3000+ Giveaway

Yesterday afternoon I passed the 3000 sales mark in my etsy shop. Unfortunately the sale that put me over was for two items and so I never got the pretty round number to photograph, but I'm not complaining at all. I said that I'd do a giveaway when I got here and so I am, two of them actually.

You may enter the one here as well as the one I'm posting on my Facebook fan page, or you can enter one or the other, or I suppose neither. The point is there are two places to play. What can you win? One of my tatted pieces of course.

Leave a comment here on the blog to enter to win one of two pieces, the Dark Doily Necklace or a pair of Vine barefoot sandals in yellow with turquoise beads. You are free to tell which you'd prefer should you win. Winners will be chosen by random number on Friday morning. Your comment must also include a way to a way to contact you should you win, email, etsy link, etc, or I just move on to the next random number.

Thank you to everyone who has ever made a purchase in my shop, whether it was some of my tatted work or a pattern. I really so appreciate the support!

6th Etsyversary

I went back through my old anniversary posts yesterday trying to come to a decision about how to 'celebrate' this year. What I discovered was both sad and amusing. It seems I stress on this every year sometimes leaning toward a big hoopla and sometimes letting it pass barely noticed. So at the end of my trip down memory lane, I still wasn't certain which direction I felt like going in. I mean it is an anniversary of what was a pretty important decision, one that literally changed my life and precipitated my development as a tatter. Without my etsy shop most, if not all of my creations never would have been made because there would have been little reason to make that much stuff. On the other hand as I have no intention of stopping now, it really is just another day in a long line of them to come and maybe I should keep the big celebrations for the significant ones. As this is the sixth, it really doesn't cause much excitement so I settled for small acknowledgement.

The first thing I did was remake one of the first pieces I sold on etsy, It was one of the first that demonstrated any originality at all. Prior to this they were just a few flowers put together as a bracelet or an edging worked into a choker. While this doesn't show a whole lot of deviation from that, it was a baby step that would eventually lead to much grander thoughts. But I digress, I remade the piece with some minor changes and just one is listed today at the price I sold the first one for. I have since come to better understand pricing, so honestly this is a little painful. I figure I can just one like this.

As a small token of my appreciation there is also a coupon code for today only. You can use the code Anniversary6 for 16% off. Six percent seemed too little and twenty-six was pushing it, so I settled in the middle with the six theme. The code is good today only and everyone who uses the code to make a purchase will get a free surprise gift with purchase. That is my celebration of my 6th Etsyversary. Thank you so much for your continued support.

The Sky Is Falling

Well, we went out adventuring again yesterday. We took a trip out of town to shop a little and go out to lunch and then home. It was a fairly unproductive shopping trip, which is probably a good thing is the long run. As late afternoon rolled around the weather got...we'll go with interesting. You see, our weather is boring... blissfully, predictably boring. The sky doesn't attack us here, at least not usually. The thunder began rolling continuously and the lightning flashed and flashed and then the truly odd event occurred, hail. Sure, we get hail here, but it's the size of grains of rice and that's how this started. Then it got bigger and bigger and as the family stood on the porch watching, it became golf balls pummeling everything. Again, I am aware that this is normal some places, but I've lived here all my life and never have I seen this before, so I took pictures.

Of course the weather wasn't the only significant event yesterday, though it was certainly the loudest. I wanted to say thank you for all of the congratulations I got regarding the magazine. I was excited to hear how many Canadian friends would actually be able to see the magazine.  If anyone does run across it in a store, I would love a picture flipped to one of the mask pictures on the shelf. Don't go out of your way though. The last thing I wanted to share actually occurred overnight, my 2000th sale on etsy (insert confetti and balloons). This is especially good timing as you can see in the screen shot my 6th anniversary on the site is less than a week away. Okay, it would have been better timing if it had happened that day, but I won't complain about that.

So, yesterday I shared a magazine article, the sky attacked and I made a milestone sale. I'm thinking today and the weekend, might pale in comparison. There are no more big family plans scheduled so I'll try to get back to tatting and the one last butterfly cross stitch while the rain continues to fall in buckets.

