November Rain

Red and White Miniature 1-inch Yo-Yo pieces by backyardprims

First of all, before I begin... Happy Halloween to those that celebrate it! :D I'm going to just sit and home and continue to work as it will be busy times ahead. November is just right around the corner, and to be honest, I am slightly anxious to see what's to come during this month. I sure hope I am well prepared, lol.

Here are the goals I set for October, let's see how I did. :)

1. Get to 75 sales.

2. Get to 400 shop hearts.

3. Fill the shop to 140 items.

In which I achieved...

1. 72 sales. (did not hit the mark, but it's still not too bad :D )

2. 306 hearts. (LOL, a bit hopeless here)

3. 157 items!! (overshot my expectations woohoo!)

I think I didn't do too bad. :) It's a productive month, and I'm liking the progress. So for next month, here are my goals.

1. Get to 95 sales. (watch me crash and burn lol)

2. Get to 400 shop hearts.

3. Fill the shop to 160 items.

I'm keeping #3 more reasonable, because I need to factor in the items sold as well. And I feel a bit ambitious with my sales target this month as I have a few great things planned. Which is...

SALE - Yes, from November 1st - November 30th, I will be running a store-wide 20% discount holiday sale!! (except for the destash section, I need to get back the amount I paid for, for that roll of sterling silver wire!)

GIVEAWAY - Something big is in the works for this month's giveaway. Everything is still in planning right now, so chances are it wouldn't start in the beginning of the month. But it will definitely happen sometime next month.

SHIPPING DEADLINE - To ensure that your gift arrive on time, I had set the shipping deadline for Skyejuice to November 30th. Shipping during the entire period of December had been known to be delayed for an unknown amount of time. Last year I bought something in the first week of December and it only arrived a month later. (good thing it wasn't a Christmas gift) So start shopping earlier!!

Eatsy Malaysia - Bak Kut Teh / Meat Bone Tea

This week I want to introduce a chinese delicacy that is most familiar to local chinese – Bak Kut Teh. The literal translation of the words bak kut teh means ‘meat bone tea’. I guess it can be considered as a stew-like type of food, with pork ribs, meat, and often times even innards simmering in a deliciously complex herbal broth.

Read more...

Clark Kent

Sometimes you get the most brilliant ideas when you least suspect it. Like when you're sitting in the toilet doing your business, when you are driving, or when you are dreaming. (which sometimes inspire the best ideas) I had this idea when I was in that half-awake, half-dreaming state slightly before my alarm goes off. Ideas during this period are easily forgotten, but not this time. :)

Allo Big Ben Photography Print

I woke up one morning with the idea of making a Clark Kent treasury collection, I don't even know where the idea came from lol!

Clear Lens Black Wayfarers

Vintage Black Fedora

Vintage Black Leather Lace Up Oxford Shoes

Eventhough Clark Kent was supposed to be 'boring', but I always have the impression that he is a sharp dresser. The picks here are based on the comic version of Clark Kent, where he sometimes wears a fedora. :)

NUBO SQUARE Handcrafted Watch

A slightly charred watch, resulted from one of his rescue missions. He is indestructible, but not his possessions. And I vaguely remember him looking at his watch sometimes when he is Superman...

9mm Pistol Bullet Casing Shell Cufflinks

Cuff links made from bullets he stopped!! :D

Headline News Reusable Sandwich Baggie w/ Water Resistant Lining

Clark Kent works in Daily Planet right? Well... this sandwich baggie would be perfect for him. :) I think he's also the type that likes to bring sandwiches to work too.

Superman Kryptonite Crystal Soap

Last but not least, these kryptonite crystal soaps are just fun and amazing!! You can see the rest of the items in the Clark Kent treasury by clicking here.

