What's Your Handmade Moment?

Etsy is in the process of hosting a contest for 15 and 30 second spots, created by members of the Etsy community, around the theme of "handmade moments". These spots are to be used for advertising and there are some hefty cash prizes involved and some truly amazing entries.

They have currently narrowed it down to the top 24 and you can vote and see the semifinalists on TV Etsy.

As I said, there are some amazing entries but this one, the first of the semi-finalists that I saw, has stolen my heart. I've always had a soft spot for giving things wings. Plus her dry humor is brilliant. : )



My runners up? Both embody the essence of why I, personally, love to buy handmade. The seller to buyer connection and the warm fuzzies all around.

An Ending and a Beginning

Long time readers of this blog will have noticed a shift in content...where as before 90% or more of my posts were about the new items in my shops, now none are.

A few months ago I did some soul searching. And I realized that my Etsy shops had served their purpose. I started my first shop over summer vacation as a Master's student. Oddly enough, no one wants to hire you just for the summer when they know they have no chance of you staying for more than a year. So instead, I started an Etsy shop with my flower cards.

I enjoyed making the cards, but, what's more, I really loved the business side of things. Learning about pricing and marketing and psychology and branding. It gave me somewhere to apply the lessons I was learning in my classes and a social network while I was in a lonely new town with just the hubby for company. Perhaps more importantly, the Etsy forums introduced me to social networking. Big names like Flickr, Twitter, and Blogger. Smaller names like Squidoo and Ning and Quassia. I developed a love for photography, founded and joined several teams. Made friends.

Eventually I moved my cards to Ink and Vine and kept MrsDragon stocked with the little dragonlings that had covered my notebooks and wandered their way into my shop..

However, three years after this grand adventure began I realized I was at a crossroads. I had learned all I could about casually being in business. I needed to either take the next step (get a tax ID, devote real time to product lines, market) or stop. Not because I couldn't do what I was doing, but because it was no longer holding my interest and it showed.

And the siren calls of other pastimes called. Getting back into my quilting. Learning more about photography. Baking. Decorating our new house. Going for walks. Getting involved in my local technical societies.

So I am closing down my shops. I've canceled my ArtFire subscriptions, and let all the stock in my Etsy shops expire. I am finishing a last custom order and then I will be solely a buyer. And buy I will. I love Etsy and the handmade movement. I've gotten more out of the last three years than I could have possibly imagined going in. It's not an understatement to say that my decision to start an Etsy shop changed my life. And now it's time for other interests and passions and life changing decisions.

For this blog that means more of what you have been seeing lately, these other passions. My 365 house project. My baking. My quilting. My cats and my husband. I hardly expect to have a huge following, but anyone who is interested is welcome to come along for the ride.

To my dear Etsy friends, I will still be reading and cheering you on! I am continuously amazed by the creativity and passion you pour into your work and I look forward to watching you grow.

Black Friday / Cyber Monday Madness

From today though Monday, December 1st, I am offering buy two, get on free in both my shops. Simply check out with all three items and wait for the revised invoice through paypal. : )



This is a great time to snag something have been eyeing or pick up some holiday gifts. My dragonling items make great stocking stuffers and my cards can either be that perfect finishing touch or the gift themselves!



I am even happy to honor the offer across shops. Just convo me and I will set up a listing just for you. ^_^

Big Day

Yesterday was a day of much accomplishment. I cleaned my craft room. Hung art. Tossed trash. Sorted supplies. The works.





Then I took photos of all the bookmarks that have been made up for the last two months and actually got one listed in the shop. *faints ded away*



All around a very good, good day.

Today I spent doing some more cleaning. Dear god, the sheer amount of *stuff* that piles up is mind boggling. How on earth do two adults generate piles of receipts, kleenex, random paperwork, magazines, and clothes on every clean surface?! I think I begin to see the appeal of the minimalist style of decorating. At least then there would be no surfaces for it to pile up on! ; )

Happy Holly-Days!

Today, the first of my holiday cards sold! Hooray! (Mental note: get more of those listed. Before Christmas, ya?)

New Things In The Shop!

