Taking the Plunge

I decided to start selling my new paintings in my etsy shop. Small investment in promotional materials and packaging materials was made yesterday. I spent the entire morning designing business cards and postcards.

Once they arrive from the printers I will start posting glicee prints in my etsy shop. The originals will be still be exhibited at the art show I am having at the Source Within in August. I decided not to open an entirely new shop to hopefully get crossover sales.

This makes me a bit nervous. I don't like to fail and sometimes feel that I my work won't sell. If it does I will be overjoyed. Eventually I want to apply my designs to clothing and accessories. Goals. Its so good to have goals!

New Art and stuff

It has been a long time since I made a real blog post.
Things are busy! Super busy! Which is good. Busy is always good. It is better then being bored!

Sales in my etsy shop have been keeping me busy. Things are picking up which is really good! But despite sales slowing increasing I started an ArtFire store. I figured it couldn't hurt to have two shops. It is a smaller version of my etsy store. No sales yet in my ArtFire store but I have hope since I bought advertising space on their handmade page. So hopefully that will start the sales coming in!

In August I am having an art show at the Source Within in Bisbee, so I have been super crazy busy making paintings for that. I discovered water soluble crayons which seem to be my choice of medium right now. I sit for hours everyday (while watching Medium on Netflix Instant Watch) and just paint and paint and paint the day away. With each new painting I try something different and I think my style is starting to emerge.



I have scanned in my favorite paintings, and I am considering selling prints, postcards, and maybe a few other surprises in my etsy shop as well as my jewelry. I don't want to open another etsy shop since I tried that once and didn't like having to manage two of them.

In other news, I have been super crazy busy practicing for the pride show in two weeks. I will be performing Mein Herr, Cabaret, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I find it really funny that I will be performing as Judy Garland and her daughter Liza! I am doing the Mein Herr chair dance from the movie, and I have discovered that it is really hard to sing and dance at the same time. Even if it is just on a chair! I couldn't find my Sally Bowles costume, so I have been piecing a new one together, which is also occupying a lot of my time.

Not to mention the ghost tour and our Paranormal & Ghost Hunting Weekend which I have been busy planning.

This past Sunday I had a kidney stone attack. Not fun. Had to go to the ER in Sierra Vista. I was pretty much useless for the entire week afterwords since they put me on such heavy pain meds. Yesterday I got an ultrasound of my kidneys and will get the results from my doctor next week.

Wow I am exhausted from just typing up this blog post!

I promise to add a few new jewelry pieces to my etsy shop in the next week or so. They are slowly being made.

Figured It Out

I think I figured it out.
I think the reason I have been so down is because 1) we need rain and the dryness in AZ makes me depressed...and my skin all flakey and nasty.
2) My designs don't sell very well.


A random photo of me and Captain Hook at Not So Scary Halloween at DisneyWorld last October. I added it to make me happy because there is nothing better then DisneyWorld, Captain Hook and Halloween!!



I have a few designs in my etsy shop that are staples. They sell so well. I almost get tired of making them because of how many times I have had to make them.
But when I make one of a kind items, they don't sell so well. I don't know why. I try my best to make them pretty and of high quality and for a reasonable price. Yet for some reason they don't sell. When I have a sale in my shop they sell, but I can't keep selling my pieces for the less then what it costs me to make them. That doesn't make any sense.

So what do I do? Do I take a break? An inspiration vacation?
I need some help here. If my one of a kind pieces sold as well as my made to order pieces I think it would boost my confidence and help me out of my funk.
Maybe today I will bring my sketchbook to work with me and sketch new designs.

Another Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak at one of my Valentines Day designs. I love it! I hope people find it as comical as I do.
I think I am going to call it 'I Love You So Much I Want To Eat Your Heart Out Necklace'.



My silver order did not arrive yet so some of the items I designed will have to wait until it shows up.

Which made me ponder a moral question.

Since silver is so high right now, would it be wrong of me to make a piece out of copper, change the color in photoshop, and then post it on etsy? Of course if anyone purchased the item I would make it in silver, but I don't want to waste the silver if no one is going to purchase the item.

Help on this moral dilemma would be greatly appreciated!

New Years Resolutions 2011

I try to make a list every year of my New Years Resolutions. So here are the ones for 2011.

2010 was a pretty bad year for a lot of my friends. For me it wasn't too bad. We bought a house, my book was published, I started my etsy shop, we let go of the Tombstone Ghost Tour which was nothing but a headache, my cousin Leah stayed with me for the summer, my parents moved 1/2 hour away, business has been really good, the fur children got a new baby pug sister. All in all things have been pretty good here though there are some personal issues I need to work on. Things I tell myself every year that I am going to do, and then never do. Maybe that should be at the top of my list this year...DO WHAT I SAY I AM GOING TO DO ON MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION LIST!!!! Haha. Well here it is!

2011 New Years Resolutions

- Have more patients with people, customers, the fur babies
- Paint more
- Improve my etsy shop
- Learn to let go of the little things that annoy me on a daily basis
- Be less judgmental
- See more movies
- Spend more quality time with the husband
- Take more art classes, either online or at a local center
- Get the front yard looking pretty
- Get the house looking pretty
- Learn a different language. French...though Spanish would be a smarter choice
- Try to get at least 30 followers on my blog
- Try to make more friends...and keep them

My Fidget Rings on Etsy

I listed some new items on my etsy shop but unfortunately you can't see my new flower fidget rings spin and twirl in the photos. So I made a little video demonstrating how they spin. They are super fun.









http://www.etsy.com/shop/thenay is where you can find my etsy shop!