Ringing in the New Year!

So, since the year was such a success for me. I wanted to do a little something special for someone that deserves it. I am doing my first Yoga Mat giveaway! A $60 value! I want to make sure the right person gets this special mat. So, what I want is for people to email me. I want to hear why you should have it. Maybe it's because you want to start doing yoga and think my mat will give you a little extra incentive to do so. Or you are already a Yogi, but for some reason need a new mat. Or, you have someone in mind that you think would like this mat? You can nominate them.

Your email can be short and sweet, or however long you want it! I am looking forward to finding the perfect match for this yoga mat. So, I bet you want to see which mat I am going to be giving away?!?  Well, first let me tell you why I chose this mat to give away. First off, I wanted it to be gender neutral. So, anyone could have a chance to win it. Secondly, who doesn't like plaid? Here's a little more info about the mat on my Etsy Shop!

So, here's what you need to do:

1. Follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter

2. Follow this Blog

3. Email me your story:

flowyogamats@yahoo.com

Entries will be accepted until January 31st, 2011. The winner will then be chosen and announced by February 10th, 2011!

This giveaway is for US residents only.

Cyber Monday Sale

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been MIA lately. My shop has been very busy, which I LOVE! Just want to let everyone know about the sale I am having. Tomorrow is Cyber Monday, which is the last day of my Holiday Sale! Just enter the coupon code HOLIDAYSALE15 when checking out to receive 15% off your total. And to top it all off, I am also offering FREE shipping. And that goes for my hand painted yoga mats also. Which is a $9.95 savings!

Inhale Exhale Bracelet - $9 w/ coupon code $7.65

Hand Stamped Lucky Penny Necklace - $12 w/ coupon code $10.20

Hand Painted Plaid Yoga Mat - $60 w/ coupon code $51.00

You Are My Sunshine Keychain -$7 w/coupon code $5.95

Thank you everyone, who has been so supportive! I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! I am thankful for so many wonderful things in my life right now. I am looking forward to the holiday season. Christmas is my most favorite time of the year! And we already have almost 2 feet of snow outside, soit looks like this year we will be having a white Christmas!

1 Year on Etsy!

Today is the 1 year anniversary for my Etsy shop.  And what a year it has been.  It has had it's ups and downs, but it's all been worth it.  I have come a long way and learned so much about Etsy and about making a successful shop.  By no means can I quit my day job, but things are on the upswing. 

I started out on Etsy not knowing anything about it...I hadn't even bought anything on Etsy.  But, it looked like a great venue for my hand made items.  I really had no idea if my yoga mats would even be something people would want to buy. And as it turns out, they do like them. And, I am still the only one on Etsy hand painting yoga mats! And with the success of the mats, I also added yoga accessories.  I now have yoga straps, blocks, hand stamped yoga-inspired jewelry and key chains and also my canvas paintings. So, it's a one-stop-shop for all your yoga needs. And makes great gifts for anyone you know who does yoga. 

For people just starting out on Etsy, I want to give you a few pointers...I want to say that pictures are your number one selling point!  The picture is the first thing people see and if they don't like that little thumbnail picture or yours doesn't set you apart from the rest, you won't be successful.  And use all 5 of your pictures.  Since people can't touch and feel and pick up your item, you want them to get the most out of your pictures.  It will make them feel more comfortable with their purchase.

And another thing, use social networking sites!  I have a Facebook Page, Twitter account and obviously a blog.  The more you are on the web, the easier it will be for people to find you through search engines, such as Google. 

And one thing that has worked tremendously for me was to join an Etsy team.  Not a lot of newbies even know about teams.  But, they are out there.  You can join a local team, or a team that is specific to what you make.  There is tons to choose from.  I am on the Eastern Wa Team.  And they have been nothing but great.  They support you, never make you feel stupid for asking dumb questions and it really feels more like a family!

So, here is to many more successful years!

Feature on Self Magazine's Website

So yesterday I was going through my Google Analytics, as I do almost everyday.  And I decided to take a peek at the Referring Sites section.  This section is a little irritating at times.  It lists all these referring sites, you click on them and then you can't find where your link is or any mention of you at all.  So, most of them time I just browse through this area. 

Well, yesterday I started clicking on the links and I just so happened to click on a link from Self.com.  Well, when it opened up there was blog titled, "Pamper Your Body With These 6 Healthy Finds".  So, I look around the page before I read the blog and I realize it's SELF MAGAZINE!!!!  Which is a huge magazine, you can find them at all the grocery stores, book stores...anywhere that sells magazines.  By this time I have goose bumps all over and can hardly even read the darn blog cause I am so excited!  Click HERE to read the blog.

I'm just so excited to be recognized!  And for all you that are wondering...yes, this mat that they featured did sell!

Best day...ever!

