Happy Halloween!

víspera de Todos los Santos feliz

Glücklichen Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone!

For tonight only I want to offer free shipping on every item in my Etsy shop until Midnight. Enter the code: happyhallow into the comments to seller. I will then refund your shipping charges or send you a revised invoice via PayPal.

Have a very spooky night--at least have some fun!

Thank you so much for reading,

-
Christina
CM Designs dba 1337 Art
http://1337art.etsy.com/
Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted. Custom deadline is November 30th, 2008

Have you signed up for our email newsletter? Sign up here!

Roses: Love, Beauty, and Romance.

I will never tire of looking at a rose. It is fascinating to watch a bud turn into a full bloom in a matter of days. They are so inspiring and beautiful; no two petals are the same, and you can't help but sigh lovingly when your significant other surprises you with a bouquet or miniature plant...sometimes even a single red rose.

Trying to verbalize or portray my personal obsession/connection with roses is a task I will not soon partake. They will forever hold dear a relation to all things romantic and innocent, and the rest is transcribed into endless feelings and soft memories of smiles, kisses, and hugs.

Even though roses do not last forever, their presence will remain in the heart of the receiver for all time. Now is the perfect time to surprise your love with a single red rose whether it is one you purchase in a store or one you borrow from a neighborhood yard.

Roses will never go out of style.

Thank you so much for reading,

-
Christina
CM Designs dba 1337 Art
http://1337art.etsy.com/
Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted. Custom deadline is November 30th, 2008

Have you signed up for our email newsletter? Sign up here!

How to Make A White Chocolate Mocha at Home

I am one of those people that used to spend over $100 (easy) a month at the espresso stand. I eventually gained some perspective, and decided that making coffee at home is much more affordable. I recently discovered how to make great white chocolate mochas at home in an inexpensive way.

My fiancé bought me an Aeropress Coffee Maker (found at thinkgeek.com) for $25.99. This nifty contraption takes the bitterness out of coffee, and makes drinking coffee more enjoyable for everyone. My personal favorite coffee at this point in time is the Millstone brand French Vanilla, and it was hard to believe, but after using the Aeropress, this coffee tastes even better! You can also use this contraption for americanos and lattes. The best and most inexpensive white chocolate powder that I have found so far is the Ghirardelli Sweet Ground White Chocolate (found at coffeeam.com) for $14.39.

Are you ready to save money on your coffee habit?

It’s easy! Just follow these steps:

1. Read over the instructions (and watch the video) on thinkgeek.com
2. Add a couple scoops of the Ghirardelli Sweet Ground White Chocolate into your mug.
3. Warm some milk on the stove. Be careful that it doesn’t boil.
4. Pour the warm milk into your mug after using the aeropress coffee maker.
5. Enjoy!

**Please note: you are more than welcome to use a milk frother and/or any brand of white chocolate powder and coffee.**

Thank you so much for reading,

-
Christina
CM Designs dba 1337 Art
http://1337art.etsy.com/
Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted. Custom deadline is November 30th, 2008

Have you signed up for our email newsletter? Sign up here!

Are you on Twitter? So are we!

Goals for the Holiday Season.

October is half way over already! I have two upcoming craft shows next month that I need to prepare for as well as finding time to keep an online presence. Here are some of my goals that I hope to achieve before December 31st:

#1. Set up my first blog giveaway. I'm expecting this to be ready fairly soon...so check back for more information on this mysterious giveaway.

#2. Start up another blog. The theme/subject of this new blog is under wraps. I am still working out the kinks, and I will post more information when I have that blog up and running.

#3. Send out my first email newsletter. The pieces are slowly coming together on this.

#4. Have 300 items listed for sale. At least! I actually want to accomplish this before the end of November. Once I sit down to create it seems to come easy for me.

#5. List items not yet listed. This includes new surgical steel post earrings, hair accessories, and more.

#6. Advertising. This includes Deviant Art, craigslist, local newspapers, social networking websites, bulletin boards, and consignment inquiries.

