creative overdrive

Shhh, I'm creating!

Actually, I am working on a little project that I thought would take almost no time and instead is taking me... well... more time. But that is all I am saying about it because it seems whenever I discuss details of my projects, they disappear into the ether of woulda-shoulda-coulda. So mum's the word until it is done (hopefully by the weekend).

In the meantime, I also signed up to sell my wares on Zibbet -- kind of like Etsy but no fees! Seriously. I did however spring for the premium account -- right now on offer for $7 per month (nearly half off the regular $15), plus if you sign up now, use the code 30FREE to get 30 days of the premium account for nothing. If you want to sign up, please consider clicking the banner below so I get credit for spreading the love :)

I'll let you know when my store is ready and when my other project is done. Woo!

Oh, and I also got an email from the coordinators of the LoudSpeaker Festival asking if I wanted a table at the market. It's a busy weekend and I'm not sure I can fit in a random sale day or two, but I have asked for more information, just in case. Again, I'll put out the word if I'm going to be there!

the start of something....

... not sure what yet... but something.

(And, if you are interested, Frazz is for sale in my Etsy store.)

In Bad Taste

Regretsy is fantastic for questionable content but I was stopped in my tracks by this particular Valentine card. Wait! Before you click that link you should know it features the Twin Towers, mid-strike, with the text "I'm falling for you."

It's by an artist living in Wisconsin. I wonder if she knows/knew anyone affected by the collapse?

And then there is the issue of the death of Georgian luge athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili just prior to the opening of the big event on the mainland. The IOC was lighnting fast in getting footage pulled from YouTube but my guess is that it had much more to do with marketing and trademarks than common human decency because the footage* continued to air on CTV and NBC, the big official media partners. Today, even after cries of, "Enough, already!" erupted, the NY Times featured an "interactive" look at the accident: freezing 8 frames of the footage and matching them to the track.

You'll notice I'm not linking to these things.

I'm not that old, but I remember a time when the news didn't show people dying -- outside of war zones, and then the footage was preceded by warnings that it might be graphic or disturbing.

A quick search of Google News finds opinion pieces with titles like "Gravity of News Seems to Escape NBC" and "Is a Georgian Life Worth Less than an American Life?" and "Are we Just Crash Test Dummies?" -- good questions. VANOC seems certain of one thing, though, it was not their fault but they will make changes anyway. Unfortunately, Kumaritashvili's death was not the only incident on the track -- there were complaints that it was far too fast. Will VANOC pay any price for this? Only in salaries and bonuses to their spin doctors.


*Some comments have started referring to the footage as a snuff film but I think, technically, it escapes simply by virtue of being captured in a documentary action, not story-boarded.

Etsy Heart Contest

This is the easiest contest ever. My Etsy store has 99 Hearts (i.e. fans) but I want a few more...

...so just go to my store and give me a heart (click on "+Add seller to favorites" in the right hand column, registration is required). The 100th and the 123rd and the 147th people to heart my store will get a free Creative Miscellany gift* in the mail!

If you are already a fan -- Thank You! -- you can still win: just tweet or blog or share on Facebook your favourite listing in my store and leave a comment below that points/links to it. I'll use a random number generator to pick up to three comments for more free gifts*!

Become a Fan of Creative Miscellany on Facebook and I will draw up to three more names for free gifts* from there.

Finally, if you do all three things, you'll be put in a grand prize draw for a yet-to-be-sewn, one-of-a-kind Huggitz doll!




*Free gifts will be stuff I can ship flat or in small packages including ACEOs, greeting cards, Monsters and Aliens colouring books, Coffee Haiku mini-books, or even finger puppets!

You have until midnight PST on Wednesday Feb 3, 2010 to enter.

Mother-daughter day

Last night, we tried to highlight Kiddo's hair with Kool-Aid™ homebrew dye; unfortunately, her hair is a bit too dark so there was very little effect. You can see some red highlights in the sunshine but only if you are looking for them. Oh well. Next time: henna rinse.

This morning, we finished the zine! Bümfmag, issue 1 is now available -- I will be shipping out the giveaway issues Monday. There's still a couple more spaces if you want to get a freebie, otherwise the zine is for sale on Etsy:

Best thing? Kiddo is already planning what goes in issue #2.

Around noon, we went to the museum, in part to see the visiting exhibit from the British Museum. Unlike other visiting exhibits, this one does not seem to be drawing the crowds. The tickets were supposed to be timed but there was no lineup and no crowd. In fact, only the IMAX seemed slightly busy today. The exhibit itself was interesting -- a few key pieces especially so -- but I think it lacked the focus that others have brought (e.g. Titanic, Da Vinci).

After the museum, we met my Mom and my Mother in Law at the Gatsby Mansion for Afternoon Tea. Not bad, but not fantastic either -- great location, nice to not be rushed, but the food was just acceptable. The search continues for the best tea in Victoria; apparently, I am picky about afternoon tea.

I hate my sinuses.

