On Crafting, Creating, and Marriage

I've been spreading my wings and trying different crafts, non-jewelry things. One thing I really like to do is put together digital designs. I don't really like to create the files, so much. (That's really weird for me. I'm the baker who wants to grow her own grains, pummel the dough to death by hand, and recreate the recipe every single time.) Oh, sorry. Where was I? I like to make digital pictures. This week I put these two together:


 

 Please don't download them, but  you can purchase them here or here. Thank you!


I've also been making wreaths, not such an exciting thing since everybody makes them. But I never have! I found out I *really* like making them:


 

The yellow one is actually hanging on my front door at this very moment. Here's another. Can you tell I love color?

So what is the problem with trying all these things? For one, I don't have enough time for a zillion projects. Nor do I have the room, especially since I don't know how to clean up after myself. Another problem is that hubby thinks I should stick to one thing. Probably because....I don't clean up my little piles of beads, snips of scrap paper, and umm.

There's paint on our new footstool.

And you know, you can say "no man is gonna tell me what to do " or whatever but the fact is he lives in the house too. And he has an itty bit of say in what goes on.

I could just tell him that "CRAFTS" is one great big category. It encompasses everything.

Here's the biggie. I would really love to have a signature style, or product, or SOMETHING. Right now I am a dabbler. I dabble here and there and never actually become "she makes awesome art dolls" (or paintings, or doodles).

I guess it takes all this dabbling to find the thing you love.

One thing I love is oil painting, and another is playing the piano. So I'm trying to put more of those into my life. And I am trying to listen to myself before/during/after I create: Is it deeply satisfying? Did I get to exercise my "creativity muscle" enough?

I think I create for the sake of the process, not really for the end result. I do it because I love the doing. And I feel almost embarrassed when people gasp and say how did you ever make that. I do it because it's inside of me.

So I'm wondering, fellow crafters --is that how it is for you too?

And how did you find your "style"? Was it by constantly practicing it? Did you know it when you found it? Did you develop it, consciously and on purpose? Readers, let me know! And if you'd like to guest blog about it tell me that too, cuz I bet I'm not the only one wondering.

Why I Switched to The Craft Star, and Why You Should Too

When I started out selling my jewelry online, I built my own website. But pretty soon I found Etsy, and I eventually let my site go in favor of selling on Etsy. It's a venue with 850,000 other crafters, and I thought there would be power in numbers. Apparently a lot of other sellers felt that way too.

I tried a couple of other sites: Ruby Lane had a creative branch, but I never had sales there. Same thing with Artfire. So it dwindled down to my Facebook page and Etsy.

Etsy has some rather serious pervasive problems. The company, for whatever reason doesn't seem to like sellers communicating too much with each other. They shut down the chat feature in 2011. They allow users to post on a public board, but randomly shut down the conversations. They don't allow disparaging remarks, which is apparently any question about the business or its practices.

Since shutting down chat, Etsy allows sellers to communicate, in a fashion through their BNS and BNRs. Those are not for explaining in detail in this article, but basically they’re about sellers selling products to each other and giving each other feedback. So it looks like you have sales. I did some number crunching and testing by going in them daily for a few months, then off for some months. I found no change in my sales or rank, except for one new team that asked members to ‘favorite’ each other’s items and the members, for whatever reason, actually did it. Like crazy. During that short (2 or 3 week) run I managed two random sales to buyers who found me without knowing me or being members of my TPJ Facebook page.

From the beginning, Etsy has touted itself, and become popular as a handcrafter’s venue. This page on Etsy explains the requirement for a seller: you must present supplies, vintage, or handmade items for sale. Yet the problem of finding resellers rather than handcrafters on Etsy continues to this day; they are often pointed out (by other sellers) and documented (because you can find their items on huge catalog sites at wholesale pricing). The company's sheer resistance to removing the resellers leave true crafters with a bad taste in their collective mouths, believing that for Etsy it's all about the money, not the rules. Not to mention that we can't compete. Why would you purchase my $35 hand beaded necklace when you can buy one from China for $9? 

In fact Etsy recently added a partnership level where the seller can outsource at least part of their work to a factory. As an aside, I found it quite humorous when I applied to do this with my t-shirt designs, and I was one of the ones flagged for 'proof' that I handmade the designs. My shirts are most clearly handiwork, probably not even saleable.(see them in this post) Yet perform nearly any search on Etsy and you will find hundreds of factory creations.

In 2013 I discovered The Craft Star (http://www.thecraftstar.com/). I felt like I had come home. At The Craft Star there are a few hundred sellers, but somehow the staff makes me feel like I am the chosen favorite. The owner, Bethan Davies, spends hours and hours every week finding new ways to promote us. She’s very transparent with her efforts, which not only informs but causes sellers to be extremely supportive.