Today has been such an exciting day for me.  I woke up today with emails from my team congratulating me for being in Etsy Finds.  I was still kinda groggy from waking up, so it didn't fully register until I went downstairs to my computer and checked my email there and read Etsy Finds.  I was so excited to see my Eat, Pray, Love Necklace there.  Such a great theme to be featured in, with other awesome items.  So, I'm super stoked about Etsy Finds and another email comes in saying the Cherie's treasury is on the front page.  Well, I knew that she had recently done a treasury that featured a few team members, so I go to Etsy.com's front page and there is my Live, Laugh, Love Necklace.  By this time, I wanted to scream I was so excited!  I think I have had a smile on my face all day long.  It's just so crazy I was in Etsy Finds and the Front Page all in one day!  It's blowing my mind.  The other teammates that were on the Front Page were PostScripted, ForTheLoveOfPete, OrangeThyme, TinyBellesBoutique, LaurenBPhotography, and JanKanSew.  They all do such beautiful work!  I'm honored to be on the front page with them.  Anyways, here's the screenshot of the front page.

Giveaway Time!

I am going to be having a giveaway when we reach 100 fans on Facebook!  So, if you are not following me yet, please do!  www.facebook.com/flowyogamats  I am at 90 fans now, so we only need 10 more!  The faster we get there, the faster we can pick a winner.  So, if you are already a fan of mine (thank you), please feel free to suggest my page to your friends.

Anyways, some of you may be wondering what I will be giving away...well, wait no longer!

Me and Hand Stamping Jewelry

For those of you that don't know.  I had this great idea to make yoga inspired hand stamped jewelry.  I have always loved the look of the hand stamped jewelry and after buying a couple of items on Etsy, I thought to myself "Why can't I make this jewelry?"  So, I decided to have a yoga twist on it.  And stamp words like Namaste, Peace, and Breathe on the jewelry.

So, I started googling away..."How to make hand stamped jewelry".  There is a ton of info out there.  And come to find out, it's actually pretty cheap to start out.  I ended up going to Rings and Things here in Spokane and bought some blanks, a metal stamp alphabet and some beads and such.  Then I also went on Etsy and bought some ball chain necklaces and some more blanks. 

So, the alphabet metal stamps I bought at Rings and Things ended up being too small for what I wanted to do.  But, after I showed my husband what they looked like, he said "they sell those at the hardware store".  So, I got a much cheaper set from the local hardware store, thanks to my husband!  And they work just the same.  So, I think I am getting the hang of it.  And I am having a blast taking pictures of the jewelry.  So, I am just going to show you a few of my favorites!

Hamsa Necklace:

                         

Breathe Necklace:

Eat, Pray, Love Necklace:

If you like these and would like to see more, here is my Hand Stamped Section at my Etsy store!  Ohh...that rhymed!

Clearance Yoga Mats

I am making room for the new designs I am working on and have marked down some older mats.  These mats are equally as gorgeous, but they are my older works of art and are sold as is because they have already been painted.  Therefor, you cannot customize the mats or paint color.  But, they are beautiful just the same.

There is the Lily of the Valley, which is my all time favorite:

Chakras:

Daisy Yoga Mat:

Unique Yoga Mat:

And finally Namaste Lotus Flower Yoga Mat:

All of these mats have been marked down to $40!!!

I was on Etsy's Front Page

I'm just going to make this short and sweet.  This was my first time being on Etsy's Front Page, so I am quite excited.  Even though it was at 4 am eastern time, there was actually people that saw it, viewed and a few gave me hearts.  Who would have known that people would be shopping online so early in the morning.  I guess it's never too early for shopping! 

Inspiration

My inspiration comes in lots of different forms. Nature has always been a big inspiration for me. As you can see with my Dragonfly yoga mat, Daisy Yoga Mat or Lily of The Valley yoga mat. Yoga itself is also one of my big inspirations also. You will see the Om symbol on a lot of my mats. The Om symbol has the meaning of enlightenment, which for me has been an important part of my yoga practice. I also have a Chakra yoga mat, which has to do with the 7 chakras in your body.

So, when I find inspiration I then do some sketches to see if it will look good on the mat and the layout. Then, depending on the weather I will either paint the mat down in my studio or on my back porch overlooking my backyard. But, for anyone that lives in the Northwest, you know that there is only a good few months out of the year. So, most of my painting is done in my studio.

I really want my mats to be as custom as possible, that is why I offer all different sizes and colors. I am able to offer Standard, which is 68"x24"x1/8"; Extra Long, which is 84"x 24"x1/4"; Child Size, which is 56"x24"x1/8"; and Pilates size, which is 76"x24"x1/4". I also offer an eco-friendly mat, which measures 1/4"x23"x72" with rounded corners. They are Latex, PVC, Phthalates and Chloride free. So you can feel good that you are doing your part to save Mother Earth!

My mats are lovingly made. I know how important your mat is when practicing yoga, because I am a fellow Yogi!

I'm new to this

Not really sure what to say in this Blog. I am new to blogging. I started my company last September. I hand paint yoga mats. And now yoga accessories also. I have always loved to paint, but never felt comfortable selling it. I started doing yoga about 2 years ago and I had a boring green mat. Although it was neon green, it just wasn't enough. So, I thought why can't I paint my mat. So, I did. The first paint I used didn't work out so hot. It rubbed off, and started chipping after drying. So, then I tried another one and haven't had any complaints. I love that I am able to do something creatively and people like it. It's one thing when my darling husband says he likes it, but when perfect strangers are telling me they love my work. It's fantastic. So, check out my websites www.flowyogamats.com and for more than my mats you can check out www.flowyogamats.etsy.com for my paintings, blankets and other neat things.