cross stitching

Here is something completely pitiful...until this past Saturday (my birthday, happy birthday to me and many more), it had been OVER A YEAR since I last cross stitched. Seriously. More than twelve months.

I decided several days ahead of time that come hell or high water, I was going to get a few stitches in. But I literally had nowhere to stitch, so I spent the majority of my birthday cleaning and organizing. My office was such a wreck that this was actually fun. And then at about 10 pm I finally sat down and spent about 45 minutes working on Mother's Arms. Woo hooooo. Now I just need to find a way to carve out 30 minutes to an hour a day for stitching, or Kate will be holding her grandchildren before I finish her 'welcome to the world' cross stitched piece.

Etsy search...

So I didn't pay much attention when Etsy rolled out their new search engine changes, but now I'm starting to get a bit concerned. My sales on foxwise have dropped considerably. I know that part of it is due to more and more people jumping on the hand-stamped bandwagon (and a few of them deciding to carry 'geeky' bracelets like mine), but this past week has been pretty dismal in comparison to the weeks before. Evidenced by the fact that I suddenly have time to blog. ; )

Anyway, I suppose it's a good thing that they've updated their search but it does make me a bit nervous. I've gotten used to being very busy! And despite sometimes feeling completely stressed out, I *like* being busy. I suppose I need to just buckle down and start tweaking my tags and such in my listings...but honestly, I hate doing that sort of thing. I'd rather spend my time making stuff!

craft fair

I'm doing a craft fair this weekend! Or rather, it's actually called a flea market, and will be a mix of vintage and handcrafted items. I'm excited as this is my first attempt at a craft fair since my completely disastrous Rose Bowl Flea Market experience a few years back. (I made one sale). (For $2).

Anyway, it's being hosted by Native LA, and I'll be selling my stamped jewelry, regular jewelry, soaps and craft kits. And maybe some buttons, too. I'm actually bringing an extra table so I don't have all my stuff crammed together, though I'm going to feel pretty silly if I have two huge tables and no customers.

Here's the link to the flea market info -- it's this Saturday, the 9th, from 2 - 8 -- just in case anyone local happens to stumble across this post: Flea Market Info

Fingers crossed!

Google revisited

Okay, I probably spend way too much time playing on google to see which search terms bring up something from one of my shops, but this morning I discovered a happy little thing...if you google 'Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff', my Doctor Who spiral necklace shows up at the bottom of the first page! If you replace 'stuff' with 'quote', my bracelet shows up in the middle of the first page. And if you just google wibbly wobbly timey wimey, the necklace shows up near the top of the second page! And if.... oh, okay, okay, I'll stop.

well...

Okay, clearly my bright idea of blogging every single day in 2011 took a bit of a nosedive. Between getting the flu bug and being busy, the blog got bumped to the back burner. And I'm suddenly feeling smothered by the letter B.

But (ahhhh! go away, B!) I *will* try to blog a little more often. Maybe three or four days a week. And sometimes every day, when I have time.

My god, you should see my office. It looks like it was hit by a tornado, No, really. I'm tempted to post a photo despite the extreme embarrassment it would cause me, just to prove to the three people who might read this post at some point that no, I am not exaggerating.

Do you ever want to put a second R in exaggerate? I always do.

Okay, I have orders to pack up. My foxwise shop is keeping me so busy! It's awesome!

sterling

I received a few blanks today that I ordered last week, so went ahead and stamped a custom order for one of my 'wibbly wobbly' 1" cuff bracelets in sterling silver. MAN, was it nerve-wracking. I'm used to stamping on cheap aluminum blanks, and if I mess up, I'm out maybe a dollar or so; if I'd messed up on the sterling blank I would have been out a whole whole lot more than a dollar.

But, I am happy to say, I didn't mess up (yay!) and I am really pleased with the end result. I love aluminum because it's cheap and malleable and shines up pretty, but silver sure is pretty. I won't be able to get a decent pic of the bracelet til tomorrow when there's daylight, but I'll try to post one then. Shiny! -as they say on Firefly, though of course I mean it literally...

Speaking of which, I have been trying to come up with a good Firefly quote for a stamped bracelet, and have come up blank so far. My favorite Firefly quote is Jane's "You can't change that by getting all...bendy", but even people who remember that probably don't think it's as completely hilarious as I do.

fingers crossed...

This seems to be just a run of the mill cold, and not the flu (knock on wood, and any other superstitious good luck action that might work...), so hopefully I'm not going to be really sick, just kinda miserable.

Which is good because the to-do list is growing. Got to dye more fabric tomorrow, hurrah!

I finally found a good source for sterling silver blanks for my stamping. I know I'll eventually have to invest in a tumbler, jeweler's saw, etc., but I'd really like to hold off as long as possible, and honestly, I'm kept busy enough just stamping the blanks. I'd rather make less of a profit and have time to sleep occasionally. ; )

Anyway, off to watch the next episode of 24 with hubby - we're slowly but surely plowing through season 8.

Here's a bracelet that I made on a whim; not many views so far, so maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's awesome? The quote - "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly / What is essential is invisible to the eye" - is from The Little Prince:


The bracelet can be seen HERE.