Friday, July 31, 2009

Kickin It

Where have I been? I've been kickin' with my dogs yo!
I've been amazingly busy with custom orders for my dog ornaments lately in the Tumus shop. It seems just when I think no one is going to be taken by them someone rushes in and snatches one or two up and I meet another special dog and their owner.

It's fun :) It's interesting and the dog's are hilarious. I have a rather intimidating but challenging order on the table right now, 8 individual custom doggies. Meet some of the dogs who are about to become felted:





This will be one for the records for me ^_^ I'll be sure to post mid progress pictures if I remember to haul my camera to the craft room (really need a point and shoot). And if I don't do that you'll MOST certainly see the final results.

But for the time being we are dashing out of town for a quick festival in Dublin, Ohio....aka the Dublin Irish Festival. It's going to be our last HOO-RAH before we really crack down on wedding details. So it's my chance to relax and try not to worry about too many things other than the present.
Frankly, that's going to be incredibly nice.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Tuesday Tea

Summer is pounding away with it's heat and humidity here in my area. I came across this bit of fashion while browsing the internet. It's a bit old as in 2006 old, but still pretty funny.

Celebrity fashion designer Brett Cooper was commissioned by Celestial Seasonings to transform nearly 700 used packaging to make a Moulin Rouge-inspired dress. Complete with hat, purse and high heels.

Read the full story on the NY Times

Sunday, July 26, 2009

It's All Good




2 months and counting and all I wanted to do is sleep and forget that I still have last minute details to iron out. You'd think the wedding invitations would be done and they mostly are, but I have to make an additional 20 and get the new, revised address list from Chris' mom (if she's actually done it). I also have to rearrange the RSVP card wording to fit another line of text on there.

And sometime today I have to get to the grocery to get a few odds and ends, trash bags and pack up a few custom orders from late last week. And unfortunately my arm is being twisted to work OT at the "9-5" this week.
This means that the shops will more than likely not be updated for the next week or more. I apologize, but the closer the wedding gets the less time I'll have to get out the new designs.

I want to pull my hair out because it seems like time wants to fly by while I sit here wondering how last month seemingly vaporized. At this point I can't wait to get the wedding done and over with :lol:

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Tuesday Tea

Sir Thomas Lipton (sound familiar?), a Scotsman with a large grocery store chain entered into the tea business and in 1889 celebrated the arrival of 200 tea chests in Glasgow. Being a savvy businessman he sold tea at unprecendented low prices to tap into the working-class market.

(Tea 365)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Remember When

I first opened Tumus? It was over a year and a half ago.
I looked back in my sold section on this date and found one of my favorite photos. I can't tell you how many times people asked me to make this into a card. I thought I would, but honestly I love it too much as is it.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Callouses

Callouses happen when you work hard. You can get them anywhere where tough skin is required, but what about business callouses?

How toughened is your skin to those bad days? Can you cope? Do you press on with the knowledge that the end result will be good?
I like to think I'm getting my business callouses started. I press ahead when times are super busy or super tough. When the hours are long I remember that hard work will get me ahead. I try to rest easy knowing that I can always BE better. It's not easy and occasionally you have to exfoliate those bad days down and remember what it was like when you first had an inkling to start a business.

It's a balance.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Bumble Bee

No I'm not talking Transformers here, I'm talking about this little guy who just landed in my shop on Tuesday. Those flowers should look mighty familiar to one blog reader *wink wink*


As for the dog ornaments over on Tumus I've been pretty busy helping people come up with new designs. It's fun, but makes me really really tired at my "9-5". I have a request in for a Boxer ornament so I sketched up a quick drawing and will hopefully get the go ahead on it ^_^. Seems like a crazy week.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Tuesday Tea

Iced tea was popularized in America by an Englishman who live in Calcutta. Richard Blechynden was selling hot tea at the St. Louis 1904 World's Fair, with no success. In desperation he poured tea over ice and served it in tall glasses....and the rest is pretty tasty history.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Caught


Been working on my photography. After reading thru Pioneer Woman'sexplanation of aperture and how it works and what it does it made alot more sense. So I tried it out. It's about time I really start to use and abuse the settings on my camera. I'd like to remind everyone that regardless of the KIND of camera you have, so long as you know your settings you can literally capture any kind of picture ^_~




Sunday, July 12, 2009

Very Pretty Treasury

^_^ I really enjoyed this one and I actually saw it hit the FP this time! woot ^_^
If anything, I really enjoy all the hearts I get from this kind of luck.
(thanks Sweptfromthesea)

Wild Applause or Rather Applaws

I realized I have an absurd amount of pictures concerning cat paws. But I mean look at them. When they're not clawing at me they are very petable.





Friday, July 10, 2009

Christmas In July Sale

Yes, I decided Tumus would have a tiny sale just to kind of push off the start of a hopefully wonderful Christmas season. As with all businesses, I'm looking ahead at trends and since my pet ornaments were pretty well received last Holiday I'm really excited to extend the line a bit more.

