Five things to do this (stormy) weekend (2/9-10)

The storm has hit a momentary lull — I’m not being fooled, though.  I know these things come and go, but the forecast is all night — and there is already a lot of snow on the ground as it is.

I only went to work in the morning but I feel exhausted and I had a splitting headache by the time I got home before 2pm.  Still, I managed to do some crafting creating Marian pendants, and I’m halfway through — just have to attach the glass domes into its metal settings.

Here’s my to-do list for this week:

1.  LIFE 4×6: Organize, date, journal (where necessary) and photograph the entries.

2.  Create more handmade cards (I have more brown paper bags that I’ve cut up and printed on).

3.  List more items in THE SHOP: Gothamchick on Etsy.

4.  Organize my swaps for mailing.

5.  Paint my nails.

I want to write here about my newfound friend, Kayenderes, a retired native American crafter from Canada, about what I do on Swap-bot, an interesting lunch with a work colleague..

Can we jump to summer please?

Glorious Fuschia Pink Empire State Building

You’ll have to forgive me for the fuschia overdose.  I couldn’t believe it when I saw that the Empire State Building was in fuschia pink last Monday.  Gorgeous!

I always make it a point to take a peek when I can before I walk out the door, but this was one of those days that I had no chance to.  When I saw it as I looked up as I walked onto Avenue of the Americas, I had to cross the street away from my bus stop to get a good vantage point for a picture.  Not quite as crisp as I would want, but I took my time and experimented.

If there’s one color that makes me happy, it’s fuschia pink.  I wear it practically everyday.  Oh, correction, I DO wear it everyday because I have at least 4 coats in that color.

My printer just “ate” a 32gig micro SD memory card.  I saw it slip into an outer paper tray when I lifted the paper in the feed, and it somehow found its way into the printer, somewhere I cannot dig in to get it out.  I will worry about that tomorrow.  I have another memory card to put into the adaptor for the camera.  The fog is so heavy I don’t think I’ll get the chance to shoot any pics tonight, but you’ll never know.  (Reaching into my stash of spare 2gig micro SDs in my purse.)

My Christmas Tree and other holiday trimmings are all boxed up and ready to be put away for good until next December.  This year, I’m getting the holiday cards together and recycling, and what I cannot recycle or repurpose before the month is up will be disposed of.  I get all sentimental about holiday cards and have promised myself to do this the last 2 years but I haven’t been too good with that.  The good news is that I am participating in a Recycled Christmas card Artist Trading Card swap which should give me an excuse to get started on this “project” tonight.

And I did finally get to put up a listing in my Etsy Shop.  This lovely Freshwater Pearl Bangle Trio is available at the shop for $45.00.

“You are looking at a set of three bangles (hence, the “trio”) with alternating quartets of pastel blue, pink, yellow and beige set on gold-tone memory wire. The ends are fastened with a tiny gold tone clasp. The round potato freshwater pearls are approximately 8-9mm each. There are 27 pearls in each bangle and this trio is made up of over a strand of these pearls. The circumference of the bracelet is at approximately 8″ which makes it hang nicely below the wrist. I love the sound of the pearls when they give off their own unique “jangle” as you move.

The inside diameter of the bracelet is 7 1/2 inches. I can extend this bracelet by adding gold-tone chain links on the end to which the lobster clasp attaches to.”

I think I’ve finally ticked off my list over the weekend.. a few days late, but did them all!

Time to head out.. into the cold rain.. or maybe even some snow.  First, I have to change attire — don the jeans and the pretty fuschia pink puff jacket. =)  Another day done..

I almost forgot — new “ABOUT” page here…

Starting Over at Etsy

This is cross posted in my crafting blog: Gothamchick.com

I just renewed two listings for my Etsy shop, Gotham Chick, so I have reopened the store officially.  I have two new products to post but the natural light around me is too low because of the glum weather outside, so I’ll save that for later.

Meanwhile, here are two items I already had which were ready for relisting as is.

