Etsy Little Rock presents: 3rd Annual Indie Arts & Music Festival

A Family Gig:  Etsy Indie Arts and Music Festival

LITTLE ROCK - Eat Local, Buy Local, Listen Local!  That's the mantra for the fun in store April 27 when you experience the eclectic work of local independent artists, musicians and foodies (well, food truckies) at Etsy Little Rock’s 3rd Annual Indie Arts and Music Festival.

Saturday, April 27 from 11 a.m. 'til 8 p.m. you can browse, eat and rock out on Woodlawn in Hillcrest, in front of The Shoppes on Woodlawn.

You'll enjoy live, local music, tasty selections from local food trucks and shopping Etsy Little Rock artists' booths, as well as the Shoppes on Woodlawn. 

There will be face painting and balloons for the kids, and for the adults in the crowd, free drinks (while they last).

Have you heard of Etsy?  Founded in 2005, Etsy is an e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies.  Etsy’s online community spans the globe with buyers and sellers coming from more than 200 countries.

And Etsy Little Rock (an Etsy member-curated team), with the help of its awesome sponsors, comes to you “live” April 27!  Besides being great fun, the Etsy Little Rock (ELR) artists hope the event deepens the relationship between the ELR community and other local artists and merchants - as well as making the work of local artists known and available to the public.

Already, nearly 30 artists and eight bands are set for the Indie Arts and Music Festival.  And if you know Little Rock, you know that Food Trucks are THE place to find the freshest and most delectable of treats.  From savory to sweet and back again, take your pick from some of the best Food Truck cooks in the state!

It's fun, it's free, it's Etsy Fest.  We'll be glad to see you in Hillcrest Saturday, the 27th.

And please be sure to thank our sponsors:

Arkansas Times

Café Bossa Nova

Pulaski Heights Realty

River City Tea, Coffee & Cream

Roll & Tumble Press

Stickyz Rock & Roll Chicken Shack

For more information, go to the Etsy Little Rock Facebook site:  www.facebook.com/EtsyLittleRock, log on to Pinterest (pinterest.com/etsylittlerock), tweet us @EtsyLR or send an email to etsylittlerock@gmail.com.

Midnight Masquerade

Wear your old prom dress, wear your old slacks, put a feather in your hat and don’t forget your mask!

Mark your calendars now for the only New Year's Eve (NYE) masquerade event to welcome in 2013!

Etsy Little Rock (ELR), in conjunction with Sticky Fingerz Rock N' Roll Chicken Shack, is hosting the most magical NYE event in town!

Justin Carder and Falcon Scott will lead us into the night with their musical brilliance while we dance on into 2013 to Poebot's musical genius!

A prop-stocked photo booth will be on site manned by the ever-talented Heather Canterbury (http://www.facebook.com/hcanterburyphoto and http://www.hcanterbury.com/) with a special surprise prop in store - unlike any you've ever seen, we assure you!

Several VIP booths will soon be available for auction (furnished with complementary one-of-a-kind masks and a bottle of champagne).

Advance tickets will be available for $15 available at Stickyz. Tickets at the door, night of the event, will be $20.

A wide array of masks created by Team ELR will be available for purchase the night of the event as well as ELR merch .

There will be a complimentary champagne toast, noisemakers and such, and balloon drop at midnight!

Plus! Etsy has donated 11 Etsy gift cards (10 $25 gift cards and one $50 gift card) to be given away (to non-Etsy shop owners) the night of the event!!

This event will benefit the fundraising endeavors of Team ELR.

More info here: http://www.facebook.com/events/432422520144934/

Word of Encouragement

Happy Sunday Etsy Little Rock!

I just addressed this issue with a fellow Etsy Little Rock team member and I know this has been an issue for many of us, "I've been open for x amount of months (years, etc.) and I have had no sales/few sales,

 etc."

Please know this, I've been open for almost 2 and 1/2 years and I average under 1 sale per month, so - I'm right there with you! Hopefully in this community we can network through each other (especially with local events) and we can also glean some wisdom from some of our team members (there is a good number of them, so encouraging!) who have quit their day jobs and do Etsy full time - super successful and super inspiring. Please know, I spoke with one of these successful members and they reassured me it didn't come easy - a lot of blood, sweat and many, many tears.

