Every day. Except Sundays...

Pretty amazing how God works.
I asked for at least a sale a day while I'm in school (I figured it would be easy enough to deal with since I'm fairly busy anyway).
As soon as I asked... I started making at least one sale per day. Sometimes two. I made three on my birthday, actually.
And I did make a sale the first Sunday. But the second and third Sundays I haven't.
"'tis the sabbath," my friend Leesha says.
She could be right, though. >.>
Wouldn't surprise me. Haha.
But let's hope for a sale a day to continue. And I'm going to be asking for two sales a day soon enough. (I want to be able to eventually shorten my day job hours to 1-2 hours a day.)
So here's to lots of sales! :D

In other news...

Well, I did make a sale yesterday. It was the first lightbulb fishbowl I've sold. Packed it up and shipped it today. Now just waiting for the next sale... I'm hoping for one at some point today.

Today is my birthday. I'm eighteen.. A legal adult.
And instead of not feeling eighteen, I feel like I've always been eighteen. It's a "FINALLY" sort of feeling.
But today I'm not feeling very happy, for some reason...
Just a little down.
Even though several people (especially via Facebook) have wished me a happy birthday, and my math class sang happy birthday to me. My Dad texted me from work this morning. My best friend Daly sent me a nice happy birthday message, too.

But I've not felt that great since sometime this morning...
I hope the day gets better. I've really no reason to be sad.

Oh, also, I've not felt like eating (I think that sometimes happens when I feel down). I have been hungry. My stomach has made hunger noises. But I skipped lunch.
Still don't feel like eating.
We'll see how it goes. I'll be going to my grandmother's house tonight and I expect we'll be eating. Haha.
So hopefully I'll feel like eating then...

Waiting...

So I made three sales in two days (Friday and Saturday) and it was an amazing feeling. One was a UK order and the other two were in the US.
The Saturday orders I saw when I woke up (I love waking to a sale!).
I got them ready to ship, shipped them, and now I'm waiting...
Waiting for another sale...
It's been a few days.
One neat thing that happened yesterday was I noticed my views on Etsy (through Google Analytics) were sky high. Higher than they'd ever been before. I looked through the details, clicked to another website or two, and found that one of my grapevine bracelets had been featured on the Etsy home page! At 4am EST. So I was definitely still asleep. But I was pretty excited!
Unfortunately, my views today cannot compare.. And I did not make any sales from it..
But there's still hope!
Hey, I'm getting there!

And I'm still waiting. Hear that, God? I want to make a sale, please.

Yet another Etsy Treasury Feature...

I don't know if I'll list Etsy Treasury features for my lightbulb vase anymore after this. Since it's so popular... I may mention it as a bit of news, but no more screenshots for you people!
For the vase, anyhow.

New stuff I'll still include.

Here's the link:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=91089

I'm learning...

"If you make it, they will come."

So I've started to notice a trend here.

I didn't sell two lightbulb vases to the same person in Australia until I had a box big enough to accommodate both vases.

I didn't sell vases two days in a row until I had ordered and received a shipment of appropriately sized cardboard boxes.

I only sold one inkwell when I had an extra inkwell made and ready to go.

I didn't get an international order until I was ready with the customs forms.

So... Every time I take a step of faith and order boxes to ship stuff that I haven't sold, or make a few extra lightbulb vases, or get customs forms, I'll make a sell that has to do directly with what I got/made in faith.

Today, after realizing this, I ordered some small boxes just for my bracelets, earrings, and necklaces I make. I also ordered some boxes long enough to accommodate the length of my pheasant feather pens. I even got some lightbulbs in the beginning stages of being transformed into vases and inkwells.

Let the sales begin.

Featured in an Etsy Treasury!

Well here's another Etsy Treasury feature. Though it is not for the lightbulb vase! It is for my peacock feather pen! I'm amazed how much more popular it is than my other feather pens. It's like the complete opposite than what my mother said.

Oh, here's the link, if you're interested:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=118839

The Process of Creating: Feather Pens

So the other day, I had a new idea. An improvement on feather pens. You know the kind of feather pens you see nowadays that are basically an ink pen with a feather attached. Those are all fine and dandy, but the majority of them just look too girly... Too many pastel colors and ribbons. Yeah. Not for me.

I had a length of wire sitting around on my desk next to my sewing machine that I had saved because I didn't want to waste it. Then the idea clicked... Wire wrap the feathers onto the pen!
I tried it. And it looked pretty classy, I must say. My mom liked the idea when I showed her the ostrich feather pen I had created. She wanted to buy it from me, even. Interestingly, she didn't like the peacock feather pen I made next. She thought it looked too unique. But when I put the feather pens on Etsy, the first one to sell was my peacock feather pen!

I also have made an inkwell made out of a small lightbulb that's just perfect with these pens. I made it the same way I make the lightbulb vases here.

Lately, I've added a touch of super glue to these pens to insure the feathers stay exactly where I want them.

Also, one of the great things about my feather pens is that they're easily refillable if they run out of ink! I use Pilot G-2 07 pens and you can buy ink refills at Walmart. So they're eco-friendly as well as classy!

Blog Feature 3!

Say, this nice lady named Liz featured my lightbulb vase on her blog as well! I really like her post about it. :)
Here's the link:

http://agirlcallede.blogspot.com/2010/03/light-bulb-moment.html

I guess I'll start calling these posts "blog features"

Say! Another blog feature!! It's so exciting when people do this. :)

This one was by a woman in Brazil named Renata. She also featured my lightbulb vase along with two other nifty recycling ideas.

