ArtFire: Going Pro!

Well after hemming and hawing for a few weeks I have decided to Go Pro! On Artfire that is. One thing that caught my eye was their etsy importer, also they have more options for you to design your shop the way you want to. When you list an item you can tell your creative story behind that item. Super nifty. I had also read that you get more views from search engines than lets say if you make it to the front  page of Artfire. I had just gone pro a couple of days and I have had way more views than my Etsy shop. You can have a blog on site and join a guild with their own forums.  I think or hope that it will catch on like Etsy. So I will keep you updated.

Quickie Look ...

......At some items fresh from the kiln this week! Also the hubbie made me a new light box and we are giving it a whirl! I am going to post a whole bunch of new items this week in my Etsy store but for now just pictures! Fun stuff! See you all soon I am off to make brownies and play Dragon Age ;p

Etsy,Artfire,1000 Markets ...Oh MY!!

Arg! yeah maybe not an appropriate way to start a blog but sheesh what a morning! I had been posting my stuff in different selling venues all morning..

First off is Artfire which I am not sure is worth it if I don't go to their pro lvl which is 15.95 a month..... And from what I read they give pro first choice in the whole search option. Not sure what I am going to do but I do need to read up on it more. The forums though have a section for posts about Artfire in the Etsy forums... kinda weird I thought.

Second is 1000 markets which listing stuff there is painfully long and I think stupid... they make you jump through hoops for tagging and the don't have a jewelry section under ceramics and pottery, and they don't have a ceramics tag under jewelry and you can't type it in.***
***Actually Artfire doesn't have those sections either..... arg.

The 3rd one is Zibbet which I have not even got to. I had signed up for a premium account with them for 8 bucks a month. I am going to post jewelry there that I make that isn't from my ceramic charms and pendants. That is if I can find the time to take pictures of the stuff.

So back to Etsy ..... I posted two items there so fast and easy it was a satifying experience after a hectic morning... although I do feel a bit dirty for straying from Etsy hehe.

I am throwing up a picture of my earrings and necklace I just posted in Etsy.

Zombie Killer

Yesterday we took our 14 year old son to Howies game shack for some family gaming fun,  It was my first time to this so called shack and let me tell you the 14 year old boy living inside me squealed like a little girl when I saw all those computers with wide screen moniters rows as far as the eye could see.  Well maybe not that many but in the hundreds and what lined the walls surrounded these rows of computers? Xbox 360's with a 40 inch tele' for each one....,. sigh  it was truly a gamers wet dream.

So the boy first took us on a Zombie killing adventure with the Left 4 dead 2 game and OH boy it is not for the timid or the weak tummies individual. Decapitated heads and blood spurting arteries     filled this games intro. My husbands character wielded a katana, my son a two handed axe and I duel wielded pistols and shoveled pain pills into my avatars mouth to carry on. This game was hard and focused on team work to get through the levels of zombies as if a zombie was on you,you needed a teammate to help get it off you. This game has probably been out for a while but it was our first venture into that series. Lemme tell nothing beats killing Zombies.... except that my shining moment was I beat my Son in a Modern warfare 2 free for all game Muhahaa.  The boy took lighting my old gamer girl history with doom, and quake 2 also I did love me some old unreal tournament. Used to play a fairy skin quake 2 under the name of deadgirl and I did love some flak gun.

Anyhow do to a day of frivolous gaming I spent all day today glazing and watching Arrested Development while doing so. I always underestimate the time it takes to glaze. I am going to have to time it one of these days. So tomorrow I will "fingers crossed" have some new little bits to show you.

I made some mushrooms,cupcakes,bell shaped flowers,  and a bunch of other goodies.

Laid Off

So I talked to my boss yesterday and he says he is closing down his office and won't be needing my services any longer. While I am upset about the job loss I completely understand his decision. I do the billing and payroll so I see what is coming in and it's been really slow for the past year. I know he has been hanging in there in hopes that business would go back to normal but it has been bleeding him dry. I was upset when I got home but I rubbed some vodka on it and I feel better today.

