My Experience with Online Marketing

Well,  I admit,  most of my sales have been to little boutiques and farm stores, co-workers, and people I connected with on a regular basis.  Up until recently,  I did not venture into the online marketplace community.  Since last December, I have been diving deeper into the morass of internet marketing.
I use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter,  mainly to connect with friends and like-minded artisans to exchange news, well-wishing, and creative ideas.  I have met many many super-creative men and women through these sites,  and they have opened up new worlds of design and possibility for me.  They are a never-ending source of support, encouragement, and honest appraisal. I'm a huge fan of Facebook, and am enjoying Twitter.
When I was searching for an online artisans' community, I considered Etsy then Artfire. I ended up choosing Artfire for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, I was concerned that on Etsy, I would become just another face in a sea of many. Secondly, there was a commission and fee schedule that I wasn't sure my beginning low sales volume would support.  I am on a strict budget for sure. So, I went with Artfire.
Artfire is an attractive site at an attractive price, and can be tailored to your specific needs. However, in the 4 months I have been on Artfire, my views have dwindled down to nearly nothing, and I haven't had a single inquiry or sale!!!  I'm planning on dropping down to a "basic" free membership...and looking into Etsy.
Yardsellr.com!!!!  Yay,  Yardsellr!  I sold my first item through this site today.  It's an awesome and easy to use site. Each seller can host a "yardsale" of all their items which can be promoted on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Google! They even chart your views, tally their origins, and display the number of comments you've received on each item. One of the coolest features is each seller is assigned a rank according to views/comments/sales.  You are also given 5000 "photons" for each comment you make on products sitewide (equivalent to $0.05 - but it adds up fast). A big THUMBS UP to yardsellr.com!!!
I am going to check out crobbies.com,  shophandmade.com, artsefest.com, imadeitmyself.com, and threesistersmarketplace.com soon.  What the heck?  It goes along with my theory...exposure, exposure, exposure!

Cedar Round Beads

I honestly think this is one of the best ideas I've ever had...I got these 7/8" cedar rounds from a friend several years ago.  She used them to make bug-repelling sachets.  I thought I would rub them with cedarwood essential oil and make my own sachets.  But their beautiful roundness cried out for something different.

And then it came to me.  I have a wood burning tool.  I'm not great with it,  but I figured I would try it out on these bad boys.  They've turned out really nice.  I've put flowers,  swirls,  stars,  all kinds of different designs on them.  I still need to drill the holes and finish them somehow.  I've been toying with the idea of using essential oils to fragrance them naturally and give them a nice color.I'd love some feedback on these.  Please feel free to comment!!!!!

Turning Altoids Tins Into Art

I knew I was saving my mint tins for something!!!!  I started gluing a kaleidoscope of glass seed beads to the lids today.  I'm not sure I like what they look like so far,  but what the hell.  They've been sitting in my drawer for more than a year.  I might as well give it a try.

And when I'm done,  I'm going to fill them will CANDLES!!!! So they will be jeweled candle cases!  Whoo hoo!!!!  LOL.  We'll see how they turn out.  Stay tuned for an update.

Insomnia Is My Friend?

I guess sleeplessness isn't really my enemy,  but I do wish I could catch a little shut eye at some point.  Back in my party days,  I came alive at night.  Once I got clean and sober and after I settled into a new healthier lifestyle,  I learned how to sleep like a "normal" person.

But here I am,  once again,  most alive at night.  Yes,  I'm clean and sober,  so it's not that.  Perhaps it's my new medication (we'll get into that in a separate post) that's inducing sleeplessness.

At any rate,  through the exhaustion,  my creative mind races.  I just spent several hours perusing the amazing crafty offerings at stumbleupon.com.  Oh my God,  creative Heaven!!!   There's a baby shower coming up,  so many half-done projects - just looking at those pages and pages of incredibly innovative and unique ideas has stirred my imagination.

I know I need to get some rest.  But it's hard to shut my eyes with all of this crafty goodness bouncing around in my head!!!

