Round Up | 2016

I love reading round ups, and especially putting everything we have achieved in as a brand in one big list! What I don't like is creating these posts as they take FOREVER, so I really hope you enjoy this. You'll find a mix of things we did with friends and family as well as everything accomplished with designosaur 2016... so pleased this post only has to be created once a year!

We started the year off going to London Lumiere - festival of light, it was a city wide exhibition of light installations and it was EPIC.

We were invited to Sussex University to run a jewellery making workshop alongside other Brighton Etsy Team members, the heavily pregnant The Pigeons Nest, and the ever so lovely Georgie St Clair.  Photo Credit | Juream Box

Meet Lulu, the Orca we created for the World Cetacean Alliance to raise money for this endangered species.

We finally got George a girlfriend! Georgette met George and they fell in love, you can read more about their story here.

We held the first ever Brighton Etsy Sample Sale, where we've never seen customers like it! You all queued before the venue opened and then ran to the table to get your hands on as much as you could! It went so well we are currently organising this years event!  Photo Credit | Oh Someday

We created our second collaboration with i Like CATS 

The collaboration came from writing the prompts for Toby's #yayeveryday2016 hashtag project. This Banana sketch is one of Jacques' #yayeveryday2016 drawings.

We went to Florida for three weeks! It was the first holiday Jacques and I have been on alone, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN. Here's us on a Fan Boat in the Everglades. 

The collection we released on returning was inspired by the art deco architecture and the alligators we saw!

We also couldn't go to Florida without going to Disney World and the NASA Space Centre. Here's Jacques in a shuttle... maybe we were a little inspired to create space dinosaurs too!

May is when the Brighton Artists Open Houses are held and we were part of the exhibition 'Gifted' at Unlimited. We're still stocked in Unlimited now too!

May is also the Brighton Festival (and Fringe!) the best thing we saw was this Dr Blighty projection onto the Pavilion, just look at the colour!

In the summer we were commission by Laurie Winkless to create this epic future skyline commission, for her to wear at her book launch.

Then whilst promoting her book Laurie wore her commission piece on Sunday Brunch!

We did a few Cult Milk workshops at Patterns. They are always loads of fun, and the cheapest workshops we run. Hopefully we'll be back again this year.

We designed the totes for Blogtacular with Hello DODO... Photo Credit | Courtesy of Mollie Makes© Will Ireland

But we were unable to attend the conference because we were at Sonar Festival in Barcelona! This meant we did some cultural stuff too, this is the Sagrada Familia, if you haven't been - you should go!

We celebrated Pin Club's first birthday by collaborating with them in August and creating a flamingo floatie pin!

For my Dad's 60th Birthday we went to Barbados! So much sunshine, so much rum punch, so much fun.

We held our first Hen Party workshop, with the wonderful hen Tanya - their party was Superhero themed and they all created awesome dino necklaces.

We went down to Cornwall to visit friends and practice being wholesome/ getting really drunk.

We designed our first pair of socks! There's more of these coming, hold tight!

My third European Captains' Summit, this time in Paris, and my ninth Summit in total! As always it intense, informative and I got to see all my captain friends.

We were stocked in Le Bon Marche, Paris thanks to Shop at the Museums Pop Up Concession.

We were at Renegade for our fifth year! It was so fun as the Brighton crew had a whole section to hang out in!

Our first BUST craft fair, the entertainment was AWESOME! Love these girls! Marawa's Majorettes!

Our third Etsy Made Local market, which we spend most of the year organising with the Brighton Etsy Team leaders.

We were back at Crafty Fox market in Peckham, our last market of the season, and then it was online orders all the way to Christmas!

As another year came to a close I wrote about if we'd achieved last year's resolutions and what we want to accomplish this year if you want to read that post you can here.

Lemme know in the comments, or send us a tweet or a message on instagram or wherever you want to say hello, let us know what you got up to and HURRAH it's well and truly 2017, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Karli x

7 Tips on How to Build a Successful Etsy Team

A couple of weekends ago I was invited to my eighth Captains' Summit and I told along one of my team leaders Judite from Juream Box. If you want to read about it you can check that post on the Brighton Etsy Team Blog.

I thought I'd write something a bit different here, as I have written about past summits, here, here, and here. Each one is completely unique and I gain so much from each event. And it appears the whole country, and maybe the world (I did go to Australia for a Summit ;) ) know about the Brighton Etsy Team and what we do, because usually at each summit someone asks me about building an Etsy team.

So I thought I'd share some tips if you're a newbie captain, or you want to set up your own team. Please remember that ALL teams are different so these are only guidelines!

1. Be prepared to work really hard.

I'm not going to lie, being an Etsy Team Captain is a second full time job. I work on the team every single day, emails come in, events need planning, social media needs updating, the list goes on. If you have enough time for two jobs, and live and breathe Etsy, then this is definitely the role for you, if not maybe you're more suited to being a leader or a really active team member!

