Etsy

Well, Halloween is over, so my life has slowed down a bit.  Only a bit though. I spent plenty of time putting together 3 Doctor Who costumes for my boyfriend, one for myself, and whipping up accessories for a last minute "Leela" (4th doctor's companion), which was actually supposed to be a "dark angel" costume, but I just don't think I could pull that "dark angel" thing off. At least, not without dying my hair (I don't do wigs).  Either way, the angel costume was borrowed from a friend, and I didn't have enough time to think of something else, so I just went with Leela. I went to the dollar store and bought a fake warrior axe, and used the faux leather material I originally bought to make my 4th Doctor's hat (but I ran out of time and bought one from the Halloween store. Cheating, I know) to make a pouch to go around my waist... Had to make it a little more warrior-y. I also made wrist cuffs out of that. I'll post pictures once I can find some... I'm horrible with taking pictures at parties, so I have to raid my friends' pictures. I'm not even sure if I got a good one of each of the costumes.

Anyway, that was way off of my original thought. I also had my first 3 sales (in a row!) on Etsy this past week. I was SO nervous about shipping, and ended up spending WAAAY more than I should have on the first two packages (thanks a lot, UPS. I'll be going to the post office from now on), and still wondering if the last two people have recieved their packages yet (I haven't received any official feedback yet.... some people just forget I guess..), but I did receive a VERY sweet thank you message from the first order. I almost cried! Ha.

(by the way... in case my constant self promotion goes unseen.... here's my shop address: 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori )

I also discovered the shop stats feature! I have no idea how long this has been going on, but it is amazing. You can go to your shop stats page and track times and specific information on your views, favorited items, shop views, sales, and revenue, all on a very easy graph/display.  It also shows number of views, likes, ect. based on keywords used in searches, so you can see what kind of keywords work best as far as reaching your customer base goes. I'm NO good at things like this, so having this feature is AMAZING for me.

In addition to all of that, they also have a promotion feature. This allows you go to in and set a weekly budget for promoting your items. If you set the budget for $5, that will allow roughly 5,000 times for your item or shop to be displayed at the top of search results. They call this impressions. You are able to track how much you've spent at any point in time (example... I set my budget two nights ago for $5. I have currently spent
88 cents and have had 838 impressions. Now, I've only had 6 item views resulting from this, and no sales, but I suppose it's a work in progress.  This is much better than what they had running about a year or so ago, where you would pay $7 for a spot on the main page for whatever category you fell under, which only ran one day, and was an epic failure for me, and I never wanted to try it again... but we live and learn. Obviously Etsy did too, because they totally re-vamped the workings.
In addition to that, they also have analytical data in order to track the results of your ads. This is what I was referring to when I said I had 838 impressions, 6 views, and no orders. It also has a box for revenue, but obviously since I haven't sold anything from the promotion, that box says "0" right now.
You are also able to add or remove key words generated by etsy in reference to your promoted items. This will help narrow or broaden the range of search words used to direct customers to your page. So I guess my next step is to figure out what keywords are the bigger attractions and customize the keyword list based on that. Again, a work in progress, buy my mind is completely blown that this kind of analytical data is available to the average etsy seller. I say this because my brains focus on the tangible.... I do well with things I can touch, see, or physically interact with.  Numbers mean nothing to me. Well, they mean something, but they mean mostly confusion.  Just the difference between using the right or left side of your brain, I suppose.

Anyway, it's gloomy out, I'm barely awake right now, and feeling like I'm rambling, but I just wanted to talk about that little tidbit, because I'm thoroughly impressed! Way to go Etsy! Hopefully this will help us all reach the right customer base and boost sales.... I could certainly use it!

