Oktoberfest

Chat Noir - A fine art photography print

Oh my it's already October, and everyone knows this is the month of Halloween, although we don't celebrate Halloween here hahaha. And like usual, I would like to conclude the previous month and set new goals for the new month. So my goals for September was...

1. Get to 70 sales.

2. Get to 380 shop hearts.

3. Fill the shop to 125 items.

And I achieved...

1. 59 sales. (I guess I was too ambitious)

2. 286 hearts. (A plan of mine fell through)

3. 126 items. (Yey! For once!)

I guess I expected too much of September. Somehow sales weren't as good compared with August as well, which was weird. Well here's to hoping that the holiday sales will really pick up in October. And I have quite a few plans this month as well. Including but not limited to a giveaway that I plan to launch in the next few days. So watch this space closely for more information to come. :)

That said, here are the goals for October!

1. Get to 75 sales.

2. Get to 400 shop hearts.

3. Fill the shop to 140 items.

And perhaps, start my new shop for paper products. :) October will be a busy busy month!!

Weekly Word Picks - Lamb

This week's word had been picked by fieryfish, and her choice was...

LAMB

I know I did a week of sheep before, but this still proves to be very challenging and interesting as well. So without further ado, enjoy the show :)

Baby Lamb in the kitchen 8x10 Fine Art Photograph by lucysnowephotography

For the complete Treasury, please follow this link : Lamb

So what should next week's word be? Suggest by posting in the comments below!

Point and shoot vs DSLR

One of my colleagues graciously borrowed me her precious Nikon D60 DSLR, and I get to play with it a little over the weekend. :) Owning a DSLR had always been one of my long time dreams, but I just weren't sure how important it is for me, so I decided having a test run is the best way to make up my mind.

Unfortunately though, her D60 only had the basic 18-55mm lens that came with the camera, which makes macro shots impossible. I couldn't shoot anything smaller than the bracelets, so the 30 something pairs of earrings were still done with my Olympus point and shoot. (how sad that a point and shoot beat a DSLR in this case)

Anyways, enough talk, and let's see how did the experiment went. In the pictures below, the one on the left is taken by my Olympus MJU 820, the one on the right is the Nikon D60.

They aren't the same bracelets, but their colors are close enough. The darkest purple pearls on the left is the same color as the darkest purple (smaller) pearls on the left. I'm soooooo happy that finally I can get a more accurate color of the purple! My Olympus always made it look so much darker. :(

These are different bracelets as well, but they basically use mostly the same colored pearls, and the newer one has flowers. :) Notice how the shadow looks warmer and makes the overall photo more dreamy?

These are diff bracelets as well. XD The one on the left is one of my favorite photos too, but look how gorgeous the Nikon's photo is! The blur at the further distance is beautiful, and totally not edited in Photoshop. The foreshortening is just great!

Conclusion? I'm definitely getting a DSLR now. But perhaps not a Nikon, thinking a Canon EOS 550D actually, as the Canon macro lens is much cheaper than Nikon ones. Yosh! That shall be my goal for next year! I shall start saving up, and hopefully Christmas sales would earn me enough to get one. Lol!

Weekly Word Picks - Pineapple

Wow, preparing for craft fairs really put a toll on my online activity. I went for a week without any blog updates! o_o Reports for the craft fair will come later, here is the word feature for this week. :) I asked one of my gamer nerd friend for a random word this week, and despite him getting super excited about Civilization V, he gave me one very non-nerdy, surprisingly ordinary word...

PINEAPPLE

I was quite happy and proud of myself to not make this a super bright and yellow collection :)

Beach Bubble hanging glass terrarium kit by terradctl

For the complete Treasury, please follow this link : Pineapple

So what should next week's word be? Suggest by posting in the comments below!

Weekly Word Picks - Mouse

Lately a lot of people had been suggesting animals for this section. And not intentionally too, since more than half of them does not what the random word was used for. But nonetheless, I asked a colleague of mine for a random word, and she suggested...

Mouse

You cannot believe the amount of Mickey and Minnie Mouse items on Etsy! I found this out the hard way. Every page of items I go through, 80% are Disney inspired items. Good lord.

DIY Patchwork Animal Lovers craft kit by MeMeCraftwork

For the complete Treasury, please follow this link : Mouse

So what should next week's word be? Suggest by posting in the comments below!

