Decided

After some thoughtful insight and a bit of heartache Tumus will be going to an all Christmas ornament shop starting April 19, 2010. That is Tumus' 2 year Esty-versary.




With the responsibility of having two shops and only one shop pulling it's weight at the moment (Pinpinn) it is in my best interest to keep Tumus closed during the Off Season.

As of now I plan to close up April 19, 2010 and reopen July 2010 for a Christmas sale and then again October 2010 for the Holiday season. The dates are subject to change depending on how well Pinpinn does in the next few months.

"But Tumus!" you cry. "What will happen to all the Birdies, Bunnies and Kitties you have?!"

Well the Bunnies will be taking up residence (if they do not find good homes before April) in my home where they can sit peacefully among all the fabric and felt I have in my sewing room. The Birdies will fly home to other roosts and the Kitties will wait patiently until the Holidays once more.

It makes me a bit sad, but as a business I must look ahead to the coming year and keep my goals centered.

Look for a shop announcement in March on Tumus detailing all of the above :)

I'm very excited about this change and hope it does well for everyone involved.

In the Middle

This idea has been weighing heavily on my mind for a while now.
I've talked about it for a couple of months. The idea about taking Tumusto just a seasonal store. I can't seem to make consistent enough sales any other time of the year and lets face it, I run a business and sometimes you just have to cut the deadwood.

Taking Tumus to a seasonal shop namely a Christmas Dog Ornament shop would mean more time to focus on Pinpinn which has been very well received in it's first year.
I know all the "hearting" that goes on on Etsy is a way of just marking shops sometimes, but Tumus has been in business for almost 2 years exactly and has only 670 hearts to show for it. Pinpinn has been here for nearly a year and has 435. Pinpinn is seriously banking in the way of exposure right now. I'm almost convinced that Pinpinn can far surpass Tumus in the "off season". I've found that sought after niche and I stand out, I know I do and I don't toot my own horn very often. Though the sales have been about equal for both in their first year I think Pinpinn could hold it's own.

I'm not sure what's holding me back. I think it's because I'm very much attached to what I create and since Tumus was my first shop ever, I feel obligate to keep it around. Pinpinn has alot to show from my lessons learned and has benefited well from that. I went with a gut feeling, figured it out, researched better felt, put together spreadsheets, and generally got things more in line with Pinpinn.

Decisions, decisions.
Tumus won't be going away for good and that I'm sure of. I'd be heartbroken if the Bon Bons and Birdies never found homes, but that's the way things go sometimes.
Has anyone ever had to cut the ties on something they love?

A Shop Update!

You thought I was faking that shop update didn't you, tsk tsk. Have you no faith? I had numerous things to ready to photograph, but like most of us who sell online, taking pictures is really the last thing you want to do. It's personally not my favorite thing either. Despite really really liking photography for some reason having to set things up, reposition, figure out lighting, props even.....it's a bit of a hot mess sometimes. I prefer that instantaneous capture of pictures. Not the processed bits.

BUT even though I drug my feet for a full 3 weeks I finally managed to pull out the light box and snap.

A teaser for Tumus Yes, paisley is back! This would look adorable in a mod nursery, but it's not a toy! Just a decoration ^_^




A peek at Pinpinn This actually has two sayings embroidered on it. It says Sew seeds of love / Sew seeds of hope. I really love this one. I want to make 2 more pincushions with this same theme to kind of make it a "series".



And to make it even better I had so much to take pictures of that I didn't have time to get thru half of it last night. Oh and I was dead tired too. I've been reading alot more lately. I blame the cold snap that all of the Northern Hemisphere is under right now. Though we are scheduled for a warm up above freezing by Wednesday, I think we'll manage to get the Christmas lights down finally!

Here's a Health to the Company

Kind friends and companions come join me in rhyme
Come lift up your voices in chorus with mine
Come lift up your voices all grief to refrain
For we may or might never all meet here again

So here's a health to the company and one to my lass
Let's drink and be merry all out of one glass
Let's drink and be merry, all grief to refrain
For we may or might never all meet here again



Happy New Year to you and yours. There is no time like the present.

A Reprive: Charleston Flowers

For Christmas we got rain, lots of windswept, sideways rain. In many ways it reminded me of our honeymoon :lol: Seems like this year is just a wash, literally. Unfortunately between all the running around we did over the last 4 days I did not bother to take my camera because honestly it's one more thing to cart around. I can not wait till I can convince Chris that we only need to go to 2 family events for the Holidays, not 8.

In any case here's something to cheer you up if where you're at happens to be a bit dull and grey right now :)
This was snapped at the Boone Hall Plantation. It was a very wet and chilly day, but it made for a vibrant picture.




I hope to have some more crafty pictures up in the coming week :) It's going to be very busy for me since I have some rare down time from the 9-5.

A Reprive: Charleston Vegitation?

Charleston, with it's temperate climate is different. It's wetter, milder and downright odd. I found more fungi in Charleston than I ever did in any mid-Ohio backwood.



And there are ferns everywhere. It felt primeval. Marshy, bog-like, moist....well moist because it also rained alot on all of our outdoor treks. (I secretly hate the word 'moist').

But this was my favorite fungus. I have no idea what kind it is, but it's cool.

I Have Nothing Wise To Add

My "9-5" is unbelievably stressful at the moment. I've been buried under heaps of work that no one else can do. This is very unfortunate for me as I'd much rather be crafting and attending to business as it were. Adding to the "overwhelmed" feeling was the fact I forgot my house keys in the hubby's car (thank God for a spare set), the first dusting of snow that caused me to get stuck on the highway for 50 min. and driving another 20 min to work to be late a total of 2 hours, and then getting even MORE non-prioritized work that seems to be "very pressing" to upper management. But enough moping. I have to earn my keep for now :lol:

So here's a cat in a corner.