.....and once more for good measure: http://www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori

Halloween Crafting

Lately I've been in Halloween mode (as most people are during October), and I've been whipping up fall and halloween related items. Sadly, I think I've realized one of my problems as far as crafting for business goes.... Rather than being "in the mode" for whatever holiday is upon us, I need to be a few steps ahead. It's going to be hard to do.... I don't like thinking about Christmas and snow when I should be enjoying the crisp, beautiful fall.
Anyway.... the Halloween thing.  About a week ago, I had no idea what I was going to do. I was throwing around ideas... none of which seemed right. Then it hit me.... I've always wanted a Tom Baker scarf (the 4th doctor), and I could put a subtle feminine twist on dressing as him! The only problem.... I was about 6 days away from a friend's Halloween party, and Tom Baker's scarf is ENORMOUS. I'm a pretty constant crocheter, but I KNEW I'd be kicking myself when I got down to one day left and only had about a foot done.... Then I remembered, my mom got me a knitting machine for Christmas last year. I had actually requested it, but when I opened it and found a bunch of small pieces and an (obviously burned) instructional DVD that said not to get started until you've watched the video, I was a little daunted. So, the knitting machine sat quietly for 8 or so months.   Well, obviously now I had dire need for it. I sucked it up, watched the video and set the machine up. I ended up spending around 2 hours borderlining tears, because THIS STUPID THING IS BROKEN! But I kept going and finally (for the most part) got it figured out. It's really bad about dropping stitches, and the cartrage gets jammed often (causing even more dropped stitches), but I made it work. I even figured out how to fix the dropped stitches before moving on to the next row.  So, after about 3 evening and one killer back-ache later, here it is! I sadly didn't have the patience to finish it. It's currently over 15 feet long, but I stopped a little over half-way through the pattern I found. If I had kept going, I would have had a nearly 30 foot, multi-colored, 60's BBC television inspired scarf that would have wrapped around me 6 times and STILL touched the floor. Instead I only have a 15 foot one that wraps around 3 times and still touches the floor.
Ok enough rambling, here are the pictures!

They're really dark, so it's hard to see the detail. However, you can see in the taller ones how far down it reaches... both sides touch the floor when wrapped loosely around my neck 3 times.  Now I just gotta figure out if I can make a hat by tomorrow! :)

So, I'm a really big Edgar Allan Poe fan no matter what the season, however Halloween is the holiday Poe could be most accurately linked to.  I painted this wine glass with a simplistic replication of his most common torture-faced portrait. I LOVE the way the light shines through.

More on Poe.  This is a set of 4 coasters (I thought I had a picture of all 4 together, but apparently I was wrong).
This lady is the cousin-sister-wife of Edgar Allan Poe... Virginia (or Sissy, as he called her). And you read right... Poe was orphaned at a somewhat young age, and was adopted by his aunt. This aunt had a daughter, which would make her his cousin.... and since the aunt adopted him, it would make her his adopted sister.... and then when she was 13 and he was in his 20's, he married her. Talk about keeping it in the family..... Anyway. Edgar and Virginia were very much in love, and she died at a very young age (If I am correct, I think it was something to the effect of tuberculosis, however it's been a few years since I read the biography).  You can definitely read the dispare and sorrow Poe felt from this lost in many of his poems and stories.

Ahh, The Raven. The most well-known work ever to come from the pen of Poe, The Raven is a poem spoken in the first person perspective of a greiving man who has just lost the love of his life, Lenore. He then proceeds to ask the Raven if he will ever see his Lenore again, and as we all know, the Raven tells him "Nevermore". The speaker goes mad speaking with the Raven throughout the course of the poem. I think it's an absolute brilliant work of literature. But then again, Poe was just brilliant all around.

My weird version of his portrait.

Gravestone. It reads: "We loved with a love that was more than love
I, and my Annabel Lee" obviously taken from his work, Annabel Lee.

And back to the Doctor.... I know, weird combo of Doctor who and Edgar Allan Poe. I like diversity though!
Anyway, I have developed a problem where anytime I see a blue rectangle, I want to add the police box banner and little white windows to it. I was bead shopping and came across these beautiful dark blue marbley looking rectangular beads... and I just had to do it. Both sides are painted like the TARDIS.

A closer look.

One with a fancy background...

And here's how they hang! They're a little heavy, but not too bad (I can't wear very heavy dangling earrings, and these don't bother me at all!)
I know that was sort of a random addition to everything, but I just had to fit it in. Hoping to make another pair for etsy!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori

Stormageddon!