#7. New items. There are new ideas and items I want to work with and offer for sale before the holiday rush. I also want to expand on my current items. More ribbon bookmarks, clip on earrings, necklaces, men's accessories, etc.

#8. Personal website. I want my personal website to be live as soon as possible. (a special thanks to my fiance for putting it together from scratch.) If I had two days I could have it up and running.

#9. Make gifts for friends/family. Saving money has become more critical than ever so I am making more of an effort this year to make gifts for all my friends and family. This includes jewelry, accessories, cards, etc.

#10. Run my business full time. I would love very much to be able to run 1337art full time. This holiday season will be a sort of test to see if I am ready to do it. There are so many things I would like to expand on, and I would strive best working for myself. I can do it!

There will definitely be time for relaxation too!

Thank you so much for your time,

-
Christina
CM Designs dba 1337 Art
http://1337art.etsy.com
Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted. Custom deadline is November 30th, 2008

Have you signed up for our email newsletter? Sign up here!

Are you on Twitter? So are we!

Clip On Earrings and a Thank You!

I am excited to announce that clip on earrings will be available in my Etsy shop in the coming weeks. I just listed my first pair yesterday, which are cute (and ferocious) dragons.

You can find them for sale at the link below:
http://1337art.etsy.com

If you have any requests please feel free to send me an email at 1337art@gmail.com or by commenting on this blog post.

I also want to say a quick THANK YOU to CoconutPalmDesigns for featuring me in their blog:

http://coconutpalmdesigns.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much for your time,

-
Christina
CM Designs dba 1337 Art
http://1337art.etsy.com
Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted.

Have you signed up for our newsletter?
http://elite-art.blogspot.com/2008/07/were-collecting-emails-for-our-mailing.html

5 Ways to Organize Your Business for the Holidays

The holidays are quickly approaching--it's already October!! Here are five ways to help organize your business for the holidays. Hopefully you can be prepared so you can take it easy.

1. Purchase plastic shoe containers at Target or Walmart for $0.99 each. These fit great on shelves, and they are see through. If you do a lot of shows you can designate one container for each show and label them as such. These bins are also good for storing supplies, finished product…the possibilities are limited to your imagination.

2. Get a free self-inking address stamp from Vistaprint. These are great to stamp on customs forms and envelopes. It will be a great time saver when you have a lot of orders to package and ship at one time.

3. Make sure you have enough shipping supplies. Plan to have more than you think you need. Do you have enough tape? Bubble envelops and boxes in different sizes? You can get free expedited shipping supplies from the United States Postal Service website. You can even order free customs forms.

4. Create, create, create! The holidays bring a lot of hungry shoppers. Be sure your shop has plenty of stock available in different styles and price ranges. If it is possible, create multiples of the same item so when you sell one you can immediately relist it. Look through all, and I mean all of your supplies to see what you actually have! (I know I have a ton of supplies around that I need to dedicate a day to go through!)

5. Set boundaries. If you accept custom orders set a deadline so you aren't overloaded on custom orders. Designate a weekly schedule to go to the post office...maybe just two or three times a week? You could also make things one day, ship items another day, etc. Whatever will work for you.

I hope this is helpful to you, and I appreciate you taking the time to read. If you have any comments, questions, or requests please feel free to reply to this blog.

Thank you so much for your time,

-

Christina

CM Designs dba 1337 Art

http://1337art.etsy.com

Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted.

Have you signed up for our newsletter? Sign up here!

Etsy Artist Feature 23: ThisandThat

It is important to show the world the charms of handcrafted items, and I plan to do this one artist at a time. Tonight I feature Randi from This and That.

Below you can read the interview:

1. What is the first memory of crafting that you can recall?

I have loved crafting since preschool.

2. What are some of your favorite past times?

I can vividly remember painting a construction paper butterfly, I loved it. I love to craft of course, read, shop and be with my children.

3. What do you specialize in?

I specialize in hand painted items that can be custom ordered.

4. What made you decide to open up a shop on Etsy?

I started on Etsy because I now have the time to really work at crafting, I left teaching after 15 years this May.

5. How did you choose your shop name?

I chose the name This and That because I like to do a little bit of everything.

