New Year, New Resolutions!

Me at the Big Texan Steak Ranch,
the place that sells the 72 oz. Steak challenge!

Lance & Me on our Road Trip!  This is the Grand Canyon!

So it's 2012. Damn.

So with the start of the new year, I've made some New Year's Resolutions....

1.  BLOG MORE - Okay, so I know I said I was going to blog more, like months ago, but I actually have a good reason for skipping.  I was commissioned to be in a Felting Book!  Yep, it's a project book so I had to make the projects & write all the instructions for them.  It was a lot of work.  I'll give you guys more info as the book's publication comes close!

2. LOOSE WEIGHT - This one is pretty standard.  I was doing so good last year, lost almost 20 lbs for the wedding.  Well marriage makes you lazy I guess, cause all that hard work is almost gone!  But we just got a Fitness Bike today, so that resolution is about to get under way!

3. COOK MORE - I hate cooking, and this doesn't help with resolution #2.  But I got a Crock-Pot for X-Mas & love using it!  I've been pretty good so far, so gonna keep going with it!  Got lasagna & my favorite dessert, MOCHI cooking as we speak.

4. FOCUS ON BUSINESS - I have some great ideas, why not make them?  It's my goal this year to not have to go back to my day-job.  I have another business in the works, too.  My husband happens to be an AMAZING photographer.  I'm working on setting up a shop for his prints, and make some fun photo-based crafty projects.  Be prepared to see fun felt & decoupage projects coming this year.

5. TRAVEL - I love traveling.  Got the bug last year when we went to Hawaii.  Since then we've been trying to figure out how to become globe-trotters!  Already did some over Christmas, went went on an epic road trip across the Southwest from Los Angeles to Dallas.  I've got some killer picts to share with you soon!  We have a trip to Yellowstone National Park in the works this summer with my family too!

So that's it...  Doesn't seem too bad...  We'll see!

Totally Back on ETSY!!

Yep, That's Right!

I'm officially BACK IN BUSINESS!! It's been over a - year? Maybe a year & a half that my shop has been on "Vacation Mode". I only have a few things up right now, because I want to reshoot all my photos, and I have to go through my inventory to see what I still have. Check in to the shop to see all sorts of stuff that I'll be adding!

Here are a few more photos of some pieces that I have up in my shop!!

Lights... Camera... Fish!

LIGHTS...

So I finally invested in a Photo Studio Kit.  It came with a HUGE light-tent & lights.  I've been thinking about it for a while, but was hesitant about spending the money.  BOY, am I glad I did it!!  Still learning how to use it to it's full capabilities, but I'll figure it out.  I'm already happy with how my first photos have turned out.

CAMERA...

We also invested in a new fancy DSLR camera!!  It's actually more for my husband & his photography, but takes AMAZING picts of my sculptures.  I never thought that camera quality made that much of a difference, but it does.  This is a Pentax K-r, an entry level camera, but still a huge upgrade to my previous point & shoot.  


*I took this photo with my iPhone in my Studio!  Looks like a stock photo, but it's totally our camera!

FISH!!!

So this was my first attempt at taking photos with my new set-up.  I think they came out WAY better than before, but still am learning how to use the camera & lighting.  I love the colors & detail the camera picks up.  That is one thing I've always been frustrated with, how do you show the real texture of a needle felted piece?  Most of the time it just looks fuzzy.

This Felt Koi I made a while ago, but he always seemed unfinished.  One the project before this one, I experimented with some Clear Casting Resin.  That inspired this "pond" base.  I colored the resin & left some texture with the aluminum foil I poured it into for the "water" texture.  I then made a few Felt Cherry Blossoms (the ones from my previous post!)

Usually I like to finish sculptures right away, but I'm learning that if something seems unfinished, don't push it.  Let it sit & stew for a while (a year with this one).  Then maybe you'll come up with the perfect solution!



***This weird picture layout is kinda a "happy mistake".  The layout for my blog has changed & I'm still figuring out how to use it, but I kinda like how the photos created a nice collage look.  Don't know how or why it happened, but I'm okay with it....

Starting Anew...

So I know I haven't written a blog post in over a year...
sorry...

