Made By Hand. By ME.

I've finally had some time to wander around 1000Markets, exploring and enjoying all that the different markets have to offer. I came across Child's Play and just had to create a Spotlight to I could share some of my great finds!

Find all this and more at http://childsplay.1000markets.com/

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Here's a big shout-out to byhand.me for this space, a shareable handmade Wishlist, and the stunning innovation called Spotlights.

There are a lot of cool things about http://byhand.me that will help promote the handmade movement, but arguably the most revolutionary is the Spotlight. Spotlights are an amazingly powerful tool for marketing, and here's why: they make it easy for other people who like handmade work to spread the word about it in a very tangible and direct way.

For example, there is already a site using Spotlights exclusively to promote and expose handmade work, www.found-handmade.blogspot.com/ . There are many others that are beginning to use Spotlights to show off handmade pieces as well. Since content is the lifeblood of the internet, if you curate a stunning Spotlight it could wind up on sites everywhere. It will be twittered about. Blogs will include it, and people will comment. Likewise for being included in a Spotlight... the potential audience that would be exposed to a particular artist and a direct link back to an item is staggering.

The Wishlist possibilities of the Spotlights can also not be overstated. This is a direct, buyer-specific use of this tool that I would not be surprised to see explode as soon as the handmade-buying public discovers it. Those users will expose a multitude of others to the byhand.me site, the work of handmade artists, and the handmade movement in general. Buyers have been clamoring for a handmade wishlist/registry option for a very long time, and now thanks to byhand.me they have one.

The Spotlight below is the creation of Erin Keys, and the direct link is http://www.byhand.me/component/option,com_content/Itemid,73/id,1074/task,view/

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Almost since Etsy was born, people have been asking for a Wishlist. They wanted a simple way to show their family and friends the handmade items they'd like to have as gifts. Many have also floated the idea of a handmade registry... a way to choose handmade items for their wedding gifts, baby showers, or house warmings. Etsy's Favorites feature, while very useful for bookmarking, just wasn't cutting it for a sharable, customizable wish list that could easily be passed to others via a link in an email.

Many global wish list alternatives have cropped up in the mean time, but all require a download or tool bar button of some type, preventing the easy adding or changing of wish list items from alternate computers, like one at work or a friend's house. And serious proponents of handmade work longed for a dedicated handmade Wishlist... one that wouldn't showcase hand crafted work in the same space as a pack of underwear from Walmart.

Enter byhand.me Spotlights. Now true aficionados of handmade work have a reliable, easy method of creating a wish list and sharing it with others. Even better, it allows you to choose items from all of the major handmade venues including etsy, 1000markets, shophandmade, artfire, and more. You can share your list with the world, or keep different lists to share only with specific people (handy for sharing your love of handmade lingerie with your boyfriend, but not your grandmother!). You can allow comments on your Wishlist, or not. You can change out items, let the list live forever, or delete it whenever you choose.

My current Wishlist is below. Next time a gift giving occassion rolls around, my Wishlist is ready!

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This is a multi-venue tour of handmade coastal art. The work of these artists is at home on any shore, no matter where they choose to post their listings!

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This Spotlight shows off the incredible coastal paintings of The Boardwalk's fine artists on 1000markets. Offerings range from watercolors to pastels to prints, all a fitting tribute to life by the sea.

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