Lucy's Vet Visit and Some New Collages and Movie Watching

You can read about Lucy's vet visit here. Real exciting that was.

New collage in the shop.

Nesting.


Baby Birds in the Nest.


We did some movie watching this weekend. Cheap movies from the Red Box, and I'm so glad our first choice was cheap because it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen and I couldn't even finish watching it, I just got way too annoyed.

What was the annoying movie? Due Date. STOOPID! And BORING! And a total waste of a dollar.

But last nights movies were way better. Keith missed most of the first movie because he fell asleep at 7pm, fully clothed and with his work boots on, all stretched out across the bed. It was The Kids are All Right and I really enjoyed it. I like both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore anyway, and this movie was very entertaining and well acted. Keith woke up in time for the next movie, The Town with Ben Affleck, and I really liked that movie too. Those were well worth $1.00 each.

We're Famous!

Once again, Bakersfield is in the news. This time it's not for being the most polluted city in the nation (that was a few weeks ago) but for being the home of ARNOLD'S LOVE CHILD!

It was all over the news reports last night, our local channels covering the national channels covering the breaking news that the woman that Arnold cheated on Maria with (and had a child with) lives right here in good old Bakersfield. And this is important news because? Is it really necessary for 25 news trucks to be camping out in a formerly quiet neighborhood hoping to catch a glimpse of the woman, or better yet, THE LOVE CHILD? Of course it is! We all love scandal, now don't we?

Other than that excitement, and yes, it's tempting to drive around town looking for the cul-de-sac where all of the news trucks are parked, it's just another rather dull week around here.

It did rain some this week which totally surprised me since I really thought summer was here what with temps at almost 90 last Friday. The good thing about clouds and rain rolling in is that the air gets cleaned up and you can see the mountains. I drove up to the post office yesterday afternoon and you could see from one side of the valley to the other, with a canopy of sky and clouds. It was really kind of pretty.

Sales are so very slow this month, I don't know what's going on with that. I've seen numerous complaints about it on the Etsy forums, so it's not just me that it's happening to. Nobody knows what the problem is or has a solution, though. It is very discouraging and I certainly don't feel like making or listing anything because really, what's the point? Rack up those listing fees but nothing in return for it.

I do have a few new things, though. I took some of the painted brass charm necklaces and decoupaged words onto them.

Flutter Butterfly


Rose in Bloom


And Sang Swallow Bird

New Stuff in the Shop

I found a few antiqued silver brass stampings from back when I had a few necklaces in the shop and decided to try them again but with added beads and stuff on them so they aren't quite so plain looking. Although there is one seller on etsy who sells the plain ones like crazy and I'm very envious and it irritates that something so very basic that all you do is drill a hole or two and put it on a chain sells like there is no tomorrow out of her shop. Anyway, I'm going to try them again in my shop.


Owl with a Yellow Heart


Bohemian Butterfly


Angel Wing

So, we'll see on those. I also tried an experiment with the glass tiles, making a kind of 3D collage effect on them by putting paper on the bottom and the top and then sealing the top with resin. Very time consuming to make these, though.

I Got My First Ever

Negative feedback on Etsy, that is. And you know what? I'm not really all that bothered by it. After four years getting one negative is not the end of the world. I had sold one of the domino pendants and apparently the ink or dye used to color the wood black can rub off on your clothes. Because while the buyer liked the pendant it stained her shirt and it won't come out so she left me a negative, which I probably would have too if I bought a necklace that stained my shirt. Not that you'd probably notice on one of my shirts since most of them are already stained.

So, anyway, if you've bought a domino pendant beware of possible staining issues. Take some clear nail polish or varnish or what have you and seal up the back of the domino. I'm going to have to do that with all the ones that I have in the shop and just hope that nobody else ends up with black marks on their clothes.

