Regretsy ... not affiliated with Etsy

Regretsy: Where DIY Meets WTF

"HANDMADE? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU MADE IT WITH YOUR FEET."

A chicken poncho. A painting of a corn dog. A clock made out of an old "mostly clean" cheese grater. All this and more await you in the pages of Regretsy, a veritable sideshow of handcrafts gone wrong.

Based on the eponymous hit blog and arranged in categories such as Décor, Pet Humiliation, and Christmas, Regretsy showcases the best of the worst, ranging from the hilariously absurd to the purely horrifying.

Each page of this jaw-dropping volume features the actual seller's online listing with a light coat of snarky commentary to give it a good shellacking.

So join us as we descend into handmade hell and gawk, gasp, and marvel at the disturbingly odd artifacts that Regretsy has collected for your viewing pleasure, proving that you can never have too much of a bad thing.

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Original post announcing the book:

Did you hear that there's a new book deal for the folks at Regretsy?

The big news straight from the Regretsy site:

"Regretsy has entered into an agreement with Random House to publish The Regretsy Book, and we're starting to think about pieces to feature. If you're interested in having your work included, use the email address on this page to send us a link to the item in your Etsy store you'd like us to consider.

If your submission ends up in the published book, Regretsy will offer you free advertising on our site, as well as other promotional opportunities we'll tell you about later.

Additionally, your Etsy store will be featured in a Seller's Guide in the book, and seen by millions of people.

You keep the rights to your work, and the work itself, which will hopefully increase in value and become a useful tool for promoting your store.

Thanks for making all of this possible, and I hope to see you in The Regretsy Book!"

-- Image from Regretsy site book announcement

"Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers. Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice: Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade. ... Who is Etsy? Etsy was founded by Rob Kalin, Chris Maguire, Haim Schoppik and Jared Tarbell in June, 2005. We are a community and a company." -- From Etsy's web site.

Etsy is a community of talented artists. It's also a place where artists and craftspeople may experiment and have some fun. Creative types are used to and often encourage constructive criticism. They aren't often confused with being mainstream or being predictable. When we put our items out for sale, we encourage advertising. Word of mouth. Word of click, maybe?

It stands apart from other retailers in that its merchandise is all handmade (with the exception of vintage items and supplies) and that much of it may be customized for the buyer. You cannot get these items at your big box store. Many of the items on Etsy are examples real artistry and old-school crafting. You'll be getting something to last for generations, not for a single season.

Here are just a few highlights from Sheen's media explosion.

* Setting up a Twitter account and becoming the fastest person to reach 1,000,000 followers (now up to 2.3 million and counting).
* Posting videos to Ustream.tv and other sites that have generated millions of views.
* Launching two of the most popular trending terms on search and social media (Winning and Tiger Blood)
* Appearing on just about every network (other than his former one) and every news show possible.

After watching the entire Charlie Sheen episode (at least, so far) I realized that there are actually some pretty interesting marketing lessons to be learned from the spectacle.

What Can Online Marketers Learn From Charlie Sheen?

[image of Salvador Dali from public domain pictures]

Here is how it works. Beesnetta's Shop on Etsy has an Organic Artist Tote for sale. [She also creates a variety of made-to-order bags so you may want to check out her shop since the holidays are approaching.]

Regretsy features the tote along with comments of their own: "Do you have anything a little bigger? I need to tent my house for termites."

There's room for you to make comments following their comments, too.

Beesnetta's Shop has more exposure now.

Image is a screengrab from Regretsy, photos from Beesnetta's Shop on Etsy

Happy Etsy-versary! by ImagineMDD
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It's my Etsy-versary! by ImagineMDD
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Happy Etsy-versary! Postcards by ImagineMDD
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Affiliate Summit Christmas Ornament by affiliatetip
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Abraham Steampunk by Regretsy
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Abraham Steampunk by Regretsy
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Craft Like Me? by ofenjen
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Your Indie Rock Credibility Means Nothing to Me by ryanjcosta
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Killer Meatball T-shirt by nuclearswan
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Regretsy Nametag by Regretsy
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A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception , forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Washington Post article. Information from correspondence/article.

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Please Remove Me by Regretsy
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Create a Squidoo Page for Yourself

From the Squidoo Blog: "Squidoo is the popular publishing platform and community that makes it easy for you to create "lenses" online. Lenses are pages, kind of like flyers or signposts or overview articles, that gather everything you know about your topic of interest - and snap it all into focus. It's a supersimple, fun and powerful way to share your interests, build your online identity and credibility, and connect with new readers and friends. It's all free, and you could even earn a royalty for charity or yourself!"