The business people and the romantics seem at odds. It sounds nice to say that making a living means having fun, but really, then there's nothing to strive for is there? Having fun is easy.


Oh yummy wank.

Personally, I'm all for making money, this is why this is my hobby. When I become unable to sustain it, I'll stop. Being the sort of person who will never get married, I'll have to get an actual job eventually.

I just realized I have never read Fruits Basket vol 12. Must redress this now.

An unintentional example!

On flickr, I learned a new word- bokeh!

I'm fooling around on stylemob. Maybe I'll craft a lot today.

I'm getting back into the swing of things, listing on artfire, fooling around on etsy,etc. I let my mom borrow some of my modpodge for her bag project...

Nice to see folks promoting me on facebook.

Etsy may implement stats.

Etsy showed a pdf about small company exemptions to the CSPIA[sp?] on twitter.

65 degrees and sunny, but a bit windy, so no photos today

Hey, Dennis Anderson will continue to suffer, as he has been mentioned in the New York Times. This means that curious searchers will buy soap after soap from him, tiring him out. He should drink plenty of orange juice.

I'm amused that I'm on the Red Panda's press page.

Revolving Dork makes a comic, we all laugh.



Gave up taking decent picture of these- am wearing them instead

28 photos today. The sun is out, but it is cold. I spent most of yesterday playing board games and will end up spending most of today going to a play, so I'm glad I was able to take some photos, even if my listing may be slow. I'm still listing even over christmas!

I'm also updating my website. Updating it is less work than I remember- I must have been exhausted on my last update. I need to redo most of my photos here, but it's really grey today.

Hey, I'm in styleflash today. Very good, because today is totally gloomy!

I found myself on cheaptweet! I'm hoping for folks to vote me up.

55 pictures today! I took advantage of the brief bit of sun and warmth today to do some rephotos and take photos of some new items. It was a bit windy, but not too bad at all. I wish we had more days like this in winter, but most of my pictures are at least serviceable, so good shoot. Now time to put them into flickr groups, change some photos and list some more!

This holiday break is a good time to improve your shop

While I was noodling around on artfire, I realized that I see stuff on the front page that I'd never see at etsy. I've seen art bears on the front page, I've seen pinbacks, heck, I'm sure some time I'll see some primitives and some vintage on the front page. Nice to see folks all getting a few seconds of fame there.

Loving the five stages of twitter acceptance.

I'm still fooling around with my artfire. I've added categories and a shipping profile.

In Memphis, a local store has tricycle delivery. I'm amused and charmed by their dedication to old world style.

I made a thisnext list for fun. The theme is black santa! Too bad I couldn't find more etsy items with this theme.

In today's neatostuff brand plug, did you know that Paws for Peace has proceeds go to animal charities?

The end of the year is coming, and I'm at a loose end. There are still a few more days for christmas shipping if people upgrade to priority, but I think most of the last bit of the year will be used cleaning things out, putting things on clearance for the new year, setting up new shops and rotating stock between stores. Ah, the less glamorous back end!

Fellow etsybead member StudioMarcy has been featured on Bacon Today.

The twelve days of etsymas? Good!

Also, vote my stuff up on the former skirt.

Here is a valuable green tip for the holidays! Collect all the bags you've been given gifts in for the whole year, and reuse them as holiday gift bags for this year! Why clog the landfills with bags when you can reuse the same bags for years? I think my mother collects the bags at the end of holiday gift giving to go into the container for next year, BTW.

I started a new store on artfire. My plan for the new year involves eggs and baskets.

In today's neatostuff brand plug, tennesee person DoreenBatesArt enjoys using polymer clay.

Lollishops wank on etsy. Was someone banned? Probably not. Should this be discussed on etsy? Why does my throat hurt? It's a mystery

Today's photo shoot was a rout! The wind picked up my paper, flung a pair of earrings around[will have to make another pair] and some paper got into the neighbor's yard. Above is the only decent pic that was made.

Today's neatostuff brand plug is Vixenware!


[so not my pic!]

She makes jewelry using precious metal clay!

A front page experiment on etsy.

The close enough to 1000 hearts sale has begun. Buy two get one free! I'm getting pumped about promoting this.

Hey, I'm featured on Fashion Friday!

Today's neatostuff brand plug is Lynniebags!



[so not my pic!]

I really like coin purses.

Etsians discuss artfire. I may set up shop there soon.

