MSOE FB FP

I've been a proud member of the mad scientists of etsy (msoe) team ever since I started selling on etsy back in october of 2008. It's a great group of scientists and science enthusiasts who sell their wares over etsy and I've had such a good time being part of the team. We have monthly science-related challenges and interesting science-related features and interviews on our blog too! This year we've opted to split up the team tasks and thanks to Julie D'Arcy - we now have a facebook fan page! And boy was I ever surprised and honored to be included in the profile picture! Take a look:


Isn't that awesome! My cute little lab ware buttons are officially one fourth representing the msoe on facebook! Yay! I'm excited to see how the fan page goes over and hopefully it will draw a little more attraction to the group.

The fact that my labware pins were picked also reminded me how insanely popular they have been from my new wave of pinback button designs. Seriously! I'm almost sold out already and they've barely been available a month now! The lab ware postcard set also sold out quickly. Whew! Yay! But whew! Obviously I'll make more of the buttons (in fact I have a top secret new and extra exciting plan for my pins), but I'm not certain of what to do with the postcard situation! I've had a few requests for reprints (bethany = tea, linds = veg) which is awesome but I'm not sure what else to do! Looks like list time!

Questions that come to mind include:

- Do I mass order sets so I have loads on stock? (good for craft sales too but bad for the pocket book)

- Which sets do I get reprinted (obviously tea, veg, lab ware - but what else)?

- Should I change up any of the designs? Add new ones?

- Should I remarket them as art cards over post cards? (I like the dual option - but I think ppl would be more willing to pay $8 for art than post)

ACK! Too many decisions! Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated...

It's a three post kind of day.

I really need to start checking my flickr account more often. Not only did my moo.com products get a butt load of views but I also got quite a few flattering comments and a feature on cuteable! Take a look:


How charming! I think that jackelope feltidermy is extra cute too. I figured since I already did two posts today I might as well make it three and share this exciting news! Happy Friday to all!

Finest Yeti Packaging!

As you may remember, I featured a few of finest imaginary's acrylic pendants at the beginning of february in a friday find. Clearly writing that blog post was so thrilling that I gave into internet etsy retail therapy temptation and purchased two of the pendants I showcased! Well my awesome pendants have arrived and they are even more darling in person! Best of all? The super fantastic waving yeti on the packaging! Take a look:


She looks like a darling little sister of my own thumbs up yeti and everything! Just when I thought my love for that shop couldn't get any bigger! I love well packaged items so much - I think it's part of the etsy purchasing mystery/experience. In fact I think I may need to purchase something else on etsy soon...hmm...

In other news, my lovely felt feather brooch made it into the MSOE feather challenge treasury! Catch a glimpse here (I even have some wonderful flattering comments! How lovely!). Or if you weren't speedy enough to see it live - here's a picture:

Friday Find: FinestImaginary

Thanks to my endless hours of etsy shopping I stumbled across the wonderful etched acrylic goodness of Finest Imaginary! Check out my personal favourite:


Nothing quite says, "I'm super cool" like a glassware pendant! (must be the science geek in my talking). But if beakers aren't your thing, they've got a wide variety of laser cut wonders! Here's a few more I love:


Wonderful detail, great shapes, and reasonable prices! What else could you ask for?

In other news - thanks to the fantastic completion of my msoe january team challenge I've been featured in a treasury! You've got until saturday morning to check it out online or just take a peek here:


And while you're at it go to the msoe blog and vote for your favourite challenge entry!! *hint hint*...

Anti-valentine's

If it wasn't already obvious, I'm very much not into the love-y commercialization of valentine's day. This year I've even decided to book the time off work in order to properly boycott the event and all the fluffy love crap that goes along with it. Instead I will be celebrating "anti valentine's day" involving multiple rounds of mastermind, star trek, and social seclusion. Hooray!

Well, as you can imagine, I was all too pleased to find out that I'm not the only one who shares this grumpy disposition about feb.14th and managed to snag a spot in an anti-valentine's treasury! Take a look:


Wonderful! I think my little love robot looks pretty darned cute in the corner up there. The treasury is up until tonight so give it some click/comment love. Because nothing says "I love you" quite like skulls, pirates and robots!