Well, What Do You Know

What a nice and unexpected day. I began the day on task remaking a sold mask like a good girl, but something has been nagging at me for days. I wanted to do something for Japan. Sure I could have just donated some money, but I wanted to do something a little better and yesterday morning it came to me. Don't just donate a portion of sales of existing items, but make something just for Japan as a small token of support and donate the entire sales amount. So, I came up with this medallion. I worked extra quick to get it done, photographed and listed even before I started homeschooling for the day.

During school time I got an order for a custom mask and a choker that must be made and shipped out in time for next weekend, so right after school I went to work on those. I was also humbled to see how many people had re tweeted my message about the 'For Japan' Medallion on twitter. It was also quickly added to two treasury collections on etsy highlighting donation listings for Japanese relief efforts. It was really important to me that it didn't get lost in the shuffle. We used to host Japanese exchange students every summer as did my husband's family, so we have a lot of friends there and the first gifts I received from those students began a lifelong love of their culture, both the historic and the modern. Not to mention so much of our entertainment is a product of their creativity.

Then it was off to an open house for my daughter at the bookstore when I got the email that the medallion had sold(yes, I check my phone everywhere) and it was my 1500th sale as well! The medallion is re listed as I have enough materials to make 3 more of them and the more of them I sell the more I can donate to the Red Cross. So if you don't have donation fatigue yet consider picking up a medallion or one of the many other handmade bits on etsy whose proceeds are being donated. Alright the PSA is over.

So today, I have a mask to finish and necklace to start. Hopefully, I'll also being taking breaks to remake the medallion as well and I almost forgot today is the blogs third birthday as well! Happy bloggerversary to me! Well, crap...I had planned to start some sort of giveaway today and end it with the Wunderkammer's 2nd birthday which is about a week or so away, but I completely dropped the ball, lost the plot, forgot all about it. So I guess instead I'll just wait for the my 5th anniversary on etsy, which is next month, to do a little something special for those of you that read my ramblings. Yeah, then I can actually plan something rather than toss it together at the last minute. Since it is today though I send out a hearty thanks for reading, commenting and generally supporting me and my art, Thanks!!!

300

First off, I'd like to point out that over the weekend I received my 300th follower here on this blog. This number is both ridiculous and humbling. So, thank you to all the folks out there that think enough of my rambling to bookmark me in their favorites. I'd like to say that I will try to never disappoint you, but that would be a bold faced lie...I ramble mostly for my own sake so I am bound to disappoint occasionally.

So, I'm working steadily on cleaning up the house and putting it together a bit more since my Grandfather arrives today for a visit and will be staying here for a spell. I know I don't have to impress him, but honestly it gives me the motivation to take care of things that I would otherwise put off. If you're wondering, the ants seem to have retreated though I have no idea if it is merely a brief respite or if they've really gone for the season. I did resort to spraying good old Raid around the exterior of the house, so perhaps the barrier is holding. I am now knocking on wood.

What I was trying to get round to saying in that last paragraph before it took a turn was I did find time to tat and when I did I had one of those precious 'a ha' moments. I was working on remaking a necklace when I looked over at a motif 'mistake' I had on the table. I had been making a center flower for one of the Grand Daisy pieces when I made it with a 6 based flower instead of a 5 which made it all warped. Turns out the warp made it perfect for a nose piece of a new mask. I had tried a daisy mask before, but my method was fatally flawed and I gave up on it before I ever shared. This time I think I got the plot.

I didn't list it straight away though. Instead I asked for help naming the piece. I am seriously running low on appropriate Labyrinth lyrics, but I got 'A Land Serene' and 'Brighter Than Sunlight' as possible ones. So put to a random vote, 'A Land Serene' won in a landslide. I think partly because it's not a bright mask. I do, however think the design would lend itself to color. In fact, I think it might even be able to handle several colors of flowers, perhaps still with the black around the outside and the inside making it a bit of a stained glass look or maybe green for a more flowery look. I'm really just brainstorming out loud here. I have reached another point where I don't know when I'll have the time to get around to trying out any of these ideas. I will get the mask listed today though...hopefully.

