I'm finding all kinds of Fun Apps on Etsy

I hope this first little app shows up...I'm not exactly html proficient...

so I also included it on the sidebar. 

It's a cool little widget from Craft Cult that scrolls the items in my Etsy shop....

I thought it was very cool.

Another very cool app is the 'Etsy Theme Shop' for Facebook app.

 I've added this app to my Rustic Goth Facebook page

which is way more noticeable than the way it used to show up...

and the app gives you the option of

putting in a limited time discount

by going through Facebook...

I thought that was pretty cool.

And...I do use the 

Etsy On Sale

app everyday for my daily renews,

as well as whenever I have a sale.

These use credits...which you have to buy...but lately

it has been worth the money, as it automatically

renews the items I have indicated...at the intervals I want...

and I can do several days at a time, with only a couple of clicks.

It only costs me 5 credits a month...plus the renewal fees of course...

but it is fairly cheap...and I consider a source of advertising for my Shop.

Looking Back at 2011

In January I listed my Zodiac Girls Collection...

I had so much fun creating each piece...

and tried to stay true to the elements

and traits that go with each sign.

March 8th I got Skittles...

she has been such a Blessing in my life...

I don't know what I would ever do without her.

March 15th is the only time any of my art

has been included in Etsy Finds...

which is a pretty 'big deal' for

anyone who has a shop on Etsy.

They included my 'Ides of March' print

for their 

'Ides of March' issue.

I became a Zazzle Pro Seller..

and a couple of my Zazzle items

won some awards...

including my Twilight Shoes.

My 10th Grandbaby...

Oliver Aurealius 

was born September 12th...

Jaime and I watched him the month of November

and I can tell you...

in the few weeks since we last watched him

on a regular basis

he's grown like a weed and doing so many

new things!

Alice in Wonderland - Encore
I LOVE this painting...but it took so long for me to paint
that I decided that I would do fewer 'character' paintings
in the new year.
I'll do more paintings...but these will be more along the lines
of abstract landscapes..
some tree art..
bird art
and the such.

I moved...
and I'm still adjusting to living
in a home one third the size of the house I'd lived in for
the last five years.
But...it's all good. I'll eventually get it all figured out:)

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Holiday Season.

Things have been pretty busy at my house...

I managed to get all packages that were purchased prior to the 21st

in the mail and on their way..

hopefully in time for Christmas.

Now I need to get busy and get the rest of the orders

packaged and mailed.

My youngest son, moved to North Dakota right before Christmas last year...

surprised me by showing up at my door early morning Christmas Eve.

So all six kids were home for Christmas this year...

but we ended up having to call 911 Christmas night

because my poor 'baby' got so sick he threw up for two hours straight.

He had to go to the E.R. and get two units of fluid.

He's fine now...but I've been a little 'squishy'...so I'm taking the

day to just kind of stay put...

I should be printing and packing...but I'll have to wait and do that tomorrow.

My 'Guardians of Everlast' iPhone cases on Zazzle

were a big hit over the Holiday Season...

I was very pleased at how many of those were sold..

and they are continuing to sell:)

All in all...I've had a wonderful Christmas

and really looking forward to the New Year...

I'll be listing a lot of new pieces come January...

several new digital Steampunk pieces

will be previewed in my next post.

What the New Year will bring in my Etsy Shop

I've made some decisions on what I will be carrying in my

Etsy Shop.

I will keep my two panel,

Alice in Wonderland - Encore painting..

Off to See the Wizard painting,

Jar of Hearts painting,

most of my tree paintings and bird paintings.

Most everything else is already in my

Clearance Sale Section

and will be offered for only a little while longer.

I won't be painting as many character paintings,

again...the vision thing...but I will expand my painting line

significantly.

I'll just be doing a lot more 'experimental'...to me anyway...paintings.

Hopefully these will sell fast enough that my storage space...

or the lack of it...

doesn't become a problem for me.

I'll be 'retiring' a lot of prints in the New Year,

I just haven't completely decided which ones yet.

I will be combining the 5" x 7" and 8" x 10" prints

into one section called,

Small Prints

and expanding my line of Large Limited Edition prints.

Calendars will be available until right after
the New Year.

The art covers will be discontinued in just a few days

and I won't be offering them in the future.

They just take too much time...

and like the wearable art, with my vision,

I just can't work on these small pieces anymore.