Even more features!

Once again I have the lovely pleasure of being featured in someone blog! This time my custom magnet sets where included in the masonry's post about non traditional valentines day gifts. Cheesy? Yes. But fun nonetheless! Berkley Illustration was even included in the list and we all recall how much I love them! I'm also rather fond of the idea of not overly commercialized lovey valentines, since I am really not fond of valentines day...at all...


However, if you are fond of singles awareness day (that dreaded feb. 14th) then you should probably check out this awesome tutorial over at poppytalk! Combining two things I love - gift wrapping and polymer clay! Hooray!

More winnings!

Signing up for etsy related giveaways has certainly paid off. If you recall I was lucky enough to win this mega giveaway at rikrak studio and by pressuring my mom to enter ink and button's giveaway she was lucky enough to win a darling flower brooch! Sweet! Well this time I won an adorable apple cozy from UnravelMe's shop! Proof once again that networking and etsy chat rooms are a fantastic way to spend many hours of my day! Hooray! Take a look at the cozy I chose:


I'm in love with the cute wooden button and little green leaf and I think the red colour is classic. Plus this will actually be really useful for me since I seem to always have a royal gala rolling around in my bag getting bruised before my work breaks! I recommend taking a peek at all of UnravelMe's crocheted cozies available in her shop! And an added bonus for me? Extra excitement added to the "waiting for post" game! Awesome!

Oh! And in other news - I got featured on another etsy blog! This time Parami Panda Crochet included me in her list of etsians she'd love to carry in her theoretical shop! Take a look :)

Pocket Mirrors?

So I've been having this idea float around in my head for quite some time now but what is your opinion on pocket mirrors? If you don't know what I'm talking about (although I'm sure you can figure it out) they are sort of like big pinback buttons....except instead of being 1" around they are 2.25"...and instead of having a pin on the back they have a mirror (surprise surprise). I happen to have two and think they are the handiest things ever! (especially at work after a break when I want to check if there's anything in my teeth). I even made a cute little pinking sheered felt cover for mine so it stays clean and scratch free! Lovely!

So what's the question you ask? Why am I wasting your time reading this blog post when I've clearly already decided pocket mirrors are great and there is much better and cooler things you could be doing with your time?! Well I'd love to know your opinion! What do you think about a line of geeky scientific culture made pocket mirrors? Do you think endeavoring into the world of pocket mirrors would be worth while? Would you ever contemplate purchasing one? And (most importantly) what adorable wide set eye smile images do you think would be best? Would their popularity be the same as buttons? I mean there is an entire 1.25" more of diameter to play around with - maybe I'd have to come up with bigger designs? Or just stick with a button design in a bigger form? Oh the questions!

So Please! Enlighten me with your thoughts! I certainly just did a whole bunch of rambling/thinking out loud :) Now it's your turn...

Oh! P.S. My darling Newton finger puppet made it in a sciencey etsy treasury! Woo!


Click on the picture above and show it some comment love - but only for a limited time! The treasury expires on monday night

Why yes! Yetis do exist!

The yeti definitely exists on etsy - and Cathie U at always fresh design did a blog post to prove it! Bonus? My adorable thumbs up yeti pins where featured in the bunch! Here's a few of her picks:



Oh yeti - I love you <3.

Adventures in Flickr

Way back when I started my etsy shop (in the ancient times of october 2008), I was super keen on making the best shop I could! And although not much has changed in that respect, I did have the opportunity to have my shop critiqued by some etsy admins in one of their virtual labs. They were full of lovely tips and tidbits to help get my shop and sales rolling like posting often, brightening photos, using loads of tags, and inviting buyers into my life and crafty process through things like twitter, blogging, and flickr. So I did just that - I worked on my listed items and (eventually) set up accounts on sites outside of etsy to work on my engagement marketing! I set up a flickr account around the same time I started joining some etsy teams and then later on gave birth to this blog and created a twitter profile and facebook fan page. And then I pretty much forgot entirely about my flickr account except once in a blue moon when I'd post a new product I'd made...boo...

