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Kibbles has been muted. Related thread link.


I need to buy cell charm straps in massive bulk. Will do when I get back from 'work'.

There are rumors that PussDaddy has been muted. There are also rumors that Rokali is into field hockey players.

Matt is not leaving etsy.

I'm hoping to do a lot of updating of my various shops today. Of course, I also plan to do all my homework today as well. What will get done? Possibly neither.

a peachy keen necklace
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

I managed to do some photo editing and list on my break between my 'work' and class. I'm hoping to still go strong through the fall months.

Hey! I've been featured in a blog! Thanks, jenspens!

I may have a glue things to other things derby today. Yay for glue!

belt buckle
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

Today's photo shoot mostly focused on items for my supply shop, such as this vintage belt buckle.

Magic Jelly tells us how weird it is when market values and non market values cross:

You know what else peeves me? People blacklisting each other! I'd buy from Rasputin himself if I liked his product! Well, maybe that's a tiny over-statement...

I think Swoon was right on the money.

I think this really unhealthy culture of excessive gratitude has been cultivated on Etsy that does not exist in the wider market. It means inexperienced sellers feel the peer pressure to jump through hoops to satisfy their buyers, & that some buyers have unrealistic or unreasonable expectations.

Let's not forget that a sales transaction is an EXCHANGE. Not a favour, not a selfless, benevolent act on the part of the buyer, & sellers are not charity cases. It's a mutually beneficial exchange of goods for cash. Both parties should be satisfied with that.

I would much rather have a quality product, well packaged & shipped promptly, than a load of effusive thank yous, excessive packaging, freebies, etc.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've really received thank you convos as a buyer...except from sellers I've had a prior relationship with. I appreciate that they're busy & I'd rather they invest their time in shipping my item.

I've got another profile up.

After an hour tour, got my E6000[did you know you can't send that through USPS, even though you can send blue green patina?] and a little bottle of mod podge, for some future projects.

Online selling is a revolution. It allows a much more diverse group of people to sell their crafts. Some people don't have the stamina to stand out in 90 degree weather for 9 hours a day. Some might not have $100 right then. Some might do better at making things than being a salesperson.

Online selling works with my rhythm. I can fit it into the cracks of my life. I do much better at a few hours a day, with lots of time for breaks if I become too tired to do things at my best. I can even ship from home if I am too exhausted to go to the post office that day.

If I feel good one day, I can ramp up production. I'm not type A, so I try to fit my life around my abilities, I guess. You'll never find me working 80 hours a week when I've got walking pneumonia.

I made a necklace
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

and listed it on etsy. I also changed two photos of items on my website. I'm working hard!

For Back to School, you need nipple tassels.
Hey, these pasties are quite nice! [not safe for work, really, should you be looking at pasties at work?!]

Here's a thread I don't understand. I once knocked out 10 items in a day. Some people are much stronger than the rest of us. Not to mention, sometimes I have a backlog of stock and will post it just to sell it off.

Today's photo shoot took place in the sauna that is outside. The light was pretty good out there, despite the steamy weather. I've gotten some good shots, so I should be able to do some listing. There may or may not be a crafty rodeo with the exciting supplies I got a day or so ago.

There's an etsy goons street team, apparently. I oppress a goon, but am too lazy to actually be one. What's next, a 4chan street team?

Made four new items, and took pictures of all of them, but need to do a retake of another photo, so I'm going out again soon.

I wish there were more lined journals

My writing
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

because my handwriting really sucks, and I can't draw. I need the lines so that at least most of the words of a sentence will be on the same line, but blank journals tend to be sold more often- especially if they are handmade! It's a sad life.

I'm replacing pictures on my website. I'm hoping to pump up the advertising and make more stuff today, but I may fail.

I finally retagged my stuff for the etsybead theme of the (two) weeks. Sadly, I realized that the green theme was for the 24th. Kill me now.

Today's list of tasks is huge- ebay, ads, pictures, making new items, and all that. I may just do nothing instead.

I'm glad to have been able to get 100 of my etsy items on google base without a lot of fuss and muss. Of course, I need to pump up my promotion. I've been lax lately.

a cardinal rule

a cardinal rule
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

I've got some more ideas for designs, but I will probably play board games instead of making them. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. It's hard to take pictures outside when it rains.

I learned that I don't understand kites that can only be flown at night in graveyards to comment on the brevity of life.

Oh dear, there's more employee drama on etsy!

Maybe I should patina some brass pieces after lunch. I just realized it's almost 1 o clock. I will remember to at least make a few ads before 6.

