Last week I travelled down to Etsy's London HQ to take part in a training session to become one of the first Etsy Educators in the world!

Alongside eight other experienced sellers from around the UK, the concept of Etsy Educators was explained to us, and we were tasked to set up a workshop for brand new Etsy sellers in October.

Our brief was pretty flexible - we all get to choose the location, duration and format of our session - which was really helpful.  It's a trial, to see if this is something that can be rolled out further in the UK - and also in other countries.

So, throughout next month will be a series of workshops throughout the UK, if you are interested in opening a brand new Etsy shopfront then hopefully there will be one to suit you.

My own event will be in Liverpool on 21st October.  It's a full day session - and will be at one of my favourite venues, HUS, who will be making us lunch too!  For more details click here.

If Liverpool's no good for you then here are some more sessions throughout the UK:

• Rose of Luna Harkin Co has organised a series of afternoon workshop sessions running through October, in Leeds.
• If you're in South Wales, Sarah-Jane of Fragment Designs is holding a day-long workshop on Saturday 7th October.
• Also on 7th October, in Oxfordshire, is a daytime session by Christina from Christina Made It.
• Claire of Claireabellemakes is also putting on a full day workshop on Saturday 14th October in Cambridge.
• Jilly from Jilly Jilly Design is hosting a full day workshop in Dundee on Sunday 22nd October.

And if none of these locations suit you then worry not - there's another couple of options for you:

• Rachel from The Dorothy Days is hosting a webinar to take you through the process of setting up your Etsy shop in a month.
• Similarly, queen of biscuits Nikki McWilliams has gone for the online approach - you can enrol here.
  

We are all really excited about getting started as Etsy Educators - and getting lots more fab Etsy sellers on board!

On Saturday 12th August the Merseyside Etsy Team (which I'm honoured to be the Captain of), undertook our first ever Photo Walk.

We met just after lunch at the Albert Dock, and happily strolled our way round the Pier Head (braving a few showers and a lot of wind), up through the Business District (where the sun thankfully put in an appearance), through town to the Georgian Quarter and then on to Chinatown, finishing in Baltic Triangle.  We deviated from our original plan, as we'd slightly underestimated how long it'd take 25 people to walk through town on a busy Saturday afternoon!

Along the way we stopped to look at all sorts of landmarks - and our amazing Team Leaders had all prepared a bit of information about some of the highlights.  We learned about the workhorse statue and the Engineers' Monument on the Pier Head, the missing Banksy on Chapel Street and we had an especially informative presentation (with laminated sheets, no less!) at the Chinese Arch.  The highlight had to be, in the grounds of Our Lady and St Nicholas church, another tour group attaching themselves to our little presentation - all credit to Kerri, who carried on regardless!

Spending a Saturday afternoon surrounded by fellow Etsians was really lovely; wandering, chatting, discovering new things and getting to know everyone that little bit better.  All while getting some extra steps in too!

Here are a few of my photos, but to see many more check #merseyetsyphotowalk on Instagram.  To see photos from the other Etsy Teams who took part in walks on the same day, see #etsyphotowalk.

We are already in full planning mode, hoping to extend our adventures to locations further afield - but still within Merseyside.  Watch this space!

I'll be writing another blog really soon all about my Etsy Team - and how brilliant it is - but in the meantime, if you are looking for your local Etsy Team, here's a handy list of active teams throughout the UK, courtesy of my friend and fellow Team Captain, Joanne Hawker.