Well, I'm determined to remove my flickr account from that rock I covered it with and to kick off its wonderful rebirth I'm blogging about it! Hooray! My flickr account! And my most favourite thing about flickr? Flickr groups! Huge collaborations of people with similar interests sharing their pictures together. How lovely! Groups I'm in love with being a part of include craft:, mad scientists of etsy, and cuteable. I'm not so secretly hoping that one day I'll get featured on craftzine.com since I'm part of their group, but since that is outrageously improbable, I've been extra pleased with my yeti cards feature on cuteable a few weeks back! And since checking out my pictures I have on there I just noticed that my dear thumbs up yeti button set got featured there like two months ago! Wow! Flickr is great!

And if I haven't already convinced you of flickr's wonderfulness yet, there is one group I just found out about that is awesome beyond belief! I found out about this one amidst my daily read of the indiefixx blog (which, if you hadn't heard, spurred my entire desire to start with etsy like three years ago). It's called indie cats and is for crafty people who like cats, like indiefixx, and enjoy taking/sharing pictures of their cats! Haha! Perfect for me and evil kitty Percy! Oh Flickr. You're so great...and even greater now that you are a new source of cute kitten pictures. (I'm so predictable). So to end my ramble you can get stared down by Percy with this picture I took this morning...enjoy:

They want to be loved by you

I love waking up to messages telling me I've been featured somewhere! Today's email came from Amanda over at why i heart homemade with an awesome collection of roboty goodness. LemonTreeStudio's robot memory game is my fav from the list (except mine of course?).

It sort of makes me want to go searching for that "the history of toy robots" book I got with walt and leslie years ago at a "shove as many discount books in a bag for $10 sale" we went to at Chapters. Hmm..I wonder where there could be. Also nice to see how ahead of the trends I am. High five kate!

Wonderful Day in Blogland!

I woke up this morning to a wonderful inbox full of lovely emails - the loveliest of all? A conversation from k at rikrak telling me that I've won her mega giveaway! You know how you enter things thinking how it would be pretty cool if you won - but at the same time totally impossible? Not today! The odds were with me and that 1.8% chance of winning paid off! And look at all the crafty goodness I'm going to be receiving:


Woohoo! I'm excited! And to top it all off I got linked to in the congratulatory blog post potentially resulting in my increased blog visits and etsy sales I've seen today! I think I need more exclamation marks to attempt to show how excited I am!!!!!

In other news - after many months of reading/flickr posting to the adorable site Cuteable - I got featured there today! My thumbs up yeti card recipients can be extra appreciative now - those cards are famous!! Woo!

Best Friday ever!!! I even get a magical 5 days off in a row from work and get to go to the coast tomorrow! Oh what a great day!! Did I mention I'm excited?

All the features

Another early morning and another early morning email informing me one of my products was featured on someone's site! This time the credit goes to those sweet craft lovers at Craft Candy, proving yet again how cool Sheffield is (I mean the Full Monty and a neat craft site?)

Indulge a little and check it out when you've got some time to spare...or even if you don't really have time to spare... that seems to be what I did...

Buttons for sale!

I've somehow managed to postpone my natural procrastination ways for long enough to expand my etsy geekery sales into *gasp* the real world. Starting today, my lovingly crafted pinback buttons are available for purchase at the art we are artisan market! Hooray! I'll update with pics of my makeshift display mobile next time I'm in the vicinity with my camera - but if the anticipation is killing you I totally recommend stopping by and taking a peek. Might as well have a cup of tea while you're at it...

Robots need love too

This morning I got a pleasant emailing reminding me just how awesome robots are with a feature in an etsy treasury! And since clearly everyone needs to be further convinced of etsy's ultimate coolness, I encourage taking a peak! (Make haste though, it will only be around until the 8th).


In other news it appears that I've been listening to Dan Mangan's "robots" for the last three hours...so maybe check that out while you're at it. Consider it extra credit.

Update - I'm silly. Here is a picture of the treasury for your non-expiring viewing pleasure: