3 posts tagged “ideas”

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

First off, here's a picture of my new earrings - I love them!
I have also learned that labradorite is REALLY hard to photograph.  Yo uhonestly have no idea how long it took me to get that picture, and that's the best once I could get.  I sadly could not capture the excellent fire that exists in both of them.
Oh, well.  They're still pretty!
Anyways, on to my thoughts.  I just read the the founder of Etsy was on Martha Stewart.  Huzzah!  In my brain that means more buyers who love unique, handmade stuff, which is good for everyone.
Etsy's brave founder, Rob Kalin, mentioned that 200 years ago everything was handmade.  This is true.  What crawled into my brain was the realization that if you were rich or poor, what you owned was handmade, and that the richer you were, the less you made yourself.  I think that to an extent, this still holds true.  I have met some wealthy people, and had the things that were handmade pointed out to me.  IE Handcarved mohogany end tables, original paintings, handwoven rugs imported from across the sea, etc.  So in my brain Handmade = more valuable = more expensive = more money.  Except now instead of Rich = You Don't Have to Make Your Stuff, Rich = Lots of Handmade Stuff.  At least in the cases I have seen.
For the rest of us, it's not so.  Things are made in factories and bought at WhateverMart.  IKEA is huge, and it's gotten to the point where I can go into people's houses that I've just met and see an eerie reflection of my own living room.
Thank the Gods for Antiques and Handmade!  They set off my place nicely, and I think everyone should have them.  Honestly, our prime piece of wall art in our living room was found at the side of the road.  It's a beautiful 3D work of a woman's face emerging from what looks to be at first glance a bunch of leaves.  Sort of a NeoGreenwoman.  I think it's plaster.  The 3D face piece is mounted on an old cabinet door.  When we found it there was a small price tag hanging from the hardware - "$625"

Obviously the doing of an artist (I wonder whose face was molded for the portrait?) that was thrown to the curb, amongst other works, after a heated argument with a lover and/or a roommate.  There were also supplies and a hamper of laundry tossed there, amongst other things.  The supplies had gotten ruined in the rain, sadly, and the clothes were rather unisex in their cut and construction, and mostly vintage.  I did rifle through them because I wanted to find out whose works these were, possibly a business card or something in the pockets.  The garbage truck would be by in no less than four hours.  We had limited space in the car, so we saved the art, and kept the Greenwoman for ourselves.  We were doing flea markets on the weekends at that time, testing out maile prices and whatnot, so we sold the artwork there.  A really excited couple bought the artwork, and were just as baffled as we were when I recounted the tragic story of The Art on the Curb.  The pieces are all unsigned, and we all scoured the surface for some trace of who might have made them, but who knows?
Anonymous Art, like all the Wal-Mart T-Shirts and IKEA posters with cool designs and no names.
Some day I would LOVE to be able to walk through my home and tell a bit of the story behind who made what.  I hope that even my clothes will someday tell a story, even if all they hint is, "I Like Webcomics!"

That's it...  I'm off to sign the HandMade Pledge.  I just found the website three days ago because I live in a cave.

Later!
Crazed

Some days I wander about in constant amazement.
And it's nothing terribly profound, either.  It's just simple concepts that, when I really think about them, are practially downright absurd.
A contant thing, as I pet the bunnies, is the mere concept of pets.  I mean, I know how historically they came about and it does make perfect sense, but we as a society have pretty much moved beyond the practical reasons to have animals running about our homes.  I don't know about you, but at least most people I know with cats (myself included) don't keep them around because they need them to control an active rat population.  And my rabbits are NOT for me to eat.
But seriously, just think about it for a second, especially if you do have a pet.
What you have is an animal that would otherwise be running about wild (or perhaps working to earn its keep), maybe in a group of similar individuals, hunting and scrounging for its food.  But they don't have to do that.  They are in your house, eating your food and shedding on your furniture and maybe even damaging your rugs and giving you allergies, yet you keep them around simply because you enjoy their company, and they enjoy yours.  They do not seem to want to leave, do they?  Sure, they might get curious and try to run out the door to explore or make friends with the dog across the street, but you know that chances are, they'd come back and be wanting you to feed them and love them and spend more time and money on them.  They'd be silly with happiness that you were right where they left you, and just as glad to see you as you would be to see them.
Isn't that amazing and wonderful? ^_^
I mean, I have rabbits.  As a pet they are...  Different.
For one, they are prey animals.  Most pets - cats and dogs and even lizards and ferrets - are not generally prey animals.  Rabbits are Mother Nature's "Take-Out Special" when it comes to the wild.  They are possibly the most successful prey species to ever walk the Earth.
Rabbits didn't get this way without getting smart.  They know that chances are, if it's bigger than them, it's going to try to eat them.  ESPECIALLY the large, bipedal, hairless ape things.  This information is hardwired into their brains.  Bipedal = Dangerous.  That's why wild rabbits will generally run away from you the instant they see you walking (assuming they didn't disappear already), because even if they can't smell you they can see your silhouette and know that you're one of those things.
And yet here I am, with a large rabbit stretched at my feet, and another one not two feet away, very carefully tearing the top layer of cardboard off of a box.  They are relaxed and happy, and don't flick an ear if I sneeze or make any sudden moves.  I can even drop on the floor and they'll let me scratch their ears and kiss their noses!
I have RABBITS in my HOUSE.  RABBITS!  Those quick, long-eared things what get into your garden and dig up all your turnips and carrots! 0_o They - are - in - my - home.  Not that I would want them to leave, but they won't anyway, not even if given the chance.
Not only are there two wild animals running loose in my house, I even have a known predator in here - A very large one, actually - and they totally ignore him.  Hell, they pick on him for fun.
Think about this for a moment.  Isn't it amazing?
Seriously, sometimes I'll look at them and a little voice in my head will say, "You have rabbits in your house.  Think about it!  It's INSANE."
And people wonder why at certain times I suddenly get a glazed look over my face.
Well, this is one of those reasons.  The sheer concept of some things just overwhelms me, and the fact that we even have pets is one of them.
I mean, if you really think about it, isn't it a delightful idea?

Lost in Wonder,
Crazed