Happenings

So I have been working a number of different projects, not limited to my recycled items, hats, rugs, and my first Amigurumi, which ended up looking slightly retarded. In my defense though I have never really made anything of the nature, and I didn't have any clay to make actual eyes for them, so I thought it a wonderful idea to use clay. I enjoyed making it though and perhaps my subsequent ones wont look like their mother drank while they were in utero...

In other news I am finally forcing Aydan to do his summer homework... which I got all sorts of pissy today (excuse my language) because on were on the internet is the reasonable questions for the books that he is reading. So I am starting yet another blog in which I am going to create a resource for parents who would like to know if their children are retaining the information. I will update soon with specific information

Frustration

I am a bit frustrate with my Etsy store, I am paying for advertisement, I am adding all sorts of new stuff and it feel like I will NEVER enjoy the fruits of my labor. I called the only stores in the area that I thought would potentially allow me to put items on consignment to no avail. I am beginning to wonder if this is all a flop, a waste of my time. I am not sure what more energy I can devout to all of this. I finally have forty likes on Facebook which took me a ton of work to get to that point.

I hate to say it but I feel like my friends and family(not that there are many)  are growing tired of my  "pipe dreams". I know that people have been successful on Etsy, but seriously, what does it take that I am not doing. I am looking forward to craft shows this fall but I surely hope that by then my spirit isn't broken.

And it starts

I have been up to a lot, I cant say that I have been 100% as productive as I could be. It has been so hot that I am really dragging and not wanting to do a lot. I have made somethings, and found plenty of new websites that will add to the chaos that I like to call my pintrest. I cant say that the 100 hat challenge is going as well as it was in the beginning but I did start adding my products to etsy. Not that I have made any sales, I still havent sold anything. Etsy did their revamping this morning and all of my shop information disappeared.  It would be nice if I knew what I had written originally. I suppose that this is a time for me to renew and get the shop the way that I want it to be from a professional standpoint. 

I am putting Aydan back to work and give him the opportunity to make a little bit of money also over the summer. I am going to try to teach the nifty knitter . We shall see how it goes.

More to come soon!!

Nostalgia

I dont know what it is about the 90's and the feelings that listening to the music again creates for me. It always starts as someone posting something on facebook  and it unleashes a flood of music. I dont like very much new music, in fact I think the only new artist that I have even bothered to listen to is Adele. Once I start listening to the music from the 90's it brings me back to a place of innocence when most of the things that have shaped me as a person had not happened. I feel so creative, perhaps it is a touch of my teenage angst returning but what ever it is it works.

100 Hat Challange update 1

Apparently I am a copyright infringer... Etsy dropped one of the hats that I had made, which probably was the hat that had the best outlook for sales. It kind of bothered me because it was a Bender hat inspired from Futurama and  I created the pattern myself. I do not see Fox producing such a pattern, which means it is not covered under a "copy right" perhaps a trademark but not a copy right.  I have to figure out how to sell them on here because I am going to continue to make them, just in a different fashion. I am also bothered  by the fact that this had got deleted but the Hello Kitty one did not!

In other news I am 18 hats in on the 100 hat challenge. Some days I make as many as 4 others I am lucky if I get 1 done. It depends on the kids and the amount of energy that I have. At first I was just going to make 100 of the same hat. That got really redundant really quick so now I am allowing myself the chance to be some what creative with it.  I will be making animals and other character hats  but that will only happen after all 100 hats are made. I think it will let me be truly open. As of right now I am having fun with it. I kind of wish that I would have been more productive last week and gotten more done. I am aiming for at least 2 hats, every day this week. I am not going to stop at 2 though just in case there are days that I can  not get 2 done, if I make extra at the end of the week it just adds  to the total count.  I may even have Aydan make some of his own with the nifty knitter loom. Even if he does I am not going to add them to my final count.

My next project will be a leash of some sort for the beast baby . However cute I think it is she will be the death of me. Just now she was trying to climb in a box she fell in, she didn't cry, no she just started throwing all the clothes out of the box until it was empty. She even managed to  get her self out of the box with out hurting herself!

