2012 Architecture Calendar Update

 

I recently added a second listing of my 2012 Portland Architecture Calendar to my shop. We took some time over the weekend to make some black paperboard easels for desk display. So now all the calendars will come with this easel, a hanger, and a ribbon, all great calendar display options. The idea is that between the two listings you can get a very good idea of the display options and the contents of the calendar, more than you would have with just 5 images. Of course there's also the PDF version, for last minute gifts. You'll  have to come up with your own display for that one, but I've found the binder clip works pretty well!

Kindle Cozies in the Shop!

 

Guess what? My etsy shop now has a knitting section! I finally posted those kindle cozies that I made right before the move. I decided I kind of liked the aesthetic of the mid-move pictures I initially took, and we still have some boxes around, so I used that for the backdrop for most of the pictures.. I really enjoyed making these and I've enjoyed reading (an simultaneously knitting, often) on my kindle since I got it last Christmas. I'm currently in the middle of a large-ish personal project for a friend, but once that is done I will be taking a stab (with my knitting needles!) at smaller cozies with a similar look for cell phones and cameras.

In other Etsy related news, I made a blue and cat themed treasury last week, two of my favorite things.

Otherwise it's just turning out to be a quiet & rainy pacific northwest evening! Oh, also I complained and received a response regarding the ordeal with the flight when we moved here, and I was issued a refund of the pet fee and a e-certificate for future travel. It's something, I guess, and I feel somewhat better about the whole experience although I still would have rather not had to put Lucy through that much more trouble. 

Yipes!

It's been a long time since my last post. I guess I definitely have blogging spurts, times I'm into it and times I'm just not. Sorry about that! (Wish I could figure out what triggers the pro-blogging spurts!)

Anyway, just a general round up of things. Knitting-wise, I finished a Rapunzel stocking. It comes up just past my knee. I had a bit more yarn and could have kept going I suppose, but I have to be motivated to finish sock two....which so far hasn't happened yet. Instead I've been poking around some other projects with my knitting needle:
- Nob Hill from knitty, which should be a quick project, has been stashed for and in my queue since roughly the time that issue came out, last spring. I finally settled and decided I was getting a decent gauge and I'm trying to adjust for it. Quick knit, but I think I must redo the sleeves (fortunately they are small) lest I look like Servalan from Blakes 7. (who is awesome, btw, I just don't think I could pull it off day to day, and in knitwear...unfortunately.)
- And I made sort of a large swatch for the lacy dolman from Glam Knits using the yarn my aunt sent me for my birthday. There's not enough yarn to do the full sleeves per the design, so I sorta swatched big trying to figure out how a short-sleeve/sleeveless version might work.

Oh and I've nearly finished a cabled cuff from that last issue of knit.1. That actually spawned another project, making or finding a cool button. I picked make. Recruiting the help (a lot of the help) of the boyfriend and his access to a laser cutter at school. These are in progress, many more than I need have been cut out and are ready for some sanding & finishing. They may turn up in the etsy shop in one way or another.

Which, goodness knows, the etsy shop could use some new, non-renewed items. I have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head and I just haven't gotten to them yet. The current level of my knitting addiction could have something to do with that, though there's pleanty else to distract. Anyway, I may start to try to bring some of my knitting addiction into the shop, which may or may not involve these buttons...I've got a bunch of ideas. Plus, a few weekends back I constructed a new collapsable light box per this tutorial. This is all pretty likely to lead to some spring cleaning in the shop! Pictures of various things in progress should be forthcoming.

Hearts & New Markets

First off I surpassed 200 hearts on Etsy last week, and I'm very happy about that! It's been a pretty great first year there. I can't complain and I'm not much of a complainer in general...but I will say there are quite a few features I've seen discussed in the forums I'm highly anticipating. Etsy's full of such fun and inspiration, I tend to think I'll keep a shop open there as long as I can, in spite of any growing pains it may be experiencing.

So. I've been hearing about this site 1000 markets for a few weeks now. I guess in light of what I said above, I was hesitant to really even look at the site. Plus, you know, the idea of trying to manage two cyber store fronts, figuring out a new site, etc. didn't really seem all that worthwhile. Until this weekend. And what really convinced me were Anandi's posts about it. She's been excited about it for a while now, but the market she helped set up for Handcrafted in Seattle really impressed me. It looks great! So I could no longer resist. It's free to sign up and list items so what the heck!

