Eli N Opus

Saturday Night Special!

2008-03-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

.♥´¨)
...·´¸.·*´¨)
(¸.·´ ...SPRING CLEANING SALE!

Buy 2 items, get 1 free! Indicate your free item choice in the message to seller box during checkout. All items in the store apply & any combination of items is fine. Free item must be of equal or lesser value than the 2 purchased items. Thank you!!

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

It's my birthday & I'll cry if I want to!

2008-03-10T12:53:00.001-07:00

How terrific is Etsy? I'll show you:

How sweet are those? I posted a thread in the forums about how I'm treating myself to a little Etsy shopping for my birthday and tons of shops have responded to show off their top notch goods! It's going to be really hard to decide what to buy, but I'm loving seeing all the (new-to-me) shops! Etsy shopping is right up there on the feel good list with chocolate, relaxing on the beach, and soaking in a gigantic jacuzzi tub . . .

Waaa!

2008-03-09T03:02:00.001-07:00

I don't like being missing for so long! I've been so very busy . . .

The kitchen is mid-remodel. Our house was built over 50 years ago and the cupboards had accumulated about that many layers of paint over their lifetime. So, my husband has been stripping the paint, sanding them down to the wood, and now they will live out their future days with nothing but a shiny new coat of clearness. No more paint.

I've been busy with Elijah. His first birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks. Mine is Monday! Oh my. Today we went on a mini shopping spree buying birthday presents and things for his first Easter basket! Technically he had one last year, but the only thing that was in it was him. New moms and their new baby photo op's ;)

Speaking of . . . who could resist:
Bliss: When nothing in the world seems out of reach and all the hard work is done for the day . . .

I promise not to stay away so long again! I've missed my blogspot :(
♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Family a la Carte

2008-02-18T02:43:00.000-08:00

My mind is nearly consumed with the fact that Eli's first birthday is fast approaching. As such, here I am at 3am thinking about planning a birthday party. The invitations are designed and the first part is printed out, but we still haven't decided on a place to have the party. We'd love to just have something casual in our home with all of the family, but it just isn't quite large enough to hold everyone comfortably. I'm not a fan of most public rental places with their hard tables and chairs and too small enclosed spaces where you can't move or mingle with anyone, let alone see what's happening. I'm afraid that we're going to have to rent somewhere, but it's going to be tricky to find something just right. That's my mission for (later) today.
In the meantime, I'm simply at a loss for how quickly the last year has gone. He just used to be so tiny and now . . . just wow.

In other family news, my sister just opened her Etsy shop!! I'm so super excited for her & wish her all the best in her venture! Besides, it's always nice to have someone to share your obsession with! ;)
Off to dream up cake flavors & goody bags!
♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Myriadic Collection of a Random Mind

2008-02-17T14:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I did it. I spent a few days this past week going through and editing the listings in my Etsy shop. I updated my shipping costs, put a slight raise on the necklace prices, and took all new photos while I was at it, as the store was beginning to look a bit haggard from all my random past attempts at getting decent pictures. I'm happy with most of the new ones, but there are a few that still need to be redone. While I was at it, I moved a dozen or so pieces to a new sale/clearance section. Most of these are some of my first pieces and I'm just not quite thrilled with their quality. They're still functional and pretty enough I think, though, so I'd hate to see them get wasted.

Amidst all the picture taking I was super excited to find that one of my treasuries had made the front page of Etsy! I was even more thrilled when I realized that several of the sellers featured sold those items that day and for one of them, it was their first sale!

I am also beside myself about 2 new collaboration sets that I've begun to list in the shop this week, as well as 2 new personal sets. The new collaborator pieces are a series of floral pendants featuring the photography of Etsy seller flandersfield (also a Seattle local - yay!) and a series of magnets featuring the Polaroid photography of Minorthread! The pendants are very pretty and colorful, just like flandersfield's shop. I think they are a great representation of her work and the magnets are seriously pretty much the cutest things ever!

The 2 new personal sets that I'm beginning to list are ones that I've been brewing over for quite some time. One is a series of single lines taken from poems that I've written over the years. The text is formatted and shaped to complement the verse while still allowing the words to remain the focus of the piece. Well, at least that was my goal. Each one is accented with a single Swarovski crystal rhinestone for a little extra pizazz, while again maintaining simplicity. The second series is a continuation of my newfound obsession with silhouettes. I haven't been getting many orders for personal custom silhouettes, but I was itching to create some more. I made this set smaller than my other pendants and accented them with coordinating colored beads instead of my standard silver bead.

I really have high hopes for these new pieces and am pretty excited about the new changes in my Etsy store!

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Pricing

2008-02-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

It's a nasty subject to think about, but it's been on my mind for quite some time now. For me, Etsy is a hobby. I do it to justify spending some time on myself and to have an outlet for my occasional bursts of creativity. These first few months have been quite successful, relatively speaking, but a few things just aren't sitting well.

