Giant Paper Flowers

My daughter's sixth birthday was last week and her Grandmother sent a treasure trove of crafty kits  for her. One of the gifts was a paperflower kit.

The kit came with lots of tissue paper in a rainbow of colors and pipecleaners to match.  The instructions were easy to follow and soon we were making beautiful flowers.  My daughter got bored after the third flower but I continued to make more. What a fun simple little kit.

I may have to buy my own kit now!

RockStar Beads

Yesterday I spent all day glazing and watching bad movies.  I tried a few new things out. I had bought these bright pastel underglazes awhile back but had yet to really give them a go.  I usually go with a more natural color palette but also I hate being put into a box and labeled as that one thing so every now and then I like to breakout of the box and do something different.

So here are a few pictures of my latest kiln fire and oh boy, I am super pleased. I had listed some in my shop already and am going to list more tomorrow!

Posting Crazy in my Shop

I  feel like I have a good routine going with my picture taking (finally!) and I my editing is going nicely too.  I wish I could  be one of those people who set a nice stage for their products but really that just doesn't work for me.  Maybe some day ....

My next big tackle is shipping and learning to tag and that whole seo oh boy makes me anxious and get all overwhelmed by it .... baby  steps.

I really feel like the bead sets are working out nicely and  they are selling well. Maybe because they are what I love best of all.  It makes me happy when I know that a bead lover bought my beads because I know they went to a good home. So more beads will be a coming!  I have made bead sets out of most of my stash and have been posting them almost daily.

The little Shop that could

Quick post here.  My little Etsy shop is slowly gaining ground.  Made a nice sale to a return customer sold some of my new bead sets and really made my day! I also sold  a little pendant to a new customer.

But it does take a lot of work I have been trying to keep up with posting new stuff and taking better pictures.  I hope to get out and take some more pictures later today or tomorrow.  I wish wish wish my poor little Artfire shop would start selling too!

Beads Beads Beads!

I just posted a huge amount of my beads in my shops.  I had a huge bag of them and because the beads are my favorite I had been hanging on to them.  Well it was time to let go! So grouped up a bunch last night and this morning I took pictures and have been posting all morning.

If you know anyone who loves handmade beads or would like to add something earthy and beautiful to there work, please have them stop by!  My Artfire Shop  My Etsy Shop.
Thanks

Raku Ornaments And I Heart Artfire

My Sister is having a Christmas Craft Faire at her house this coming weekend Nov 14th and I have been working my butt off trying to get ready for it.  I rolled out some slabs and made some ornaments which I have been Raku firing.  Oh boy they look great!  *pats herself on the shoulder*   I am really happy about how they are turning out and I think people could use them year round.  I decided to hammer some copper and hang them with that because copper just goes so beautifully with raku.

I had posted some pictures to friends on my Facebook page and got a great response so I am going to make as many as I can.  The ones that don't sell this weekend I will put up in my store.

On another note I am really getting into my Artfire Shop.  I have not sold anything yet but the features are awesome and the more I keep discovering about what I can do with my shop the more I am convinced that Artfire will someday usurp Etsy.  I love Etsy but the fees are adding up and my views stink.  I am just getting swallowed up by the masses of other artists just buried by them.  I read some interesting reports about how relisting is just not working like before and frankly I just can't afford to keep relisting.

I am happy I jumped on board with the Artfire deal they had last month.  So anyhow I am going to post a blog on my Artfire page and do some shopping to show my support.

Pictures, Tagging and Sacrificial Offerings To the search engine Gods!

I really don't have much to say except I am still trying to take good pictures for my shop!  I also am trying to understand how the tagging for better views thing works.  My views suck and I don't get it. Some people have hundreds even thousands of views to my measly few. Oh magic search engine please tell me how to placate your appetite for precision tagging. Maybe an I need an alter some candles and some sage to appease the search engine Gods.