My daughter, Wendy, has agreed to take over

my wearable art line...and Jaime's..

and offer them in our 'partnership' Etsy Shop..

RusticChicBoutique.

Wendy has a full time job as contact center manager

for a major insurance company...and a family...

so she doesn't have a lot of free time...

but she has helped so often in the past, that we talked

and decided it was time she actually got something for her efforts.

She was willing to do them for us to offer in our own shops,

but

we decided that this would give the 'Boutique' a bit

of the 'jump start' that it needs (hopefully)

and give her a little something extra...

with three kids

she needs that extra all too often!

I'm hoping to have some of the wearable art listed in her shop

by the end of the week-end.

So...in the New Year...

my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop

will be devoted primarily to new style paintings

and select prints.

Change gonna Come...

"Change gonna come"

to my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop.

I have stressed about this for several weeks now...

what to do with my Etsy Shop?

Should I keep the Shop name...Rustic Goth...or

change it to something else?

Should I clear everything out and start brand new?

What to do...what to do?

So...

I've decided I'm keeping the Shop Name...

I guess I'm rather 'attached' to it...

but

most of what I currently offer

is 'going away'.

At least it's going away from my

Etsy Shop.

I'll be moving my Melancholy Girls, Steampunks,

and Zodiac Girls

to my Rustic Goth Zibbet Shop.

Currently I have a 50 item max in that shop,

so I'll have to pick and choose

which pieces to offer.

(If that site picks up, I'll pay for the premium account

and list more...but I have to see what happens

before I commit to paying a monthly premium.)

My whimsical art prints and creeper prints

are going to find a home in my

Bonanza Shop.

Wearable art and handpainted art covers

will be discontinued after the Holidays...

and I won't be doing those on any of the sites.

I've already done away with the bookmarks...and don't think

I'll be offering them anywhere in the future.

I'm going back to 'basics'.

In my 'eBay' days I made a dandy little living

from my abstracts, tree art paintings...etc.

so I've decided to get back to what used to work.

I'll keep a handful of my signature character and fairytale paintings...

in my Etsy Shop...

I just won't be doing new character pieces as often.

I'm still not fully committed on what prints I'll offer

in my Etsy Shop yet...

and I won't be making the drastic changes all at once.

(I don't want to have an empty shop...

though,

I wished I could afford to take a month long vacation

and reopen with all new stuff...)

((...in a perfect world))

Anyway...change gonna come to my Shop

and my Art in 2012

and I am rather excited about them!

Happy Holidays SALE

It's "Cyber Monday"

and my SALE will run through tonight!

I've had a "Happy Holidays" Sale in my Shop

for several days...

which includes FREE US Shipping on Original Stretched Canvas Paintings.

In Time

I'm having some issues getting everything done that

I want to get done.

So....I won't be updating my blog as often...

and I'm cutting back on other things as well.

I need to decide where my time is best spent

at this point.

I'll only be taking care of Oliver for another couple of weeks...

but I do want to get the most of these weeks.

I can't get back this time...

so I refuse to 'put business first'...

my babies are far more important in my life...

so ... come December 1st I may be quite a bit backed up...

and I want to be 'prepared' for all possibilities.

Oh yeah...this painting...'In Time'...was recently listed

in the Shop.

Alice in Wonderland - Encore

My newest painting on Etsy.

"Alice in Wonderland - Encore"

It is my first two panel - 'fairytale' painting

and I really LOVE it!

I will be listing two different sized print sets

one will be an 8 by 10 inch set

and the other will be a 12 by 16 inch limited edition set...

it will also be the first time I offer a print set

in Limited Edition size.

Working in some different shops.

I've been noticeably  absent from my blog

and facebook of late.

This is one of the reasons why....

I've teamed up with my oldest daughter to offer graphic downloads

in a new Etsy Shop...

'Rustic Graphics'.

I'm trying to get as many items as possible into the shop...

and it's basically for other folks to use the

designs in whatever way they choose..

except for the sale of the downloads themselves.

Most of the designs are free to use public domain vintage images...

but I've spent a lot of time working on some of

our own designs.

So...that's just one of the things I've been "up" to...

once the shop has a few items in it...I'm hoping

it can kind of 'run itself'...

hopefully I'm not being too naive.

Retired Prints SALE

It's been awhile since I retired any of my prints

and it's time.

So...I've selected 22 prints that I'm "retiring" from my

Etsy Shop.