So Many Secrets

I started the day with a poor choice. I read a comment indicating that there was more to the tatting drama I alluded to the other day, so I went and read it. I should have realized that it was going to further infuriate me for a host of reasons. I vented with sharp cryptic comments attempting to avoid the full barrel blast of logical arguments fine tuned with far too many classes on the subject. I do so love to argue, but I didn't. I held my tongue, waited until my husband was back for lunch and then let it all out in a high speed stream followed by a deep breath. I debated presenting some of those arguments here, the points of flawed logic and plain rudeness, but again it serves no real purpose. In fact, I should have really said nothing at all, but then again, I am not perfect.

Moving on...I do have two brand new designs done. Since I'm trying to keep the design something of a secret, this is all I am going to show you off of one of the pieces. Once they are out of my hands I will be making them both for the store as well. I think I mentioned that the design started as a doily edge, like so many good necklaces. Of course his one had much work on additional rows to create the right wearable shape, but I can still see that doily edge.

Let's see, what else for you today. I so want to tell you about this other funny tatter thing, but I'm trying not to be the mean gossip. Okay, I'm not gonna do it all blatant like, but basically someone presenting themselves contrary to their other, well established online presences on etsy. Most amusingly adding tags to their work indicating that they are a member of a street team which they are not a member of and doesn't suit their work. I assume that the tag was used in an attempt to perhaps snag my customer base again. I of course do not know the truth of the situation, it could just be a fundamental misunderstanding of the system. It could have nothing do do with me at all. I hate to jump to conclusions, but that was my first thought and it made my shake my head.

During the evening the sore throat and cough that has been plaguing my household finally got it's claws into me as well. I have the ever famous, 'it'll hurt if I swallow' throat and if family is any indication in a day or so I will have uncontrollable coughing. This might slow down my tatting for a spell, or at least my creativity. I also had a phone call with an old etsy friend about a super secret collaboration that is cooking slowly. I am ridiculously excited about its potential, but sworn to secrecy until it is revealed. It might be some time until then as well, since it is the most involved project I've worked on as well.

One last thing before I stop typing, I am now just 10 sales away from the illusive 1000. It has taken nearly four years of constant work and evolution of my style and skills to reach this point. Please accept free shipping until I hit that milestone. Just mention 'blog1000' at checkout, pay as normal and I will refund your shipping costs. You know, should anyone need anything.

900

Yeah, you knew it was coming. Yesterday, late in the afternoon I received my 900th sale. Then as evening worn on two more graced me. So, I'm well on my way to my next goal, the illusive and coveted 1000 sales. When I set up my last group of unrealistic goals that was a larger than life one. With the end of the holiday shopping season looming it is unlikely to be achieved by the end of the year as I had set forth, but I'm still very pleased at how far I've come in recent months. My other goal was reached not too long ago too. That one was to hit 5000 hearts on my etsy store by the end of the year and I'm close to getting 5200 at this point. In fact the only goal that I placed upon myself that has yet to manifest, is the big celebrity client that gets my pieces photographed or on the big screen. So we'll just shift that one to next year and cross our fingers shall we.

I did get photos of the purple set I went on about yesterday, though the weather and my enormous cold sore precluded me from getting modeled shots at least they are done and listed. They were a frustrating set to create mostly because of the amethyst pieces. They are side drilled at seemingly random spots at the tip, so I had to get more creative with the wire wrapping than I actually possess the skills for. Seriously, there were teeth involved and one amethyst did not survive the process. Apparently they are more fragile than I thought when I started. So as you can imagine I will not be making any more just like these, though I think I might make some more sets in other colors with other bits I've not used yet.

I'm on a steady diet of remaking sold pieces trying to alternate between larger ones and smaller ones to get them listed as quickly as I can. I know I could just list them all as customs and then work on them, but at this time of year having customs listed is almost useless for sales as people haven't much time to wait for things. So, I'll just keep plugging along hoping I pick the best pieces to remake first before the magic window of online holiday shopping closes for the season and I have to get used to a sale every other day...or so. I'm just prepping myself now for the downturn so I don't totally freak out and oh crap...is this another cold sore? I hate winter.

