Happy Halloween!!

 (This is one of the doodles from my sketchbook!)

Halloween is coming up next week!... I always look forward to seeing the little Trick-or-Treaters who come to our door for goodies! It's the preschool-aged children who tickle me the most!... the tiny Supermen and princesses, the wee pumpkin babies in their parents' arms.

Last year we had an amazing butterfly visit us, with gorgeous sparkly wings! And, of course, there are bound to be a few friendly ghosts, a pirate, a robot, a zombie and a gypsy too. I always love to see the creativity of homemade costumes! (by some very loving parents putting together crazy outfits for their kids in the late night hours!).

This year, I've managed to hide the 'treats' from my husband, so (hopefully!) there will be plenty to go around!  :)

What does YOUR family do for Halloween?... Do you carve pumpkins? Make your own costumes? Go to Trunk-or-Treat parties with friends?... I'd really LOVE to hear what YOU do!

Wishing you a Fun and Safe night of Trick-or-Treating with YOUR family this year!!

"Little Ghost And Bat In The Pumpkin Patch"

Showing Up On Etsy

"Every Child Is An Artist"

I thought it was really very simple... I just wanted to create my kinda fun, quirky, whimsical, colorful, silly art and offer it in my (very cute!) Etsy shop to people who like fun, quirky, whimsical, colorful, silly art too.

No big deal... right? But as it turns out, it's not quite as straight-forward and easy as that...

What I quickly discovered after listing my whimsical little pieces of art on Etsy was that I couldn't find them ANYWHERE when I searched for them later! And if I couldn't find them... then it followed that nobody else who might like to find them was discovering them either...

My heart felt soooo discouraged!!  :(

So... I started to research. And I began to learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how to optimize my Etsy shop.

It didn't take long before I found out about Danielle Spurge-Swavely from The Merriweather Council! She offers a free Etsy Lessons Email Series that contains a 20 minute SEO training video that was a HUGE help to me! After implementing Danielle's suggestions, I was so happy to see my artwork showing up in Etsy's listings so buyers can finally find them!... YaY!!!  :)

I highly recommend The Merriweather Council Etsy Lessons Email Series to any Etsy seller who is trying to get their products to show up in searches on Etsy. Danielle explains the process of titling and tagging your products in a very clear and helpful way. I was thrilled with the results that I've had from following her advice... and I think you'll be happy with your results too!