Etsy shop updated.. and now on ebay!

Hi all... I updated BethNouveau on etsy this week. I added some vintage bird wall hangings and boxes and some earrings. Check them out!

Aaaannnd, apothecarie is FINALLY up and running!

I made a group of hilarious vintage-y greeting cards last week and took photos today. Those will be put into Dystructiondesigns (on etsy) reallllly soon. Hopefully tomorrow!

I also created an ebay shop today for my jewelry. There's more of a Southwestern/hippie crowd on ebay and I think that my earrings will be very successful on there.. well at least I hope. There are TONS of feathers and bird skins I'd like to buy, but I spent a ton of money last month on new feathers (which I haven't even used yet) and the etsy shop has been really slow since January. Outputting more earrings (even if it is on ebay) will give me more money to buy more feathers. I have some great ideas!

I am just rolling along, aren't I?

The website is still halted, but I am going to work on it TONIGHT. I am stumbling around with the zen cart. I don't know SQL and I haven't been able to find a tutorial on using the thing!

My goal is to have the website up by the end of the week (I've said that before, though, huh. hahaha), even if I can't get the shop to work.

Next week is our spring break, and while I'll be here working for the good part of the week, I am taking off on Wednesday to go see STS9 in Asheville. I'm soooo excited!

Website is plodding along

Well despite the INSANE week that I had this past week in school, the website is plodding along.
It was a terribly productive week. I am thankful for productivity, but it was exhausting and demoralizing in the end because I was literally busy all day every day (9 am to 2 am) for one week straight. I had a presentation, a case study, several meetings, and some other school and lab duties... BUT, the week is over, and I did well on the above mentioned presentation and case study.. aaannnd I got over 100% (with extra credit) on my parasitology test last Friday, so my hard work has paid off!

So about the website...

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm a super-perfectionist and the site just isn't quite there yet. There's a bunch of white (maybe a little TOO much) and while I spent a jazillion hours making my graphic, I feel like I could have done a better job with that too. I keep telling myself that its been years since I've used photoshop and I can do a site update soon and that savvy with graphic design comes with practice. My goal for now is to get the site up even though some sections will be skeletons for now (such as the patterns section which is going to require me making pdfs). I recognize the need to just get it up, because everything else in my life is suffering due to my lack of time. I now know why people hire someone to do this! I may make one more major set of changes before putting it online, changing a lot of the white to a darker color. Right now its so pastel-y. Color is such a tricky thing.. knowing how much of a color pops a design or makes it look cartoony... its a delicate balance for sure!

I will *hopefully* go live next week sometime. I still need to create my store and register/link my domain name.

My next project (website wise) will be to create a flash photography portfolio with all my work. I am sure that will take me forever as well.


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I haven't listed anything on etsy in awhile largely due to the fact that I have been waiting (impatiently) for a macro filter to arrive in the mail. I ordered one, but the seller (from Hong Kong) shipped me a UV filter (which is pretty much useless since I already have one). My weak link on etsy, in my opinion, are my photos. The focal length of the lens that I have is too long to take intricate photos of my jewelry and the lighting in my house is fairly poor. My next major purchase will be a flash setup. The nikon speedlight is very nice. One of the school newspaper photographers has one of these and wow.. the results were great!

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I made a fairly large purchase on ebay this week. I purchased a new hp photoprinter to print, and hopefully eventually sell my artwork and photographs. I am so excited for the opportunitiy to use it!

Website frustration ..and new little ideas hatching

I have been mostly absent from this blog for quite some time because I have been hatching some larger ideas.

First, I am launching a full website very soon. I have made the preliminary design, made the images and menus in photoshop, and I've started the content. It will include this blog, free knit patterns I have designed, a full online store that sells all my products, links to my etsy stores, a link to my online photography portfolio, and other stuff! I am primarily doing this because I am missing a huge market for a lot of the items I sell, such as my jewelry. I was prompted to do this a few weeks ago when I noticed a few sellers both online and on ebay selling items of a similar nature (feathered earrings, etc) who were having quite a bit of success. While I love etsy, the crowd that a lot of my jewelry caters to (the hippie earthy crowd, those of Native American heritage, and the Southwesterners) has a larger following on ebay and online... having a home base will greatly help me.. also, it will help me sell to people who aren't either on etsy or ebay..

I'm excited about this, because it has really been YEARS since I have dabbled in webdesign, and I have longed to get back into the saddle for quite a while. The process is taking me FOREVER, not because I am rusty on the html (although I am), but because I am trying to do the entire thing in dreamweaver, which is honestly not very intuitive (to me). I think my site will be awesome because it won’t just be a blog layout (like many folks have), but a full website with frames, links, and a lot of content).

Right now, I’m hung up on slicing up a screenshot of what I want it to look like with photoshop and exporting the pieces to dreamweaver. Relearning the new photoshop cs3 has also been a pain in the rear, because it has changed significantly since the last time I used it (photoshop 6!!!) and because I have been extremely picky about what I want the page to look out. However, I am excited that I am about to get to the “content” portion, which I am an old pro at. I designed a banner and avatar for my etsy shop, BethNouveau, which is up, and I am asking my girlfriend Kelly to design me one of each for DystructionDesigns. She is also launching her site, www.faeleaf.com soon.. so keep your eyes peeled for that!

I have also been hatching a TON of ideas as far as my etsy shops go. I don’t want to reveal much, but I will say that a vintage bird atlas is my newest inspiration for a series of items that I will hopefully post before the end of the month. I am also working on some apparel and recycled/handmade cards for DystructionDesigns. Finally, I am adding a third shop into the arsenal. Several months ago I became OBSESSED with the notion of creating ALL NATURAL, HOMEMADE beauty products. Soap, shampoo, body wash, bath salts, bath oil, bath bombs, bubble bath, facial scrubs, lotions, body oil, gem-like soaps and makeup are among the items that I have already concocted recipes for. The best part of these products is that they are all natural and sustainable! The jury is out on whether parabens (found in many body products) are bad for you, and the EPA has shown that sodium laureth sulfate (a surfactant found in practically every bath item you use) is often contaminated with known carcinogens due to how it is created. I have started selling these products at a small hair salon in Bedford, VA called “Hair, Then, and Now” and I gave many of them as gifts this past Christmas. The response has been overwhelming.. everyone has loved them! The name of the new shop is called “Apothecarie”. I hope to post some items within the next couple weeks.

School and life have been rather exhausting lately. I have started my first sets of experiments and I have been so busy that when I get home, I often literally pass out because I am so tired. This has confounded the website creation process as well.

Keep your eyes peeled for goodness in the future!

xox