Etsy Schmetsy!

If you've been on Etsy at all you've probably seen something called a "treasury".  Even if you haven't, you've probably seen me linking quite a few recently on Facebook and Twitter.  Treasuries are member curated lists of 16 (or fewer) items from Etsy.  Members can pick a theme, color, or anything they want to put a treasury together.  I create them for team promotions, special occasions, or just for fun!  You don't have to have an Etsy shop to create them either.  All you need is an Etsy account.  Once you start, you'll find it's very addicting!

I've been making treasuries for almost a year now since that's how long I've been using Etsy.  My very first treasury was all bunny themed items.

Bunny Love by C. Russell on Etsy

Many of the items have expired or the listings removed, and most have long since sold.  It's still neat to be able to look back at where I started making treasuries, and how they've changed in the past year!

I've also recently discovered a helpful tool for making treasuries on Etsy.  It's called Schmetsy!  It's an easy to install browser extension that eliminates the needs for copy and pasting listing urls onto the treasury page.  I so wish I'd known it about it sooner!  It also gives you the ability to save a draft of a treasury you are working on.  No need to rush and finish up a treasury just to save it.  Just save the draft, return when you are ready to finish, and pickup right where you left off!  It retains any tags, title, description, and listings you've already added to the treasury!  How awesome is that?!

The other fun part of Schmetsy is the convo sender.  Not always, but often when I make a treasury, I send an Etsy convo to all those featured to let them know about it.  Many of us have way too many people in our circles which translates to a whole bunch of activity in our activity feeds, and it's easy to miss being featured in a treasury.  Sending a convo is an easy way to ensure it doesn't go unseen!  

Before I discovered Schmetsy, the process of sending a convo included opening up each shop featured in the treasury in a separate tab.  Scrolling down to the "Contact" button on the page, typing in my message, and clicking send.  To save time, I did copy and paste the same message into each convo, but this is still a time consuming process.  With Schmetsy, all you have to do is use the "Convo Sender" tool. 

It adds a section underneath the tags on the right side of the treasury page for creating your convo.  You can change the subject title and body of the message and the tool automatically adds links to the treasury and the item featured.  My favorite part is that it remembers what you used before and you get to keep using your custom message over and over again.

The only problem I've experienced with this is that it doesn't send out all 16 convos for items featured.  I think this may be to avoid getting blocked for spamming on Etsy.  Generally for me, anywhere between 10 and 14 convos are sent.  I have never seen it send all 16.  But this still makes me happier than all that time spent copying and pasting to convo all 16 shops!

There are many amazing treasury teams on Etsy.  I am a part of a few teams that enjoy promoting each others shop through treasury making.  One of those teams, Promoting Creative Friends, does a weekly treasury shop on Wednesdays.  Shop sign up in advance, a total of 17 shops.  And each shop creates a treasury featuring one item from the other 16 shops.

Dinner Party by C. Russell on Etsy

It's always fun and a bit of a challenge, to come up with a fun and unique theme when limited to specific shops.  It's amazing how different each challenge is from the other team members as well.  Even though we are all using the same shops, we all have such different ideas and beautiful treasuries.

Here's a peek at my treasury for today's Mighty 17 treasury swap!

I am also part of a fun team called Treasury Island that features one shop daily for a spotlight treasury.  One participating shop from the day before randomly gets chosen to be the next spotlighted shop.

It also just so happens that my shop is today's spotlighted shop!  I am looking forward to seeing all the amazing treasuries created today!  Below is a look at the treasury I made for yesterday's spotlighted shops.

Etsy's My Muse by C. Russell on Etsy

So do you like making treasuries?  Have you tried Schmetsy or another tool perhaps?  Share your secrets or shortcuts for making great Etsy treasuries in the comments!