Snaps From My Parent’s House August 8, 2008

During my blog absence I was at my parent’s house in NC. My parents have moved probably 14 times in their married life, correct me if I’m wrong Mom. Something that I appreciate is that they have always made the place we lived into HOME, no matter how long we were planning on staying. I appreciate it even more as I am currently struggling with investing emotion, energy, money and time into this apartment. We are (hopefully) moving next summer and that’s making me even less motivated. So thanks M&D for setting up home every time, everywhere.

I was happy to see this.

My parents got this in Mexico a looong time ago and it has been in storage for years. It’s painted metal and I covet it. I had forgotten it but when I saw it in the kitchen it instantly reminded me of my childhood.

Check out this photo, it was apparently, a happy childhood. Can’t you just see that piece hanging in this kitchen? I blew this up so A) you could take a gander at my little brother,the cutie. He was the kind of kid that ladies at the supermarket gave free cookies to and B) so you can fully appreciate the wallpaper. Sweet.

This is a vintage piece of Thai textile that has the tiniest bit of chartreuse in it. I LOVE it. My Mom said as I was taking photos, “Well, at least I know where all our stuff is going to end up when I die!” She meant Etsy.

This I made for my Mom at a paint your own pottery place.

These were my Granny and Granddaddy’s (the antiques dealer):

And this, my dad thinks, was my Great-Granny’s. It’s tied from tobacco twine.

Thanks Mom and Dad for such a great trip and being such good sports about us invading your space. And a fine space it is!

Flash From the Past…At Least it’s NOT E@@y Related! August 6, 2008

I woke up this morning with a jolt and yelled at my husband, “Did I leave my camera in the bathroom?” ! I jumped out of bed, hurdled over piles of homeless clutter, dodged the stacked bins (remnants of our recent trip) and squeezed through the bathroom door that would not open all the way due to bathtime blockage on the floor from last night. Luckily the camera was not left in the bathroom after taking this shot to document the horror:

Everyone is always going on about how Crocs are a crime against fashion blah blah blah. I am a Croc’er, and I wear them with neither shame nor pride. Those f@ckers are just comfortable. But here’s the problem with them – HOBBIT FEET. These are my son’s feet after 1 day of normal play wearing his crocs. Sorry to spring that shot on you, just thought you might be wondering why I had the camera in the bathroom in the first place.

So after I gathered myself from such a harsh awakening, I thought of a little paper piece I did a few years ago.

Here is an excerpt from my GetCrafty “blog” about :

I haven’t felt that inspired lately so I decided to experiment with housewife art, a topic that takes up a lot of my mind and time. I’ve begun a journal/altered book project trying to express some of my feelings about traditional gender roles and my seemingly constant struggle with our home. I feel torn, part of me wants to tuck this ‘pop-up’ away into my journal and another part of me wants to nail it to the front door.

The front of the card reads, “For Show” and the back of the card reads, “For Real” – I don’t know if that’s legible in the photo.

This is the first thing I’ve posted that makes me feel a little exposed so wash me in the gentle cycle.

People responded to it a number of ways. Here’s the link.

It was at a time we were doing a lot of playdates. The kind where we showed up at a new friends house and she had baked some bread for the boys with wheat berries she ground herself. Not so shocking if you read blogs now-a-days but at the time it had some impact. It was a time that we were traveling in new playgroup circles and so when it was our turn to host I did the biggest clean ups and then acted like this is the way it always is. It took me a while to figure out the other parents were more than likely doing power cleans before we arrived and putting on a “show” and to stop comparing myself with them. Luckily now we have shaken things out and have settled on a group of good friends that do not require cleaning prior to their arrival nor do they straighten before our arrival. True friends.

What made me think of it this morning is that I can not even kid myself that I am pulling off the impostor half of this dichotomy. I have been fully immersed in that-which-shall-not-be-spoken the past 4 days and everything else has pretty much been ignored. And it has nothing to do with how everything looks to the outside world but rather how we choosing to live in our space.

Today I am unplugging (you know, after I do a post about how I am not going to use the computer and check my shop on you know what for any potential sales ONE LAST TIME). I am going to clean the playroom and then spend some time with my boys getting it good and messy again. I am going to put away everything from our last trip just in time to pack for our camping trip. I am going to slow down, relax, and do a little cleaning as I go. But I am not promising a homemade dinner.

Etsy Crash Course August 4, 2008

Just as I am not qualified to dispense dietary tips or etiquette lessons, I feel a little funny writing an Etsy “round-up” with one sale under my belt. But I thought it would be helpful for me, and maybe to you, to have all the tips, tricks and links that I am quickly amassing gathered in one spot.

