Advertising on RedRubyonFire

I have always wanted to find an advertising resource that I could share with everyone, be it a list that I am currently compiling on Etsy forum (here) or with my recent June promotion where advertising takes centre stage.

So after much deliberation, I have decided to offer advertising on my blog. I want this to be a good useful resource that is not overly commercialized, so at this point it is only limited to 10 advertisement at a time.

Your advertisement will take the position of 'Regular Post' list, right on top and on the left. Size of button is only 200px wide x 100px high. One and a half month of advertising will also include an advertising button (your choice of animated or static) free!

If you have any question please contact me in Etsy, ArtFire or by email (redrubyonfire@yahoo.com)

Advertising Duration

2 weeks $3.00 4 weeks $5.00 6 weeks with Free ad button $8.00

Your advertised URL

Link to your ad button

My Choice ArtFire Shop - Yours Truli

My choice this Saturday is Yours Truli - a shop with unique Renaissance/Victorian Vintage styled jewelry handmade from a combination of real vintage and brand new components.

What I like about Yours Truli?
Consistency. Yes, I am a sucker for all things uniformed, all things that come in the same looking package and comes in a set, just like those miniature cosmetic give away bags. However, Yours Truli has a consistent style not only with the jewelry pieces that is on sale but also the way it is photographed and presented.

The description is a little too long for people who are just browsing, but it provides sufficient information for the person who is close to making a purchase. We normally browse shops, zoom in on one or two items, then read about them to know what we are purchasing. For this reason the description does help alot. All Yours Truli items again is consistantly described by materials used, over all look and style of the piece, size and other information.















Yours Truli links
Blog - http://yourstruli.blogspot.com/
ArtFire Shop - http://www.artfire.com/users/YoursTruli

Feature Me Friday - Meego

Meego is a shop that has Pearl and Crystal jewelry.

Shown Above (clockwise from top right) -The Unequal Butterfly Necklace, Simple 101 Crystal Choker, My Blue Moon Bracelet and Colourful Bracelet

Price Range - $5.00 - $45.00

4 Most Popular Items -The White Witch Bracelet, The Sunset Necklace, The Grass Necklace and Rainbow drops Bracelet and Earring

Meego is in the midst of designing wedding and party jewelry sets, so do keep visiting the shop for the latest!

The Honest Scrap Award

I won an award!

Thank you Lost Mitten for giving me this award! It is the first I received and I am excited.

There are a few requirements and they are as follows:
- I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link it
- I must list 10 honest things about myself
- I must put a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog.
- I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers & list their links
- I must notify the bloggers of the award and hopefully they will follow the above requirements.

10 Honest things about myself -

1) I love to take photos, but most only of food! I don't really know why, but it makes my heart jump with glee to get that one real good, mouth watering shot where you could actually smell the aromas and taste it just by looking at your screen!

2) I started my Etsy shop selling cards! Don't really know where that idea came from, but as you might have suspected I sold none! I made my banner and another and put that on sale and that sold, so that was the way to go I thought.

3) I am a fast learner but not patient enough to get good at what I learned. To be really honest, I learned how to use Photoshop when I made the banner for my shop! I searched out tutorials online and mostly from Digital Scrapbooking site to learn most of the affects and tricks that I use for creating banners I sell. But I do admit, I don't think I would go pro with my Photoshop skills.

4) I never went to University.... well I wanted to add this because sometimes I feel that there is too much emphasis on a Degree and I sometimes fall into a "Oh no! I don't have a Degree" panic mode. But hey, it was a choice.

5) Sometimes I feel like going home, because I miss my parents terribly. Don't get me wrong, Sydney is a wonderful place and I love staying here. But my parents are quirky and funny, and their company always reminds me of who I am and what I want in life.

6) I use to think my grandfather will live forever, but he passed away at the age of 93. To him, he actually lived too long.

7) I have always wanted to write a book. I had the ideas in my head, but just worried that because it is about real people in my life, they might get offended of my interpretations of what happened.

8) I am planning to start a supplies shop on ArtFire. This is mainly to destash some of my jewelry making supplies which I bought wholesale simply because it was cheaper. But I want my customers to get more than supplies from my shop. So I think about this everynight now!

9) I love to cook, but honestly not too good at it. Maybe it has something to do with me not wanting to follow a recipe?

10) I believe that a small group of good friends is always better than a large group of acquiantances. So I appreciate every small but kind gestures, and want to return it in large generous ways!


