Sunday, January 31, 2010

Where Did the Weekend Go?

I can't believe it is Sunday night already, this weekend just flew by for me! On Friday night Jeremy and I caught up on then said goodbye to a show we really really liked (Dollhouse). We are great fans of Joss Whedon and were sad to see that show end. Jeremy is taking a few days off from his real job so I think maybe we'll have a Whedon-thon tomorrow in the studio, perhaps starting with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog...

Besides watching t.v., we got some new items listed over at the Etsy shop, packaged and posted a few orders, and cleaned the house like crazy people.

Last night the knitting group, Nerds Who Knit, met at our house. We had some snacks, worked on our projects, and watched "Gattaca". Nicole put in a valiant effort toward learning to knit, but I don't think she enjoyed it very much, perhaps instead of being a knitter she will consent to be our official cat girl mascot...I'll have to ask her.

Speaking of the knitting group, one of our other esteemed members has recently fired up her own Etsy shop, KraftsbyKatie. She makes really sweet embellished flip-flops that you should check out.

In other weekend news, Nicole, Eric, and I made it over to Fancy Tiger for their yarn sale on Saturday afternoon. I picked up some pink cashmere yarn that is so soft...I think I'm going to try to knit a lacy scarf that I saw on t.v. the other day. I have 10,000 knitting projects in progress, I can't seem to help myself. I start new projects well before I have finished others. I think I have project ADD. Come to think of it, I have tons of projects in various stages of completion. I think this week I will make a better effort to wrap up some of the projects that turned long term, or I could start the new table runner for my Mom and the checkbook cover for my Grandma...

[Edit]
I'm such a space cadet sometimes, I completely forgot to tell you guys about my awesome friend Tim. I'm lucky enough to be friends with a drummer in one of Denver's most interesting bands, Pluyd. If you are around the Denver area you should check out one of their shows! You can also become their fan on Facebook here. Support your local artists!!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Whenever One Door Closes...

...Another one slams shut on your fingers. :)
No that's not really true, titles and email subject lines are difficult for me. I feel a lot of pressure to be clever and funny in that tiny little box that most people probably don't ready anyway.

Today was kind of a big day for us here at Siouxsiequeue's. Our merchandise has been featured in a local shop since August, but due to different opinions on the direction of the business we are parting ways with the shop. The only thing that really means is that we won't be in the shop anymore, but it is a bit sad, and now I cannot point potential customers to the shop. Not to worry though, we're still on Etsy and after a short break I plan to take my work back the to the local market place.

We're also having a busy weekend around here as well. I've recently formed a knitting group with some of the ladies I'm friends with and we're hosting a knitting/movie night in our home on Saturday night. I'm having a bit of stress about this only because the studio space is visible from the rest of the house and I'm going to have to work on cleaning up instead of new projects tomorrow. :)

More good news, Nicole has consented to learning to knit (maybe), my favorite craft shop, Fancy Tiger, is having a yarn sale, Jeremy said we can get a new sofa, and we're thinking about a road trip in order to obtain said new sofa!

On the business front, I've finally posted the listings for all the new Valentine's Day jewelry items and am about to start work on some fun pieces for Mardi Gras. I'm also going to do a whole series of pieces in various shades of blue and silver. I'm hoping to finish the quilt I've been working on, a fun twin sized quilt using L'Amour by Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics. I've posted a few photos on our Facebook fanpage and I'll work on getting a few more together.

Looks like this entry turned into a blog of 1,000 links, and I guess I'll leave you with one more. During your exploration of Etsy don't forget to check out our frien
d Elisatta's page. She's done some amazing and cute watercolor paintings and cards.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

This is why cats don't have jobs...


We are allowed to live and work in the same house as two cats, Odin and Moose. I, in a stupid and careless move, dared to put my super-duper fancy photo studio light box (read: cardboard box with tissue paper taped to three sides) on my work surface when one of the cats wanted to walk through that area. In retribution, the cat (I don't know which one but suspect Moose) slashed through one of the layers of tissue, so this morning instead of taking photographs I was repairing my photography equipment (read: cardboard box). Luckily I had all the supplies to make the necessary repair, and was back on the road to shooting photos in no time. Well, until Moose decided I wanted to take photos of him instead of the jewelry I'm trying to sell...

This is one of the pitfalls of working at home, it didn't take long for me to abandon my photography project in favor of playing with the cat and watching "Mamma Mia!", again. I did get the pliers and work on a handful of new pieces and wrote a thank you note to one of my customers for a recent order.

I wouldn't say that I've been avoiding my work this week, but I will admit to being easily distracted. I'm going to blame the cats and the weather for that, it was in the low 70's earlier this week and that causes premature Spring Fever. Now that the weather has returned to being properly cold for this time of year I shouldn't have any issues the rest of the week.


P.S. From the photo: Moose is the orange tabby and Odin is the black cat.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Brand New Blog


Where to start...

...It seemed like a good idea to start a blog about our shop, my family, and the general nonsense that goes on around here; so I did!
Last summer, with the encouragement of my family (Jeremy & Eric), I gave up the 9-to-5 to embark on a new adventure: a home based crafting business. Yes, that's right, in an absurd economy I walked away from a perfectly good paying job to make jewelry and accessories in my basement. No, I am not actually insane.

I'd just reached a point in my life where I realized that I couldn't actually stand to work with or for anyone else, and I didn't really like anything I was doing anyway, so, it did actually seem like a good idea at the time.

I'd been making chainmaille jewelry, mostly for my friends and family, for several years before I made this enormous decision, and I'd had periods of success with it, so away I went, making chainmaille...as my job...in 2009.

Okay, so writing it all down does make me sound a little insane, but believe it or not, I do a fair bit of business. I've got a little Etsy shop, there is a local shop that carries my merchandise, and about 7 months later it turns out to be a viable business. Who knew?

Being my own boss does have a few minor setbacks, for example I tend to be a workaholic and I haven't seen most of my friends since this has become a serious venture, but the upside is that I get to wear my jeans to work everyday and I never have to explain my t-shirts to anyone.

By the way, I'm not actually an anti-social hermit, even though I've started painting that picture for you. I was just frustrated with the politics and red tape that go hand in hand with corporate life, and the truth is, I was tired of working as hard as I was with no tangible output at the end of the day. There wasn't ever anything to hold up and say "Look what I did today."

So, look at what I did today, and thanks for joining me. I'm looking forward to talking about what's going on around here, sharing my projects, and hearing back from you!