More Packaging!

About a week ago I shared some shots of my new button packaging I made for a wholesale order and it seems to be a hit! (Check it out here!) I also starting discussing how I planned on using some recycled cardstock for the items I am going to be selling at the art gallery this year and finally they are complete! Very similar to the first round of button packaging - just brown. Take a peek:


I really like how they turned out and I think the brown cardstock is a good choice to attempt to stay environmentally friendly and let the colours and designs of the pinback buttons stand out! Sticking with the recycled card theme I came up with a similar design for my new pocket mirror packaging:


Why yes - it is extremely similar to the button packaging - but that was sort of the point! Just keeping with consistency! So (not surprisingly) I used the little ciliated bacillus speech bubble idea again for my art/postcards:


Put them all together and you've got quite the scientific culture collection:


I'm so pleased with how it turned out! I chose a variety of different illustrated goods to sell at the gallery store so here's to hoping they are thrilled when they get to open up this box:


Hooray! So if you're in the area you should make a stop by the kamloops art gallery store and go shopping! They even have smoking lily and floating goal iceberg items there making it pretty much the coolest shopping destination in town! Yay! I hope my products go over well...what do you think?

pack it up, pack it in

Apparently the etsy sales stars have aligned for me! After my week haitus, my shop is back in full bore and the sales have been rolling in! Giving me the wonderful joy of lovingly packaging up orders to take to the post office! What fun! I've also managed to take my sales up to a record 450 there leaving me a mere 50 more before hitting the landmark 500 point! Just think of all the manila envelopes I'll get to send out (which, by the way, is still one of my favourite things about selling). Check out the nice little stack I sent out before work yesterday:


And since we're on the topic of packaging...I thought I'd take this time to share the new button packaging I came up with for a wholesale order I made with mary at the revelry boutique gallery:


Any thoughts? I feel they are more practical for store selling than the folded button cards I use for sales in my shop for a plethora of reasons. Ooo! List time!

I like the new packaging because:

1) You get to see the buttons right away! How eye catching and spectacular!

2) They tell you what the designs of the sets are (mary's idea) - which clears up those "who the heck are those old people?" and "what is that smiling hairy blob?" questions I hear quite often at craft shows...

3) They are sealed! Perfect for avoiding any buttons from falling off and getting lost or those sneaky shoppers who rearrange packages (just like how we all make underwear packages to have no white ones...or is that just me?)

4) They are more professional looking. Maybe? I thought so...

5) More store display options! Oh the possibilities! You could stick them on a dish, make a mobile, or hole punch the card and hang them on a rack! Fun!

Clearly I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out - and in case you aren't overly convinced here is a close up shot to sway you:


I'm thinking these packages will be perfect for the button sets I'm selling at the art gallery this year too! I've got a big stack of recycled brown cardstock that is just waiting to be printed on and cut up! I'm also planning to alter the card a bit and customize some for pocket mirror packaging too! That way all my items will be unified to some extent and wonderfully sealed and ready for xmas gift purchasing and giving! What do you think?

Collected: Pinback Buttons

I've been wanting to do a little blog feature on some of my collections for a while now since:

1) loads of blogs seem to be doing that these days and I just love reading about them
2) I have a butt load of things I collect (like cards! from this post)
and
3) no better way to peek into "the life of kate" than to catch a glimpse into "the mass amounts of things kate collects"! (And that is what blogging is all about right?)