I think I'm going to put a bunch of stuff on sale in the shop today and clean out all the old stock to make room for new. I was working on the new glass tile pendants but didn't like the way they came out when I did them as soldered pendants. So I thought I'd just do the plain picture ones like so many other sellers do and seem to sell but those were kind of blah, so...I added a little bit of beaded wire to them, sealing up the backs with glaze so that the wire is kind of glued on and won't be going anywhere (or leaving any marks on clothes). We'll see how these do. I also added some wire to some of the wood pendants for a little extra sparkle. I'm kind of running out of ideas that don't cost a lot of money in supplies, which I don't have to be spending since things are so slow.

Glass tiles:


Wood:



I had forgotten how very tiny the little glass beads are since I think the last time I did anything with tiny beads was like in 1969 or so when we would string them in very long strands to make hippie 'love' bead necklaces. I had a hard time finding the little holes in the beads with my wire and of course spilled a bunch all over the floor.

Anyway.

Yesterday I steam cleaned the bedroom carpet which is so old and stained that it doesn't make a whole lot of difference in looks, but does pull up a lot of cat hair that the vacuum cleaner doesn't get. It's really disgusting, all these wet globs of cat hair that the brush on the steam cleaner pulls up, wet globs of cat hair that I have to pick up off the floor (with my bare hands) and pull out of the steam cleaner.

I put a bunch of stuff on the bed before steam cleaning, including their new cat bed (coffee pot box) and my shoes, and later on look over to see Lucy attempting to use her new cat bed, having to bend herself around my shoes to do so.


I'm still wondering how she got in there with the shoes in the way.

New Stuff

I keep trying to come across that one thing that will be my next big best seller-ha ha.

So, this week I've been working on decoupaged wood pendants, easy to make although lots of steps what with painting the wood, cutting out the paper, decoupaging it onto the wood (have to watch the paint dry first), then sealing the wood and paper with mod podge.

I had made a few with just jump rings to hang them with then searched Michaels for something that looks a little classier and came across these pinch bail things that do look much better than a cheap old jumpring. At least I hope they look better.

It has been fun making them so even if they don't sell like hotcakes, at least it's given me something other than cleaning up cat boxes and vacuuming up cat hair to do. Plus I didn't have to go out and spend a bunch of money on supplies, I already had some of the wood, the papers, the mod podge, the paint, and the ball chains.

So, here's what they look like and we'll see if they go over or not. They are budget priced, so maybe that will help if someone is looking for little gifts or stocking stuffers that don't break the bank!

Tropical Ferns


Tiny Kokeshi Doll-this one looks big but is actually small at only about 1" across.


Butterfly-this one's cut from a vintage kids book.


I found the most gorgeous collage sheets on etsy the other day, the ferns and this one came from the sheets that I got.


And this one is a little bit naughty of a mermaid.

Sparking the Creativity?

I got some new supplies this weekend, not that I really could afford to spend money on new supplies, but I'm trying to come up with some new ideas for my Etsy shop. I got a couple of beading magazines for inspiration, but finding the supplies for some of the ideas is a little challenging. Michael's just doesn't carry quite what I'm looking for and trying to find them on the internet is hard, too. I kind of like to be able to physically see and touch supplies and chain and such, it's so hard to tell if something on the internet is the something that will work for your project.

But, I did make three new necklaces and have supplies to make a few more, so we'll see how it goes.




I don't like the background in the pictures, though, so I'm going to be experimenting today with backgrounds and also taking new pictures of what's in my Etsy shop and getting rid of some of the 'shopworn'. I can't stand having things in my shop that have been sitting there for months, I know there's a chance that it still might sell, but I'm sick of looking at it.

I'm going to close down my Artfire shop, they changed how the search works so now if you have the free account your listings will only show up under random search, not in the newly listed. So, what's the point. Nobody seems to be selling all that much over there and I've never been a big fan of the site anyway. The $12.00 a month account is very reasonable compared to my Etsy fees, but reasonable doesn't pay the bills if nothing sells. At least you have a better chance on Etsy even if sales seem to be few and far between these days. This whole year, actually.

