Balloon Head

New Listing on Etsy - Click image to visit the listing

hello! Yes I know it has been a few days... man it's been a knackering two days but I have quite a bit to talk about. Next Monday and Friday as you know I am introducing my new features for Etsy sellers that are at around 20 sales or under, and had a fantastic response to requests on the Etsy forum about it! Already I have slots filled up for Monday Magic and I'm compiling an interview for a fab seller for Friday Finds! It's going to be great, I'm really excited about the introduction and hope that it does well to drive traffic into their stores. I know how hard it is to do that whether time is your enemy or lack of marketing knowledge. But next week I'll be blasting both posts around my individual communities on the web, including the likes of Twitter, Indie Public and Facebook, which should most definitely help a bit if not a lot! I have a lot of faith in Twitter for marketing and I intend to expand on the reason on my upcoming Coffee and Cake article this Sunday. So keep an eye out for that post as it's part two of my marketing series!

So yeah all in all I have achieved something for once! Lol!

Now, my fatigue... would you believe is completely about paper? LOL I have spent the ENTIRE week fussing over paper, i swear until 2am each night. As you may know already I am introducing my own line of ACEO, 5x7 and 8x12 prints to my Etsy store, in a choice of Archival Matte, 100% Cotton Rag, Satin Lustre or Premium Glossy paper. And I have my beautiful new printer to thank for that. I'm just so excited that I have not been satisfied with any old paper, as the last thing I want is for people to have my art adorning their walls or desktops, and for something bad like fade or moisture runs to damage them! So yeah... archival paper... weeeeeee!

Now another thing i want to introduce in a short while are greeting cards, note cards, calenders and gift tags. I'm quite excited about this, and doing my research today has made me even more enthusiastic at the prospect. it's going to be a fab way (as will my ACEO prints) to offer bundles of my work at lower prices, and value for money is something I think we all think about in times like the present! So this is something I think will be great for customers that want to purchase my work but would like to spend less. And despite being stationary I won't compromise on the paper! Nope, it'll still be archival and of the highest quality coupled with the pigment inks I use. BUT... As I'm still updating items in my store with new descriptions, and have a long list of ACEO's to list, plus new prints to make... it'll be a little while before I can devote time to it. But DEFINTELY in time for christmas, you can expect my high quality and stationary for yourselves or as gifts to hit my store :D

Work aside, I've also been trying to devote more time to the family. The other half is recovering from his cataract operation for the next few weeks so my son has been in his element squealing the house down with joyful noise (although I don't know if the neighbours would think that LOL). It's been none stop since mummy explained last week about daddy's trip to the hospital! He's "doctor" Yukio this week. So far he's been more of an entertainer, like getting his hairy troll puppet to do the can-can, and putting cups on his feet... oh I can't forget him prancing about in my hat and shoes the other day... I don't think we've really been able to contain the laughter since! Particularly as he dressed himself... seriously! I HAD to take photos LOL! But yes It's been hard not to want to get involved in the fun so part of me has been very easily distracted for the past week, even though I have had the opportunity to work. I have been mind you! Just with the odd distraction. But yeah... work and fun leads to a sleepy mum! So I'd better crack on! I may not get a chance to blog again until Sunday but hopefully I should do! Until then :D

moonangelnay x x x

Zzzzzzzz Ramble

If I could sum up my state of mind today I'd probably end up swearing a lot so I won't bother, but I have had a frustrating couple of days... Made worse just now by a flippin robot calling my house again! ARGH! Does anybody actually fall for these calls??? Is that why after years that they are still going on tormenting people in their homes? That's just not right! Anyway! ... Sorry I've had a record number of calls of that variety today... need to VENT!

Anyways... yeah, I've been super busy which isn't any different from the usual but unfortunately it hasn't been because I have been the diligent worker on my Etsy store. Man I wish it was, but it's pretty much swallowed up days where I had motivation and now I suddenly don't. Anyhoo, I can continue getting bits done again and I will, sore back and fatigue aside, hopefully get somewhere with it all!

A few things I have managed to do that's been fabby doody the past few days is become a team member of POE (Photographers on Etsy) which put me in the best mood ever, and signed up to Indie Public too... I'm everywhere suddenly. Trick is now to keep on top of it all! I also made a treasury on Etsy full of wonderful artists that have wonderful floral work on sale in their stores. This is inspired from my own store of flowers in my garden, but I'll go on about that in a bit!

Also I have literally just been informed by CanadianRockies on Etsy that I have been featured in their blog treasury which is amazing, the piece photography that has been used is one that I adore from a small collection I managed to take at Ryton Garden Organics a few months back! I think this is the first blog feature that I've been made aware of so check it out!


Those familiar with my etsy store will know of my photo retouching services, well I have updated my listings with 4 types of service for those that are interested!