Wow

Well, that was one whirlwind of a weekend, no really. On Friday I managed to create a pair of earrings to match my recent Tenebrous Pendant. It was a little fiddly with the top part. I ended up using the dreaded split ring just to keep the earring in one piece. Then after that I found some amethyst briolettes that I bought eons ago and made another set using those, purple swarovski rounds and the hand dyed deep purple thread. I don't have any pictures of those as I finished them after the sun had set for the day.

I fully intended to get pictures on Saturday and get the one of a kind set listed, but I was derailed by the most pleasant of distractions, a huge sales day. TotusMel Tats sold 13 items on Saturday, an unprecedented event. First was a customer that found my store "randomly" as she put it and then proceeded to purchase 8 items. Then a few more customers the same day. I know there are etsy sellers out there that make these kinds of sales often. I am not one of them. I had just gone two days without a single sale and if that had occurred outside the holiday shopping season, it would have not been unusual at all. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, Woo Hoo!!!!

Of course this did stop my design a day adventure. Though most of the pieces sold were already made and ready to ship, I did have to make a custom sized slave bracelet and a pair of ankle corsets to get these, and the 3 additional items ordered on Sunday out as soon as possible. Now I sit here with just a bit more to make on these orders which will then be followed by a mass re making of the sold items. I will try to get pictures of the purple set though we are suppose to get snow here today...snow. If you're not sure where I live, snow only occurs here once like every 10 years, so this is all bizarre and a bit freaky really. Anyway, it means no sun and no sun means bad photos. I might try anyway since they are made and aren't doing anyone any good just sitting here.

The sales of the weekend have put me just 2 shy of 900, so expect another woo hoo style post when that occurs, hopefully soon. I just want to get on my way to 1000...and here I go.

5000

See, I told you that there would be one of these soon. So, after three and a half years of shilling my goods on etsy I have warranted the "favorite" treatment by at least 5000 people. Every single time I get one of these milestones I make a comment about how I don't even know that many people, which is true, but with each one the statement becomes more of a "duh". Of course, I don't know that many people, which is of course one of the reasons it feels so awesome to be here at last. I wish that I could report that these hearts were directly related to sales, but alas that has never been true. For as many people who shop, there are dozen more of the window variety, who merely collect images that they covet. That's fine too though, it's certainly nice to be coveted.

The 5000th heart was given to me by my husband. I didn't even realize that he had an account. Of course then I remembered that he had made purchases for me, so there you go. Shortly after that I lost a few hearts, then got a few more. I think we've settled over the mark now though, so I can safely celebrate the milestone.

The facebook stats also crossed the 100 mark, giving my ego, if not my wallet, a nice boost. The other experiment this weekend, that was the Wunderkammer fan edition...well, it didn't fair so good. Turns out my taste is much more particular than most and though I ended up with enough pieces for today's post, I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon. It ended up actually being more work for me in the end since I was sifting through listings anyway. I do appreciate all those that left links though. There were so few that each was important.

Halloween passed without much joy at our house. In fact the children have developed a fear of trick or treating. Each house was a huge drama and soon we gave up the ghost and came home. Sure, they enjoyed dressing up and they wanted the candy, but the 5 year old is afraid of all the decorations and the 2 year old is apparently afraid of strangers behind doors. Hopefully they'll be better next year and we can actually enjoy the experience.

I'm back to tatting sold pieces and trying to see what else is still left unlisted. I'm also trying to decide what pieces might be likely to be bought during the holidays, though that effort has never been correct. I've made dozens of pieces in the past that I thought would sell only to see them sit around gathering dust, well not literally, but you get the point. I'll probably still give it a go though while I appear to have a bit of a break. Well, I think that's it for me today. Here's to a good week going forward.

500!

I just had an amazing milestone occur this morning, my 5ooth sale on etsy. I really wish I had more time to get excited, but truth be told I'm almost busier than I can handle both with orders and two kids who seem to want to stay sick as long as possible. I'm backed up on mask orders, (thanks Boing Boing) and I've got a couple on non pays to babysit as well. Heck, I wanted to do a big 500th sale deal, but it happened before I could set anything up. I guess I'll save the hoopla for the 1000th order. I should have time to get that one set up...I think.

