The Well-Timed Houseguest

Well. look at what's come to visit my little abode, in perfect time for haunting fesitivities!

This guy has been hard at work building a web in a corner of one of the big windows in the living room- on the outside, thank goodness! According to Wikipedia, it's a garden cross spider, and they're relatively common in our neck of the woods. I've never seen one this close and personal though, and it's somehow fascinating.

I'd guess the thorax length at about half an inch, with a 2-inch legspan from front to rear. The web is beautiful, and fills the entire upper left corner of our window. It's hard to see in most lights unless you look from just the right angle, but this guy has done a fine job of weaving! As a fellow craftsperson, I can appreciate the skill...

But he better not stay all winter, unless he wants to help with the ladybeetles that are taking over inside my house. Blech.

Anyways- are you guys doing anything for Halloween? Taking little ones out for the candy collecting, or donning crazy costumes for a party? We're just staying in and watching scary movies on Netflix- maybe I'll make some popcorn balls. Yum!

Nicki

A Bead Love Affair

Wow, it's been a little too long since I've posted something... I'm currently taking a bit of a breather between shows. My next one isn't until November 7th, and it's a tiny space so I don't have to worry about being able to fill it with merchandise. Just posting on Etsy, and working on my website, and...

trying not to buy any more beads. Yes, I'll admit it: I have an addiction to beads. (And lipgloss, but that's another post, lol.) Mostly just sparkly glass ones- I'm not as attracted to opaque or unfaceted styles. I love gemstones, but only really transparent, high-grade, expensive ones... so I don't use them in my flowers. And occasionally pearls.

See, I have plenty; I don't need to buy more. I need to find fun new combinations of the ones I already have in my (overflowing) stash. And I certainly can't buy another tackle box to store them in . There's no more space on that wall, and I have a teeny tiny studio space as it is.



I'm pretty good at keeping them organized... Here's my drawer of bagged "mixed lots." --->
Because each one of my flowers only takes a few beads, I tend to buy beads in mixed packages so I get a wider selection over time. It works well, except when I'm short just one bead to complete a pattern. But it forces me to stay creative, I guess!


This is my absolute favorite bag of beads. It cost me a pretty penny, but a lovely bead seller on Etsy handpicked through her supplies to find a ton of metallic, AB, and luster finished beads for me. I get excited every time I dump the bag out to find a combination for another flower. Just thinking about it gets my creative juices flowing! I'm looking forward to running this bag low, because it means it's time for another one! =)



Ah, and here are a couple of flowers that need their beadwork done, so it's time to leave you dear readers and return to work. Thanks for stopping by!

Nicki

Tweaking your Items: The Quest for Perfectionism

There are a few sayings in the business world- "If you're not moving forward, you're falling behind," and "The only thing that endures is change." Thankfully, as a microbusiness owner I don't need to worry as much about revamping my line every year or coming out with a Hot New Item every season (which is not to say I never add new things to my line, but that's another post.) I'll leave the intense pressure to drive forward to the big guys, and work more on some small-scale changes that increase the quality of my products. They may never be absolutely perfect, but I'm gonna come as close as I can!

Here's a great example: My leather flower necklaces have been selling quite well at shows and online, but I felt they weren't exactly perfect yet- it's tweaking time!

This is just a shot of my leather flower pendants before the center beads have been stitched on. (Aren't they cute all nestled up into their little green dish!)

I'd already upgraded the necklace cords from a lightweight cotton string to a tightly woven, waxed cord with nice lobster clasp closures, but I noticed several things I could change on these guys. The petals needed to be a bit more shapely, and the bail on the back needed to be placed differently as the flowers tended to lean forward a little when hanging on my display. They were fine when being worn, but presentation is everything when you're selling at a show so I needed to figure out something.

Here's how they look after the beads have been stitched down- the petals lay flatter, and they open up very prettily. The shape changes I made to the petals are subtle and my customers probably wouldn't notice unless they had an old style and a new style side-by-side, but there's definitely a difference! The new petal shape is curvier, and comes to more of a "point" at the tips. It's more graceful and feminine.

The leather pieces on the back to secure the bails and cover the stitching used to be circle-shaped. Now, as you can see, they're more shaped like a guitar pick, with a little tip pulled out of the circle. This change in shape moves the bail higher up on the back of the flower and improves the way they hang on the cord. I've also been adding a "V" stamp to the back of all of my flowers- a great suggestion I got from a neighbor, and an inexpensive way to brand. (Branding is important too- I should cover that in a post as well, lol!) I got the stamps made online for less than $5 each, and I use pigment inks in metallic earth tones for the impressions.

As an artisan of handmade things, I think quality is the number one thing that sets us apart from the Walmarts of the world- don't you agree? Sometimes, little changes to the way we make our items can make a world of difference in improving quality levels, and that's always a good thing. What changes have you made lately that have improved upon your products? I'd love to hear about the tweaking you've been doing!

My new website!

I've been working on getting my own website up and running for the past several months, and it's finally close to what I can consider done:


You can visit Viridian Handcrafts and see the rest of the site if you like!

I'd been toying with the idea of my own site for probably close to a year, but I always assumed that it would be a huge, expensive project that I would have to pay someone to do because I'm a perfectionist. When I had a day job, my boss told me that to get his site where he wanted would cost thousands of dollars in web designer fees, and it'll be a LONG time before Viridian is solvent enough to drop that kinda cash. So I reluctantly assumed that I'd never get my own site, and that I'd have to put up with Etsy's foibles and fees indefinitely. Not such a bad thing, but still...