One thing to consider is to get involved! Get involved with this community. Attend the labs (we had our first last week and Elizabeth Clements will be coordinating more in the weeks and months to come) and help out the community as we are creating items to sell for our community fundraising endeavors. Create treasuries - promote others. I find in helping others, we help ourselves. (Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.)

My words of encouragement to the fellow Etsian I was speaking of are this (and to you too if you are facing the same challenge):

Don't give up hope! Just realize this: there is something for everyone on Etsy. I don't do well locally, but I do well on each coast, Canada, Asia and Europe. I create stuff I love and if it sells, it does, if not, oh well. But let me tell you this... if there are people who love items made from fingernail clippings, human hair and belly button fuzz (I'm not joking: That Woman Makes Crazy Art by Rachel Betty Case, here's an example http://www.etsy.com/listing/37901028/human-ivory-large-pendant-bug) on Etsy - we too have an audience - they just have to find us!

I think (I could be wrong) getting found/discovered is half the battle. There are millions of Etsy shops and we have to advertise our items and shops and network to get some attention and gain an audience.

If you have some advice to offer to this, please do - we hopefully can all help one another!

All the best!

* "Human ivory" (in the pictured link) is what she calls finger-nail clippings.

She's done really well and her work has been featured in Contemporary Sculpture, National Geographic Kids magazine, Newsweek, OwlKids magazine, newspapers and radio stations around the world (such as Sweden, Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.) and in her local newspapers.

Etsy offers something for everyone!

Little Rock Food Truck Festival Flyer!

Please feel free to print and distribute! If you'd like a larger size and/or in pdf version, please e-mail amber.estrada@att.net.  Thank you!

Time is Running Out!

Only 11 days to get your registration in! http://www.facebook.com/events/333008910122040/

Tag

Please tag your Etsy postings with "etsylr" - this helps us when creating Etsy Little Rock treasuries or when posting on Pinterest, etc.  Please help us help you!

Thank you!

Main Street Food Truck Festival

Hello Etsy Little Rock!

The Downtown Little Rock Partnership (DLRP) and the Main Street Food Truck Festival (MSFTF) has invited Team Etsy Little Rock (ELR) to participate in this year's Festival on October 6! Main Street will be filled with Etsy artists, food trucks, music, artists, a family area sponsored by Heifer International and two beer gardens hosted by the Arkansas Reparatory Theatre.  Last year's festival welcomed over 5,000 attendees!  This is the vending opportunity of the year!  Please attend the vending event via Facebook and share the event with your friends and followers http://www.facebook.com/events/333008910122040/.

Also, the DLRP is donating $10 of each vendor registration to ELR's fundraising endeavors!  We work hard to create outstanding vending opportunities for our team - this event not only provides an amazing opportunity, it's helping us finance future events!  Please support your team and the DLRP in this endeavor!

Also, we're super excited to announce that ELR's participation in the Festival will be featured in the Etsy Teams Newsletter!  Etsy will also be providing Etsy promos for the ELR booth! Be sure to find us at the event to grab some Etsy swag! Follow this link to subscribe http://www.etsy.com/emails/teams to the Etsy Teams Newsletter!

On top of all of that, KATV, the Arkansas Times and The Edge will advertise the Festival!

These are all amazing opportunities not only for Etsy and Etsy Little Rock but also for your Etsy store!  What fantastic opportunities for advertising and networking!

Please e-mail me for a copy of the registration forms (there's an image of the forms at the bottom of this blog).  The registration fee is only $35 and the registration deadline is August 31, so get your registration in today!

Thank you for being a part of Etsy Little Rock and we look forward to other coming events!

Etsy Little Rock

To guarantee you are receiving all of the most recent information regarding ELR vending events and opportunities, please be sure to either inbox me or e-mail me (amber.estrada@att.net) your name, shop name and e-mail address to be added to the ELR contact list. If you know you are already on this list (you would have received e-mails from me last week), there is no need to re-send this information.

Etsy Little Rock is a local Etsy team led by:
Amber Estrada - amber.estrada@att.net

Brandi Jennings - brandi31221@gmail.com
Lindsey Powers - lindseypowersn@gmail.com

Be Sure to Follow Us:
Etsy Little Rock www.etsy.com/teams/9025/etsy-little-rock
Facebook www.facebook.com/EtsyLittleRock
Pinterest pinterest.com/etsylittlerock
Twitter @EtsyLR
Email etsylittlerock@gmail.com