Seriously???

So I turned down that position with AmeriCorps in Mississippi. It was just too scary to think all that could go wrong in the next year, and I wouldn't have any spare money for emergencies. I really want to buy a "new" used car in the next year, and I think a new laptop is making its way onto my list too. This position just wouldn't ever allow for either of those things, and in a year's time when the contract ended, I'd be out of a job once again. I just need something a little more permanent, and with a little room to start saving money. So the job search continues! blah....

I caught this commercial on TV last night. Is this for real?



Scary thing is, I think it is real. What a great way to commemorate our president! I love the tagline- "Can you grow one? YES YOU CAN!" It's pretty funny.

Hope you're all having a great week!

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I'm Back!!

God, it feels like I've been gone for YEARS! I guess it has been almost 3 weeks. Don't get excited, only about a week of it was fun vacation, the rest was regular visiting people and stuff. Oh and I fixed a leak in my parent's house that's up for sale in Alabama. Yeah I'm a regular plumber...

But the vacation was awesome! We went to Seabrook Island in South Carolina- it's a very slow paced place where you bike to the grocery store and the beach. A few months ago, I found the house we ended up renting, but it was pretty inexpensive so we were a little nervous and wondering if it would be nice or not. But we rented it anyway, and it was really nice! So I was the hero for a day or 2:) The whole island is a natural preserve- no hunting allowed- so every night we had deer wander through the backyard. The house backed up to a lagoon with lots of birds squawking and flying around, and an alligator that would show his face every now and then! Oh yeah, and there was a hot tub on the back deck. One evening, I was laying in it, but facing the house... when the jets turned off, I turned around and there were six deer in the backyard! Then I was frantically/subtlely trying to get someone's attention inside the house so they could see it. It was pretty amazing. I'll have to go through my pictures later and post them.

Oh and while I was gone I got an email from Cat, the shop owner. She wrote me to tell me that she had just sold 3 of my pieces to one lady!! WOO HOO! Now I'm wondering if she's sold anymore since then... I need a paycheck!

Oh yeah, and what's with this new layout in the Etsy shops? Looks kind of weird and I can't find how many views my items have. Not sure if I like that. What do you guys think?

Okay, I'll be back with some pictures!

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Lawn Festivals and Giveaways

I had my first booth at a festival yesterday... For the first time this year, it broke 100 degrees here in Nashville. All that preparation and it turned out to be way too hot which meant 2 things: lots of people stayed indoors and all us vendors got to sit out in the sun for a few hours. Which was great fun. Me and the lady behind me were the only 2 vendors there who didn't have a tent, so luckily the people who were sponsoring the festival took pity on us and found an extra one for us to use. Thank God! I think my skin might've melted off otherwise! So I had 2 sales... which means I almost broke even for the day. A little disappointing, but at least quite a few people seemed to look and take a card when I said I had an online store they could check out. Oh well...

The good news is that I met with the shop owner the other day and she's going to carry some of my pieces!! I was really excited, the shop is opening this coming week and it's sooo cute. She's going to carry random antique furniture, children's consignment clothes, lots of local artwork and crafts, handmade candles... just about anything you can imagine. She's going to do a 60-40 split, but thinks some of my prices can be priced higher than in my Etsy shop. And she's working on getting her computer system up and running, but the idea is that any artist can login to their online account and see what items of theirs are selling. Such a great idea! So I'm really excited- she seems to have a lot of great ideas for the shop and I'm hoping it'll be a big success!

Also, Barefoot Mommies blog is giving away a pair of my Yellow Jade Spiral Earrings

You can view the giveaway and enter here: http://www.barefootmommies.com/2009/06/pick-me-up-boutique-review-giveaway.html

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mid-week pick-me-up

This one just makes me happy- it's a little "prank" by the same people who did the infamous "frozen in grand central station" prank a few years ago. But I really like this one- imagine how many people smiled or laughed because of this guy!

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meeting with new shop owner, yikes!

I've had a few friends suggest that I should approach some shops around town, or in my old college town in Alabama. It's sort of been in the back of my head, thinking I'll first build my business and products a little more. Well, last week I heard about a new shop opening up in a somewhat ritzy part of Nashville so I googled it. It's called Over the Moon if you'd like to look. Their website doesn't have much to it, but what it does say is that they are looking for local artisans to feature in their shop. I was really excited about it and thought I would just email to see what they require.

Well the shop owner emailed me back and said she was currently out of town but would be back Tuesday (today). She asked if I'd be available to meet with her tentatively on Thursday, and I said yes... But now I'm slightly panicky! I have NOTHING prepared to show this lady- I really expected her to just send me an application or something, not suggest a meeting for this week!