"Buying from small businesses helps families directly." ----Bethan Davies, The Craft Star

The Craft Star features live shows on Monday and Thursday. They may be informational, educational, live sales or just fun. Sellers are mainly the attendees, and through our participation in the live shows we get to know one another.

There are Click to Buy videos, and videos that market products for the sellers right on the site. Here's an example:

All this works together to promote SMALL businesses --there are NO resellers at The Craft Star. We as sellers feel--and appreciate-- their 100% backing. And I love their last line:

"Please keep in mind, buying from small businesses helps families directly."

If you are a buyer and not a seller, all this may seem trite to you. But it's the difference between supporting small business and not. Etsy is a huge, multi-million dollar business. When you purchase (unknowingly, I realize) from their resellers you are perpetuating the lie. When you take your business to The Craft Star you know that you are buying from a small business.

I know this post sounds fairly salesy but I assure you it's not intentional. I simply love 'living' at The Craft Star. Find out for yourself. Become a member(it's free) and try out the forum and chat tools. You will find a helpful community -- no attitude; no bad vibes. When you're done, don’t forget to join us as a seller!

My Jewelry Shop at The Craft Star ThePerfectJewel4U

My Digital Design Shop at The Craft Star Digi Doodads

New Bird Parrot T Shirt Designs

I've gotten crazy about birds since I moved to Florida, so I've designed a few bird T shirts. I drew and painted the designs and uploaded them to the company for printing. Click the shirt to visit the store. I have designed them through Skreened, so that people can select their own shirt style/size. Do you have a preferred place to purchase hand-designed T shirts? If so please make a suggestion. I'm very new at this.

You can see some of my birds at http://gouldiangardens.com/our-birds.html

And this is our parrot, Ernie:

Thanks for looking!

New notecards, minicards, necklaces

Good Sunday afternoon! What are you thankful for today? I am thankful for my family and the ability to work on my art, which I love. Today I have some new items to post in The Perfect Jewel 4U. Mini notecards, 3X3. I stamped them with tiny dogs. Aren't they darling?

And this card goes into the shop but also into a challenge at the Papercraftingstar. The theme is "girly". I can do girly!

And I have 2 simple necklaces, FISH charms (y'all know how I love my fishies) beaded with silver and blue / silver and green beads.

Not Jewelry but more Art

OK I admit it. I haven't been showing you jewelry because, umm, there isn't anything to show. I actually believe it's a vision issue; it seems like if I do small beading and then school work, my eyes are way fatigued. Also I find myself looking UNDER my glasses a lot! And they're bifocals!

So those are my excuses. In the meantime, I doodled another pic, this time for The Bright Owl's challenge #20. Warning: If you start doing these, they are very addictive.

It desperately needs some shading. I may update with changes later.

Celtic Knot Doodle Challenge

I drew this doodle art for a challenge at Creative Doodling. I just got back from the mountains, so I wanted to incorporate some outdoor color... A little became a lot... Enjoy!

Holiday Email Overload

Do you have a holiday email overload, as I do? If you do a lot of online shopping, you'll automatically be put on  email lists. Work-at-home, self employed individuals have to really watch their time - - and checking email can take away a *lot* of time that could be used more productively.

I follow the Getting Things Done plan, so I have folders set up in my email to dump things into. I sort them into projects by title, someday/maybe, and Waiting on (something). But the onslaught of emails kills me; instead of having no new mail in the inbox, which would indicate that I'm caught up, there are 96 in one and 226 in the other right now. The sheer thought of it overwhelms me.
I think that my email box must be closely related to my snail mail, which also can get overwhelming in a hurry.
I used to only allow myself 15 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening to answer emails. That was in the olden days. Now that everyone uses email for everything, you can't even wade through the titles in 20 minutes. And I resent 30 minutes, twice a day because that's an hour I could be beading.
I do use gmail, which cuts down on spam; you simply don't have it in gmail. There's also a way in gmail to create filters; if Cousin Bob always forwards jokes, make a folder and label it Jokes. Set up a filter, and Bob's jokes will always land there, where you can browse them on Saturday afternoon.

Anyway. Here is an article that suggests some ways to prevent this overload issue. Give them a try and see if you can become more productive. Now -- I'm off to do some aggressive unsubscribing. :)

Wednesday's Photos: Chalk Art

OK so I'm a day late posting :) This is chalk (sidewalk) art. I found the first few when I looked for Tampa, FL and their annual chalk art festival. Then I did a search for more. There's some r-e-a-l-l-y amazing chalk art out there. Take a look:

Artists, in order of pictures: Julian Beever (Muses and Coke), John Akers (heron), Ellen Reilley Marshall (cow), Mic Knight, and I believe the final close-up is also Mic Knight's. If you like those, you might also enjoy these spectacular 3-D works: http://www.tracyleestum.com/portfolio/3d-street-art