Setting up an etsy shop.

I’ve been considering setting up an etsy shop. It just seems like a good way to sell the barrettes I’m making. I had dismissed the idea before as it’s a big job and I don’t have a lot of extra time to devote to another project. Then I got thinking - the parts I’m really worried about I just need to ask for help on. Pictures. You can see my blog hardly has any pictures on it. Here’s the situation: I work in an office full time and spend 2 hours each day commuting. When I’m at home my time is 100% kids and family and making sure our lives don’t completely fall apart. I have 2 young kids, one of which doesn’t sleep through the night, and a busy life. I don’t get to the computer most days. I check my email over the internet, check out blogs etc. and write the occasional blog post here all from work. The one thing I can’t do from work is download pictures. Hubby, on the other hand, doesn’t have to go to bed as early as me and gets lots on computer time – you can see where I’m going with this – he’s agreed to download pictures for me and upload them to the internet somewhere so I can post them from work. (updated: I tried this and can’t seem to get them to upload to blogger correctly..... something to figure out.)
The other thing I need help with is making a shop banner and avatar. I’m hoping to find a smart friend to help out with this (have a few in mind). This may not be as difficult as I thought – there are all sorts of “easy” guides out there.....but I don’t have photoshop, and I suck at figuring new technology stuff out.

I wrote most of the above yesterday when I was all excited about the idea. And then I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, got up late, stepped on a tack, realized that I hadn’t made lunch the night before, got into a (minor) scuff with the hubby about bathroom time and coughed up a lung all before 6am. Do I really have the time and energy to deal with an etsy shop?? Why am I doing this again? Right now I’m about 50/50 again. I think it’ll be fine once I get things set up and then you put in as much effort as you decide to put in. It’s just all overwhelming in the start, and I don’t really know what to expect in terms of time and energy commitment. I keep reading stories about people’s successful shops, but they’re all full-timers, so they HAVE to spend all that time promoting their shops to generate enough business to keep a full-timer going.

I forgot to mention the blog. One of the best ways to promote your etsy shop is through a good blog. Etsy is getting big, and you can’t think that all you have to do is set up your shop and the orders will start pouring in. You have to spend some time promoting your shop. A good blog has lots of nice pictures. Works in progress, ideas, it shows people what you’re working on, what you’re thinking about. People who make a point of shopping handmade are interested in getting to know the person who made the product.
This blog isn’t that. This blog is personal. It’s for me. I’ll have to make a new one. A prettier one with a little less complaining (only a little), and a whole lot more pictures. Even if I just update once a week, that’d be ok, I think.

Back to scheduled programming, here’s the list of things I’d have to do to set up an etsy shop. Everything I’ve thought of so far anyway. This is what I started with for this mammoth post. A simple list.


TO DO

Set Up

Shop banner and avatar. (Help!)
Write a bio, shop announcement
Figure out cards (packaging – to display the barrettes on.) (in progress, with help from sister J)
Figure out shipping packaging and shipping charges

Set up blog
Make blog banner


Upkeep - ongoing

Shop:
Taking photos (weekend)
Uploading photos (hubby)
Listing items
Shipping orders (!)
Etsy forums?
Promotion?

Blog:
Take photos (weekend)
Upload photos (hubby)
Write posts (on a regular schedule – once a week??)

All Right! I'd better hit publish on this before I think of more to write! Please, please, please feel free to comment if you have any thoughts or experience on any of the above. I'd really appreciate the advice.

Cherry Blossoms in Calgary!

Finally! After reading about spring on everyone else's blog it's here - Cherry Blossoms are out full-force now! Also in the forecast, snow, but let's focus on the cherry blossoms, shall we?

I don't even know where to start, there's so much been going on.

First of all, we managed to survive relatively unscathed the birthday/recital week. A busy week flanked by 2 weekends of mayhem - running this way and that getting people places they needed to be. Survived it even with kids being miserably ill. Last weekend, in particular was the worst - the baby screamed for two days and two nights while I held her. She screamed harder if I put her down, like to go to the bathroom, heaven forbid. Dearest husband is still sooo sick - I keep phoning him from work just to make him run up the stairs - I'm that mean, yes.

I always have to keep myself from laughing TOo hard at little kids' dance recitals. It's not graceful or coordinated at all. But cute - at least they have that going for them.

For the big kid's 5th birthday we went to a honey farm. Good fun. Bees are so interesting. Everyone got A. lego. It seems we should have communicated with eachother a little... But the lego is getting plenty of use, so who's to complain? I forgot how much fun lego is.

