Archive for the ‘design’ Category

It was a busy, productive weekend, which is exactly the kind of weekend I like best. I made these fabric thumbtacks, Tim and I spent some time in the kitchen making meals for the week (the fridge is packed full), I doodled a bit (see my pretty new desktop?), had dinner with Sarah and Ian, and hung out with Danielle.

One thing I didn’t do that I wanted to was set up another photo shoot, but that’s OK. Thankfully Danielle is in the area often, so it’s not hard to find a few hours here and there. The days are getting longer, too, which helps tremendously, because I can schedule shoots after work instead of restricting myself to weekends.

I also spent a bit of money, which is something I’ve been trying to avoid doing lately, especially where sales have been slower than usual… but I couldn’t resist a bit of retail therapy. In the spirit of NaBloPoMo, a list:

• I loved the fabric thumbtacks so much that I bought a bunch of supplies to make more, along with some super-strong magnets so I can try those as well.
• I won an eBay auction for 6 vintage cups and saucers with the same pattern I found on my favorite thrifted platters. Liz (Madeinlowell) pointed out that my platters are Temporama, which was a very popular dishware set in the 50’s. I did a search out of curiosity, and wound up bidding on a few auctions. I’m going to try to incorporate the cups into a photo shoot or two (at least then I can say they were a business expense!)
• Also from the ‘Bay, a wireless remote flash trigger, so I can use my studio strobes with my camera. The Pentax K10D is inconvenient in one giant glaring aspect, and that is the lack of a PC socket for additional flash units. At some point I’d like to get a real hot shoe flash, but this trigger will work in the interim.

Also: Stay tuned for a contest! Someone’s Etsy anniversary is coming up…

No photos today, but we did do a little shopping at the craft stores in town! I picked up some cloth button forms and a pack of coordinating quilter’s fabric (half price!) to make these cute fabric-covered thumbtacks. I found the tutorial from How About Orange via Design Sponge. I love projects like this because they’re relatively inexpensive, simple, quick, and the results speak for themselves! If, unlike me, you’re sitting on bags of scrap fabric, this would be a fun way to use it up. And I have plenty left over to collage or make more buttons. I think next time I’m going to put magnets on the back.

Yesterday was quite a rush, so today we’re taking it easy. Thanks to everyone for the congrats! We went out to eat last night to celebrate, and stopped by the local Borders to pick up a copy of The Somnambulist just so I could stare at it and giggle.

In other news, I finally finished up the layout I’ve been working on for the last week! Go see!  I normally don’t like a three-column layout because it can look crowded, but this layout lends itself very well to blogging and shopping, which brings me to….

… the surprise: I’ve set up a shop at Sixhours.net! I’m experimenting with Prestashop, an open-source PHP-based Web interface. It was relatively easy to set up, and I think it is easy for potential customers to use. Etsy has been great to me, and I’ll continue to maintain those shops as well, of course. But I’ve wanted to have something hosted on my own domain, too, in the event that Etsy goes down for an extended period of time. I believe it’s sage advice to not have all your eggs in one basket.

There may be some kinks to work out, and for now I can only accept PayPal (support for Google Checkout is coming soon), but I look forward to seeing how it goes. I’m sure that, like everything else involved in running a business, it will be a learning experience.

I decided to re-design Sixhours.net on a whim… I get bored with designs easily, what can I say? I also did away with the News section, as it was somewhat redundant alongside the blog. Any relevant Web site news will be posted here.

An announcement! You can now find my cupcake girl doodle on lots of different goodies at Hey Pretty Cupcake (also at the HPC Etsy shop). There are keychains, magnets, buttons–all sorts of toys and trinkets and things bearing the likeness of cupcake girl. I hope to have a few more designs up there soon, so stay tuned!

In an effort to stock up for the holidaze, I’ve also put a bunch of new prints up at my Etsy shop! I’m taking your advice, dear Internets, and adding some of my stranger works. It can’t hurt. I’ve also taken your suggestions for note cards into account, and I think I know which designs I’m going to start with, so thanks for that! I’ll probably launch those in mid-December… a bit late for the holiday crowd, but I think they’ll sell well enough in the off-season, anyhow.

I’m feeling a bit blah about not having arranged my usual monthly photo shoot for November, but I put all that creative energy into whining about the cold weather (and I’ve been working on my shops, promotion, and things of that nature… it’s not all moaning and groaning… just 75%). However, I’m getting the photo itch again, so I think I’ll start getting things together for a shoot or two. Even if I can’t get anyone scheduled until January, at least I’ll have something on the calendar to look forward to.

sixhours.net has a new look!
Originally uploaded by calobee

I finally broke down and decided to make good use of the one MySQL database my Web host provides and learn PHP. I decided that I can’t call myself a Web geek without knowing one of the most popular Web programming languages. This little project captured my attention for a good part of the week.

The result is a Web site that is 500 times easier to update and maintain, and for you, dear Internets, there are new RSS feeds to subscribe to. As soon as I realized how useful RSS is for reading my favorite blogs, I realized it would be doubly useful for my own Web site!

A lot of credit goes to the S.O., the resident PHP guru, for patiently answering my questions and, at points, just coding the darned thing for me. I still can’t quite get my head around nested “for” loops, but I’m working on it.

Now I just need to get working on some new stuff to fill it up!