Seller Advice: Never Stop Moving

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Ends one week from today, check it out three posts down :)

Orange Turquoise Swirly Dish by MaryJudy

I stumbled upon this shop in my constant search to find more wacky, out there designs to love. And instantly, it stood out. Loud, striped, swirled, and colorful, you can't get more perfect than that. I just had to know what goes on in this artist's head.

"I am inspired by life." Mary Judy spoke about travel and those everyday instances when you realize a better way to do something. "My business cards kept flying out of the round bowls that I used for display at shows, until one day I realized that I could make square ones, that lead to a whole new series of work."


Whimsical Turquoise and Red PitcherVase

As a self-taught artist, she began working in ceramics nine years ago, experimenting with other mediums along the way. Her advice for fellow sellers? Just don't settle.








"I think more people need to get real about etsy, it is just one venue and almost impossible to build a business around (without LOTs of outside advertising). I have an independent website, sell on other sites, network on all the popular social sites AND I do juried art shows (most of my sales are in person)."

Experimenting is the heart of art. The mistakes, the masterpieces, the mediocre exactly-what-I-thought-would-happen-happeneds, they're all part of the process. This applies to business as well. As we continue experiments with alternative mediums or within the same medium, we have to remember to keep our business moving in all sorts of directions as well. As the great jazz legend Luigi taught us, "Never stop moving kid, if you stop you're dead."

Never settle for less than an imperfect experiment. It has the potential to be great.

Just keep trudging . . .

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for the original Cupcake Bag! It's one post below-and the last day to enter is February 14. You can tweet or blog about the giveaway to earn extra entries.

I've been sick this week. :( Some sort of scratchy throat/head thing. I'm recovering with cough syrup, sleeping whenever I can and takeout Lo Mein (Chinese food helps in just about any situation).

What are you doing to get yourself through what will hopefully be the last of cold weather for the season? February is just about to begin, which means for any luck, within the month, spring will have arrived. I'm working on my spring collection and reminding myself that warm weather will be here soon!

Isn't That Sweet - Valentine Giveaway

I'm re-knitting the cupcake bag as a spring design. The new one is a little different, the bag itself is slightly smaller, the strap a little longer, and a zipper will be added. The original, however, continues to sit at the bottom of my stock.

As an attempt to get my shop some attention (no sales for the new year yet :( ) and to spread some Valentine's Day love, I'm hosting my second ever giveaway! This one's for my original design of the cupcake bag.



Some details on the bag: Sized large enough to hold books, lined in white fabric, knit with sturdy acrylic yarn.






TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

~ Make a Valentine -y moment. Tell someone something nice, surprise someone, do something nice for a friend, relative, mailman, whoever (the more random the better, don't you love when people you don't know make your day!). Comment on this post and tell me about it.

~ For my own shameless advertising self's sake, visit my shop and tell me what your favorite item is (currently for sale or one that has already sold).

~For one extra entry each, tweet or blog about the giveaway. Let me know in your comment if you do.

I'll enter each name once (or up to three times for the extra entry things) in a random generator, and the winner will be chosen at random.




Last day to enter is February 14!



Go spread the love! :)

Valentine Gift Guide

Love Bugs, a CaffeinatedFrenzy original

Valentine's Day 2010 is around the corner. Are you ready? I'm offering free shipping on all Valentine-related, pink, and red items in my shop, and while I'd like to show them off, I'd like to show off a few fellow artisans as well. So without further adieu, the CF Gift Guide!

For the Child at Heart.
As my last post was a rabble, I thought I'd give this one a more positive spin. And what makes people happier than buying stuff, or people buying their stuff, or getting and giving quirky stuff as gifts?

Heart Crayons by Lilbooandco.











After Morning Coffee Sleep Mask by yours truly. :)








For Her.
Because really, that's what Valentine's Day is all about.




Raspberry Ribbon Bow Earrings by ShySiren

Cabled Mittens and matching Boutique Hat, CF

For Him.
Always a challenge to buy for a guy. Women have plenty of fall back gifts, candy, flowers, but what do you give to men?



Now here's an awesome concept. Who doesn't love beer and a good shower? Beer soap by BeautifulSoaps.










Keep warm! Funky Stripes scarf by CF.

Waste Not

In case you haven't noticed from the lovely post last Sunday, I'm bringing back a monthly feature. So be sure to tell that artist what a fabulous artist she is :)

Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

May I rabble for a moment?

This picture was found in the NY Times along with an article that amazed me. Apparently clothing stores, namely, H&M, throw away the clothes that are not sold. But no, they're not just thrown away. First they slash them with scissors or cut holes in them with a machine to ensure no one steals them out of the dumpster. My question is, why do they care?

I understand the preventing people from getting clothes for free in order to keep sales going idea. In fact, I used to work at a pretzel shop where we could no longer give free or discounted pretzels out at the end of the night, and instead threw away a minimum of 40+ pretzels every night. But why can't these things go to better use?

There are plenty of homeless people that need food and clothing, and plenty of charities who need these items to distribute. Just thinking about it, I kick myself for never speaking up and saying "Hey, why don't we bring these down to the homeless shelter instead of throwing them away?" Honestly, we live right next to Cleveland. There are plenty of people who need food.

I don't understand how it's more cost effective to pay people to slash up clothes/throw out food than pay people to take these things down to a shelter or charity. In fact, I bet plenty of charities would be willing to come pick it up. There you go, it would cost less.

**Rant = Fin**

Every Little "Stitch"

What never ceases to amaze me with handmade is the amount of attention and detail an artist puts into every piece. It wasn't just stamped out by a big machine, someone worked on it, bit by bit.



In knitting it's the stitches, by the hundreds, by the thousands, each one was carefully crafted by hand. Which is why when I saw this mobile by Paperbella, I immediately thought, I get it. All the little stitches were carefully cut out of paper and attached together.









Working with paper is something that stemmed from a childhood of making greeting cards, budding into creating decorations and invitations to her wedding, and blossomed into decorating the bare walls of her duplex after the wedding. My obsession started off with meddling here and there as a kid too, but as with most artists, it spirals into an out of control must constantly create feeling in no time. :) Just look at the intricately detailed madness she's created lately.



Watermelon Splash, Abstract Cascade. There are over 250 shapes in this 56" long mobile.








"What I like is the finished product of a mobile: From the first thought of an idea of what would make a nice mobile, then the process of making the templates, choosing what colors to use, cutting out the shapes, to the actual assembly of the mobile. It's a lot of work! But when I finish one, I am amazed how it turned out. Sometimes, it's a lot of trial and error. My process of making the mobile changes with each one ie. On how to place each shape, how many threads to use, etc. But when I see the finished product; that is a proud moment."

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

My new love, Uppy. Oh, how I love Ugly Dolls.

I hope your Christmas was fantastic! Yesterday, my sister and I went down to Akron to skate in the biggest outdoor ice skating rink in the state. Which, in reality, isn't all that big.

How is it that I could ice skate as a kid? Now there always seems to be problems. The rentals never fit correctly, my feet always hurt, I can't keep balance to save my life. So after about twenty minutes, we resorted to taking pictures of all the Christmas lights outside with her new camera.



Come to think of it, physical activity seems to not be my thing anymore. I used to work out for an hour a night, going for two or three miles on an elliptical, after two dance classes that day. Now I don't do much of anything. There's always an excuse, no time, too tired, I have work, I have studying . . . well, you get the point. It's not difficult to come up with an excuse.

What do you do to keep moving?