9 posts tagged “etsy”

Now that things are quieting down here and life is starting to gain some semblance of order I've been taking some time to think about my Etsy shop and my separate website.  I've always been horrible at updating my non-Etsy shop.  Even if I use the magic of copypasta to stick in item descriptions from my Etsy, I still can't seem to get sales on there.  OS Commerce, while really helpful, can be a bit tricky to use with all the code involved.  I love the idea of having my own website and I DO get visitors there, but I barely make any sales. >_< On the flip side, people know me on Etsy and I've got great ratings, and I think I do all right on it.

Normally I would just plug away at my domain and hope that if I'm stubborn enough that will somehow magically make it work, but with the upcoming arrival of Lemony (yep, that's her name! ^_^) I've been trying to make things as easy for the both of us as possible.  We're trying to build better habits like doing laundry every other day because of the cloth diapers we plan on using and making sure to start the dishwasher at night and unload it in the morning...  Little domestic tics that when in place will make things run that much more smoothly.  I'll confess that the laundry is taking work, but we've got the dishes bit down pretty good.

What about my business?  I won't be able to stay up all night and bang on code or try to divide my time between updating both Etsy and a separate on-line store.  So far my business has been self-supporting, which is wonderful.  The bit of extra money I bring in enables us to purchase little things that make life better, like books or even just some really well-made, super-comfy socks.  (Seriously, having socks that fit well and are super-cozy can make your day a lot nicer right from the start.  Or maybe I'm just that easy to please.)

But a little thing is arriving at the end of May that will make our life better, and for me that means it's time for Rabbit Dance Designs to level up!  ^_^  We could survive on his income alone but I don't want to just "survive".  I would much rather we LIVE.  I want to be able to get family passes to all the great museums and zoos that we have here in Pittsburgh, and have a stroller or carrier capable of going into the gorgeous national parks we're surrounded by.  I would like to make enough money to be able to hand Lemony over to a sitter now and then so that me and Brian can go out and connect with each other as people.  I've been looked at funny when I mention that last one, but happy parents usually equal a happy kid.

Luckily I've got a few ideas and some actual plans that should help RDD do better.  Etsy has an awesome widget that I seriously don't use enough that can show people what's for sale in it right now.  Clicking on it takes visitors right there, so I can probably have a single page with "What's For Sale".  The other site I post my work on, deviantArt, allows me to embed my images on blogs, etc. and even has a little widget to display my most recently added works.

Check it out!

I can use this to showcase the pieces that I'm most proud of and to show off things that might not have made it to Etsy, like outside commissions.  I'm going to start off by revamping my website (AGAIN) and getting it all CSS-ed up nice and pretty the way I want it.  Except now I have a really good idea of what I want and what I'm doing.

Maybe Vox has some cool widgets so I can post this blog...  ^_^ That would be cool.

Well, I'm off to sit in a more comfortable spot (with bunnies) and draw up site plans.  CSS should make the building go so much faster, and the added widgets will REALLY cut down on my update time, which is my main stumbling block.

What do you think?  Am I crazy?  Setting my sights too high?  Or have I finally scaled things back to something manageable?  Do you maybe have ideas that can help?  Because that's a nice brand of cool.

Till Next Time,
Crazed

I've been collecting pop tabs for months, now...  At least since Christmas.
Recently I received a pleasant surprise when I discovered that the tabs harvested from out latest D&D game wouldn't fit into the slot of my tab bucket.  It's not really a bucket, mind you - It's a plastic container that I think once held cottage cheese.  I just wish it was a bucket.
Anyway, I wondered just why the tabs wouldn't fit, so I opened it and discovered that it was full!  I then realized that there was a small pile of tabs around the base of the container.  Apparently my subconscious had known it was full for a while, but has decided to be sneaky and keep that information from my brain.  It's tricky like that.
Anyway, I excitedly washed and sorted through all the tabs, making sure there were no really sharp bits and whatnot before I got down to business.
This is the business of which I speak:  A scalemaile purse and a woven Rexlace bracelet!
These are both, as usual, for sale in my Etsy Shop for anyone who might be interested.
But I still have more tabs just waiting to be made into cool things!

