Playing Around

Well I really liked the looks of the Facebook "Like Box" that I had up here, but it doesn't seem to be working anymore, so I've removed it.  Maybe I'll try it again later and see if they've fixed whatever the problem is...  In the meantime, while exploring ArtFire, I found that they offer a Mini thing like Etsy - only it comes complete with its own shopping cart!  So, if I'm understanding it correctly, someone could buy an item from me right here in the sidebar.  That's an interesting idea. 

The wind is STILL blowing, so I'm still holed up inside, listing items and doing more and more research on the whole online marketing game.  I've got some supplies laid out to make a few bookmarks.  I've decided I want to make multiples of some of my favorite designs.  That way I can have more than just the one in stock.  When I make bookmarks, I tend to make every single one of them different.  I've never made the same one over and over.  Although now I'm thinking it might be worth it to build a small inventory of certain designs.

That's about it for today.  Not too much going on, except in my head, where creative ideas still flow at a mile a minute!

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Today is our third straight day of high winds.  I'm waiting for the house to be swept away at any moment and go swirling off to Oz.  I haven't been able to get much of anything done outside of the house, so I've been busy listing items for sale.  I'm slowly working on a plan for the three craft sites that I belong to, as far as what to list where.  I think I've got a plan figured out.

I took more pictures yesterday of a batch of bookmarks I'd missed.  I also took pictures of my new original Nail Necklace designs and used the pictures to design a large avatar picture for my Nail Necklace Facebook fan page.

Here is the avatar pic I put together (complete with sneak peak of the new necklaces!) :

This is the link to the Nail Necklace FB page if you'd like to check it out:

Nail Necklace on Facebook

I was contacted tonight through my Nail Necklace online store about designing a cross for a special cause.  I hate to be so secretive (like I kinda was about the Spanish Mustang resin horse a couple days ago!) but I'm not even sure myself what the details are on this yet either.  I've been invitied to call the gal tomorrow to discuss it.  I'm looking forward to talking with her.  From what I've learned so far, this is a very worthy cause and I'd love to work on a piece for it.  As before, I'll reveal more details as I know them myself.

For now I'm going to get back to listing some things as I listen to the wind roar outside.  I wonder when it's going to let up??

Inside Day

Today looks like it's going to be a good inside day.  Right now it's in the upper 40's outside and it's raining, with high winds.  I think winter is trying to get started.  A bit colder and we'd be having our first blizzard.  I've heard that we may have our first snow this week.  I don't really mind, I like snow and I had missed it terribly when I lived in the deserts of Arizona and California for 7 years.  I only saw snow once in all that time and that was rough for a girl who grew up in the Colorado Rockies and had fond memories of snowy winters.  Christmas with palm trees and sand just didn't quite work for me.

Yesterday we had a good trip up into the hills.  I picked a couple handfuls of wild rosehips and some wild rose leaves in pretty fall colors.  They are being pressed now, along with some Birch leaves in brillian red colors that I've picked from our Birch tree out back.  I already have some neat ideas for the rose leaves.

I think today is a good day to buckle down and get to listing things.  I'm still chomping at the bit to start on some new work, particularly to work on some horses, but I really do need to get everything that is finished listed up for sale first.  I have my Etsy shop, as well as a store at Artfire and a store at a new craft and vintage saes site called Efreeme.  My Etsy shop has about 30 items in it now, but Artfire and Efreeme only have a couple of things.  Today will be a good day to stay in and get those shops populated.

I guess I'd better get to it! 

Horse Archery and Exciting News!

Yesterday my husband and I went to a Horse Archery Clinic. 

Here's a picture of me taking a shot.  Photo taken by Lucia Roda, the hostess for the event:

I wasn't able to take my horses as I'd originally planned, but we still had a fantastic time.  This was my third Horse Archery clinic.  I was extremely excited when the teacher of the clinics, announced that he would like to have a bow building clinic in the near future.  He was asking if anyone would be interested and I was almost jumping up and down.  I want my own bow and arrows so badly and I have always, ALWAYS wanted to learn how to make a Plains tribe bow.  