100 Hats

Right now I am lacking inspiration  so I have decided that I am going to crochet 100 hats in varying sizes and colors and materials. I really need to start pushing some of this stuff out. Not to mention I am a yarn hoarder this just may give me the revenue  to buy my sewing machine and to purchase some new yarn.  I  do not have the slightest clue of what I am going to make half of these hats I bought the yarn merely because I needed them for a single project or I thought that the color was pretty. I know Chris thinks that I dont need anymore craft stuff, if I use everything then I will be justified  to buy MORE!! I have a few down... many more to go, I will keep you guys informed.

Busy bee

I feel like I have been going non-stop for the past few weeks, just when I may get a chance to relax bam something else  seems to get added to my  to do list. Today me and Scar are going to go to the park, take pictures so that  I can revamp etsy... yeah I am have been slacking on this and that alike. I will make sure to post some pictures and their links later today!

Stuff Pepper Tutorial

Summer season is  upon us which means the use of homegrown is sneaking up on us. Here ix a tutorial for one of my favorite homegrown suppers. I would like to add that cooking is in fact an art form, one that I attempt to create often, and though it taste good it is not pretty.

Stuff Peppers

A bit of history.   Stuffed peppers show up in many different cultures across the world, for many a staple of their diet.  Though they are all slightly different the one thing that stays the same is the fact that they use a pepper.

For this you will need

* Ground Chuck ( I used 3 lbs)
* 1 cup of rice
* 2 large eggs
* 3 large onions
* 1/2  stalk celery
* 2 large cans tomato sauce
* Green  Peppers (1 to cut and however many to stuff  I used 6)

A bit of irrelevant rambling

Ok, I dont watch a whole lot of tv but there are a few shows that I do watch, Criminal Minds being one. The season 7 finale was to say the least intense. I am not sure how they are going to trump this with the next season. I have to admit that even the music was amazing. I am now attempting to find the music, Lily Kershaw's As It Seems. If anyone knows where I can find it PLEASE let me know.

Foot Surgery and other rambeling

I think that I have been doomed my a previous injury that was not allowed to heal correctly. I am hoping that I do not have to go with the whole intense surgery route because I have diabetes and yeah I dont feel like being footless, it would defiantly put a  damper my plans. But regardless of what they opt to do I am going to be laid up for a while.. which mean more time sitting on my ass (for lack of a better term) creating. My only demand for prior to such event is a sewing machine, and someone that will not be embarrassed to chase me around numerous crafts stores while I sport and amigo... or to push me around in those obnoxious wheel chairs with a basket on the front. These things need to be set in place prior to it happening because I surely do not trust sending Chris and the kids to Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann Fabrics for supplies... that could and most likely would end tragically for everyone involved.

I am almost done with the ginormous rug.. I hope tomorrow to get pictures up, and add a few more things to etsy. I am waiting on one of Chris' friends so that I can take better pictures of my products that I do have ready. Ultimately I need a better camera but as of right now I am yet to submit myself to the will of local pawn shop gods, perhaps soon.

Today I have learned that I am not a card maker and should no longer attempt to make cards, I have good ideas but it usually ends up resembling something Aydan would make.

I should head to bed or get to work... yay to giving myself ultimatums...

Until we meet again

Shanks

Sorry I haven't I have been entertaining for over a week straight, so basically I spent 12 days or so cleaning, chasing kids around and what not. This has however not curbed my research process.. I found a new way to make rag rugs that looks a whole bunch easier than crocheting.  This required me to make a toothbrush  sewing needle sort of thing... well it is a sewing needle. Basically you take a toothbrush and cut the brissels (sp) off. Chris was able to to just break then ends off  which saved me who knows how much time from sawing at the tooth brush. Well I started to whittle  and did some more and went outside to talk to the neighbor and started rubbing it on the cement. To think that the original site I looked at had them hand carved out of wood and bone... who the hell would spend the time  to rub what ever they had to to use bone. I have to admit that rubbing it on the bricks gave me a whole new appreciation for those that make shanks in prison..Like  I had tools and still had a hard time.  Finally I got it to a point and then had to start working  on the hole... which consistently is the hardest part. I tried to soften the plastic by putting in in boiling water it boiled and boiled and apparently though the plastic was relatively soft  it has a HIGH boiling point... I finally got the center done.. and here it is!

