Treasured BBEST Friends

BBEST Blog Authors

This is a short, but sweet tribute
to the wonderful contributors
I have been privileged to work with
this past year as blog coordinator.

Judy Nolan has been generously kind
enough to take over the blog
reins for the new year.
Thank you all, and I look forward to
seeing both these and new authors'
articles in the months ahead.

Thank you to all who read and comment.
It's a considerable amount of work to create
a post, from choosing and developing a theme,
to composing the text and gathering the photos,
to cutting and pasting links.

I encourage you all to follow in the path
of our guest blog authors and volunteer
for at least one post this year.

Speaking now from my
experience in my
administrative seat, I add...
if writing a post is not your
forte, there are many ways
you can contribute to the
continuing success of
your BBEST group.

We have a large team and a vital
administration with a small core
of regular participants working
behind the scenes and I know you all
agree that the benefits of belonging
to this particular etsy team are,
for lack of a better descriptor, priceless.

Now we welcome a new team leader, Nonnie.
Please take a few minutes of your time
and think about how you can
more actively
share your talents
with your bbest friends.

It's rewarding. It's inspiring.
It's fun.
But most of all,
it's what makes a team a team.

It's a win, win, win situation.

Until next time...

ox
joon

ps. thewildhare, a wonderful guest author,
is missing from my treasury
only because her shop is on vacation.
I tried to grab a sold, but that doesn't work.
When the treasury opens, and I grab a spot,
I will announce this
one on the weekly thread.

Thank you all, again, for your support this past year.
Here's to the future.
Best wishes, Nonnie and Judy
and to all who contribute to this truly great team.

Improving your products with Attribute Listing

As we all know, creative inspiration sometimes requires a jump start, particularly when a deadline looms. In a previous post, I described how the SCAMPER technique acts as a creative trigger for ideas. SCAMPER, of course, is only one creative thinking tool in a treasure chest filled with idea-generating techniques. Another useful tool for creative inspiration is Attribute Listing.

Back in the 1930s, Attribute Listing was devised to develop new and/or improved products from existing or known products by breaking them down into their characteristic parts, or attributes, listing individual elements that fit these attributes, and then combining selected elements from some of the attributes in new ways. In the industrial world, for example, a manufacturer might decide to develop a new pen that stands out from its competitors. Some of the attributes of a typical pen might be said to be style, color, ink delivery method, comfort, and type of ink. By identifying specific styles, colors, ink delivery methods, elements of comfort, and types of ink, and then combining the best ideas from each of these attributes, it is possible to develop a new and improved pen. The same is true when a fashion designer develops a new bag, whose attributes might be said to be material (fabric, leather, synthetic), hardware (buckle, button, snap, handle), intended use (book bag, evening bag, laptop bag), and style (formal, sporty, classic, playful). By listing specific possibilities for each attribute of a bag, and then selecting and combining the most appealing ideas, a designer produces a new bag.

Attribute Listing is chiefly a creative thinking tool that is designed to be used in a limited way—to improve upon a pre-existing idea or product. However, the possibilities for improvement of an idea or product are endless. To apply the Attribute Listing technique, follow this five-step plan:

1. Identify your goal, i.e., what idea or product do you want to improve?
2. Identify 4 to 8 attributes, or characteristics, of this idea or product. There are no right or wrong answers here; you determine the attributes you want to analyze.
3. List as many specific ideas for each attribute as you can. Resist the urge to reject ideas; write them down without analyzing them.
4. Go back through your list of attributes, and circle the best ideas for each one. This is, of course, subjective.
5. Consider how you might combine the best ideas.

Let’s take a look at how you can use Attribute Listing. If I want to develop an Etsy “Treasury,” a showcase of Etsy products that I believe is special in some way, Attribute Listing provides me with an endless array of ideas. Typical attributes of a Treasury could include theme, style, audience, technique and material. By listing the first ideas that come to mind for each attribute, I will have the start of an Attribute List that I can use to develop a Treasury:

Theme: color, ecological, industrial, nature, floral, toys, songs, books, indoor, outdoor, tools
Style: modern, Western, vintage, Victorian, medieval, eclectic
Audience: adult, women, men, children, teen, baby
Technique: crochet, collage, beadweaving, felting, knitting, metalwork, glassblowing, painting, encaustic, woodworking, sewing, macrame, Scherenschnitte
Material: yarn, fabric, feathers, beads, buttons, paper, glass, wood, metal, plastic

For the purpose of this exercise, I will select the following elements from each Attribute to create a Treasury:

Theme: floral
Style: eclectic
Audience: women
Technique: showcase multiple techniques
Material: showcase multiple materials

Finally, below is a blog-style Treasury of BBEST artists’ floral creations I could develop from the attributes I have listed. Try this yourself the next time you want to create a special Treasury, or to improve upon an idea or product you already have. Creative thinking tools such as Attribute Listing or the previously-described SCAMPER are situation-driven techniques. In other words, much as you would use a hammer and not a block of wood to drive a nail into a board, ideally you can select the right creative thinking tool for the inspirational challenge you are facing.