This means they won't be available on Etsy, once they've sold

or the 'retired prints SALE' ends.

These can be found in my

'Retired Prints SALE' Section.

A few of the prints will probably be listed elsewhere,

I'm thinking in my Rustic Goth Zibbet Shop.

I'll be working on this shop in the coming days,

and folks will be able to find some of my 

long ago 'retired' prints there.

I've decided I'm going to be bringing back

a few bookmarks

and I need to make room.

(The kids' TNT Creations shop had to be put on vacation

due to the sudden death of my son-in-law's sister

and I don't know when they will want to reopen it.)

Plus...I've got some new canvas on the way

and hope to have some more new paintings listed

in the next week or two.

I recently listed, 'Forest Deep', which was a merging

of an abstract landscape with my whimsical creepers,

and I like it a lot.

New Pieces in the Shop

Zodiac Girls Pendant - Capricorn

I've got a few new pieces in the shop,

including some Zodiac Girls Scrabble Tile Pendants.

I've already made all twelve, but I'm having some

problems getting good photos.

As soon as I can get some 'passable' photos...

I'll have all twelve listed.

Woodland Fairy

This painting is an 11 x 14 inch fantasy fairy painting done

on canvas with acrylic paints.

I finished it a couple of days ago and have listed it in the shop.

I'm finally starting to get used to this house and have begun

to set up my work spaces so that I can actually get a few things done:)

Getting Back 'On Track'

Well...Skittles and I are both getting settled in

and I think I'm getting 'back on track' with the work and everything else.

Skittles is really loving her new home.

She gets to spend a lot more time outside at this one.

Course...that means more flea baths and a flea collar...which she's

not particularly fond of...but, she does like the outdoors

so it's a necessary 'evil'.

I'm not a fan of hardwood floors...and thank goodness...this house has carpet.

I would much rather push a vacuum a couple times a week.

I've listed a couple new paintings in the Shop, with more to come this next week.

The back is healing...I've taken it pretty easy so that I don't

keep aggravating it....though I really do need to finish

unpacking and organizing things.

My space is small enough that I really do need a place for everything

with everything in it's place.

My Etsy Shop has reopened.

I was going to reopen my Etsy Shop on July 1st...
but I hurt my back during the move
and I really needed to stop trying to unpack...sort out...put up
and all of the things that go along with moving to a new home.

So...I opened it back up today.
Hopefully it will give me enough to do
so that I am okay with taking a little more time
to get everything
'just right'.

I don't have anything new just yet...maybe after the 4th of July.

I finally have Internet Installed...

It seems like it's been 'forever' since I've had

internet or cable TV.

I finally got the internet installed....YAY!!!....so I don't 

feel as isolated as I've felt pretty much this whole month.

TWC couldn't come out right away...due to getting backed up

over Memorial Day week-end...so..by the time

they could get here...

I'd already signed up for Direct TV for my Television

and so TWC got reduced to internet only.

But...it ended up being way cheaper in the long run

to go with the Direct TV over the TWC cable TV...

hopefully it will be as great as they say it is.

I'm still wading though a lot of boxes....the new place is much smaller...

and I threw my back out during the moving and unpacking...

right now I can hardly move and bending over is a whole other story.

So...it looks like the boxes aren't going to be all sorted out anytime soon.

I won't reopen my Etsy Shop until some time in July...

I really have to find and organize everything.

I can't believe how this move has kind of turned everything 'upside down'...

I'm having to find new places for all of my 'stuff'...which includes

all the 'stuff' I use in my Etsy business.

But...it IS coming together...slowly but surely!

I've moved but....

...I still don't have reliable internet service installed yet.

I've been in my new house for two weeks now and this is the first

time I've been able to connect to an unsecured wireless network in my

new neighborhood....

I didn't have that option at my old place.

Anyway...I called to have my service transferred

and was told I had to pay my bill completely...including the June bill

(I called in May)

before they could transfer service.....but, they said....

they'd continue to bill me at the old address.

Well....long story short...I have totally cancelled service

with them.

I'll be going with a new provider...

I've spent much of the last two weeks trying to resolve

the issue with TWC...as I've been with them since

1997...

evidently that doesn't count for anything.

I'm hoping the new provider will be much more reliable than

TWC has been...

keeping my fingers crossed and sending out a prayer or two.

In the meantime though...

I've placed my Etsy Shop on vacation...

Jaime tried to run her shop and mine...and found both

shops were being neglected.

