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!

My Ventures

I know I have gotten a few new followers recently, and I’m guessing at least some of my followers read my posts through Google Reader and don’t actually see my blog page often.  I don’t typically like to “brag” as I might call it or really push things on people, but I guess it would really be considered “marketing”.  Since there are new followers and probably some Reader people out there, I was feeling the need to “market” myself and remind everyone of some of the ventures/sites I’m associated with to allow me to try to earn some extra income for my newly growing family.  We’ve been lucky with baby gifts so far, but there’s a lot more to buy and pay for as the year continues, and since I currently don’t work and will be a SAHM, I felt the need to try to earn a little something where I could.  So, for any of you interested in any of the following, here’s what I’m trying:

1. I have my own Artfire shop called My Style Crafts with my handmade crafts listed.  If you have never heard of Artfire, it’s pretty much exactly like Etsy, but without the fees for listing an item.  Right now I currently only have some jewelry pieces listed, but as soon as I try out a printing service, I’d like to add some of my photography prints, and whenever I decide to sew again I could offer items such as catnip cat mats, cat toys, and kitchen towels.  I currently do not have any candle making supplies, but I love to make candles, and at some point would like to add some of those to the listings or at least take custom orders.  I also decorate picture frames, but unfortunately due to some of the materials I use to create them, that particular type of item is on hold until at least summer since I can’t use those materials while I’m pregnant.  So, like I said, there’s currently only jewelry and one set of wine charms listed, but the other items mentioned are ones I’d like to add at some point when I have the supplies, ability and time to create them.  If you’re interested in something, or would even like to inquire about a custom order (which may or may not be able to be fulfilled, depending on the item), please check out my Artfire shop at http://www.artfire.com/users/MyStyleCrafts

2. I have 2 Cafe Press shops.  One shop is called My Style Crafts – Photography Gifts.  I have created a few different items with some of my original photography printed on them.  Items include coffee mugs, note cards, and tote bags.  You can check out the items available at http://www.cafepress.com/MyStyleCrafts

     The other Cafe Press shop currently only has one design on a few different products, but it’s called My Style Designs.  I created this shop during Breast Cancer Awareness month in order to try to raise some money for breast cancer research.  I would eventually like to create some different designs to add to products, but for now all items (which is still everything at the moment) with the breast cancer awareness design will have all profits from sales donated to The American Cancer Society.  This shop can be found at http://www.cafepress.com/MyStyleDesigns

3. I am a Say It On The Wall affiliate.  Say It On The Wall is a great place to find some awesome gifts or home decor items created using vinyl.  They have items such as subway art, wall vinyl sayings, door greetings, decorated glass blocks and so much more.  You can even create your own vinyl saying through their website.  If you are interested in seeing what they have and helping me out as an affiliate, you must go to their site via my link listed in my sidebar on my actual blog page.

4. I am also part of the Amazon Associates program.  I have a shop through Amazon.com where I categorize and list products that I think are wonderful from personal experience or would just like to offer potential shoppers because I think the product seems worthy of promotion.  The store is called Steph’s Creative Life Store, since it’s associated with my blog.  I currently only have a “Baby” category and “Music” category (all Glee mp3’s listed at the moment), but I plan to add categories such as electronics, household items, home decor, crafting supplies, and more.  Look for those categories and listings to be added over time, and if there’s anything at all you want to buy from Amazon.com and would like to help me out as an Associate, but don’t see the item listed in my store, please contact me through my blog and let me know what the item is so I can add it to the store for your purchasing needs.  If there is any issue adding the item to the store, I will let you know, and you will also be notified once the item is listed and available for purchase.  You can get to my store to see listings through the widget on the sidebar of my actual blog page or by clicking this link:  http://astore.amazon.com/stepscre-20

I have also been thinking about becoming an online Tupperware consultant.  I don’t like to do home parties certainly as a consultant (not even a host!), but they have a way you can just sell via an online store, or even create online parties for hosts so no one has to deal with the in-home party.  This is still up in the air yet, because in the past I thought about being a consultant/sales person for other companies (Avon being the major one), but I know a few people who already sell for the other companies and thought I might not succeed at it for that reason.  So, I found out about Tupperware’s opportunity, and I haven’t made a final decision yet, but I’d like some feedback from you.  If I had an online way of purchasing Tupperware or hosting online only parties, would you be interested?  Would you come to me for your Tupperware needs or do you already have a consultant that you buy from?

