Happy April Fool's Day!

I know I'm a day late but I would never want to be the one to tip someone off if they've forgotten what day it is and have a good gag coming their way. I've never been a terribly active participant in the holiday, not because I didn't appreciate it, but because my mind has to work very hard to come up with good gags and I'm not great at telling lies, even when it's for a good cause like silliness.

Etsy had some good gags yesterday. I missed out on the front page but apparently it was comprised completely of waffle photos rather than product pics and the featured artist was WatchManNYC with a shop full of cheap, made in China knockoffs that he was "selling". The feedback from his "buyers" is absolutely hysterical! There was also a "Waffles" tab at the top of the page that if you clicked it you were taken to more photos of waffles. I always appreciate a business that is willing to succumb to a bit of silliness. Martha Stewart is awesome with that. I saw her April Fool's show a few years ago and had forgotten what day it was, anyway it involved very serious discussions on how to arrange your garbage in an attractive manner, just brilliant!

Hope everyone had a great day, and if you pulled a good April Fool's joke or were on the receiving end of one do share!

The Big-Ass Book Of Crafts is MINE!

Tuesdays have become my 50% break from motherhood. Lil' Spitfire goes to Mother's Day Out and Mr. Golden Curls and I have have some quality time together. I'm also able to accomplish some of the housework that just doesn't happen when a rambunctious 2 year old is reigning terror throughout the home. Today we went to Barnes and Noble for the four millionth, six hundred fifty four thousand, one hundredth and second time, what can I say, I'm lacking creativity in all areas of my life these days. Mr Golden Curls doesn't mind a bit, he's a man of consistency and routines. He gets that from his mamma.

As part of my routine, I picked up some books to look at while he played trains. This book has been one I've picked up every visit for the past few months. I often get hooked on a book but tired after a few visits when I feel I have it thoroughly looked at. Since this one seems to have stuck I decided it was worth taking home. It's filled with lots of wonderful random crafts and alot of rockin' cool paper crafts, which allowed me to justify it as a business necessity. Ever since I got it home I've been rubbing my hands together mischievously, already anxiously awaiting the boys bedtime so I can dig into making something wonderful!

Etsy Extras

I'm discovering alot of fun site features and helpful etsy sites. I also learned that only days after I spent all that time editing my listings one by one to add international shipping, etsy added batch editing for shipping. Would've been nice to have a week ago, but it'll be very useful in the future, especially with the usps shipping changes on their way.

etsytools.com has a fun feature, and rather useful for someone like myself who is still on dial up. It's called the Heart-o-matic. All you have to do is search for your shop and the heart-o-matic comes up with a list that shows each of your items, how many times it's been viewed and how many hearts it has. This is saving me checking hearts one item at a time. Now what I do is look at the heart-o-matic then I can just check the items that have new hearts. Heart-o-matic me baby!
Ahhh! I just went to etsytools to look at their other features and discovered they're closing the site! Thanks alot to the mean people who are forcing them out. This was their announcement:

It is with a heavy heart that I announce today that Etsytools will be closing in two weeks time. It's something we've been talking about for a little while now, but today the camel's back was finally broken.

I will never understand why so many people think the world owes them. I get dozens of emails every day from people who think I could do better, and I should do better because they say so. I should be more professional, I should respond quicker, I should offer more features, less features, better features. I should pay hundreds of dollars for a server that is lightening fast so you don't have to wait 10 seconds for the charts to load. I've been called every name under the sun, I've been threatened with legal
action, and today I received a death threat. A f****ing death threat!

I recognise that for every jealous idiot there are a dozen wonderful etsians out there, but I just don't care anymore. I used to love the community but it has changed so much lately I don't even recognise it. I don't have any faith in
Etsy anymore, and I'm tired of hacking away at this website just to be humiliated and mocked on the forums. There are people who will be jumping for joy to see this website close, and I'm glad to finally have satisfied the f***wits. Leave me alone now.

Anyone who purchased advertising in the past week or so will be refunded. Everyone who purchased before that should use their impressions before we close the site on March 31st, or contact me and we'll sort something out.

