EtsyPaper Team Featured Member - Michelle Neuendorf

It's a new month, a new season, and EtsyPaper Team featured members are back! I am thrilled to feature Michelle Neuendorf of MichellenStamps. I absolutely LOVE her creative and beautiful cards. Read her feature and visit her shop and blog (links can be found below). Enjoy!

For those of you who aren't familiar with the featured members posts, our members have submitted questions they would like answered and our featured members choose five (so far we have over 50 questions!). Here we go...

Tell us a little about yourself :

My name is Michelle N. I am 39 years old, and a Wisconsin native. I've been happily married almost 18 years (wow, that sounds like a long time!), and have 3 kids: 15, 13 and 10(two girls and a boy). I am a Stay at Home Mom, and have been ever since my kids were born. I really love being at home, and am thankful that I can be.

Tell us about your shop:

* When did you open it?

I opened my shop in March of this year. I had heard of Etsy a while back, but had never really looked into it. When I make cards, I love having someone to share them with. I had been a demonstrator for a rubber stamp company for 6 years, so I had a venue for the cards I made. Once I quit that though, I still wanted to share what I made, so thought I would give Etsy a try. It sure has been a lot of fun too!

*What items/type of items do you sell?

Greeting cards are my favorite thing to make, so that is the majority of my shop. I have cards for many different occasions, but I leave most of them blank, so the sender can use them for whatever occasion they need.

I do have a small gift section as well, with some great notebooks with matching pens, acrylic post it note holders and ceramic tile coasters. I've just started adding some card sets and some Holiday gift tags and cards.

Getting to know you - 5 Questions

1. Name top (3-5) items (for crafting purposes) that you cannot live without.

If I had to choose just one thing, it would be my great cutting scissors. I love to cut certain elements of my cards out, and sometimes what I am cutting is very small. So a sharp pair of scissors is essential.

Which leads to item 2. I almost always raise the cut item up with foam dots. I love the extra dimension that gives to a card.

If you look through my shop, you will see that I also love ribbon. I think about 90% of the cards I make have ribbon on them. There are so many fun colors and patterns to choose from today!

One other thing that I must have, is loads and loads of patterned paper. I don't think I will ever run out of it, but I still keep buying more. It's so much fun!

2. When do you find/make time for your crafting?

I find it pretty had to craft when the kids are home. My ideal is to have more than an hour, and preferably 3-4 hours, where I can sit down and create. It always take me a little while to get started on that first card, but once I have that made, I can roll. When I demonstrated, I pretty much shut down for the summer. This year, I did back way off on my shop during the summer, but still tried to make a few cards a month. Now that the kids are back in school though, I will soon be in full swing. There are times when I spend the whole day at my stamp desk.

3. Do you have a special space for your crafting, or does the kitchen table do double duty?

When I first started rubber stamping, it was the kitchen table. But I always felt like I had to clean it up every time I used my stuff (we did need a place to eat after all). It wasn't too long though before I had my husband make me a spot in the basement. It was pretty basic at first, and still isn't overly fancy now, but I have a very nice sturdy desk, and lots of storage space. I love my stamp area! The best part is, I can walk away from the chaos without having to clean it up each time.

4. Do you remember the first item you made, and if so, do you still have it (or a picture of it)?

Oh yes, that is the beginning of my story :). I was pregnant with my second daughter, and went to a rubber stamp party (so that would be 14 years ago). I never considered myself artistic, but when I saw rubber stamping, I knew that was a craft I could do. After all who can't color in the lines. So I bought what I needed to make her birth announcements. That was right around when rubber stamping was becoming popular, and the line was, "Just think of all the money you will save by not buying cards!" Ha Ha Ha! I've invested so much money in my craft I could own a Hallmark store :) But, I love making cards just as much as I did in the beginning. Here is a picture of the announcement:
5. Are you a clean or messy crafter?

Like I said earlier, I have a nice stamp desk. It's at least 5 feet long and pretty wide. But it never fails that I end up with about 6 inches of cleared space while I am crafting. I get so busy creating, that I don't take time to put away what I am done with. So, the answer would be, I am a very messy crafter. Eventually, I can't stand it any longer, and I can no longer find what I need, so I have to stop and pick it all up before I start my next project.

Find her here:

SHOP - Michellenstamps

BLOG - Michellenstamps

NING - Michelle

Craftcult Ads - A Review from Member Michelle Neuendorf

Hello Etsy Paper Street Team Members! Sarah noticed that I recently ran an ad on Craftcult (a.k.a. "HEART-O-TRON) and asked me to write a post about my experience. Before I share anything, I want to let you know how I view advertising. We all love instant feedback and instant results, but I look at advertising, this type especially, as exposure and future sales. That being said, here's how it went...

The owners of the site are great to work with! Communication was wonderful and they are very helpful. I chose to run the 4 day carousel/7 day sidebar bundle. The carousel was scheduled to start first, and the great thing is, you can change the image you have on there every single day! I ended up getting more then 4 days. I'm not sure if it was because of the holiday weekend (Memorial Day) or what happened, but I'll always take a bonus! My views were the highest on Saturday and Memorial Day, but on average I received 9 views per day from the carousel.

The side bar add started 2 days after the carousel ended. I'm not sure why, but my views increased the longer the ad was up. On average, I received 8 views a day from this ad. I wouldn't say either ad brought me a ton of views, but it was 8 people who didn't know I existed before, 8 people who were interested in what I sell enough to take a look, 8 people who will hopefully remember me when they need a greeting card.

I was hearted by 28 people over the course of the ad run. Even though hearts don't equal sales, I look at them as possible future sales.

My shop has only been around for 3 months now, so I don't really have a feel for what is "normal," but it does seem that my sales have been slower in May. I do think they will be slower for the summer months in general. I know I spend less time on the computer during the summer months. I had 4 sales during the run of the ad, but 2 were to a repeat customer, so I don' t think that came from the ad.

Would I call it instant success? No. Would I say the results were huge? No. Did my ad pay for itself? Not immediately, but it did bring my shop more exposure. Don't forget, people won't automatically come to your shop, they need to know you are there. Would I advertise again? Absolutely. I especially like the carousel ad, since you can show your actual product, and change the image.

I hope this information helps. Feel free to convo me with any questions you might have. Have a great day!

Michelle Neuendorf

FIND HER HERE:

My Splitcoast Stampers Gallery: www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/michellenstamps

Quality, Handmade Cards For Sale: http://www.michellenstamps.etsy.com/

My Stamping Blog: http://www.michellenstamps.blogspot.com/