Enhance Airbrush	Rainbow Art Airbrush
Spotlight Airbrush	Softening Airbrush

Back to reality, for a few days I have been overjoyed at the progress of my first blooming sunflower! Absolutely EVERYTHING that I've planted in my garden has been grown from seed, and wow I'm amazed at the result now that the best weather of the year is beaming down on us here! It's one thing that I must make time for as I do have a tray with lettuce seedlings that need a patch to grow in, alongside my cabbages, broccolli and pumpkins. I was more faithful to my plants in the earlier portion of the year, but my lifestyle, particularly finding more time for computer work has made time generally seem non existant in my life. To be honest I don't think it exists anyway it's just an imposed concept of reliance to me, but presently that notion isn't going to tend to my garden! Lol! It's pretty easy once I'm out there, as it's the one thing that doesn't interfere with looking after my little boy. On the contrary, for him any excuse to get filthy and run around carefree without the need to climb furniture! Brilliant! I let him get on with it lol! He does love the outdoors, and I'm relieved and greatful really, what with society turning severely into nature fearers. I wouldn't be surprised if one day it's fashionable to don your child in bubble wrap for an outing! I'm old fashioned for my age I guess, and falling for fear mongering just isn't part of my persona. It's a blessing to know Yukio loves being outside and I can work on things out there knowing that he's happy, engaged and genuinely in awe of what surrounds him. I can't wait until he can consciously start tending to the garden with me ^_^


Phew! Right I'd better figure out what I should do next. I am seriously frazzled, I know I could get on with a lot, but I must be burnt out or something because the will just isn't there... Probably will be in an hour or so. My mind works pretty fast so that wouldn't suprise me lol!!!

Back On Track!

It's taken a while but I'm back at the relisting shizzle on etsy... and boy do I have loads of expired listings! Not only that but a month or so back I decided to change the watermark on ALL photography listed in my store as I started to think that it was detracting from the actual print image itself, due to it's boldness! So as time has so cruelly passed me by in the grand flash that it has, I have had to find moments here and there to correct my watermark on each and every photograph. But it has slowly been coming together and I think I am almost there. The thing that has driven me nutso the most has been the "expired listings" because unlike the normal listings that you can edit in your account, the expired ones can't be edited until you have relisted them which is TERRIBLE because as soon as you relist something, it becomes as fresh as a daisy for the world of Etsy to see and the last thing I want them to see is a dirty great big watermark that blinds them with it's monotoned presence on my work! Yes, I can edit it as fast as my hands can whizz across my desk, but the downside (other than my shite internet connection) is that once I edit it, it is no longer "viewable" on Etsy, and that also means the tiny timeframe that it would have the most exposure being a 'recent' item would be snuffed out by me needing to remove it for editing.... ARGGGHHH!!! lol! So in summary, I have given up on caring about frikkin exposure (which really stopped me in my days worrying over how to combat the issue), and I'm just relisting and editing immediately. In anycase my current work is slowly reaching a satisfactory presentable standard on Etsy. Here are the 3 most recent ones.

Branching Out 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $25

Off Color 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $25

Cluster Of Stars 8x12 Inch Print - Creative Fine Art Photography By Moonangelnay $20

So those are my recent relists! I have also relisted all of the crocheted baby ties that I'm sure you'll remember from a previous blog. You can check those out too if you wish. Happy shopping!

xxx

A Terrible Two! In The Nicest Possible Way :)

Whilst I'm waiting for my camera to hurry it up uploading 444 files onto my PC, I thought it was about time I caught up with the world of blogging. Or I guess it's the case of the world catching up with me lol! In any case, those of you that have been keeping an eye on my last posts will know why there would have been a delay this weekend just gone. My little boy Yukio turned two years old, and I can honestly say if there's anything terrible about it, he's been doing it for a long while already! Lmao! Hopefully we've been getting the tantrums in early, so shortly we'll have an easy ride of this apparently temperamental milestone lol!!!

We had a lovely weekend. I wish I could say that my weeks of planning and overspending (by at least £60 I reckon) were worth it for his Tiger party, but the last thing any of us expected was to be let down at the last minute by a lot of invited guests. Despite the month advancement, despite messages all through last week, and even a last minute check on saturday before buying an extraordinary amount of food to keep everyone fed. I couldn't believe my eyes when the texts started coming in, and felt worse when I couldn't express how I felt over it (Lately I just don't feel like there's any point to me doing that anymore...It's frustrating how it's ok for everyone else to). I can only say one message made absolute sense to me, with her lil baby being unwell and I've already chatted with my friend about that, but everyone else has pretty much let me down for pretty pathetic and annoying reasons.

