At long last...

So my approach to handling a million things at the same time has been to rotate working a little bit of everything. Since that means basically nothing gets done until the end when everything get done, I'm to the point where I need to prioritize and wrap up things in a logical order.

My holiday selling season ended a couple days ago since we're past the time when I can ship anything in time to arrive before Christmas, so now is a good time to do my first wrap up.  I  was so close on my shopping blog that I chose it first.

Having to face the fact that I'd never have time to update it regularly enough to be used a shopping blog, I changed it to a gawking blog instead. That way I can use it to store all of the goodies I  find online, and just keep adding to them without having to remove things when they are no longer available for sale...it's mostly for looking now, but I'm still including shopping links for good measure.

So now the big projects are my all-in-one jewelry/bath/body/cosmetics/accessories/etc. store, my digital store on Etsy and I have yet again another idea for a shoelace store that I can't resist deploying. Back to work...:O)

Where to start...

 

This is exactly why I started this blog. Things get so busy I can't even keep them all straight, so I need to write them all out.

So I did get rolling on the blog to pull out the best of the best of Etsy, and as predicted, it takes some time. It's a private blog at the moment, but I  hope to get it populated with enough content to make it public soon. I really like the way it is turning out!

And as I was working on that blog, I could see the kinds of things that were capturing my attention, and what was really drawing me into certain sites. That gave me an idea...  I need to design more products (primarily jewelry) for my own Etsy shops that would draw me in too. My jewelry inspiration is a bit haphazard, and it's not easy for customers to sort through some of the craziness.  I need to make that simpler, which of course means a lot of work which I'd like to get rolling on with time to see an impact during Christmas shopping season. 

Then another idea with shoelaces...  I decided to offer retail shoelaces online via my own web site (i.e. rather than just on Etsy), and between the basic site creation requirements and the subsequent SEO process, I just got that done (see the new page called "All About Shoelaces" for that one when I  get it posted and get a Pinterest site going for it, etc.). The picture above is from the home page of that site.

Then I had another idea for a blog that combines some work I've already written (just one-off special interest topics), and that's rolling around in my brain like a ball bearing in a steel drum.  I need to put that off for awhile, but it keeps coming through loudly in my thoughts.

And then I  decided it would be a good idea to deploy an online store I started a couple years ago. It became too big of a project to finish, and as soon as I started opening shops in Etsy, it completely took a back seat.  With hundreds of hours on a really cool design and product concept (very psychedelic with jewelry, bath/body, home fragrance, makeup, etc.) I need to finish it up.

OK so then I  got interested in rolling out another Etsy shop idea I'd started on but didn't have time to finish. This one is for digital downloads for a combination of DIY craft projects or just use-them-as-they-are files. I think I'll spend a day this weekend taking seasonal photos in the country to get some more content rolling for that shop idea.

I'm forgetting something I know it...I'm sure there was another idea competing for my attention. I'll think of if later.

And to top off all of these hectic projects, I found out my day job is going away. My company has decided to close our local office, and everyone is out of a job. On the bright side it gives me more time to work on my projects, but on the downside, my projects don't pay as well as my day job!

So that's what I've got at the moment...I think I need a glass of wine after all of that -ha!

What am I thinking?

After a long break with a nice vacation in DC*, I'm back to rolling again with some more jewelry projects that I need to get photographed and listed in Etsy, and then I had another project idea...

Etsy has everything handmade from truly artistic creations to glue and macaroni decorations, and there is absolutely TONS of stuff out there. Trying to find the best of the best in all of that stuff is time-consuming to impossible. When we want the best fashions, we seek out our favorite fashion bloggers, so why can't we do a better job of blogging the best of Etsy?

Since I'm out there all of the time looking for all of the wonderful new items (i.e. my definition of wonderful new items -ha!), I could just as well post what I find in an organized blog from which people could actually click to shop each of the posted items from the respective Etsy sellers. The focus will be on the items I tend to shop rather than the entire site, so I'm going for things like jewelry, shoes, clothes, accessories and even a few toiletries. Basically anything you'd find in your closet or makeup room.

Well, it's no small undertaking, but I've got the foundation, and now I need to work through a few organizational details to make sure I can blog as efficiently as possible. Where I think I'll have the time to do something like this, I don't know, but hopefully I'll come up with a blogger-friendly setup that takes little time to maintain.  Always a project... :)

*As I'm rereading this post a couple weeks later, I'm wondering what delusional state I was in to call it a "nice" vacation. I had a serious case of food poisoning the first night there, and have never been so sick in my life.  I  was lucky to be in good enough shape to fly home.  A nice vacation...

