Railroad Jobs and Gift Tags

Keith applied with BNSF railroad yet again, they have openings for 10 conductor positions. I told him yet again not to get his hopes up too much, because what with the 15% unemployment here in Bakersfield, not to mention the 45% in some of the other towns around here I'm sure they'll get a few thousand applications. Plus we found out that if he did by some stroke of incredible luck actually get hired we might have to move to Barstow.

BNSF wants to consolidate operations and move their Bakersfield people to Barstow to save money or something like that and the Bakersfield people are just a little upset at the thought of having to move to Barstow because Barstow is out in the middle of nowhere and who the heck wants to live in Barstow, not that Bakersfield is much better. We found out about this turn of events a few days after he sent off his application, we were watching the news and here comes a story about BNSF families protesting with a picket line and everything out in front of the operations here. Railroad families have a tough enough life what with dad or mom working weird hours and weekends and putting up with furloughs and having to follow the work wherever there is work available and they really don't want to have to uproot their families and try to sell their house in an unsellable market and move out to the desert. And I can't blame them one bit.

Out of curiosity Keith was looking on our kind of outdated California map because who uses maps anymore when you have all that fancy stuff on your car and computers on your phone and people you can call if you get lost, but anyway, he was looking to see what other towns are near Barstow and where people who work in Barstow might possibly live. There is not much near Barstow, Victorville is the next biggest town and about 30 miles away. Or you could live in Hinkley which you may remember as the town where everybody drank the water and got cancer from the movie Erin Brockovich. You don't want to live in Barstow which apparently is the crime capitol of the desert with 'extremely and unusually' high crime rates per capita according to the crime rate web site that I found. I'm sure I've been through Barstow before but don't remember anything about it, but Keith says that it is definitely a sh*thole and downtown is full of gangster looking and homeless looking people milling about.

So. BNSF is supposed to come to a decision next month about all this, but with a big company like BNSF it all comes down to the profit margin now doesn't it?

I made some gift tags and a few bags and boxes in Christmas themes. I wasn't going to list any paper stuff on Etsy because by the time you get done paying the fees to list you don't make much money off of it if it, but I'm also wanting to sell the darn things, so I double listed them on Etsy and Artfire.

Holly Berry and Music Pillow Gift Box Set


Retro kitty cat gift tags


Big Victorian Gift Tags


And some big Poinsettia and Santa tags


I have some more papers for more gift bags and tags but after making these kind of lost interest a little. I've really been having a hard time getting inspired to do much of anything these days, but I'm hoping I'll get creative later today.

What's New on Artfire

I got creative and made gift tag sets, available ONLY on Artfire. These were fun to make and I'm anxiously awaiting a collage sheet order to come in the mail. I found a cool site that has retro type images from the fifties, which I LOVE and so I ordered 6 or 7 collage sheets to make Christmas tags with. I'm hoping they come in the mail today.

Anyway, here are some tags that I made.

Paris themed.

and more Paris.

And some Alice in Wonderland.

and more Alice.

I was going to include pictures but I already deleted the batch that had these pictures in, I get too confused with lots of picture batches in my folder so try to delete them after I'm done listing. Oh, well.

What else? I got an order of brass stampings in and have been painting and antiquing them so that I can list them in the supply shop on Etsy. I've come to the conclusion that Etsy is only good for selling supplies to other sellers these days, ha ha. So, I'm going to work that shop for all it's worth! I do like the fact that I can advertise these supplies as being made in the USA, too. That's unusual for anything to be made in the USA these days.

I went and got my blood work done yesterday morning so that I can go back to the doctor's next Friday and make sure that my new cholesterol meds aren't messing up my liver or anything like that. Also so that they can charge me for another office visit. We just got the bill for Keith's visit and do you know that it costs $20.00 for a rectal exam? The indignity of that and then you've got to pay for it, too!

I was cleaning the cat box last night and kind of wondered how much time I spend cleaning cat boxes so I figured about 2 minutes twice a day times 365 days is 1460 minutes a year which is how many hours? 24? If my calculator is working correctly since I have no math skills anymore and can barely remember how to add stuff let alone multiply and divide. So an entire day out of the year is spent cleaning cat boxes and I'm really glad it doesn't have to be done all in one day.

Getting Up a Little Earlier

I figured out that if I set my alarm for 6:30 or so and actually get out of bed before 7 I get a whole lot more done. If I don't do something before 10 am or so, it probably won't get done that day or I'll do a half ass job like putting the clothes in the washer but then forgetting to put them in the dryer.

So, yesterday I was lazy and didn't set the alarm but today it went off at 6:30 and I hit the snooze button about 5 times and then finally got up. I've already actually cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed the bedrooms and cleaned the cat box, so there is something to be said for getting my lazy self up earlier. I've also started the laundry and hope I will remember to put it in the dryer.

I had to clean the bathroom because when I went to brush my teeth this morning the sink made me feel a little ill because Harri started hacking up a hairball at about 3:30 am and Keith was holding her over the sink so that said hairball wouldn't be laying in the middle of the rug. So there was remnants of hairball vomit in the sink and it almost made me vomit. I don't usually let any of the cats in the bedroom during the night because they either climb under the covers with us or run around the room or want us to get up and feed them or as in Harri's case, vomit somewhere. But last night I felt sorry for her because she gets picked on by the bully cats so much and I thought it would be nice for her to be in a quiet room all night, and then she goes and leaves us a hairball as a thank you.

Anyway.