No news on the business front. I haven't had any time to craft anything lately as ferrying people all over and dealing with sick people has all but eaten up all my time. I have tomorrow off and am planning to spend the whole day sewing new barrettes. crossing fingers!

And now back to work which is mayhem, too!

First Sale and firm Direction...

Oh, man, I am blown away!
I sold 4 barrettes this morning to a coworker. 2 leaves and 2 silly monsters. What a confirmation that I am going in the right direction!

I met with my friend who’s shop I was thinking I’d sell these in last night. In the end I decided not to put them in there just yet. Here’s the thing – I can not make large volumes yet (hello – full time job), and I think I can sell everything I can make myself – between showing friends and people I meet to maybe even setting up a table at the farmer’s market (a great way to enjoy the farmer’s market without spending a bundle, by the way! Ingenious, I know.). Since I can make more money off of each sale if I do it myself that’s what I am going to do for now. And, as of this morning, I have almost paid for the supplies I bought. Almost. OK, maybe halfway, but still…

So here’s what my friend had to say:
-There’s nothing like this available locally – and from the sweater felt (which she loved and thought it was a good angle) nothing available at all.
-Pink outsells every other color. The people who buy this type of thing are dressing their girls up in cute and princess. That’s the market. She suggested crowns. I don’t think I can do that (moral issues – princess=gag), but I get the pink thing.


P.S. I promise promise promise pictures soon… They’re even taken already I just have to get onto the computer at home… I don’t know why that is so difficult

All right, we’re in full-on development mode now.
The first order of felt arrived last week and I couldn’t have been happier. It was recycled sweater felt (take a wool sweater, wash it till it shrinks, make something with it and sell me the scraps). I bought a bag of small scraps which are the perfect size for my mini-projects. This way I was able to get so many more colors and textures – each piece is so very different. I just love the depth and variation of color in this felt... it really is lovely to work with.
I spent the weekend making barrettes and am finally going to show them to my friend with the store to see if she wants to carry them. I’ve been very encouraged by the response I’ve gotten from everyone I’ve showed so far – I think I’d have lots of buyers even if it doesn’t work out to put them in the store. And I get more for them if I sell them myself, too.
The second batch of felt that I had ordered came in last night. I was sadly disappointed. I mean, its nice stuff (100% wool in nice bright colors) but it just pales in comparison to the sweater felt I have been working with. I think the sweater felt is just more “me” if you know what I mean. Thankfully, it’s exceedingly less expensive to buy the sweater felt, so I’m glad I didn’t fall in love with the expensive stuff.
My mom came over last night with some wool that my grandma had carded. One piece had been the stuffing for a quilt that mom took apart and it’s probably been washed so it’s partially felted already. The other stuff is lovely fluffy wool that I’ll need to felt. Now I need to figure out how to dye wool and then I’m set for life on supplies. I’m pretty nostalgic about grama – she was a pretty special person to us, so it’ll be good to be able to use her felt. I’ll be pretty careful with it, to be darn sure.
The bird design that looked so cute on paper was a complete flop in real life. I couldn’t figure out how to embroider the beak and the whole thing turned out pretty shapeless. I’ve given up on the bird for now. I’ll think on it some more. The monster design has to be my favourite. I can be as goofy and colorful as I want. I’ve got 2 of those already, and a third one in the works. The hearts work well – I figure little girls will like those, and I finally figured out a flower design I like. The leaves also worked out really well – especially after the first one and I realized I need to space the stitches out farther. These appeal more to adults (to buy) to be worn by any age. There are a couple of funny ones – like the heart that is just plain red (ok, in a lovely soft wool) but when you look at it up close you see that it is a broken heart, and also there’s a bone – like Pebbles used to wear in her hair. I don’t know if anyone will “get” those two, but they make me smile. I am for sure making a bone for my baby. My goal was to have a dozen completed by the end of the weekend and I think I at least did that.
I wasn’t originally thinking of selling on etsy but might consider it now, since what it turns out I am making (you never know what it is going to look like until you start) is significantly different from what is already available. We’ll see. I’m not at that stage yet. Next step, sell some stuff and make more inventory. In no particular order.

Hopefully you're not sick of embroidery yet!
OK, this is so silly! This is the pillow that started it all off - I made it for my dad from a picture that my daughter drew. I only really knew one stitch, and only had 3 colors of embroidery thread. I was so proud of it at the time!

First, the picture that I worked from:

And the finished piece:

Now I have my water soluable pen and that would make something like this SO much easier.
I still like it in a nostalgic kind of way.

waiting on supplies....