Today's edition of the five threads you'll find on etsy is the "Preference Off". Someone starts a thread talking about how they want free stuff, thank you cards, and sensual gratification from sellers. Then everyone jumps in talking all about how they include tons of free stuff, ten thank you notes in every order, and drive personally to your house and give you a full menu of 'services'.

Every package is supposed to be filled with fairy dust and make you the life long friend of the recipient. These threads fill the newbies with fear- will they not make any sales if they do a hard analysis of time and money and say "hey, I'm not putting $50 worth of free stuff in a $5 sale?" and the crusty business people with laughter as they reflect on the unsustainability of writing 60 personal thank you notes a day.

I'm in the middle. Personally, I'm a cold cold person. I buy from you because I want your stuff. I get annoyed when the nosy folks at the bank ask after how I'm doing in school, what religion my dad is, and how my aunt is doing lately. I would rather not get into long conversations with the check out girl in Krogers either. I shop online because I want to get stuff in the mail quickly. I don't want to be the friend of the person I buy from.

I'm featured on a livejournal with playdoh of the month, lizards and bowling sets.

Not shabby!

[SO NOT MY PIC!]

Today's neatostuff marketing exchange member is housewifecollection!

Etsy sends me and everyone else a letter:

Etsy News
December 10, 2008

The following is an open letter regarding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). This Act, which will go into effect on February 10th, 2009, puts forth much more stringent safety measures for products intended for children under the age of 12.

Under the very important auspices of child safety, the Act may have grave unintended consequences: fewer choices for families who are looking for handcrafted alternatives. Many Etsy artists and craftspeople have expressed fears that they won't be able stay in business due to the burdensome cost of testing and certification pursuant to the proposed legislation.

As a venue for handcrafted and vintage items from small entrepreneurs, Etsy has invited the Ombudsman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to join us in a webchat in our Virtual Lab. Etsy would very much appreciate the opportunity to provide a forum for discussing the concerns of artisans who make toys and children's products as well as their customers who support handmade products.

We urge members of the Etsy community and anyone concerned with both child safety and conscientious consumption to contact their governmental representatives; ask them to consider how the Act will impact independent craftspeople.

The office of the CPSC ombudsman: 888-531-9070.
Visit the Handmade Toy Alliance for information about writing your representatives.

Over 200,000 artists, crafters, and vintage collectors sell their items on Etsy.com. Many of these artisans make toys and other items for children. Made with love, care, the human touch and – often -- all natural materials, these items bring the consumer marketplace back to a personal level where customers can chat with toy-makers and even create custom items for specific needs. Etsy members are part of a larger movement that seeks to creatively provide people across the globe with alternatives to mass-produced goods.

Many Etsy sellers are work-at-home-moms and dads. Among them are crafters with the skill and heart to preserve traditions of toy-making or to innovate their own methods of making children's items with a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) hands-on philosophy. You can meet an Etsy toy maker and seller by watching this five minute video portrait (all of our videos are published under open Creative Commons, so please feel free to repost). Amber Dusick aka woodmouse.etsy.com and Los Angeles-based toy-maker/work-at-home-mama, is an artist who would be impacted by this proposed legislation if it is enacted. Amber uses sustainably harvested woods, non toxic paints and beeswax along with her wood burning tool to create simple, natural wooden toys. Her imagery is reminiscent of a child's crayon drawing come to life in wood.

Amber, like other Etsy toy makers and sellers, is fearful that as a sole proprietor she will not be able to afford the stricter regulations of the Act; the cost of testing and certification is likely beyond her means. She told Etsy, “I'd be more than happy to have each of my toys tested, if it wasn't so cost prohibitive. It is the COST involved in testing that will shut us down, it isn't that anyone refuses to have their work tested."

The Small Business Association defines "small business" as under 500 employees. Most of our Etsy members are either sole proprietors or maybe a family or studio of friends working together. Many craftspeople on Etsy have told us that they could be put out of business if forced to comply with the proposed legislation. This is the painful irony bound up in the CPSIA.

Etsy wanted to reach out with this open letter to see what can be done to ensure that small businesses and micro enterprises are being taken into account with this legislation. Our members would like to better understand how the CPSIA took into account these smaller businesses operating with fewer resources for testing and compliance. We believe Etsy artisans are pro-testing and pro-safety; the problem is the prohibitive certification costs relative to their small businesses' incomes. Our community is concerned that this legislature disregards small businesses in its attempts to regulate large corporate entities.

