Etsy treasuries--who knew?

 

I started my Etsy shop in earnest a few months ago.  I decided I will phase out the website and use Etsy because it's so much cheaper and I'm soooooo bad at marketing my stuff.   I really just need a place to have something "out there" and a way for people to find me and contact me for jewelry. 

Shortly after listing a few items, I got a "convo" (this is Etsian for "conversation") from someone saying she had put my necklace in a treasury (that's Etsian for little collections that members put together, often with some sort of theme.  Sometimes people comment on them or shop by going through them...basically, it's a nice way to get some exposure.  When you go to the Etsy home page, the majority of what you see there is someone's treasury).  So I took a peek.  She had put my amethyst and sterling necklace in a treasury with a sort of dark, gothic feel to it.  I have to admit, it felt kind of cool.  (Then I worried briefly that maybe THAT was my 15 minutes of fame???  I guess it's better than making the paper for being arrested on a drug charge.) 

So a couple of days later, I made my own treasury.  It was fun, just surfing around to find items that I thought would fit into my little collection.  Soon after, I made another one.  Before I knew it, I became sort of hooked on making treasuries.  I would come home from work in the evenings and do searches on the laptop for 15 or 20 minutes while dinner was on the stove. I put items in little collections based on a feeling or color or an event. Serenity.  Halloween.  Cake.  (There is some seriously awesome stuff on there.  Seriously.)  This treasury is my current favorite (probably because people commented and told me I was clever...I'm a sucker for that kind of thing).

I like the idea of supporting handmade items, and I like how much weird and interesting stuff Etsy has to offer. There is even a feature to "shop local" that filters out the artists in your area.  And some of the pictures are stunning--so many of the photographs are creative and artistic--it's incredible. I had no idea. 

I don't know that I will ever sell anything from my shop, but I think I will keep popping in to do treasuries here and there--if you haven't checked it out, you may want to the next time you need a gift!