I mean, I have lots of earrings I can bring, hanging on my earring cards. And all my new necklaces and bracelets. But I really wish I had a nice portfolio or a brochure or SOMETHING to give her. I don't even have a very nice way of transporting and showing a couple of pieces... a friend suggested I sew some of the pieces to the inside of a big trenchcoat and show her that way! haha. But I feel really unprepared and I'm really not even sure what I'm supposed to be preparing!

But she seemed very nice from her email, and maybe if she's used to working with artists she won't be expecting a big formal presentation. Hopefully my work will speak for itself and HOPEFULLY she won't expect some ridiculously low wholesale price... I'm just going to look at it as "practice" and see how it goes! Fingers crossed...

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etsyhacks review from a layman

I've been in sort of a bubble the past week, just working to get ready for my craft fair and creating and listing new pieces. So I'm not going to do a feature this week, I'm going to try to be technological tonight. It should be interesting...

I frequently browse the forums on Etsy, searching for tips and advice. I occasionally see things about etsyhacks and how great it is, but I've never really gone through the effort to look into it and download everything. My computer came with Internet Explorer, and etsyhacks works with Firefox.

So last week I finally got fed up with my internet- it had become a daily occurrence for my computer to lock up and I'd have to stop what I was doing and restart the computer. It was getting really frustrating. So I decided that I would try out Firefox, and along with it etsyhacks.

Etsyhacks is an add-on to Firefox, where it loads your computer with extra features and options to your usual Etsy pages to make navigating easier, and lets you move around your shop more efficiently. It was created by an Etsy seller's husband to help her run her shop, and now he has created a website to share these little treasures with other sellers. You download each hack individually, but I decided to just get the whole lot of them- it only took a click or 2. This is a screenprint of my typical item page now (sorry for the blurriness).

There are more options on the right side now- now I am able to unfeature this item, edit the item, delete it, copy, or renew it-- all from the item's page! I have already gotten TONS of use out of these, especially the "copy this item". A lot of my items are similar so all I have to do now is change a few words here and there and add my new pictures.

Another of my favorites is the forum features. Now when I enter the forums, a star is placed next to any threads in which an Etsy admin has posted. Any threads I post in are highlighted green. And then if a shop's avatar catches my eye, there is an option for me to see their Etsy mini- right there under their post, without opening another window. It's really handy.

And another thing I like- since I'm doing free shipping as a promotion for June, I was having trouble before because Etsy tags only allow so many characters and I could only type "free shipping" OR "worldwide shipping" in the alotted space. Now with etsyhacks I can tag "free worldwide shipping" which essentially gives me another tag to use.

There are many other features etsyhacks can give you- extra slidebars to help you navigate more easily, extra links from your main shop page, organizational tools for your sold orders.... the list goes on and on! It was really easy to install Firefox, Greasemonkey (the application that allows etsyhacks) and all of the scripts for etsyhacks. And fyi- my computer hasn't frozen up ONCE on me in the past week!!

Here's the link for etsyhacks if you'd like to look and get more info : http://www.etsyhacks.com/

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I'm a winner!

I forgot to mention in Friday's post that I won a giveaway! It was on EtsyExpo's blog and it was given away by ScraftyPaperLady. I had forgotten that I had even entered, it was my first entry into a blog giveaway! Just one of those times when I said to myself "Well those are cute notecards, wouldn't it be fun if I won?!" So I was so excited- I got to pick any of the thank you tags from her shop, which I am going to use in my packaging for sales. I just tried to grab a picture from her shop but I think she's removed the listing, so I will take pictures when I get them and post them here. I'm so excited!

I also had a great day on Saturday for kind of a silly reason. I went to the Goodwill Store to see what I could find to help display my jewelry and decorate my table at the craft fair that I signed up for. And as I pulled into the parking lot I saw signs that they were having a 50% off everything sale!! I figured everything would be picked over and falling apart, but I got so many great things I was so excited! I got 5 little plate/ platter things that I'm going to fill with (raw) white rice and black beans and place my earrings on. (btw- I stole most of these ideas from a thread in the Etsy forum!) I got a vase that I'm going to place spray-painted sticks in and hang my necklaces from them. And I got a spinning wooden thing with hooks on it that I'm going to paint and fix up and put my bracelets on. AND I got 3 tablecloths (2 of the same color and 1 accent color), a mirror, a pair of barely worn Bandolino dress shoes, and a little lawn chair for my nephew.. all for about $24!! I was THRILLED!