I have to make it really short this morning, but I also wanted to quickly share that after all the instructables/craft/boingboing stuff that occurred with my tatted mask, I did manage to get a real instructable up for the mask. For the uninitiated, that the pattern and step by step instructions. You can find it here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Tatted_Mask_1/. It is written assuming that you are at least an intermediately skilled tatter, so I apologize to beginners who think I wrote it in Greek or something. Even if you don't tat you can check it out to see the evolution of one of my more complex pieces and leave some comments so i know you visited. Alright, back to the kids and those masks.

One Hundred

I didn't even realize that I was up to this momentous post until I actually logged on to write this morning. One hundred posts, wow, I haven't been this faithful about writing since I was an angst ridden teenager writing in my diary. I really don't know what to do to celebrate this milestone, but I guess I could share some numbers. I've had over 6000 different people read my words, even if it was just a half a second before they clicked on, they were here. Of those 3400 of them returned again and 1000 of those have returned an insane amount of times. I know that compared to some these numbers are really sad, but to me they are a lovely reminder that I occasionally have something interesting to say and I do a pretty good job of saying it. A sincere thank you to all of you who visit and read my ramblings, I hope that I continue to engage you with quality content.

Of course I was distracted by my milestone and now I can't remember what it was that I was going to write about this morning. You see, I usually come up with a few good ideas over the weekend and I write a rough draft of my posts in my head. I know that is not the most reliable place to store the information, but it usually works. If anything interesting happens before I reach the laptop in the morning, I can kiss all that creative thought goodbye and I end up babbling nonsensically about whatever I can come up with while I'm typing. The only reason I'm sharing this is because I felt you were entitled to an explanation for my short and sometimes off posts. So there you go, hopefully I'll return tomorrow with the good stuff. I'm sure I'll remember it all eventually.

Is Flesh Best?

Before I get into the reason for the title of this post, I have some news to share. Yesterday evening just as I was sitting down to dinner I made my 300th sale. It is official, I've now met all of my current goals. I have 400 feed backs left, over 1500 hearts and now over 300 sales. So if you would, please join in a brief moment of Woo-Hoo......Alright that's enough. I'm afraid to get too excited about things for fear that the Gods will find me too arrogant and take it all away. Is there an electronic equivalent to knocking on wood? I just don't want to jinx myself.

Now on to the reason for the strange title. Well it's partly because I've read that a provocative post title draws in new readers. Of course anyone drawn in by this title will probably be sorely disappointed and never return, so I guess that it's a wash in that category. The real reason is an honest question. You may have noticed that I have, in the past, taken advice from people without using my own judgement in an effort to better my little etsy shop. There was a big fuss awhile back about folk being icked out by jewelry, clothing and other accessories being photographed on people as opposed to mannequins. While this makes a certain amount of sense from a hygienic stance particularly for earrings, it is a bit silly for most things given that we all try on jewelry and clothes in stores without a second thought as to how many others have done the same thing. However, I decided to err on the side of caution and began taking all my photos on a fake head.

Just a few days ago I finished a new necklace design and when it was done I draped it over my own neck as I usually do to look at it in the mirror. I assume that I'm not the only done who does this. Well, it looked great and I proceeded to take pictures to list it, but the pictures just didn't make the piece look right. I decided to try out a live picture and posted the result for critique and the response was overwhelmingly positive. It appears people like looking at pictures of real people. I've since taken a few new pictures of old pieces on my very own neck. The question I pose to you is, does this really help? Will people be more likely to purchase the jewelry now that they've seen it worn or is this just another waste of time?

Please take a second to check out some of the new pictures and let me know what you think. There are a few in my etsy mini in the left column or you can visit my store for a few more. Thanks so much for your time and opinions. They are very much appreciated!

