Yay! Natural Kids Team Rocks!

Wow, one of my etsy team members got featured in a wonderful video! It is so sweet! Kind of funny when you talk to people all the time but you don't know what they look like. But you sort of make up an image in your head of what you think they look like. Then you see them in a video! Yay, Woodmouse! Or Amber. I think that's how I imagined you. Or pretty close at least!

http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/handmade-portraits-woodmouse-2972/#comment-48230

So glad you got to be featured and mentioned our group of friends on etsy. What a lovely Nikolaus present. My boot is full this morning. =)

The Ebb and Flow...

This is sort of a follow-up post to yesterday. Today I am shipping out my last big order for the season. At least I think so. I have not received any more orders over the last few days. But one just never knows. That's online selling for you. Sometimes nothing happens for days. And then boom: you get 33 transactions in a day. At least that is my record. What is your's if you have an online store?

I remember the days back when I was a student working at a gallery in Berlin. Every Christmas my boss would moan and complain: "This is terrible. The worst Christmas ever. Nobody is going to come!" And then they would all congregate outside the store. A huge herd of people would enter the store all at once. And we'd be sweating taking artwork off the walls, beautiful jewelry out of the glass displays, wrapping wrapping wrapping - until there seemed nothing left at all. Counting the money at night I felt more like a bank clerk...
I remember one Christmas, the big hit item was a life-sized chocolate high-heeled shoe. It ran about $100 dollars and came in three different colors or flavors: strawberry, white, or dark chocolate. I could not believe that people would actually buy such a thing. But guess what: We nearly sold out!
So in retail, off and on-line alike there is another rule: Keep a cool head! Everybody needs Christmas presents. If you have great items they will come and buy eventually.


It is snowing in Colorado. Great now I have to fend my way to the Post Office through a blizzard to mail my last package. But I am glad. We really need every morsel of precipitation after the drought..

Enjoy the pictures of my little army of Wee Dolls. The little felted gnome (who was not part of the order) helped me to do the last inspections before they left my studio. No doubt they will make some little kids very happy.

I am exhausted and feel a bout of carpal tunnel syndrome come on. But wasn't it totally worth it?

Staying organized!

During Christmas most online sellers experience a higher volume of sales. But even if you don't have many sales yet - (don't be sad they will come in time!) - it is crucial to stay organized when you run an online business. More people will come back if they are happy with your service. I get a lot of repeat customers who come back because they loved the good service they received the first time around!

So today I want to give a little pep talk on how to keep all your ducks in a row. Nothing makes a customer more happy than receiving their order in a speedy fashion. Of course, you want to make sure that while sending things fast you don't send the wrong item to the wrong person.

My first big piece of advice is:

1.Write yourself a note for every order that comes in!
I have a pad of sticky notes on my desk next to the computer. For each order I get I make a note as I receive it. On that note I write the following information:
the name of the buyer - his or her etsy ID,
the item(s) they ordered,
the date of purchase.
the shipping address they give on etsy
I stick these notes on the window behind my sewing machine. Since I work on a "first-come-first-serve basis" I arrange the orders by date they were received on. As I work on the orders and ship the items I take the sticky notes off the window and rearrange them! It really works well!
If it is a bigger custom order I use a big sheet of paper to write every detail down!

2.When I get ready to wrap and ship items I have noticed that it is important to attach the name to each item you wrap up! Nothing more annoying than having a nicely wrapped gift sitting on your table and not knowing who it needs to go to. Or even worse having it all boxed up and taped without the address on the box...That's a real time waster! I like to wrap doll clothes in tissue paper, use organic ruffia for ribbon, and tie a "thank you" note and Moo card with ribbon to it. If the note is personalized - has the name of the buyer - it gives it a nice personal touch while at the same time helping you to identify the wrapped item =).

3. Getting it ready for shipping: Next I take my sticky note with the address, stick it on my outer packaging, cross reference the etsy address with the one given on paypal. Voila! If it all matches I can ship the item out. If not, rats! Now I have to convo the buyer and confirm what address it needs to go to.

4. I take all big orders, doll orders , and international shipments to the Post Office in person. Smaller envelopes I usually hand over to my trusty mail carrier when she delivers my mail.
I think this system of mine works really well. But please feel free to comment and add some tips to my list!


Dear Etsyans, have a busy busy week with lots of sales!
Dear Shoppers hope you have only happy Shopping experiences!

Love, ulla

www.germandolls.etsy.com

Another Christmas Doll

I just listed another Christmas doll. She is so sweet! I hope she finds a good home. I am having trouble taking good pictures these days. It is too windy and cold outside to set up my photo light tent. Yesterday the wind just picked it up and blew it right into the neighbors yard...

When I tried taking pictures inside it was too dark and the indoor lighting made the colors all weird looking. I could really use the help of a professional...Any tips for me?