So, as most would have guessed by now, I'm a big Doctor Who fan.  Recently, on episode 12 season 6- "Closing Time", we are reacquainted the Doctor's old roommate, Craig (season 5 episode 11,"The Lodger"). Craig has since started a family with his best friend, whom we also met in season 5's episode. I'll spare the details of the plot (since those who are interested either have already seen it, or don't want the story ruined, and to those who aren't interested, it would be gibberish). Anyway, the story picks back up after Craig and Sophie fall in love and have Alfie. Since we know the Doctor understands and speaks Baby, we find that Alfie prefers to be called "Stormageddon- Dark Lord of All", and doesn't have the highest opinion of his father's manliness.  By the end of the episode after all the running about and saving the world from Cybermats, we find that Stormageddon decides he prefers to be called Alfie, and that Craig earned his son's respect. This is my version of what Alfie probably would have preferred to wear at the beginning of the episode.





This TARDIS blue onsie was salvaged from a thrift store, and upcycled to fit the smallest of Doctor Who fans. I hope to have this on etsy somewhat soon!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori

Doctor Who!!!

I feel like that last post was a bit rambley.  I think I was trying to sort my thoughts.  Anyway, time for something a little more nerdy!

I'm a big (HUGE) Doctor Who fan, and have a slight habit of making Doctor Who related things.  I've crocheted a few TARDISes as well as a few other characters, and I've made a pillow.  I also crocheted a Sonic Screwdriver for a friend for his birthday.  Might take me a bit to get a picture of it up here, but I'll try to snap one next time I go over to his house!

Since the build-up of the season 6 finale, featuring the storyline around River Song and her interaction with the Doctor, I've been working on my own River Song/Melody Pond crochet doll. While I still need to finish up with her dress and make her gun (I ran out of gray), all in all I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome. Anyway, I'm going to post a few pictures of what I've done, as far as Doctor Who goes.

This was either my first or second Dr Who crochet thing... I can't remember if I did this or the Ood first. Either way, neither are that wonderful. I'm alright with it though :)

My Ood. Complete with translation orb (or secondary brain).

Ood, Tardis, and Dalek all together on my DVD rack, where they normally sit.

Crocheted police box..... It's a little wibbly wobbly. I'm sure it's only because of the time vortex...

Small tardis hanging from my rear-view mirror.

Dalek and Tardis EXTERMINATE!! pillow. This was actually made out of an old Vivano promotional shirt I had to wear when I worked at Starbucks, and some fabric/felt scraps.

My current project: River Song/Melody Pond. Boyfriend and I are re-watching Matt Smith's 2 seasons, and because of all of the River/Mels/Melody/Amy Pond/Silence/Doctor hype going on... I couldn't keep myself from doing it. I feel like she's turning out pretty well!

Still need to make the gun and finish the dress.  Also, I couldn't find the right hair. It's supposed to be somewhere between blonde and brown, but this is a little too dark. However, the hair yarn is SO bouncy! You can pull a piece from her shoulder all the way down to her waist, and it springs back up into place. Perfect for replicating Alex Kingston's gorrrrgeous curls.

River, hanging out by a coffee can and my DVD rack to show how tall she is..... roughly 1' 2".  I'm planning on having River up on etsy as soon as I can get her finished!



Check out my shop:  www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori

The Difference Between a Hobby and a Business

Right now, I'm in the middle of trying to transition from crafting for a hobby and crafting for profit.  Of course, it's always convenient to be able to whip up Christmas and birthday gifts, and to be able to make things for your own pleasure, but there's a point (at least in my experience) where one feels that there's got to be a way to expand on this.  That's where things like craft shows, flea markets, and Etsy come into play.  Some things (such as craft shows or flea markets) are a little harder to get into initially.   Often times there will be a vendor's fee at evens held anually, or only one time.  Those also often require a vendor's license to be held, which doesn't seem to be too pricey (as far as I've seen), but it is just a little more red tape, and can be a little confusing for those of us who aren't exactly the most organized (...... hmmmm...).  Flea markets can be good, however there's always that monthly booth rent, and often times it's quite the chance to take, considering you probably won't have an estimated idea of how much will sell, or if ANYTHING will sell.  I recently had an experience like this.  I had a booth in a little flea market in my town.  I loved the owners, and the booth rent wasn't too bad.  However, not a whole lot of people in my town have extra cash to be throwing at hand-made and vintage items.  So, eventually I had to give up that booth, because I was only making about half of the rent up in sales... a little counter-productive. Then we come to Etsy. Thousands upon thousands of sellers to choose from.  This can be a dream for some, and daunting for others.  I'm one of those others.  I have such a wide array of interests as far as crafts go (i.e. I have a very short attention span and have to have multiple things to jump around to), that I have a hard time really finding that little niche that I fit into.  On top of the fact that, once again.. I'm scatterbrained and am not very good with creating a method of advertisement.  I'm slowly feeling my way through though, or at least so it would seem.  I spend lots of time on crafting sites, blogs, and crafting tip sites.  I've had a few friends and relatives ask me to custom make things for them... and I guess that's always the first step.