BUT, I think I'm ready to start fresh & new!  It's been a busy year.  Births, Deaths, Marriages, Vacations, Work.  I've made a few new sculptures in the last year that, experimented with new techniques, and am inspired to create & share!

I want to get my Etsy shop back up & running & have a few exciting opportunities on the horizon.  Get ready for some awesome new FELTED FUN!!!

Thanks

Chrissy M.
(used to be "Chrissy P." but getting married kinda changes that!)  And yes, we did get married in Vegas... by Elvis!  A dream come true!

Back To Business: Week 2

Week 2 Topic:
How much is TOO much Social Networking


You all have heard me complain about trying to find a "Nice Balance" between the Real-World & my Online-Life for the past month. Having a full time job PLUS trying to continue to be creative PLUS trying to keep up with all the different Social Networking that is needed to have an Online-Life is really overwhelming.

I love to make things. This is why I started my humble little business.


BUT...


I guess I didn't realize how much time you have to put into getting your name out there in the infinite World Wide Web. Every Marketing Blog (crafty & business oriented) always talks about how your need to have a FaceBook Fan Page... Twitter really brings traffic to your site... Blog EVERY day... don't blog too much people will find you annoying... Post in the Forums... Comment on other people's Blogs... Update & renew you listings everyday... Make sure ALL your graphics are the same (helps with branding)... etc... etc... etc...

So...

Questions of the Week:

What Social Networking Sites are you addicted to? Which have you tried & think are WAY too much trouble?

Do you Etsy, Ebay, Blog, FB, Tweet, Flickr, Hoot, Post, Comment, etc?

As a Seller - What Sites are a must for your online marketing?
As a Buyer - Where do you find those artists with MUST-HAVE creations?


I think the most annoying Social Networking site that I just can't seem to keep up with is Twitter. I tried it last year, lost interest, got back into it in January, and (again) find it too overwhelming to keep up with. How do people find enough time to do everything, still create new products, and live a normal life?

.

Back To Business: Week 1

So I thought maybe if I tried to add some more weekly Features on my Blog, it might help me organize my thoughts & keep me writing. So I decided to started writing a Monday Feature called:

Back To Business!!

Your weekend is over... it's Monday Morning... so... Back To Business!!! I figured this would be a great day to bring up interesting business topics that I thought maybe everyone can think about, Buyers & Sellers!


Week 1 Topic: Free Shipping!?!?!?!


So I've been thinking about this for a while now because, personally as a buyer, I'm a sucker for Free Shipping!! I love finding a product that I kinda-sorta need & am totally swayed in the purchasing direction if the shipping is super cheap or free. I hate when you find something that you absolutely need, then see that the shipping cost is as much as the price of the item. I definitely DON'T buy things with high shipping.

While reading my blog feed I came across this interesting Post from the Etsy Forums:

uniqueartpendants says:

...
This is the most important tip I have. Ready?
drumroll...
Offer free shipping. It DOES make a difference. Huge. My sales soared as soon as I offered free shipping. It's a marketing strategy that works. One woman contacted me and told me how she had a vase for $20 plus $10 shipping and it sat in her shop forever. She changed the price to $30 with "free shipping" and it sold in two days. It's a change of marketing and the buyer ended up paying the same in the end. You pay a little more in fees with the shipping included in the price - but it's worth it for the sales.
The key is to write "free shipping" in your title. If you look in my shop you will see that all of my titles have "free shipping" in them - not just in the tags. That way when buyers do a search for "free shipping" the listings with "free shipping" in the TITLES come up before the listings that have just "free shipping" tags.
...

This excerpt came from a post that uniqueartpendants started about how she made 2000+ sales. I tend to take tips from a power seller like this seriously.

I also think that the investment in Free Shipping might not be so bad when I noticed that there is a place to "deduct shipping fees" while trying to start my taxes. So technically (I think) I could probably write-off the shipping costs from my taxable income.

So...

Question of the Week:

What are your thoughts on FREE SHIPPING? As both a buyer & seller? I know it seems like a lot of money not charge a customer during an online transaction, but will that investment lead to more sales? Maybe just for domestic shipping (international can get pricey) or for BOTH?

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