Oh my! Actually listing inventory. What am I thinking? ; )

Meet Stran, the dragonling of parties:



And Xie, the dragonling of measuring:



And this little pair of love, uh, dragonlings. : )



Next up, get new things in BOTH MrsDragon AND Ink&Vine. : D

A New Start

We're not going to speak of how long it's been since I last posted *looks guilty* or listed something new in the shops (despite having plenty to list!).

What we are going to talk about is renewal and growth and cycles. I am an introvert clean through and pretty much any literature on introverts will tell you that we need our "me" time in order to recharge and recoup and take on the world. This turtling behavior doesn't just apply to social interactions though. I find that if I get stressed out or overwhelmed, I often back off many things that I *should* do in an attempt to get my balance back.

And once I have destressed, relaxed, or gotten through the major crisis of the moment, I suddenly have more interest and energy again. Sadly, I have yet to find the magic bullet of "just do this" and then feel up to snuff. In part because of all the *guilt* that goes along with not doing what you feel like you should be able to do.

So, after some time to hole up, and with the crisp fall air and the nice chill the mornings have taken on, I am feeling more centered, more grounded, more *balanced*. And my desire to list and blog and be active has resurfaced.

So, hello world!

Timed along with this is a whole new look for my MrsDragon shop. A while ago, I contacted Bitsy Creations regarding redoing my shop logo. You see, I loved my current look, but there was one small problem. The dragon on all of my marketing materials bore very little resemblance to the dragons I was actually selling. So people who liked one, wouldn't necessarily like the other. Now on Etsy this is less of a problem, since people are more likely to find your things by searching items anyway. But for things like craft fairs where all someone has to remember you by later is your business card...it probably wasn't helping me.

So here we go. Out with the old look:



And in with the new!

Gearing Up

Weekend after next (!), I will be sharing a booth with another local crafter (the fabulous April of aprilhl) at Huntsville's Oktoberfest. So, in order to prepare, we got together last weekend to get together our table stuff. Here is a preliminary table layout:

>

The gold board on the left is to hold bookmarks (er, well if I manage to overcome my shrinky dink disasters that I wrote about in my last post!). Several of the things that are sitting around will be on another table that April found. We will be creating a loose U shape with the tables. Her stuff on one side, mine on the other and a few more of my things and checkout on the bridge of the U.

Right now I am very ambivalent about the table set up. I think I will give it another trial run this weekend. Perhaps after finishing some more things so that I'll have a better idea of what *exactly* needs to be on there!

Shrinky Dinks Gone Wrong

It's been quite some time since I last made a new batch of bookmarks, and with just one left, I have been wanting to get a new crop together. So earlier this summer, I pulled out my shrinky dinks and got to work drawing up dragonlings. Then they sat (and sat and sat) until a few weeks ago when I decided to take them along to a crafting event (they are very portable!) and color them in.

Well, imagine my shock and horror when I baked them only to discover...my lines had disappeared! Turns out I had drawn on one side and colored on the the other so when they baked up and became opaque, you could no longer see the outlines. Oops.



Two survived the tragic incident because I had gone over the lines, thinking they were faint (now I know why). Those are the two on the top left in this pic. The three on the bottom right show my experiment with drawing the lines in after the fact (too sloppy, imo) and the ones on the far right, top row and far left, bottom row, show how they came out of the oven. Just tragic.

Sadly, the tragedy does not end there. Determined to get some bookmarks made, I sat down over the long weekend to make some more. I drew and colored (on the right side this time!) nearly a dozen dragonlings. Only this time when I baked them, they came out about twice as big as the last batch. Same paper. Same pencils. Same oven. Maybe I had the temperature set differently?

In a moment of pure stupidity bravery, I threw them ALL back in the oven for another 5 min or so. And attached them to the cardboard. (Not to mention singeing the cardboard thus making the house smell like burnt cardboard and convincing my husband that I was determinedly burning the house down.) So now I have nearly a dozen shrinky dinks that are not only larger than expected (they didn't even have the decency to shrink more!) but have bits of cardboard embedded in the plastic. Looks like I will be going back to backing the little guys with pretty papers. It's time consuming and labor intensive, but it will hide the cardboard. : )

Persistence

Waaaaay back in March, I combined my pretty paper flowers with some of my favorite love quotes and created torn paper collages. Well, they pretty well sat in my shop until last month, when a super duper buyer wanted to buy a card with the saying from one of the ACEOs. Instead, I offered to back the ACEO on a card (in a removeable manner of course!) and she ended up opting for the ACEO + card combo.