This has made me spend sometime thinking about myself.... real good excercise in the middle of the year! So I hope the others whom I am passing this award to, will do the same!

Here they are:
1) SevenWestDesign
2) BeadUp
3) kMT Graphic Design
4) Umiko
5) PassionForBeads
6) Albertine's Creations
7) MuffinPuffART

Inspirational Mondays - MuffinPuffArt

This Monday Chianne of MuffinPuffArt a UK based original, cute and funny button badges maker shares with us what got her here and what made her stayed.


RRoF - Tell us something about your shop, how you got started and why you wanted to start an online business?

MPA - Firstly I’m Chianne (real name Jo) and I run MuffinPuffART! Which sells badges, key chains, pocket mirrors and more with my illustrations and designs on.


Well I’ve always been a creative person. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing or making something, as it’s huge passion of mine.
I often got told off by relatives and friends for not perusing my art in a more serious manner. I get told many times by my work colleagues that “I’m in the wrong job.”

I had thought about selling my stuff before, but as always I’m my own biggest critique. I always thought “Who’d by anything you’d make? There are plenty of better artists out there.” Still the idea of selling my art always remained in my mind.

Then one day a friend of mine linked me Etsy. I check around and saw that there were so many people selling so many varieties of items that maybe I could make it work. So many cogs turned in my head and suddenly I had an overwhelming desire to try my hand at a business.
I made an account then and there in Oct 07 but I didn’t start actively selling just over a year later. I spent a great deal of time pouring over the listings and checking out all the other artisan’s and crafters.

I came up with my store name long before I decided to sell. I knew I wanted to make things, but it took me awhile to settle on Button Badges. I suppose I wanted to do something a little bit different. I know lots of artists online but few who actively make and sell Button Badges. I’ve not looked back since.

It cost me a fair amount to get started up, however I inherited some money from my late Grandfather and knew he’d be happy for me to spend it in such a way. He always supported my love of art.

So I ordered a badge machine from a local seller and got started under the store name of MuffinPuffART! The name is taken from my lovely little Jack Russell Muffin Puff Pastry. (Muffin for short) I realise her name is a bit of a mouthful but it makes me smile. She has been my mascot for several years, and I’ve even worked her into several of my designs.

RRoF - Is your Etsy Business your full time job? Or what or who does your Etsy shop shares your time with?

MPA - I wish I could say that my Button Badge business is my full time job, a girl can dream after all.
I have Chronic Fatigue syndrome, so working full time is out of the question for me. I currently work part time in a Primary School (Elementary school) as a Teaching Assistant. I work mainly with children with special needs. I can be challenging but is very rewarding. In my spare time I work on my Etsy store. I don’t think I’ll ever sell enough for it to become my main source of income, but its something I absolutely love doing and I do make some money from and at the end of the day that’s what matters to me.

RRoF - When you started listing your first few items, was the response what you expected?

MPA - I remember the adrenaline rush of putting my first items up online and watching them like a hawk for any views or hearts. To be honest not a lot has changed. I still sit there and watch my listings for views but a little less obsessively these days.
I waited and waited but didn’t get nearly as many views as I thought I would. It was a bit disappointing to be honest, but them Rome wasn’t made in a day and neither was MuffinPuffART! I have a terrible tendency to count my chickens before they hatch. I didn’t get discouraged though. I stuck with it and a few days later I got my first sale. I did a happy dance. It was an awesome sense of achievement for me.

RRoF -Looking back, what are some of the mistakes you think you've made when you just got started, and how you overcome them.

MPA - Mistakes. Hmmmmmmm, let me think.

My biggest mistake was signing up as my internet name “Chianne” rather than waiting till I found a store name and using that instead. Its now much harder to remember my Etsy address and doesn’t fit in with the rest of my webpages. Still I can’t change it now, so there is no point in worrying about it. Thankfully if you google my store name it brings up my Etsy store anyway.

I think my original photographs left a lot to be desired. It can be fairly difficult photographing things as small as Button Badges and doing them justice. I still struggle with light sources even today. I’m getting better over time. The more detail you can fit in the better, after all it’s the tiny icon of your item that pulls people in. If its blurry or just a bad photo people may just skip over it.

Not putting myself out there. I totally thought people would just come and find me. I didn’t make any effort to advertise or post around Etsy. So I didn’t get many views at all. I’ve now realised that you can’t just rely solely on people to find you. I’ve definitely increased my views from putting myself out there.