Inspirational Thursday - The Haunting

I'm starting a new series with inspirational or provocative imageries, whether it be photographs, arts or crafts. Every Thursday I will make a post with 5 photos for your mid-week inspirations, and I will cycle through the mediums every week. Like, this week it is photographs or photo manipulation, next week illustrations, then it's jewelry etc. I will make up a list as I proceed. :)

So yes, this week it's photographs/photo manip. Since Halloween is close, only a few days away, here is a series of haunting yet beautiful photos to provoke your ideas!

Rah01. by TOK5

Living Nightmare by timberwolf0316

Fly One by ThePhotoZoo

If I Could Make the World... by Phoebeford

Stage Beauty by ThisYearsGirl

I think the fact that none of them has a face contributes to the haunting atmosphere. So which one is your favorite? :)

Mmm Hot Chocolate

If I told you I never had real hot chocolate made the traditional way, would you believe me? It's true though. Malaysia is a tropical country, so we have tropical climate. (summer all year round) So hot drinks are always less preferred here unless it's a cold, rainy day.

Plus, we also have the extremely widely sold, almost staple chocolate malt drink Milo, which is practically everywhere. So hot chocolate is frequently missed or forgotten. That's why it's difficult to find good hot chocolate here. The Cadbury Hot Chocolate 3 in 1 packets is the closest I can get unfortunately. So when I saw this giveaway, I was totally all over it!!

Gourmet hot chocolate from Teton Cocoa Company. What heavenly delight is this?! I went to look at their Etsy shop and was immediately gushing all over! Hazelnut hot chocolate! Toffee hot chocolate!! Caramel hot chocolate!! Gosh I want to try them all!!

I love love love the hazelnut hot chocolate from Pasta Zanmai, so I'm quite intent on winning this one. Mwahahah!! Another reason why I want to win? Because shipping is a total killer from US to Malaysia for these. :(

So head on over to This Crazy Life blog and enter if you're interested, you just need to pick the flavors you want to try! I picked original, hazelnut, toffee and french vanilla. Although amaretto sounds mighty tempting now too.

Weekly Word Picks - Ocean

Someone on the Etsy forums did a research on the history of fashion trends, and apparently nautical is one of the oldest, and yet still modern and on-going trend since the 1920s, or maybe even earlier! So using that theme, and the wonderful word suggested by the lovely Tanya of Strikk Handknits (well technically she didn't choose the word, she wanted something ocean-themed so I did the liberty and chose and ran away with the most obvious word from her comment) So without further ado, here is the chosen word...

OCEAN

Vintage Navy Blue Vest Upcycled with White Anchor by BrightWall

For the complete Treasury, please follow this link : Ocean

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

Week of Bracelets (almost)

I hope the week of bracelets would happen eventually, but apparently not this week sobs, I only have 6 new bracelets.

I got a swanky new DSLR camera and had been playing with it. I must admit that I'm not very used to it yet, so please excuse me as I try to perfect my technique as I get used to my new toy :) I believe that I need higher aperture, hmm... what do you think?

Title : Raspberry Romance

Price : USD20.00

Title : Late Summer Bloom

Price : USD22.00

Title : White Snow

Price : USD22.00

Title : Winter Harvest

Price : USD20.00

Title : Dark Chocolate

Price : USD22.00

Title : Sparkling Sea

Price : USD20.00

Eatsy Malaysia - SS15 Pork Noodles

In collaboration with the Team Etsy Malaysia's blog, where I had been graciously invited as a blog contributor, I will be doing posts about Malaysian food twice a month. I had wanted to do this for my blog anyway so what the heck, I'll just go with it.