So goodnight all.  Tomorrow,  I will continue my foray into alpaca fiber felted pet toys.  Perhaps I will try the Kool Aid dying trick.  Perhaps I will pick up some balloons and make dangley ornaments with my leftover scraps of yarn.  Maybe I will finish that hooded baby afghan I started.  And then I will wire wrap some of the rough stones I've been collecting over the years.  And then.....

Rock Hunting - An Obsession

Growing up in Southern California along the coast,  I spent much of my time at the beach.  One of my favorite things was to find seashells as I built sandcastles along the shore.  Each one was a unique little treasure,  designed as a habitat,  left behind as a thing of beauty.
As I grew older,  I grew away from the beaches and into the city.  As an adult,  I came to Yakima,  a rural area of central Eastern Washington.  This is the farthest I have ever lived from the beach.  No more seashells!
But there are different kinds of treasures here!  They are harder to find than seashells,  and research must be done in order to locate them.  They abound in a vast array of colors and compositions.  Agates,  chalcedony,  thundereggs,  crystals,  carnelian,  jaspers,  garnets,  opals,  sunstones,  geodes,  gold!
I live in a mineral-rich area with a diverse terrain.  During warm weather weekends I can be found knee deep in some river searching for water-tumbled agates that look like giant ice cubes.  During the spring I comb the flat, rocky fields just outside of Ellensburg searching for the rare Ellensburg blue agate.  If I am lucky,  I will make the trip to a prehistoric wilderness in northern Oregon where the views are just as fantastic as the vast array of minerals that are found there.  Fabulous moss agates,  thunder eggs with vugs lined with minute glistening crystals,  painted jasper, flame jasper, rainbow jasper,  blue opals with vibrant pink fire,  and huge hunks of icy chalcedony.  Someday,  I will make it deeper into Oregon to dig for baseball size garnets the color of pomegranates and sunstone shillers that glisten like the flesh of a ripe orange.  Perhaps I'll even get to that place in Nevada where opals abound.I have buckets and bins and display cases full of treasure. 
I have a rough time letting any beautiful stone pass through my fingers.  The size of my collection astonishes visitors to my home who have never experienced the adventure of rock hunting.  Some are intrigued,  others are dismayed.  Sometimes even I am perplexed.  Why this obsession?  What am I ever going to do with all of these stones?Recently,  I have begun to make jewelry with them.  Perhaps now I can justify my obsession.
PS:  I am planning to visit Red Top Mountain this year.  On top of this mountain there is a path that scales the side of a decaying wall of basalt on its route to the top.  On the peak there are craters the size of a Volkswagen bus where other "miners" have dug for the treasured thunderegg that Red Top is famous for.  One must only scratch the side of a crater to unearth a plethora of tiny egg-shaped treasures.  It's an amazing place.  I can't wait to make the trip!

In the Beginning

Why wrestle with it anymore?  I've spent years working as a receptionist,  a cashier,  an administrative assistant,  a customer service rep.  Yes,  I loved those jobs,  but they were never my vocation.

I've been artistic since I was a child.  I started playing piano when I was 4.  I was courted by a design school when I was 15.  I wanted to be a hair stylist when I was 17.  And all the while I wrote stories,  poetry,  and prose,  drew pictures,  painted denim jackets and those cool canvas high-tops that were popular in the '80s.

My parents wanted me to go to college.  They wanted me to have a career,  not just a series of odd jobs.  They wanted me to be a lawyer (since I was so good at arguing),  or a psychologist (since I was hyper-analytical).  I could never fit into the mold of student,  academic,  or professional.

So here I am,  the proverbial "struggling artist",  doing what I love and hoping to make a living at it.  I try my hand at everything:  soap making,  candle making,  crocheting,  felting,  hand-spinning,  decoupage,  designing logos,  making polymer clay goodies,  making jewelry with my polymer clay goodies.  My life is a kaleidoscope of color,  augmented by function,  fragrance,  and texture,  influenced by nature.

THIS is my vocation.  THIS is my passion.  This is where my dreams are made...and they come true!  What a journey,  to end up back where I started!