Later!
Crazed

I am going crazy with chainmaile and marbles, both round and flat.  I can do pretty things, gothy things, vaguely-Victorian things, techno things...  ^_^ Theyr'e so fun!
And they are also for sale on my Etsy Page.  I've only got a few things up from this batch so far, but hopefully I can get everything up there next week.  Some of the pictures I took today looked kinda blurry, too...  Gotta re-do those; they looked fine in the camera.
In other crafty news, I got a little cheap Xylon Sticker-Maker! ^__^ I do like me some stickers, and I got some circle (and 1 square) punch to make life a little easier for me.  I got some Mod-Podge, too (thanks, Lost Mitten!). I'm wondering if I can put some pretty or shiny paper behind the clear glass flat marbles to make some really nifty maille-wrapped pendants.  Something to dress them up a bit, you know?
Anyway, we're visiting the in-laws tomorrow, and it's a bit of a drive, so I've got to get to bed...

'Night!
Crazed

Okay, in case the chainmaile and Ren Fests and love of cheezy 80's movies hasn't tipped you off by now, I am a total geek, and I've been making wonderfully geeky chainmaile.
First up is the Triforce bag, complete with an inlay of the TRIFORCE!  ^_^  YAYS!
I would have put two triforces on there, except I'm running low on gold rings, and the first law of chainmaile states that if you are ever short of rings it will always be by less than 10.  So I decided to avoid that frustration and just make it one-sided.  Once The Ring Lord gets their aluminum back in stock I'm going to order a ton more and make them in colors to symbolize WHICH Triforce - Oooo...  I want to make green ones for the Triforce of Courage, which is Link's bit, blue ones to symbolize the Triforce of Wisdom, which is held by Zelda, and red ones for the Triforce of Power, which is possessed by Ganon/Ganondorf.
The Triforce handflowers are a bit of inspiration, I think.  I'm going to Otakon in July and I need geeky things to sell, so I'm going to be making a ton of these!  They actually read pretty well as the Triforce, I think; it took me a while to figure out how to do the cut-out with the flat top.  When I get more small gold rings (the kind I used in the dicebag) I want to make nicer "deluxe" versions.
These are, of course, for sale in my Etsy Shop.  For all you geeks out there!
But the light is finally good for photos, and I have been playing with marbles and maille, so I've got to photograph those before it gets too dark!

Later!
Crazed

I'm a sucker for handflowers, I really am, and since I live barefoot as much as I can, the barefoot sandals are a must for me, too.
Although I can (and have) made the traditional mostly beaded handflowers, I like the all-maile ones better. ^_^ They're fun, they're jingly, and they've got rubber rings on the base so you don't have to worry about fiddling with a clasp while you're tying to keep the chain ring on.
The barefoot sandals have a small-sized hair elastic for the toe ring, because I've made them with chain for me and it just doesn't hold up well.  Also, it gives you a nice, snug fit so they're not drifting under your foot or getting caught in your flip-flops (I like to wear mine over my shoes, too).
And yes, these are for sale on my Etsy page.
I'm off to make more chainmaile!

Later!
Crazed

I finally got my hands on some Swarovski crystals! *dances*
They're so pretty and sparkly and I can't say enough good things about them!  If you've heard of "ferret shock", you have a good idea of what sparkly things do to me.  My awesome husband did a silly but wonderful thing by saying (whilst I was standing in front of the crystals in Pat Catan's) "Get whatever you need."  Silly, silly, man.
Although he helped me pick some out!  In fact, this necklace here was his idea.  He loves the crystal snowflakes, and picked out all the crystals and the sterling clasp, too.  The sterling chain bits were my idea, and as far as I know, the weave is a personal invention, although I wouldn't call it a "new weave".  If any maillers out there are familiar with Camelot and Celtic Visions, this is a Camelot-ified version of Celtic Visions, and it can apparently be sheeted. ^_^
As always, if you're interested in "Flurry" you can buy this in my Etsy shop.  The chainmaile bits are made from bright aluminum rings, and it was a jaw-dropper at the festival.