Two types of Crafters and my delemia.

I have seen over the years that there are two main groups of crafters, these groups have many subgroups of course.  I am finding that there is a gap in the type of crafter that I am and  my main target group for sales.

Type 1
This time is the stitch and bitch sort of crafter. These are the people that push the edges of the traditional practice with their creativity. Their creativity typically is not conventional in any of their ideas, creations or mannerisms. These people are typically younger, found in a more urban area (not always)  and they use their life experiences, as their inspiration.  They are usually the people that learned from a friend, via youtube, or a book.  They often see an idea and formulate a way to create such creations on their own.

Type 2
These are the people that craft out of  tradition, typically older homemakers  whose profits potentially go to a   "good cause". These are the women that sit at home and do needle work pieces to sell in the church craft show. Their products are equally  interesting and beautiful but has been handed down through a long line of crafters before them. They are family orientated, and use their crafting as means to establish relationship with their children, peers, and other morally correct individuals.

I know that the type of crafter that I am is more of a type 1, but for the most part  my target audience is type 2... le sigh

Think Think Think

I am trying to think of ways to generate revenue from this crafting stuff.  Etsy seems to be failing me in more ways than one, granted I don't have an exuberant amount of products on there but I felt as though I would have sold at least a few things at this point. I have spent more money on the site than I have any other website in the history of my internet usage.
 I would like to teach classes on different classes but I am not sure how to set that up, perhaps and individual add on Craigslist? That seem shady to me, all of Craiglist seems shady, not sure if it the appropriate place for it. I feel as though it would be awkwardly placed between an ad for "adult massages" and furniture riddled with bed bugs.
I also have thought of legitimizing my business, there are perks and then there are cons to that concept too. I am not sure that it has the potential right now to generate enough money to even afford a business license. I suppose I should contact an attorney to see at what point I need to start claiming an income from it. On the upside it would allow me to write off many of my expenses. I do think that at this point in the foundation of the business that I have a lot of work to do before it is really  "time" to launch that.
The other thing that I wonder is if Etsy would allow me to sell tutorials, I mean it would be  a wonderful way for me to get out there and be know. I dont see why they wouldn't as they allow people to sell patterns. I suppose I will email the admins today, only much later.
More on this later
Jen

Until Your Fingers Bleed

I am working on rag rugs, today has been epic damages to my hands.  My fingers were sore from crocheting last night, which is when I started crocheting the rug. Well this morning I ran out of the blue that I was working with, and as usual  I was illly(sp)  prepared. So me and Scarlett went on a sheet purchasing adventure. 2 thrift stores and 50$ later I had sheets to keep working with, along with a large amount of other things that I really didnt need. I get beast baby down for her slumber and start cutting up the sheets to crochet with. At first that process went GREAT but then I got distracted by that guy on PBS (because I couldn't find the remote) that had the half hour painting show since the 1970s. First it started with me hitting my fingers with the rolling blade for my cutting board. I then decided that  it was a better idea to use the scissors as they are more dull and could only be less damaging... HAhaha  By the end up my cutting time today  I threw out a copious amount of material and had 5 band-aids on my fingers... Now that I am sporting my  band-aids I am wondering what there is out there that I could use to cover my thumb (that is latex free) that will protect it from  the pressure of the crochet hook and not compromise the grip that I have.  This is the only time that I have ever experienced such an issue, I am not sure what the issue is. I wouldn't be surprised if it the larger side hook or that it is plastic as opposed to metal. Hrm... Might have to go to Hobby Lobby tomorrow and see what I can figure out.