So I am cross-posting the posts to here as well, with permission from the lovely Huey of Nottypooch. (our awesome team leader :D )

There is a local saying that often the most delicious food are the most unhealthy, and that is most true to the food that I am introducing today. But the taste, oh the taste~! It is very gratifying! Of course, it is not recommended to eat this everyday for the sake of health. :)

This is the epitome, the holy grail of pork noodles! Sure it may not look very appetizing, but it tastes amazing! The soup is very distinctive from other pork noodles I’ve tasted. My friend told me that is because the stall owner uses fried garlic oil instead of pork oil for seasoning? She claims she can taste the garlic in the soup. I am not sure if that is true, but I don’t really care as long as it is delicious lol! The variety of ‘toppings’ are very generous too, vegetables, pork slices, minced pork, pork innards (which is missing in my bowl because I don’t eat them) and my favorite – deep fried pork lard. (the small brownish yellow chunks)

The reason why this is so unhealthy? Because it is actually quite oily. Some of my colleagues actually doesn’t like it very much because of the health concerns. It will probably apply to those that doesn’t like oily food as well, and those that have a stomach sensitive to oily food. But if you don’t mind all those, I definitely recommend you to try this out! Yum yum!! :9 But be prepared to wait though if you are eating there at peak hours, I’ve waited for half an hour once for my noodles to arrive. They are only open for breakfast and lunch.

The shop is named Restoran Pomander, located in SS15 Subang Jaya, nearby Subang Square and directly at the angled turning of the road. (as you can see on the map below)

Click for larger map

Weekly Word Picks - String

According to an ancient Chinese myth, there is an invisible red string that connects two persons together that are destined to be soul mates, regardless of time, place or circumstances. In Chinese legends, the string is said to be tied to the ankles, but in Japanese and often popular culture, the string was tied to a finger instead.

I always found this myth to be very romantic, and had even saw a method of marriage proposal using such a red string as well. And so, today's theme will revolve around the theme of love, connection and celebration. Suggested by the lovely and witty Krishenka, today's word is...

STRING

Hands with Red Strings Embriodery by whimsiology

For the complete Treasury, please follow this link : String

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

Week Of Necklaces

Finally, it happened!! The week of necklaces :D I got a pretty good response for the necklaces in the giveaway, so I thought I should boost that section for a bit. :)

Title : Rustic Charm

Price : USD22.00

Title : Blue Lagoon

Price : USD22.00

Title : Vanilla Creme

Price : USD22.00

Title : Tropical Seduction

Price : USD22.00

Title : Red Red Wine

Price : USD22.00

Title : Chocolate Latte

Price : USD22.00

Title : Strawberry Creme Brulee

Price : USD22.00

So which one is your favorite?

I'm quite happy with the brown ones. Might make a few more next week but I need to make some new bracelets too lol. Also getting new camera later this week, can't wait! :)

Etsy On Sale doesn't seem to be working, what a disappointment. The status had been stuck on "Starting Sale..." for nearly 24 hours now. I think I will go the traditional way and perform the partial refund for the 10% discount clearance sale. So just buy something, anything from the "Sales" section and 10% will be refunded. :)

October Giveaway WINNER!!

The giveaway was a blast! Thank you to everyone who entered and followed my blog/liked me on Facebook. I really appreciate it all! However, there can only be one winner... and they are...

Random.org had spoken!!

DEANNA!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I had already sent you an e-mail, if by any chance you did not receive it, please shoot me one within 48 hours. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be picked.

Once again, thank you everyone who entered! :)

And to continue on the series of events specially for the Holiday season, with the ending of the giveaway I had started a 10% DISCOUNT CLEARANCE SALE in my shop. Please head on to the Sale section in my shop to see what is currently for sale. I am using the Etsy On Sale app for this sale, just a test run to figure out the kinks and stuff, so please give it a few hours for the marked down prices to show up.

So what are you waiting for? Better start your holiday shopping now, don't wait for the rush to begin and things started to run out of stock!

With A Little Help From My Friends

So to prepare for the holiday season, I looked at my shop and was thinking what else to do for it. I had boosted the earrings section considerably, so I will lay off from that for a while lol. I went back to my drawing board and reviewed my shop's direction once more. One of the objectives was so offer items in various colors and designs, giving people a large variety to choose from.

