Time wasting

I think I have blogged about Provox time wasting experiment before but when I saw the work live in Etsy's office in Berlin, I just couldn't resist taking a few snapshots.
Brilliant work which brings a smile to my face every time I see it. Check out Alyson's shop and waste 13 minutes going through the time wasting experiment. :)

Hello Etsy - part 5

One of the coolest rooms I've ever been in: the control room at Ework in Berlin. It is Germany’s oldest preserved commercial power plant, built in 1885. You can read more of it's history here if you like.

Hello Etsy - part 3

Listening to all those sessions does make a person hungry. But no despair, Etsy took really good care of that. The catering at the conference was simply sublime.
And if you had finished lunch, there was an opportunity to do some creative stuff. I sewed 2 lovely pillows from beautiful Marimekko fabrics. It was superfun to do something with my hands for a change. Listening and being quiet can make me restless especially in such a creative boosting environment. :)
Here's Judit sewing a bag with the help of Minna. You could also pass by the Etsy stand to get more information! Hey look, there's sweet Marta! *waves*
At the Burda stand you could doodle on a white sheet with fabric markers or sew-doodle with yarn. Fun! :)
And in the afternoon, the caterers served cake! YAY! Lots of them and so many different ones to choose from.
And for those that could resist the cake, there was fruit! Yum too!
I wanted to post a livestream of Hessam Lavi today who did a talk on 'building a search engine small business' but I couldn't find it yet. I found this session extremely helpful as I never even looked at SEO. Hessam Lavi is a great speaker who really thought about the content of his session and connected with the audience. When there were questions, he always repeated 'em which I found great as sometimes they got lost in space. Hessam Lavi also asked people to submit their SEO questions beforehand and answered to them here. So you can check that out too if you're interested to read more.
Happy weekend everyone! :)

Hello Etsy - part 2

To be quite honest, the schedule at 'Hello Etsy' was quite overwhelming! So many interesting sessions going on that it was hard to chose which one to go to. Thank goodness they livestreamed the entire event so that it's still possible to see some of the sessions from your couch at home.
I'll be sharing a few of my favorite sessions on my blog. One of them is called 'Branding on a shoestring' by Lisa Rodwell from Moo. It is quite amazing that this company who was just a teeny tiny printing company a few years ago, grew from 'pleasure cards' to the giant 'Moo' all through branding and consistency. One sentence of this session summed it all up for me: 'celebrate your brand' YAY! That is exactly what they do at Moo! The enthusiasm they show of their product makes up half of the branding if not more.

Conversation starters were spread all over the place

If you subscribed for the 'Hello Etsy' conference in Berlin, you had the opportunity to order a set of free business cards through Moo. I've never had any so I ordered em and put on the new designs of our collaboration work. I love the cards!The feel of the cards is so lovely and I love the size too! I think I prefer these to the mini cards they usually have.

And Moo made sure we were using the cards righ away as they let us play a networking game. You had to collect 6 stickers of a different craft. As you can see below, everyone was frantically swapping stickers and business cards! It really worked!And when you had a full card, you could redeem it by going to the Moo-stand and pick a coupon code for some free Moo stuff! :)I get a free business card holder! Yay! I think I should order some more Moo's now.

And if you're really quick, they have a special offer until the 25th of September with a coupon for 25% off! :)Below you will find the live stream session on branding! Enjoy! :)

etsy on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Hello Etsy - part 1

Image taken from a platform on the trainstation in Köln

At last I find some time to share some bits and pieces from my short stay in Berlin. The journey didn't start out really relaxed as I was supposed to step onto a train in Hasselt & get off in Berlin. It didn't happen that way of course but after a small detour of about 2 hours which involved driving to Liège/Luik and then to Aachen/Aken I finally arrived in Berlin.
I took the train as I wanted to travel slowly. The past few months I've been so busy that it seemed that life was passing by too quick so instead of flying there quickly, I saw the landscape pass by and actually had some time to read too.
I wonder though when I will finish the book I started...

Image taken from a platform on the trainstation in Köln

The evening that I arrived, I met up with PetitPlat and Vadjutka in the flat I rented through AirBNB. While we were sitting around in the flat and chatting away, we decided that it would be lovely to cook together so we went shopping and made ourselves a lovely meal. It was so much fun to cook together. Marta arrived on early Friday morning at an ungodly hour. I wasn't feeling all that well due to a stomach bug so I was happy to tag along to the Etsy headquarters and hang out there for a bit. Marta works for Etsy as the community manager in the Netherlands so we helped preparing for the 'Hello Etsy' weekend and sewed some cushion that would be used for the Yoga sessions.
I took some pictures of the preparations at the headquartes...
... and at Ework, the site where the main event took place. What an impressive location! My jaws just dropped when I saw it!
In the evening we went to a preregistration party at Hudson. Already met some lovely Etsians there while chatting over a cup of tea and some scones.

I'll be sharing more of 'Hello Etsy' later this week as I don't want to overwhelm you with it all at once. It has been an amazing experience that was inspirational and energizing and I can't wait to share some of the live streams of the sessions that I loved most. Stay tuned! :)

Flickr Favorites

1. Remembrance, 2. The Book Reader,
3. Zulu 13:16 - Incoming Train, 4. Black line

All the above pictures had the word 'Berlin' as tag. That's the place I'll be heading to on Thursday. I'll be attending 'Hello Etsy' in the weekend and will meet up with lots of lovely peeps.
I have a dinnerdate on thursday evening with Vadjutka and Petit Plat. Can't make it too late as Marta will lift me out of bed on early Friday morning since she is coming by night train and will arrive at an ungodly hour. We'll have Friday to gallivant in Berlin together. I've never been there so if you have any 'must-sees' or 'go there's', let me know!
I'll be closing my shop & blog until next week as I'm treating myself to a week vacation. Be good while I'm gone! :)

Hello Etsy

Earlier this week they announced the availability for tickets for the 'hello Etsy' conference in September in Berlin, Germany.
I couldn't be fast enough to grab a ticket as I just don't want to miss this event!
Not only the content looks fantastic but I also can't wait to meet lots of creative, likeminded people!

There are 4 big themes at the conference:

The business: the nuts and bolts of establishing and running your micro-enterprise: Here we look at finance, legal, and time management.
The big picture: the why and how of human-scale economies. Here we explore a broad range of ways to improve the world.
The product: what you make and how you make it. Here we explore production, materials, presentation and function.

The market: getting your product or service out there. All businesses need customers, how will you reach yours?

This summit is NOT only for Etsy sellers/buyers, it's open to all those who are interested in running their own business and sustainability.

I think it will be an amazing experience and wouldn't want to miss it for the world!
Besides, I have never been to Berlin so I might just add a few days extra to explore the city and surroundings. Anyone has tips for visiting Berlin?

Perhaps I'll meet you there? Hurry and get your tickets here!