The Revealing of Project X

In our last post concerning Project X, I mentioned that the project was mainly to upcycle the scrapbook paper scraps. And this is what it was used for. :)

Collage alphabet cards! They are ACEO size (What is ACEO? Click the link to find out) and are quite fun to make too :D

They are fun to put together to form words as well. Look at how colorful they are!

This photo looks very trippy, as if the C was cut out and not pasted on. @_@

The different colors, thickness and textures of the cards make them very colorful and unique. Some has textures, some has glitter and some are foiled. There is just so much detail in every letter.

Potential uses for the alphabet cards, lol.

To be honest, I am still not quite sure if there is a market for these kind of little alphabet cards. But hey, you gotta give me credit for trying right? If I ever start another Etsy shop selling the alphabet cards, I'm probably going to make a few more designs and shapes (animal/food shapes anyone?) as well. And maybe sell some other paper products as well like decorative note cards and such.

By the way, the cards will be making their debut sales in Arts for Grabs this weekend, do come by and check it out if you are local. :)

So what do you think? Some feedback would be most welcomed!

Arts for Grabs Sept 2010

I never really thought of trying in local craft fairs, simply because I'm not sure if my products are suitable for the local market. But since joining Team Etsy Malaysia and mingling with them, my mind had been slowly changed. Like me, some of the people on the team were skeptical about selling locally as well. However, if we never try, we'll never know right? Besides, it is a good time to gain some experience and exposure through craft fairs. So when Huey of Nottypooch brought up Arts for Grabs Sept 2010, I decided to take the leap of faith and jump in with both feet.

Hey, even if I don't earn much from this, it might be fun to finally be meeting everyone from the team! :D

So Skyejuice will be in the Arts for Grabs September 2010 crafts fair next weekend in the Annexe Gallery!

I will be selling mainly earrings and probably bringing a few pearl cluster bracelets with me. Since there are 7 of us sharing 3 booth spaces, I just thought it would be a better idea to keep things simple. The 7 of us are...

1. Skyejuice (that's me)

2. Nottypooch

3. Zeropumpkin

4. jpbeads / Jenny Pong

5. inkypots

6. catbun

7. zarinaza

Our 3 booths will be neighbors to two other team members as well - nukilan, rekhss and their collaboration project funkytiles.

So in preparation for the craft fair, I had taken the 3-day weekend to hermit at home and pump out as many earrings as I can. And the results are... 40 whopping pairs!! O_O

Admittedly, some of them are rather simple, just wire-wrapping briolettes. But still, I'm so proud of myself! Here are photos of a few that I really like, and bothered enough to take nice photos of lol! (srsly, you expect me to take breathtaking photos of 40 f*cking pair of earrings?!) I'll take the proper photos for them later if I didn't end up selling them. :)

I love love love these periwinkle blue teardrop chalcedony briolettes! They are just so pretty! >u<

The grapefruit pink ones ain't too bad too. :)

Soft apple green chalcedony heart-shaped briolettes.

Blue ones! (yes I have a lot of colors!)

Another blue one!

Trying to range out a little, here is a simple pair of butterfly earrings.

A rough overall look of most of the earrings I made. I made quite a few of the same design, but just with different colors. Some of them may look similar, but not one pair are the same because the ones with similar designs are made with real gemstones, and every piece is different :)

More overall view. Even the blue bells with leaves differ slightly in color :D

More of the chalcedonies. I love these stones, can you tell? XD

Aside from jewelry, I will also be having Project X's debut sales in Arts for Grabs. And what exactly is Project X? Well it will be announced in the next couple days, so watch out for this space!

Meanwhile, I will also be destashing some of my scrapbook papers that I couldn't use to make pillow boxes. Most of them are too thick and have glitter on them. (somehow this combo just makes glue difficult to stick) So I will be selling them off during Arts for Grabs. Here are a few previews for you to see. :)

First come first serve!! A lot of these beauties have only 1 piece, and once it is gone, it is gone. So if you want some of the patterns shown here, be there early or be square! ;D

Friday Tunes - Speak Softly Love

I realized I missed last week's Friday Tunes, my apologies. I guess I was too busy and I forgot. >.<;; But I have an awesome one to share this week and hopefully you will forgive me? :'D

I always had an affinity towards the mafia era, I don't know why I love it so much, perhaps it was the fedora hats and pinstripe suits. I love the Godfather movie, and I absolutely loooove the Godfather game! The atmosphere and the amazing soundtrack really sets the rugged romance mood. Too bad the sequels of both were kind of disappointing. :(

Today I am sharing The Godfather's main theme song - Speak Softly Love, sang by the godly Andy Williams. A lot of you are perhaps very familiar with the instrumental version, and no doubt had heard this before. But there is no harm in reminiscing the old times. :)

Cute Japanese Cups!