This is the tough part. The calm before the storm. I'm waiting on supplies. I've been using the down time to work up some designs. I figure I really only need 4 or 5 good designs to start - each piece will be different because of the hand stitching anyway. I've got a heart, a leaf, a funky little bird, and a silly monster. I'm also working on a flower but am having trouble making a shape I like. Sounds silly, I know, how can you not figure out something as simple as a flower shape? Well, I just haven't been inspired yet. I've ordered some felted reclaimed wool scraps off of etsy and am trying to order some 100% wool felt also off of etsy. I wish I had a local supplier for that. I'm also spreading the word that I'm looking for old wool sweaters that I can felt up and use. Keep your eyes out at the garage sales and thrift store bins.
My sister has generously offered to design some cards for the barrettes to go on. She's so good at that kind of stuff, I am lucky to have the help.
And since I know I'll be busy once the supplies arrive I am trying to finish off some of the projects I started earlier. A cute tank top for elder daughter - I am embroidering a flower garden on it (pink of course!). Also embroidering some club decals for the family (bought a nifty water soluble pen for this) and I still need to get back to the dragonfly I started a while back. I've since figured out the secret to using silver thread - double it and knot the end - then it doesn't fray and fall apart as you use it. I think the dragonfly will become something for me - I never keep any of my stuff for me.
Ah, sigh, to be an artist.

Oh What Fun!

So, I got into a conversation with a friend who owns a consignment store the other day.

“If I could find a local supplier for these, I would love to get them locally”. They were cute little embroidered barrettes.
“Hey, I can do that!” I thought to myself as I walked out determined to find the one piece of felt in the fabric bag and start a cutting and sewing frenzy.
I feel like I’ve just been waiting for an opportunity to come along, and this may just be it. It’s funny because I’ve been doing a bunch of embroidery lately, just goofing around. I’ve always done some sort of art, I just can’t help it.

I have a couple of samples made up and spent the lunchhour today making designs for more. I want them to be a little modern, not just cutesy. It’s hard designing something that you’re going to sell. I can make something for me, no problem, and I can make something for someone I know because I think of them and then create something they would like but making something to please someone I don’t even know is tougher. And they have to like it enough to spend money on it so there’s a little pressure. I started out with cutesey designs but found them uninspiring. I realized that if I don’t like the designs it’s unlikely anyone else will either. Even if they follow a set formula (flowers and hearts).

So, I’ve taken a new approach – I’m making stuff that I like – I’m pretending I’m the customer. Finally I have some designs I’m excited about!

Other Details:

I’m trying to figure out how much felt to buy when I don’t even know if I these will sell yet. I haven’t got a big budget for extra art supplies. But, really, it’s inexpensive compared to just about every other hobby.
The other thing is the name I came up with Is taken – Silver Sisters. I was quite attached to that name – it is in honour of my 2 daughters who have silver hair. I really like the sisters theme, there’s something in that that really resonates, but I have to go back to the drawing board. I don’t know anything about the business side, so will have to learn it all at some point. My plan right now is to make some samples, get some good designs, talk to my friend who will sell them and then eventually put some in her store on a trial basis. If they sell then I’ll figure out the business stuff. Develop a great product first and then worry about the rest.

Oh what fun!

This is the one with all the pictures

This was supposed to be the post with all the pictures of all the fun stuff we've done lately but not blogged about because it needed pictures. Well, I finally got to sit down at the computer this weekend for a couple of minutes and downloaded these couple of pictures. Meanwhile youngest angel daughter unrolled a whole roll of cherry flavoured dental floss and elder angel daughter got into the bottom drawer of her dresser and toppled the whole thing over on top of herself. But at least I got my pictures. See what lenghts I go through? The rest of the pictures will have to wait until I get more dental floss.

These first ones are the dolls I made for Christmas for DD's dollhouse. She was suitably impressed. I made them all on my lunchhours at work from stuff I already had (or scammed off of other people).


This one is the princess. DD was all into princesses this year (yes, she's 4 and a girl and her favourite color is pink. surprised?)

This one is the baby. It might be hard to tell, but they all have streaks of white hair just like my girls and their dad. I was proud of the brown hair on the baby- I found that piece on the floor in my office. I know not everyone would think that is cool.

I decided I want to be the redhead.

This is a shirt that I painted for my brother in law for Christmas. He's a computer guy. I hope he actually wears it someday...

And this is the shirt that I painted for another brother in law. He's a comic collector. As an aside, I learned a valuable lesson with this project - stain resistant means paint resistant also.

