I'd like to win it

EART is having an Easter egg hunt, and each participating shop is giving away a prize. The prizes are cool, and our Thursday topic this week is which prize would you choose? If I were hunting, I think I would want this adorable hair clip by punkynmunky. I love hair clips. I have polymer clay ones, felted ones, and ones that other people think are funny looking. I don't think anyone would laugh at this calla lily clip, though - what a pretty and clever design!

Visit the EART site to see the rest of the prizes and participate in the egg hunt!

And visit the MichellesCharmWorld blog to see which prize Michelle would choose if she could.

taxes!

Our EART Thursday blog ring question is all about taxes: Taxes! Do them yourself? Hire someone to do them? How do you manage? Do you keep track of your stuff all year or scramble at the last minute?

Oh, the fun! Taxes are easy at the end of the year if you keep a spreadsheet of all your sales, inventory and expenses. I have a spreadsheet!

Now, if only I had filled it in like I was supposed to... I seem to recall keeping really good records in 2008, but somehow 2009 got away from me. So,  yep, I'm scrambling, searching for receipts, which somehow end up here, there and everywhere. I did keep track of sales, so that's 1 out of 3 in the no problem category. Inventory? Well, I need to do some updating, but that shouldn't be to difficult. Expenses - see the aforementioned receipt problem. But I'm working on it.

As for who does the taxes - not me. I used to, but now I have a lovely significant other who is good at this sort of thing, so I just hand it over. I am lucky!

Continue the ring to see what MichellesCharmWorld does when tax season rolls around.

Thursday EART blog ring: creativity blockage?

Happy Thursday. The EART blog ring topic of the week is What do you do when your creativity gets blocked?

Well, here's the thing. I honestly can't remember a time when I haven't had a thousand ideas in my head fighting to jump out and get created. For instance, I could spend the next five years just making the penguins on my penguin list!

(baseball penguin)

I'm afraid it's time and energy that I lack - not ideas.

I try to write my ideas in a notebook. I guess if I ever do feel blocked, the notebook is where I'll start.

So... do my EART friends have creative blocks? Continue reading at PnkGeeni's blog.

3 favs!

Today's Thursday EART blog ring topic is "three favorite items from EART members."

PnkGeeni

Merry Christmas Card Set

I've been admiring this since, yep, Christmas :)

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Purple Sparkle

Rose de Mai Handmade Rose Shaped Soap

I want all the soaps in this shop because they're just so pretty!

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Enchanted Beads

Complementary Contradictions Bracelet

Amazing bead work! (Plus, points for good spelling...)

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Continue the blog ring. See what other EART ladies are loving this Thursday. Next up: PnkGeeni!

Blog ring Thursday - how'd we get here?

The topic this week is about how we found the Eclectic Artisans Team and why we joined.

Here's my story... the short version. I had a very bad experience with a team I had previously been working with. Let's just say there was some serious meanness involved. I went into people suck mode and stayed offline for several weeks.

And then I visited the etsy teams page and started searching for a good match. The treasury team was full, the central PA local team was completely inactive, and the other teams that appealed to me - like the team of Browncoats (Firefly fans) or the freethinkers team - seemed like they would be fun but maybe not so good for actual promotion, which was my goal. I got excited when I saw the EART team description. So far it's been great. I help out as much as I can without going all crazy with the time commitment, and as of yet, there's no one sending me nasty anonymous emails. So, hey, I'm ahead of the game... Seriously, this is a great group of ladies, all with unique talents, and I'm really enjoying their company. Our promo events have included challenges, virtual trunk shows and online scavenger hunts, all of which have been fun and profitable. And the best thing about this team? No drama :)

Interested in joining? Visit our forum to read the rules and etc.

Continue the blog ring with cardmaker Jeni of PnkGeeni.

Thursday EART blog ring: Offline Selling

The EART Thursday blog ring topic this week is:

Selling OFFLINE. Have you done it? Do you like it? Are you looking to try it this year?

What I've found is that when I get my stuff out in shops it sells well. The problem is getting the time to do it! Also, selling yourself is a tough gig for most of us.

My most recent location was the Palmyra Public Library, where a bunch of happy penguins did sell over the holiday season.

(Red Hat penguin!)

Currently, I've got some geek stuff hanging out at the local comic book store.

(Vampire Slayer penguin!)

I'd really love to get in to a couple of local shops; in fact I've even been approached by a few of them in the past year. So the ball is in my court. Hopefully life will let up a bit at some point in the next... ever. And I'll be able to pursue some wholesaling!

To see if other EART members are more organized than I am (I'm guessing they are...), continue the ring with PnkGeeni's blog.

blog ring thursday - valentine's day

Valentine's Day - like it? hate it? Tell about your plans for this heart holiday - in your shop or your life.

Well, see, it's like this... I had big plans for Valentine's Day stuff - cards and cupid penguins and roses and hearts... Not so much. This season totally got away from me. Totally! So maybe I should start now with my "create stuff a year ahead of time" plan, eh?

I did make a few simple Valentines:

But that's about it, I'm afraid.

