How to upload your Etsy items to Google Base

Another tutorial, folks.

I've heard a lot of talk about Google Base. If you're not familiar with it, it's a way to upload your item data to Google's search engine that makes it easier for people to find your items in Google Search. Your items may not come up in the regular Google Search, but in the shopping links on the top of the normal search page. There are two ways you can add your items to Google Base. One at a time or through a data feed. What I am going to cover today is how to add your Etsy items to Google Base via Data Feed.

First off, go to Let's Ets (http://letsets.com).
This is where you will produce your data feed.

Type your Etsy username into the box, and click Fetch My Items.



Make sure all of your listings appear correctly.


Click Download Bulk File to download your XML file. Your Etsy name will be the file name. Mine is "paysonwinters.xml"


Now, go to Google Base. (http://base.google.com)

Sign in to your Google account if you haven't already done so.

Click Data Feed on the right hand side. This will bring you to the My Items section. CLick on the Data Feeds tab.


In the upper left hand corner, click the button that says New Data Feed.


You will now need to register your data feed. Choose your target country and your item type. Then you will need to type the XML filename with the extension included. Mine is "paysonwinters.xml". After you are done click Register Data Feed.


You will be taken back to the Data Feeds section where you will be able to manually upload your XML file. Remember, the file name must match the name that you have just registered.

After you upload your file, Google Base will process your items and make them searchable.

Another point I'd like to make (I know I had mentioned it above), is that your items will still show up in the normal Google Search, but Google Base is designed to input them into the "Shopping Results".

For example, I searched Google for "Pebble Stacking Rings" WITH the quotes and this is what I got:



Last Updated: 10/13/08: I realized that some of my screen captures were wrong, so I moved them about a bit, made everything flow a bit more cohesively. I also added a screen cap of my own Google results.

Inspiring people inspiring inspiring people.

A few days ago, on Etsy I came across CoffeePotPeople who had mentioned that my avatar was an inspiration to her. So I sent her a message with the details of the organization to which she replied that she was going to write a blog post about. I figured she would just mention it in passing or something, like "Oh hey check this out blah blah blah" but when she messaged me this morning with the link to her blog post I was blown away. This woman is truly amazing, and I'm so glad that such a simple thing as a forum avatar has inspired her to write a truly beautiful blog entry.

You can read her entry here.

Top Secret Mailers!

Eee, I found a tutorial for making your own bubble mailers! 27things has this wonderful tutorial on how to make your own bubble mailers. I finally have a use for all this cardstock and bubble wrap that is just sitting around. Anyways, my first few weren't that successful, but here are the really pretty ones that I made:





Oh, and the best part: The back is SILVER. Yay for shiny things!

I can't wait to get an Etsy order so I can send someone one of these mailers.

Busy Busy Busy!

Wow, today was a busy day! I sold 4 items in a matter of hours. Busy busy busy getting those packages ready to send. I also want to thank Rebecca from SoapDeli for featuring my Matchbook Note tutorial on her blog.

I don't really have much else to add tonight, this is just a quick update before I go to bed. Goodnight everyone!

Matchbook Note Tutorial

Before I begin this tutorial, I just want to thank AmberSky for featuring one of my items in her treasury!

And now on to the tutorial.

Tonight we are going to learn to make those adorable matchbook notebooks. I make mine out of recycled cigarette cartons, but you can use any thick paper you want. I like patterned cardstock for these as well.

Your finished product will come out looking like these:




Lets get started, shall we?

First you'll need to gather a few tools. Necessities include an Xacto knife, cork-backed ruler, and a self-healing cutting board, and a stapler. I have a fancy paper cutter which makes things a lot easier, but it of course is optional. You can do just fine with your Xacto and ruler.



Your supplies should include the cardstock you want to use for the matchbook itself and the filler paper. I use discarded faxes from my day job as filler paper.





The first step will be to cut all the edges off of your cigarette carton. Cut off the box flaps on the sides and either end of the carton.



