Thing-a-day.com

One of my Etsy street teams, the Fantasy Artists of Etsy, is in the process of doing a round robin to create two fairies a “light” one and a “dark” one. I got assigned to the light one and received her in November and immediately got STUMPED. So, after much discussion with my brilliant husband, I decided on decorating a small straw bonnet for her. (Before and After pictures of her when I get this finished–hopefully in the next couple of days). The light straw matched the vintage lace of her gown and I decided to decorate with minature versions of the paper flowers I use on my cards. I decided to go with blue to match the necklace and wand she is already outfitted with.

This isn’t complete yet as it needs to be far more ornate to “fit” with what is currently on the doll, but this is what I got completed tonight.

Today I unmade and remade the closet that my husband and I share. As I mentioned on Day 1, my husband got a job! This came with much shopping for clothes and other prepping. And of course, the nasty realization that my clothes were taking up um, almost all of the walk in closet we shared. My camera battery was dead, so no before pictures, but let me just say there was a dresser in the back that kill a quarter or more of the hanging space and clothes I never wore took up probably half of what was left. After a few hours of hard work I had this:

A HUGE bag of clothes to give away. Plus a pile probably half that size of clothes to be put up–mostly to be put into quilts or photographed before they were given away. Plus a smaller pile of things to be put away in drawers and not hung.

After some rearranging and sorting, my side of the closet looked like this:

Probably a quarter of what I started with, with plenty of space to sperate work from casual wear. And my happy hubby? He now has the same amount of space on the opposite side of the closet. Amazing. : )

For those not familiar with Etsy, this might need a bit of explaining. Etsy has a feature called the Treasury that is a collection of user curated 12 item galleries. People can pull them together based on any criteria they like, and they are ranked based on popularity (judged in several different ways). However, unless there are less than 333 active lists, you can’t make one. That sounds like a lot (and it’s plenty to dig through!) but it means long waits to get one. As a bit of a consolation prize, they created the poster sketch tool. Anyone can put items into the Treasury format, but the lists are not put into the main collection for others to see. And, since Etsy admin picks Treasury lists to feature on the front page of the site, it also means that your list has no chance of being on the front page.

Since I’ve pretty much given up on getting a Treasury, today I took the poster tool for a spin and created this. I call it “Primary Desires” and if it were an actual treasury, I think it would make the front page. Alas, I will never know for sure. : )

Author’s Note: I wrote this over the course of several days, but finished it on the 8th. I posted it to another blog of mine, but as it was (highly) relevant to this group AND a “making”, it was also my “thing” for the day.

Participating in the thing-a-day challenge has really got me thinking about what it means to make something.

For instance, I “make” my bed (well, sometimes anyway ; ). Yet, I wouldn’t consider that an acceptable submission to thing-a-day. However, if I create a shape on the bed with pillows, let’s say, then I would consider that just fine. That makes me want to say that the defining factor is creativity, doing something beyond the normal
scope.

However, I would also agree that making a model car or painting a paint-by-number is “making something”. Yet those are not activities I see as inherently creative. You are following a preset pattern to arrive at a pre-determined result.In fact, the more successful you are, the less distinguishable your product is from the pattern. Considering that angle leads to the idea of making something as the act of production–you place discrete components together to create a product.

But where does that leave people who take photographs? Are they “making” something only when they print the final result? Is there an act of making in simply snapping the picture? Does it matter whether they style the shot or simply capture events as they unfold?

I ran into that issue specifically while taking this shot yesterday:

Despite the picture being “artsy” and taking a fair amount of time to get just so, I had a hard time accepting just the photo was my thing for the day. Instead I opted to say that the still life was my thing for the day. It’s rather bizarre though, because the whole point of the still life was to be captured on film. Unlike my other thing-a-day projects, the still life itself was not meant to enjoyed or saved–only the photograph was.

So that brings up another possible definition–creating something that is non-transient. Something that will last. Of course, who defines how long something has to last to be considered made? A sand castle that falls apart during construction is considered a failure. One that is washed away a few hours later by the sea, a success.

What are your thoughts? How do you define “making”?

One of the things I enjoy most about selling on Etsy is the camaraderie. Which makes it pretty natural that I love my street teams (organized groups of sellers who work together for the greater good of all). My favorite group is the one I started nearly a year ago. Although I have since handed off mod-ship, the group still has a large piece of my heart.