The U.S. House and Senate passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (the CPSIA), and on August 14, 2008, President Bush signed the Act into law. Further information on the Act is available at the CPSC website at http://www.cpsc.gov/ and helpful FAQs are located http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/faq/faq.pdf.

Please leave your comments in the forum thread linked in our blog post. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Etsy

[so not my pic!]

Today's neatostuff brand plug is whimsicalstar! Get a bird pendant for $14!

The last number in search is back! Or will be. I don't have time to check. Also, strange new admin with confusing title appears!

Will etsy ever let us have our stats?

Today's neatostuff brand plug is foofooandmore. Get totes for $8!

I support ya, etsians! I'll buy from you, even if you do eat liverwurst during sex You know why? It's because even if you don't say the first word about your weird and kinky sex practices, you're probably doing SOMETHING I don't like. Whether it's eating herring out of the jar to writing fanfiction that breaches the bounds of decency and good grammar, I'm sure if I stalked you enough, I'd find something. But luckily, even I don't want to stalk you. And my customers? They have lives. They are buying jewelry to go out and do things in. They go to work. They go to school. They go to parties. They don't have time to stalk everyone on etsy to see if they might have once said a bad word.

Today's etsian guide to life is 'etsy is not your boyfriend'.

Etsy is not your boyfriend. Etsy does not cry under the covers if you say something negative about it. Etsy doesn't care if you list things on dawanda or ebay. Etsy can take saying that you want better search. Etsy is a website. It is not your boyfriend.

Today's edition of the Cassowary Glossary invovles the phrase 'the crazy part of the country'. The dictionary definition of this phrase is 'the southern part of the United States of America', but this phrase acknowledges the extreme wackiness of the south. The culture of the South may be rich, giving us blues, rock and roll[by the original black creators, not by Elvis, thank you, very much~!], and very fattening food. However, there are many people you'll meet in the south, such as that lady who thinks Halloween shouldn't be celebrated because it's anti christian, that guy who thinks that if only we had no taxes, a utopia would be arising, and that guy who freaks out when folks say happy holiday instead of merry christmas.

Those exciting folks, along with our wacky political situation- really,do we need to know the views on abortion of the dog catcher?- make the south the most colorful part of the country.

Will common sense appeal over panic?

I did a few snapshots of items today to keep my photo hand in.

Why is sarawearsskirts laid off? I think I am sad.

what will the ex admin do? will they have an unemployment party? Will they start their own crafty rodeo? Only time will tell.

Another reason why you should use your tags on flickr. But seriously etsy folks, use your tags! When people search on flickr, or google, the tags are picked up and take people to your pictures. Tags- describing your picture- that's really important,ok?

I often hear on etsy "I don't watch the news- it's too negative". I worry about this because the news broadens your world. When I turn on NPR in the car, I get information about how the economy is doing, about foreign countries, about the surprising epicness of Canada. When I switch on Rachael Maddow, I enjoy her well reasoned analysis and the interesting guests she has on. The PBS news, especially soothing, and I like at the end when they sometimes bust out random poetry.

Knowing what's going on gives me a sense of security. When I know how the wind is blowing, I can move to adjust. When I have no sense of a baseline, of what is going on every day, the big stories seem more surprising and scary. And really, don't you seem more clever talking about the pirates in Somalia than you do talking about man, it's really cold today?

Successful seller AlwaysAmy is feeling burnt out.

Also, I sponsor joyful abode.

Should sellers that are overworked tamp it down?

I don't think so. I mean, I am actually jealous. I'll admit that. But really, expressing my jealousy might hurt their feelings and really, did they do anything to me? Probably not. So I'll go and be jealous over here. I'm being honest about my jealousy, because people who never admit that they have any human emotions sort of scare me.

I also think problems are relative. Some folks may think that I'm silly to get jealous when I have nearly a hundred sales, but I want to sell several times per week, not just one! To me, a hundred sales is chump change, because I am playing business, not playing hobby. When you're playing hobby, any sale is good, when you're being a business, you want to be sustainable.

Now, I don't want to be so busy I get any sicker. But I'd like sales 5 days per week. But I'll probably never be able to, because I'm so unfocused. So I'll sit here, waiting for my sinus meds to work.

In treasury! Will screen shot later. Packing now

Note to etsy folks: nobody likes that guy. As folks say, be human! And nobody likes the click on my junk guy either.