Buttons, Banners, Backgrounds, and More! Easy online help to make your indie business brand look better.

I realized this morning that it had been a while since I posted some useful resources for indie business. Part of my role as an indie business owner is constantly researching how to improve it. A lot of times, this has to do directly with fiber art and feltmaking, but it also means dealing with developing my "funky felter" brand as well as the more technical details of the business end.

While researching recently, I came across a few neat websites that can help you with making banners, avatars, buttons, and more for your Etsy shop, website, blog, or whatever you need. A couple of these sites provide free backgrounds and digital photos and images. The other two are sites that can actually help you build buttons, banners, ads, avatars, and more. You can make them online without the use of any software on your own computer which is very handy. Although I haven't had a chance yet to explore every detail of these sites, I thought that I'd go ahead and share with you so that you can be exploring while I am too. Hopefully you will find them to be useful.

For Background Photos/Images
Grunge Textures
CGTextures

For Creating Banners, Buttons, Etc.
Cool Text
Banner Sketch

If you have a link to a great site for free backgrounds, banners, avatars, buttons, etc., please share it in the comments.

Bead & Buttons

Check them out! I finished the wool beads, all 118 of them! My husband became my "assistant" when he got home from work. He was still in his work uniform and ever so sweetly started helping me wet felt my beads. With his help, I was able to complete this project in half the time. He's so supportive and loving when it comes to my feltmaking and crafting obsessions. And he's a pretty good feltmaker himself! Most of these beads are going to a consignment order, but some of them will be packaged and listed for sale in my shops or made into some nifty items. Hmmm . . . now I have to think of some innovative crafty things to do with some of them.

I received my promotional 1" flat-backed buttons today from a fellow etsy seller, kittycrossbones. They are wonderful, and I highly recommend her etsy shop to all looking for great promos! I ordered 100 buttons and had five designs - my logo, I "heart" felt, I "heart" sheep, a photo of my wool beads, and a photo of one of my favorite flower brooches. I plan to make some of them into rings, pendants, magnets, etc., to sell in my etsy and ecrater shops. I wasn't sure how I would like them or if they would be useful, but I'm completely sold on them and will certainly be back for more in the future. I just think that they are too cute and can't wait to use them!