I have been immersed in Etsy this past week. I have dabbled in Etsy from the buyers side but it’s a whole different ball of wax over here on the sellers side. It has been fun staging my shots, figure out the lighting (still not right), researching information about my items and learning the Etsy ropes in general. Posting is a much longer process than I anticipated. A wise woman tried to tell me that it was exhausting having an Etsy shop and now I hang on her every word.

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Here are some links that I am finding useful as I dive into the etSEA:

Majaba This is a meter of sorts that allows to view your item views, and heart tallies.

Helpful Etsy Links Compiled by LooseWire Word on the street is she is Queen of Etsy, I kowtow.

Etsy Wiki

FAQ Etsy Sellers

Ultimate Newbie Guide

Etsy Fee Calculator

Edit to add new links:

http://www.bestysearch.com/ http://frontpagers.blogspot.com/ http://www.flickr.com/groups/etsyfrontpagetreasury/pool/

Here is a thread I started in the site help section of the forums titled What Else Don’t I Know About Etsy?

I found much of the information posted above in this thread. Thank you to all the Etsians took the time to share.

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Did your parents ever read you the book about Cold Pricklies and Warm Fuzzies? It’s a, ahem, vintage children’s book my parents used to read to my brother and I in an effort to teach us about manners. We are not glowing endorsements but my point is the other sellers on Etsy so far have been total Warm Fuzzies. Very helpful and willing to share their knowledge to help out someone potentially “in competition” with them.

If you have any Etsy seller Tips or Tricks not listed above please feel free to share.

I am still wondering if there is an Etsy Vintage community/group/team that I could join? Anyone know?

Fyi I can’t put up a cute little Etsy button on WP so I have listed my shop on the blogroll for now, until I decide if I am going to jump to another server and photoless posts bother me more than posts with photos that do not really pertain to the text so here are a few shots from the shop:

Have You Heard of This Little Thing Called ETSY? August 2, 2008

I remember thinking, what a weird name – it’ll never catch on, when I first saw Etsy advertised on Get Crafty. So it is with that nose for business that I excitedly present to you:

Click on my banner and you will be whisked away!

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Phew. I do not know why I was surprised at the amount of time, effort and work it took to get my shop off the ground. The searching and finding part is a breeze but then there is more! I enjoy the photography and am looking to hone my craft which is a good thing because product shot stuff is knocking me around a bit. I am going to have fun figuring it out. And I an not even going to speak about figuring out the shipping cost.

But enough kvetching from me! I hope you check out my shop. And most importantly a big old THANK YOU for cheering me on as I started this blog and for supporting me in my decision to jump into Etsy. You all ROCK.

Edit to credit: My super talented younger brother designed my banner. He is an amazing artist, darn good with the computer and knows the lyrics to every song ever sung. If you are looking for a cool Etsy banner of your own or just some good old fashioned graphic designing, let me know and I will hook you up with his info!

That’s A Lot of Candles August 1, 2008

I feel obligated, due to my natural born talent, mad skills and okay – I’ll say it – my gift, to share with you this photography fable that may or may not be of help to you.

Let’s say you lug all your merchandise, backdrop and camera gear outside for a big product shoot to finally get your Etsy shop off the ground. You schlep this stuff because you want to take advantage of the natural light (and you can’t figure out how to get the lighting right inside). Here’s the tip—–> if you enable the flash, 2 hours later when you excitedly sit at your computer to view what you just know is genius you will A) get smacked in the face with reality because B) every damn one of your shots will look like this:

It looks like I took these shots on the face of the sun. Well at least I think that’s where I went wrong but I’d sure like to find out for sure before I try this all over again. If anyone has any advice, tips or tricks I am, as usual, I’m all ears! Did I mention that I got a NEW CAMERA? Very exciting and slightly frustrating – I know, it’s obnoxious to whine when I am very lucky to get such a present. It’s just taking me a little longer to acquaint myself with the new girl. My husband gave me the camera for my 39th birthday! I had to do the math and I was a little surprised since I thought I was turning 38. 38, 39, big deal – but my brain swerved a little. My husband, who used to bring me a little present every Friday after work for Shabbat, and I haven’t really exchanged presents since we had our first son and I decided to quite the job that paid me in money to stay home etc. etc. So I’m very grateful, just impatient. I will add “read the manual” to my Summer Time To Do List (which is not getting any trimmer).