My Style Crafts

So, I finally got some motivation to do something with my Artfire shop, My Style Crafts.  I have been wanting to do this for a while, and I even started prepping things, but then I got stuck, didn’t feel like doing it anymore, and it didn’t happen.  I finally started doing it a few days ago – adding prints to my shop!  I had a few different printing options, since I do not have the capability to make prints here at home, but I needed to get a few prints made to see how they came out first, before putting them up for sale.  Since I’m not the only one living in this house, I wanted Hubby’s input on what pictures to get printed and where to put them.  We decided on a seasonal theme, and got 4 prints made in B&W, one shot from each season, and finally had them printed!  I thought they came out very well, so I knew I could finally start adding the photos for sale in my shop.  We haven’t framed the prints for our home yet, but as soon as we do and get them hung up, maybe I will share it on here.  They will be hung up on the one wall in the office where we had to fix up a few spots, and those spots really stand out on the wall, so these prints will provide some cover up for those as well as decoration on a plain wall.

I currently have 8 prints listed.  All of them are only available in 8x10, though if a smaller size is requested, I can work that out.  I just didn’t create pricing for other sizes yet.  I will ship prints out in a cardboard flat rate priority mail envelope, so if more than one print is requested, they will be shipped together and only one shipping fee is charged.

Here is one of my favorites that is currently listed:

“Fall Trail” in B&W.  Some of the listing are available in both color or B&W, some are color only due to the fact that it is a colorful shot, and just wouldn’t look good as a B&W print.  Here is that same shot in color as well:

I plan to add quite a few more, so keep checking back at the shop for new additions!  I’m also trying to work out custom ordered candles.  All candles will be soy wax, containers only (no pillars at this time), and can either be scented, dyed, or both.  I just have to create my listings and figure out what sizes I will offer.  This means all candles ordered will be made at the time of order, so you get a freshly scented candle, but it will also mean that buyers have a longer order processing time, so that the candle can be made and allows me time to order supplies if I am currently out of something being requested.  At this time, it’s my best way I can offer candles in my shop, which is something I really liked creating.

So that’s what I’ve been up to creatively lately.  I haven’t made any new jewelry, but at least it’s a start to keep my shop going.  Maybe after the house and yard are in order, and the nursery is 100% complete, I can focus some attention on the jewelry.  I certainly have supplies and ideas waiting for me!

Oh, and I was very excited to receive notice that one of my earrings was hotlisted and featured in another seller’s collection.  She created a collection of her favorite patriotic items from Artfire, and included my “Patriotic Fireworks” earrings!  This picture was before I started taking nicer jewelry photos, but here they are:

Great for the upcoming patriotic holidays, maybe?   :)    If you are interested in anything you see in the post, or what else is currently listed in the shop, please check out My Style Crafts on Artfire!

Painting While Pregnant

I believe I mentioned on here before that Hubby and I were going to tackle the biggest paint job of our entire house last weekend while we had my dad’s help to get started.  Well, after a (slightly longer) weeklong process, we finally have all the walls in our front living room, entry, entry hallway, staircase, and upstairs hallway painted.  All that’s left to do today is the touch ups.  I started off this project, with some of Hubby’s help, one week and two days ago by sanding rough spots on the walls, spackling any divots and imperfections, and fixing nails pops that got missed on the first go around.  That fixing didn’t end completely until this past Thursday.  The walls were terrible!  Every time we thought we had things pretty fixed up and prepped for paint, we’d find more to fix.  So, last Saturday the upstairs hallway got painted, on Sunday the staircase got painted, the entry hallway was done on Monday, and then the front living room and entry were finished up between yesterday and the day before.  Hubby did end up doing the majority of the work, because painting that much surface area at 28/29 weeks pregnant is even harder work than normal.  I feel bad about that because I wish I could have helped more, but my body just couldn’t take any more than it withstood already.  He had taken this entire week off for this project and a few appointments we had scheduled, and now he says he’s actually looking forward to starting work again on Monday because he will be more physically relaxed.  Except for now we have to clean a majority of the house by Friday afternoon and I most likely will need a lot of his help for that too.  The house is a mess to begin with, but adding in all the painting and sanding we’ve had to do, it really needs a good clean up.  And I say it has to be done by Friday afternoon because his parents are arriving that evening to stay with us for the weekend since my baby shower is next Saturday.  So, needles to say, it’s been a very busy and tiring week, and the next week isn’t looking much better for me.  Between the painting and the appointments, and the location the appointments were in, I need a good break, but I probably won’t get that until Monday the 18th!  The appointments we had to go to included my 3D ultrasound, which was an hour away, and Hubby’s last oral surgery follow up, which was also an hour away.  Both trips took us to good shopping areas as well, so we ended up doing some of that with our time too.  I know I missed my Favorite Kitty Friday post, as well as Getting to Know YOU post (I also missed some big blog hop party this week too), but some days I couldn’t even tell you what day it was, and when I wasn’t helping with the painting task, we were not home, eating, or sleeping.  I will be very happy when this is all done and I can relax a little more.

To give you insight as to how behind I am on things, my Google Reader count is up to at least 625 unread items, there are at least 40 unread e-mails sitting in my inboxes, and I missed doing those posts this week.  Hopefully I will be able to start catching up on things, like trying to do at least 2 posts this week.  I would like to do a post about my 3D ultrasound too, but we’ll see how the week goes along.  We also started our Prep for Childbirth classes too, so that’s been thrown in there as well.  I can’t wait until Monday the 18th…

One last thing before I forget – I read this blog:  http://www.lifeofsaucyb.com/  Every Monday, she does a “Make Me Laugh Monday” post where she posts a picture of her cat, and accepts caption ideas.  On Thursday of that week, she will pick the commenter who made her laugh/who’s caption she likes best, and this past week my caption was chosen!  As a reward, she has my blog button featured on her sidebar.  Please check it out, and enjoy her blog!