As for me myself personally, I like Valentine's Day. It's an anniversary of sorts in my life, and second to October (of course), I think February is my favorite month. Plans? Yes! Craft party with my buds on 2/13 and Rent - my absolute favorite show ever - on 2/14.

Continue the ring and see what PurpleSparkle and other EART members think about Valentine's Day.

Thursday EART blog ring: How do you freshen your shop?

Happy Thursday! This week's EART topic is How do you freshen up your etsy shop?

For me, I suppose the actual question is How would you freshen your shop if you could manage to get your act together and find some time... Febreze never seems to work.

Lately, the being a musician part of my life has been taking up most of my time, but when I'm managing to keep up, here's what I do.

First, I've noticed that the best thing to do is MAKE NEW STUFF! New stuff in the shop seems to garner the most new interest, which makes sense. I'm sad that I haven't made any new stuff in weeks, but see above, re music taking over. (Not a bad thing, by the way. My choir went from 43 singers to 60 singers this season - holy cow! And I've added several new private students - yay!)

Another option is to renew items to put them at the top of the search. However, with etsy starting to move to a relevancy-based search engine, this method may become obsolete. To which I say, it's about time!

One other great, and relatively new, etsy feature is the ability to rearrange the shop. Now that we can drag and drop items, it's much easier to change up the shop's appearance without having to spend relisting fees.

I like to arrange my shop in rows of similar items to give it a bit of organization, like this.

To read more EART answers to this question, check out the EART blog.

Storage - yikes!

The EART Thursday blog topic is How do you store your finished items?

And the answer is shelves, shelves and more shelves. I've got an upstairs office laden with shelves and boxes, and the theory is that everything is labeled, you know with all the buttons together, etc. Sometimes that happens, sometimes not...

Wall art I make just gets hung on the wall - that's handy storage :)

To see how some of the other ladies store their fabulous handmade stuff, continue the blog ring at purplesparkle's blog.

goals

Er, how did it get to be Thursday again??



The EART blog ring topic is shop goals for this year. So here they are:



1. Get on a schedule of blogging, listing items, and oh yeah, making stuff :)
2. Improve photography.
3. Start making prints of polymer clay wall art for cards.
4. Fill up thepaperwhisperer shop.
5. Get a couple of new ideas from my head into production.
6. Make enough etsy shop money to make loans to craftspeople at kiva.
7. Get holiday stuff made way ahead of time.





Keep reading at pnkgeeni's blog to see what the rest of the gang has for shop goals this year.

oh hey, it's thursday again

This week's EART blog ring topic is "wordless works in progress." So here it is - I'm working on holidays cards for 2010 so as not to be so far behind next year, and snark Valentines for thepaperwhisperer.

See what other EART bloggers have in the works. Continue with pnkgeeni.

Thursday EART blog ring: favorite etsy shops

The topic of the EART Thursday blog ring this week is Your Favorite Etsy Shops.

There are hundreds of etsy sellers and shops that I absolutely love, so I'm just going to share the ones I actually own stuff from.

#1 Shellieartist

I actually have the original of this one, and I love it.

Why do I love Shellie? She's just such a sweet, lovable person!
Why do I love this shop? I love the medium - it's fabric on wood, which is so unique and cool. I also love the use of color. I love brights! This art is all so joyful, and I love that!

#2 Cidtalk

I've got several prints from this shop and have given several away as gifts.
Why do I love Cindy? She's refreshing down-to-earth and wise - a very cool person.
Why do I love this shop? This black and white art is awesome. Her drawing is so organic and a little wacky here and there. It's like fantasy art without the schmaltz. Just makes me happy.

#3 Countryheartgifts

I get soap here all the time.
Why do I love Pam? She's become a very successful and busy seller, yet she still pays personal attention and obviously appreciates her customers.
Why do I love this shop? This soap is amazing. The presentation is excellent, the packaging is nice (which is important for soap - a bar of soap in an envelope tends to be gross upon arrival), and the scents are amazing! My favorites are cherry freeze, desert sage, dragon's blood, peaches and cream, orange blossom, lemon frosting, pink grapefruit & mint, and sweetgrass. I'll be trying more scents soon - can't really help myself...

A few more shops I love love love:
AWEshop - amazing metalwork jewelry
marciapalmer - polymer clay in earthtones
jellybeans - light rainbow-y watercolors

Check them out!

To read about other EART members' favorite etsy shops, continue the blog ring with pnkgeeni!

Colors colors colors!

The EART Thursday question of the week is What are your favorite colors to work with? Is it hard to work outside of your favorites? Well, OK, that's two questions.


I love color in general. It's pretty much my inspiration and my starting point for most of my art. Let's see, I guess I would have to say my favorites are bright, clear colors, like your basic roybgiv. (Interestingly, polymer clay doesn't do clear primary colors well, especially red. But I do love the way it can be mixed into almost any shade.)

I can sometimes be talked into muted colors, but mostly it's the brighter the better for me.