Dancing Queen Large Dark Copper Freshwater Pearl and Tear Drop Oval Earrings, $65.00

Brown Flirty Braided Cord Hoops, $15.00

ETSY TIP:   Timing as far as posting items is concerned has to be taken into consideration as new posts make your shop “current” and visible to those shopping or browsing at any given time.   So I try to post an item in the morning and an item later in the day when the other side of the world is starting to wake up.

I hope to post my two new earrings later.  I was trying to do an inventory of the stocks I can relist when I chanced upon a pair of my rather “plain” antique brass leaf filigree earrings which I decided to spruce up with some czech press flower beads.  The creative juices started flowing and I ended up doing two pairs in different styles, and I would have gone on and on through the night but my eyes were giving in.  I’m rather excited by that new idea, so watch out for it.

Between the polymer clay experiments, crafts, art journal everyday and just being mom and wife —

.. there just hasn’t been time to get down to sit here and write a post. So where do I begin?

It’s Labor Day weekend and my Sunday feels like a Saturday. (Can we get more three-day weekends, please?) We didn’t plan anything particularly special for the weekend. It was a time to take a break and I have just been enjoying the down time. I’m playing catch up with the crafts and hope to post at least five new items in my Etsy shop before the work week begins.  I’ve baked some beads and need to create pieces to wear it on for quality control testing.  (My continuing polymer clay journey..)

There just haven’t been enough hours in a day.  There was a long delayed trip to Florida.   Work has been busy.  (New boss.)  School opens this week.  Of course there was the matter of preparing for and thankfully being spared by Hurricane Irene.

I’ve been stuck on three layouts for my art journal which I will hopefully get done this week.  (Looking for my black V5.)  I’ve taken to creating layouts on 11 x 17 sheets which I fold into two and can carry around in my tote.  I work around words or phrases and have taken to creating backgrounds ahead.  I’m actually way, way behind but the important thing is that I am continuing with it even if I cannot do it “every day”.

I’ve finished the second installment of “A SONG OF FIRE AND ICE”, A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2), but have deferred going to the third book because I’ve picked up the The Dukan Diet: 2 Steps to Lose the Weight, 2 Steps to Keep It Off Forever.  (Yes, I’m giving weight loss yet another try.)

Monday!

Thinking about garlands and winter in the summer

I was cleaning up some “working folders” in my hard drive when I came across a bunch of pictures which, if I recall, I had edited precisely to put on this blog, but which for some reason, never got published.  (I could be wrong..)  So as I do when I want to post a picture or pictures here, I uploaded to my flickr account and picked it up from there.  Gorgeous, don’t you agree?

This was sometime in the winter late 2010, when the skies take on a different hue depending on whether snow was coming.  I don’t know if it is just me or if the skies indeed become luminous when they are heavy with snow.  And this is that part of the year when the days are shorter.  Sunset before 5pm, and complete darkness by then.

It’s almost July and I’m already thinking about Christmas.  Yes, December.  I’m thinking about holiday cards, gift tags, and maybe gifts.. handmade.. or at least partially.  Now is the best time to work with my paper baskets and woven paper frames.  I’d love to get into papermaking but I am in no position to purchase more materials to experiment with, so any projects requiring “capital investment” in any shape or form, no matter how small, will just have to wait.  Besides, there are enough new projects to get started with.

Last night I sat down way past midnight (again) and started to create these fabulous garland earrings which I ultimately finished this morning — something I’ve been meaning to do but which technique I was having a tough time with.  The bunch of beads would look too bulky, seemingly out of synch, and the long and short of it was I just wasn’t happy with the way it came out.  This time around, though, I think I nailed it.  One single strand of chain forms the base, but the depth of the beads attached to every other chain link was what made the difference.

I’m going to create a couple more pairs in different shades/combinations using the same technique so watch out for additional new pieces.  Coming soon!

I hate goodbyes

We had a send-off for a retiring officer who just happens to be my boss.  (No cause for panic — I already have a new boss..)  I had served under this retiring principal for but a year and a half, but I can truly say she was one of the people I learned from the most.  Perhaps it helped that she has been with the company for as long as I’ve been alive — 45 years!  Through it all, she managed to rise from being a clerk out of high school who rose through the ranks, acquired an education, leaving the company as an Executive Vice President, occupying one of the highest positions in a company 40,000+ strong worldwide.