So let's start off the collections posts with one of my oldest obsessions - pinback buttons! I've been holding onto these from before I can remember and they've accumulated all over the house (yup - sewing room, craft totes, multiple bulletin boards, closets...you get the idea...). Pins are great! They don't take up a huge amount of space, they're bright and fun, they don't break the bank, and they are awesome keepsakes from different concerts, events, and trips! Take a gander of sampling of my collection:


I guess you can imagine why I was compelled to make such an elaborate pinback button line in my etsy shop! Buttons are wonderful! My collection used to grow much more quickly back when thimble had their sweet "button of the month club" (shown in the lower right corner), but continues to expand nonetheless (not to worry). Pulling out all my buttons actually really made me want to start that shadowbox button frame I was talking about a few weeks back (here), but have a few too many things ahead of it on the to do list for now. But hey, next time you see a super awesome pinback button (or two) be sure to pick them up! Even if you never wear them (ahem - like me?), they're a great thing to hold onto...or you can give them to me...I wouldn't mind...I promise...

i heart buttons

Poppytalk's photostream (on flickr) is a world of inspiration. I love sifting through their albums of beautifully photographed imagery dreaming about recreating all their rad projects. One such project I'm quite fond of this framed pinback button heart:


What a sweet idea! I love how bright and colourful it is and what a great conversation piece it could be! I know all my buttons have little stories (much like amy browne's magnets) and you could be pleasantly reminded of all those good memories each time you passed this piece in the hall! The only problem for me would be deciding which buttons to use from my massive collection (believe me - I've been collecting pinback buttons forever). It also conveniently provides yet another use for my scientific culture pinback buttons! Hooray! Now to wait for a micheal's coupon to arrive so I can frugally buy a white shadow box frame...

300th Sale Giveaway!

In celebration of my 300th sale I've decided to add some extra excitement to the week and hold a giveaway! After all, I'm stoked on my etsy progress and who doesn't like free stuff? The freebies up for grabs? Some wide set eye smile pinback button sets! Here's the bunch to choose from:


Winnings are as follows:

First Prize = Button set of your choice (from above)
Second Prize = Button set of my choice
Third Prize = Random set (that I have the most of...)

Yay! Here's how it works - leave a comment on this post telling me what you like most about my etsy site, blog, or me and you'll be entered to win! I'll be randomly selecting the giveaway winners at the end of the week (meaning the afternoon of sunday april 11th)! Easy enough right?

Bonus ways to enter:

- follow my blog! (and post another comment - if you're already a wonderful follower post a second comment reminding me for your second entry)

- fan me on facebook! (and comment telling me your facebook name)

- follow me on twitter and tweet about my giveaway! (comment with the link please)

- blog about my giveaway (comment with link again please!)


Hooray! I've even created a darling little reminder badge at the top of my blog to nag you for the next week to sign up (he he). Good luck!

**UPDATE - The giveaway is now closed - thanks to all who entered!**

Buttons Galore!

At last the pictures of my new pinback buttons are complete! (After I sorted and organized them from their massive nom-tastic pile). Now I just need to sprinkle them into my etsy shop over the next few days hopefully resulting in ample views, hearts, and sales! Woo! Take a look - it's certainly clear to see which set is my favourite (and my mom's too! She's sporting them on her coat right now!!!):


Pretty much every time I try to take button pictures I think, "Boy - do I ever need to get/make another lightbox", especially after struggling with the pin's inconsistent lighting and uber shininess. Ack they're challenging! But overall I'm really happy with the new designs and imagines and thankful to my sis for all her wicked brainstorming! I'm also hopefully going to put some of my pins up for sale at the art gallery in town! Extra exciting!! Now I just need to tackle the rest of my etsy to do list! Oh and turn a bunch into magnets and add those to my "custom magnets" listing. All in good time...I hope...

Nom Nom Nom

Nom nom nom! What yummy buttons! Damn, that cat is adorable!


But you know what this means? My buttons are finally complete! Hooray! Time to restock the shop with all my sold out sets (microbes, scientists, love robots, and mustache kitties) as well as the sweet new ones (geek wear, lab ware, mushrooms, tea, and rain! - veg to come later in limited edition form). Now I just need to find some time to photograph them! Exciting!

I've got some other big plans for my pinback collection...perhaps another giveaway? Hmm...we'll see...

