Butterflies in the fall

A few weeks ago, my kids found a pretty green caterpillar on a bunch of carrots we purchased from a market. We put him in an empty fish tank, and in less than a week, he turned into a chrysalis. The kids were exited that in a few weeks, they would see a pretty butterfly emerge. One morning, around 9am, I checked on it. Nothing. A few hours later, I checked again. It was a butterfly... yet somehow, in those few hours, it managed to emerge, dry it's wings, and die.

Needless to say, the kids were disappointed. So I bought a shadow box at the dollar store and glued the butterfly on a piece of card stock. They were happy to come home from school and see their pretty butterfly framed on a shelf.

This inspired me to try and figure out how to incorporate butterflies in jewelry. I thought a butterfly covered in epoxy would be a good idea on a necklace. But where would I find another butterfly? Once in a while, you see a dead butterfly on the ground, but I have yet to see one this year. Then I realized you can buy anything online. After some searching, I did find a few sites that sell unframed, whole dead butterflies. They weren't horribly expensive per se, with some butterflies being only two or three dollars each. Some, however, were heinously expensive (in the $700 range). They also had minimum purchase requirements.
 


So, now what can I do? I then realized a photo could be almost as realistic as the real thing, but much easier to come across. That's when I decided to use some great photos, a good printer, and a little Photoshop. I printed the images on card stock, put two together for two sided imagery, and went at it very carefully with a crafting scissors (that part was tough). I then covered it with two heavy coats of Mod Podge, purposely creating dimension, and a good lacquer varnish. I put it on a necklace with glass and paper beads to match, and it somewhat looks like a real glossy butterfly to wear around your neck.

I think I'll be making a few more, in different colors. And definitely one for myself!

Long Time No Type

Wow, it's been a while. It's hard to write a new blog post when your computer crashes and takes with it all your log-in information. I don't have the greatest memory, so to remember um-teen different log-in's and passwords is really asking a lot. I still don't have my computer, as my warranty doesn't cover Windows 7 crashing (figures). I'm using my husband's computer, and somehow finally figured out how to log in to my blog.

I have some new jewelry I'm trying: magnetic jewelry. I've been having achy joints, and figured I would give a magnetic necklace a try. I'm so impressed with the results, I ordered some magnetic beads, and will be adding them with my paper beads to make some lovely healing magnetic jewelry. I've been very busy this summer, but I'll update once I get going on that one... as long as I remember how to log back in.

Bead organization

The other day, I clipped a 40% off coupon for Michael's craft store. Wow, 40% off?! Well, it was only good for one item, but still, that's a good deal. I figured if I get something a little more expensive that I need, it will definitely be worth it. My two choices: bead storage, or paper cutter. As much as I could use a paper cutter so that I'm not cutting out all my paper beads by hand, I desperately needed more bead storage.

I was hoping for a small suitcase style with four or five bead containers, but couldn't manage to find one. I did, however, find one last book style storage. It opens up like a book, but has eight separate slide out storage pieces, with seven slots each. Score! It's perfect for taking along on a trip- not that I ever do my beading on the road, but it's nice to think that I could.

I also finally decided to get one of those beading boards. The ones where you can lay out all your beads in the design you want. It's very handy, because I don't have to string a bunch of beads, then realize I don't like the pattern, and have to take them all off and start over. This little $4 beading board even has five separate holes to put your beads while you work, rather than having them roll all over the desk.

Now I would love to get a big craft tote to hold everything, rather than my cheap plastic drawers. I am getting more and more organized. The more organized I get, the easier it is to get work done. Who knew? Now, if I could just get all my books and receipts in order, I'd be set. But organizing my beads is much more fun than paperwork.

Mission: Organization

My office/craft room has been a work in progress since we moved in here. Honestly, it just kept getting worse and worse, eventually looking like a natural disaster had struck. You could barely move through the room, but I knew where everything was. It was my "organized chaos".

As I keep acquiring more and more supplies, I'm running out of places to put them. I really realized how big the problem was when I shipped an item the other day, and it took me ten minutes to get everything together.

I have started searching rummage sales for better ways to store everything, and this morning, I found a little ray of hope. I'm not even sure why I stopped, because it was a tiny rummage sale, but I did. And there I found a simple triple shelf. Right away, I ran to the dollar store to find some bins to put on the shelf. I managed to find some small black crates to perfectly match the black shelves.

I got them all home, and what do you know, three crates fit perfectly on one shelf. I bought six, so I just used a couple small baskets for the smaller items on the top shelf. Now I have my packaging on the top shelf, Inventory on the second, and shipping materials on the third. Perfect. Now for the rest of the room...

First sale

Today, I woke up to a cold, gloomy, and (eek!) snowy first day of May. But my day wasn't as bad as I had figured it would be. Despite the icky weather, I actually had a great day. I made my first online sale!

I've sold a couple items face to face, but I had yet to sell anything from my Etsy shop. I had my shop opened just over a month, and I know that it can take months to get that first sale. I was working desperately hard on my photographs, because after all, that is the main way to get buyers. Getting a start on Etsy can also be difficult, because when potential buyers see you have no sales or feedback, they may be wary. How can they know you are a good seller? Maybe you are really selling pretty looking junk. Maybe you won't ship your items for two weeks. For just this reason, feedback is important, just like on Ebay.

I've got my item all ready to ship in the morning. This little package of paper beads gets to travel up to Canada tomorrow. It isn't much; in fact, it's the cheapest item in my shop. But it still counts, and it's still a momentous occasion for my new little shop. That feedback will eventually give me more buyers. The more I sell, the more people will buy, and that is what I'm really looking forward to.