OK So I am going to Savannah in November...the 17th to be exact. To participate in the Mutation Craft Fair. Go me, go me! I don't know how much time I will have to blog between now and then. I am so freaking excited. I am preparing new items to sell there and I will do my best to track them here. I had a really good week I sold like 4 baby blankets and a set of greeting cards...I'm busy folks! Working my arse off!! As a matter of fact I need to go finish up on a scarf I'm working on. I will try to keep you posted. And if you are in Savannah November 17 . Come see me at my first craft show! yee haw!! More later... gator!

Business, Booties, Buttons !

A brief post about some new stuff. Business has picked up a little. I recently made 2 baby blankets which sparked orders for 3 more. I sold some stuff on ETSY. Namely my Corny Ears Earrings and little Frankie Stein. Glad they will have a good home but kind sad to see them go.

I got a nod from Kristen from Craft Leftovers. I entered a contest she was holding and got an honorable mention. I won a discount in her etsy shop and a button. I feel like I won! She's like a craft celebrity so its nice that she acknowledged my work. I took one of her patterns, some denim scraps ,and homemade bias tape, and made my new favorite crochet hook case. See.....

All else is well. I started a myspace page...www.myspace.com/artistikdiva...what was I thinking? I had to get over my doubts about the whole myspace craziness and go for it. I thought this was hard to maintain...whew I really have no idea what I am doing. I need to remember to cross reference the blog , etsy, myspace so all the work I put into getting out there is seen. Ive made friends out of all the crafty people I can find. It's all about who you know people!

I ordered some buttons from AmyLynn at kittycrossbones18.com. She has an etsy shop too. I love the buttons so much I cant wait to order some more. I may design a line to sell....the ones I bought are intended to promote my business... I also started on a new baby bootie project this weekend. I was so inspired by my best friends pretty new baby girl I had to make something. I intend to post them to etsy soon. They will be known as The Nia bootie after that sweet baby girl.


So anyway, I am going to publish a zine. It's really only for my friends and family. This will be a Christmas gift for some. I am sending out an email this weekend if not sooner giving you all the details. I am asking for help from friends so if you want to help drop me a line at artistikdiva@gmail.com. I will be posting the info here soon! In case you didnt know its all about DIY and other crafty-ness. I had something else to say.....but it totally sliped my mind just now. Dang! I hate when that happens. Well I guess thats it then. Until next time...remember

Creativity takes courage!

August Thoughts

I haven't blogged in a while. Why? because I'm totally intimidated by all the creative blogs I see. I'm starting to wonder, maybe this isn't for me, but I will keep trying. Really, I find it hard to maintain a blog when I work full time, create part-time, etsy part-time, and keep up with housework. There are terrific people doing great work all over the web. I'm not so sure I can etsy, blog, and flicker and still create quality items. I will make an attempt to blog once a month and see how that goes.

That's me looking especially orange in my guest bathroom. I'm tryin' to show you the new camera E got for me but I can't help but be aggravated by how the peach on the walls casts this gross color on the photo. Look people I'm no photographer. But I do enjoy learning how to use my camera to take photos of my etsy items....

Anyway, I woke up this morning mortified at the sight in my bathroom. Ants! lots of ants. I literally gasped at the sight of them covering my counter and all in my sink. My counter was filled with my various sundries. Deodorant, mouthwash, makeup, toothpaste and brushes. They were all over everything even the soap my comb, my earrings! I felt most violated that they were on my earrings. I'm mean come on! I figured that because its so freaking hot out they decided to come visit me in the coolest part of my house. Of course I wasn't thinking that way while I was spraying down my counter with bug spray. Spray I just bought for the ants in my garage around my trash can. Spray that claims to be safe enough to use in your pantry- Yikes! I later felt bad because E said, "You killed them? That's messed up they were just trying to cool off!" What was I supposed to do? I apologize to all the critter lovers, I will repent immediately.

SO, I have all these hats I've crocheted and need models all the time I'm going to start asking people off the street soon. Styrofoam Stella (my foam hat model) Just ain't getting' it! I do have one model however. The handsome Mr. R, the cutest kid I know is shown here wearing a pumpkin hat I made. I'm going to post it to etsy today. The pattern is my own then I used other pieces of patterns in my library to make the stem and vine. He is so super cute and gives the best "blue steel" look around. A shout out to his parents for letting me exploit him and for being supportive of my hat making venture, you rock!

Well that's all for now! I've got tons of etsy-ing to do and plenty-o-pictures to take. Wish me luck, I'm headed outside to swelter in the name of craft as it has become clear to me I am only a good photographer in natural light!

XOXO

Post Haste!