So, that's what I've got up my sleeve for today, taking new pictures and listing on Etsy. Maybe I'll do a little house cleaning, too, ha ha.

New Stuff

It's really hard to get excited about making new stuff when the old stuff just sits in the shops on zibbet and etsy, but I did get some fun new digital collage sheets yesterday to make more small reversible soldered pendants. I haven't done any of these for a while and thought I'd give them another try.

Bird and nest reversible pendant:


Party reversible pendant:



Other than that, nothing much going on up in these parts. We are waiting for summer to be over with, hoping that Keith doesn't melt out there in the hot sun first. They were going in at 5am to try and beat some of the heat but the sun is coming up later in the morning and they can't see what they are doing in the dark very well so they're back to the 6am start time now. At least he can sleep for an extra hour in the morning. I'm just trying to keep busy, I haven't heard a thing from any of the places I applied to. There is a new super Target opening up here in town and we heard that they were taking applications but like I told Keith, how am I supposed to get there, I need work within walking distance. Not that I really want to go back to cashiering, of course! We are just trying to hang in there in the hopes that this economy will turn around within the next few months.

The kitties are fat and sassy, eating sleeping and pooping like usual. Buddy is his usual rambunctious self, chasing the other cats around and Pepper is her usual cranky self. Bear is her usual sweet self please rub my face and Mimi is still her usual I'm going to jump on your shoulders and drool self. Lucy is just Lucy, she only wants attention when you are trying to cook dinner or take a shower, and Harri is always nervous about all the other cats. She does get her special time with Keith most evenings when he lays on the bed and she gets on his chest for her pets. That is if Buddy doesn't get there first. Speaking of kitties, I'd better go clean their cat boxes. Again.

New Stuff

I got me a big old roll of solder, some silver backed foil (after discovering that the copper back really sticks out like a sore thumb through glass if you don't get it wrapped just right), some glass tiles and chunks, some mirrors, and I've been soldering away these past few days.

It's hard to take photos of mirrors, you have to make sure nothing ugly shows in the mirror. These start out with 3" mirrors, so the whole thing isn't really huge, more of a little wall accent or suncatcher.


I've been having fun with these little mirrors, the possibilities are endless in how you can arrange all the glass stuff.

This is a simple glass chunk, it's sold as 'beach' glass in a bag, but they are just big pieces of tumbled glass.


This pendant is made with little iridescent glass mosaic tiles soldered together. It looks really big in the picture, but is actually only about 2" long. I like the colors and the simplicity of it.


And, this one is made with stained glass scraps that they sell for use in mosaics.


And that's what I've been doing. And nothing else, no housework, no laundry, nothing! And my house definitely looks it.

It's Caturday!

I've been trying to think of ways to make this blog a little more cohesive instead of just random posts about whatever. You know, how some bloggers have themes for each day? Well, I'm not quite that organized, but I was thinking that Saturdays could be Caturdays! How festive, right?

So, in honor of this very first Caturday, here's Bear hiding under the bed. You can't see me right?


Hello, Bear!


And, look, Lucy's under there too!


And on this special Caturday you also get a bonus lolcat! Yay!


I also wanted to share something new that I'm working on. I was so very uninspired this week but happened to pick up a craft magazine that I almost put in the yard sale stuff but had saved for reasons unknown. I was flipping through it, wondering why I had saved it, when I came across an idea for little collage shadowboxes made with the cardboard jewelry boxes of which I have tons of. I had been trying to think of ways to use the larger pictures in my vintage kids books and what do you know, they'd be perfect for shadowboxes and I have stacks and stacks of the larger necklace size boxes that I'm not using.

So, this is what I came up with. This one is in the big 5x7 size box.


And this one is in the little 2x3 box.


These were fun to make and I'm so glad I didn't get rid of my small stash of vintage buttons! I'm hoping that these might sell since I just went and bought a bunch of ribbon and trims for them. I checked on etsy and nobody has quite the same type of thing, so we'll see how they do.