Worth a smile or a frown

Speaking of shops...

Here's a blog I recently found that's been feeding me some interesting reading material for whenever I want to waste some time online:

http://notalwaysright.com/

It's typed dialogue of conversations that occur mostly between customers and people in the customer service industry. Some are hilarious, some are sad, some are hilariously sad. There's lots from all sorts of different places in the world, which definitely says something.

Some things to work on.

I have to admit, since I've started areVera back up and gotten Veracious going I've spent a lot more time on Etsy than I usually do. This is a good thing because I need to promote lots, but also a bad thing because I should be working on stuff for school...

Anywho. I've discovered the beauty of the forums and so instead of throwin two cents wherever I can, I decided to start my own discussion and get some feedback. People seem to really like my reading men, which makes me happy as they are my favourite too, but there's definitely still plenty to work on.

Here's a list of things that came up for me to improve on - note that I asked for feedback on Veracious:
-brighter pictures (and possibly more colour in the backgrounds)
-profile
-measurements in the descriptions
-banner

I've started looking into a banner... and I think I might have found one that I like. I'll wait a day or so to decide. I want to make my shop look as best as possible so it's no small decision.

I'm so happy that there are helpful people in the forum. Getting the feedback was a great experience and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

Besides that all I really need to do is think about promoting and marketing in more ways... urk.

SURPRISE!!! NEW STORE!

Now open - VERACIOUS ART!!

If you'd been to my jewellery shop before and after my holidays you would have noticed one big change other than the fact that I have much better pictures for my items. I wasn't listing any of my art. That's because I wanted to list my art separately, to keep things orderly like.

Long story short, the idea of separating the smaller wearable art from the larger pieces gave birth to a new shop: Veracious.

Because I already had areVera and I still wanted something to do with the name Vera, I looked in the dictionary to see what I could find. Lo and behold! Here's the definition (from the Oxford English Dictionary Online:

1. Habitually speaking or disposed to speak the truth; observant of the truth; truthful.

2. Characterized by veracity, truthfulness, or honesty; conforming to truth; true, accurate.

3. That estimates or judges truly or correctly.

Neat, huh? I thought this word was then extra-fitting for a store dealing with art.

Here's one of the new pieces I already have online:

Phew... what a week!

So, I've had a super busy week, filled with good and bad. Here are some highlights:

First Sale:

I should have been shouting about this from the rooftops, but a super exciting thing happened:
MY FIRST SALE!!! YIPPEE!
I can now let myself think of this as an actual factual sell things type of business, and it's very exciting. It happened last Saturday, the day after I opened shop.

Here's a picture of the heart that I sold, just in time for Valentine's Day.

I sent it in to the post office at the Shopper's Drug Mart last Sunday, the day after it was sold. It was convenient because I also needed a prescription filled. The funny thing is, is that on my way there I'm on the sidewalk and I find, stuck in the mucky snow, $20! Not only did I make a sale, but I found $20! How cool is that?

The downside of all of this is that I find that not only was the shipping a little more than I expected it to be... my drug plan, which had been covering this prescription for years, apparently isn't covering me anymore. The $20 I found ended up going towards the prescription.

Oh well, I still feel it all ended on the plus side.

A New Friend:

I believe it was last weekend when she messaged me, but I hearted this store because there was actually a lot there that I liked and was in many ways similar to my own art. She noticed it too and so we began talking. I love the community aspect of Etsy.

Applications for school:

Yes, I am already in school, but I want to do more school. I'm a nerd like that. So, I'm in the middle of applying to graduate school to make myself even more of a bookworm. It's a lot of juggling though. I'm really anxious about getting admitted and I'm juggling a lot more than I should be. Not only am I doing my school work, my part time job, and my store, but I'm arranging to put together what's needed and pull some favours from professors who are willing to recommend me.

In the end, it will be worth it. Not only do I enjoy my bookworminess, but having a master's degree will help me a lot with my career, whether it's as an editor or with more academics.


I don't know if it really sounds all that busy or exciting, but I can tell you it definitely was. And of course, it's not over yet, this next week seems to be warming up to be just as busy if not more. Eeek. !

And we're back!

Things are online and ready to be sold!

I'm feeling really optimistic about my new items. I've got some themes happening and a lot better pictures than before. I have yet to post older items and any of my necklaces, as I'm still working on the pictures, but they're coming, hopefully by the end of the weekend.

The surprise that I promised earlier is still not quite there yet, just like the pictures, it just isn't ready.

The items I'm really looking forward to getting out there are the Tangled Hearts. They're so fun to make and they look really great, so I hope they go well.

Here are some photos of new items:

I'm linking to things on the internet, is that dangerous?

So I'm working on expanding my shop, being better, stronger, faster and all that crazy ambitious type of stuff and I think, perhaps I should work on this blog thing too...

It only makes sense that if I have a blog, that I should post on it, right?

Well, while everyone is sitting, holding their breath for my shop to reopen (haha) I'm going to share a couple of things I found today while taking a break online.

Here are two things things that make me happy:

I wish I was the girl in the picture I found on Super Punch.
http://superpunch.blogspot.com/2009/01/curl-up-with-good-book.html

This shark shown on Crafster is cute, hilarious, and a little morbid - a great combination!
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=1858c4ed5fb1804da0680a9c2aac9568&topic=287403.0

Here's something that makes me not so happy:

An article on people that make clothes in sweat shops. It's a bit of a look at their lives. I found it on Neatorama here:
http://www.neatorama.com/2009/01/12/meet-the-people-who-made-your-clothes/

Get Ready For It...

So totally coming back... and man, is it ever going to be good!

My shop will be re-opening Friday, January 16th, so mark your calendars :D

I'm not sure if it will be in the morning or later in the afternoon, but there will be fanfare, new items, and fancy sales/incentives for all.

There'll be something extra special for my art pieces, but it's so good it has to be a suprise. Stay tuned on Friday for the announcement.