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Baby steps...

So I wrote the other day about my difficulties in re-threading all my new beads that I bought. Well I searched and searched online and found hardly anything to help me out. So I decided to post my question in the "Techniques and Materials" section on the Etsy forums. My favorite reply was from FeralGlass who said it was "a job for the 3 P's- Patience, Persistence, and Prozac". haha. funny as it was, it wasn't making me feel any better!

I got a few other suggestions, with the consensus being to try using a needle. This seemed even more painful and tedious to me. But I went out and bought a long beading needle and tried it today, and it cut my "re-threading time" down in half!! THANK GOD! So I feel a lot better about those bracelets now and feel like it's okay to create more of them :)

I also took a pretty big step today by signing up for a craft fair. A friend of my sister's suggested it to me- it's a fundraiser for a Christian pre-school. The entry fee is only $40 so I thought I might as well give it a shot. I've never done a craft fair before so I'm a little nervous about it. But since I've been doing a lot of my pieces as "made to order", I have to get busy creating so I can have an inventory for the show!

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Mid-Week Pick-Me-Up #5

A little later than "mid-week", but super funny nonetheless!

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I'm Either Really Patient or just Plain Dumb!

The other day at the Bead Show, I picked up a bunch of teenie tiny little seed beads. Very pretty and sparkly, and all different colors. I thought they would make some very pretty bracelets. Then just as I was checking out, the man told me to make sure that I re-string them onto some beading thread, which I had figured I would need to, but that should be easy right?

Well this presents an interesting problem... how do you get a zillion little beads that are strung on thread and move them onto a different thread? So I called up my crafty mom and she said that you can loop the 2 threads together and then slide the beads off the old thread and onto the new thread. OKay! Sounds easy enough....

First bracelet- I think I lost about 1,000 of those beads. But the good thing is that they're so small I didn't even need to vacuum them up! haha

Today I worked on the second bracelet and lost only a few beads. Yay! But it still took me about 3 hours to make the whole thing! (of which 2 and a half hours was spent just transferring the beads). Now, I'm thinking I wouldn't pay any more then about $20 for a bracelet, so that makes my hourly wage about $6... awesome!

So I'm bummed- I really love the beads and I've already bought them all but the darn bracelets just take way too long! I must be missing something- there HAS to be an easier way to do this! I think I am going to look for a better way tomorrow, maybe there is some kind of tool that makes this easier. But in the meantime, here is the bracelet I made yesterday/ today, isn't it pretty??

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Featured Artist- Denise from Green Veranda

I am SOOOO excited to share this find with everyone! I have felt so inspired looking at this company's products and the values it stands for... Somehow Denise Marques and I found each other on Twitter and I checked out her website. She is a native of Brazil and is the founder and designer for Green Veranda. The tagline for her company is "Yesterday's News... Today's Fashion," and they produce handbags , home decor, and accessories made from recycled newspapers. Green Veranda products are created with a Fair Trade co-op of 32 women living in Brazil.

My absolute favorite is the large handbag, where recycled or mis-printed newspapers are cut into strips, rolled, and then handwoven to create the effect that you see. The paper is then sealed with a natural laminate to protect it from water. Organic fabrics adorn the inside of each purse and separate the compartments. Each purse is completely handmade and can take the artist up to 2 days to create.

Green Veranda works with the American Forests organization, planting a tree for each of their sales. They also donate a portion of their profit to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or the Children's Hope organization. The artisans who handmake the products receive fair wages and are able to support their families and help build the communities in which they live.

Denise currently lives in Florida and works with co-founder and fiancee' Aaron Goldberg, and maintains hopes of growing the company to reach more parts of the world. Together they will continue to support the artisans they work with and their communities, and give back as much as they can. All while creating super cool eco-chic products.

You can find out more on their website http://www.greenveranda.com/ and keep up with them on Twitter http://twitter.com/GreenVeranda

I will end with this note from Green Veranda's press kit: "It takes a brave person to truly realize that our world needs a change. It also takes a brave person to act and make a difference. And that is Green Veranda's vision... to inspire others to do just that."

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Bead Shopping and Free Shipping!!