6. What are your hopes for the future?

In the future I hope to have my work in retail stores.

7. How do you feel about custom orders?

I love custom orders, nothing makes me happier.

8. Try to sum up your workspace in as few words as possible.

My workspace is my dining room table, nothing fancy.

You can visit This and That’s Etsy Shop:

http://randi100.etsy.com

You can also email Randi at randimontessori@yahoo.com

Thank you for reading,

-

Christina

CM Designs dba 1337 Art

http://1337art.etsy.com

Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted.

Have you signed up for our newsletter? Sign up here!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast cancer is the third most common cause of death in the United States alone. Women have a 1 in 8 chance of developing the disease, and a 1 in 33 chance of it causing their death.

I have donated my previous Breast Cancer Awareness Items to a fund raiser, and so I made these simple earrings for my shop. Not everyone likes chunky and/or elaborate jewelry, so I thought these earrings are perfect for just about anyone.

All profits from this piece will be donated towards finding the cure through further research and studies. Please follow the link below to the selected charity:

http://www.bcrcwa.org/

You can find these lovely Breast Cancer Awareness Earrings for sale at my Etsy shop:

http://1337art.etsy.com/

In the upcoming months I plan to add more modern-friendly awareness items to my shop. If you have any suggestions for designs and specific causes please feel free to contact me at 1337art@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading,

-

Christina

CM Designs dba 1337 Art

http://1337art.etsy.com

Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted.

Have you signed up for our newsletter? Sign up here!

How to Recover from a Bad Craft Fair.

It is so easy to feel exasperated and hopeless after you return from a not so great craft fair. I've been there, and it really sucks. I've made a list of a few things to keep in mind to help you recover from a bad craft fair.

1. Relax. Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea. Put on some comfortable clothing and listen to music and do what calms your soul whether it be reading, writing, or whatever.

2. Don't take it personally. Perhaps the fair was badly advertised or the weather was bad. You aren't the only vendor that had a bad time. Just remember that your products are desirable, and that you put a lot of love and hard work into each piece.

3. Learn from the experience. Take any customer/vendor advise into consideration. Was there something people paid more attention to? Did you pick up some tricks from the other vendors such as product placement, exceptional customer service, etc.? There is always at least one thing you can learn from each craft fair you participate in.

4. Remember this event. When you are scoping out craft fairs for next year you know to skip this one. You can also compare this fair to other ones so you have a better idea of where your time is better spent.

5. It's over. You're home now, and the fair is behind you. If it will make you feel better you can sulk for a few minutes...but only for a few. It's better to eat a little bit of dark chocolate. It's best to take the rest of the night off from doing any work towards your business, or you will feel distraught and overwhelmed.

We all will experience a bad craft fair at one point or another, but we will have our share of great ones too. It's important to let go of this bad experience or it will be more difficult to make progress.

Thank you for reading,

-
Christina
CM Designs dba 1337 Art
http://1337art.etsy.com
Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted.

Have you signed up for our newsletter? Sign up here!

Craft fairs, new items, and lots of coffee.

1337art has an upcoming craft show this Saturday:

Harvest Fest in Home, WA
Community Services House Saturday, October 4th from 10am - 4pm

I'm looking forward to taking a nice month off from craft fairs so I can focus on adding a much larger inventory to my Etsy shop. My goal is to have at least 200 items before my next show in November. I'm hoping to expand my collage items; cards, ACEOs, pendants, and more. I also want to add a lot more to my Men's Jewelry, Brooches, and Hair Accessories categories.

I'll be drinking lots of coffee, reading the latest "Quit Your Day Job" articles from Etsy's blog, and finally putting my overload of supplies to use.

Thank you for reading this quick update,

-
Christina
CM Designs dba 1337 Art
http://1337art.etsy.com
Elite Art for the elite at heart. Featuring jewelry for men and women, art collage, awareness items, bookmarks, cell phone charms, hair accessories, key chains, kilt pin brooches, wine charms, and more.

Custom orders are accepted.

Have you signed up for our newsletter? Sign up here!