So I've set up a page there:

Already there are several features I pretty happy with. Uploading and managing images is pretty easy, not nearly as time consuming as Etsy can be. You are able to upload multiple pictures at once. And a blog is integrated into the site. Plus you can rearrange items in your shop and the main pages on the site consist of a random selection of items instead of the most recent uploads. I am missing the ability to select and keep track of favorites, but from browsing the forums it sounds like that feature is in the works. Which also reminds me that apparently some of the forums are only accessible to sellers, which seems like a good idea. The site uses Amazon payments for checkout, something I'm not too familiar with, but it seems reliable and easy enough to sign up with.

So I'm not really sure how to go about managing this site alongside my current Etsy shop and blog, but it is a pretty site. Right now I've got more paper goods than jewelry, since I already have multiples due to the nature of the printing process. That may be how it goes, which I suppose is fine. And I imagine blog entries there may be less frequent, but perhaps more focused and professional. Which really I think will be an interesting contrast. So I guess we'll just see! You can visit my new 1000 market shop here, or of course my Etsy shop if you prefer is always open.

Shop looks a bit like Christmas

So this is more than a few seasonal items hanging out in my shop right now. But wait! There's more! (heehee) there's also the larger scale paper ornament and a few cards I may decide to list soon. Most of the paper goods come as an offshoot of crafts I did for myself last year. The tags I've just listed are the leftovers from the ones I made for my own gifts last Christmas, for example. I guess I wasn't sure how many I would use up, and by the time I knew it wasn't Christmas anymore. This year I'll probably try to think up something new for my packages, meanwhile, they are freshly listed in the shop!

New Item teaser

All but one of these items should be in the shop soon (the clear necklace on the left is already heading out to my grandma.) The ones on the left are similar to my Bottleneck Necklace. In fact the bottleneck necklace is there posing with the group. The one on the right was inspired by a picture my Aunt Leslie sent me this week of a necklace she bought in Colorado. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be a great style to play around with and a great way to use up some of the tons and tons of seed beads in my collection. (I won't go into how this also prompted an evening of bead stash organization last night. But that's probably a good thing anyway.) There may be more of its kind on the way! But first to add some finishing touches to the necklaces pictured above and get them in the shop!

Now with more Bracelets!

There are only a small handful of bracelets in my shop. I guess this is probably due to the trouble I have wearing them. I like bracelets, I have quite a few, but every time I try to wear them I end up fussing with them a lot. Probably one of the many signals that I should cut back on the coffee. Anyway, I've recently added the two bracelets pictured above. I actually think I'd be less prone to fussing with these two, since the are hand knotted between each bead there isn't much to move around, other than spinning them around your wrist, which would probably get boring even for the biggest coffee consumers like myself. If I didn't fuss with them so much I might think about wearing both of these at once. Check out the green and the blue, and maybe look for some more fuss-reducing bracelets to come. Meanwhile, if you enjoy fussing or are able to resist it check out the other bracelets in my shop.

Oh and I've decided to extend the free spider with purchase of my webbed necklace through the weekend since I"m still feeling in the Halloween spirit. But after election day he's mine!

Happy Halloween!

I made this little spider earlier this month and never got around to listing him, so I thought I'd get in the Halloween spirit and offer him as a free gift to anyone that orders my Webbed Necklace. Today only, if he's still around tomorrow I think I'll keep him for myself. Oh, some details. He's just under 1"x1" or 2.5cmx2.5cm. I'll hang him on a nice jump ring so he can be used as a pendant. Silver color wire, matte black and silver glass beads...and his legs do spin around a bit. Creepy crawly!

Re-photography for Etsy Shop

I think I must have been pretty anxious to list these cards when I first made them. And, well, I am still working on figuring out a photography set up in the new apartment. So some of my first photos of these cards were just not all that great. I'm not sure what I was thinking with the white background, other than that it was the best I had on hand shortly after the move. So I've been meaning to correct this ever since. I tagged along to the art supply store when Chuck needed to go earlier this week for model building supplies for school. For this photography task I decided to go simple and picked out plain color paper as a backdrop. The cards are avaliable here. And as you can see I've still got some work to do with the backgrounds in the blank card catergory, but it's a start!