She likened her retirement to a wake and I can’t help but agree.  Everyone says nice things — things that should’ve and could’ve been said a long time ago.  Not that she’s griping, and neither am I.  I guess it’s part of the difficulty with dealing with goodbyes.

I made the gift tags for the candy bags we prepared for her and everyone raved.  They are scalloped tags which I printed on two sides.  I wrote half of her practically 500 strong department and solicited entries for a scrapbook.  It was a labor of love.  (And I am not exaggerating.)

I was going to provide my template for the scallopped tag then I realized that I cannot upload a PDF of the template as that would make it hard to actually type or write your own text or embed your own graphic.  Doing a word document would be difficult as well because of the intricacies of inserting text or an object which needs manipulating to allow the added item to overlap with the template.  So I said — forget it.

So much for generosity and wanting to share.

I really feel all tired and worn and just exhausted.  It’s as if all the effort I poured into the scrapbook and the business of preparing for this party suddenly caught up with me.  Not that I was alone — I wasn’t even the primary mover.  We have a lady who is the party expert in our department and who happens to be the closest friend of my boss in the company, so the logistics were a breeze.  I think it’s more of the emotional drain of realizing we’re nearing goodbye.

I have been very lucky as far as the people I have worked for are concerned.  Not only have I had the opportunity to advance financially, but more importantly, they were people of substance who contributed to broadening my horizons and my way of thinking.  I have been fortunate enough to have been entrusted with their confidence — something that I know they didn’t need to do but which they did freely.

I don’t have the energy to write more about the emotional component of work — the fatigue will take me over.  I’ve been exploring Etsy and looking at new ideas and getting ready to focus again on populating the store.  That ought to help preoccupy me and help me focus my efforts elsewhere.  I got an invitation to join another craft fair but I think next weekend is a tad bit too soon.  Perhaps sometime in July.

I have more cards to write and am actually thinking of creating cards over the weekend.  And there is my long overdue post in my Art Journal Every Day project. =(  My watercolor pencils go with me everywhere I go so I just might make an effort to sketch something today.  Need to think happy thoughts. =)

Just as I am about ready to call it a day…

..I get the urge to log on and attempt a ten-minute post.

My time to blog these days seems to  be continually with a time limit.  Makes me think that I’m trying too hard — or on the other hand, I’m just being vigilant.  So many “bloggable” thoughts cross my mind in the midst of washing the dishes, preparing tomorrow’s coffee brew, or even as I walk the last few steps to my doorstep.  I find something blog-worthy as the tyke puts his arms around me.

So I am about ready to turn in and here I am.  I can hear the boy snoring ever so lightly beneath the hum of the airconditioner.  It’s one hot night in New York.  Makes me think whatever antics my mother-in-law has been up to must have been partly brought on by the heat.

I finished an order for a bunch of tags I had posted on Paperkrafts for a set of round paper tags I could’ve sworn I had in stock but which I couldn’t find.  Solution: Just make a new batch.  It’s like a reminder for me to get the shop going, too.  I’ve actually been busy working on putting some pretty ballerinas from Degas’ masterpiece on upcycled manila folders.  I am also going to have to take advantage of the dry humidity to work on some paper projects like my paper baskets and picture frames.  Plans on the drawing board.

Time for me to turn in.  Goodnight, New York.

New Items up at GothamChick.Etsy.Com

While I am congratulating myself for having successfully beefed up my stocks for the craft fair I participated in two Saturdays ago, I am now in a serious backlog as far as posting the items up for sale in the Etsy shop.

The good news is, I managed to add quite a few pieces today.  (Pictures with links posted below.)

I actually have a ton of other things to put up in the shop but there’s the business of taking pictures, doing the write ups (which means measuring and getting accurate descriptions) and then figuring out pricing.  At least I can say I’ve gotten down to a more subjective but faster way of arriving at a price per piece, unlike before when I used to go back to images or records of how much the raw materials were purchased and then I would calculate how much each piece actually cost.  Not anymore.  I still look at the approximate cost per piece but no longer rely on actual computations.  Then I look at the piece as a whole and figure out a good profit margin which would not shortchange me as the artist, nor the buyer as the one forking out the cash to purchase my wares.

