Christine AbelaWeb site designer. Quilter.

Most of the web sites I build are for craft-related businesses. I love working with crafty people, because they are so artistically talented, and have a great passion for their work. Most of these are people selling tools and materials for others to create their own craft items, but Karen from Studio Crafts by Karen in Bacchus Marsh (Victoria, Australia) sells a huge range of ready-made items. I have built a new web site for her at http://www.studiocrafts.com.au .

From Bears to Quilt Hangers, Karen has a huge range of products that would make great gifts, or a treat for yourself to decorate your own home. She has a pretty range of Gollies (contact her for details, because the range she has in the shop was far too wide to put them all on the site). And lovers of the “primitive” look will particularly enjoy her rusty items and the pip berry products.

If you don’t see anything you like on the site, please join her mailing list so she can keep you up to date with new additions, because she is still busy adding products from her packed-full shop!

And, as a special treat, I have convinced her to have a 10% off opening sale, so everything on the site is reduced for a short time. Enjoy! http://www.studiocrafts.com.au

Mt Macedon is a beautiful part of the world. Hilly, lots of trees, and nearby Gisborne has a wonderful patchwork shop. So I was delighted when Mary Kelly asked me to build for her a pretty but simple web site to show off her products.

Her store, The Drapers of Mt Macedon, is located in Gisborne in the state of Victoria, Australia, and has a huge range of fabrics. But, as her site says, she also has “all types of haberdashery including Zips and Fasteners, Gutermann cotton , Polyester, Quilting cotton, Sulky, Metallic thread, Signature thread, DMC threads, Cottage Garden Threads, Scissors, Quilters Hardware, Batting, Bias Binding, Ric Rac,Wool Blanketing, Wool Felt, Polyester Felt, Buttons, Ribbon, Elastic, Aida Cloth, Linen and list goes on and continually expands……….forgot to mention all of the patterns and books as well……..”.

I hope you enjoy http://www.drapersofmtmacedon.com . While you are there, be sure to join the mailing list so you can be kept up to date with all the new additions to the range. Mary mentioned she has a lot more fabrics coming in August, so it will be worth a visit, either online or in person!

I have become well-known for the craft-related sites I build, so this is something a little different. Commercial Food Equipment is a family-owned business that was started by Stacey Brown’s parents almost exactly forty years ago (actually 40 years and 1 day!).

Stacey is a quilter, so I just knew we would get along – and we had a great time designing her new site. Her business has a huge range of equipment used in large commercial kitchens like those in restaurants and hotels. So she wanted a clean “corporate” look for her site, that would make it easy for her very busy customers to quickly find what they need.

Their motto is “from a teaspoon to a cold room”, and Stacey and her staff (with help from son Tristan) have been very busy loading nearly 800 products – with many more to come! http://www.commercialfoodequipment.com.au

Located in Queensland Australia, CFE does sell to the general public, but I invite you to visit the site to see an example of a professional non-craft site.

I enjoy the challenge of building web sites for Quilting organisations. It can be tricky dealing with a committee, but in the case of The Australian Quilters Association, they appointed one person to be the web site co-ordinator – which made my job a lot easier!

The AQA is the oldest quilting association in Australia, according to the history Susan has written for their new site. But Susan wanted a fresh-looking site, and was very keen on blue. When you visit the site, you will find several pages that will give you current information about the association.

There is also a “hidden” area that is only accessible to members. The membership secretary is able to add the members’ names and email addresses to a database, and then those people can log in using a special password and can see the pages that are for members only.

Perhaps you have, or know of, a group that would like a site that can do that? I would be more than happy to discuss your needs.

But in the meantime, I hope you enjoy http://www.australianquiltersassociation.com/ – the AQA’s new site.

…especially crafters! I have set up a new site so that those of you who have free craft items to offer can show them off.

It is called Free Stuff For Craft, and you can find it at www.FreeStuffForCraft.com

It isn’t quite ready for general public type visitors yet, but it certainly is ready for advertisers. And even advertising here is free!

So come and join us, and spread the word! Launch will be in about a week, so get in quick and get the benefit of all that free publicity.

If you are running, or thinking of running, a web site selling craft-related products or services, you will enjoy the latest site I have set up.

I am often asked for advice on how to get more online sales, based on my experience not only with running an online craft supplies business, but also with helping other people set up their sites.