Another Shoelace Project

 

About the time I think I'm done tinkering with my shoelace offerings, I come up with another project. This time I'd like to setup some of my wholesale-only laces for retail sale at my HueLaces site. Per Etsy rules, I can't duplicate what I sell at my Lost in Lace site, so it will only be what I don't already offer there. That should take some time...a minimum of 42 listings. That's a lot of stuff I'm not selling at Lost in Lace -ha!

Situation Normal - A Little Behind

So per my earlier post on scarves, I am not surprisingly a little behind getting everything listed to my ALStudio shop considering I wanted to have it all out there a couple weeks ago. I tend to crochet in front of the fireplace on cold weekends, but sorting through all of these scarves (#scarves) for Etsy has me wanting to sit down and crochet something now! In the meantime I have garden produce (tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, squash, etc.) piling up in the kitchen, so I guess that's been higher on the priority list lately.

I was given some advice that I liked a few years ago. When several of us were talking about endless to do lists and feeling guilty that you just never get around to so many things, a friend told us that's what priority lists are for. You make time for the important things one way or the other, and if some things never get done, maybe they just weren't that important to begin with. It's OK to put something on the list, and it's OK to decide it's not going to happen after all. Just trying to remind myself...

Golf and Rain

Well so much for getting anything accomplished this weekend. All of my creative energies have been focused on adding a little distance to my fairway shots or gauging how far left to aim my drives to compensate for my slice. Unfortunately the tournament today is taking place in a drizzling rain, and I've never played in the rain before. This will be a whole new set of challenges, but even if I can't dial things in, I'll be out there with a great group of people, and we'll have fun anyway!

(And a post tournament note - It was indeed a lot of fun, and I definitely need more practice playing in rain...not my best performance.☻)

Glass vs. Epoxy Resin

And more impatience...  You can take the time to mix epoxy resin to dome over your bezels, or you can even buy epoxy resin stickers in standard sizes to simply adhere to the artwork in your bezels. Unless you need something to be lightweight or are concerned about breakage, nothing looks better in those bezels than standard sized glass cabochons. I don't embellish on my jewelry listing photos (I want folks to really see what they are buying!), so the glow in this photo is all due to the way the light reflects in the glass. The artwork underneath is black lines on a white background...no ombre gray in there; it's all the glow. This is another piece destined for my ALStudio shop in a few days.

Mustard Seed

Finally I am managing to get some new pieces added into my "Drafts" folders at my Novapsis and ALStudio Etsy shops. It's nice to take a bit of a break after the Christmas rush, so with the 4 month listing timeframe on Etsy, I'm waiting to actually publish my drafts until the 17th of this month. Anything that isn't purchased by December 17th risks arriving after Christmas, so I can just let those items expire and catch the break I expect I'll need. I'm getting a little impatient though. The necklace above is a simple design with lots of filigree pieces and a little mustard seed floating in a blown glass sphere. This one will be listed in my ALStudio store when the time comes.

Recipe Book WIP

Work in progress...my latest personal project...  After watching way too many YouTube videos about journal craft projects from recycled items (Jennibellie has tons of them!), I was just looking for an excuse to make one of my own. When my file folder of loose recipe clippings fell all over the floor, I had my excuse; a new recipe book. I've got a long way to go on this one since it clearly doesn't look much like a recipe book at this stage, but it does look much better than the cereal box I started with. Hopefully the finished project with lots of little nooks and crannies for sliding in recipe clippings will be worth sharing.

Fringy Fringe

August is the beginning of winter scarf season at Etsy for those of us in the northern hemisphere. It's the time when back to school shopping starts, and it also aligns nicely with Etsy's listing timeframe of 4 months (i.e. it doesn't make much sense to have winter scarves for sale during May). So this week I'm trying to find time to take photos and do the write ups for everything I crocheted over the winter. This scarf (#scarves) is probably my favorite this year with the dark purple and muted orange color combination. Plus I like my design idea on this one...an infinity scarf with fringe. I managed to make this design in another color combination as well, and I'm about 75% through a third color combination. That one might still be listed in May at the rate I'm going. ;)

Dryer Sheets

Using items that are sitting around or items that would be tossed is always a fun challenge. Today's project involved some alterations to a spent dryer sheet with acrylics and metallic powders. The glass cabochons magnify the dimensions of the fibers and make the metallic accents glow. These are definitely a OOAK pair of earrings destined for my Novapsis site on Etsy.