In the shop, Will be soon and a WIP

These necklaces are based in the idea I had around Halloween last year. Last year, however, I was just starting to get my Etsy shop going and wasn't really able to explore the concept completely. So I've had the materials to make a few more, and even to make the "patina" color scheme with copper findings, but hadn't really been motivated until Halloween things started showing up on Etsy again. The Black version is available in the shop now, and the patina color scheme will be there soon!

Additionally, I have an idea involving knitting with wire I've been wanting to execute for a while. It's pictured to the left. I'm still experimenting with the right gauge, so unfortunately this isn't the final version. Still some experimenting/playing to do, but I'm hoping there will be a few variations on this theme in the shop before Christmas. For now, I'm pretty happy with how the experiment turned out!

Etsy Shop Updates!

The last week or so my shop has seen an influx of new items, as I have recently made an effort to document & list a bunch of stuff I finished months ago but hadn't found time to photograph. I guess that's probably the result of packing, unpacking, moving, etc. And I still have a few more items to list!

In light of the increasing size of my shop I decided to create a little more distinction between the items. I divided Necklaces into three categories: beaded, with chain and pendants. I hope this makes the browsing experience a little easier for shoppers. I also added a small sale section, which for now has a few gocco prints where the ink didn't take as well as I would have liked. I've also been working here and there at improvements to my listings, better descriptions, and switching around the first image to make the shop seem a little warmer. This, however, is a task I know will take a lot of time and thought to get everything just right, but I'm happy with the difference it's made so far.

Even without any new sales it's been a very good week for me on etsy. Monday started off well as my Raincloud notepad (pictured above) spent about an hour on the front page. I was pretty happy about how my Doily treasury turned out in spite of all the treasury weirdness. Last night I noticed that my Andrika Moleskine (also pictured above) was used as a related item in a Storque article. And today, I just couldn't resist the urge to turn the song that popped into my head for no apparent reason last night into a brand new treasury!

That treasury actually reminds me of Halloween. I will have to dig up a photo and share exactly how "Lydia the Tattooed lady" relates to the upcoming holiday in my mind. I'm sure my parents can help! Which in turn is a good reminder to quickly make up a few more webbed necklaces like I made last year! I got a few ideas for varations on the theme, and there's not much time to waste.

P.S. the Renegade Handmade craft fair is this weekend in Chicago and I'm ridiculously excited to stop by as a shopper! Look for a post on some of my favorites early next week!

Setter Happy Card Making Extravaganza!

The past few days my shop has seen an influx of blank cards. I've gotten pretty "setter-happy." I got an instant setter tool last year at a paper store but I've only recently decided to put it to heavy use making cards. (It was purchased to punch holes in cards for packaging necklaces and jewelry, giving me a little more flexibility than a standard hole punch.) But it is loud and does scare the cat but I'm pretty happy with the results. Fortunately Lucy's got a pretty good hiding spot in which she's very comfortable. I believe there will be more in this style.

In other accomplishments, I set up a facebook page for my shop, which can be seen here.

If you are facebook inclined, please check it out and consider becoming a "fan." If it sees enough traffic I may end up using it as a sort of online newsletter (as if a blog wasn't enough!) where I can make some announcements and updates about the shop! I will treat my fans well, sign autographs, kiss babies, you know the usual stuff. Just teasing. Unless you really do want my autograph.

Look! My Cat! (...again)

Lucy & Concrete Floors
Originally uploaded by emmakat79

My cat is skinny(er)!

Sorry...I know I do go on about Lucy a lot. It's just that I snapped some shots of her again, in her rollie-pollie position and that prompted me to compare her belly with a photo from last summer.
We knew from visits to the vet that she was doing well toward the weightloss goals we'd set for her (when we got her she was pretty fat!) but the belly photo was the first time I could really see it. Though she did feel lighter!

In other news I'm slowly listing some new stuff in the shop. Yesterday we met my Mom for lunch downtown & I stopped in the Dick Blick's on the way back. Picked up some boards and some art paper and pasted the two together for a new backdrop. Then did some photography...realized there's a huge difference between my point&shoot (though it is new) and Chuck's fancy SLR. And then finally got some photos I'm somewhat satisfied with. Whew! It's a lot of work!