2. Get an awesome team of leaders behind you.

You can't do it alone! As I mentioned before this is a full time job but to stop you going completely crazy you're going to need to delegate as much as possible. I currently have a team of eight leaders and I think there is always room for more but we can cope with less too. These people are people that you hunt out, they have the skills you want, be that, graphic designers, accountants, social media gurus, or PR managers. Stalk people online, make friends with them, and then force them to join your gang! You can also do an open call but make sure the people you pick also align with your values and they understand the amount of work they are signing up for. For free!

3. Set some goals.

So you've now got you, you've got a gang of leaders, but what are you doing? What's the purpose of your team? You need to sit down and set some goals. You could start small with "We are going to run monthly meet ups" or put in some big things to work towards like "Running our first market together". These goals should be public (there's a space on the Etsy Teams page to post them) so that when new members join the team, they know what they are signing up for. You should also review these regularly to check you're on track, or in case your end goals have changed.

4. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

You've got a team of leaders who are smashing it, but if you're running an event and you need somebody to run a workshop, or somebody to do a talk, reach out to your team members! As a captain it's really important to be aware of who is in your team and what they do, so that when you need a crochet expert, or a paper cutting queen, you know where to look! I always contact team members directly, drowning them in compliments before asking them to do a teeny tiny favour for the team. I've not been rejected yet!

5. Shoot for the moon

For me, the whole point of a team is to take on projects that you wouldn't be able to do with just your own business. Be it a Pop Up Shop or a PR day, if it's something you haven't done before then even better! Stretch yourself, do something new, you've got a great bunch of people to make mistakes with if nothing else.

6. Be so positive it makes other people sick.

If you can only see the negatives then you won't be a successful leader, and that's what a Captain is. The team want to look up to you, be inspired by you so you've got to be eternally positive. This comes down to being a great problem solver, more people turn up to a meeting than your expecting, easy - break the meeting up into smaller chats lead by your team leaders. Way less people turn up to a meeting than you were expecting - easy, make everything much more personal, you could even do a one on one shop critique!

7. Say things out-loud.

You make your own luck. Being lucky comes down to working really hard, and people noticing. So if you have an idea, say it out loud, there's no point it being in your head, some of my craziest ideas I've said out-loud and they've had legs, whether that be your dream venue for a market or a grand advertising scheme that you thought only massive corporate companies could afford!

So there you go, something a bit different for this here blog, and hopefully a bit of an insight into what it takes to be a captain.

If you'd like me to write more Etsy/ Captain/ Team related content let me know in the comments or tweet, instagram or even SNAPCHAT [username 'designosaurYEAH'] me.

ROAR!

Karli

Photo Credit | Oh Someday and Georgie St Clair

etsy resolution

​Now you may have seen my resolution post for 2016 to keep improving our small business, and at the heart of that business is our Etsy shop.

We started on Etsy in 2012, we'd never heard of the site before and had been recommended by a friend (I can't remember who now, but I wish I could so we could say thank you!). We listed our first few items (with terrible photos) and tweeted Etsy to let them know we had opened our shop, that day we had 10,000 views through our shop and it kicked off from there!

Since then we have not only had over 2000 sales, we've had opportunities we would never had had through setting up our own website (going to New York for the IPO, and Etsy filming a help video in our home studio!) to meeting people who have become some of our best mates (shout out to the #btnetsy mandem) 

So you want to get a piece of it right? Well you CAN! Etsy have made it even easier for you with Etsy Resolution a free 4-week community-led programme to gain support and skills from top-selling Etsy mentors. I've met three out of the four of these members and two of them have been Brighton Etsy Team Members! They know their stuff and they're already helping everyone out in this facebook group set up for newbies (that's you!)

From photography to marketing and tips for getting found by potential customers, they'll set you up with a support network to make this your best year yet.

​You need to sign up by the 25th January, (but if you're a little late to the party, that's OK too).

If you do sign up, let me know by tweeting us @designosaurYEAH, or commenting on the blog, we'll happily help you out if you need us!

ROAR!

Karli (and Jacques)

etsy video filming | behind the scenes

​Now you may remember a few months back we were doing so top secret filming!

We can now tell you that we were filming with Etsy to create this little video!

It's part of a series of four videos Etsy has made to help sellers to improve their Etsy shops. You can find the whole series here.

I wanted to do a little behind the scenes post so you can see what it takes to make a little video like this...

Amanda the producer, Danny the cameraman and Parker, Etsy Admin and presenter for the day, arrived at our home studio at 8am, half an hour before scheduled so I arrived at the front door with half my make up done! Luckily they needed to grab a few extra bits from the car so that gave me a bit longer to get my face on!

We started to chat about what a regular day looks like and went through the list of shots they had planned. It was a hot sunny day hence the shorts and tee, and we filmed all morning until we started to get hungry and wilt a little.

Lunch time and we headed down to Iydea for some delish grub! It was only a short break and dip into the North Laine, before heading back to work.

We did some shots outside the front of designosaur HQ where we were constantly stopped by passers by jumping into the shot before heading to the laser cutting studio to get some shots of Jacques working on the laser cutter.

Finally we finished down by the Pier, Jacques and I looking out to sea, we hadn't seen each other all day, and were catching up, but this got us in trouble with the director for talking too much!

