Sunday 28 October 2012

'How to' Compose a Tweet


 
Being active as a small business owner of SewDanish on Twitter is a lot of fun, but time consuming. How do you get people (and potential customers) to actually click on your tweets?
It is all too easy to drown and disappear in the massive flow of ever changing tweets.

 The other day Cory from AquarianBath , and a friend of mine from the UniqueWomenInBusiness (UWIB) group, contacted me. In UWIB we, amongst others, cross promote each others businesses on twitter. In a Google doc we collect tweets that we want team members to exchange.  Cory wanted to let me know that the SewDanish tweets, that she schedules on average get around 30 clicks and asked what my ‘secret’ was.

 
For a while, I have been paying close attention to what type of tweets catch my eyes and actually make me click through on a link. In general those tweets are very short, to the point and quite often involve a question. I guess, I get very saturated with lots of words and empty noise.

The way I’m building my business tweets within the 140 characters is:
      ·       a short, sharp punch line
      ·       shop name and possible tag line
      ·       the active link
      ·       #tags
      ·       the twitter @name.

I feel it is very important for branding and trust worthiness alike, to have the shop name written out properly in the tweet. Personally I don't think, that the twitter @name is a strong enough tool for shop branding. The @name is internal twitter lingo. One cannot count on having the shop name in the active link, as most links are automatically being shortened.
Not having your shop name in the tweet, can leave the reader feeling insecure and deciding to skip the tweet all together. I know, that I don’t click unless I’m certain that it is a legit link.
 
I have as well been paying attention  to what #tags are being used on twitter. I think the busier twitter gets, the more people are using the #tags for searching for a like minded audience/customers. In my tweets I have been experimenting with the #tags trying out various combinations. As an added bonus to the clicks, I have gotten new followers, which I directly can trace back to the use of #tags.

 

Thursday 20 September 2012

Italy, Apennines (Inspirational photos #2)

 

I love taking photos using them as starting point in my textile design work. A lot of my photos taken when travelling are quite often 'wierd' detailed snapshots which I find hugely intriguing as the texture seems to be the focal point rather than the motive itself.


This is a small selection of photos taken when on a fabulous hiking trip to The Apennines, in the Northern part of Italy between Florence and Bologna.

 
Parmesan cheese galore!
 
 
                           The beautiful portico's found throughout the beautiful city of Bologna.

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Journal Cover From SewDanish Featured In Sewing World Sept.2012 Issue!

I'm so happy dancing! My quilted journal cover shown above is featured in the September issue 2012 of Sewing World magazine http://www.sewingworldmagazine.com/ .

In July I was contacted by Fiona from the Sewing Directory http://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk/ if I was interested in having my quilted book jacket included in a selection of handmade finds from the internet. Needless to say that I was very interested and very appreciative of her thinking of me and my Etsy shop http://SewDanish.etsy.com


The loose cover is available in several color combinations and fits a hardback A5 book which is included. So when you have filled the book with your drawings, thoughts, travels, inspirations for future cooking ideas..... then you can recycle the cover on a new book.
This cover can also be custom made to fit an otherwise plain ring binder.
Please find my entire selection of journal covers and other book related items here http://www.etsy.com/shop/SewDanish?section_id=5450660
 

Monday 2 July 2012

Textile Art Exhibition, Woodbridge Library, Suffolk


Looking for a great day out in beautiful Suffolk, England? Why not spend some time visiting the lovely historic town of  Woodbridge, Suffolk?

Fibrefusion, Contemporary Textile Art Group is currently showing their very popular traveling exhibition 'Seed Heads' at Woodbridge Library, New Street, Suffolk, IP12 1DT, England.
The exhibition will be on display until 30th July 2012. The exhibition is open daily 10AM - 4PM

Several days through out July, Fibrefusion group members will be attending the exhibition, demonstrating something craft/sewing related. I will be stewarding all day Friday 27th and Monday 30th July. Do stop by and say hello :-)

For more information please go to:
Woodbridge Library and Fibrefusion' website.

Monday 16 April 2012

Birgitte Hendricks /SewDanish brand new website!


A week ago I finally took the plunge, signed up for and created a personal website www.BirgitteHendricks.com . I had my blog and my shop SewDanish but a proper website was missing.

I have for the longest time been searching for a website set up, but nothing had been quite right. I really don't know anything about html language and even though relativly swift on the computer, when it gets too technical, I bow out gracefully. I'm pretty much always up for a challenge, but this just seemed such a different avenue to go down, let alone spending time on.



Then a couple of weeks ago I came across a review on Handmadeology regarding a website design company called IndieMade .The review was very positive and I started to do a thorough research to collect as much information that I could find, before deciding to sign up.

It has been fun and for the most part a very straight forward process creating my website. The day I signed up, I spend about 6 hours straight and got really far with ‘filling in the blanks’. Of course, like with all new setups, one has to get a feel for what is going on, but all in all I found the whole setup very intuitive to use. I still have some tweaking to do, but for now I’m actually rather pleased with the result BirgitteHendricks.

One of the great features is, that I was able to import my Etsy shop (or at least half of my listings within the standard package that I signed up for) automatically. A couple of times I had questions to the support team of Indiemade and they responded very quickly.    

Sunday 26 February 2012

How-To PDF ePattern Scandinavian Basket Weaving


I'm proud to announce a new addition to my Etsy shop SewDanish - Scandinavian Textile Art! A download'able, illustrated tutorial PDF file on how-to weave the lovely traditional Scandinavian baskets found in my shop, is now available here

The 10 page written instruction is written in English, but I'm planning on making a Danish translation available in the near future. You will find 24 black and white step-by-step photos explaining the process clearly. Detailed instructions follow the photos.
You will learn how to make a basic basket. The basic basket can then be used as a starting point for taking the technique a lot further. Over the last year I've taught several basket weaving workshops, where I have tried and tested my instructions, before going 'public'.


I hope you'll have as much fun making the baskets as I have. This is such an old basket weaving technique and I truly believe that it is so important to pass these techniques on, before they disappear.
Please note that I'm very happy for you to sell your finished baskets. The copy right only applies to my written instructions and they may therefore not be shared, copied, distributed, reproduced or published in any form or media without my consent.

Thanks to ExtraPointPress  you also have the option of downloading the basket weaving instructions to your Kindle  from Amazon.com .



Wednesday 8 February 2012

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Textiles in Focus 2012, Cambridge, England


Yippee!!! It's here again!! The event not to be missed for anyone interested in textiles, fibre art, embroidery, art, craft.... you name it! 'Textiles In Focus' will be taking place the 17th, 18th and 19th of February 2012 at Cottenham Village Collage, just North of Cambridge, England. Event organiser is as usual textile artist Pauline Verrinder.

At 'Textiles in Focus' you will find a vast amount of two hour workshops, lots of tempting vendors in two halls and this years exciting textile exhibitions are by 'Out Of The Fold' (my old textile group, that I sadly decided to leave due to not having enough hours in the day) and 'Running with Scissors'.

Jennie Rayment, known for her folded patchwork, is this years lecture. Her lectures are always very informative and a lot of fun. Not to be missed!


Please visit Textiles In Focus website for detailed information about this excellent event. It is such a good day out!

BTW please keep an eye out for Fibrefusion as we will be there presenting our recent published book, 'Muslin, a stitched exploration of loose weave fabrics'. Looking forward to see you there!