Come Fly With me Airplanes Fly to Jordan

Just sold twenty MIY Come Fly With Me Airplanes  and they will be flying to Jordan for a children's birthday party!

So Stoked.

These are really cute, pre-cut fun foam airplanes I created for my kids as a Valentine's Day gift for them to give out in their classes when they were in elementary school. Liking the idea so much, I made it part of my Etsy Store and now they are on their way to Jordan!  That is half way across the Earth (near Israel).

Thank you to a great customer in purchasing this awesome toy for kids and adults to play with, oh what fun they will have!

Etsy, Etsy, Esty!

Ok this year is about finding ways to get my original creations and happy things into the hands of customers.  Four years ago come August 2013, I will be celebrating my fourth year on Etsy.  I opened my shop featuring my favorite things, Halloween Tiara's and then sold my first creation, a foam spider web design children's tiara.  This sale took place in September and I believed I was on a path without end of more and more bountiful happiness. Fast forward to today, I still believe in my tiara's as a good buy and a great idea, however while they are a great draw to my shop, they didn't do what I thought they would do, so I have more to learn.

These Halloween Tiara's are a stepping stone and a personal place of joy for me as I really do enjoy the fantasy of wearing costumes, making fun during the fall seasons and deserting it up for Halloween, so I remained inspired by halloween type of items. The tiara's have grown with additions to my  original line.  Customers have requested multiples of single designs for parties they plan for their kids, as the tiaras are great for either boys or girls.  I also make special  order designs which have also brought a different scope to finding tiara bargains in my store.

From this point, I diversified and added to my shop other items such as vintage jewelry, vintage items or really cool finds from thrifting as I am a vast collector of thrift store shopping.  

Now, advance forward four years to the wane of my third year on Etsy and with less than awesome sales that I had hoped I am doing research into finding a way to increase sales and this is a part of it.  

I have been in business a long time, working full time and part time, mostly in the graphic design business, either for another company or finding contract work when unemployed, giving my Etsy store not as much attention as I should.  Given better sales I probably would have been more attentive to the kind of promotion needed, however I was an owner and promoter of my work and life for me never has gone in a straight line.  As such I recently posted my most recent talent, banners for Etsy shops.  Bringing it all home to what I do for a living and what I love to do all under one roof.

I am a renaissance artist, running a renaissance shop where a customer can come and find just about anything from the curious to an original design straight from my desk.  Some of the work I do outside of Etsy ends up here such as the Sunflower picture, and original drawing I did while teaching a young lady how to draw.  Drawing too is a passion I have and a great gift from the universe to me, a personal present I have sat in wonder about and love being able to do anywhere!  Some of the work I have done here is also available at my shop  - again, it is a curiosity of magic and fun.

Going forward I am going to keep writing and keep blogging about my progress here in life, in business and about my hopes with my Etsy saga.  I will also be bringing you new posting previews of new things on Etsy, then Tweeting, Facebook-ing, tumblr-ing and who knows what else about my progress, so do stop back, figure out how to follow my progress, and help make the 13th year in this century and my fourth year on Etsy a real blast - that means share me with your friends and tell them it is a good idea. Besides, I know you love what I do and want to see where it all takes me, don't ya?

More New Year Adjustments

There is a reluctance in my soul, maybe others have felt it too, which is my hesitation to embrace in joy and delight that we are now in a new year.  However with the change of an old year to a new year there are new year adjustments needed and this is where my reluctance comes in.  It also doesn't help that I had to move at the end of last year and half my life still resides in boxes while I manage my normal day to day.  Normal day to day for me is to stay compliant with unemployment (meaning look for work every day) and also continue to help my clients with the freelance work I have via my design studio, which has boxes and boxes surrounding my work area.

Not knowing where anything is still frustrating.  Lack of familiarity with the new habits I am trying to develop, because of the new digs, I stay frustrated, wanting miracles to occur to wipe this madness away.  I know only I can create the change that is needed to reduce this frustration, however I really wish magical beings would make it so without my help.