Other exciting news from yesterday...  In the past I have mentioned my desire to create an original resin horse to benefit the preservation of Spanish Mustangs.  This cause is very near to my heart as I own one of these rare, incredible horses.  Well, yesterday I was told by someone involved in the preservation of these horses that they would like me to make a resin horse for their project!  I will reveal more details as I know them, but I know right now that it will be modeled after a gorgeous dun Spanish Mustang stallion.  It will be the size of a Traditional Breyer - approximately 9 inches tall.  Once a pose has been decided on and I have some reference pictures, I'll get busy sculpting! 

I'm very excited! 

Today my husband and I are going up into the Black Hills to do some exploring via Jeep and our hiking shoes.  It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day for it. 

Endless Promotion Activities

Yesterday I worked on the Studio site for a little while.  I added text to all of the pages, pictures will come next.  I've been procrastinating working on pictures for the site because it will be a bit of an involved project - resizing all of the pictures just so and then writing the code for all of them.  A bit more to it than uploading pics here, or on Etsy or Facebook. 

Speaking of Facebook, I worked on the Facebook Fan Page for the Studio yesterday as well.  I created it several months ago but it hasn't been published yet.  That time is drawing near.  I'd like to publish that page and start inviting people this weekend.  I've had a Fan page for Nail Necklace up and running for a little while as well and have gotten sales from it even though it's pretty much on autopilot.  I need to start inviting more people and posting from that page too.

Today is going to be a bit of a strange day.  I want to work on promotion and so on some more, but I also need to get ready for tomorrow.  Tomorrow we are loading up the horses and going to a Mounted Archery clinic.  Yes, that's shooting a bow and arrows off of a horse!  This will be my third clinic and I'm looking forward to it.  I have a handful of things that I should do today to get ready for it.  And for good measure, I have a school assignment due in my new class. 

It's gonna be a busy day, I guess I'd better get started!

(Oh, and in other news - I had another sale at Etsy late last night!  That was a nice surprise right before bed.)   :)

Harvest Theme Bookmarks

Well, I finally had a chance to do the Harvest themed bookmarks that I'd had in mine for the Harvest Creative Challenge since it started. Trouble is, I didn't get them posted up last night so they weren't in time to be included. Ah well, they were fun to make anyway!

Here they are (with a link to each Etsy listing below the picture):

Autumn Fun on Etsy

Autumn Leaves on Etsy

Colorful Autumn Leaves on Etsy

Autumn Harvest on Etsy

I really, really like how the first one turned out - the puppy playing in the leaves.  That one took the longest to plan out and to actually create.  When I finished it, I thought it was so cool and so cute that I almost didn't want to sell it!  But I did list it at Etsy this morning (with a little higher price than the others) so we'll see!  I think it is really cute and it's probably the most involved bookmark I've done - as far as planning and incorporating several different elements. 

My husband has had the idea for me to do high resolution color copies of some of my bookmark designs.  He says that I could then print out as many as I wanted, over and over.  I kind of like the idea, but I'm not sure.  I do like making handmade, one-of-a-kind designs.  Although in the case of some, like the Autumn Fun puppy design above, I'm tempted.  The supplies I used to make that one are things that I bought a long, long time ago.  I don't have the supplies left to make another one.  It is truly a one-of-a-kind.  I think that makes it special, but I also like it enough to consider making copies of it.  I'm just not sure...  I may consider doing prints of certain designs in the future, just to see how they turn out.

Back in the Groove

I'm hard at work listing more new items at Etsy. I'm also planning to list more items in some other places - like my online store, facebook, and the two other online shops I've joined. I have an Artfire store now as well as one at a new site called efreeme. I really like some of the options that Artfire has for their listings.

Today is also the last day to submit pieces for the Harvest Creative Challenge from Etsy. With finals and the overall super hectic weekend, I slid off track with my plans for that. Yesterday was spent decompressing after the stress of the weekend and I didn't get much done other than tinkering with some new nail necklace designs.

Luckily I still have today to get some more items finished for the Challenge. I'm going to put together some paper goods items for it today - bookmarks and/or cards. I may do a dreamcatcher as well. I have plenty of earthy/harvest colors in my dreamcatcher supply stash.

I've also felt the bug nibbling - and now chomping - on me to work on some custom horses. They have been listed in my banners and on my pages as something that I make, but I haven't worked on any of them in a while. I don't know how much longer I can hold out! (haha)

It feels good to be back in the groove!