A super quick post!
Ok! So I'm up a and running on Etsy...finally in one week I sold 5 items. Yay for me- Im very excited. I got in my shiny black gift boxes and package my earrings on ear cards and tie a ribbon around the box Hot Pink of course. I sold a greeting card yesterday and and have gotten lots of positive feedback from family and friends. I have decided to commit myself to buying more and more handmade- I totally understand the plight of so many itching to make a living being creative, and while I too would LOVE to do that too. It does seem like the impossible dream at times.

I am totally inspired by everything these days. Nature most recently and have started a list of things to sculpt for earrings . Eric suggested peanut butter cups the other day, and Ive been thinking about acorns, cherries, leaves, and fall things like pumpkins. This is SO my second job right now. I spent most of my profit buying more supplies. It's just so much fun I may only be working this 2nd job to support my habit- Oh well.

I discovered the wonder of digital cameras again- I have an old 3.0 mega pixel dinosaur. I can NOT take close up pictures of my jewelry with that thing so I borrowed my mom's to shoot photos for the etsy site and whoa, its good. All the right settings and everything....I could write that off as a business expense...huh? Did I mention Ive started a little light bookkeeping?
Any who I'm rambling and sleepy. - Off to nite nite, ahh, who am I kidding, I'm gonna make at least one pair of earrings before I hit the hay!

Hugs and kisses, love and best wishes!

Mama said there'd be days.....

Well my deadline for opening on Etsy came and went... My stupid debit card company locked down my account because Paypal posted some test deposits into my account. They had me in tears...I tried to set up this Paypal thing so a sista could get paid but now I need to reevaluate my Paypal options. In the meantime, for being bad business I dumped the previously mentioned "stupid debit card company" for a REAL bank. Complete with tellers and deposit slips. Whoo hoo! I wanted all my ducks in a row before I posted product so I am starting over this week. Eric in all his wisdom said something like"Did you think it was going to be easy and you wouldn't have problems? The devil is not happy that you are doing something you love and he's trying to mess it up. Consider it a minor setback and move forward". Then he vowed to take care of me until the I got the account unlocked .....Wow who knew I was dealing with a philosopher ova' hea'.

This weekend I worked, then went to some friends of mine baby's naming ceremony. It was nice, very sweet and that baby boy is a doll. Just cause he's cute I make him stuff-beanies, a tam, and most recently a teddy bear, that I sewed on the machine..... His parents appreciate the art of making stuff and are supportive of my handmade endeavors. These parents had a friend who is also an artist, shes on Etsy already. They introduced us at the event so we could discuss the possibility of sharing a booth at a local craft fair. She does really nice paintings on vintage fabric. I will include her link here once I get her permission. She's inspired me to sculpt some birds of some kind.....hummm

Eric got an ipod for Dad's day(which was quickly filled up) and the kids painted a big banner that read "Happy Father's Day" and we hung it over the kitchen door.
Creatively speaking This weekend I made a handful of skulls (from poly-clay) and some beads that look like little pillows, all to be made into earrings. And today, I sold 2 pair to a co-worker.
I also ordered some black jewelry boxes and got some hot pink ribbon for packaging. LOVE LOVE LOVE Pink and Black. Can't wait to impress people with my fancy packaging... lol

Abruptly, I'm ending here so I can work on this Paypal craziness before bed. Stay tuned

"I Don't No Nothin' 'Bout No Blogin' Honey-Chile"

Well this is my first attempt at catching up with the world and its excitement about blogging. I'm so scared of myspace. Its the fear of the unknown really, and frankly looking at it gives me a headache. My kid is begging me for a space or some nonsense and I'm trying to be cool but I'm still very careful....Its the ol' skool in me.

So I thought I would try to chronicle my adventures in my little business venture, Artistikdiva Designs. My goal was to have my Etsy site up by June 15Th...and waddaya know its this Saturday. Its become very time consuming. Even more so now that my family is glued to the computer on itunes or Stardoll.com. I'm learning everyday. A week ago I listed my banner and avatar on Etsy...and created what I think is a kinda lame yet educational profile. A few days ago I was photographing products, yesterday it was getting to know paypal, and the US postal service. Today I started a blog at 2:15 am. In the next day or so I will write some product descriptions and move ahead...All the while I am busy creating with clay, crocheting sewing and driving people nuts with yet another craft project...

You don't know how much I hate it when people say " You have WAY TOO MUCH time on your hands" ...as if I have nothing else to do. I do what I love and I make time for it...creativity keeps me sane....

Having said that I'm so excited at long last to have a way to justify all my crafty whims and obsessions. Etsy will be coming soon....I will keep the blog updated with my ongoing projects, more info about me, my crazy family, life and business. I am FAB-U-LUS....please believe it! and if you don't believe it, stay tuned.... you will!