Pinback Peek (6 of 6)

Time for the final round of pinback button new design adventure! I have special limited edition plans for this set too! Take a look at the veggie line up:


My dear nutritious friends radish, eggplant, and carrot join the button set club! So cute! But this set won't be available like the other buttons in my shop, and instead is going to adorn a new item instead! I designed these little dudes to be showcased on a farmer's market tote bag! Haven't found the perfect material to make them from yet, but I'm thinking light natural cotton (so extra durable and washable) with a pocket or two for added convenience. I'm really excited to see how this project turns out and hopefully sales will reflect that as well! What do you think?

Pinback Peek (5 of 6)

Bring on the science geekery with round 5 of my pinback button design sneak peek! A perfect addition to the "scientific culture" line of adorableness - behold: Lab Ware!


Extra cute anthropomorphic tools used for advancement in science! We've got bunsen burner, glassware (including graduated cylinder, erlenmeyer, and beaker), and my personal favourite (who everyone I seem to show has no idea what he is) micropipette (with lil' buddy epindorph tubes)!! How charming! I'm really hoping this set is popular with the scientist crowd, since that is the niche market I was originally aiming for when I started my shop (hence my shop name...and banner....and items). But I am pretty lousy at guessing which sets will sell best. So I guess only time will tell...

Pinback Peek (4 of 6)

Time to take a peek at new set of pinback button designs that were yet another idea of leslie's but also conveniently fit into that "alice in wonderland theme" I was discussing in round 3. This set is especially close to my heart, since I have a long time love for the beverage - Tea!

Adorable little tea pot, tea bag, and tea cup to enjoy! I decided to do a little bit brighter of a background on these ones to add some visual interest to their simple (but still uber cute) designs. That little tea pot makes me feel so happy I just can't help but smile when I see him! And bonus fact - it happens to be my dad's favourite design too (next to the squid from my sea life set)!! I told him he'll have to wear his new purple-y pink tea buttons to work at the pipeline and be my tea pinback spokesman....not sure if I sold him on that though....I'll have to keep trying...

Pinback Peek (3 of 6)

Hooray! Let the pinback buttons adventures continue with round 3 of 6! (recall round 1 and round 2). I thought I'd break up the "I chose all of leslie's design ideas" trend with one I came up with! Mind you - I didn't come up with it all on my own - the idea grew out of a post I was reading on etsy's blog "the storque" on potential upcoming trends for the etsy world! It forcasted that alice in wonderland themed items will be all the rage as far as crafty trends go, so I figure I'd jump on that bandwagon and do some mushroom buttons! The fact that I've sold out of my mushroom and gnome mycology finger puppets quite a few times further supports my decision on selecting these adorable fungi - and hey, mushrooms are awesome!


This set includes everyone's favourite ascocarp (morel) joining his basidiocarp cousins for the dikarya subphylum reunion! The middle momma and baby fungi are psilocybins (magic mushrooms) and the cute spotted red guy is a classic toadstool (amanita)! Whee! Science is so much fun! And so are these buttons! What are your thoughts?

Pinback Peek (2 of 6)

Time for round 2 of 6 of new pinback button goodness! (See round 1 here). This time it's a design relating to something my city usually doesn't get a whole lot of (being a semi-arid desert and all), especially this time of year (when it's usually still snowing and cold) - Rain! Wonderful, wonderful rain:


Boy, do I ever love the rain! I'm sure a lot of that is to do with the fact that it is so rare for me - I mean I'm pretty sure I've never used an umbrella in kamloops before...well...maybe for novelty purposes...but rain is super common for most people's springs and leads into the fantastic thunderstorm occurrences of summer! I can't wait! And even if you're not a fan of this weather you can celebrate your hatred for it in adorable smiley form! I think that little thundercloud's expression is particularly adorable. Which is your favourite?