Today's photo shoot yielded 33 photos. I hope most of them are good. Mostly I did photos for my gravely neglected supply shop, but I also took pictures of 2 new designs. Of course, there will be the pain of photo editing, and I need to do some ads.

There's some controversy about etsy, employees and more. I plan to be the only person making my stuff forever.

Today's photo shoot was hot. I hope I got good first pictures of my new design. I spent most of the shoot bellowing out songs from RENT, hopefully the neighbors were hiding out from the heat. It's much less hot than it was though, so much that I have a headache from the weather change.

So not my treasury, but oh so awesome.

Aparrently four people were muted from the etsy forums.

I'm going to work hard to get featured on more blogs, and that means more photoshoots!

Today's photo shoot was in the rain. I will be happy if even one photo turns out.

---

I got a few photos, and now am switching the new photos in.

Memphis classifieds- buy our cotton!

So not my picture! I have no money for the awesome chainmail scarf! Redpanda makes a chainmail scarf. I will never own this lovely, so here's a link so that you may admire it.

Added two new items to my website. Taking new photos of all the items on my website will not be pleasant, but needs to be done. Of course, I need to do my promotional hour of power as well.

Items listed: 3. 2 on dawanda[I'm participating in the shopathon. Maybe I should change my descriptions to include the rough dollar equivalents?] 1 on etsy. I'm taking a bath, and then on to the heavy lifting- my website.

There are some allegations that etsy teams have not received their grant money.

I'm hoping to post my whole backlog of items today. I've already done the photoshop work for most of the items.

Items made for this month's 50 item challenge-8.
No pictures today because of the rain. I guess I'll just stock my ebay store today. I may need to have a rotating promotion schedule for all my different stores.

I relisted a book on ebay and noticed that the listing fee was ten cents. I probably should actually do some listing on ebay. I still have less than 50 items up.

I've got my new moo cards, and am excited for making new items.

Uh..boy CEOS *can* wear nail polish. It's New York after all.

So not my picture.

Best thing since sliced bread. Interestingly , a fairly hard bar. Today one of my bars broke and I couldn't put the pieces back together since this soap isn't the time to become soggy in the shower.

New 50 Item challenge

dirty stars
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

Ahead of my challenge for August, I made two pairs of earrings

People are adopting vintage and supply shops. I may just post some finds that I like on my blog.

Oh, adoption list.

after the patina

after the patina
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

I'm experimenting on patinaed items. Items soaked in blue green patina. The brass star and the copper bird have turned brown, but the brass butterflies turned black.

I only have one item in the etsybead sale this week.

There are not 20k people making a living on etsy. I could see making enough to buy a Wii or buy college books, but 30k a year? Probably less than 1000.

Apparently we have new handmade overlords. I spent all day goofing off, so I didn't know about that until I saw this on my twitter. I guess I welcome our new handmade overlords too. This meme is from the Simpsons.

The blackapple appears on the forum! She debunked the she makes half a mil a year rumor, but let's start a new one. If you say black apple enough, the blackapple fairy comes and gives you one of those blackapple comic books.

also, I'm happy to be in the same internet tribe as the guy from the long tail. I can't get folks who haven't heard of all our bases..., goatse, old meme, etc. Those are the basics of the internets folks. At least know about lolcats and macros,ok?

now that's advertising

now that's advertising
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

An etsy sighting in a Rings and Things catalog mailed to thousands across the country. Note that the placement of a supply in a catalog that people who are shopping for supplies read is a good strategy.

Ah, this is a good example of how new and old worlds are colliding. In the olden days, you needed to control your brand message, but now on the net, not controlling your message is the point. People can find ways to use your products that you haven't thought of. For example, a customer used a bracelet of mine for a wedding. I don't think much about weddings, but other people would. Your customers and potential customers are creative, and so it's important to see how others see your products.

People are celebrating the official start of the Christmas in July sale. I'll of course be promoting my section, if I am not overextending myself again, as I always do. I took some pictures, and will probably edit them all day.

The Long Tail is my new obsession. But, I'd like to note that casual games are definitely the long tail of video games. For example, take Chocolitier 2. I've never seen a version in stores, but over a year after it's release, it is still on the top 100 of big fish games'[just one of the distributors of casual games, which are usually distributed by download, although there's boxed versions for the luddites] Yahoo's casual games portal also builds reviews and you may also like into the game download page, which is another part of the long tail. People who are casual game enthusiasts may download several games a week and review them, and this can help the more casual casual gaming fans.

For example, I like time management games[do Y before time runs out!] instead of hidden object games[click on items..to solve puzzles] so I'll trust the recs of other time mangement fans over the recs of hidden object fans, especially those fans who play and review a large variety of games. There are also various websites set up for news[I learned, for example, in this review that there will be a Chocolatier 3 and totally died of happiness] that gather thousands of fans.

