allsorts

The wonderful world of Etsy

Well. Today I did some poking around on Etsy and I was blown away by how gee-normous and jam-packed with resources it is. I feel like the last one to the party because I had no idea!

I especially like these downloadable sidebar buttons...

...and the nifty bannerator for generating a shop banner using one of their desgns:

...there are even "street teams"... I'm not exactly sure what those are but there are tons of them with many many members, and their own workshops.

You can even search for items by color! Hm, what color should I search for?

I'm getting the impression that there is an entire Etsy Universe to explore, and I've only scratched the topmost part of the iceberg (I'm going for maximum metaphor mixing there).

Shoot, and I still don't even have anything to sell yet!

Pardon me, apparently I have work to do...

Cheers,

Jenny

On my desk and on my mind

I dropped the ball a couple of weeks in there and didn't post anything for On My Desk Wednesdays. Blame the huge mess on my work table, that's where I would normally set up a photo shoot, but it has secret projects and stuff all over it. So the end of my computer desk will have to suffice. Again.

The print is from Loobylu! I was quick off the mark when Claire listed her first Gocco prints in her Etsy shop, and luckily I snagged one. It is even more adorable in person! I'm still mulling over where to hang it and framing style. I truly love it. Thanks Claire! Other items on my desk include Cath Kidston stationery and a jellyroll of reproduction feedsack fabric. I love to buy those jellyrolls, but then I never actually make them into anything. I love charm sets, too but those usually end up in something or other.

And speaking of Etsy, I established my own little emporium, Allsorts Workshop! No fanfares yet, there's nothing in it at the moment. I'm still mulling over several possible categories of items to offer. Currently I think it will be patterns, prints and projects, mainly because I like how those words sound together. That's what the secret project on my worktable (and the blue crinkle paper) is all about. I'm doing lots of mulling. Stay tuned!

Cheers,

Jenny

A softie spot

Feeling a tug on the heartstrings lately, I'd like to get back into softie land. These cuties came up in a search on Flickr. Can you resist those faces? See them on their original pages:

1. Miss Mouse Swap, 2. Tower of botties, 3. My little house, 4. Tomtenisse Dotty, 5. fuzzy was a puppy, 6. Sisters, 7. Going to a new home., 8. Ortzi the robot, 9. #3

Mosaic Maker found here. All images used under creative commons license.

Cheers,

Jenny

Pirates! Space travel! Dinosaurs!

It's all in a days work for an imaginative little bear. As you may remember, I doodled this little guy back in February, and then decided to have a write me a bear story contest. Well I am very excited to announce that the winner is.... Amy! She sent in an incredibly fun and inventive story that perfectly captured the spunky personality I envisioned for that little guy. Now I'm itching to get to work on sketches. Thank you, Amy! And a big thank you to everyone who submitted a story, it was a tremendously difficult choice. So much talent out there!

And just so you know, I'm no longer adding blog names to the sidebar for a post a day in May. Counting me, there are exactly one hundred participants! Can you believe it?

Cheers,

Jenny

More May flowers

Wow again! We're up to ninety posters! I think after today I'll stop adding names to the sidebar since it is the 4th after all. Already feeling the energy that comes with rising to a challenge. Exactly what I was hoping for.

More flower pics, sorry but I'm on a roll so these are the ones taken on my first Arboretum trip this Spring. I swear I won't make you sit through any more of this for a while. Several commenters asked about my camera. It is this...

...a Nikon D40x and I highly recommend it. 10.2 megapixels and lots of bells and whistles. I also have a better quality lens for it and use that sometimes, too, but the one that comes with it is plenty fine. Of course as you can probably guess... I do a bit more tweaking in Photoshop, but I have to keep some secrets to myself ya know. Anyway if you're wanting to learn more about Photoshop, you can watch some very helpful video tutorials at Lynda.com, an amazing number of which are free.

So... on to more flowers!

Obviously I am very fond of getting up close and personal with my subject. The first and last blossoms were just a few among thousands on the most amazing magnolia tree I've ever seen. I could have climbed up into it and stayed forever. By the time we went back in less than a week, all the blossoms were gone. Sad. I felt extremely fortunate to have seen it and captured such a fleeting memory with my camera.

Cheers,

Jenny

May flowers

Three cheers! So far there are sixty-three bloggers attempting a post a day in May. I'm so thrilled to have such a nice group joining the fun. There's a handy list over yonder in my right sidebar if you want to check out the gang. Some familiar faces, and the chance to get to know some new ones!

And as promised, some visuals for today. These are photos from our most recent trip to the Arboretum. I made it there twice during the amazing Spring flowering. I can't claim all of these, some were taken by family members, but it was with my camera so I can share them, right? The delphinium pic above is by me for sure*, I may have invented some new yoga poses trying to take closeups of it without actually stepping into the flowerbed. I am insanely in love with that shade of blue.

*um, after some spirited  debate I am convinced that this was actually not taken by me, although I did take several shots of my own in the aforementioned yogic poses.

Orange blossom and orange koi...

A flowering tree...

Poppies so bright the color hurt my eyes through the lens...

A blossom caught in the ridges of a bronze fountain...

And a cardinal dreams he's invisible within a brilliant red Japanese maple...

And those are only from our secondary visit. First time I think I snapped a couple hundred, so steel yourselves... no doubt I'll pull some of those out for another post in May!

Cheers,

Jenny