Here's the link:
http://dicasgreen.blogspot.com/2010/03/reutilize-e-decore.html

And here's a screenshot! :D

WARNING: It is written in Portuguese. I was able to more or less understand it from my knowledge of Spanish, but for anyone who can't, the description sentence reads (more or less)
"Some creative ideas for reusing that can give your house renewed decor."

WoW again!!

So I get home today and look at my email to see that a nice lady named Jodi Reeves has featured my lightbulb vase in her blog. She didn't write but a sentence about it, but hey, it's something!

Here's the link to it, if you're interested:

http://www.thecreativejar.com/2010/03/what-great-idea.html

And if you're not, here's a screenshot. ;)

The Process of Creating: Grapevine Bracelets

Ah, grapevine bracelets. You know, these don't really take much effort to make. The hardest part is sizing and smoothing the vines, I think.

I first came up with this idea while walking around outside around our grapevines and thinking about wreaths. I was looking for materials to make jewelry out of at the time and cut myself a length of grapevine to play with. With little thought at all, I fashioned it into a mini-wreath and put it on my wrist. I liked the look.. Very earthy and organic.
So I made a second one (slightly larger (for a fellow I never saw again)) and took my creations inside.


It didn't take much wearing before I noticed that the bracelet was indeed a little scratchy... I took out my pocket knife to smooth vine (there are all manner of bumps and protrusions and the like on grapevines). After smoothing and trying it on several times, I had a bracelet that was comfortable as well as groovy! I did the same to the second bracelet and set it aside (it stayed on my dresser for quite a while before it dried out in the wrong shape from not being worn and I eventually just threw it away).


So here I am, almost three years later, still wearing a bracelet (and two others) that I made not long after those first two. They're extremely durable bracelets; I've certainly been rough with them.
I've found that the more you wear them, the better they look. The oils from your skin sort of finish and polish the wood. After a few months, they really look nice. I still get compliments on my bracelets. :)


Also, after a bit of experimentation, I figured a sizing scale that works with most people (double jointed people are an exception as they can fit almost anything on or off their wrists).
So basically, the inside diameter of the bracelet should be a centimeter smaller than the measure of your palm from forefinger to pinky (at the base). This picture might help:





So my palm is about 7 centimeters. So I'd choose the 6 centimeter diameter bracelet.
Now, this sizing has an exception. If you plan to take it off often (if you play sports or something where you can't wear any type of jewelry), this bracelet sizing should work fine for you.
However, if you plan wearing yours ALL the time, 24/7, 365, then you may as well choose a bracelet that's 1 1/2 centimeters smaller than your wrist. It may take a few seconds to get on, but it won't be coming off unless you want it to. The bracelets I wear are that size because that's exactly what I do. I wear them ALLLLL the time.

And hey, these are easily unisex, too. My best friend has 2 (three at one time) that I made for him that he wears all the time. If he were around right now, I'd photograph his wrist so you can see how manly they look.


Anyhow, there's my story on the Intertwined Grapevine Bracelets. You can find them on my Etsy if you want to see more pictures.




Have you made anything different than wreaths with grapevines? And if you haven't, got any awesome ideas?

WoW!!

Look! I've been featured in an Etsy Treasury!!

It's my Clear Thinking Lightbulb Vase!!

And in such a nice spot... I'm in the top lefthand corner!! :)

The Process of Creating: Lightbulb Vases

My favorite redesigning idea is my Lightbulb Vase from the Clear Thinking series I've started which is comprised of ideas for recycling lightbulbs.

I started with a burnt out lightbulb. It was the soft white type. I had found an article online that showed a detailed process of how to hollow and clean an incandescent lightbulb and used it to help me with my first lightbulb.

I carefully hollowed it out with my pliers and a small screwdriver, then cleaned it by swishing some sand around the inside of the bulb. After rinsing it thoroughly, I let it dry as I brain hurricaned a way to make it stand upside down freely. I did not really ever like the wire idea (though some look pretty neat-o), so I was thinking more along the lines of something glued on the bottom..
I used a nickel the first time. Hot glued it to the center of the top (now bottom) of the lightbulb.
After a little thought, I realized if I planned to make several of these, a nickel may not be the best idea...
So I went to my Dad's toolbox and found a washer when I made my second vase. It worked marvelously! When I showed him my creation, he said he had some larger washers at the shop that I could use, and those worked even more wonderfully!

So after critiquing my design, I made a listing on my Etsy and have sold three since January! My vase also has over 300 views and has been hearted over 20 times! It excites me that it has received so much attention.

I will experiment with different lightbulb sizes for different uses. I have a smaller lightbulb I made into an ink well of sorts (well, it's more of a pen rest, or pen home). I really like it and hope it becomes equally popular as the vase.
I recently chanced upon two burnt out frosted glass lightbulbs that are the same size as my standard lightbulb vases... I'll have to put up a listing for them.

Have any ideas, tips, or tricks for recycling or redesigning lightbulbs?

And incidentally... If you attempt to hollow out a lightbulb yourself, please, PLEASE wear eye protection and wrap the lightbulb in a towel while you're working with it to make sure you don't cut your hands (or make a huge mess) if the lightbulb breaks.

A beginning:

Well, I'm starting this blog to share my process of redesigning and creating items that I either use to my own advantage, or share with the world via Etsy.
I also may share bits of diet-related ramble or just life philosophies.
It's a journey and an adventure; we'll see how it goes!
Feel free to share your own experiences and ideas along the way. I love hearing from people!

Here's to the adventure,
Star