Thank you to everyone who has offered their support and encouragement over the past 8 months. I'm sorry to those who are disappointed, but there's just so much more to life than Etsy. If anyone wants me, I'll be at St Kilda Beach.

What is wrong with people these days! It's a free and helpful site and if they don't like it why don't they just not use it, why all the anger. This kind of thing just makes me sick.

It looks like a form of the Heart-o-matic will still exist at majaba.org but as far as I can tell it's just hearts for your entire shop not item by item. Ok, I was thinking this would be a fun post but this mean people stuff has gotten me down, it's the reason I avoid the news in all forms, this mean 'ole world just drains me. Maybe I'll find some fun stuff later.

I've Gone International

NOTE: My shop The Beehive is now Papercut Kitchen! Please visit my shop Papercut Kitchen by clicking here.

I've been wanting to add international shipping to my shop forever but just haven't found the time to do it. Now that I'm having trouble finding time to craft and I've been doing more playing on the computer I decided it was time to dive in. I got to use the new postal scale I got for Christmas and hauled all my items and packaging out to start the process. Doing it all with a dial up connection was a hastle. I got on usps.com and played around with numbers and different countries so that I could add just Canada and Everywhere Else, but wanted to try and make sure a miscalculation of Everywhere Else didn't end up sinking me. I think I found amounts that would cover the main places. As long as someone from a strangely expensive country doesn't buy something I think I'm covered. It took me two days to get it set up but now I have international shipping on everything!

Now I'm waiting for my first international sale so I can see how it goes. Alot goes into shipping international it seems, customs forms and such, but I know it's just a matter of doing and learning as I go. Etsy does have a nice feature where you can save shipping profiles, that way when I list items in the future all I have to do is pick the profile that most fits the item and it loads the info for me. Setting up the profiles takes some time but it's well worth it. I think it's exciting to think that my things could start ending up all over the world, heck I've been excited that they're making it all over the country!

Thinking of going international yourself? These links may give you some helpful info, oh and don't forget, usps is upping their shipping prices and changing the way they price shipments starting May 12, 2008, stock up on your Forever stamps while you can get them at the current price!

usps price and services changes
usps.com homepage
usps index of countries where you can find shipping rules and regs for specific countries
EtsyWiki customs information
Etsy forums are also extremely helpful, especially now that they have made their forum search functional. Go to the forums and do a search for "international shipping" and you will find lots of helpful information on how to go international and learn through others' experiences.

Magical Origami Jumping Frogs

When I received my AREtsy recycled swap gift (a very cute apron made by Julie Anne of Diamondmeenuh with one of her husband's button up shirts) there was an extra surprise for the boys, a ton of brightly colored origami jumping frogs complete with diorama frog habitat! She told me this little concoction had saved her many times in her daycare job by entertaining little ones forever. I got the gift and immediately went out of town so the magic toy was set aside for later. This turned out to be a wonderful turn of events because about a week later we were all back home and I was getting sick. With no hubby I was wondering what the heck I was going to do with my wild children when (picture heavenly ahhhing and soft inexplicable lighting) I remembered Julie Anne's gift! It was a life saver and entertained the boys long enough for me to get a good rest and the second wind I needed to be able to feed them and put them to bed. Thanks Julie Anne!

The boys show off their favorite frogs.

Lil' Spitfire is trying to figure out what the heck a diorama is and how to get in on the action.

Mr. Golden Curls tells little bro all about frogs.

One AREtsian Gal's Trash is Another's Treasure

I hope it is anyway! I recently joined a swap, my first one ever, and it was alot of fun. The rules for this swap were to make something, a nice something, by recycling, reusing, and repurposing. I was so pleased with what I made I was tempted to keep it for myself.

The low down: This is a mini album made with paper lunch bag pages bound with an old shoelace and a cardboard cover upholstered with my old belt and beloved cords. Inside are bottle cap flowers and can tab embellishments and my favorite feature, tags made of old postcards! I was so excited about this simple idea, postcards are the original journaling spot. I also threw in a few can tab snakes for her kiddos.