Watching the World Series last night was fun and it was nice to see the Giants win since they haven't won since 1954, which is even longer than I've been alive, and I've been alive for a long long time now. It's kind of cute to see grown men jumping around like little kids after a win like that. Watching so much baseball this past week made me want a Dodger Dog and a beer, though, or at least some peanuts. Or Cracker Jack.

And I'm so glad that election day is finally here so that I don't have to see any more election commercials for a while. Of course, the election commercials stop just in time for all the Christmas commercials to start. Ugh.

And, speaking of the dreaded holiday season, I worked on collage gift tags yesterday, which was fun and a little more creative than I've been lately. I've decided to list paper goods on Artfire only, it's just too expensive to list a set of tags or gift bags on Etsy, after the 20c to list and the 3.5% sales fee and the 30c paypal fee plus whatever percentage on top of that at paypal, you're lucky to make $1.00 on that set of gift tags or bags. I sold two sets of gift bags on Artfire yesterday and that sale alone will pay for the next 2 months shop fees.

Anyway. Off to vacuum the living room now.

Halloween SALE

Since I need to make some money so that I can buy some Halloween candy for all the little monsters, all of my Halloween gift bags are on SALE! I need to get rid of them, folks, so get them BEFORE Halloween instead of AFTER Halloween and then you can actually use them this year instead of putting them away for next year and then forgetting where they are. Good idea? Yes, it is. So...

Vampire bats on sale!

Creepy skeletons on sale!

Candy corn on sale!

Witches on brooms on sale!

Black Cats on sale!

And Halloween Pumpkins!

Come See Me on Artfire!

So, Artfire has been around for a few years, and I've tried it out a few times without a whole lot of luck, spending most of my efforts on my Etsy shop. Now, my Etsy shop has been fairly successful, but lately I'm spending so much money on listing and renewing fees in the struggle to get the sales that I'm not making any profit at all. I just spent about $5.00 in renewal fees the other day to get my Halloween gift boxes back up front in the search. Did I get a sale from it? Yes, but that $5.00 really cut into the profits on that sale, so was it worth it? Mmm...maybe not so much.

Well, when I found out that Artfire was coming out of beta mode with a new front page and a special deal for everyone who signed up by the end of September with a $5.95 per month fee for a Pro shop with all the perks and privileges of said Pro shop, I just couldn't resist. $5.95 a month for unlimited listings, no final sales fee, submission to google shopping and The Find, global editing, and lots of other features is well worth giving it another go. My Etsy bill for September alone is well over $80.00. Yes, I may get more sales on Etsy, but the sales I do get on Artfire are going to cost me a whole lot less, meaning more money in my pocket.

So, new shops on Artfire! One for my jewelry and gift boxes, and one for supplies.

And, since it is way cheaper to sell on Artfire, I'm taking the chance of double listing all my Etsy stuff so that everything is on both Etsy and Artfire. I just have to check my email frequently and remove any sold stuff from the other site. I did get one sale on Artfire the other day and actually remembered to go remove it from Etsy.

Another thing I really like about the new front page on Artfire is that you can make a 'collection', much like a treasury on Etsy, with your favorites or a specific theme, and your collection can be submitted by you for front page consideration. In the effort to reduce the rampant favoritism on Etsy with the same sellers being promoted on the front page Artfire has a program that will not let you include a seller in your collection who has already been featured recently. How about that? Why can't Etsy do the same thing? Because they don't care, that's why.

Anyway, come on over to Artfire and check out my shops!

I'm Bored

So I'm listing some new stuff over at CraftIsArt, a new site that I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with for long or not, we'll see.

Anyway, I've got some new collage pendants that I'm putting up today along with free shipping on everything in that shop and my Artfire shop. Since Etsy costs so much more to sell on, no free shipping over there. Yet. I am thinking about doing a summer special with free shipping, though.

Tiny Birds in Flight Collage Pendant


Little Brown Bunny Rabbit Collage Pendant


Little Brown Sparrow Collage Pendant


And Blue and Black Butterfly Collage Pendant

To The Vet

Poor old Harri has been sneezing so we've got to take her to the vet this afternoon. I was really surprised that they had any open appointments today what with the long weekend coming up and all. I guess cats are like little kids who always get sick when the doctor's office is closed.

We were totally negligent parents last year with only Bear and Pepper getting vet visits. We just plain old couldn't afford to take the rest of them for their yearlies. So everybody else is way overdue for checkups and annual shots. We'll start scheduling one a month while we're paying for today's visit and hopefully be able to afford each cat getting their shots and all. At least we don't have to send them to college or go to endless soccer games.

Slow slow slow week for sales. I decided to offer free shipping in my artfire shop and see if that will jumpstart some sales over there. I have 2 so far, which isn't bad for artfire. I really like their features, though, and the fact that your listings are submitted to google shopping for you. I don't get why etsy can't do the same. Sorry, etsy, but I'm becoming a little disillusioned with you. On artfire it was a snap to change all the listings to free shipping, they have a global editor feature and with a few clicks you are all done and your pictures automatically get a little 'free shipping' banner put on them with those few clicks. That way anybody browsing the site will easily see that you are offering free shipping and they also have a free shipping click on to browse all the offerings. Listing is super easy, too, one page and a minute or two and you're all done!

Other than that I've just been trying to get enthusiastic about making things and keeping the house sort of clean. We have no food so I have to figure up a (cheap) menu for the next week and go buy some food tomorrow. I'm not inspired as to what to eat.