So I decided that I should go back to my original love = bookmarks, because the section is kind of lacking right now. And here they are :)

Title : Tawny Owl

Price : USD12.00

Title : White Snow

Price : USD12.00

Title : White Grapes

Price : USD12.00

Title : Red Grapes

Price : USD12.00

Decided to complete the grapes set, since I made the purple one a while ago. :) Personally I love the Red Grapes!

Title : Cold Hearted Mermaid

Price : USD12.00

Title : Fluttering Heart

Price : USD12.00

Title : Morning Glory Garden

Price : USD12.00

Woohoo, that's it! Maybe I'll do necklaces next since that section is lacking as well. :)

Weekly Word Picks - Pillow

Since no one suggested any word last week, I took the initiative and went to ask one of my friends to suggest a random word. She gave me quite a few strange words at first, like erroneous (this is the first time I heard this word) and spatula. (this can be interesting, if only Etsy had more than 10 pages of items to choose from) In the end, she managed to settle on a word with enough search results... and it is...

PILLOW

p U m P k I n - dark red / orange plaid flannel - medium - 19 inch round by simpledream2

For the complete Treasury, please follow this link : Pillows

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

Other October Giveaways

I'm in a giveaway frenzy! Since starting my own giveaway on my blog, I started frequenting the Etsy Giveaways blog scouting for interesting giveaways to enter. Here are some of the few that you should definitely check out. Of course, they are all international ones because I could only enter those lol.

Ninù Small Bag Pouch giveaway. This one caught my eye because the photos are just gorgeous! They look like they were taken straight out from a fashion magazine. :) You should go to the link and check out their shop as well, just simply beautiful. Giveaway ends on October 12th, so quickly head on over and enter if you want to win!

Art Tales / Leftz $20 Gift Card giveaway. I've been wanting to get one of the fish plushies from Art Tales in a long while, but you know, there's always the financial problem lol. So when I found this giveaway I hopped on over in a heart beat! :D And the reason why I want a fish plushie? So I could fish slap people with it! XD Plus her plushies are very eco-friendly, they are stuffed with plastic bags instead of cotton, which in some way, makes it even more awesome to fish slap people with! Giveaway ends on October 30th.

Raceytay's Personalized 2011 Desk Calendar giveaway. I'm absolutely in LOVE with Raceytay's photos! I first found her when I was looking for a photo for my August's goals post. So when I found out about this giveaway, where I get to choose 12 photos from her shop, I joined in a heart beat! Oh my I hope I win this one, I'm going to go stare at her photos some more after I finish typing this post lol. Giveaway ends on October 17th.

Now, on to the handmade soap/bath/beauty giveaways. Yes I recently got into handmade soap and entered every giveaway available lol!

Beautiful Soaps Sample Pack (3 winners) giveaway. Each of the sample packs include 1 bar of soap of choice, 1 natural lip balm, 1 tube of pearly white teeth, (kind of like toothpaste, only in soap form! o.O) and 1/2 lb of laundry soap. If you want to try out handmade bath and beauty products, this is the giveaway to join! :D Plus there are 3 winners, never hurt to try right? This giveaway ends on October 10th, which is today!! Quick! Go and enter now!

Springvale Soaps Giveaway. I haven't had the chance to try goat's milk soap yet, so this is a good chance for me to do so. :) This seller makes her soap the traditional cold-processed way, which takes very long. Head on over to the link to read more! Giveaway ends on October 18th.

Spa Goddess $30 Gift Voucher giveaway. Another great chance to try out different types of bath and beauty products. :) Spa Goddess provides a large variety of products, such as facial care products, bath salts, body butters, organic perfume and of course, organic soap bars. And her packaging is gorgeous too! Giveaway ends on October 15th.

Aaaaand that's all for now! Well that was fun. :) Perhaps I should do this more frequently, introducing various giveaways to my readers, for a chance to win different things too. But of course, don't forget about my own October giveaway which is still on-going here. ;)