In regular game economies, you need hits. The production values of games have gone up. The price of producing the voice acting, CGI cut scenes and long levels of hardcore games must be staggering. If only 1000 people buy your game in the first month, you're likely to lose a large amount of money. However, casual games have much lower production values and are quicker to produce. The distribution also allows producers to wait. If chocolaitier 2 sells 1000 in the first week...but continues to sell 100 every week after for a year, long after a game that sold so badly offline would have been removed from the shelves, there is some profit there. And for the game portals that have hundreds of these games, year after year...there's even more profit.

In today's reads, I'm reading The Long Tail. If you want to create an internet venue, remember it's the folks who only sell a few items a month that keep you alive, it seems. If a million people buy from one person, but two million buy from two million separate people, the second is more cash.

This skirt is love. But it'll never be mine!

Finally got my etsybead theme section working. My 800 heart sale will be free shipping. Gotta promote, promote, promote. And of course, I'm anticipating a late summer full of crafty goodness.

Oooh, this referral thing should be causing a lot of drama that I missed! Please don't spam, etsy people.

Oooh, i heard a ruuuumor in New York! My brother said his friend was interviewing at etsy[she's a computer programmer] and that they were interviewing like 20 people. This is just a rumor

Yay, an etsybead treasury

On etsy, staying positive means saying negative things about other people, their shops, their intentions and possibly what their grandmas did for a living. By page 19 or 22 or so, there's some resistance to this idea. I would propose that all threads that say STOP WHINING EVERYONE ELSE be moved to the bitch and moan section.

Not to mention, I hate how people act like if some lady gets a $5 pity sale, they are somehow winning over them in a huge way, as if every single sale someone else gets is somehow taking away from them. I promote everywhere, and get sales slow and steady.

Ouch, I'd hate to be a noob. At least she's not being all positive before going for the maybe your stuff sucks tack.

Etsian Behave Littles has come up with a line of condom holders before the big Freshman rush of the fall. Have fun, prevent babies and disease!

We can now put items into sections while listing.

An etsian notes that shipping isn't free. I skip many of these steps- invoices? no. And I don't wait in line at the PO unless it's an international package, but I still have the cost of envelopes and tape, and the fact that it cost me $1.52 to send 2 ounces to California today.

ah, long promos threads. Note how I posted using an interesting title, talking to the other people in the thread, and took advantage of obvious points of human psychology. Thumbs up to me!

Hey, I've been featured on a blog!


from that blog, I found an article on the time movement, and I have to say I'm all for it. I'd rather work less and consume less than work more to get stuff that's going to hang in the back of my closet.

I love twitter.

This post is a paean to the amazon box. If you're in business, never throw out the amazon box. This is as unadvised as making a hammock out of clotheslines. You can reuse the amazon box to ship almost anything. It doesn't get ruined after you remove its original contents. Just put some bubble wrap[hopefully recycled] in and seal it back up, and whatever you've got in there is protected against wind, rain, hail and postal workers. Go,amazon box!

Yay, I got a treasury.

Hey, I didn't know that you could search twitter. Also, LEST has a fourth of July contest.

Finally got the Christmas in July section up. Hoping to do some promoting soon.

People are protesting the lack of a doll category on etsy. I'm working on a paper, and watching my ebay auctions.

800 hearts. Better come up with a sale. For Christmas in July, I'll just have a section

Etsy fan club wants better service

Turning Towards Home

american eagles
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

I think in these times, we'll see even more of a turn towards home. More local items, more recycling, and more DIY. Recycling is trendy right now, but it connects to the old maxim 'waste not, want not'. And of course, handmade is both old and new- old because people used to have to handmake everything, and new because the internet allows a connection between the artist and the user.

So not my picture!

It's a giant piece of natural turquoise!

There's a new patch on etsy's search engine. I have a huge pile of work to do, but have become drained.

An etsy drama community? say it's not so! In other news, I'm having an ebay day, and will soon update my supplies shop. I need to take more pictures!

Art Doll makers want a category on etsy. The collectibles categories have been not implemented for reasons unknown. My listing has been neglected, as I enjoy creating things, and I enjoy promoting things, but I do not enjoy listing things. I haven't even changed the photos for the items I took new photographs of.

lolipops

lolipops
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

Just posting to show that I took photos. I'm quite worried about Monday's assignment. I'm a really slow writer. So to procrastinate, I made tons of bobby pins[although some sets haven't been photographed yet] and a necklace

Featured on blog for the wild thing theme of the week. The sun looks good for pictures today.

