Sunday, June 22, 2014

A perfect day

Well it's officially summer so we had to have our official beach trip.  Since my kids are late coming home AGAIN I figured I'd share some awesome pic's and write a tid bit about how it all went down.  See my daughter was bored at about 11 since we did the whole sleeping in thing and watching a couple of shows thing and she wanted to go to the beach.  So we did.  I love that I live 10 minutes away from a perfectly free beach where my kids can swim in the awesome lake Michigan.  Bonus this beach is man made so you can walk like 30 feet out and still only be in about one foot deep water.  After a quick lunch and getting everyone suited up and sunblock on we were out the door about a half hour later.  We got to the beach about 10 minutes later and to my surprise we got right in to the "close" lot.  The one where you only have to walk about 50 feet and your there.  Not super great for getting exercise but hey we were there to have fun.  And fun was had by all. 
At Mom's pool

Friday, June 20, 2014

Fun with Google analytics and a new addition to Crochet By Mel

One of the features on Google Analytic's that I think I understand is the audience overview.  One of the things I like to look at is my top 10 city's so I thought I would share them with you and maybe my fellow Etsy'ians would like to share your own top 10 cities?  I get a little thrill every time I send something out that something I made is going off to enjoy wild and exotic locations that I will probably never get a chance to see, but here without further ado is my top 10 city's (lately) via google analytics:

1. Valparaiso (Me) for some reason it seems to record every time I go to my own website, since I am pretty sure I don't have that many fans in Valpo it seems like that's the only logical reason.
2. Beverly Hills Crochet artist to the stars?  Why yes thank you don't mind if I do .. .
3.  the ever helpful "Not set" yeah.  Depending on what device your on Google may hide your location from me.   Okay then. . .
4.  New York, New York. .  . I wanna be a part of it New York!! 
5.  San Francisco From what I hear it's pretty nice there.  Maybe someday I can get out there. . . I know my parents sure enjoyed it.
6.  Moscow- Thank God for the programs that translate languages, for some reason a lot of my stuff is on par with the stuff you find over there in Russia, they have such beautiful needlework over there, its good to be noticed by them.
7.   London England, yet another place I have always wanted to go, see Big Ben and all that.  Listen to the sexy English accents. . .  you get the idea.
8.  Dublin is that in Ireland???  Pretty cool . .. if it wasn't for Craig Furgason I wouldn't even know that much :)
9.  Chicago- Chi-town!  Kind of sort of my home town, glad to see that it made the list!  The second City has never been the second one to me.
10.  Sydney Australia- g'day mate!  I used to be online bud's with a girl from Sidney she was a very cool person.  Miss her. 

So there you have it folks the beauty of online shopping you can sell to anyone in the entire world.  Very cool.  And now without further ado, my new hat I just finished.  I am getting ready for the winter (hopefully) rush.  What do you guys think?  I would love to get your feedback.  It is of course in one of my signature colors, purple and you can find it right here if you like it but want a different color I would be happy to assist you as this yarn helpfully comes in just about any color you can dream of.  I like this hat because it adds some volume and is unique.  I made the pattern myself so if you'd like it please just let me know.  The color in the first picture is most like what it looks like in person, for some reason the light was bouncing off of it like crazy in the others. 



Monday, June 16, 2014

What's new in Crochet By Mel land. . .

So what's new peeps???  Very happy to say I had my first 2 sale day yesterday :).  Where as I will say the money is nice it's not so much about the money and more so much about the fact that someone liked something that I made with my own two hands enough to give me money for it and then (presumably) add it to their wardrobe.  Getting paid to do something I love?  Amazing.  Being able to provide for my kids?  Awesome.  They weren't super big sales or anything but after a long drought its nice to get a couple sales in.  I think people just don't think "crochet" when they think summer, even though I do have more than a few items that are great for summer. 

So what's new?  I don't know I have been adding products like crazy lately but my latest two are fingerless gloves.  From what I hear people like the fingerless gloves so that they can text.  ( I don't text) but I could also see them coming into play when your strapping your kids in the car, or driving at least you won't have to touch that freezing cold steering wheel with your bare hands.  Here' take a gander .. . .

