I GOT A TREASURY! & ALSO LEARNED....

I snagged my second Etsy Treasury yesterday, almost accidentally.

For those who aren't familiar with Etsy, a Treasury is a collection of favorite items in Etsy shops. There are pages and pages of them, and it's fun to look at what other people have liked enough to put into one. Click here to be taken to the Etsy Treasuries department. You'll notice that you can sort the lists by title, expiration date, popularity (Hot), and curator (the person who created the treasury).

So, first of all, here's how it works:

There are a limited number of Treasuries allowed at any given time, with one Treasury per person. You go to the Treasury list, sort it by Expiration, and go to the page where the ones that are going to expire soonest are listed. At the very bottom of the page, it will tell you how many Treasuries there are, and, almost always, point out that they're all full, and more will open up when enough of them expire. (I think there have to be fewer than 333.)

If it's getting close to the point where new treasuries are going to open up, make a note of how soon. Within an hour or so? Don't go too far away! Leave the page open if you can. Don't refresh it; it does that automatically.

When there are fewer than 333 Treasuries still alive, that little message at the bottom of the screen will suddenly change, and there'll be a box where you can type in the title you want for your Treasury. Be ready with your title, and pounce fast, because there are going to be a few hundred other people trying to do exactly the same thing!

After that, it's easy. Sort of. If you've thought ahead, unlike me, you'll already have your choices saved in your "Favorites" area in your Etsy profile. Otherwise, you can do a search, on tags, titles, colors, users--anything you want. It's way fun, for me at least.

This is a picture of my Treasury:

Click here to go to the Treasury


I didn't put in a clickable image because the Treasury will expire Friday, but here are links to each of the featured artists:

• Beth Peardon Prods
• TrilliumArtisans, from EyePopArt
• Mia Joli
• Nature Manipulated (an EtsyBloggers team member)
• LeMachi Designs
• Designs With Attitude
• Earrings by Spystress, at Trillium Artisans
• Spotted Cow Soaps, an EtsyBloggers team member
• Vintage Scraps
• RavenWolf Gallery
• Black Crow Primitives
• Danbury Lane

So, I said earlier that I learned by putting this Treasury together. What did I learn?

The first should have been a no-brainer: Make sure you're logged into the right account! I meant to do this as CoffeePotPeople, which is my "regular" Etsy shop, and failed to notice I was actually logged on as AniWatersprite, which is my place to destash (get rid of art supplies and stuff, or sell what doesn't fit with my other shop). Ah, well.

The other thing I learned was about the importance of photography. It took a long time to find enough items with photos that filled the frame, were interesting, and/or had backgrounds that were interesting and would mesh with my theme.

If I were going to summarize it, (and I am!), I'd say this:

1. Get close, maybe even too close. You have four other photos for each listing that will let you zoom out and catch the entire piece.
2. Make sure the lighting is good--not too dark, not too light, no extreme shadowing, and if possible taken in natural daylight.
3. Be ultra-aware of the background. Choose it carefully to get the effect you want. It isn't "beside the point" because it will either add or detract from the attractiveness and pull of your piece.

And now, not "back to work", because in my opinion this IS work, but off to other tasks. I have GOT to get pictures taken (see above, lol) and create some new listings. I don't even have enough to fill up my Etsy Minis right now! (That says both good and bad things, yes?)