RRoF - Have you ever felt like giving up? What made you stay?

MPA - There have been a few times when I’ve looked at my store and wondered what I was doing but I’ve never really thought about giving up. This is my dream after all, my passion. Also I’ve invested a fair amount in my badge machine so giving up now is out of the question.

Business can be fairly slow for me. I can go for days without making a sale, but that’s okay, as I get so much pleasure from my store. It’s the journey rather than the destination that I enjoy most. Being able to sell the things I take so much joy making is the icing on the cake really. Its all good.

I do go through phases where I don’t touch my store for days on end and have creativity slumps, but then so do all artisans. You just wait ‘em out and then bounce right back!

RRoF -How do you promote? And in your opinion, which works best for you?

MPA - I do promote my store, but I can’t really comment on it success at the moment. I’m still new to advertising and finding my feet so to speak. I still get the majority of my views from inside the Etsy.

I’ve posted flyers around locally, but I live in a very small town so I’ve not drummed up much interest on that front. I’ve only had one sale from my own Country oddly enough. (For those who are wondering, I’m in England) The rest have all been from abroad. I have really shiny business cards which I hand out to people who display interest in my art. I also tuck one into every package I send.
I use a lot of different websites to promote my store. My most successful place I advertise at the moment is Twitter. I use feeds directly from Etsy which tell my Twitter watchers what I’ve just listed.
My favourite place to promote my Etsy is my blog, although it doesn’t pull in a lot of views. It’s my pride and joy as I’ve put a lot of effort making my blog fun to look at. I occasionally post about my store and business, but also post about all sorts of things that aren’t necessarily Etsy related. In my opioion it’s really the most enjoyable way to advertise. I think it has more of a personal touch.
I do also use other sites like Myspace, Facebook, Livejournal and Plurk but they aren’t as fun.
Like I mentioned, I’m still learning when it comes to promoting although I think I’m just starting to get there. I’m not nearly as good at this as some Etsy sellers.


RRoF -If you knew then what you know now, what would you have done differently?

MPA - Not to set my prices so low. When I first started out I was worried that people wouldn’t buy my stuff so I set my prices low. I was barely making any profit, what with postage, Etsy fees and Paypal fees. I felt guilty when I rose them at first, and thought no one would buy from me, but I knew I couldn’t go on only just breaking even.


RRoF - Any other thing, thoughts, advice, links,... etc you would like to share with the Newbies?

MPA - Something I always tell the children at work is, “Draw because you love to, not because you want to be the best.” The same applies for many things. If you punish yourself for not achieving what you want achieve or expect to achieve it really drains the fun from things. Always take joy from what you are doing. Creating shouldn’t be a chore, you should do it because it brings you joy.

I’d like to share a quote I read several years ago has been something that I have recalled time and time again when I’ve become discouraged. “Use those talents you have. You will make it. You will give joy to the world. Take this tip from nature: The woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except those who sang best.”



Thank you Chianne! Wishing you all the best!

My Artfire Shop - Grand Opening Freebie

I have just opened RedRubyonFire on Artfire! It is not fully stocked yet, but new items will be added weekly, so please do visit me!

Since it's my 'Grand Opening', all items are on sale of 20% off! And if you have an ArtFire shop too, please comment here and I will visit your shop, take a good look around and make you a shop banner, totally free!

Feature Me Friday - Elisespeace

Elisespeace is a shop that sells vintage clothing and accessories for the peaceful gal.

Shown Above (clockwise from top right) - Garden Variety Vintage Red Shoes with Flowers, Antique Whitman's Chocolate Box, Yellow Mellow Pow Wow Skirt and Handmade Little Red Decorative Jewelry Container

Price Range - $10.00 to $30.00

4 Most Popular Items -White Summer Dress, A Million Flowers Scarf for You, Madeline Dress and You Decide the Generation Long Vintage Skirt

Colour Schemer

Have you ever got stuck with colours? Like you have a real nice green and you don't exactly know what would go well with it? Try the Color Scheme Designer.

It has a real nice and easy to use interface and allows you to choose 6 combination or scheme types. Colours will come up with hexadecimal or Hex numbers which you could just key in on the computer if you are using it for graphics or Photoshop. You could also use it to change your blog colour scheme. Once you got your scheme you could just export the whole scheme to use on your computer!

If you want to use it with Microsoft Words or Excel to create a banner, you need the RGB of the colours. There are many RGB to Hex (or the other way round) converters online.