Back to our regularly scheduled programming:

What a good day! I went to get some prints done and they came out beautifully so I got quite a bit printed so I'll have them available when they sell. That will take a lot of stress off of me trying to get them printed and shipped off within 3 days. There is a post office very close to my school so that there will be fantastic, I'll be able to ship on the way to school. Sigh, I love it when things are efficient. : D

I got the two new images I've just finished printed and I'm really liking how they turned out. I'll be listing them soon as well as prints I developed myself in the darkroom! How exciting. Even though I'm afraid of the dark, I still love doing my own printing. It's very satisfying to have a hand in every step of the finished print. And I can make them turn out just how I want and just love the feeling of control and accomplishment I get from it. I'll be back in the darkroom very soon I hope, school starts back up on the 3rd.

Swarovski Crystals on Baby products!

I was just reading in the Etsy forums and was very bothered to find out about this. There has been a safety recall on pacifiers that Etsy sellers and other online sellers were gluing crystals too. These items have been removed, but other items with the same risks have not.

DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN WEAR ITEMS WITH SWAROVSKI CRSTALS ON THEM!

These crystals contain lead and can be seriously dangerous if ingested! They also pose a choke hazard.

Some sellers have listed other items such as shoes, pacifier clips, etc that have these crystals on them, but only warn to supervise the baby with them. I think that parents should know that this risk is worse than the usual choke hazard to really hit home the dangers so they can make a more informed choice.

What's worse is when the seller mentions they used non toxic glue, but doesn't mention except for in their profile that the non toxic glue is attaching toxic items to their baby products.

An Etsy forum thread with more information is available here.
The Pacifier recall is here.

Been busy busy lately trying to keep up with all the Etsy related things I've got going on right now - promoting, listing, shipping, it all adds up. I've had some luck working with photoshop though and have come up with a few images I really like. Will probably be adding these to the shop very shortly.

I'm going home tomorrow to see Cirque Du Soleil! I'm so excited, but it's going to be so frustrating that I'm not allowed to bring a camera into the show.

The lab I get my prints printed at is having some serious color issues - everything came out a very murky gross green. My poor little "Keep you safe" girl looked like she was about to be sick. So I've had to send them to a different place that charges 3 times as much and I have to wait another day to send some orders out. I really hate not being able to send them out right away - but at the same time, I don't have the money up front to have prints already printed on hand. School is starting next week and I need all the money I have for school supplies. I love buying school supplies! It's so much better when all those supplies are paints and papers and all kinds of fun artsy things for me to play with.

I'm in my second year of university! Holy cow, how time flies.

Anyways. I'm off to bed. Goodnight everyone!

Blahs

The past few days have been rather uneventful. I've been kind of slack on getting all the things I need to do done to be honest. It's been a blah day today as well. So I'm editing some photos and working on getting organized. I think I forgot to mention before that my apartment has been cleaned! If I get a chance I will take some photos to show it before and after.

The photo above is one I just finished working on. It's a collage of two different photos I took. I rather like how it turned out so I listed it on my Etsy.

Well I must be off. Take care everyone.

A photo bag!

Okay so I'm pretty excited. I found this bag at the Dollar store. That's right, it cost me $1.14 including tax. I'm going to take out those stock photos, put in three of my own prints, and then the fourth one will be a print that has my shop url on it, Genius! What a fantastic means of shameless self promotion. Maybe I'll even stick business cards in behind the photos to hand out to people who look at my bag. Hehehe.

So I sold some more beads on Etsy, I was happy. I really need to get around to listing what I have done. I have tons of beads & supplies, as well as photographs I developed myself in the darkroom, and several paintings I did a little while ago. I have to get at it.

I'm going back home to visit my family tomorrow night though, so I won't be able to ship anything until Monday or Tuesday. But it's worth it, I haven't been home for a while. Speaking of shipping, I have some bad karma going or something, because it absolutely poured today, the day I needed to go to the post office to ship things. It doesn't rain unless I need to leave the house.. : (

I've also been up to making a Squidoo page. Click here to see it. I also signed up for this Hits4Pay thing. Which a friend said actually works, so I'm hoping it does. If you want to try it out, definitely sign up through my referal link please!

Anyways, I suppose that's enough spamming for one night, he he he. Have a good one.

