HELP, input needed!

I need a little input on this item before I add it to my etsy shop.

Should I:

1. Keep the bows
2. Ditch them (too gaudy)
3. Ditch the accent beads (too gaudy)

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Spring Fresh Fruit Tart

Now available in my etsy shop!

In all my years of working with polymer clay, which has been almost a decade now, I have never made a fruit tart before. It seems like one of the polymer clay foodie staples these days. Fruit tarts, macarons, and cupcakes are everywhere...but I never sat down to make one before.

With all this gross, winter, weather, I wanted a taste of spring, so I whipped up a few fruit canes and made this little tart.

Barcade Review Header Design

I just finished typing up my food review for The Barcade over on Sometimes Foodie, and I decided to design a simple, but fun, header for the post. (Seen above.)

Since the Barcade is, as the name suggests, a bar full of arcade cabinets, I decided to go with a retro, pixelated, style.

Sometimes Foodie Redesign!

Okay, as far as redesigns go this isn't a HUGE change, but I tweaked a lot of things here and there.

I'll post a before picture below so you can see the difference. I like it so far, but the changes are pretty minor.

I altered: 

• The Header: made it text only and made the coffee stain part of the background
• The Background: I added a pattern of spoons and coffee cup stains
• Etsy Banner: I made a little animated banner for my etsy shop
• Facebook Likes: I changed the coding for the Facebook likes to better fit that small area.

What I did Yesterday (2/5/14)

In an effort to be more productive, I decided to write a little blog summing up my day. I doubt that this will become a daily thing, but at least once a week. I think that is a fairly realistic goal. It's nice to be able to look back and see that I have gotten things done.

What did I do today? (2/5/14)

(I'm the kind of person who likes listing things, so this is list-style)

1. I made some new Thank You Art Cards for my Etsy. The last set was Nightmare Before Christmas themed, which was a lot of fun, so this time I'll be using characters from The Venture Bros. I like making a complete set, but I needed some cards right away, so I made a few random Bee and Puppy Cat cards that shipped out this morning. (See them after the cut.)

Etsy Challenge

I have had an etsy shop for several years and, considering I have never paid for advertizing, I have done pretty well for myself.

I do all my own banner designs, packaging, photography...everything. It's hard to do everything yourself, but it's a lot more cost efficient. (I'm cheap.) I really want to get more sales without resorting to paid advertizing, but it's kind of hard to have sales when your shop is so empty. Seriously, when did I stop making new items? Back in the early 2000's I had at least 60 different items, so logically I had more sales, not I have about a dozen and sales have become sluggish.

Long story short, I need to restock my shop. Rather than waste more money re-listing items that never sold in the first place, I want to revamp things and make tons of new items.

I have come up with a little challenge for myself. 

New year, new look.

Cliché, I know. It may be cheesy, and unoriginal, but a new year gives everyone an excuse to finally get off their butts and do something different. I am taking this opportunity to change the look and layout of my Poison and Antidote...label? Brand? Company? What am I?

Welp, I guess that is something something else I need to figure out in 2014. It's fun to be so varied and undefined, but it can be harmful. I never know how to market myself. I'm just me, and I do stuff... but that doesn't sound professional.

I need to figure this out....

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High School Nostalgia

This is not an official invite, just something I whipped up with the information provided.

So there have been talks on Facebook about a 10 year reunion for my graduating class, and my initial reaction took me aback. I was interested and eager. What the hell is wrong with me? I absolutely hated high school! I was so adamant about never going back, I put a skull and crossbones on my graduation cap, I walked out of my graduation without any tearful goodbyes because I knew the people I cared about would still be involved in my life years later, and yet, here I was. I was excitedly putting my contact information into an online form to be invited.

Who am I? This isn't me.

I got caught up in the nostalgia, but I quickly came to my senses.

Without being petty and mentioning specifics, the reunion planning got ugly really fast and I had a wake up call. What was I doing? I barely knew these people in 2005, and here I am about to pay money to awkwardly stand around in a hotel with them in 2015? I almost volunteered to help plan the thing! (Or at the very least do some design.) The me from 2005 wouldn't recognize the person I have become. (Only in regards to my sudden nostalgia. I am a bitchin' person and proud of who I have become. Also I still like the word bitch'n.)

Even in high school I was teaching youngsters about art.

During my short lived nostalgia trip, I whipped up this postcard-styled invitation (seen above.) This event is a year off, so maybe I'll change my mind, but right now I feel like the me from 2005 slapped me across the face. Fuck reunions.


Some schools have a great student body who may enjoy such an event, like the students I worked with during my student teaching semester, but my high school was not that type of place. I would love to see my teachers again and talk to them like the little teaching fan-girl I am, and see a few friends who I haven't seen in a few months, but that is something I can do on my own.

Right now, I need to get my butt in gear and start working even harder to achieve what I want. The me in that photo would be proud of who I have become, but I'm not satisfied yet. Look out 2015, here I come. (That was cheesy, but I needed a little slap in the face and a pep-talk.)

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