Double Posey Copper and Silver,
by Chris1

Sandals with yellow crochet flowers,
by creationsbyeve

Flower Power Birdhouse,
by uniqueXpression

Midnight in the Garden Flower Focal,
by ZudaGay

large blues felted flower brooch,
by maddyandme

Native American Beaded Bracelet
Prairie Rose Cuff in Pink, by jstinson

Red flower - encaustic,
by onawhimsey

Posies - Original Mixed Media,
by sixsisters

Turquoise Flower Martini Glasses,
by GlitznGlass

Korean Flower Scherenschnitte,
by OneDogTalking

Fun Ivory Wool Scarflet,
by CBBasement

Orange Magnetic Needle Nabber Flower,
by birose

© 2009 Judy Nolan. All rights reserved. Please note that the images in this post are owned by the artists and may not be used without permission. Simultaneously published at http://sparklines.blogspot.com.

Spring Think

The only constant is change.

All seasons bring change, but spring is the season of new growth, warm rains and sunshine. Promise is everywhere. Spring sprouts happiness. Thoughts of change within our own lives seem to come to the fore in spring. The earth renews and we with it. Change is a challenge. Change is a mixed blessing. We can bring about change for the better.


Etsy is changing exponentially right now. The economy is driving more sellers to Etsy and, I do not know what the buyer status is, but even if there are more, they are now spread more thinly.

Recently Etsy confirmed that there are way too many items listed for fair share visibility ~ the system cannot handle that many listings, explaining why so many of our items see 0 views for hours or even days. They aren't on the front page, in Time Machine or in search until later ~ read: buried. Etsy's search system, which encourages renewing, naturally spurred this on.

We need to adapt to these changes and stay abreast of what's happening. If you notice something odd, you can be sure something odd is going on. But you are most likely going to need to seek out the reason yourself. Etsy is not going to hand you news unless it suits their business.

Many people are joining other selling {ArtFire and 1000 Markets} and social networking sites {twitter and facebook}. Here is something you may not have considered and you don't need to go anywhere. Building & visiting Treasuries.

Something fun: craftopolis Here is an outside site that lets you search for your items in treasuries & gift guides. This is really handy for those of us who build treasuries {our featured shops can find, visit & click} and those of us with multiple shops. It includes T West and alternate status. This seems like a small thing, but it is not. Visit treasuries you are featured in and comment. Build treasuries mixing BBEST and shops new to you. There are very few things we can control in the way of exposure in a growing sea of mass sellers and item listings...You can use the treasuries to your advantage. Craftopolis is a gift toward this end.


Another way we can gain exposure is through blogging. Many of us have our own blogs and either love blogging or like it or are, let's face it, a bit bemused, even overwhelmed, by blogging.

What do you write about? What do people want to read? What's it all about, Alfie? This team blog is a great place to start. We are looking for guest authors. The best part is ~ you do not need to commit to anything more than ONE guest post. It's a great place to start and a wonderful way to connect and contribute to your team.

There are so many topics to write about and we each have a unique style and varied talents and interests. We all have circles of friends and family outside of our team ~ when you author a post, invite them to come read and comment. We have the potential to expand our team presence and visibility for all of our shops.

This team is wonderful. This blog is your blog. It's about, for and by all of us. Convo me for a date. I will help you in any way. Happy Spring, dear BBEST friends.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...

How about these items, featured in an Etsy treasury by Chauncey, for adding a touch of colour to your life? My particular favourites are pictured here, the yummy yellow of Birose's pretty necklace and the Celestial Star candleholder from Fehustoneware. But there is lots more to choose from... the delicacy of Yapp's Cottage Decor soap petals contrasts beautifully with their vibrant colour. And AJs Country Cottage provided a gloriously cool green Cucumber Melon candle, which beautifully echoes the colours of Jean Hood's miniature landscape. . So, tell us....what is YOUR favourite? Go look, quickly...the treasury only runs til 30 Jan!