Vacation Mode - HA!

I am "on vacation" at etsy.

I had my first home show last night (don't ask about sales, I may cry...nothing beats jewelry - Slipada 5, Tilt 0.) and the Huntington Woods Womens Leagueshop for a cause progressive home show tomorrow. I hope to have better luck there.

I am starting to feel that I may to rethink things. I don't want to slash $$ just because the ecomony is in the gutter...I spent too much time and effort to just give it away. Perhaps just add less expensive items in addition to my main purses, maybe? Belts, hats, scarves? I don't want to make things just because they will sell. But I have no problem taking the time to find things I enjoy making that also happen to sell. Trends were never my top priority. And I am not much of a salesperson - I am not a very competitive person. But I do need to find a way to sell online. Magazine quality pics may be part of the answer.

Now, my photo skills leave a lot to be desired. And I realize that pictures are what sells. So the more I can get them to look like they came for a magazine, the better. The best sellers on etsy all look like they were professionally shot (and many are). But I am not selling photography, so I need to make do. After pics, comes price.

My mom thinks the pricing may be too high, but I have crunched the numbers and compared them to similar items on etsy and elsewhere, they are very mid-range. I know, and she nows, that she is not exactly one to ask for pricing critiques. She would say she is cheap, I would say she just never felt the need to spend anything on herself. She's pretty darn unselfish - and I love that about her. She can't see why people would spend $30-60 on a purse. I had pointed out to her that nearly every woman that walked in to that party had a bag that was well over $100...but it was a ritzy area and most of the bags were leather or had some name brand plastered all over the bag. I did receive compliments on the bags and some were interested in them, but after the holidays when they buy stuff for themselves.

One area I need to make more prominent in my displays: "HANDMADE". The women seemed suprised when they realized my bags are all handmade. It was posted on the invites, but they may not have read that part. They thought that the large variety were just samples of each style, not OOAKs. So today I am making some signs to put up by my business cards that cleary state "Handmade".

I am hoping that a venue where handmade items are the norm will be better for me. I am hoping to get more lower priced items made in time for next Thursday's Ladies Night Out in Bad Axe, which is going to be all handmade. And then there is the December 6th Flint City Handmade show. And if I get my apps turned in by the deadline & the shows are not full: Affirmations & Ferndale Recreation Holiday Showplace Arts & Crafts Show November 22nd
and December 13th Fieldhouse Craft Show in Swartz Creek.

10 Places at Once

That is how I feel lately.
I have a fellow etsyblogger teammate, Roseworks Jewelry, who helped inspire & motivate me to get it together and manage my time and work/creative priorities in order. She is doing a blog series on time management right now, she's up to part4 :)

I have 4 shows coming up: Nov 14, 16, 20 and Dec 6...with a possible on Dec13. The closer it gets, the more I worry about "stock". I do not have loads of things to sell, but since they haven't been selling on etsy, I wasn't in creative overload. Now I need to be.

When I make my bags, I tend to cut out about 5 at a time. So they get made in "batches". They are, generally, not the same styles. And 1 or 2 are newly drafted. I iron them together, fuse the interface on together and then sew them one by one. It can take me 3-5 hours for one bag depending on the complexity of the construction and all the "add ons". So to stock up, will take quite some time. Especially since I stay at home with a toddler. Working only happens 3-6 hours a day. I might have to just let the house get yucky for the next couple of weeks. *shivers*

That is my big number 1 on the to-do list. 8 more are spent on the computer.

I realize that the time spent on the computer needs to go down to accomplish my stock up. This is where 8 of my "10 places" occur. Between e-mails, etsy forums with my teams, editing photos, twitter, entrecard, Project Wonderful, craftster and, well, here...something needs to go.

E-mail is a must. I have all my places set to notify me of new posts, convos, followers, adverts, bid notices and, of course, etsy sales. That's 2.

Etsy forums...I would miss it too much. But I can check in only 2 times a day. That's 3.

Editing photos is a must. But, I can do one while waiting for tabs to open on the things that will stay on the list. That's a 3.5.

Twitter is always in the background, so that one stays right where it is. That's 4 .

Entrecard can be visited only to log in and when I see that an advert is awaiting approval. And I don't drop many because of computer slowness anyway. That's keeps it at 4.

Project Wonderful can be put on "automatic" using campaigns. That still keeps it at 4 .

Craftster can be kept to personal messages only. I won't be starting my winter coat sew along back up until the shows are over. That is still a 4.

Blog. I love it too much to leave it be. I can try short posts and fewer items in the treasuries to cut down etsy browse time. That makes it 5.