... but I am not going to bore you with my tales of Head Cold of Ought Nine Round Two, no sirreee. Instead, I am going to dump a bunch of links at you that have been cluttering up my brain of late:

First, some stupid ideas:

Rebranding the SciFi network as SyFy -- apparently to attract more women. UNLIKELY. However, it has given them a lot of press, even if most of it riducules them for the concept. Hopefully it will go down the same drain as New Coke.

VANOC's latest plan to f*#$ over the province: the 2010 Winter Games Integrated Transportation Plan. While I applaud any increase to transit options, I think having dedicated vehicle lanes for what boils down to VANOC cronies is a waste of resources. I also shudder at the burden of extra costs to any company that makes deliveries into Vancouver's downtown core and other "key areas" as these deliveries will have to be done during the graveyard shift during the 3 weeks around the Games. Oh, hey! I guess that means that any business getting a delivery will have to meet the trucks in the middle of the night, too. Way to go VANOC.

The latest in a string of stupid reactions to parents who trust their children was this poor kid in Mississippi who ended up in a cop car because neighbours thought he shouldn't be walking to the soccer field unattended. At age ten. In daylight. The woman rightfully stood up to police, asking them why her neighbourhood was deemed so unsafe that it was necessary to pick up her child, causing the police chief to backpedal.

Next, some fun news:

Kiddo, Hubby and I all added new stuff to our collective etsy store -- Hubby unearthed his Brains on Chains, I built some collage packs, and Kiddo created some Kids Fun Foam Book Kits. I photographed all of it and posted them yesterday.

We have a new toy. Hubby went out to get new tires yesterday and came home with a PS3 (specifically a Playstation 3 40GB Console). (He came home with the tires, too; it wasn't an either/or transaction). He scored the system second-hand at one of our fave haunts (Barclay's Exchange) and once it was clear that the system worked, he went out in search of new games. As a result I happily spent an hour last night getting acquainted with LittleBigPlanet. I expect a game review will follow.


And now, stuff you can win:

Win a powerful new shredder for your office by spring cleaning and sending before and after photos to LifeHacker. Contest ends tomorrow (!!) 19 March

Win a pillow decorated with a cover made from selvedge (the scrap ends of fabric that are all the rage with use-every-scrap crafters these days) just for commenting at the Selvedge Blog. Contest ends 23 March.

Win coffee for a year (or doughnuts, really, as the prize is awarded in Tim Hortons Gift Cards) by entering online at Tim Hortons RRRoll Up Fun. Contest ends 22 March.

Words

I've been playing word games again (Lexulous on Facebook) and thinking about language and words again. I recently put in my first order from Threadless and will soon be the owner of this tshirt:


I've always been drawn to word art, especially when people use words in an unexpected way, like these dream tickets (that just sold out!!) from MoonFaces on Etsy:

(She has other tickets available... I really like the idea.)

Of course, you can also get my words on a t-shirt, mug, messenger bag or in a frame; buy my zombie haiku stuff at Cafe Press:



And, just to be silly, my del.icio.us tags in word-art form using Wordle....

Etsy Treasury!

Yay! I've been included in a treasury called It's Alive! It's not front page (yet) but it's still exposure and that makes me very happy indeed!



Better still, I've arranged with my Mom to store all my Etsy stock while we are selling/moving so that I don't have to de-list it all! Yay!

Collage-Mosaic cards

ACEO_loveshouldbe
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen

So, I was able to get 8 ACEO/ATC size cards out of each page from the scrapbook I thrifted the other day. Using some pages I'd scavenged from old books and sheet music I've created a series of art cards with which I am fairly pleased. So far this one, "love should be" is my favourite.

I'll likely make a few more before listing any on Etsy, but expect them there within a week.

Etsy Travel Showcase

Trying something different, I bought a spot in the Travel Showcase for Sunday -- it's still late Saturday here on the west coast, but the spot is already up; here's what it looks like when you expand my spot:



I was originally planning to showcase the travel colouring kit, but put a Wradical Wrap in first place instead. As you can see, it lists the travel kit, too, and another 8 items that I selected. (After Sunday, unless they all sell out, the items will be available in my Etsy store.)

Mini-Huggitz creations!

minihuggitz_trio
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen

Last night, I was sewing up some Swiffer™ sleeves but I got distracted by the little scraps of leftover fleece; the purple floral print lent itself well to the embroidered mouth features and the rest just fell into place!

I love the resulting creatures so much that it's going to be really hard to part with them... I will probably keep one and list the rest (I made six last night) in my Etsy store.

Here's some other photos -- the brown one, Boris, may be my favourite, even though he's made from fake fur instead of fleece.:

the ups and downs of buying and selling online

It's a quiet day around here, aside from kiddo's constant interruptions to show off her LEGO creations, and my thoughts are focused on e-commerce.

In 5 hours, I will know whether I have won an eBay auction for a box of attachments that go with my vintage Singer sewing machine. It's the first time I've bid on anything on eBay for years -- the last thing we bought was in 2005; prior to that, the last time we were actively selling was 2002. We got really burned back then by two bad transactions in a row -- one sale and one purchase -- and I have been carrying a chip on my shoulder ever since. So, we'll see how this transaction goes and try to re-build the trust.