 

 These hand crochet fingerless gloves are made from soft vegan friendly acrylic yarn.  One size fits most women, if you'd need a different size or color I'd be happy to make them for you.  You can find these gloves right here and the price includes shipping to the 48 states.  So comfortable to wear! 

Below is my take on rainbow fingerless gloves.  Colors may vary a bit by pair depending on what colors I have in my stash but you will always get an adorable pair of gloves.  As always made in a pet free smoke free home.  I would love to get some feedback on these in the comments!  thank you for stopping by :)

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Google analytic's, why???

Being an Etsy seller, I went ahead and checked out google analytics however is it just me, or is it not helpful?  I don't understand how to use it like, at all.  I consider myself to be a somewhat intelligent person but this is a total mystery to me.  Why is it I can see what kind of device people used when they are on the site but it won't tell me what search words they used to find it?  Unknown is not helpful.  If you don't know what words people are searching for how in the world do you figure out what content to put up for sale?  How do you know how to word your listings?  It's kind of interesting to see what country and town people are coming from but how is that really helpful to me?  And why does it never match up with what Etsy says?  Etsy will say I've had 600 some odd views for the day but then if I go to google analytic's it says I've only had 45 sessions.  Who's telling the truth here?  I find it interesting that my views keep reaching higher and higher on Etsy yet this other site is saying they are crashing into oblivion.  I guess that explains why sales are non existent. 

The one helpful thing I did find is it tells you how you got some of your views, it helps me to know what advertising is working and what is complete crap.  It seems to me that paying for ad's is not worth it since most of my views come from pinterest, witch is totally free and it also has the lowest amount of drop off views.  Oh well.  At least I tried.  If anyone has helpful tips on how to use this tool I'd love to hear them.  Until next time, take care.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Too much too much .. .

Lately I have had much too much going on, I actually kind of forgot about this blog.  Good thing I don't really  have any readers!  So what have I been up to?  Well making candles for starters.  I started making candles again so my house smells all kinds of awesome.  I use soy wax so they burn clean like partylite candles and did I mention they smell amazing?? Here's a pic you can find them all at Crochet By Mel I use cotton core wicks so they burn all the way and at the right temperature for soy.  These particular ones in this picture I believe are Gardenia scented.  You'll find I do a lot of floral and fruity scents since those are my favorites, but if there's a particular kind you enjoy I'd be more than happy to do a custom listing for you.  Also another new thing in my shop is Free shipping for all my USA customers.  Etsy has been playing around with hiding shipping costs so I decided to cut them off at the knee since most my customers are from the states anyways. 
I love making votive's and tea lights because with votive candles you can reuse the same holder over and over, and with tea lights I do re use my tea light cups to make new tea lights.  I have been all about the recycling lately. 
Something else that's new going on is my new shop Puzzled By a Name my mom loves to puzzle and she's got all these beautiful puzzles some of them are 1000 pieces and they make great wall murals and they were just sitting there staring at me so I asked her and she let me have them.  There's a lot of Thomas Kinkade and a few pretty beachy ones.  I'd put them on my walls but my wall space is pretty limited.  If you'd like a puzzle matted and or framed first please message me I can make it happen :) And yeah we don't care if you want to tell everyone your smart and did it yourself, be our guest!
 Lastly but not leastly my adorable daughter just had her last day of kinder garden and I am super looking forward to spending my summer with my angels.  I see lots of beach days in our future and we got water park tickets so hopefully we will have some fun there and I won't loose anyone.  Lately the blonde one has been running off I am about to be one of those mom's with a kid on a leash again. . .yes again. . . you try being a single mom with 3.  Don't let the smile fool you  he's trouble.  The weather is looking like its going to be park weather this week so that will be super fun.  Everything I do is for them.  Don't forget when you buy handmade, and when you buy from small businesses your supporting families.  Buy American. Anyways thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the show. . .