So I just got back from visiting the Intergalactic Bead Show here in Nashville... don't you just love that name?! I guess they call it that because the vendors come from all over the Southeast, I even met one from Maryland! My sister came with me, and I think it's safe to say that I will never go to a bead show without her again! I had been to one before and didn't buy a thing- I was so overwhelmed by all the choices and my head was just spinning with all the options. But this time, she was all "Oo Heidi, come look at this!" or "You could get these and do this and that". It was just so nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and to make sure that what I had in mind was something someone else might wear. If it was up to me, I'd probably buy all bright yellow, orange, and pink beads and my sister was there to remind me that SOME people like purple, green, and blue :) But now I'm really excited to get started, I have a lot of work to do this week and a lot of new items to introduce to my shop!!

I'm also excited because I've decided to introduce free worldwide shipping to my shop for the month of June! Business has been slow and I think I can do this as my "stimulus buster" haha. Plus we have a family vacation in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, starting the 4th of July weekend and I need some spending money!! So hopefully free shipping will help out a little :)

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Featured Artists- Angie and Sarah from SuaVoce Designs

I ran across this week's featured artists when they mentioned their bridal blog in one of the Etsy forums. Angie and Sarah of SuaVoce Designs are a pair of twin sisters in college living in Chicago. When I checked out their blog and shop I was immediately impressed with the professionalism and thoughtfulness these young girls have established at such a young age.

Their shop is called SuaVoce Designs, named from the Italian phrase meaning "your voice." They design and make jewelry using mainly sterling silver and copper wire, and are constantly experimenting with different and non-conventional materials. Portions of their sales are donated to women's charities such as National Breast Cancer Foundation and Battered Mothers Resource Fund, Inc. "Jewelry making lets us channel our crafty side as well as our love for business. We really want to make a difference in the world too, so by selling our jewelry and giving a portion of the profits to charity we can give back."

Angie and Sarah began making jewelry their junior year of high school after taking a jewelry making class. They began making pieces to give away as gifts, but then decided to take the plunge as they started SuaVoce in September of last year. Their goal is that by the time they graduate, they will have a budding full-time business.

I asked the sisters what their favorite reaction someone has had to their work and they said it was from their younger sister when they made her a necklace and earring set to wear at her prom. Their sister loved the jewelry and was so excited to wear them on her special night.

SuaVoce's plans for the future include making "Pride and Prejudice" inspired journals... simple black journals in which they collage various elements and jewelry techniques together, including some of their favorite quotes from the book.

The sisters have also started an interesting blog you should all check out (http://suavoce.wordpress.com/), in which they periodically feature artists who do bridal work. They are also working to introduce their new line of jewelry they call the "Pink Line," where a quarter of their profits will go toward breast cancer research. Soon they would like to start "Feature Friday" where they will be featuring different artists every week.

Be sure to poke around SuaVoce, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6989347 where some items are on sale with free shipping! And if you're on Facebook, join their group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=94180108452

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Mid-Week Pick-Me-Up #3

This one just made me laugh....

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Featured Artist- Monte from MyMixMix

I am so excited to kick off my blog feature series with this shop! The shop is called MyMixMix and its avatar caught my eye one day in the forums, and when I clicked to see the shop, the colors immediately sucked me in! Just see for yourself: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6819973

The owner of this lovely shop is named Monte and she is originally from Los Angeles, where she had a wholesale and retail business designing and making OOAK hand-woven clothing. She ended up moving to northern New Mexico fifteen years ago, partly because of it rich history of fiber and textile arts. Now she handspins her own yarn with a spinning wheel and uses this yarn for her creations. In her shop, you can find all sorts of beautiful handspun art yarns and knitted accessories, as well as some needle felted jewelry and vintage buttons. She compares spinning to "painting with fiber, especially when you are dyeing the fiber you use to spin with."

I asked Monte if she had a favorite reaction to her work and she says, "I really appreciate all reactions, negative as well as positive. I think that is the best way to grow in your work, because most artists work alone and without much feedback, so it is easy to become stale or uninspired, and sometimes even a negative reaction can really get you moving again and pushing your limits."

Monte says the goal for her shop is to simply make sales. She loves spinning yarn and making her creations from it, and says "sales give the inspiration and push to keep coming up with new and creative ideas...I don’t believe any artist or craftsman can continue to create in a vacuum."

Plenty of things are in store for MyMixMix. Monte recently started listed new items she calls Poquito skeins, which are a sampling of small handspun skeins in various colors for people who don't want a large supply of yarn for their projects. Monte is also working on some small wall hangings made from her handspun yarn and embellishing with different materials which she is hoping to introduce to her shop soon.

MyMixMix now includes free shipping on all products, along with a few items on sale for the summer. Be sure to stop by Monte's shop and have a good look at her yarns and accessories. I'm sure you will become entranced by all the colors like I was:)

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