That’s all I have for now.  If you are interested in any (or all!) of my ventures above, please check them out and help me succeed!  Feedback about the Tupperware opportunity will be greatly appreciated!

Thursday Thoughts

1. I have a sick kitty.   :(   He’s been having sneezing fits since yesterday, and you can just tell he doesn’t feel well.  My poor baby, I feel bad for him.  I don’t think it’s time to call the vet yet, since he’s still eating some and drinking, but once I see that he’s not eating, I will put out the wet food (they can smell it better and will eat more when they are sick) and call the vet to see if he needs any antibiotics.  See, not feeling well:

Hubby put his blanket in the corner by the bookshelf in the office, and I know Jasper likes blankets, but this is a little unusual for him.  It doesn’t help that it’s chilly, and and the heat hasn’t been on yet.  2. Speaking of heat and chilly weather – I’m so tired of the rain now!  I know we had quite a dry summer here, and needed some rain, but I’ve had enough of it now.  I have outdoor things to do – fertilize/weed kill the lawn, plant my daffodil and tulip bulbs so we can finally mulch the planting bed around the patio, and I’d like to use my brand new fire bowl some evening before winter hits and make some s’mores.  We’ve had some nice days, but the nice days have either been too warm to plant the bulbs (I was waiting until the temps got cooler and stayed consistent – now that we’re there, I feel like I can’t get enough dry days to plant!), or busy with other tasks and errands, and lately we’ve gotten a late start to dinner, so it gets a little too late to sit outside around a fire for a couple hours.  I was supposed to have a baton lesson today, and that got rained out.  Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer, but windy, so I can have the lesson tomorrow, but the wind might be too much for a fire.

3. Oh, and as I was typing this post, the heat did get turned on.  Everyone is warming up, and so far I haven’t heard the clicking from the vent in the bedroom.  I don’t think it’s quite cold enough for the clicking to start yet.  Yet another stupid issue with our brand new house – the vent coming up through the garage/family room wall, running along the floor of our bedroom and coming to it’s opening in the back of the bedroom is made of aluminum, and expands and shrinks when we use the heat.  So, the result is we hear a clicking/pinging sound on really cold days when the heat kicks on.  When there’s no heat blowing, the vent “shrinks” since it runs through the one garage wall, and gets very cold, and then when the heat blows it starts to warm up the vent causing the metal to expand, which creates the noise.  Kept me awake and irritated soooo many nights last winter.  We were told that it sometimes is an issue in these houses, and they need to fix it by cutting into the garage wall, replacing the aluminum duct with a plastic flexible duct, and fix up the garage wall again.  If it’s a known issue, why don’t they make these houses with the flexible duct in the first place???  But no, I have to deal with the noise and have them cut holes in my home to find the problem and fix it.  My issue is that I don’t think the expansion problem is coming from the garage wall area, but where the duct runs between the family room ceiling and bedroom floor.  If that’s the issue, they might have to cut open my whole family room ceiling!  Really not looking forward to dealing with all that this winter…

4.  Back to my sick kitty – if you’ll notice in the above pictures, he is quite a tubby cat.  We have tried switching to light food, and now even strictly measure out his daily amount of food.  We don’t regulate the food bowls overnight, because if we did, we wouldn’t sleep at all!  But we are trying to get his weight down, and I don’t think we have been successful yet.  So, I saw this fun little toy, and thought it would be a super success!:

Not so much…  I figured I’d fill it with some of his regular kibble (not treats, as if he needs anymore of those ever!), and make him work a little for his food.  He’d get some much needed play and his food would be the reward.  He would still be able to eat a lot of it from his regular bowl, but I was trying to incorporate some mental and physical work into his feeding.  He hasn’t figured it out yet…  He looks at me like I’m playing a cruel trick on him.  Maybe someday he’ll finally figure it out.