The easy decision: shipping. Since I've figured out how to use Paypal shipping, it's become quite apparent that I'm not charging enough. Most of my packages are under 2oz, costing what I charge just to ship. That doesn't take into account envelopes, paper, packaging, wrapping, or tape. Seems silly, but it's true. So, shipping charges are going to go up a bit.

Product pricing, however, is a whole new ballgame. I came across a formula somewhere along the way that talked about pricing. According to the formula, prices should be equal to {[supplies + time(wage)] x2} + fees. You know what my pricing is missing? The x2 factor! That's a pretty big piece. Let's face it, I'm not trying to pay my mortgage, but I do need to be able to buy supplies when I run out (and paying an occasional bill would be nice, too). Due to the nature of my pieces, I'm having a really difficult time with the idea of raising my prices. It's not like I'm the only one in the Etsy marketplace selling these items and some of the others are actually selling for less than I am.

The majority of my shop, and sales, are my polymer clay pendants. Within the last week I have had two people ask me whether or not they were handmade! These take an enormous amount of time! I use some techniques that are by no means the fastest, but that I am committed to for various reasons. First of all, the clay is all rolled and cut by hand. No machines, no cookie cutters, just a rolling pin and a great big knife. After each one is cut, it is pierced all the way through with a headpin so that the pendant doesn't fall apart the first time it's worn. Next, the magical transfer/baking combination occurs and that takes a bit of time, too, along with cooling and pressing. What takes the longest however is the huge amount of time spent sanding, filing, filing finer, finer yet, and finally wet sanding before they are sealed twice and eventually assembled into the finished pieces. A single batch of clay makes about 10 pendants and takes six hours over the course of 3 or 4 days. So in order to figure out a reasonable price, not only do I have to figure out how much I deserve per hour, but I have to weigh that against the market value and (possibly?) the prices that others are charging.

The formula says that my $10 necklaces should be selling for $15 for the pendant alone. I don't know that I necessarily agree with the formula, but I do know that something isn't adding up in the end and that just isn't sitting well.

None of this takes into account the sheer amount of time that it would take to go through and edit 150 listings. :/

Comments, suggestions, horror stories, loving support, and random acts of kindness always appreciated . . .

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Word Song . . .

2008-02-11T03:23:00.000-08:00

All my dreams and wishes
bundled up inside
like a pretty little package
but without the stark surprise.
Sitting here I watch you grow
beside us now and in this place,
and I cannot help but stare
at that darling baby face.

Saturday Night Special

2008-02-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

♥ ♥ Valentine's Day is Thursday! ♥ ♥

♥´¨)
.. .·´¸.·*´¨)
(¸.·´ ...WEEKEND SPECIAL! Enjoy free priority shipping on all orders of $25 or more, excludes custom photo & silhouette items, all orders will be shipped on Monday and will arrive in time for Valentine's Day!!! Add items to cart, complete checkout, and either wait for a revised invoice or receive a refund on shipping fees. Hope you'll stop in!!

(secret free item lurking somewhere in my store)

Check out more Saturday Night Deals on Etsy here!

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus
.
.

Secret Admirations . . .

2008-02-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

rukshanahooda, nephilimdesigns, rainwolf, KAMportraits, BeadsInTheBelfry, SoZeSoZe, soleilgirl, claudewilson, fadingflowers, MissesBird, estasketch, aromaticbodyoils, Happiknits, expressyourself, spindesigns, MAugustaWoodlands.

More treasury viewing goodness here, here, and here. =D

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

.
.

Many Faces

2008-02-08T02:50:00.000-08:00

I wanted to get something up here so that I at least have a chance at establishing a habit of writing, but I wasn't particularly certain of what I had to say. It was suddenly clear to me when I unloaded the pics from my new camera onto the computer today. I just recently bought it in celebration of my 100th Etsy sale. I was growing quickly tired of my old point and shoots ways. It constantly missed great captures of Eli because it was so very slow, the colors looked horrid, every shot had red eye (even with the "handy" no red eye function), and the flash inevitably made everything disappointing. To make matters worse, it hated low lighting, which is about all we ever have indoors in Washington in the Winter. So, it was time for an upgrade! We splurged & plunged right into a Nikon D40! I absolutely adore it! I have no idea how to use it yet, but I adore it nonetheless! I can't express how much it means to me to have a camera that I can finally rely on to capture these precious and cherished moments with our son! The difference between photographs that the two cameras take is breathtakingly different and I'm a huge fan of how natural colors look with the Nikon!
I leave off for the night with some of the precious moments that I've been able to capture with it so far - the *many* faces of Elijah!

These were all taken within a single minute. He is so full of life and personality that it amazes me always. He hates to sleep (especially sleeping in his crib), still wakes up way too often throughout the night, always wants to touch the things he isn't allowed to, and has recently figured out how to talk back, argue, slap, and bite.

We consider him quite advanced for his age! ;)

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Sad to See it Go . . .