Now, this is something I have wanted to do for a long while. After all, an ACEO and card is the ultimate, not only in one-stop shopping, but also in ease of shipping. I ship to you, you sign and pop in the mail. Voila! Done! Naturally though, like so many other projects, it just hadn't made it to the top of the "to-do" list. So I jumped at the chance to do a custom order doing what I had been hoping to do.

And it turned out *marvelously*. I was thrilled! I showed it off to my husband and mother (this being while she was in town). They were duly impressed. Most importantly my buyer was thrilled. ^_^

So I set out to turn all of my quotable ACEOs into cards. And got several done before the lazy kicked in and nothing got photographed and the listings didn't get updated...until today. When my super duper buyer came back wanting to know if I could turn another ACEO into a card!

So not only did I get her card made and the listing updated, but I went ahead and took pictures of one of the others I had finished earlier...Persistence. Somehow the name seems especially appropriate for an idea that has taken over a year and a half to find it's way into my shop.

Onto Shop Number Two!

Now that I have begun to get back in the groove of adding things to my mrsdragon shop, I am dipping my toe in the water of also (gasp!) adding things to Ink & Vine. Lest anyone think I am playing favorites, I assure you, I actually have *more* things to add to the Ink & Vine shop. (Which is probably why I have waited longer...)

Today's additions:

Anthir, the dragonling of to-do lists has made his debut in my mrsdragon shop.


And over at Ink & Vine...something totally new! (Well, okay, not *totally* new. I had the idea for these over a year ago, and I finally got enough made up to take to my fair in June...but it's the first time on Etsy!)


Anyway, this is the first appearance of my horizontally formatted cards. Not all of my stamps and sayings work with this format, but it provides a nice "fuller" look for the stamps that do balance. ^_^

Next on the to-do list--editing all the photos, retaking the ones that are beyond editing, and (if I get really ambitious) deleting unused photos off of my computer since I recently discovered my hard drive is almost full!.

*Breathe In Deeply*

You know how sometimes life goes crazy? It's one thing after another after another after another? Yea...that was June and July for me this year.

Craft Fair-->House Guests-->Training for Work-->Road Trip/Family-->Crazy at Work-->Attempt to Clean House-->Hubby's Cell Phone Dies-->My Computer Dies-->Parent's Visit-->Hubby's Computer Dies-->Work is Still Insane...

However, this week, I am finding my zen again. With social obligations out of the way (and thus my necessary introvert time to myself) I am feeling more relaxed, more centered, more *capable*. And thus I am easing back into my other obligations. Etsy. Blogging. Street Teams. That new street team I signed up for. (Ooops. But they are local! And they craft! And--yes, my name is Mrs.Dragon I have a problem with overcommitting.)

Step One on the road to recovery was (finally) editing pics of and listing magnets and mirrors in my MrsDragon shop. (Step 2 is Ink&Vine, but one thing at a time now.)



Oddly enough, despite (or perhaps because of) all this chaos, this month has been my best ever as far as sales.

Rewind

With my next show coming up on Thursday, I figure as part of this little rewind, I'll finally get around to posting pics from the last show I did, back in June. It was my first of the season and it was s.l.o.w. Here's hoping word of mouth with help us out this month! *crosses fingers*

The overall table (plus news van):


The left side:


The middle:


The right:

Glial

Glial here is a dragonling of fried food which means he's undoubtedly behind the idea to deep fry snickers bars. That atrocity aside, he generally has very good taste. And it is hard to argue with his logic--most things *are* better deep fried. Especially onions. And chicken. And zucchini. And, well, I did say most things right?



He is holding a corn dog--unquestionably one of the best fried foods ever invented. Corn and bread and hot dog. On. A. Stick. Sheer genius. Srsly people.

Checking In

Last week I posted my rather unwieldy to-do list. So now it is time to check in and see what I've accomplished.

