Thanks to Etsy

This started as a forum thread today. Then magnoliastreet put it on her blog. I figured I will too. *is copying, oh no :P*

Thanks to Etsy:

-I've discovered how much I really need to be creative.
-I've found out that I really love photography, whether I'm good at it remains to be determined.
-I look at everything wonder how they made it. How could I make it?
-I've 'met' a ton of super-cool talented people, artists of all kinds.
-I've decided that I want designing and making things, my interests are too vast too narrow down, to be a part of my life forever, what I do when I grow up. :P
-I've loaded up my room with more bits of paper, string, beads, and fabric.
-My family asks about my Etsy friends regularly. I still live at home. It's funny.
-My family asks if I can use things for packaging or reconstruction before they throw them away. I love FREE!
-I don't get much done sometimes. The ETC sections of the forums is addicting.
-I've found lots of other cool sites: Flickr, Blogger, Deviantart...to name a few. I was pretty sheltered.
-I desperately want to try about a dozen new techniques, that I knew nothing about prior to Etsy.


Etsy has seriously opened up so much to me. It's made this time when I don't have a job easier. (Though honestly, I quit my job with a lot of happiness. It's just the regular money that I miss.) I don't get to buy as much as I like...I like a lot.

That's it.

You can answer, now. :)

ILL

I have a cold. Who gets colds in summer? The weather went from really hot, to not, and back. Plus it was humid. Now, my nose is broke.

I credit my brothers for finding this video. I think it's funny. Maybe it's my side-geek. My dad loves the original Star Wars.

Star Wars Yo Momma

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I can explain

ICING!!- I can explain
Originally uploaded by lpdesigns

Knead tube before using. I totally didn't see that line on the icing tube. It may have saved us from the following story, but it wouldn't have been as funny.

My mom, and dad after he found out, decided to throw an impromptu graduation party for Bro1. They ordered pizza and a cake and got soda and balloons. The grocery store where we got the cake would add a message on the cake for free. My mom wanted 'Congratulations, Bro1's realname'. The lady in the bakery spelled congratulations wrong. She wiped in out and spelled it correctly but it looked bad. Mom and I decided to remedy this ourselves at home.

We bought a tube of icing. Once home we scraped off ugliness and smoothed out the remaining frosting, it's a good thing they use so much. I had done a little bit of cake decorating at the art group I was in a few summers ago. Plus, I know how to spell.

Missing the 'knead tube before using', I jammed a fork in the end. You really were suppose to cut the end off and attach a Betty Crocker decorator tip. We didn't have any of those. The fork hole would be big enough, I thought. It wasn't.

So I cut the tip off. That proved to big. The stuff was thicker that toothpaste.

We squeezed it into a pastry bag we did have a tip for. That was messy but we did it. Still the icing was really thick and hard to squeeze. I got to the first 'a' in congratulations when we decided to microwave it.

I put it in for 20 seconds. Yeah, I don't microwave a lot. I've never
microwaved icing. Twenty seconds was too long. The stuff got super-heated, at least it felt that way, and it ran all over the place. We stuck it in the freezer.

That proved too much for the bag. It got to small holes in it. We only left it in the freezer for a minute, but the icing in the tip got really thick again while the icing in the bag stayed pretty hot. We squeezed in some more from the tube. I scooped on the globs from the tip and tried to work with it, though now it was oozing all over my hands.

Then the bag tore...totally tore. As a last ditch effort we put the torn bag in a plastic bag. We poked a small hole in the plastic bag. No dice. We poked a big hole. One squeeze and that bag tore.

I didn't make this up. Could you make something like up? All through I was laughing. It was just too much.

In the end the cake had no special message. We hope Bro1 isn't damaged for life. We tried. We really did.

Hoy

The title is 'Today' in Spanish. :P

I went to our church picnic. I generally don't like them. Large gatherings of people just aren't my thing. My wedding should be interesting. Not that that's happening for a LONG time, at the moment at least.

How long is it supposed to take wisdom teeth to come in? Mine have been coming in for the last four years. Yeah, not fun. I really hope I don't have to get them pulled.