I also have to take some time this weekend and re-design some websites; part of this means redesigning e-commerce on my CuppaJoe Cozy site. Actually, I need to redesign the whole thing. Anyway, I have decided to keep the Paypal option for custom work only; stock will be sold in the "coffee and tea" section of my Etsy store.

Meanwhile, I need to find new ways to promote things. I was reminded, by a new comment on an old post, this week of some ideas for promoting my CuppaJoe Cozies and Wradical Wraps that I may just follow through on. I was also approached by someone in Connecticut about wholesale pricing on some of my products, but since my Etsy pricing wasn't well thought out, when I went to do wholesale calculations, it didn't look great. Of course what really blew it all out of the water was the cost to ship things across the border. Sigh. So, I will be re-examining all of my Etsy and online sales, with thoughts toward both wholesale and retail pricing.

***

And now, it seems Kiddo is done playing with LEGO and wants to sew. I have told her I will teach her to use the sewing machine... carefully... so that's my next task for the day!

Another new thing: ACEOs

I wanted to do something creative this evening, but I really didn't feel like sewing -- I have prepared most of the pieces to do a bunch more cthulhu finger puppets -- so I searched around for inspiration and decided to see whether I could pull together some ACEOs based on my monsters and aliens.

ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals" -- like the ATCs (Artists' Trading Cards) that inspired them, ACEOs are 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches -- the same size as trading cards.

It took me a little over an hour to do all four, once I found some watercolours (I used some of Kiddo's since mine seem to be hiding somewhere...)

I am pretty happy with the results, even if I didn't manage to stay inside the lines all the time... and I don't think I would paint another yellow sky.

I will be listing these on etsy in coming days; other ACEOs sell for $5 to $25 or more -- I expect I will start mine on the low side of the scale even though they are originals.

Amazing things.... and my own creations

Etsy is full of pretty things, useful things, and a few really amazing things, like this Anax Imperator Machina made of silver and gold. It looks like something between a dragonfly and an alien helicopter and I just love it.

My creations aren't anywhere near so intricate.... but I do hope they amuse people just a little.



I decided to try and promote my shop a little more broadly this weekend so I created a Facebook Page for Cheryl's Creative Miscellany. If you are on Facebook and like my creations, please consider becoming a fan.

Monster-riffic!

Just a quick note to let you know I am now a member of the Etsy Monster Street Team and there are new stuffed things in my etsy store to celebrate!

Etsy Makeover.

I've spent a bunch of time this evening fiddling around with images in Fireworks to come up with a new banner for my Etsy shop. I wanted something to better represent me. Above is the small version, for promotional use on my webpages and such. Below is the full version that appears at the top of my Etsy shop:



I've also been trying to figure out how to best promote my shop without resorting to weaselly tactics. I was happy to find an Etsy wiki (speaking of wikis, if you've ever wanted to collaborate on a script... head over to the CrowdPublishing script wiki....), the TransCanada Etsy Team, and a few other Victoria-based Etsy sellers looking for each other....

Unfortunately, self-promotion is something at which I suck. So, if you have ideas for weasel-free self-promotion, I'd love to hear them.

And the days are getting shorter....

It has definitely felt like fall with the rain settling in around here and now as the days get darker I look forward to cool evenings and the smell of wet leaves. Ahhh.

Of course, I am also starting to walk again, so I will be headed back to work soon (I just have to wait for my Doctor's "OK") and in that light, well I'm feeling a little remorse at not having done more on my time off. Before you chirp at me, I know the only thing expected of me was to heal.... but I really could have spent less time playing Chuzzle and more time writing or something....

So, to make up for it, and since I've decided not to enter any craft fairs this year, I spent the afternoon posting my crafty creations on my Etsy:

productive... but not in the way I had intended....

I started the day with full intentions of rediscovering all that I had forgotten about Drupal while working on a website or two... instead I went off on a tangent and photographed some of my keychains from my weekend beading frenzy and listed them in my etsy shop...

So... still crossing stuff off my "to do list"... just not what I planned to cross off.

... now off to do some tidying...

Surreal World....

Some pretty (and pretty weird) things to look at:

Kent Rogowski had the brilliant idea to turn stuffed bears inside out and photograph them for a series called simply Bears.

In the lead-up to the much-anticipated Simpsons movie, several 7-11s have been remodeled into Kwik-E-Marts.

I never thought of etsy as a marketplace for furniture, but there are some great, whimsical items there -- Birdhouse Garden Bench; Puzzle Tables; Curvatura (plant table); Etsykids Rocking Chair -- but I'm not sure how I feel about the Fake Bowl of Fruit Loops.

Re-Etsified

Though I was disappointed with my first forray into Etsy, I have renewed my listings and am going to list some more, going with the theory that people want more to browse. I gave my shop a facelift, too; feel free to take a peek:

And if you have thoughts on what else I should sell, lemme know. I am not, however, going to sell CuppaJoe Cozies or Wradical Wraps through Etsy, since they have their own home.