Weekend Feature: paynesgrey

The last few weeks I was in need of some cuteness and this week I'm back to brooding and meloncholy. In honor of this mood shift I am very excited to be featuring my first artist! Diana Crites is a painter who sells her work at paynesgrey.etsy.com. Talking to Diana and reading her blog, a muted pallette, has made me miss painting and think that maybe it is possible for me to find the time to put a little art back into my life. Click on her images to go to the etsy listing and be sure to read her interview below, she's one cool kitty and I had fun discovering we have alot in common.


Delve, an oil painting by Diana Crites.

You can view her new promotional bookmarks featuring this painting, and maybe even earn one of your very own by visiting her blog!

As much as I enjoy Diana's paintings I absolutely fell in love with two pen and ink drawings she has listed in her shop. They feature macabre images inspired by old poems that wreak of fear-tactic parenting. She has the entire poems in her listings (just click on the image) and are certainly worth the read. For those of you not click happy here's an excerpt of each.

Snip-snip by Diana Crites



The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb by Heinrich Hoffman

But mind now, Conrad, what I say,
Don't suck your thumb while I'm away.
The great tall tailor always comes
To little boys that suck their thumbs.

Snip! Snap! Snip! the scissors go;
And Conrad cries out - Oh! Oh! Oh!
Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast;
That both his thumbs are off at last.
Mamma comes home; there Conrad stands,
And looks quite sad, and shows his hands;-
"Ah!" said Mamma "I knew he'd come
To naughty little Suck-a-Thumb."

Matches by Diana Crites



The Dreadful Story of Pauline and the Matches by Heinrich Hoffman

But Pauline would not take advice,
She lit a match, it was so nice!
It crackled so, it burned so clear,-
Exactly like the picture here.
She jumped for joy and ran about,
And was too pleased to put it out.

Now see! oh! see, what a dreadful thing
The fire has caught her apron-string;
Her apron burns, her arms, her hair;
She burns all over, everywhere.

So she was burnt with all her clothes,
And arms and hands, and eyes and nose;
Till she had nothing more to lose
Except her little scarlet shoes;
And nothing else but these was found
Among her ashes on the ground.

Diana's Interview

You can read Diana's artist statement here.

What do you do for a living in the daytime?

I am a fulltime stay-at-home mom to two young boys, aged 2.5 and 1 year. In my copious spare time, I'm a frustrated artist. In my previous life, before children, I was a professional graphic designer and eventually art director for a big Fortune 500 corporation. After the dotcom crash in '00, I left the corporate world to create a successful consulting business. I was able to retire last year to raise my boys full-time. I am absolutely loving it and find this job infinitely more challenging and more rewarding than anything previous. I just wish it came with coffee breaks. :)

Tell us a little about your etsy self

I opened my Etsy shop in January. My goal at the time was merely to take a bold step and get my work "out there." I had also hoped to spur myself onward to create new art and take risks, creatively. It worked. Every superfluous moment I have I'm busy producing; I'm working on projects I've only daydreamed about before. I credit the majority of it to being in the midst of an intensely creative, brave, prolific community of artists and artisans. You can't help but be caught up in it, and it's great.

What advice do you have for people trying to sell their art?

I have two pieces of advice for those trying to sell their art. The first is the most important:1) Be true to your vision. I think, as an artist, it's incredibly important to be true to your vision. It's so easy to get lost, especially when you add a commercial aspect to it. In my opinion, the thing that is the most valuable is one's unique voice. If you spend too much time and attention trying to capture popular color palettes or subject matter, you begin to get clouded. Your perspective, your individual tone, is the most valuable asset you have as an artist. 2) Find your audience. You have an audience. It's just a matter of finding them. I think the Internet is an invaluable resource for artists; disseminating your art globally is a good thing. Creating an art blog is seemingly an essential first step, then linking backwards from all the forums, social networking sites, photo sharing sites, etc. will introduce your artwork broadly. Join forums and artist communities and seek opinions on who your art appeals to. Then go directly to the source, whenever possible, and avoid losing your hard-earned pennies to commission. It's too easy to be a starving artist.

All images were used with the permission of Diana Crites