(I posted a picture of her and her cat...'Crookshanks'.)

So...I decided it would be better for me to settle in

without having to worry about a lot of shipping...correspondence...etc.

I did decide to put a couple of my paintings

in the kids' eBay site...

jut to see what happened.

I don't really have to do anything..unless one or more of them sells.

We'll just have to see.

Nothing Much New

I don't have a lot of 'news'....but I wanted to share the cool

frames one of my collectors did to frame a few of my

Steampunk Girl prints.

She painted the frames with a black enamel and then

glued some little watch cogs and wheels to the corners....

so very cool!!

I'm working on getting some Zodiac Girl pendants made for

my shop....but I ran out of supplies,

so I've got to order more.

I want to wait until they are all ready to list before listing any of them.

Starting May 26th...my schedule is going to change for the next few

months.

Jaime and I are watching the youngest grandbabies again this summer.

They're not really babies anymore...

Ava's going to be six in June and Simon was seven in October...

wow...they are growing fast.

Still they 'bore' easily and tend to wear me out quickly...

so I'm sure they'll keep us 'hopping'.

I feel bad because this is really going to cut into Jaime's work schedule, 

but the constant 'needs' of two little children, I do need her help...

We were so hoping to be all caught up and maybe even little ahead of the game,

before needing to get up with the chickens...

it just didn't happen!

Ah...such is life!

Hopefully this week 

we'll at least be able to get caught up a bit more

than we are currently.

Course...I've got my sisters coming for a week this Wednesday...

wonder how that's going to work out??

Zodiac Girls

Well...it took me a while but...I finally have all twelves

of my Zodiac Girls created and listed.

I'm sticking with the original twelve...

I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

and even gave them their own 'section' in my

Etsy Shop.

When It Rains...

Well....I'm back up...
I've spent the last few days just
trying to answer all the emails and convos
that built up while my computer was in shop.

I had someone 'clean' up my computer...to get me by for the time being...
and before I could do anything with the computer
Skittles chewed through the cord.
Yikes!!!

She was real sneaky about it too!
Luckily she didn't electrocute herself!!!

It took me a bit to find a cord that would work...so I'm back up...for now.

Right before my computer went into the shop...
my printer went down and I can't seem to get it up and operational...
so I'm going to have to invest in a new one
just to get my shipping labels printed.

I swear...sometimes...'when it rains...it pours'!!

I've listed a few new
'Zodiac Girls'
now I've got four more and I'll
have that series complete.

As soon as I get 'back on track' I'm hoping to get back
to my regular 'blogging'....and reading my favorites...
hopefully SOON!!

Paintings and Prints

 Wizard of Oz - Emerald City

The Spirit Within

I've removed all of my mini prints and wearable art pieces

from my Etsy Shop.

I had a batch of mini prints go out late because we weren't able

to find the paper we use anywhere in town...

(that's a problem when you live in a smaller city.)

One of our regular suppliers ordered some for us...

but we had to wait for it to get here.

This is the third time we haven't been able to get

this paper, so I decided to pull all the mini prints...

I just can't 'deal' with upset buyers.

I was running into a similar problem with my wearable art pieces...

a couple of the suppliers I have regularly used

no longer have shops on Etsy...

and I haven't been 100% happy with some of the

new supplies.

The new suppliers have been very prompt and courteous...but

I didn't always quite get what I expected...and the descriptions

for those items were somewhat incomplete.

Anyway...I think I'll reserve these pieces for 

special holidays and only offer what I 

have finished...it's easier than making to order.

Week-Ends Off

I think I picked a good name for my puppy...Skittles.

The only thing that might have been better...'Onry'...

she's a little 'hand-full'.

I love her to pieces...but, she's most definitely a little

'firecracker'.

Given that I was already busy as could be...

with this little 'girl'...I'm even busier.

So...I decided I'm taking week-ends off...

doing very little online work.

With Statsky...I can schedule renews...which is soooo helpful and FREE!

Occasionally I go on long enough to relist anything that might have sold..

but I'm saving the convos/ emails

and other online work for week-days.

It was very helpful to be able to devote a lot of time

to Skittles over the week-end...

she'd taken to using my throw rugs as her 'potty pads'

and she lays on the unused potty pads.

We spent a lot of times outdoors over the week-end

and she had only one accident...

on one of my freshly washed throw rugs.

I will be soooo happy when the accidents are all in the past!!