I'm writing a book. There I said it. I've been struggling with it, just like I've been struggling with everything else, for a while. Suddenly though, I'm writing a ton, not sure how good it is. I'm supposed to me writing now. But I'm blogging...which technically is writing correct?

I've also been making over my bedroom for a while too. See, I stall. And my mom's always like, "That walls fallin' apart we should jackhammer it out." So I think that's the reining opinion until I ask my dad and he's like, "No, just spackle it." My mom is prone to exaggeration.

The sucky thing about the room redo is that I picked out fabric a long time ago. And now I'm not really a huge fan of it. But my mom bought so much. I don't have the heart to tell I don't really like it.

I really want to go to college. I need to go away from my parents. I'm tired of telling people I'm not in college. Plus, then, maybe they'll believe I'm older than Bro1. Maybe.

Okay, I'll go now. I'm sure this sounds really teenagerish. I go back and forth with sounding extremely mature and extremely not. When I figure out why, I'll let you know.

Betwixt

The new continues
Originally uploaded by lpdesigns

This is the first of a new idea. New to me, at least. I'd bought a woodburning pen a while ago. I made a few things with it then crafter's ADD set in and I moved on to other mediums. Now, I'm back to it.

I wasn't that in love with this when I made I finished it last night. Now I think better of it. I realize this happens with just about everything I make. I think it's horrid right when I finish it. But when I look at it again later, even if it's just a few hours, I love it. Odd.

Anyway, I'm not listing it yet. This is my rough draft. But others are in the works.

I did list these. Not magnets, but a PIF. :)

100

Posts on my blog! This wasn't a goal but 100 is a nice number. I've blogged way more than I did last year. Not that that really says much.



I relisted these. You can click the picture if you want. New things are cooking. My supplies needs are growing, changing. My desire to make things, just about anything right now, is really strong and I should run with it. Why do I get so pensive?

Hmm. I finally woodburned a new design that I've been meaning to do forever. It's been on my to-do list all month. I don't know what I'll do with it. But after I made it thought, "Hey, this would look really cool bigger and cut out of wood as a pendant!" Yeah, that's how suddenly ideas come to me. I just wish the ideas I get would be for materials I ALREADY HAVE! *sigh*

Then there's this ebay listing. It's hilarious. She wrote it so well. It's going to end soon.

Blurble 8.20

Heroes comes on today. It's a repeat but I don't care. I love that show.

I finished a skirt that I was reconstructing. I wore it to church yesterday then kept it on all day. It was nice to feel girly. But I'm back to my t-shirt and shorts today.

I realized I simply need to make more stuff for my shop. I don't have as many items as I'd like to think I do. But lately writing is taking over my life. It's good, because I've been struggling with this project for a long time. Soon, hopefully. I'll just use some of my computer savings and buy the stuff I need. Though my Etsy bill is going to be huge.

Why

I bought 20 rare earth magnets yesterday. Why? I'm destashing! I'm not supposed to be going around buying more supplies that I don't really need. Sure, magnets were on my list of wants. But I think my list of needs should be addressed first. Particularly since all my Etsy money seems to be going right back into paying fees.


I listed these today. You can click the picture. Since my custom order, but views are way down. Things have ground to a halt.

I realized I've been Etsy for 18 months, now. That equals old. Etsy's only been around for two years. I'm not where I'd like to be with this. I'm not getting depressed like I used to, though. So I'm not where I was.

Irked

For some reason it's really irking me that the second largest section in my shop is supplies. I have more stuff to list in supplies, too. I do too much impulse buying with supplies, things I'll never need or use just because they're on clearance.

So far, nothing's over $3. I'm not looking to turn a profit, just clear out some things. I've sold a few things. So I'm not really complaining. I'd really like to get a sale from one of my handmade items though.

Well, I should tell you that theater is over now. It was a little sad, it did get me out of the house. But I'm glad it's over, I was getting tired. I also had a bit of a thought. I don't think there will ever be world peace. How can we get 6+ billion people to get along when there was all kinds of tension in our theater group that topped out at about 150...maybe? Granted none of it led to physical violence. But there were a lot of flared tempers, four-letter words, tears, angst, misunderstandings, betrayal. It was a great learning experience. I'm thankful I did it.