Beads Beads Beads

Beads! That's what I've spend the passed couple of days working on. I wet felted some and then sewed on beads and sequins, and there are some needle felted pins I've made. Last night I played with polymer clay, and am experimenting with different effects, I covered one in beads, and the others I made to look like little earth beads so I might make them into a cute pair of earrings. I'm also finally varnishing some rolled paper beads I made a bit ago. I love making beads, I wish I had access to some more sterling silver wire without having to order it online so I could make some jewelry with my beads. I'll definitely be making a lot of stuff once school starts up again and I have access to all sorts of supplies again.

I'm also working on setting up an IndiePublic account and a tutorial for taking good photos of items.

Anyways, I've got lots to do, so have a great day!

Rain Rain

Biking through puddles makes the most pretty tinkling sound you can imagine. Just so you know. ;)

Yesterday I was absolutely drenched. But damn it, those items are going to get to my etsy buyers on time! Ha ha, I'm thinking maybe I should add an "I don't ship on days when it's pouring or snowing or 45 degrees celcius" clause to my shipping policy since I have to bike to the post office.

My wind print was on the Etsy front page today, I was so excited I called my mom even though it was midnight.

Anyways, have a great day.

Monica

Progess.

So. I made little progress on the cleaning of my apartment. It's going to take years to get this baby cleaned. Sigh. In happier news, I sold a painting on Etsy! I was really excited, it was only listed for a day before selling. It is always so satisfying when someone likes what you enjoy making.

I tried to ship it today, but of course, since I live in my own little bubble, had no idea that it is a provincial holiday, so the post office was closed. I'm really glad I slacked off on putting out resumes today, I got mostly ready and then decided to go tomorrow. I would have been sooo disappointed to put in the work of looking good for nothing. :p

I listed beads like crazy today. I'm trying to support my bead habit by selling off ones I don't think I'll use. I hope they go to loving homes who make them into beautiful things.

I really want a nice piece of fresh fruit. Random, I know. But man, a nice piece of fruit can really make me feel so content and healthy. I think I will go hit up that nectarine I've been anxiously waiting to ripen...

Quiet Mornings make me happy

Today is going to be quite a good day I do believe. I am in the process of very thoroughly cleaning my apartment. It is almost spectacular how messy it is. A lot of effort went into making it that way you know. Apartments don't just become tornado strewn, someone has to put in the manhours in order to get them just right.

So yes I will post before and after pictures when I am finished, which might take days actually now that I think of it. My boyfriend is currently working on a nice new journal layout for me, so I'm looking forward to a new fresh look.

I was inspired by some photos I saw on http://flickr.com of other artist's studios, and that is exactly what I want. A bright clean space for me to create and feel inspired. So I'm going to paint my room and make it into a studio like environment. I'm thinking off a crisp off white to go with the white trim, and then spiffy it up with some bright colored accessories. I've always felt that white walls were boring and blah, but I think it might fill the whole space with light, which would make it ideal for photographs.

Thanks to everyone who swapped links with me, that's really nice, I will definitely be checking out everyone's blogs when I get some time.

Have a good day everyone!

Sigh

Man, I am actually a bit nervous right now. I just added a ton of people to my contacts on flickr, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to build up my list so I just added lots of people who posted on Etsy related forums. I hope they don't find that weird and random for me to add them...:(

I also asked a bunch of fellow Etsy bloggers to exchange links. Hopefully they won't think it's spam. I only asked ones with lists of other Etsy blogs so I hope it won't be a problem. If I did this to you and you hate it, just delete my post please, I didn't mean any offense!

This whole promotion thing is nerve racking. I just really want to be a success.

Busy Busy

Oh my. It seems like I've been going nonstop the passed few days. I went on a great roadtrip where we explored several wonderful seaside towns with entire streets just filled with unique little gift shops. I got the business cards of several of them. I'd really like to work on getting my work into gift shops in the somewhat near future. I think I'm going to focus all of my energy on making new illustrations. The above one is something I've been working on for a few days now, I just can't figure out exactly how I'd like it.

I've also gotten a contract with HeyPrettyCupcake so that is exciting. My illustrations will be available on different products there. It's also motivated me to come up with plenty of new ideas, all of which I will be working on very soon.

I sold my first item on Etsy! I was so surprised and happy when I saw it. It's been shipped off and will hopefully arrive at it's new home soon. I've been having a great time chatting with other sellers in the forums, and have discovered some great new shops too. Hopefully I'll have several new prints to list in the next week or so.

Anyways, have a great day to anyone who may be reading this. I'm still looking for other links to fellow etsy bloggers. Bye!