A few ideas, by Julie Mirth {spill the beans}

As most of you know by now, I am on the ballot for the position of the new team leader. Below are some of the ideas I have.........
 

Hello Handmade in Vegas, I am Julie Mirth of {spill the beans}. As many of you know I am only half of {spill the beans}, as Brandy Decker is my partner in crime. I would like to take a minute to tell you about Brandy and myself. I want to tell you about both of us, because we are a team and although my name is the one on the ballot, Brandy will be a huge part of helping me with my new role on the Handmade in Vegas team.

We have both been crafting since we were little girls. We became crafting partners when we both moved to Vegas in 2003. We created {spill the beans} in 2008 and have been active in the Las Vegas craft scene ever since. Brandy is originally from San Diego and I am originally from Seattle.

Since {spill the beans} joined the Handmade in Vegas group we have had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people who share the same interests as we do. We have also been able to attend and host many great craft shows around the valley with the Handmade in Vegas team.

I think what I would like to see happen most with the HMIV team is more unity. There are many members, however only a handful of them are active within the team. I think that some small changes could have a wonderful impact on uniting the team. Thus, my first item of business would be to have family friendly meetings, as many of us have children and cannot attend a meeting where they are not welcome.

I think it would also benefit the team to elect more than just a president. I would like to have an election for vice president, secretary, and treasurer, etc. A team as large as ours should have a proper board of officers to run things and conduct business.  I know we currently have people in charge of the jurying committee, Etsy group, Facebook, etc. However many of the team members do not know whom these people are. I would like for the whole team to know who is who, so we can all be on the same page. Possibly something as simple as adding a leadership page to the website/ blog. On this page all the positions will be listed and a small post from the person holding that current position will accompany it. 

I would like to have more HMIV only shows.  Brandy and I get asked all the time about putting on handmade only events. We have tried this in the past, however we find that not all of the handmade only people are on board, thus we have to accept home based businesses, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to fill the venue. There are many great venues in the valley that could provide the perfect setting for a handmade only show; my goal is to get everyone on board so we can have more amazing shows!

I would also like to see the HMIV team have some sort of funds to support things like advertisement, banners, show venues, etc. I think it would be great if we could do small things here and there, as so not to overwhelm anyone with fundraising. One example I was thinking of is having a team garage sale. Team members bring all the craft supplies that they are no longer using and donate their items to the garage sale. This could be a great way to clean out the stuff we no longer use and earn some money for the team.  

The things I have mentioned above are just a few ideas that I think could help the team continue to grow and thrive.  

I would like to thank Sarah Flake for having a great vision and bringing it all together! Through this amazing team, Brandy and myself have met many wonderful people who share the same ideas and crafting interests as we do. I hope to help carry the great people on this team to many wonderful opportunities in the future.

Thank You,

Julie Mirth {spill the beans}

Indie Start Up!

Hi everyone - anyone who has heard of Kickstarter.com probably has developed dreams of super-charging their business.  I sure did, and just launched my first Kickstarter project.  Basically the idea is that inde artists who need  a few extra bucks can appeal to the masses and offer really cool art rewards to those who pitch in.  I've set up a ton of great kickbacks in my project and hope you'll take a minute to watch my video here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1945838666/mr-bones-plush-silkscreened-skeleton-rattle

Happy holidays!

Future New Member

Hello Members,

My name is Patty Virginia, owner of Embellish Me Patty V. I've been active in Etsy since mid September and am anxiously waiting to join the Las Vegas Etsy Team.

I am hooked on making handmade fabric flowers into pins, hair accessories, magnets and bouquets. Please take a look at my store at www.embellishmepattyv.etsy.com to see the type of flowers I make. I'm leaning toward the fabric flower bouquets and building up my inventory for spring as this will be my main feature at my shop.

Looking forward to meeting you all and thank you for the opportunity to join this group.

Patty V
Embellish Me Patty V

TEAM LEADER/PRES DUTIES

This is what we've currently got working on the team:

258 members from all over the Las Vegas metroplex
A great jurying committee who vets/adds new members
A wonderful Facebook committee managed by Kathy Wheeler
A team Etsy shop at www.handmadeinvegas.etsy.com managed by Teri
A free monthly meeting spot in NW Las Vegas(managed by Kathy Wheeler)
A team sponsorship of the Henderson ArtWalk (now Artbeat) craft event - if we wish to continue participation
A few great team craft fairs (thanks, Robi!)
A website where locals can shop all our products at the same time and come for our information (www.handmadeinvegas.com)

As team captain, I've basically been a touch point for team members with great ideas and to a make sure information is flowing correctly. I've tried to make sure everyone was on the same page, put together the online community (which now runs it's self pretty well!) and kept tabs with Etsy admin regarding team policies and ideas. I also make periodic judgement calls on gray areas and questions that come up. I think it's important that there be one person who all the ideas are being run through so the team doesn't inadvertently work against itself and we can put our maximum effort into any projects we choose to adopt.

All local inquiries that come in to our website at www.handmadeinvegas.com also come through the captain and I've been in charge of managing questions and request from the community and helping them find the right etsy seller they are looking for.

Additionally, I've been the press contact for any media outlets looking for information on our group and have worked with PR companies and done interviews regarding our team and our mission.

Etsy also contacts the team captain periodically with programs they hope teams will participate in and I spearhead that. For example, Etsy is coordinating with the local shop west elm right now to put on a holiday event and asked me to organize and coordinate locally to make the event happen.

Another part of being captain is seeing about getting team rates at big craft events and helping our members keep low vendor fees since we have such great adverting power within our ranks. Keeping in touch with the big promoters and maintaining relationships locally with key persons in the art community is beneficial to the team.

Our team has been the sponsor of the Henderson Artbeat event (www.hendersonartbeat.com). The new team captain would decide if they would like to continue this sponsorship and coordinate with the Water Street Business District for the 2012 year to find vendors and coordinate the on-site event.

There are no set rules or duties for the team captain, and anyone taking over can form the leadership as they see fit.

Team Store Sales P.S.

We have a negative on the team shop feedback because of the first example in my first post. More reason that this is so important.

Team Store Sales

We have had three sales from the team store in the last month. When I get notified of a sale, I e-mail the buyer letting them know that the shop owner will contact them. I then notify the shop owner of the sale and pay pal them the shipping. I ask the shop owner to contact the buyer to let them no when the item will be shipped and to contact me letting me know that they received my e-mail and the shipping. This is the only way I have of knowing the seller received the e-mail and is taking care of the sale. Letting the first seller know late was my fault (switched computers and forgot to put in the other two e-mail address'), however the item was still not sent out till 9 days after the seller was notified. The last two sellers have yet to let me know they rec'd the info. It is very important that I get this info - otherwise I have to make excuse after excuse to the buyer why they don't have their merchandise. This gives us a bad reputation. So, please - if I notify you that you made a sale, let me know you received it.
Thanks