There's a third shirt in the series that I don't think I got a picture of. It is for the third brother in law. It is a windshield with a bug smooshed on it (sewed on wool bits), and the tag says one one side: "sometimes you're the windshield" on the other side: "sometimes you're the bug"

My thumb was sore yesterday from embroidering, so it can't have been that bad of a weekend, right? Sometimes I get caught up in the disappointment of all the stuff I'd like to do but can't. This post is to remind me that we have done an awful lot of cool things lately. There are several times more pictures back home on the harddrive that didn't make it into this post. Like the morning we had stewed blueberries for breakfast, the birdhouses, several more shirt paintings. We're just not as well documented as some people, but it doesn't mean the richness isn't there. Sometimes I have to remind myself.

Special gifts for my special girls.

Special gifts for my special girls. I got bitten by the crafter's homemade bug big time this year. I made (or am still making) quite a few of our christmas gifts this year. I decided to make something special for each of my girls. This one is for the baby. It's an ugly doll. She didn't turn out at all as I imagined, but I think she has spunk. Kinda like the recipient. Dontcha just want to just poke her eyes out?
She's made from an upcycled brown faux-suede skirt. Her hair is made from some wool that my grama's grama brought from the maritimes when they moved west. It's old and it's family. I love that the doll has red hair. So much fun. Part of the challenge of this project was to use materials that I already had (or that other people already had). The whites of the eyes are leftover material from my wedding dress. Auntie J gave us the ribbon on the foot - it's velvet - and the stuffing. Thank you, Anutie J!

I love her teeth. They're meant to look like R's teeth when I made the doll, but she keeps sprouting more teeth, so it doesn't look like her anymore. DH suggested adding broken glass to the ends of her fingers to make her more realistic. What was he thinking?

1 spoon and 1 plate and 1 cup and 1 fork

Kids are so funny with their Christmas requests. Last year A. wanted a dollhouse, and she got it. But the ponies don’t fit on the furniture so this year she is asking for a doll for the dollhouse. Just one. I think she thinks she is more likely to get it if she only asks for one. And she wants 1 spoon and 1 plate and 1 cup and 1 fork. I told her that I had looked in the stores and couldn’t find any of those so she might not get it for Christmas. She told me that was ok, she wanted Santa to get it for her.
Well, I found it today – whole miniature placesettings, and yes, I splurged and got a whole set for 4. (They came in the box together.) There is even a turkey and a cheese tray and a miniature jellyroll. Then I spied the toilet and my heart skipped a beat – a Toilet! I’m not sure who designed the original dollhouse, but they forgot the toilet. It was missed immediately. This is a big deal. Where are the dolls supposed to go to the bathroom? There were three lamps and a wardrobe and even a footstool, but no toilet. Hmmm…..anyone who’s spent any time at all with preschoolers knows that toilets are very important.

Oh, I know all this miniature stuff is bound to be lost in a day or two, and I’m hoping none of it gets ingested by baby sister, but now the dollhouse will be complete – after I finish all the dolls, that is! I’ve come upon a stumbling block with the dolls – teeny tiny clothes are very hard to make. You basically have to sew them on. So I am getting creative and everyone’s wearing wool sweaters and tights. At least the hair is going well except that I don’t have any brown yarn so everyone either has blond, orange or white hair (I’m skipping green). Works for me, my kids have bits of white anyway, so I’m hoping to pretend I meant it that way. They’re an eclectic crew, and I promise to take (and post) a picture when they’re all done - probably Christmas Eve knowing me (pressure-prompted, anyone?).

Now I just have to figure out how to make a princess dress with yarn and embroidery floss. Wish me luck.

Oh, I wish I had time to blog all the stuff I am thinking of!

Christmas is coming and I have, once again, committed to making too many gifts. I just can't stand buying something ho hum when I can make something I'm really happy about giving. Nothing this year is as complicated as the birdhouses we constructed last year. I did learn from that. Of course, I don't think an unplanned birth will mess up the production schedule as it did last year (Can you believe it's almost been a whole year?!). I hope everyone likes what they're getting. Nothing is very big and it's all a little quirky and full of heart. I tried to stick to stuff I know how to do like painting and stuff that doesn't need to be perfect - like ugly dolls.

Also related to Christmas I wanted to post about lessons we're learning about advertising and buying stuff. Being 4 makes one so much more aware of the world. I'll blog about this later. Because it's ongoing and completely appropriate for the upcoming holidays.