Fast forward to last spring, either late May or early June when I left my day job. (Gosh, I can't even remember exactly when I left! I must have mentally blocked out the event...) I was chatting with some Etsy friends who had their own sites, and lamenting that my own site was out of my reach. "Not so!" said Julia of Julia Catherine Jewelry, who took the time to write up a neat little HTML front page for me and got the ball rolling on this whole shebang.

I originally went with GoDaddy for hosting because they were recommended almost everywhere I looked, but quickly realized several things:

1. Their user interface is such a nightmare to navigate! Seriously, their whole website is a huge mess of links, graphics, and colors with not much organization showing. That really freaked me out- how was I ever going to find out how to build a website in that maze? Although they did give me a check-up phone call right after I signed up, which helped me with a few things...

2. I needed a shopping cart on my site, since the plan was to um...sell things! I found out that I would need to find a separate shopping cart and integrate it into my site somehow. That worried me too- I didn't know much coding to start with, and I was overwhelmed with the idea that I'd now have to learn web design for my site, as well as running a fledgling full-time craft business.

So I started looking at hosting services that had a built-in shopping cart. Several names were tossed at me by my Etsy friends, including pappashop, bigcartel, and homestead. I reviewed all of them but they seemed sooo expensive- $20 to $50 a month for the number of items I wanted to be able to carry. Plus, I decided early on that I didn't like bigcartel's layout. When you're just starting, paying $50 a month for your own shopping site makes Etsy look more and more appealing. Then...

Then, someone pointed me to Pagebuzz. My first reaction was "This is a really, um... cute-looking hosting service!" There are bumblebees scattered all over their front page, and it looks kinda cartoonish. But after reading about all the features their hosting service has, and the price ($9.99 a month!!) I decided to go for it. And I'm sure glad I did! You can either use their templates and layout options or upload your own layout for the pages. You can choose all the colors for the text, links, backgrounds, etc. AND- they have a built-in shopping cart that's pretty customizable and can support up to 2500 items. That's a lot more than 100 or 200! I've also found that their customer service is incredibly friendly and helpful.

So here I am, a few months later with a fully functioning, beautiful website that looks and behaves exactly the way I wanted it to, with a shopping cart that lets me add items with ease and is easy for customers to use too. I'm thrilled with the outcome of my website journey, and even though I want to add a few more widgets here and there I'd say it's ready for business. I think I'll have a grand opening celebration in September! Now, to make things to fill my Shop pages (that's the next step, to actually have things to sell. It'll take a bit...)

A "Hail" of a Wake-Up Call

This happened Friday morning...

I usually like to sleep in rather late, since I'm a night owl and do my best work in the hours after dinner. However, on Friday morning I was rudely awakened by loud banging that sounded like someone in the house slamming doors or drawers. My husband had already left for work, so what the... that's when I glanced out the window and realized how hard it was pouring, and what were those white streaks- snow? No! The noises I was hearing were the large hailstones pounding on the window and the air conditioner.

I'm not a storm chaser, though I love storms and wish I had the means to do one of those week-long Tornado Alley tour-thingys... but I know enough about storms to wonder where these golf-ball sized hailstones were coming from at 8:30 in the morning. Storms make large hail when strong updrafts can keep them bouncing in the atmosphere for a long time- the longer they're up there, the bigger they get. But I think (correct me if I'm wrong!) that for the updraft to get that strong, the ground has to be heated up enough for the air near it to be warmed and lifted. So, hailstorms in the morning are rare- there hasn't been any time for the sun to shine on the ground and warm it up.

Anyways, I was jolted out of bed by the sheer wonder of it all, and managed to grab my camera and snap some pictures out on the front stoop in my pj's before they all melted. I know, these aren't exactly HUGE stones, but the biggest I've seen in my neck of the woods. And, I was up earlier than normal so I managed to get a lot done that day. =)

Fair Diddley 2009

The Fair Diddley on the historic Square in Woodstock, IL was a few weekends ago, on May 17th. It was the first craft show of any size that I've ever done, and I must say it went well! I put a lot of thought and effort into my display, and while it's not 100% it's definitely nice enough to use for a few more go-rounds. Here are some shots of my booth that day.


Little round table with some Bud Bite rings and a pillow

My kitchen baker's rack folds flat- perfect for show transport!

Overall booth shot, with my hubby hiding behind the curtain- which, by the way- curtains add a ton of look to a booth, and were gathered on a dowel rod and zip-tied to the tent frame. I highly recommend "dressing" your booth with ideas like this!

Welcome to the Green Room!

It's just starting to snow outside, and the winter storm warnings say we can expect 3 to 6 inches before it stops. It's the perfect time to start a blog, with my kitty at my feet and a steaming cup of flavored coffee at my elbow. So welcome, and I hope you enjoy my little ramblings about life both IRL and in cyberland.

This post is dedicated to... COOKIES!

My husband's family has a cookie-baking day every year before Christmas, and this is the first year I'll be able to participate. (Retail jobs have prevented me in previous years from taking a Sunday off in December.) We have our list planned, and our day saved, and now we just need to dig out the recipe cards and shop for ingredients. My favorite are the toffee bars and the divinity, and I've gone through the trouble of finding recipes just for you!

A good example of toffee bars- I love anything with coconut!

Easy Divinity recipe

Do you have any favorite cookie traditions? I'd love to hear them!