Pinback Peek (1 of 6)

After many weeks of wide set eye smile drawing, I've finally made some progress on my new collections of pinback buttons to add to my shop! Six whole new sets in fact! Exciting! As you may remember, I held a button brainstorming giveaway allowing my beloved readers the opportunity to aid in my creative process and to potentially win some free buttons too. I tried really, really hard to make designs based on the ideas each commenter suggested but unfortunately am just not that skilled. And although I very much did not plan it this way, I may have chosen almost exclusively design ideas my sister came with....(no wonder she thought my blog should be called "scientific culture and leslie"). I swear - she just knows what anthropomorphic items I'd select and to give her credit - they were some pretty awesome ideas. So once they're complete 5 of the 6 sets are headed your way les! Lucky you!

Since I'm sure you're dying to find out what these new buttons are going to be, I thought I'd sprinkle a peek at each of them into my blog for the next while! I'm also hoping this will keep you all on the edge of your seats to see what posts will come up each morning at 9 am too! It also gives you ample opportunity to comment up a storm and tell me specific opinions about each set (verses the sensory cute overload showing all six sets at once would cause - I'm just thinking of your health here!). So behold - a glance at my first new pinback button design - Geek Wear:


Nothing says, "I'm a huge geek!" quite like a pocket protector, bow tie, and calculator! I'm hoping this one appeals to the geekery and science fans as well as a slight overlap into lovers of bows! I'm really pleased with how this one turned out and am especially fond of the colours I picked. I thought I'd better start off with this set since it's my mom's favourite and I thought I'd aim to win over any giveaway non-winners on this set's charmingly sweet disposition! I mean look at those little smiles! Who wouldn't love them? Which one do you like best?

A Moment with Dan

As you recall, I recently attended the most fantastic aiden knight/dan mangan concert and at the end of the show gave a set of love robot buttons to my "robots need love too" idol dan! Well to make my life complete take a look at this shot of him:


That's right! Dan Mangan, a lime, and my buttons! A little hard to see you say? Here's a closer peek:


Okay - so I'm terrible at photoshop. But a girl can dream can't she? What a wonderful imaginary moment this has been! And since I'm making things up anyways - I think dan mangan should be my valentine this year!! *Swoon* Keep up the good work dan!

Road Trip: Kelowna

I have returned from the most fantastic road trip to kelowna! It was a wondrous fraser/lindsay/kate music/shopping extravaganza of awesomeness! Seriously! That many slashes are required!! (and exclamation marks!!!!!) So good!

We started off the trip with a great spurt of speedily efficient clothing purchasing and sushi only to be topped by the complete fluke free concert ticket fraser managed to nab for lindsay (who failed at sold out presale ordering). The aiden knight/dan mangan concert turned out to be amazingly perfect! They covered all the possible "excellent show" bases by demonstrating their dreamy musical (sometimes awkward) talents. I even enjoyed the show better than when I saw them both at rifflandia, which I didn't think was even possible! I was really hoping to share some sweet pictures of my well dressed trip but amidst all the excitement my camera never seemed to exit fraser's trunk...so instead you can catch a glimpse of musical wonderment from dan mangan's photographer jonathan taggart:


Was it ever a great time! The following day was easily one of the most successful shopping expeditions I've had in a while, resulting in a boatload of wonderful retail therapy purchases - take a look:


Awesome right? I can't wait to wear more lindsay/kate bff pen pal identical (or in the rings case - not so identical but similar at least) items! Oh! And the super fantastic woman who owns funktional totally made my monday by 1) letting us come shop (even though funktional is closed on mondays), 2) recommending the best falafel cafe of all time, and 3) offering to carry my felt brooches in her rad shop! Overwhelmingly awesome!

But wait! That's not all!!! My favourite item from the entire trip? My new autographed "nice nice very nice" dan album I got after giving him a set of my love robot buttons! I'm not so secretly hoping he wears them to a show/publicized event in the future and my life will be complete. Because after all...robots need love too...

Magnet time!

Due to the overwhelming success of my first dabble in magnets, I've decided to offer all of my button sets in magnet form! Now available in my shop!




