Crafty Party - Photo Now Available!

The lovely ladies from the Tampa Bay Etsy Crew posted some pictures from the Crafty Party and I found one of the wooden badge table! Just thought I'd share since the only representation I had from this event were the hand-drawn illustrations from my previous post. This was a really fun day and I'm so glad to have been a part of it!

Some New Work

Other than feelin' the love from fellow Etsy folks, I've been busy adding more items to my shop. In the last post you saw a sneak peak of some new butterfly designs. Well, here's a pic of the finished product.  This I actually have a picture of because I need to post it in my shop.

I'm really happy with these little butterflies.  They're a bit different from my previous magnets and it's been fun to play around with certain color combinations.  As for my shop and my products, I'm trying to think lighter and brighter. The summer must be influencing me...or maybe it's been all this rain lately...

Happy Birthday Windsor!

Happy birthday to my good pup Winds who turns seven today!!!  When I was little, I used to cry and cry and cry for my parents to buy me my own dog and twenty years later I was able to welcome this little guy into my life. I have loved sharing my life with Winds for seven years. It's such a special bond when you can love an animal who can't talk to you but can still tell you what's on his mind and know that he knows what's on my mind at the same time. Very cool. Love you buddy!

I think he finally grew into those ears...

Etsy Crafty Party!

Please note:  Due to my inability to effectively think like a "blogger" and visually capture my experiences in photo-form throughout the day, all would-be photos in this blog post have been replaced with hand-drawn illustrations - enjoy!

Greetings once more, blog buddies! It's been a busy week all around. This past Thursday I volunteered at the Etsy Crafty Party and boy was it....HOT! I'm thinking that the people up in Etsy central (which I believe is somewhere in Brooklyn) didn't consider that scheduling a party in Florida in late June would mean lots of sweaty, smelly crafters and craft lovers alike.      

Before the event - filled with a bunch of "go-get-um"

And after. Notice the look of total dehydration, drippy sweat drops and dreaded hair fly-aways.                

                                                                                                                       
But I grabbed my umbrella from the car, shaded myself from the death rays of the sun and started to greet the first shoppers strolling in. I was stationed at a demo table. At my table, shoppers could stop and create these really nifty wooden badges. And it was really fun - my visitors were super creative and made some really fantastic work.  But what was most fun was to really feel like part of the creative community.  As an Etsy artist, or any artist for that matter, you can sometimes feel like you're working and creating in a bubble. So it's nice to get out and see fellow Etsians or just plain art lovers talking and sharing and enjoying each other's company and creations!

One little girl came by the table and was SO excited to glue flowers onto her wooden heart that she filled the WHOLE badge with flowers. I think she was only supposed to only take one or two, but I didn't have the heart to tell her, so I just let her go crazy. We named this one "Flower Power."

Then there was this badge. The lady who made this one came by and used Washi tape to add layers of color. She finished it off with this crazy fringe which we've all seen before but I have no idea what it's called. You know, it's that ribbon that's kind of like yarn and it has fringe, but instead of stringy fringe, it has little puff balls hanging down. This ribbon/yarn will always bring back an instant memory of the curtains my grandmother hand-made for our family camper. The fabric was a plaid pattern of golden yellow and the puff ball fringe was in a dark brown - very sixties, very grandmom-ish.

Lastly, this lady came by and decorated a circular badge.  She went for a simplified look with only strips of color and one singular flower in the center. Simple but pretty.

Well blog buddies, until next time. And I promise to TRY and think like a blogger and start taking more pictures of my happenings.  Until then, art college tuition is paying itself off baby!

Happy Wednesday

Hey blog buddy!  I hope this evening is finding you well.  Mine is well...as well. I just finished eating a yummy dinner of hotties and frenchies (what my husband calls hot dogs and french fries) and played a little game of "rip-the-box" with the pooch.  Also had a nice, creative day in the studio/dining room. Here's a little sneak peek of some new magnet designs coming to the shop very soon...

To all my newbie peeps!

Ok. So this is the message that I'm going to be looking at daily when I sit down to start my Etsy work day.  I found this inspirational message on Pinterest.  But after my day yesterday, I decided to tweek it a bit by adding the pink little "Etsy" word.

Ya see, I'm just starting out on the ol' Etsy. And let me tell you it can be quite overwhelming.  Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely loving the opportunity to have my creations viewed everyday by people across the world. It's been wonderful to chat with Etsians online and find artists in my own county who are super supportive and making great work.  I love being able to create. And having my work in a place where anyone can just drop in and see it is very cool. But it's all of the "other stuff" that gets me down. By "other stuff" I mean the business side of things. It's the Facebooking and Flickring and tweetering and (no offense) keeping up with a blog.

And I wouldn't consider myself technologically obsolete. Ok, so in my younger days as a waitress, I looked so "folksy" that almost once a week someone would ask me if I was Amish and genuinely mean it. And there was that time that I had to get a new phone because it was working so slowly and the manager at the phone store explained that it was operating so poorly because the towers that were once powering my phone were no longer in existence.  So obviously, I don't keep up with the trends. When it comes down to it, all of these things are new to me!  

So yesterday, I had a bit of a break down when confronted with all of this newness. But, my blog buddies, I am back and I am determined!  I shall tweet with confidence and post with...uh I dunno, good, uh, pictures.

Is there anyone out there who is just starting out? If so, let me know how you cope!  Do you have any special tricks or routines to keep things simple? Or let me know if you just need to vent - we can be our own Etsy support team.  Let's hear it for the newbies!!!