So what are these adjustments anyway?  Well the first is changing all your calendars.  Another is just remembering to write 2013 and not 2012. Then there is making notes in a new calendar for dates you agreed to show up at from last year, and well, I almost missed a few.  Gratefully and I am happy to report, I did not drop any new years balls yet!  I just finished transferring the new dates into this years "Monthly Planner 2013" as I found this really helped me stay focused last year, a vision I want to maintain this year.  I like having more than one calendar about me and I have two that are filled with the same information, so today I synced them together and the New Year has officially entered my heart of my business world.  I am more of the hand written calendar type than the iPhone or iCalendar on the desktop as I can glance and focus first on where I am today and then know what is coming without the need of gadgets.

January is a difficult month for me, I do not know how it is for others, but I feel the month presents a slow build to a year of unknown possibilities.  Because of that I walk with caution and take careful steps.  Three people I know are born in this month and I have their special days mapped out for me to remember, something I have not been so good about in past years, another area of improvement I want to work on.

So all this being said, I feel the steam of my forward movement has been launched today, eight days into the year late, and I am feeling the momentum building to a positive place.  Hope and faith in my achievements is what propels me, reality of what arrives keeps me honest or flexible, and desire to step off the cliffs into the unknown are habits I remember and never needed packing or unpacking, so it is all good.  Happy New Year to my readers, may the force be with us all!

New Beginnings, a New Year Ahead

Beginning of this New Year has been a slow observation of what lies ahead for me.  Daunting leftovers from last year and the desire to feel fresh and excited about the new possibilities brings me to remember, always slow down and smell the grateful roses on my path as I walk Prince Butters, my dog more commonly known as Buddy around our new home.

Change is inevitable as we are organic and thus subject to natural change.  No two morning are ever the same, neither are we when we wake to greet the morning.  Yesterday I slept in, today my neck hurts and I have a headache.  A change in weather can effect well laid out and discussed plans of the day into an unexpected experience, or better and perhaps more simply, a flat tire can have the same equally powerful effect.  Both can stop an adventure cold in it's tracks and force those perfect plans into perpetual regrouping as time pushes the timeline bye-bye.

Everyone is a bustle about having NY Resolutions. Why?  I keep my resolutions simple, do better and be better to all.  This way I believe I am improving on the gift of life given to me and the joy of those who I have contact with everywhere I travel.  I can gleam from this a better understanding of the path I take and the one laid in front of me, as these are different directions, both with strong pulls and minds of their own.  Even the best of preparation reminds me to pause and realize I have little to no clue of what lies ahead, there are far to many factors or possibilities, so it is best to move lightly and stay flexible whenever there is doubt about what to do next. When the need to answer one of life's burning questions comes up, I feel better prepared at being there in the fullest sense and finding a suitable answer best for all.

So rather than have resolutions, I am exploring goals, creating, imagining and achieving them, whether or not they are mine to have this year.  I try to also keep these goals simple, clear and easy to focus on.  The main one is to journal more and to not worry if I write a little or not at all, just accept I have way to many thoughts in my head and I just want to track them all for the year in one place, not scattered, as in the past and then searching for scotch tape to stick it down in my bulging book.  The other main goal is to empower my ability to create new paths for work, whether it is drawing, graphic design, packaging, teaching, or a combination of all in one project.  Building this foundation is key to a better journey I want to make happen.  Perhaps between these two goals I can prosper, invigorate my bank account, grow my circle of peeps and feel less intimidated at the power of the force surrounding my desires, always determined to distract me.

So like a child of the Universe, drifting and controlling steps in front of me, I carry on, plan to stay calm and smile at things that I can achieve, like fresh coffee in the morning, a simple conversation with my immediate family about today's events and the joys of being with my dog, Buddy who is a constance source of love, happiness and affection.