*Create 30 medium flower cards

This is more monumental than it sounds since I have had this idea for about a year now, and even made samples, but never quite got them into the shop. So these will have their grand debut at the show!

They still need to be photographed and documented though before they can be bagged. Boo.

*Draw dragonlings for 20 bookmarks and 10 cell charms

I have about 9 drawn. I think these will wait until the next show

*Create packaging for 25 dragonlings
*Photograph 25 dragonlings and get them into their packaging

These two go hand in hand and both are DONE. This means that whatever doesn't sell at the show will be ready to be listed afterwards. Woot!

*Get Ink&Vine buttons designed

I've given feedback on the first round of designs to my graphic designer. I don't know that I will have the buttons in time for this show, but definitely for my second one.



*Decide what else I need for my display--purchase or make

I bought a latched display case to hold my dragonlings and a small easel for it to sit on. (See the picture; isn't it cute?) This will nicely solve the occasional issue I have with sticky fingers AND allow me to easily display up to 40 dragonlings. Yay! Now I just need to retrofit it to be magnetic.

I also found an adorable woven box to hold cards in addition to my baskets. Yay! And, even better, it was on clearance!

*Swap out mrsdragon cards for inkandvine cards on all previously packaged cards

Done, done, and done. There were nearly 100 of them, so this is a relief!

The Perfect Papercutter For Me

I need a new paper cutter. I currently own a rotary Friskar's cutter. And it's given me many years of faithful service. And, considering I picked it up for a song, I have no real complaints. Mostly, I've outgrown the little guy and the once forgivable little wobbles are no longer so charming.

You can see him here, he's the one up front, just below the magnetic board.



And so, the hunt begins. My list (because every good shopping trip begins with a list of must-haves. Consider how many women have made lists of qualities their ideal partner must have. Shopping is serious business.)

*Must cut lots of paper. Loads of paper. Okay, 5-10 sheets of cardstock would win my heart.

*Must cut straight each time, every time. I won't be a softy on this one again. I learned my lesson with my (soon to be) ex.

*Must have a clearly marked grid. Sure it sounds great to be all "spontaneous" but when you are on your last bit of you favorite paper it simply has to be right. "I'm sorry" won't cut it.

*Must not look like it would fit in at the county jail. (Um, if they let sharp objects in there, anyway.) Because no matter what we say, looks matter. (Sorry guys.)

*Must be able to cut at least 12x12" sheets of paper. 15x15" would be nice. Must still fit on my crafting table. (Yup, size matters too. Sorry again guys.)

*Must not cost 80 million dollars, require a small army of accessories, or endless replacement parts. Because high maintenance is so passe. And really, it would just be disappointed; I'm not that kind of girl.

*Bonus points if it is self sharpening or otherwise can take care of itself. (Self sufficiency = +5)

If anyone has an recommendation for good ways to get to know paper cutters or places to pick them up, I'd love to hear them. : )

Where to Begin...

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a craft fair coming up. On June 19th to be exact. So I need to focus. Prepare. Get Ready. You know, have stuff. And a way for people to see the stuff. And then hope that they buy the stuff. ^_^

So, from now until then, here is my "to do" list:



*Cut and glue leaves onto semi finished cards
*Photograph now finished cards
*Place finished cards into cello bags
*Number bags
*Upload pics onto the computer and sort into folders by number (my high tech inventory system)

*Create little "one inch art" pieces
*Create five more quotable ACEOS with non love related quotes
*Finish my "success" piece
*Create 10 more large flower cards
*Create 30 medium flower cards
*Finish remaining two frames flowers



*Draw dragonlings for 20 bookmarks and 10 cell charms
*Color the dragonlings
*Cut and shrink and dink the dragonlings
*Assemble 20 bookmarks and 10 cell charms
*Create two framed dragonlings

*Photograph the bookmarks and cell charms
*Package bookmarks and cell charms
*Finish pages for coloring book
*Xerox coloring books
*Assemble coloring books



*Look into getting new promo cards made up
*Get them made up and printed
*Fold promo cards
*Get Ink&Vine buttons designed
*Print and cut and ship buttons to Christine