Despite the wedding crazies and all I hope that I will be able to settle back down once that part is said and done really get going on the ornaments.
I just had a shop contact me today about making her a Daschund ornament. Never made one so I gave it a whirl. I think it's going to turn out pretty swell!


Thursday, July 9, 2009

Sure Feels Like It

funny pictures
moar funny pictures

I keep staring at my pile of wedding invitations. I'd say the main invites are still at 80% complete. I managed to discover that the prints out I had done were wrinkled noticeably on the bottom half (I did 2 invites per vellum insert sheet) so I could only use the top half. This annoyed me considerably. I pretty much stopped working on them after I finished cutting out the good half. *sigh* I just had to walk away.

Then I discovered that I'd left my can opener at work so I had to figure something else out for dinner that did not require the use of a can opener and I hurt my hand trying to open a beer to soothe away the annoyance of a bad batch of invitations and not having a can opener, then spilled part of the beer.

So I just made mac and cheese and went out to the porch and read for almost 3 hours.

What IS it with wedding planning?

Obviously no part of me was screaming "BE CRAFTY" last night.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Small Goal Set

I'm not sure why I feel the need to make lists, but I do it constantly. Even if I don't write it down on paper you can trust I have a mental list complete with check boxes. Grocery lists, weddings lists, registry lists, Etsy lists, email lists, errand list, general "what are we doing this week" lists.

I mean how the heck do you detox from a List addiction? I'd have to make a list of how to do it.....omg help.
But I think I do it because I'm so afraid of forgetting. And as Chris can tell you I hate, HATE forgetting about stuff.

Seeing as it's kind of fully July now :lol: I decided it's time to do a list for Etsy again. They're small but goals don't have to be lofty all the time. I mean if they were so huge you'd feel overwhelmed ALL THE TIME. For me small is best. That way I can have a tiny bit of happy every day or at least a mental "high five".

The Tumus List

- Get 25 items listed in the shop by the end of the month
- call the Vet office to ask about advertising the ornaments

The Pinpinn List

- Get 30 items consistently listed in shop by end of the month
- Seek out seasonal advertising with Lu.

see small goals, but always steps going forward. You want to know my ULTIMATE goal? Well aside from selling at a craft show :lol: It would be for Pinpinn to become a featured seller in the next year. I think it's got a really good shot. It's like a lottery ticket for me ^_^

Wedding List

- figure out what the heck to do with the future in-law's
- cope with divorced parents on Chris' side
- keep calm and carry on like a headless chicken.

no really it's a sign I saw on Etsy, but now of course I can't find it to show you so you'll just have to be content with the fact that it did at one time, exist.

Anyone else wicked tired today?

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Tuesday Tea

Most specialty tea is hand picked and harvested because superior teas start with careful plucking, except in Japan, where tea shears are typically used. Kind of reminds me of that Snapple White Tea commercial :lol:

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Aaron's Doing A-okay



He's the one on the right, yep that's my bro. Doesn't look like he's sweating his butt off too much :lol: They have to stay in full gear all day, well night actually as that's when he'll be running his missions. Thankfully it's a bit cooler and oddly enough "safer" to do their stuff at night.

Hang in there bud, you'll be home in 353 days :) Love you.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

You May Recall A Certain To Do List?

A couple weeks back, well more like a month back I made up a general list of things I'd like to do for Pinpinn. I was going back thru the blog and reading thru older posts and came across this one and thought, I should check this stuff off!
It's a nice sense of accomplishment to see that I really HAVE managed nearly ALL of this initial list.


Here's the original post and here's what i've checked off!

Pinpinn's List

(check)- Fruit Emery slices (lemon. orange. lime)

(check)- Lime pincushion

(have to order felt)- Golden pears pincushion (I'm aiming for 2 right now)

(check)- Green pears pincushion (2)

(hopefully this weekend)- another edition to the Flower section (hopefully 2 varieties)

(not going to happen)- Halfies. These ended up being too complicated of an idea to make effectively and the pattern I made up was not working. I might come back and revisit this later in the year.

This is definitely one of my more recent favorites.


Tumus is starting to feel more defined now. I have a better idea of what I want to see in the store now. Still going towards the seasonal area. This idea was reassured by a lovely custom order and a new addition to the dog ornament lineup, a Jack Russell:


It's the start of the 4th of July weekend here in the States so this might be the last post till the Sunday night unless I'm not as busy as I think I'll be ^_~

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Useful Info

Holy Cow! It's July already? Sheesh! That's like 3 months till my wedding!! AHHHH!

Freak outs aside I found some useful threads over on the forums of Etsy the other day.

One about PayPal information in regards to disputes and chargebacks. This information is particular hard to find on Paypal's website, especially the customer service info:

1-888-221-1161

4:00 AM PST to 10:00 PM PST Monday through Friday 6:00 AM PST to 8:00 PM PST Saturday and Sunday


And the other about how to present yourself for wholesaling. PLEASE keep in mind that your situation will vary, naturally of course,and these are above all generalities that can be taken and applied to make them work for you. Plum has some great general advice about to how to initally go about getting a wholesale account. This thread has remained markedly positive with a good general information all around.
How to go about finding wholesale accounts
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...