5. I have things to do that I just don’t feel like doing.  I have to hem a pair of costume pants for one of the girls in the baton group.  I offered to do it so I knew it would get done and hopefully come out well, but I really never feel like hemming pants…  It’s tedious and boring.  I don’t want to fertilize the yard.  It needs to be done, and seems pretty easy, but I just don’t want to do it.  The basement and garage need some major cleaning, and I really don’t want to do that!  I have some crafts I really want to finish up, but I’m at a tedious and boring part of the process for some of them, so I keep pushing it off.

6. Along the lines of crafts, I made these on Tuesday as well: 

Swirly Blue Chandelier Earrings:  I have not added these to my Artfire site yet, because I have to figure out their cost and selling price.  There we go again with the tedious part of a craft that I really dislike to do!  Hopefully by tomorrow I will have them priced and added.  The ear wires are a different style for my typical selection, but I really like them and think they make this pair look more elegant.  The blue beads are leftover from my Beachy Blue set, and I bought the swirly chandelier parts a while ago, but just got around to using them.  Look for them there soon though!

7. I’m a little disappointed about some things.  I have yet to make a sale from any of my shops, and I hate to admit that to anyone reading this, but I don’t get it.  I think I make/create some cute stuff, and my jewelry and other crafts are priced right around what other people charge, if not less, but yet still no takers, no orders…  The stuff on my Cafe Press shops are slightly expensive, but I promise I don’t mark them up a whole lot – most of the cost for them is Cafe Press’ base cost for the item.  I even have my Breast Cancer Awareness items that I’m donating profits to the American Cancer Society, but sadly no takers on that stuff either…  So, I hate to do this, but I’m going to be a little shameless here – go check out My Style Crafts on Artfire, My Style Crafts-Photography Gifts on Cafe Press, and My Style Designs on Cafe Press (currently all breast cancer awareness designs on this shop with ALL profits going to American Cancer Society – changed from a portion as stated before) – if you like anything, buy it!  :)  Christmas is coming.  ;)   If you have any questions or would like to make any special orders, feel free to contact me!  I love to craft a whole variety of things, and I have some cute ideas for future projects, but struggling to get my dance business going, and not working otherwise, it gets hard for me to spend money on more supplies when I haven’t gotten any returns from previous projects.  It just makes me feel disappointed that I can’t seem to get anywhere with this stuff, and I have no idea why.  I know people are looking at it – if you have comments about anything, please send them to me!  I don’t know how to better my products or services if I get no feedback!

I think that’s all for today…I’m very tired because I hardly slept last night.  Jasper woke me up with a sneezing fit, and then there was just no going back to sleep after that.  So, at 5pm, I say goodnight!

New Cafe Press Shop!

I have decided to try to get some of my photography out in different ways.  I will be adding some to my Artfire site, once I figure out my best photo printing service and costs, but I also wanted something I could set up immediately.  Cafe Press!  I opened my shop Monday, and added even more products yesterday.  I will also be adding calendars in the near future, but I have to pick out more photos for those. 

So here it is, the “Grand Opening” of my newest venture:  My Style Crafts – Photography Gifts

They have a sale going on that ends TODAY – save $10 off a $50 or more purchase.  So, please, check out my shop and hopefully you’ll find something you like to add to your shopping cart!  Christmas is coming, if you’re more of an online shopper and like to buy gifts early.   ;)

Here’s a sneak peak:

Blank note cards    

 

                          Blank greeting cards

Beach tote

There are quite a few other items as well!   Happy shopping!   :)