Somebody Has A Case Of The Mondays

Yep, it's gonna be one of those days. The day hasn't even begun, but I have little hope that it will turn out better that it started. The day started with my official monthly household job, bill paying. In the age of Internet bill paying, this is a task easily completed although I downplay that fact it ensure that I am properly appreciated for the task. This morning however, it was a painful reminder of how lax we've been with spending lately. I've been a champ at not buying new supplies or extraneous etsy shopping, but every time we see a new widget for the kids we buy it without a second thought.

We went to see Wall-E this weekend, wonderful film, then we proceeded to buy all the merchandise we could find. You could bury the children in the amount of toys they now own, seriously it's like the big baby in Spirited Away. I know we spend too much and yet I we continue to do it. We try to save money on ridiculous stuff like not buying bottled water or sodas, but we don't seem to have a problem with spending an insane amount on toys. Oh well, I got the morning bills reality check and hopefully we'll stay on track now.

On an etsy note, I reached one of my three goals over the weekend. I have now exceeded 1500 hearts. I have just two more sales until I reach 300 and four more feedback need to be left before I reach 400. These are just mind boggling numbers to me, it seems like just yesterday I was excited about 100 hearts and 10 sales. I was also flabergasted at the number of treasuries my pieces appeared in over the weekend. I was in a total of 6 of them and 5 were in the main treasury. I'm still in four this morning, of course that does not undo my Monday blah, but it helps a little. It seems I might be getting a little more notice lately. Here's hoping that all these trends continue!

Happy Birthday Ubence!

I did it for the kids, so I guess I should do it for my husband. After all it was his overwhelming desire to never hear the phrase, "Today on etsy..." ever again that inspired me to go ahead and start this little blog. Of course it hasn't worked out exactly as envisioned, I'm still online far more than he would like and I still feel the need to share the many dramas I encounter with him. I don't think I could go back now though, I've got far too much to say even if there are only a couple of people reading it.

Just a couple of pieces of news I'd like to share. I'm only a few sales away from 300, a few hearts away from 1500 and a few feedbacks away from 400, so woo-hoo. I'll be sure to throw a little virtual party when I reach these goals. I've gotten 17 participants in the Tatting Challenge and a few entries have already been posted, you can check them out in the flickr group and on etsy. It's not too late to join in as I still have a few medallions waiting patiently to be used. So now, I shall spend the day with the family and make every effort to stay off the computer. We shall go see Wall-E and enjoy his birthday.

Where Do We Go From Here?

First off, does anyone else have the song from the Buffy musical stuck in their head right now? No...alright, moving on then. Yesterday, I managed to reach my goal of 250 sales in exactly 2 years. I spent way too much time in the forums to do it and I'm fairly certain they were pity sales, but I'll take them. Maybe ten minutes after reaching what should have been a wonderful milestone, I found myself in a familiar funk. The melancholy that is, "what now?".

We've all been there after a big event or milestone, a birthday, wedding, vacation. Anything that seems to consume your every waking moment looking forward to or planning produces this sensation. As soon as the event is over you experience the emotional equivalent of the crash after a sugar high. Even though I have several small projects that need doing, I have like zero motivation this morning, because I have no event to look forward to. My next milestone sales are very far away, I just past 1000 hearts, so it'll be awhile before I get a big number there either. It's a month before the next big family birthday and I've got no other events on the horizon.

Why do we seem hardwired to need the high of an event, why can't we live in the present? I know what I'm suppose to do, plan for tomorrow and live for today. Like most sage advice it's easier said than done. I mean, I know that these so called milestone sales are just arbitrary numbers, they don't have any real meaning. 100 is not any more momentous than say 112, yet we make such a fuss over round numbers. The logical thing to do would be to celebrate each and every sale with the same amount of joy or to celebrate significant increases over previous sales regardless of their number. We're not gonna do that though, we love round numbers and will continue to look forward to them regardless of logic.

I'll tell you what I think I'm gonna do though. I'm going to make myself some creative goals to look forward to. First, some I might achieve like coming up with a new tatted scarf design or actually completing a piece today. Then, some ridiculous ones that I can look forward to for years, like getting a celebrity to wear my pieces in public or make tatting the next big crafting craze. That ought to keep me looking forward well into my golden years, right?