So, lots of new things to toss up here in the next few days.  I made a pile of things in preparation of the Fairy Festival, and have a day of taking pictures and posting on Etsy lined up for tomorrow.
But dinner smells almost finished, so I'm going to see if I can help with the table or maybe get a few more links of the crystal necklace I'm working on finished up before the food is done...

Later!
Crazed

Lately I've been making a lot of little things to put in my shop.  With the huge chainmaile skirt deadline looming, and the deadline for designs for the RenFest, I feel the need to do new things...
So I make little things.  Things I don't feel guilty about taking time out of "skirt time" to finish, and I usually learn something new along the way, too.  I also need more little things to sell at craft faires and whatnot that come along, and the little here-and-there sales on Etsy help, too.
So here's my cel phone charms, hair things, Celtic Stars and whatnot.  They are all for sale on Etsy, of course!
Hope you like them! *scurries off to grab her pliers*

Later!
Crazed

I've been meaning to do some necklaces lately, ideas I've had in my head for a long time, but have only recently been able to sit down and complete!
And here they are.
The purple beaded Byzantine necklace was one I wanted to make as soon as I saw the beads on Etsy.  They were advertised as "quartz", which I doubted, but the price was good even for glass, so I bought them.  Now I don't even know if they're glass, even.  Their facets aren't that sharp, and I saw a little air bubble in one of them! 0_o So hey, they may be acrylic, but at least the necklace still looks nice.  It's not enough to make me take it apart, anyway, but I'll be sure to let people know what they might be, and I can still put it up for sale on Etsy.
The Blue Tao necklace is something I've been wanting to make, but didn't

know how to until a few days ago.  I had seen tons of Tao 3 earrings, but no one ever mentioned the name of the weave until I saw that Red Panda had some of her earrings up, and she mentioned the name!  Thanks, Red! ^_^ I always try to put the name of the weaves I use in my listings, in case people like the weave, but don't like my particular piece.  That way, they can go and hunt for stuff that better suits their tastes.
Anyway, I've been wanting to make this necklace for a while, and once I learned the name of the weave I was able to search for it in MAIL Artisans and then learn the weave itself.  It's easy to do, and is screaming for me to make lots of multicolored earrings and linked bracelets and such with it, which is what I'm probably going to do once I finish this post.  And yes, this is for sale on Etsy as well.
But I do need to work on stuff, so I'll be off!

Later!
Crazed

So, last night I had the idea of taking better pictures for my Etsy page.  I had to wait until the sun was up (because I only use natural light) but I think it turned out well.
We've got a little Canon Elph - Powershot SD600, if anyone's THAT curious - and the macro setting has turned out to be my best friend.  Normally I'm rubbish with a camera, but I think I'm doing fairly well at taking pictures of my stuff.
How did I take the pictures of my newest stretchy maile bracelets?  I shall tell you.
First, I waited until there was ample light.  I have found the best place in my house to take photos is on top of Sanjuro's cage.  She doesn't mind, mostly because she hardly ever uses it, so it's cool.  The light there is usually pretty indirect, but light enough for pics.  I never use the flash, because WOW that makes things look horrible.
Then, I got a normal piece of printer paper out and set it down on top of the cage, but with one end leaning on the wall so it gives me a curved surface - No hard corners, which is nice and restful and means there's no distraction from the work.
After I get my paper set up, it's just a matter of putting my stuff on there, making sure the camera is on Macro, and framing the thing up.  I try to get it as close as possible to how I want the final image to look, because the less altering I have to do in Photoshop, the better.
And viola.  T'is very simple.  Before I had just been scanning them in, and then putting my others pictures up after the scan.  The scanning is an old habit left over from our "no decent camera" days, when scans were the best I could do.
For my earrings, I have a few plain white lampshades, and I turned one upsidedown.  I just hang my earrings on the edge of it and take my pictures that way.
But, I have a game of D&D (we're playing in Eberron) in half an hour, and I've got to get our books and character sheets and whatnot together.  But if you're interested in my new bracelets (and would like to see how much nicer the shop looks) hop on over to my Etsy Page and tell me what you think.  I've got a lot more pictures to take, but I'll have to save that for tomorrow.

Later!
Crazed