I'm sad I have no pictures of it. But to bring my camera, would have meant leaving it unattend for long periods of time, which wouldn't have been good. Ah well. I saved a shingle from one of the houses. *is a packrat*

Card me!

I'd changed my banner before. Then I needed cards to match, so I made these today. They're not as loaded as my last ones. I was really proud of those. Then I went and changed my name. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll stick with that design, but I think they'll do for now. I'm open to suggestion if you have any.

Sudden Urge

I started a forum thread of the same name. Suddenly I have a real desire to paint. On a canvas like an artist. I don't know where this is coming from. But I'm looking at easels, not that one is necessarily since this is probably a whim, and reading about paints. I can never just dive into something, even a passing vagary- I blame genetics.

Though, perhaps this will unlock my true calling, or another part of my calling.

More new

I listed these beads today. They're only $1. I'm destashing, everything seems to be piling up and not being used. I also have some in lavender.
Heh, they're both sold!

So since I dropped the 'rjax' from my shop name, I used it to start a new username/shop(pending) on Etsy. I wanted a separate shop for paper goods. Not that I have an inventory yet, but I needed to secure the name. I may end up managing three shops, because now my mom is talking about selling things and her stuff wouldn't work in my shop. A family of Etsy addicts...or at least the two of us. I haven't fully converted her yet.

Change Please

Changes
Originally uploaded by lpdesigns

My shop had been feeling stagnant. I wanted a new banner, and was contemplating a name change and opening a second shop for paper goods. (Don't have the paper good inventory yet, but it's a deep-seated thought.) 'LP by rJax' was weird to say aloud and the 'lp' had lost its meaning when I changed from "LPdesigns'.

So now, to match my email address, the shop is 'elpy', the semi-phonetic spelling of 'LP'. I kept the 'A Handcrafted Brand' tagline. It still fits. I made that new banner. I'm getting banner making, I think. I'll probably tweak it a little more. Now I have to find all the places on the interwebs where I've put that name, and change it 'elpy'.

Acute Extrapolated- White Macrame Earrings

These have been listed now. You can click the picture for more information. I'm really happy with these pictures.

We're done with 3 of the 6 shows for Fiddler on the Roof. Today is one of my days off. Wednesday is the other. They're not paying me anything, but it's a tiring little piece of work. Our crew was cut to 6 yesterday. We got one of the people back, but it was kinda dramatic and it was like she wasn't there. I'm tellin' ya. All the drama in theater, at least most, is backstage. Haha. It's fun, but I'll be glad when it's over.

Now I need to go in search of food. I skipped breakfast. :)

Gotta stop

Pretty White
Originally uploaded by lpdesigns

Staying up until all hours of the night. It totally throws off my sleep cycle...which is screwy enough.

So here's a pic of the white earrings I said I made. I finally took a picture. The camera surprised me again and with a little touching up in Photoshop, the pictures looks really nice. Crisp with a touch of bokeh...I think. I really like these. I'm not sure what to name them. They look like these, but they're bigger- not huge but it is noticeable.

Tonight was opening night for our theater production. I think it went off rather hitch-less especially since our crew has undergone some major changes. It's nice to finally get to this point. It almost makes all the kvetching worth it. Almost. It's really a nice play, I love Fiddler on the Roof. The cast does a great job, the costumes are very believable and of course the set is awesome! :P

Sickly

Oi! There's a distinct possibility that I might die today (as it's past 12midnight where I live.) While that type of knowledge may comfort some people, it gives my indigestion. And now, I have to try to sleep through it.

We walked out of rehearsal. Technically it was over and notes had been given, at least the ones that pertained to us. So we left and didn't go back even when a parent told us we should. (I get a ride home and she was leaving so if I didn't go I would be stranded there facing a 2-mile walk home in the dark.)

The director is probably not pleased. Nope. She's not a personality to be messed with, but in this instance, my hands were tied.