A new etsy blog? Interesting. But on number 5- don't forget your local library. Maybe Memphis is an odd town, but you run into a lot of different people at the library- college students, teens,moms with kids, seniors, and many libraries have places to put cards for businesses or post them. In summer, the library is popular because it's free heat relief!

Popular forum goer loosewire is leaving etsy.

I am spending my time promoting the last day of my YART sale. I have a large backlog of ebay stuff to do, and I'm contemplating what designs would look best.

The natives are restless at etsy! with windy's bannation, there is shock! also, here's a new thread.

I must wait until the sun is properly aligned for me to take pictures of supplies and put it in my other shop. Then, I must promote my ebay auctions ending soon. This is before doing my pile of school work. I'm glad I don't have a protestant work ethic. School, ebay, etsy, dawanda, lov.li... they all keep me running! I have tons of backlog to post on ebay, and I need to rephotograph not only my whole etsy shop, but my whole website.

giraffe print earrings
Originally uploaded by cassowaryjewelry

Finally made, pictured and posted some earrings. I had been looking for those beads for the wild thing theme.

I'm the only etsy seller who sucks. It's official, if you're not nice to me, I'll whup your butt! And I'm not scared to come right out under my own name and do it!

Rob White has deep thoughts. I may make some jewelry today.

People note that etsy is not cheap to list on. 10 sales a month is above average for etsy jewelry, I say, as I post ads in the classifieds. I flipped over my cards at the library today too.

Etsians are having issues with The Sampler. This is sad because back in 2007, when I did the sampler, I had a good experience, but I guess things change. I need to do more giveaways and things like that for marketing. The happily handmade giveaway was quite a boon for me when it was going.

Not so much ebaying today as I need to. I got some long delayed shots of earrings for ebay, but haven't listed anything. I tagged and retagged for the wild thing theme sale. I've decided that Sunday is a terrible day of the week. Your undone homework haunts you..

I think today will be an ebay day, but I'll also promote my YART and add more items to the section. I'm hoping that I can also write a paper and do all my homework before I start feeling ill again.


also, look, more etsy lolz.


A fraudster may have been shut down.

also, here's some etsy news about the allegations. The cookies were actually good, but sorry about the fraud.

Fresh dirt! Seems that the etsy angels are calling other etsy people names. This is much more exciting than writing a paper about me giving my mom a card. The cached post.

it's time for the etsyy blog fight! A bunch of 'positive' folks are calling out because they can't show their negative sides, I guess. At the bottom of this page, alwaysamy is amazing.

I think that it's dangerous to never acknowledge that we have feelings that are less than pure and wonderful.Not to mention, humans don't work the way we think they do. We're not efficient, and some of my best work has come from futzing around, having a sense of humor and generally being a less than exemplary person.

After my break, I've started to do things again. Promote my YART sale, put a newsletter out, I may be up to my normal level of advertising soon. My head is still killing me, but now that my neck has let up, I'm able to move forward. I'm hoping that after summer school, I'll be able to work even harder.

There seems to be some rumbles in the forums. I'm unable to get inspired to make any jewelry or do anything much besides goof off with a heat pad or a vibrating noodle of doom around my neck.

Pie in dry ice.

Yay! In a treasury today! I'm beside prettyinpeace. This is the first treasury screenshot I've done using fireshot.

In a treasury today. yay.

Regal beads blogs, and she's pissed


I'm planning to gather supplies and restore my strength. There may be an outrageous amount of beading going on soon.

I forgot all about the new etsy bead theme- a day at the beach- so tagging and detagging may have to be done. Finally, did the tagging and detagging. Items in section.

The Lol Wut pear is not to be sold by unauthorized persons I want a bookmark now.

1000th post!

291 etsy people have the same bday as me.

I need to promote my ebay auctions. and of course, list. *tired* I only made 2 items today.

Etsy Finds from Around the World. Awesome stuff I found on etsy lately:



I just like this brooch.



Of course, I like the bright colors and staging for the pictures of this dress, which seems traditional with a twist.



shoes with love from Columbia.

Hey, I'm featured on a blog, and it's all pretty.

Passementetrie[possibly misspelled] vanished from etsy without a word a long time ago. She had sold certainly more than a hundred high end pieces. anyway, I found her flickr.

It seems that prettyinpeace has a new blog, which has highlighted the designer flytie.

Littleput in a legal battle? And all sorts of weirdness. But I'd like to note that hoop earrings are in the public domain, and also, sushi is in the public domain.

Making a living doing handmade isn't very common, but then again, who can fault etsy for making people want the dream? I mean, even if we won't achieve it, we still can dream big! *has been reading sports manga again*