Next you will need to cut the carton (or cardstock) to 9 inches in length. After this, we will cut the carton into three 1 7/8" strips, going parallel to the folds in the carton. If you use 100s size cigarette cartons you can get 5 strips out of it, instead of the 3 that you get with regular king size. If you are using cardstock, then you will end up with 3 or 4 strips depending on the size you are using.





After you've got your 3 pieces of carton or cardstock, cut them in half so that they are 4 1/2" in length.



Now we need to score the matchbook so that it will fold easily. Using the paper piercer (or Xacto if you don't have one) score along the piece, starting from the bottom up. Measure 1/2 inch up and score. Then measure 2" from that score line and score again. Then measure 1/4" from that second score line and score again. You should have 3 score lines in total when you are done.



You can put the cardstock pieces to the side after you're done scoring them. Now it's time to cut the filler paper. I use 8 1/2x11 sheets of copier paper that are lightly printed on one side. No use letting this stuff get into a landfill, since my job doesn't recycle paper properly.



I cut the copier paper 1 3/4 x 1 7/8 that way it's not right up to the edge of the notebook. I use 10 sheets of filler paper for mini notebooks. It makes them just the right size and doesn't kill my stapler. If you've got a more heavy duty stapler then you could feasibly do up to 20 sheets of filler if you wanted.



Go ahead and staple your notebook right in the middle of that 1/2" fold. This will overlap the top flap and keep your notebook closed and keep your pages in place.



Repeat scoring and adding filler pages to your last remaining pieces.

Ta-da! You've succeeded in creating a set of mini matchbook notebooks!

The Launch of Luxe

There are going to be 2 posts today, my normal update entry and also following this one is going to be a tutorial on how to make Matchbook Notebooks.

I am excited. I need to pick a different emotion other than excited because it's what I choose all the time, but that's what I happen to be right now. Anyways, my jewelry boxes came in the mail the other day from TheCraftDragonfly and they are even more gorgeous than I thought they would be. I spruced them up with my signature Payson tag (the LUXE version, of course) and some pretty awesome ribbon.



I think they look absolutely fabulous.

I've been working on more product for PaysonToo but I still don't feel that I have enough product to open up the shop with. So for now it will just stay a buyer-only account.

And now I need to go get my fix of fall junk foods. Curse you candy corn, Malomars and Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist!

Stay tuned, I'll be posting that tutorial later.

New look =]

I got bored with the look of my blog, so I decided to spice up one of the Blogger templates. I haven't coded anything in so long, I was completely lost. I've been designing my own websites for the past 5 years or so, but for about a year I guess I haven't coded much of anything. It was so hard remembering what type of tag did what, oh I was so confused. I guess it's time to get myself back into the swing of coding, and since my college doesn't require web design for me to graduate (even though it's a Graphic Design degree, go figure) I guess I'll have to learn myself.

I am going to be purchasing a domain for myself in the near future, so I guess I will get my coding practice that way by designing myself a website layout. I can't wait! And I will be buying my own hosing this time too, so I don't have to deal with anyone else's crap when I set everything up. I can't count the number of times my hosts haven't paid their bills and my entire website was deleted. It's happened to me pretty regularly in the past. But I won't have to deal with any of that any more.

I've been experimenting with stacking rings lately, they're quickly becoming my favourite accessory ever. I made a few sets out of brass and copper last night, and taking inspiration from PaintedMetal I've been experimenting with patinas on the different metals. I used Copper Sulphate on my brass rings, and they turned this lovely olive-green colour, but when I woke up this morning they had turned this salmon colour mixed with the green. They looked almost the colors of Unakite, which is pretty neat. I'll have to experiment with them a bit more. I don't know if I would ever offer them on my Etsy store, but you never know.

I guess I'll have to just keep experimenting with new things and see!

I've also been working on some things for my new store PaysonToo, which I mentioned in a previous post. I've made a few matchbook notebooks out of recycled materials, and I am working on more recycled jewelry to offer before starting to list in that shop.

And now to try and get these things all done... I always feel like there's never enough hours in the day... Later all!