A few nights ago, I managed to put up my Domino Pendants and although four designs were initially posted, I made my first sale (!) today which leaves three in the shop.  My personal favorite, of course, is the one of “The Laughing Christ”, and I’m proud to showcase my original art of zentangled initials/monograms.

My first sale was for my “A” — as I only have the letters that make up GOTHAMCHICK in the inventory, and not all of them have been rendered on domino pendants.  My first sale disproves the hubby’s unbelief in the selling power of domino pendants.

Also up are my turquoise cross pendants (graphic to follow) which have gotten a lot of oohs and ahs at the Craft Fair but which, unexpectedly, didn’t sell.  I’ve received the same compliments when I wore one, so I’m trying to see how it will go in the shop.

These days, my nights are spent inventorying what’s on hand and what’s posted in the shop.  I’ve also started stocking the earrings on earring cards (handmade, of course!) and making sure the earrings are secured by comfort clutches which I know the buyers will appreciate.

So goes my continuing attempts at keeping my store alive…

The Pinay New Yorker IS back!

I have been “sidelined” by the craft fair I participated in last Saturday, April 16, but I AM BACK!

I feel bad that I haven’t been here at all because I just haven’t had the chance to sit down to write something that makes sense.  Even now I feel as though I have a ton of things to catch up on.

The fair was a learning experience and was a mild success for a first attempt.  So I am happy.  It has made me think of better ways to present my wares, and I believe I gained some points as far as self confidence and morale is concerned, seeing how people looked at my table and handled my creations.  (Blog post coming: Things I learned from my first craft fair)  Better yet, I actually sold some items!

The good news is, I’ve managed to complete all three books of the Hunger Games trilogy (again, another post coming on that one!) and I’m gearing up to catch up with my John Grisham backlog.  (I am at least 5 books behind and he keeps writing, so I better start reading up on his latest works.)

From Sunday to Tuesday, we spent time as a family driving off to Lake George (yet another post coming) and I can happily say it was well worth the drive and we are definitely going back.  (I am even willing to forego demanding a guarantee that the hot water will be flowing uninterrupted…)

My Art Journal Every Day attempt is almost a total fizzle this April, so I am keeping my fingers crossed May will be a different story.  And while April is slowly slipping away (it IS now the 20th!) — I am hopeful I will be able to “create” something between now and the end of the month.  (Hopeful!)

At least I am back here, chronicling my day-to-day existence as Mom, Wife, All-around maid, Yaya, jewelry-artist-wannabe, trying-hard artist, and Imortal fan trying not to be saddened by the fact that the series is about to end.

Like I tell everyone whose e-mail or FB private message I manage to respond to with a curt reply, I will write more later.

My Valentine Weekend So Far

I’m supposed to be hitting the shower to go and head out to my valentine dinner with my boys, but my pre-shower rituals produced an urge to log in and attempt a post.  Checked the blackberry for any shop notifications on sales and my number of products for sale remain the same, so no sales today.  My top blogs counter on the right hand side says 95 which I have to admit is pretty good, but no chirps or chimes from anyone?  Hmmmm… the spam comments seem to have stopped.  (Could it be the Amazon affiliation?  Thank God, if it is!)  but I thought I’d test this and flag this blog with a discount for my Etsy store.  So here you go.  Valid til Feb 14,  Type BLOG30OFF upon check out and received 30% off your total purchase at Gothamchick.etsy.com

I have a similar promo for previous purchases which I can still do considering I’ve only had under 100 sales to date, so writing the ones who have been customers of the shop was not difficult.   I also tried an FB coupon blast to fans of the page but currently have no takers.  Marketing  blahs..

Meanwhile, I’m experimenting on some elaborate earring designs which I will put up after the Valentines Day promos are done, and looking forward to more activity.  I’m still trying to strike a good balance between volume and weight.  After all, who wants to wear weighty stuff on their ears?  I know I don’t.

Time to get ready for the date!