Today I organized my beads... I didn't really get finished. I have quite a mix of them.. boxes and boxes plus I have a ton of seed beads too. I use those little black trays with the velvet liners when I am working with them. You can fit a lot of beads on those trays and pretty soon they are overflowing. When I can't find any of my tools and there are bead trays strewn about on almost every flat surface in the house it's time to clean up and organize my beads.

Midway through my bead clean up I ran out to the mail box to see if my new Etsy purchase was in. Oh boy it was! Woohoo it lit a fire under my ass to clean faster so I could play with my new beads I purchased from Artebella Surplus. Such beautiful beads, oh the colors so perfect. Anyhow check out her store.

Today I posted some cute little Polka Dot Heart Earrings. I got a bisque fire going too! It is full of little cupcake charms, some little fruit charms, some shells and I made these bell shaped flowers. I will post the results as soon as I get the little suckers glazed.

My Search for the Handmade MarketPlace

I was listening to the craftsanity podcast while on my daily walk and the host Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood was interviewing Kari Chapin about her new Book "The Handmade MarketPlace"

The interview was awesome and kept me walking longer than I would of and when it was done I couldn't wait to get a hold of a copy of that book.

     So Monday was payday and the first thing I did was screech into the Barnes and Noble parking lot and rush inside to find myself a copy. I looked in the business section first but it was not there, then I went to the craft section which is always such a mess that I literally stood there for 10 minutes trying to figure out their system of organization, which I figured out they didn't have one. Finally I just sat right there on the floor and started pulling various books off the shelf and perusing them... I have a short attention span and am easily seduced by shiny pictures of pretty things other people craft. Some how I snapped back to the job at hand and  I sternly told myself to get back on track and looked harder...

  Well I was bummed out I could not find a copy in the mess they called the craft section and was prepared to either order it online which doesn't bode well with my Veruca Salt mentality or Yikes track a sales person down! Oh boy I am so painfully shy sometimes which if you knew me in person is sometimes a contradicting personality trait because I can be very abrupt. As I was walking away I glanced back at the bookshelves and what should I see?  Shoved between some how make Origami books was one copy of The Handmade Market Place!! Yippee I grabbed my booty and ran up to the front of store to pay for it.

When I got home I lay on the couch and ignored the phone, the kids, the husband and read until bedtime. Wow what a great book and full of great advice from many successful crafters.  I especially liked her ideas about well.. ideas! Well when I finish the book I will give a proper review but for right now it gets a big gold star!

 Barnes and Noble shame on you for such a terrible crafting section in your bookstore!

Shaking a 7.2

We had ourselves an earthquake this afternoon. I was sitting with my Son watching tv when I felt this rolling sensation. I looked at him and said " Oh an Earthquake" then my husband ran downstairs with our daughter and we all huddled under the doorframe. It felt like we were on a boat and I actually felt a bit sick from the sensation. I looked at my husband and said "we have got to move".

Well nothing broke and no one got hurt. I looked up the earthquake online and it originated in Baja. It ended up being a 7.2.

All in all it was a nice relaxing Easter. I did get a chance to play in the clay this weekend. I made these little bell shaped flower beads, hopefully they will turn out. I think they would make nice earrings.

Spring Musings and Picnik

I am loving that free Picture Program Picnic. I still need to work on holding the camera still or get a tripod but Picnic sure helps a ton with brightening up the picture. I submitted another picture to Craftgawker but alas it was denied. They said it was blurry, which maybe it was, but after taking hundreds of pictures and editing them they are all looking fuzzy and blending together.

I had a lovely walk today with the kids a sort of twilight walk up to the park. The birds were out and the with all the flowers in bloom and the yummy smell of jasmine floating in the air, it certainly washes away the days troubles and clears your mind. Everyone should take the time to walk outside even if it's just for a few minutes, it will do wonders for you. Loving the spring.