*Assemble freebie bags
*Decide what else I need for my display--purchase or make
*Purchase card stock for signs
*Make signs for card baskets showing what cards are in them.
*Swap out mrsdragon cards for inkandvine cards on all previously packaged cards

Um...that's 31 things and 18 days...so two a day--go! : )

A Productive Weekend

This weekend was spent quite pleasantly. My hubby and I went hiking yesterday. Just a short little 1.2 mile hike, but it's the first hiking I've done since high school so we are easing back into it! Plus I discovered that my darling hubby is a bit of a hiking drill sergeant in regards to the pace he sets--it certainly makes for a good workout! We went up to a national park that is practically in our backyard and the scenery was just lush and green and gorgeous! I'll only put one photo here, but if you click on the photo, you can check out the rest of the ones I took in my flickr account.



Today I spent working on new cards! 84 new cards got their start this weekend. *whew* I've got the flowers sewn on and the sayings stamped. Now they just need leaves, photographs, and cello bags. Can you tell which part of this I enjoy more? : )

I also began brainstorming for table displays this weekend. My first show is coming up on the 19th and this is my first year with having two "shops" to represent. In some ways, that is simple, but in others (like freebies) it makes things a bit more challenging. Anyway, I sat down with a pen and some paper and let the ideas flow. I love thinking "out loud" like this.



Here you can see my brilliant plans for signage for the baskets, a rough table layout, a plans for freebies.

Of Things Yet To Come

Today I spent some quality time with my carbon pen, a stack of paper, and the telephone. While talking on the phone to my mom about family, work, and her upcoming visit(s) I worked out the first three pages of something I have wanted to do for a very long time--a dragonling coloring book!

The idea is to make it an ACEO, numbered and limited edition. My first idea was to Gocco the pages, but after finishing the first three, I am worried that the lettering and details are so small that it will end up nothing but big blobs of mush.

So I have two options--redo it as a half page layout or find another way to print it. There are pros and cons to both.

PROS:

Larger Layout:
1. Better for little hands--this would widen the age group these are being marketed to
2. Keep the Goccoing--this creates more of an "arty" image for the book and makes it (imo) more special
3. Will be more visible and obvious on craft show tables, etc

Smaller Layout:
1. Neat twist on an ACEO--may create unique marketing opportunity
2. Slips neatly into a cello sleeve
3. Just the right size to be used for party favors/give aways
4. Easy to carry in a pocket

CONS

Larger Layout:
1. May still have a tendency to add lots of details--and making Goccoing equally difficult
2. Hard for me to draw that large--may take more time to draw (esp because of #1)

Smaller Layout:
1. Going to Xeroxing seems very unspecial.
2. Limits age group to the 8 or 9 and up due to required hand eye coordination (which also means that puzzles etc need to be more challenging)

(I would show you all what I have so far, but for some reason every time I try to scan the images my scanning software chokes and dies a horrible death.)

Any thoughts on other printing methods I could use? Opinions on preferred size?

*Pokes Blog*

I am still alive! : )

I've been busy with life, the universe, and everything the past week or so. Many apologies for neglecting ye old blog. I have still be listing things in my etsy shops, although lately it is much more fun to think of things to make than it is to list things. Which is a shame as those things that are never listed will never be sold. Must get on that.



My mind has been turning over dozens of new things to make. In part because now that I have officially divided out my items into two shops, I can diversify each "category" without making one shop look even sloppier. In part because I have been accepted into the Sidewalk Art Stroll again this year and I want to have a nice full table!



In addition to new ideas for the shop, I'm trying to come up with new (and easy, and inexpensive) ideas for table displays and give aways. As well as ideas on how to display all my merchandise. I'm thinking of running a ribbon down the center of the table and putting Ink&Vine on one side and Mrs Dragon on the other. I'm also trying to figure out how to get my cards out of baskets! and out where people can see them. One idea is to create a message or display board that has a sample of each saying so people can see all the options. This could either be something with just the sayings or a card with each saying. Something with just the sayings would be compact but lack visual pow! On the other hand, a sample of each card would take up a *lot* of room.

Decisions, decisions...