OK, I admit. This batch of wire crochet stars weren't really crafted portably while I was out-an-about but they do (IMO) fit the criteria of portable crafting.
They also show how much time can be wasted while at the computer!
I crocheted these little stars in between page loads while surfing the internet last night. There's nothing more infuriating than a slow computer and an internet connection seemingly thru treacle.
Crocheting these stars made the evening much less frustrating.
PS: I'm thinking of listing these in my etsy shop as christmas supplies
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
crafted portably?
Monday, August 11, 2008
how do you craft?
So, how do you pull it all together and manage a few crafty moments in your day? How does it all fit together in your family life? Whether you're a stressed new mum following the 'sleep when the baby sleeps' mantra or the follower of a very active out-and-about preschooler it can be a real juggling act to try keep that ounce of sanity going by snatching a creative moment or two in the day's itinerary.
Recently I found some inspiration from an article run in the Etsy blog, The Storque where seller Nikki aka BabyBelle talked about her studio and how enmeshed in family life it is. Far from the usual unfeasible "Quit Your Day Job" (!) series, this article actually addressed the ins and outs of working at home and weaving it around normal family duties. It turns out that there are a whole slew of work-at-home mum articles available here ....... maybe you can find some nuggets of inspiration in them too!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
it's sale time!!!
Does anyone not know about the Saturday night specials available on Etsy?
It's when a bunch of sellers band together and promote sales in their shops which are only available for a limited time ie. Saturday night.
It was started originally by willowglass, who sells the most amazing fused glass supplies and creations. There is a thread here for the shops taking part in this promotion and a thread here for chatting (pssst! it also contains a list of shops with SNS secrets in place too).
Confused? see the SNS blog for further info
and without more ado, here are my specials for the evening ...
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Saturday Night Specials (running August 2nd
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at ebbandflo BOGO - buy one, get one at half price (discount applies to the less expensive item).
Further items will be discounted by 25% off. Just mention “SNS” in your message to seller during checkout then wait until I send a revised PayPal invoice.
at pomomamadesign Free shipping in 
the revised invoice in your email inbox!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
time saving hints for etsy sellers
This great portable crafting hint comes courtesy of a thread by littleputbooks who worked out how to save listings to finish at a later date. I use it when I have lots fo free computer time to stack listings up for days when I'm running on empty (as most of the summer holidays seems to be right now!).
Basically all you do is complete all the listing steps up until the final page, and then instead of hitting 'Finish' and seeing your listing go live you bookmark it! Then when you are ready to make the listing 'live' all you do is pull up your bookmarked url, and hit 'Finish'. The listing appears at the right place in the category page and is available for buyers to see. Simple!
Littleput's suggestion is to make the bookmarks portable by emailing them to yourself and then copy/pasting the url of each listing into the browser bar to complete the process. Mine are static as I just bookmark them on my computer in Internet Explorer or Mozilla but I'm thinking of using my Google Home Page bookmark widget to keep them too as occasionally I use a laptop rather than the desktop around the house (ooh luxury!)
Read all about it here.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
there are some jobs which are not portable ....
.... and product photography is one of them!
I have a window ledge set up as my photographic studio. It's north facing so the light is usually bright but diffused even on sunny days. I use a piece of vellum to further diffuse the light over the item. This can work really well or flop about and be a total pain! Photographic sessions can also be accompanied by lots of swearing - another reason to only attempt them when the wee guy is out of the house.
Taking product shots takes (me) a long time. I click, I run to the computer with my batch, upload, check and re-shoot as neccessary.
.... and then there's the editing! Once I'm pleased with the pictures I settle down in front of the screen, notepad in hand, jotting down the files of the images I want to use.
Then it's off to the photo editing software. I use PhotoStudio 2000, a program which came with my scanner and it's worked well so far. I also have the Adobe Photoshop thing and have downloaded GIMP but just haven't had the time to play with and familiarise myself. One new program I am spending more time with is the Flickr-associated Picnik which is also available for free download as well as within Flickr (NB: you can now batch upload into Picnik for editing at the same time as Flickr Uploading!). I like its 'intuitiveness' as it means I won't have to spend ages working out how to complete my task list, and I like the results. There are lots of special effects!
Photo editing isn't really a portable task either but I am a little more mobile within the home since acquiring a new laptop and wireless internetting! If you see me lazing on the deck I'm probably lazing with the laptop these days.
Every little helps!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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