Today at work I was struck with the idea of creating and printing a second buisness card which declares me a “Proud Member of FAE Etsy” (FAE stands for Fantasy Artists of Etsy). I would stick this in with orders and in my promo packs that I give out at shows. Hopefully, people would check out our website (and our other members!).

I left the post-it at work (d’oh) so I redrew it in more detail at home. I envision a plain white background, some pretty lettering, and brightly colored little dragonlings.

The one in the middle needs some more work as he is a bit…odd right now. (Also, the actual web address is http://fantasyartofetsy.webng.com/ , I just couldn’t write small enough (!) to fit it in where I wanted to in the mockup.) I’m really digging the idea. I just need to get a fully complete sketch and then find a digital designer to work their magic.Then off to overnight prints!

I thought about making my buisness cards double sided, but I think I will stick to two cards, since my flowers have nothing to do with the FAE group.

So after yesterday’s grand collaging adventure (huzzah!) I fell in love all over again with the look of torn paper and rainbow colors. Thus tonight was ACEOs in the same style!

I don’t think these are done; they will most likely become bases to build on further. But aren’t they *pretty*? : D

Today’s thing is another multi-tasking thing. : ) Ages ago, I volunteered to be interviewed by What Shoes I Wear. I was all set to write up my answers and send them in when I realized…I had no pictures of my shoes. And I didn’t want to do a boring “looking at my feet” shot. So I set it down. Today, I decided, was the day to get that OFF my to-do list. So I thought. And thought. And thought. And wandered around the house. And framed some pictures. And opened the fridge (anyone else find boredom or stress lands them in front of an open fridge?). And closed it. And opened it. And, well you’ve got the idea.

Finally, I decided to play around with my “imagine” letters that I decoupaged a box for the other day. After much playing with placement and shooing of cats (”Noooo, Abby, no, no, come here, no over here..Jack! No! Don’t eat that–Abby!…) I managed to get my pictures taken. So here is today’s “thing”, a still life of sorts. : )

And here are my well meaning helper cats in a less animated state.

A few months ago, I found a set of metal letters on clearance at Target. Being the text junky that I am, I simply had to get them. Once I got home, I was delighted to find that the box was fairly heavy weight matte board. Then and there I decided I needed to collage it and it needed to be a rainbow. Cue letting it sit. And sit. And sit some more.

Today, I felt like playing with paper, so I pulled it back out and took a first pass. It’s a lot less elaborate than I initially envisioned, but I realized that too much more was going to seriously compete with the letters. The letters still need to be affixed. They are pretty heavy, so I’m thinking a heavy duty epoxy or something. But for now, step one is complete! Woot!

(We’re just going to ignore the fact that my crafting area looks like a hurricane hit.)

More pictures on My Flickr Account if you want to see.

In my Etsy shop I sell dragonlings (as I mentioned yesterday) and flower cards. Today, I began work on sets for the shop. After folding 70 cards, I started in on tonal sets–blue, pink, brown, orange, and purple. Each card has a different saying, but each set also has a theme–birthdays, wedding/anniversaries, love, friendship, and thank yous.

This was a big step forward because usually I prefer to do single cards. I’ve decided to make a concentrated effort to get more sets up in the shop and this was step 1. The cards still need their leaves and appropriate labeling (maybe tomorrow?) before they can get their beauty shots taken and get listed, but hey, baby steps! ^_^

On one of my blogs I was tagged to do a handwriting meme. I spruced it up with some doodles of my little dragonling muses. One is holding a pen and another a sheet of blank paper. I sell my dragonlings in My Etsy Shop and they are always turning up on my notepads and post-its. I love the little critters, they never fail to make me smile. : )

Today’s making was delayed by very, very good news– my husband is now gainfully employed! *tosses confetti*

So in honor of his new job I made brownies. and they totally count for my thing-a-day. Since I’m new to wordpress it took me a few min to figure out how to post to this durn thing, but I prevailed! : ) Since immediate food transference through the internet has not yet been accomplished, here are tasty, tasty pictures for your consumption. ; )

First up, the ingredients. It may be box mix but they are consistently good (and complimented) brownies–just don’t overmix!

Next up, tossing them all together. I love the way egg yolks float around when you bake.

All mixed up and ready to go in the oven (and it only took 6 minuites to get to this point, even with photo documentation, I ♥ box mixes)

And…the end result. Mmmmmm.