog, twitter and facebook!