It was a long day and we were finished around 8pm. Filming is tiring but we hope you love the end result as much as we do.

If you want to find out more about the project, you can have a read on the Brighton Etsy Team blog.

ROAR!

Karli and Jacques

PS It's impossible to take photos whilst you're being filmed ;)

etsy european captains' summit in amsterdam.

I saw this and it seemed so poignant.

​

"Another summit, I'm sick of hearing about them!"
I'm sorry if you feel that way, it's the last one of 2015 so you can breathe a sigh of relief! I am now a summit vetren, and in fact, I think I have been to the most Etsy Summits out of everyone ever, including Etsy Admins. There have been nine summits in total and I've been invited to, and attended seven of them.

It's always so exciting arriving outside of the summit, you never know what is behind those doors!

"But why do you keep going Karli? And what can you get out of going to the same thing seven times!?!"

I've been Captain of the Brighton Etsy Team for two years now, when I went to the first summit back in February 2014 I was a newbie captain and we had a fairly newly activated team, but this aside I still did a talk on leadership in my team, as I was asked to do so.

It spiraled from there, I was then invited to do the same talk at the upcoming, French, German and UK Summits and just a few months back I was whisked to Melbourne, Australia to do it again!

Building our agenda together.

Chad Dickerson himself giving an awesome introduction, which we were told not to repeat ;)

I'm very passionate about the team, we've achieved so much from a Christmas market to a Pop Up shop, from talks to meet ups with over 50 people, which I wouldn't have been able to do without some awesome leaders and extremely talented team members.

So this summit was an open agenda, and most of Etsy's senior staff were there including the CEO himself (we periscoped!) I didn't have to present and so I did a lot of listening. I soaked it all up and chatted away to new captains and experienced captains about the ins and outs of the Brighton Etsy Team.

Break out session with some awesome captains!

Some of my faves from the UK! These girls got it going onnnnnn!

It's said all the time that you never stop learning, and it's so true. I could go to another seven summits and I'm sure I'd get as much out of it as the very first one.

Thanks for having me Etsy, I learnt a lot and I'm excited to put it into practice.

ROAR!

Karli

PS If you want to read more about the summit you can find another post on the Brighton Etsy Team blog.

designosaur jewellery making workshop | early bird tickets released!

Hello!

I've had a short break from this here blog, and that is mainly because this little blog and the rest of the designosaur webspace will be moving soon, don't worry we'll let you know all the details when it happens and we'll try and make it as pain free as possible!

BUT enough excuses, we have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! If you are a newsletter subscriber (if you're not, you're missing out and you can sign up here) you will have seen that after the success of our first workshop for the Etsy Blogger Sleepover, we are now doing our very first workshop for you guys!

It's going to be on the 24th October, at 4pm at the ever so awesome Lick Warehouse. You can get your hands on cheaper Early Bird tickets here!

So get your mates together and get excited to make your own designosaur charm necklace! We'll also fill you with sugary treats and will be making some signature alcoholic and non alcoholic cocktails for you all!

It'll be quite the party and we can't wait to hang out!

ROAR!

Karli (and Jacques)

#etsybloggersleepover

YO!

I'm sorry if you're sick to death of hearing about all things Etsy but being the Brighton Etsy Team Captain means that I eat and breathe all things Etsy!

This event was a little different however and not something we had tried before!

This is what being a blogger looks like. Behind the Scenes!

Eight fashion and lifestyle bloggers were invited down to Brighton for the weekend with EtsyUK to get a behind the scenes peak into the life and work of a Etsy Seller!

It was a small event which we held at the Lick Warehouse (damn those guys are SO COOL), which also meant we got to munch delicious fro yo. YUM. The wonderfully talented, absolute G that is Claire from In The Making, styled the whole event for us, from making luscious looking co-working tables to beautiful copper mobiles, she's literally a genius, she also styled the Brighton Etsy Pop Up shop.

One of the desk spaces with Oh Someday, Cat-a-Cake Creations and i Like CATS, on the other station were B Millinery, hello DODO and Rock Cakes.

Toby can't spell...

I've mentioned before that the Brighton Etsy Team Leaders are a talented bunch plus Georgie St Clair who we haven't quite convinced to be a leader yet but whose second time it was running her beautiful flower collage workshop with the team!

We ran our very first workshop, a dinosaur charm bracelet and necklace workshop where you could choose a range of dinosaurs in a range of colours to create your very own designosaur jewellery! The bloggers were a talented bunch and Lucy from Shiny Thoughts even created some dinosaur tassels for her camera!

You can check out Hannah Gales pastel creation here too!

It was a really fun day full of Pink Lemonade (thanks Hen Restaurant, that stuff is delish!) painting, stamping, printing and camera clicks!

This is Rockcakes eating some yogurt, she's probably going to totally kill me for putting this up on the internet BUTTTT I think it's hilarious. (sorry)

Want to see more serious photos and more sensible writing? You can check out this post on the team blog!

So if you think that a designosaur workshop looks like fun, sign up to our mailing list so you can find out our very first date and be the first to book a place!

ROAR!

Karli