The Japanese makes some of the cutest stuff on earth!! I mean... just look at these mugs!

Mug and spoon set. The little animal clinging on the brim is a spoon.

I love the black cat one!!

This mug is pure genius!

What's this?

Turn around and it turns into a little piglet! I think one of my friend would love this!

Animals wearing hats!

Two cups set, one tall one short.

And this one is just so adorable!

If you want me to pick just one among all these selections, it will be extremely difficult. But I think... I will go with the black cat cup with the tail handle :D You can see more cute stuff at their website Pageroom. Enjoy! ♥

Weekly Word Picks - Sheep

I made a mistake today. I have a friend of mine who loves sheep and never failed to remind me how much she loves sheep at least once every two weeks. So it didn't come as a surprised when I asked her for a random single word earlier today, she said...

SHEEP

And thus, we shall have sheep!

Little white sheep- custom made wool animal by LittleLoveBlue

For the complete Treasury, please follow this link : Sheep

I sure hope I didn't just made her want to buy every single item on this list! So what should next week's word be? Suggest by posting in the comments below!

Preparing for Christmas

I know autumn just started, but I am already preparing for Christmas in case people started Christmas shopping early hahaha. So don't be surprised if you see some Christmas themed pieces from me in the next few weeks. :)

This week they are ALL bracelets!! Stocking them up for the holiday season since they are the most popular. I wish I could make 7 pearl cluster bracelets hahaha but unfortunately, I am preparing for something later this month so I didn't had enough time.

Anyways, here is the first piece for the holiday season!

Title : Candy Cane

Price : USD20.00

Title : Orange Tree

Price : USD20.00

Title : Nightingale

Price : USD20.00

Title : Victorian Madame

Price : USD20.00

Title : Midnight Bloom

Price : USD22.00

Title : Heart of Ice

Price : USD15.00

Title : Cherry Harvest

Price : USD15.00

Project X - Usage of Pretty Papers

The pretty scrapbook papers/cardstocks I posted last week? It was actually used for this. :)

Packaging for my jewelry, the pearl cluster bracelets particularly, and some earrings as well. (although not all) Don't they look so pretty and all ready to be gifted for someone special or placed under a Christmas tree? ♥

Yes these boxes are painstakingly handmade by your's truly! It just feels so satisfying to see the pillow box puffed and tied up, ready for shipment. :D The pretty end result is one of my main motivators to keep making these pillow boxes.

When I was making the pillow boxes though, I realized that I made all these little strips that I would totally dump into the rubbish bin if they were normal, boring papers.

But they are not, and it seems like a waste to just throw them away. So I decided, heck, why not try to do something about them! And that is how I got the idea to start Project X.

In which I will disclose in a future update. :)

By the way, that red splatter mark on the upper left corner in the last picture, I swear they are not blood lol! The cutting mat had been with me for at least 7 years and that stain was acrylic or some such, permanently there. Don't worry, there aren't any blood shed happened on my beloved mat before. :)

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Red Fox Original Painting - Fine Art Print

One of my favorite songs. :D (referring to the title) And isn't this sleeping fox painting absolutely adorable?

The beginning of one month signifies the end of another, and it is time to conclude it and make new goals for the new month! My goals for August were...

1. Get to 45 sales.

2. Get to 350 shop hearts.

3. Fill the shop to 125 items.

In which I achieved...

1. 54 sales wow! Way better than expected :D

2. Just 268 hearts. It's okay though, I did not do a lot of promoting last month. :)

3. 106 items in shops! XD; I fail so miserably at that lol.

Well, at least I achieved my sales goal, that is what matters right? And so... in the following month, assuming if the Christmas rush really starts this month, the followings will be the new goals for September!

1. Get to 70 sales.

2. Get to 380 shop hearts.

3. Fill the shop to 125 items.

Yeah, I'm not raising the bar for the filled items. Because I am not confident enough that I can actually meet it, considering in the factor about the number of sales as well. But we shall see what happens. :)

Also, I already reduced all the prices for all the current bracelets in Skyejuice, please proceed to the bracelet section to see the new prices. ;) Hope everyone will have a good September!