Commissioned Crafting

Over the past few months, I've been picking up commissioned work here and there.  Usually it's something to the effect of a friend or relative needing something made, and suddenly remembering that they know someone who might know how, or a friend or relative seeing something I've done (ususally on facebook... I post a lot of my projects there) and tells one of their friends who needs something done. I've done a few commissioned paintings (nothing too fancy), a few arm slings for a friend's daughter who has a muscular disorder (and for some reason medical companies stopped manufacturing the type of sling needed for the disease, which I find very rude to those with the disease... anyway), and most recently, I have made/am in the middle of making a few wedding veils.  My first veil was actually sort of spur of the moment for me... My younger cousin was getting married and his bride-to-be needed a veil. She really wanted a birdcage-style veil.  My mom suggested she ask me to make the flower for it, and I ended up making the whole thing.  I had no idea how much fun it would be! This first one was fairly easy.... All I needed was a little thread, backing, flowers, the comb, and the veiling.  Here are 2 not-so-lovely pictures I took while making it, and one GORGEOUS picture taken by my extremely talented cousin:


 

This is one taken before I added the smaller flowers and finishing touches. The style is more of a half-birdcage veil rather than a full birdcage veil.

Almost finished.... This was taken to send to her to see if she liked it so far!

And last but CERTAINLY not least.... My "cousin-in-law", wearing her veil! Isn't she just stunningly beautiful!? She's wonderfully sweet too.. we're so blessed to have her in the family now!
This photo was professionally taken by my VERY talented cousin (who is the bride's sister-in-law), Hannah Wright (Hannah Grace Photography).

Now I'm going to take a few seconds to brag about Hannah. She's my youngest female cousin. She's 18 years old, and has been working on photography for a few years now. This girl had her own photography business established BEFORE SHE WAS OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL.  Between her sweet spirit, outgoing and bubbly personality, and amazing talent... I'm really not surprised. We're all so proud of her!


I'm also currently in the middle of making a second veil. This one is for the older sister of 2 girls I went to high school with. One of them saw Lydia's veil on my facebook page, and asked if I would be willing to do another.  I was STOKED. 
This one is a little more complicated. The bride wanted more vintage-style flowers to go along with her dress (the dress is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Like... in my life. GORGEOUS). I was having a hard time finding pre-made flowers that had a vintage flair, so I made some! I started with a soft, satiny felt in cream, stitched a flower together, and embroidered the edges with a beige-yellow color (to give it kind of a worn, vintage look). I sewed faux pearls into the middle, and stitched the flowers to a backing. I then added some wispy white feathers and little white sprays with pearls. I haven't yet attached them, because I want to make sure the bride will like those touches. I'm currently waiting on the Russian veiling to arrive (had to order online because NONE of our local craft stores have it.... WHY??? EVERYONE WANTS RUSSIAN VEILING FOR WEDDINGS, AND LOTS OF PEOPLE LIKE TO DIY! Isn't that the point of a craft store??). It's undecided whether this will attach using alligator clips or combs. I'll get to that as I wrap it all up~ Anyway, here are some pictures so far. I'm fairly satisfied, and I hope she is too!

These are pretty self explanatory. Starting with just the flower, then all 3 flowers, stitched together, feathers added, modeled pictures, and pearl sprays added. I have 3 more very short steps to go... I'm just awaiting feedback before I make everything permanent!