2008-02-05T02:22:00.000-08:00

Not long ago, I fell upon a small gold mine of Etsy fortune. Within just a few days of each other, I hit 100 sales, discovered that 2 of my items had made the front page knockouts, and had another item featured in a treasury that made it to the home page. It was so amazing to watch the views rise on that item over the course of the afternoon. I was surprised that it didn't sell that day, but I was even more surprised that I was sad when it finally did. I'm in love with the colors I used in that pin and am toying with the ideas of either making it again or coming up with another design that will use the same colors.

In another Etsy news, I stumbled across an available Treasury West spot today and quickly ransacked my favorites in search of a theme. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! Spindesigns is a relatively new shop on Etsy and they have some amazing designs! I'm quickly falling fast in love with Whitemetal, as well.

If you'd like to see some more of my past treasuries, check out my Treasuries set on flickr.

♥ Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

Collaborating Artist - Eldphoto

2008-02-04T01:27:00.000-08:00

Erin of Eldphoto on Etsy is a brilliant photographer from New York. Her images have a beautifully pastoral and tranquil quality to them that I really admire. I recently teamed up with her to offer a few of her photography prints on pendants in my shop. The Sanitarium print, in particular, has gotten a lot of great feedback from both Etsy buyers and sellers.

Personally, my favorite print is Swings. However, her Let Sleeping Dogs Lie print gets a lot of well deserved attention from cynophiles. If you're looking for a fantastic buy, check out her postcards. They are a great deal at 5 for only $5.00! The ailurophiles (cat lovers) will appreciate her adorable Peek-a-Boo kitty postcards, while her Friendship postcard pack would make the perfect gift for someone going on vacation or moving! When you visit her shop, be sure to also go to her flickr and picasa sites to see more of her stunning photography!

Building an Animated Plug for Plugboards

2008-02-02T23:42:00.000-08:00

Plugs are these nifty little buttons that you can build to promote your website. Many places all over the internet host what are called plugboards. You can search Google to find them. When you do find one, you will be able to enter in the url for the button that you are going to create and the web address that it will link to when people click on it. Your button will show up on the board and will slowly rotate out as others plug theirs in. In essence, it's free advertising, which we like.

To build a plug, I use Photoshop (I have the Elements version). Before you begin, there are a few things that you will want to consider. Do you want it to be a still image or an animated one? If it is to be animated, how many layers or slides will it have? Plugs are small, so you will need to keep each layer simple and easy to read.

Open photoshop and select File - New - and set the width to 88 pixels and the height to 31 pixels. That will give you the file to build on. For each layer that you are going to make, do the same thing. If you will have 5 layers, then you should create a new canvas for each layer + one to stack them on. Use the Photoshop tools to build each layer on its own individual canvas. When each layer is how you want it to look, you will need to flatten it into a single image. You will do this by going to Layer - Flatten Image. Do this to each of your layers (in my example here, I want CagedBirdSings' glass piece to stay in the animation longer, so I created 2 of that layer to stack on top of each other when it is time).

When each of your layers are flattened, it is time to stack them in your empty box that will soon become your animated .gif file. You are going to stack them backwards. In this example, the "Caged" layer would be moved first (you will just click on it and drag it over), then the "Bird" layer, "Sings", and finally the two glass pictures. As you drag them over, Photoshop will just copy them to the new canvas. Click on your working canvas that now has all 5 layers in it.

Now go to File - Save for Web and a new screen will pop up. This is the screen you will use to choose "animate", "loop", and the speed between frame changes. You may also care to try the preview option at the bottom of the window to see how it looks online and in action. If you are happy with the results, press OK and you will be prompted to save the .gif file on your computer.

Now that you have created and saved your animated .gif, you will need to upload it to an online image hosting service that supports animated gifs. Photobucket will work, but I don't know about any others. If you do not already have an account, you will need to sign up for one. Once it is uploaded, you will be able to copy the "direct link" code to enter on plugboards. The other address that you will need for a plugboard is the one for you website that you are advertising.

Hope I didn't miss anything . . .
Feel free to comment with any advice or questions.

~Jaimi @ Eli N Opus

ps. If you'd like to add a plugboard to your own site, you can sign up and get the code for one at http://www.plugme.net/

tabula rasa

2008-02-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

It's a cold, dark night here and the rain can't seem to withhold itself. The oil in the tank is running lower than it should this time of year and, as such, it's a bit chilly inside, as well. Eli's cuddled up on my lap as I stare blankly at my Etsy store waiting for something to happen. It's been a quiet day in my little virtual shop, but I have no complaints. I've been selling on Etsy for just over 4 months now and each month has seen a steady increase in sales. While it's difficult at times to find that careful balance between home, family, and work, I consider myself extremely fortunate that I am able to spend this school year home with my son. Etsy has played a vital role in allowing that to happen and it has given me a reason to steal away moments for pursuing my own hobbies.