My absolute favorite is rainbows. I have been coloring rainbows since I was a kid. I remember folding up white paper into "books" and making entire "catalogs" full of rainbow clothes and shoes. I just loved to draw rainbow clothing. Hmmm, apparently I still do:



See what the rest of the team thinks about colors. Continue reading here at pnkgeeni's blog.

In the beginning...

It be EART Thursday blog ring time again, and the question is How did you get started doing your art/craft? Well, I'll tell you.

It all started with a friend named Miss Cathy. We saw some of those polymer clay cane work beads, the dolphins and smiles and things like that, knotted into hemp jewelry. We thought, hey, we could make those. Yeah, let's make those...

Then we got this book and started making those. Or, er, something not at all like those. It was harder than it looked. We made canes. We reduced them crooked, we left air bubbles in them, we sliced them with tools not quite sharp enough. We baked our beads anyway and knotted them all up in hemp like the wannabe hippies that we were. And we were proud. We mixed up a bunch of our messups and ended up with an awful lot of teal clay. We listened to a lot of Paul Simon while we worked on the diner-esque kitchen table with the perfect smooth and cool top for clay-rolling. The building shook every time the train went by. We continued to make clay beads in the middle of the night until we got pretty good at it. We even had some kids over from our day care center job to make beads with us. And we took the clay to school and made beads with the kids. All beads all the time.

And that's how it started.

To find out how some other EART team members got their art start, continue reading at PnkGeeni's blog.

EART blog ring: holiday specials!

The Thursday EART question of the week is: Do you have any good sales/deals coming up for holiday shoppers?




My recycled holiday cards are a great deal at only $2 each because they're made of old greeting cards and leftover card stock from a wedding. Good deal!

Another good deal to consider is shipping. In my etsy shop, you pay shipping on the first item only, and after that there's no extra charge no matter how many items you buy. Shipping can really drive up costs, so... good deal!

Continue through the blog ring to find sales and holiday specials from other Electic Artisans Team members. Next up - PnkGeeni.

Happy Holiday Shopping!

Thursday EART blog ring: Holiday Planning

The question for this week's EART blog ring is How far in advance do you start planning for holidays?



Well, my answer is NEVER FAR ENOUGH!



Seriously, I always wish I'd started sooner. Usually I only make stuff for two holidays - Halloween and Christmas. Ideally, I'd like to be planning and creating about 8 months in advance. I'll let you know when that starts happening...

Usually, I'm cramming at the last minute. But this year I'm doing a bit better. I had Halloween stuff made and in my etsy shop by the middle of September, and now, beginning of November, I have most of my Christmas cards and gifty items ready to post. When my Halloween destash sale is over this Friday I will start listing for the holidays. We'll see what happens.
To see more responses to this Thursday's question, continue reading at PNKGeeni's blog.

what to buy what to buy...

The Thursday EART blog ring topic is: what's next on the purchase list for your business?

Good question.

What I'd like best right now I think is to save my hands from blisters and my wrists from aching with a motorized pasta machine, like this one.

To see what my EART friends have on their lists, continue to Michelle's blog here.

Packaging

It's Thursday - time for the EART blog ring. Our topic is packaging this week. I'm going to make this a short one :)

I use recycled materials as much as possible, as in reusing boxes, bubble wrap, packing stuffs, etc. I like to use as little packaging as possible and re-use as much as possible. Of course, if someone requests new materials, for instance if it's being sent as a gift, then I am happy to oblige. I did recently purchase special boxes for my newest item - penguins! - because they're ornaments and it's nice to have a box to store them in until next Christmas, right?

Oh, and if you are sending a gift, I will gladly gift-wrap neatly and include a note - just ask!

To find out how some other EART members deal with packaging, continue on to the blog of MichellesCharmWorld.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

halloween, baby!

It's Thursday, which means it's time for another EART blog ring. (Let's not discuss the fact that I didn't manage to post any entries between last Thursday and this Thursday...)

The topic is: What's a-goin' on in your shop for Halloween?
And for me the answer is: Why, it's trick-or-treating penguins, of course!



These adorable trick-or-treating penguins are available in my etsy shop. To see what my EART friends have going on for Halloween, start here at IndigoOrchid's blog.

Fall Goals

It's Thursday - time for the EART team blogathon. Our topic today is "Fall Business Goals." Since my life is bordering on out of control at the moment, my goals are simple:

1. Penguins - make lots of them, and host penguin personality ideas contest - STAY TUNED FOR THAT ONE, friends! So far I've got a bunch of fun ones, including ballerina penguin, Rastafarian penguin, trick-or-treating penguin... It's going to be a penguinpalooza (photos coming soon). Also, the penguins will be on display/sale at the Palmyra Public Library starting in November, and 1/3 of each sale will be donated to the library.

2. Get etsy shop in shape with better photos and organization. Fellow etsiers, did you know we can rearrange our shops now?? Woohoo!

3. Start my line of Whedon-inspired items, especially ornaments for Christmastime - ie, get the ideas off the paper and into the clay!

Wish me luck :)

Keep reading, starting with the blog of IndigoOrchidDesigns to see what my EART teammates are planning for fall.