So those are some recent/current projects. My mom said she has a friend who wants me to paint a window frame for her (not really sure about the details on that one yet), and a few other people wanting things done. I'd really love to do this for a living.... I'm just not sure of where to begin.  I'm a BIG scatterbrain.. if my hopping from topic to topic and constant wordiness doesn't already prove that. :) For now I'm going to keep taking those commissions as they come... It's so much fun to turn someone else's idea into a reality.  Maybe someday I'll get my name out there enough to branch out!

Still More Painting...

Last night I was looking through some old briefcases and stuff, and I stumbled across some more of my old water color paintings. I'm not really sure the date of some of them, but they were all done right around 2007-2009.

I've done a few sets of these for different people. It was originally a 2 piece set, with just the long skinny ones, but I also painted a central one at some point.. and this is technically 2 sets plus the one in the middle, I guess.

I painted this for my boyfriend a few years back. Coffee is a big deal to us!! Haha.

I also painted this for my boyfriend a few years back. I painted it using a photo of us as a model.

Odd self-portrait. I have this problem with not getting my nose right. I have a weird nose, I guess. It didn't help that I was looking in a mirror for this one.. facial expressions change.

Another self portrait with a weird nose.

This is my Chinese Water Dragon when he was a baby! So this was probably done sometime in January of 2009, which is when I got him.

Crazy butterfly painting. I'm fairly certain I used white crayon, liquid mask, and leaf prints on this in addition to just regular painting. It was more of an exercise in what effects can be accomplished with what tools... Painted while taking lessons from my Great Aunt Susan.

Sorta just messing around on this one. It was right when I first started painting with watercolor.

When I lived in my first apartment, I lived out in the country on a farmer's property, with only 6 other tennents for neighbors. It was the most peaceful home I've lived in thus far. Anyway, on the little country road that takes you to the apartments (which are no longer standing.. that makes me sad), there is this tree right beside the road. Someone has cut out a chunk of it because of the power lines, and this is what the tree looks like now. I thought it was pretty trippy, so I decided to paint it. Unfortunately, I took absolutely no thought as to the composition of what I would be painting, so it's looked unfinished since I painted it.

This is just some winter scene, beside a body of water. Not really a whole lot going on... Haha.

Ok. So there are the ones I just found. It's fun to go back through stuff I haven't seen in a few years.... They always evoke memories of feelings and what was going on in my life at the time I painted them.. and make me want to actually paint more than I have been lately! HOPEFULLY that's something that will hit soon.

Anyway, thanks for looking!

And On the Topic of Painting....

I've been experimenting with glass painting. I have this weird fascination with glass.... whether it's glassware (antique or just ornate), blown glass, stained glass, or glass crafts, it intrigues me. I would LOVE to be able to blow glass.

Anyway, as I was saying. I've been experimenting with glass painting lately. Mostly wine glasses and mugs, and I'm starting to dabble in plates and other things.. but here they are!

Peppermint plate. It's about the size of a large teacup saucer or small salad plate. I painted this like... 2 hours ago. Haha.

This is a Jack-o-lantern mug I painted. It was a clear glass mug, but I layered it several times in different hues of orange, red, and yellow.  Could be used for drinking, eating soup, or even putting a tealight in it. The bottom picture shows what it looks like illuminated.  Sadly, my camera isn't that wonderful so it's hard to get a good picture.

This is a wineglass painted to look like a palm tree. I guess a lot of these are pretty self explainatory. Haha.

Set of purple and blue flower wine glasses.

Red flower martini glass.

Japanese Cherry Blossom mug. Has 2 little birds, one on each side. I believe I have this one on etsy right now.

Fall-inspired wine glass.... has different shades of orange, yellow, red, and brown. I think this one is also on etsy.

VERY LARGE wine glass with grapes painted on the front side.

Small martini glass, painted with yellow and orange flower.

And another VERY LARGE wine glass.  It has a Japanese Cherry Blossom design painted all over it, with 3 little birds nestled among the branches and flowers.



Most of these can be found either on my etsy site, or at my mom's dog grooming shop in Indiana. I plan on making several more! They're a lot of fun.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/springsatori