Keeping the blog up, etc.

So, I've been pretty bad about keeping this blog up over the past year. I blame that run in that I had with the mumps... I was doing pretty good until then. But meh, it is what it is. Either way, it's a new year, and with that I have no momentum.

Anyway, so, it's been crazy busy here. Good crazy busy... but crazy busy nonetheless. Right now I'm looking at building myself a desktop computer... I figure I can toss one together for about $150. It wouldn't be anything terribly spectacular, but I could mix music and keep etsy things up while the laptop is being serviced. (Which would be good, because if I had to go for even a month without a computer, there would be a whole lot of things that would be nightmarish to try to juggle).

I also went ahead and adopted a new cat... which was not in the game plan, after Climber passed away last year (my 17 1/2 year old female Somali mix), I figured I'd wait up to a few years before adopting another cat. But I was out with my Mom the other day, and she dragged me over to PetSmart... and lo and behold, there was Rufus, a 3 year old, either Somali or Abyssinian dilute, with at least half the cute little personality traits of Climber.

All of that said, most of my time had been going toward my Etsy shop and creations. For instance, my new toilet paper roll earrings, those took me about two months to perfect... and right now it takes me about a week to make a pair (it takes several coats and days of curing for the sealing and stiffening agents to do their job... and then cutting, sanding, drilling... modifying ear wires, it's a lot of work), but overall it's been totally worth it.

There's also a ton of paperwork I need to muck through... and feedback, as well as a reserve of about 50-70 earrings that I haven't listed yet (I can't help it, it's a lot more fun to make them then it is to post them). But I think it's going to be an all around good year for the shop (who knows, maybe I'll even do some special for etsy music.)

Well, that's all for now.

-A

CDs, PDFs, and Other Nerdy Nerdy Things?

So, undoubtedly it's been a while. I've been knee deep, head over heels, engrossed in music. The album has been behind in schedule (thanks to roughly a month and a half of cleansing), which means that I may have to scrap it favor of an instrumental album until January or so, but I've decided that I'm not rescheduling it without a fight.

Either way... I've been working on CD layouts, packaging, etc. which has lead to me having more CD packaging options that what I intended or need. So, good news, there are now CD envelopes available in my shop (and there will probably be more CD envelopes and cases soon).

Other than that, there's been piles of paperwork, and cleaning... and when one is done, the other seems like it needs to be done again.

Anyway, I'm kicking around the idea of starting to offer design files... like .pdf files, for things like printable earrings cards, etc. for other shop owners. If anyone has ideas, let me know. :)

-Aimee

New Earrings

Things have been uber crazy here. I've been mostly working on recording, mixing, and songwriting for the past few months, so there hasn't (unfortunately) been as much time to work on crafting and overall etsy stuff.

But, on the upside, I *finally* found clip on earring bases, so now all of my silver finish earrings can be converted to clip ons if needed.

Here are a few pictures of a new design. ;)

T-Shirts (and yet another pair of earrings)

It seems like forever since I've done an update, and it probably has been.

Things are going good. Things are busy. I've been trying to muck through paperwork, write, put new music together, and of course, work on etsy stuff. The esty stuff has mainly been things that aren't really worth writing about; organizing my supplies, working on new shipping & return policies, and figuring out just how I'm going to start promoting myself (locally and through the web).

But on the upside, I have had a chance to work on some new stuff... such as t-shirts... :D

and another pair of earrings...

(The backdrop for the earrings is "We Animals" by Monogold, which contains some really phantasmical music, btw. So go check it out! Their facebook page (complete with a music player) is over at: http://www.facebook.com/monogoldmusic)

That's all for now!

~Aimee ^_^

Back!

So, it's been a while. I've actually been over the mumps for a fair amount of time. I had it for roughly three weeks, it, surprisingly, wasn't too bad after the first week, mostly just being stuffed up and super sleepy.

Anyway, there have been folks popping back into town, and my cat passed away (she'd been sick on and off for roughly the past year or so, but she was 17 1/2 and went out purring in her sleep), so I've gotten really backed up with work as well as e-mail. :S

To give you and idea of just *how* behind I am, here's all the earrings that I haven't listed yet (I refuse to card them until they're listed):

Keep in mind that that's not including books, supplies, and other such list-ables. :S

Anyway, I'm off for now, keep an eye out for a lot of listings over the next week! :D

Blah...

So, as of yesterday evening, I've been sick... most likely with the mumps. :S

So I'm holding off on making or listing any new items until I feel better (it just wouldn't seem right, assembling items, packaging them, and getting things all mumpped up). But I'll be leaving my existing items up for the time being (thankfully I know of people who are currently mump free (aka my Dad)... who should be staying that way (hazzah for immunities) who can take the already finished and packaged items, toss them in a box, and send them on their way, all without sneezing, coughing, etc. on them). (Yes, that was just a lot of parenthesis within parenthesis.)

I *suppose* if someone actually wanted the mumps I could go ahead and try to sneeze in the packing box or something, but that would seem like an all together *bad* idea. (Besides, who'd actually *want* the mumps? And even if you did, according to the internet, it's spread through saliva droplets, which have to come into contact with the mouth or nose... so it would either have to be air born, or else you'd have to try to eat the packing materials... which, again, would seem like an all together *bad* idea.)

So, anyway, yeah, I'm all sick at the moment. But on the upside, this is still much much better than when I got the chicken pox in high school (which was miserable... but really quite funny in retrospect), or the time that I got the piece of pumpkin stuck up my toe (or rather between my toe and my toenail... let's just say that running, barefoot, around the house, around Halloween did not work out well for me... but that pumpkin got to go places... Toronto, for a vocal competition... around school, to the mall...), and at the end I should have a good enough immunity to not ever come down with it again (so, with any luck, I'll never look half-chipmunky again).

:)

Well, that's all for now!

Happy etsying, breathing, doing whatever it is that you like to do-

~Aimee ^_^

So, this one time, when I was up all night thinking, and coming up with ideas...

So, I've once again been up all night. (I need to stop doing that). But on the upside, I've come up with a lot of great artsy, etsy, website reorganization ideas (let's face it between the art, the music, and the writing, AimeeElisabeth.com is a nightmare to navigate right now, and it needs a complete template overhaul). :S

Anyway, after some sleep I'm going to make a big push to get the rest of my items listed (I have 2-3 more books that I can clean out of my collection, several more pairs of earrings, and more of those lovely bamboo charms that I designed). Which will be good, because it'll give me a big push to get more stuff made (I'm generally speaking a work-a-holic... so if inventory is low, or if I have everything listed, I'll probably make more stuff, if for no other reason, out of complete boredom).

And perhaps after doing a bit of cleaning, I'm thinking I might start work on doing something handmade in the poetry or music department. So ideas, themes, concepts, etc. are welcome! ^_^

Oh! And if anyone knows for a good online CSS crash course (especially in relation to wordpress), let me know (I'm a bit rusty on cross-browser compatibility, and some of the more advanced layout concepts).

That's all for now (but hopefully I'll be able to put some pictures up later of the knit/sewing projects I've been working on). :D

~Aimee ^_^