Big Cartel and Me

I've been on the fence about opening a new shop besides Etsy. I love what Etsy provides, and the teams, treasuries as well as seeing what items other people like. But a good part of me thinks it'd be time to start moving away from Etsy, and having my own shop. I'm going to keep Etsy live until my real shop starts picking up.

I won't be changing the URL of this blog any time soon, but if I do, don't worry! I will be writing a very special blog post telling everyone the new URL, and how to change your subscription. Or, I'll just redirect the blog manually through Blogger, and no one will be the wiser. But this isn't going to happen for at least 4-6 months, so you can all relax!

As for the new shop, I've chosen Big Cartel. They are a hosted website that allow the user to redesign the site according to their specifications, truly making it into a store that's unique to you. I only have the Gold membership which is free, and it only allows me 5 items.

Here's a screenshot of my shop on Big Cartel:

http://curiouslittlebird.bigcartel.com

What do you think? I haven't made many modifications so far, because CSS (cascading style sheets) is not something I learned in Graphic Design school, nor have I ever tried to learn in the 8 years I've been out of school. Let's just say I did my best. I did figure out how to change all the grey bars to white, at least clean it up a bit. I'd really like to add a background image, like the one on my blog, but I honestly have no idea how to do so in CSS. I'll be making changes slowly as I go along.

My shop is also available as a link through Facebook too!

Facebook - Big Cartel Link to Shop

I think it's essential there's a link in Facebook, because it gives my followers a chance to buy one of my very cute monsters without having to create a profile on Etsy. That's another bonus about Big Cartel that I like that I don't like about Etsy. No need to create a profile on Big Cartel. It's like a website. You just go to it, click on the image, and pay with PayPal. Easy peasy! Well, Big Cartel has a lot of benefits... no listing fees, no fees on purchases made by customers, and there's only one bill at the end of the month, and it's always the same. PayPal fees are still in effect, but that's okay.

If anyone out there understands CSS, and can tell me how I can add a background, please, leave me a comment!

Have a great night!