Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I think someone at Etsy likes my work!


Without a doubt, getting on the Etsy front page is the best advertising of all, and it's free! The only catch is that you have no control over it - the front pages are generally chosen from the treasuries, which are put together by Etsy users. It is considered bad form to put your own work in a treasury though, so it's a matter of others selecting your work. Lately, however, there have been more Etsy admin created front pages, and I have been very fortunate in having been on two of them this week! The oak leaf on Monday, and my new screech owl today, which has already sold. Thanks whoever you are at Etsy!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Meet Angel and Stoney




I like to take requests for new designs, and here are the two latest, a lop ear bunny and a chinchilla. I asked both gals for photos of their respective cute furry friends so they could be my models, so here are Angel the lop ear bunny and Stoney the chinchilla!

I had a rescue chinchilla named Oscar years ago. They are seriously the cutest things ever! He would literally bounce off the walls.

Friday, January 16, 2009

A blessing in disguise?

Today at my day job, after a ridiculously long meeting (they are normally just tediously long), it was announced that the company will be closed on Fridays until further notice. However, working 32 hours a week while retaining my health insurance is actually something I wanted, so for me this is a good thing. I can spend more time on my own work, and hopefully get more than 6-6 1/2 hours sleep every night.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Hawaii Five-O



I'm finally getting to more new stuff - not as much as I'd like though! The idea for doing a wave in the style of my leaves was a suggestion from someone on Etsy - I think it translated well. I had the Hawaii Five-O theme song playing in my head the entire time I was working this, but thankfully I like that song! I'm always open to suggestions, so if there's a bird, critter or anything else you'd like to see me do, ask away!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The sincerest form of flattery?



There's that old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well, I have to beg to differ in this case. If you happen to come across any of the pieces in the top row of the photo on Etsy or elsewhere, please note that my standards of quality have not gone down the toilet - they are not made by me. The maker is claiming innocence, even though I am in her Etsy favorites, so there is no doubt she has seen my work. Argh!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Leap, and the net will appear

I'm usually not prone to new year's ruminations or resolutions, but this year I find myself pondering the changes I'd like to see in my life and what I'm doing to make them happen.

The biggie is to go full time with my own work. I guess I should clarify that, since I've been putting in at least 40 hours most weeks in addition to the 40 hours spent at my day job. I'd like to quit or go part time at the day job, which is growing increasingly miserable with no indication of getting any better any time soon. I'm tired of dreading going in each day and of being angry and/or outraged most of the time I'm there.

To help achieve this goal, I made the difficult decision to put motorcycle racing on hold for now. It's a HUGE cash drain ($12k to $15k a year, depending on how much broken stuff needs fixing and how many times I crash) so that will help my finances out tremendously. It's been a huge part of my life for the last 7 years, so it was a hard decision to make, but it feels right. It also takes up quite a bit of time, because the bikes are in constant need of attention. Interestingly enough, my boyfriend Kelly, who has been racing for 13 years, came to the same decision independently for himself for similar reasons.

I'm also going to work on a bookkeeping system (there's a reason I went to art school and not business school), ways to advertise my store, selling at other venues besides Etsy and I want to keep developing my skills and working on new designs. This is kind of a funky time to be starting a new business, but last year was more successful than I ever imagined, so it feels like the right thing to do.

While I'm not going to make the leap just yet, I'm glad to have made the choice to work in that direction this year.

So, what do you hope to change in 2009?