That and I getting ready for the ravelympics on ravelry. I have from tomorrow morning to the end of the real olympics to finish the projects I signed up for, enrolled in the "sock put" and the "sweater sprint." Just what I need, excuses to knit....

Today I made...

Today I made...
Originally uploaded by emmakat79

More stuff! I'm not sure how long it will take me to get this stuff posted since we're going to visit family in Columbus this weekend. Also photographing my stuff is kicking my butt lately. I'm just not that into that part and I'm backed up. I keep thinking I need to come up with a simple consistently awesome way of doing it that doesn't take much effort. But architects like to try to reinvent the wheel every time they do something...

Not quite Martha

New Address Cards
Originally uploaded by emmakat79

Martha Stewart would probably disapprove of my sending out address cards almost a full month after the move actually happened. But I finally got around to making these yesterday and I'm thrilled with how they turned out. I designed them way back in Seattle right before the move, but with everything getting packed away I didn't have a chance to make them until now. I'm sure there are people on my address list that will still appreciate the reminder to update their address books, even if it is somewhat belated!

The design is a fire escape, because Chicago is filled with beautiful examples. This was a two screen project, one for silver (windows and highlighted text) and one for black (the railing & bulk of the text) which I think was well worth it. I even managed to use masking tape to print a few for the shop without my contact info, which should be available soon!

F.O.s and new items in the shop

I am finally getting some items photographed and listed in my shop. Items that I finished making way back in May but haven't managed to get posted yet. I used the Sky Garden in our new apartment building in Chicago...and um...learned once again why this place is known as the windy city. (The last blue turquoise necklace should be up in the shop later today.)

I also finished a sack this week, which my cat seemed to really want to be photographed with. It's made with Knit 1 Crochet too's 2nd Time cotton, which is a recycled fiber. I figured it be the perfect choice for a market bag, pattern from the purl bee.

I made a Sale!

Some time during all of the stuff going on this last week I had a sale! Yay! I haven't had a chance to ship it off promptly as I normally would have because of all of this moving business. And now that things have finally calmed down a bit the post offices are closed. Well, first thing Monday morning I'll be back on track.

The item sold was the necklace pictured above. It was one of the first pieces I made in my recent return to my childhood hobby of beading. The v-shaped hematite beads are leftovers from that time. And I believe the seed beads came from my boyfriends bead collection. He gave me a bunch of his beads from a phase in high school I guess after we'd been dating about a year. The compliment the V's nicely.

Anyway, I've made a few more asymmetrical necklaces similar to this yet to be listed. They feature oval/petal shaped glass beads and I made several in different colors. Maybe when things calm down a little bit more (soon I hope) You'll see some new stuff! (which is actually becoming fairly old to me at this point...but new to the shop!)

P.S. look at all that green peaking into the background! That's Queen Anne in Seattle, the place I don't live any more. :( Though Chicago is looking good right now too...look for pictures of fire escapes and fountains on my flickr soon!

101 Hearts

This morning I checked my hearts before work and I was up to 100 finally! Yay! I was so excited I wanted to post right away, but it was the last thing I did before I needed to leave, so I didn't really have time. So now that I do have time I'm up to 101, even better!

So I am offering 10% off any item for anyone that reads this post! When you check out, mention this post (just tell me congrats on 101 hearts) in your "message to seller." Then wait until I issue you a revised invoice with the discount before you pay!

I made the FRONT PAGE!!!

FRONT PAGE!!!
Originally uploaded by emmakat79

This is a first! Funny, as I glanced through the first row of items I thought, "oh, rain clouds. I like that theme. I even have something in my shop that fits that theme. too bad I'm not in this one" then I scanned the second row..."holy crap, I made the front page!" How Cool!
Update: ah, well, it changed pretty quickly. But now my item has been seen more and has 10 hearts! neat!

Recipe Cards

Recipe Cards
Originally uploaded by emmakat79

Made these just in time for the EtsyVeg team's May challenge: herbs!
My attempt to sketch up some dill, sage, basil, thyme, rosemary and parsley.