So I just cut the computer in half, 8 things to 4...which is better than the throwing it out the window I usually want to do :)

The last thing on the to-do list: being a mom, wife, cook, maid, cab service and finder-of-lost-things. This was the biggest of the ten things, but oddly enough, the easiest to shave down. My oldest is 13, so he can take care of himself most of the time...and is starting to insist on it anyway. The toddler is in preschool 5 days a week, that helps. Taking daily naps still helps even more. The maid, cook, & cab service can use my co-pilot (aka husband) for a large amount of the time. The finder-of-lost-things, well, everyone can go find their own stuff or go without :)

Phew - 10 things down to 6...could be better. But at least 4 of these things are cut back on time suckage.

Now all I have to do is just say no to the temptation of creating new styles with every batch. Oh, and decide which 3 to focus on. My goal is 3 styles, 10 each. Although, with each batch the "style" may change to another in the same category: small, medium or large.

The story of our son

Cullen Riley Thompson 11-06-2002

It was a Monday night. We won’t ever forget that because my husband was watching football when it all started. If you have ever been pregnant, you know how it can affect your digestive system. Well, without going into too much detail, I was in the bathroom and something just did not feel right. I yelled out to my husband, who bolted right on in. Apparently my voice gave it all away. I have been told I am never allowed to sound like that again. I asked him to check me because I thought I felt something. Something like a wet balloon. Turns out, that is pretty much what it was. The cervix had opened up and the embryonic sac started its way down the birth canal. By the time my husband came it, it had already migrated back up somewhat, so he felt nothing. I called the doctor, but could not explain it very well at the time. Not an hour later we were on the way to the hospital – I just went with my gut that something was not right.

We were first told that it was early labor and that he was going to come soon. After some more ultrasounds, it was found that the cervix was in fact opening. But since the sac had retreated, there was a chance. This was 22 weeks and 2 days into the pregnancy. They pumped me full of antibiotics to stave off infection. The plan was to elevate my bottom half so gravity could help keep everything where it was supposed to be.

In the middle of the night, contractions had begun and we were told he would be coming soon. The emotional pain on top of the physical pain (he was partially in the canal this whole time) was too much. We were going to lose our little boy, Cullen.

Until that morning, when we were told there was still a chance. If he could stay inside for just another week or so, the odds of survival at this hospital were quite high for births beyond 23 weeks, when their lungs develop enough to be assisted. I was so happy, that I started to feel relief from the pain. Mind over matter is an amazing thing. We figured out how everything was going to work with me in the hospital for the remainder of the pregnancy. Until that afternoon.

After more tests and no luck with the antibiotics for Cullen, we were again told he was going to come soon and to prepare ourselves. How? You can’t. We were asked if we wanted extreme measures taken to try and preserve his life once he was born. We asked them what they would do if we were their wife or child. We decided to spare him that. The odds were that all it could possibly do was keep him with us artificially, and that is just selfish on our part. I did not want Cullen to be in pain his entire life. The pain I was feeling was unbearable. I finally consented to an epidural (needle in my back scare the begeebers out of me). We asked if there was anything we could do to move this process along. But because of pro-lifers, by the time we would go through all the paperwork and videos telling us all about abortion, it would most likely all be over. (yes, it would have been considered that even though he was already half way out and it was inevitable at that point) So for another half day we had to just lie there and wait – in the most pain I have ever felt, even with the epidural.

Wednesday morning, November 6, 2002, the water broke. In an instant it was all over. I don’t ever want to feel that kind of pain or cry that much ever again. And I hope you never have to. I held him for his entire hour and a half with us. And yes, he was alive at this point, but his lungs were not fully formed so breathing was not entirely effective. I do like knowing that for entire life, he was held and loved.

The nurses and staff were amazing throughout this entire thing. I stayed in the hospital for 3 more days. Grief counselors came in often. The nurses were always there for me, both for medical and emotion needs. We were given a memory box before I left. It was hand painted and filled with everything he touched. His hat, booties, blanket and ID tag. There was a memory ring, tiny sized, as well. They also gave us unprocessed photos of him to develop when we were ready. His record of birth, hand and feet prints were in there too. It took us a while to develop the pictures. And it was not until now that we shared the box with others. But it is time. I am still healing, and this has helped.

So for the entire month of his birthday, I will be donating 10% of my etsy sales to the Michigan Chapter of The March of Dimes. In hopes that someday, someone as young as Cullen could survive.

New Handbags

Lime and Pink Floral Paisley Clutch

8" opening, 6 1/2" tall, 11" at it's widest

Ocean Stripe Rachelle

11" wide, 8" tall, 4" deep

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Halloween 2006...front yard with some photoshop thrown in