Ok...that's sort of a lie..they weren't that successful...I just found some magnets that work on my 1" buttons - but same thing right? Because not everyone likes wearing pins, but everyone has a fridge (and if you don't you probably wouldn't be interested in getting these magnets anyways)! Hurray! Magnets for all!!!

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.

Button Brainstorm!

Do you like winning? I do! Great! So now's the time to throw on your thinking cap and help me brainstorm some fantastic new pinback button designs! Best of all? If your design idea is chosen you'll receive the adorable new set free of charge! Woohoo!

Let's start off our thinking process by taking a quick trip back down button memory lane and gain some knowledge on what sort of designs I'm most interested in! And since I now possess the wonderful editing abilities of photoshop (thanks neal), I've been able to touch up my old designs (with some help from fraser) and compile them in one massive jpeg for you to ogle! Hooray!


Overload of cuteness! And super geeky cuteness at that!! But even though I love all my designs equally - the public certainly does not, and I pretty much stink at guessing which designs will sell the best (just like I mentioned here). I've tallied up my latest buttons sales and of the 170 sets I've set loose on the world this is how they rank:

1) hot sellers: mustache kitties, microbes, and dinosaurs! Yay!

2) medium sellers: love robots (quickly rising on the charts with valentine's days), and scientists (which might also be rising...if I wasn't sold out of them...)

3) mild sellers: woodland creatures, thumbs up yetis, and sea creatures. *I still love you guys!*

(Oh, I've also got my little pink promo pin in the corner up there - but I don't sell him. He's just a bonus for special buyers.)

So what have I learned from all this? Not much. I still have no clue what designs are best but I certainly have fun creating and selling them anyways! And as an added bonus (for you and me) you have the opportunity to suggest ideas for button sets! Not that the opportunity wasn't there before... now I'm just offering extra encouragement with free pins to design winners! Woo! Plus I'll even give you a list of what I'm sort of looking for to increase your chances!

I like button designs that:

• are geeky! The geekier the better even!
• I'm actually able to draw (I have a degree in science...not fine art...)
• look good in 1" button form (not too overly complicated - and can fit in a circle)
• have an underlying science theme. I am "scientific culture" after all - keep that in mind.
• are ascetically pleasing and awesome
  
• will keep up with the sweet etsy trends for spring/summer/2010
  
• can be anthropomorphic and adorable! (Not actually that difficult - tutorial here)
• are great in a set of three (I'd love to know what each of the pins in the set would be too!)
  
• make you want to buy and wear them!!! (that is the plan after all...)

So I know trying to hit all of those list points is a little over achiever-y (not to discourage or anything) but just keep them in mind when you're submitting button set design ideas. So get brainstorming and commenting!!! Good luck!

Moment #3

My most favourite thing about selling my crafted geeky items is when I see people enjoying them! Much like moment #1, and moment #2 - behold - moment # 3:


This is from the same wonderful buyer who provided the pic for moment #2 (Thanks again stelei!!). Seeing my button design enjoyment pretty much feels like the most epically amazing high five ever!! Wishing everyone a hand stingingly good thursday!

Crafty Bandwagon of 2009

A while back I signed up to receive daily "etsy finds" emails that showcase hot trends and items in the etsy world. It's a great way to see the best of etsy in a comfortable "handmade internet shopping" form. Well, recently I got one such email featuring the big crafty trends of 2009! And the verdict? I'm apparently a total sell out. Behold:

Trend #1: Woodland creatures

To be completely honest here - I did know I was following a trend with this one... (remember?)

Trend #2: Plaid



Nothing says "summer fun" quite like a plaid potluck!! That's me on the left hand side rocking the plaid trio of patterns

Trend #3: Mustaches

At least with this one I wasn't really sure how popular they would be (link).

Honorable mention Trend #4: Vampires. Have you seen how pale I am? Just saying...



So all this time I totally felt like I was ahead of the times but apparently the reality is that I'm just ahead of the mainstream non-etsy/Kamloops trends. Alas. Oh well, maybe I'll be super ahead of the times this year for real.