Also on the list to blog about:
toothy babies that I miss so much,
a wonderful nanny,
(pink and sparkly) good times shopping with a preschooler,
other blogs I read whose lives I want to copy,
bento goodness,
and a rant asking people to stop asking if I'm glad to be back at work


And since no one in real life seems to be discussing it, what the heck is going on with Canadian politics?? I picked a fine year to start voting, let me tell ya. I can't stand politics at the best of times, and now they're talking about a Frankenstein-type coalition coup. I've heard pretty big rhetoric from both sides and am worried about our politics degenerating to one big squabbling match and power grab. That's certainly not what I voted for. I don't think that's what anybody voted for.

Why I wish I had a small(er) camera, and what I love about bento this week. Yes, they're related.

I want to post so many things with pictures but never seem to get to the computer at home anymore to download some. In fact, there's not a day that goes by that I don't wish I had my camera with me. Yesterday it was first to capture the crane rising into the fog with building half torn apart in the foreground. It was such a juxtaposition between magnificent rising into the clouds and broken down-ness that I was intrigued. Progress and destruction. Renewal and decomposition.
Then as we drove home and got to the top of the hill the sky lit up above the mountains in bright pink firey clouds and the town was completely engulfed in billowing white clouds. It was surreal. And we descended down into the clouds and my driving partner commented that now it was night, and I thought that no one down here knows the magic thing going on up above. And soon it became unbelievable even to us that there was anything other than what we were seeing down below.

But this post was supposed to be about bento. I was reading this article (I love the title: finding my balance) yesterday and thinking about the bento lunches I've been packing lately. They're rather a hodgepodge of whatever will fit into the spaces in the box. A yummy hodgepodge, I have to say, and I've been so happy with them, but today I created something that is simpler. My lunch is calming. And I wish I had a picture because describing it is pretty lame. I can't wait for lunchtime, and have been showing everyone at work my geeky bento creation.

Creating bento lunches has been an unexpected joy - I love making them. It satisfies my need for creativity. I hope it doesn't loose that appeal.

Ho Hum. I can't believe I've never posted about photography before. Or at least used the tag. If I had a teeny camera I could tuck it in my pocket and snap pictures at will. And download blog ones at work. But would I ever be happy with that?

Bendy Dolls!

OK, you asked!

A. randomly commented the other day that she needs dolls for her doll house. I thought she was having fun playing with her ponies there but apparently they are too big for the bed so it doesn't really work. So I looked up dolls on etsy and found these bendy dolls. Then I found a tutorial on making them yourself, and voila, now I have something to do every lunchhour between now and Christmas. Here are more examples of finished dolls, and I couldn't resist bookmarking these pirates.

Mine don't have feet. I'm trying to do it without buying much extra materials. I figure I have lots of craft stuff at home to use (even though we purged a lot...doh!). (More on this these another time, I'm trying to retrain myself into using what we have rather than buying the solution to our problems. Like I said, more later.) I did buy some pink fabric and wooden heads, though. I didn't have any fabric that's pink and that's A's favourite color right now.

I just put a head on the doll that I made last week and it didn't fit! I think if I don't wrap the neck all the way up the head will fit. He needs clothes. He'll look better clothed. Then you won't notice how odd his body is....oh, they're going to look pretty eclectic! The green fuzz of the pipecleaner sticks through a bit. I may have to wrap him again... maybe striped legs...
Oh what fun. I'd like to make a boy, a girl, a kid and a baby for sure (you know, our family). Then, if there's time I'll add a pirate and a fairy and maybe some aunts or gramas. (And maybe another baby, har har) I have some lovely white wool so someone's going to have white hair.

And this is what I am thinking of making for R. (now 10 months old):
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13879490
Should be easy enough as it's random. I'll sew on eyes instead of using buttons so she doesn't chew them off with those razor teeth and swallow them. She would so that.

We'll see if I have enough time for all the projects I'd like to do!

How Long 'Till Christmas?

Here's what we accomplished yesterday. It's a paper chain - each link is for one day until Christmas. Right now it's a long time until Christmas, that's what I was trying to get at.

Here are pictures of the links before we assembled it into a chain.

December 5-11:

December 11-24, and a Christmas tree on the top for the 25th:

And here's the whole thing assembled:

And now I'm off to scrape the glitter off the table.

Sock Monkeys!

These seem to be all the rage right now!

I found some fantastic instructions here for making your own sock monkey. Now I just have to find someone to give one to! My sister made a sock dog once and it was absolutely adorable. Eventually the ribbon fell off his neck, but he's still the cutest, and gets played with all the time.

I like all this diy stuff for gifts, but I wonder if anyone else appreciates it. I am planning on making a significant amount of christmas presents this year, and hope that I'm not wasting my time. If someone'd rather get a walmart gift certificate then maybe that's a more thoughtful gift.