As a result, I find myself spending a lot of time on the phone, telling people the same thing over and over again. Not that I don’t enjoy meeting people this way, but sometimes I think I would be better spending my time on the huge volume of web site building work I have on my books!

So I have started to write it all down. It could be a massive book, that nobody would pick up because there would be Too Much Information in it. So what I have done is break it up into bite-size pieces and turn it into an emailed course.

You can find out all about it at http://www.sellingcraftonline.com .

Of course, a lot of it is designed to steer interested people towards getting me to build their web site, but there is still a lot of information there for people who already have a site, or even those who don’t want one at all.

At this stage, I have only written the first few lessons, but I have a LONG list of topics to add. So I don’t know how big it will get. You can unsubscribe at any time, or stay on and you will get any additional topics as I write them.

Enjoy!

Kelly and Allen from Motif Creations will put a little sparkle into your next craft project.

They are regulars at the shows here in Australia – that’s where we met. They sell those neat iron-on motifs made from aluminium or rhinestones.

These are sparkly, shiny, eye-catching pictures of, well, all sorts of things! They have a huge range, and they are very easy to apply.

Their new web site replaces the old one (they wanted one with a secure shopping cart), but you will still find their huge range of motifs in easy-to-navigate categories. You will find it at http://www.motifcreations.com.au .

If you have not used these products before, you will find the instructions right there on the web site – click on “Application” at the top under the banner.

You can use the motifs on clothing of course, but what about bags, or quilts, or wall-hangings, or gifts, or hats, or greeting cards, or in scrapbooking, or whatever!

Kelly and Allen also sell wholesale, and will soon have this ability online – it is already built into their web site. These products are easy to post, and won’t take up much space on the shelf, so they are a great addition to a lot of businesses.

I hope you enjoy visiting Motif Creations – http://www.motifcreations.com.au

I really ought to get out more. This lovely shop is only an hour’s drive from me, in the hills at Warburton, yet I have never been there.

That is one of the lovely things about shopping online though. I can enjoy (most of) the products of this lovely shop, without having to venture out. Mind you, a drive through the hills with a lovely cup of tea at the end of it would be great!

Marilyn from The Patchwork Tea House has a lovely range of fabrics and other products for quilters. Her new web site is now online, at http://www.thepatchworkteahouse.com .

What really strikes me about Marilyn’s products is the fabrics. Wow. The colours, the designs, the range. I think it would be positively dangerous for me to visit her shop, because I just know I couldn’t walk out without quite a stash.

She also has a range of patterns and kits to complement the fabrics, with a lot more to come. Why not join her mailing list to be kept up-to-date? And check out the home page for a great opening special.

OK, now I am off to my diary to work out when I can fit in a trip to Warburton. Hang on, what’s that? Oh no. I just found the Fat Quarter Packs. Drool. (grin).

As a child, Leesa Lewis’ grandfather gave her the nickname “Mizou” – a French term of endearment. As an adult, Leesa is a mad-keen craftswoman, as well as a breeder of dairy goats and cats, and her stud name for both is Mizoulea. I had the pleasure of dropping in on her during my recent visit to South Australia, and we came up with an idea for a new web site.

I have built several web sites for Leesa now, and she loves the way they are so easy to update herself. This new one, at http://www.mizoulea.com , is no exception. She has taken some products she is already selling on other sites, and added some exciting new ideas.

All the products on the site are downloadable, which means you get them as soon as you pay for them (with PayPal). There are a lot of gorgeous machine embroidery files, in a number of formats, but then there are some surprises too.

Check out her amazing appliquéd hexagon quilt block patterns! These would be great used in conjunction with the quilt-as-you-go hexagon templates, and Leesa has put in a link to one of her other web sites where you can buy them from her.

She also has some wonderful designs for hand embroideries, and Inchies.

Inchies? Well, these tiny little quilt blocks, which also use machine embroidery, are SO addictive and fun to make. Leesa showed me some when I visited, and they looked like a lot of fun!

I am sure you will enjoy Leesa’s new site at http://www.mizoulea.com . Be sure to join her mailing list because she has more surprises in store!

Just heard a news bulletin that access to 1.5 million Facebook accounts is being sold in lots of 10 thousand at a time, for as little as $45 by a Russian hacker called Krllos.

This would be a great time to change your password!

Please pass this warning on to your friends.

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