I think pictures are so important when you sell your wares online!

I am also working on some more doll clothes to put under the Christmas tree! I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. So many memories... I will try and post some pictures of clothes when I get a good one...

How do you take your pictures in the winter time? Do you use a light tent? I am so frustrated with my photos at the moment.

Finally New Dolls! Yay

Finally I managed to add some new Christmas dolls to my store! I am so proud of this year's new Gingerbread Girl. I love her sweet face and wheat colored hair. I made it of a lovely Italian mohair that is just just so soft and wonderful!

I am also happy that I got to use my felting needles for this project. I take the needles along when I go to the endless Nutcracker Practices that my daughter is in. She was chosen yet again to be a parrot in this year's perfomance. So I have time to stab away and made the cute little gingerbread man. Hope he doesn't run away! I'd cry my eyes out with all the work that went into this little guy...

I still have to make a number of custom items. I have not managed to catch up on them all but I am working down my list. But here and there I must create things of MY OWN. It is hard to be a slave to custom orders. Sometimes one just has to be free and create what one wants...

Like this little guy you see below.

I made this cute boy doll Walker. I fashioned him after the son of friends. Love his wilde mop of hair. He is so cute the children want to keep him...But one has to make a living.

Sankt Martinus

If you should ever get the chance to visit the area in Germany where I grew up, you will notice one thing upon entering one of these small comunities. As you drive into a small village you will notice a distinct feature on the horizon: two church steeples, one belonging to the Catholic church - the other to a Protestant church.



Animosities and downright hostilities between the followers of either religious denomination have lasted for centuries. May God forbid that a Catholic girl should ever wed a Protestant man ( or vice versa), as my mother did, for she might become an outcast in her family...Despite the fact that most Protestants do not recognize saints and may even ridicule the Catholic practice of saint worship, there is one celebration in November they will not shun! On the evening of November 11, you will find Protestant and Catholic children alike going on lantern walks at night to celebrate the life of Sankt Martinus.

According to legend, St. Martin started out as a Roman soldier, was baptized as an adult, and became a monk. "It is understood that he was a kind man who led a quiet and simple life. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. That night he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. Martin heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised he has clothed me." (quoted form Wikipedia)

Most of the lanterns the children carry they craft lovingly at home or in art class at school. The lanterns are usually made of paper with beautiful cut-out designs that look like the lead glass windows of a church. The lanterns are attached with wire to the end of a dowel. Little tea-lights are used to make them glow in the dark. The children walk from their houses and meet at the market place, or the school building. From there they follow a rider on a white horse, dressed like a Roman soldier, marching towards the outskirts of town. While walking the children sing songs about St. Martin and songs about their lanterns. The destination of their march is a huge bonfire. The children gather around the bonfire. After a dramatic reenactment of the most famous scene from St. Martin's life, cutting his coat in half and sharing it with the beggar, all children receive a sweet treat. Each child gets handed a figure made of a yeasty bread dough with raisins for eyes.

I absolutely loved this tradition as a child. There was always such a wonderful sense of comunity in this celebration. What better way to celebrate simple acts of human kindness?Wishing you lots of light, human warmth and kindness for this season!

Ulla

http://www.germandolls.etsy.com/

About me...

Years and years ago I made this "about me" page on ebay. I hardly ever go to "Feebay" since I found Etsy. Sometimes I will buy some fabric there. But I still like what I wrote back then about myself - so I thought I should put it on my blog today:

"Guten Tag!
My name is Ulla Seckler. I was born and raised in Germany and moved to the United States in 1996. I have been sewing and making things practically all my life.
Back in good old Germany children are instructed in needle works at a tender age. I still remember the old lady, named Frau Knebel, who came in with two gigantic knitting needles, the size of poles for pole vaulting (it seemed), and taught all the girls and BOYS how to knit in elementary school.
But sewing is in my blood. My great grandmother was the village seamstress and called in whenever somebody got married and needed custom-made, hand embroidered table and bed linens. She taught her daughters and my mother how to sew. Some of her work can be seen at a local museum. I watched my mother sew, crochet, and knit all my life. She did not have to make a living that way, but whenever she had a minute she was doing something. Her hands were never idle, and I grew up in a world where handmade sweaters, mittens, and scarves, appeared overnight. All it took was a snowfall. My dolls and I never lacked a new outfit and were dressed appropriately for the season . . .
After I had children of my own in the US I was worried that they would grow up without the same quality handmade items and toys that I had when I was little. So I started making dolls after my daughter was born. And once I started making the dolls, I began making clothes for them as well. "

It has been years since I wrote this. But I still make dolls and enjoy it so much. It gives me great pleasure when I receive pictures and wonderful notes from people who tell me how much their child loves a doll that I made for them.

Sometimes, when life gets a little rough, I like to look at them. It makes me pick up the needle and keep going...