I've not slept for about 2 weeks through trying to fit planning around work (and this is with knowing who was coming... the lot was based on the headcount). 2am-ers all the way for such a long time including the night before cooking for the confirmed guests, coupled with the usual full time mum thang, a friend of mine passing away, the most busy schedule I've had to cope with alone (other half was working) since I was in the best and most active job of my life, multiple family members being extremely ill ranging from angina to cancer including one surgery that was yesterday (better check on my brother actually), and still I managed to make it all happen as I don't see the point in halting movement in life because of circumstances. I can't really do that because I have my son to think about and when you're a full time mum to an energetic toddler, the last thing you could do is let them down by letting life get you down. That doesn't make me a strong or more capable person, but I can't afford to let my emotions or fatigue take over when I have things to do. But considering so many people let me down at the last minute, loads of excess food is going off with the heatwave, loadsa party games i bought (including the coolest tiger pinata) didnt get played, I'm feeling pretty much like a mug for believing that people would think the same way I would do. Co-dependancy creeping back into my life probably, but on a practical level I really don't see how hard it is to get on with life when you flippin have to. And believe me I've been through enough and going through enough to know what it's like to suffer inwardly, yet I don't let it stop me. Otherwise I'd be letting people around me down by expecting them to pat me on the back and try and understand it all. I don't want people to understand my problems, it's not fair to expect that, it's the reason I don't bother going on about them anymore! You just get on with it don't you? Personally, regardless of how I may feel I do try and do what I can when I say I will. I haven't always been like that mind you, but nowadays I'm a little more thorough than I was before I had my son. I wouldn't say I push myself to the limit, but I do think that when things need to be done, they need to get done unless something awful occurs. Moan moan moan. Well it doesn't matter, regardless of how I feel Yukio still had his little girlfriend over and enjoyed his day mowing the lawn... all day... lol. It's a shame that the party games are all still in packages and the one's I prepared are sitting staring at me across the room, but I'm chuffed my dad's generous donation of a bouncy castle went down well with Yukio and his little friend.

The best part of the weekend though was taking him to meet Thomas The Tank Engine in Thomas Land yesterday at Drayton Manor Theme Park. Wow... I don't know what much else I can say about that! I managed to take what feels like a million pictures, and despite the stoney look on Yukio's face he had the best time ever I reckon. He LOVED it when he could see Thomas coming to pick us up to transfer our behinds to another part of the park. But everything about it was incredible. The staff were brilliant with the kids, waving at them and being all smiley (which is hard to come by in this country I swear), the rides were spot on in terms of entertainment for the family and being gentle enough for the little ones, and the Thomas Themed shop just has to be the biggest load of commercialised madness I've ever come across... whatever you can think of... with a Thomas theme... man I shoulda taken some pictures of that! Doh.

Anyways! That really cheered me up! I was close to tears a few times watching Yukio's little face throughout the day. He's going to be a little adrenaline junkie like his mummy ^_^ LOL!

So all in all... great coupla days. Like I say depite the let downs, I'm pleased one of my friends and her kids could make it and my friends without kids could do, as well as my mum and Elric's too. It was a lovely sunny day in the end, and the BBQ was great! At least we don't have to buy party stuff for next year with the overspend!

Right. Time to catch up with my Etsy Shop. Until next time x

Birthday Hunt - I Really Dislike Shopping For Men...

Things have taken a smoother path today, although that has only meant I have been away from my computer (and not throttling it... hense the smooth part). Took Yukio to his little group debutots today which is a FAB drama group for toddlers where they get to have loadsa fun "becoming" the stories that are told to them. Although despite my own enthusiasm (and money), the fact that it's my son's highlight of the week due to the biscuit tin which is religiously plonked into the center of the hall after every session, worries me a tad lol. But I reckon he loves it really ;) I have no idea how much he ate there today confectionary wise, but I haven't had much fun changing any of his nappies that's for sure! Next week is his last session, and we may go for a picnic. I'll totally be snap happy :D
Anyway further to that I spent the rest of daylight hours at my mums doing some last minute shopping for my son's birthday party which is next weekend (the big 2... should i be scared?). It so happens his birthday is on exactly the same day as my best mates, and trust me I think the fact they are so close really does reflect in the pride they share over it! The only problem I'm having is finding a present for my friend. He isn't the fussiest of people, but I'm not your average kinda person that would go and buy a box of chocolates or bog standard watches or whatever as gifts. I'm quite awkward like that (I'm sure the other half will agree). I just HATE being normal, it doesn't require effort to buy just any old thing but it's his BIRTHDAY and they are supposed to be meaningful occassions, so I like to buy meaningful things. If I had the time I would jump on my sewing machine and whip up something totally bizarre and funky, but I lack too much of that these days. I only wish being so busy consumed as many calories! lol!!!

I also lack funds, so the things I have come across, despite how cool they are fall totally out of my budget. But I have to share what I have found cuz they are pretty nice, and who knows you guys may find something awesome for all doting fathers or other male related bipeds :)2 Robot Glasses by BreadandBadger

Circuit Board Guitar Pick by TheBlueKraken

Desert Path Pillow by PluckyPillow

Better get on with some work I reckon and look another time. Still got next week. Should be lucky hopefully!

moonangelnay xxx

Ho Hum...

I'm at a standstill today. It's been a few days since updating Etsy last (or maybe a week???), and I feel befuddled and fatigued to the point where now that the lil' one is napping and I actually have some time, I can't work out where to begin with the mountain of tasks I know I must do at some point. Is this normal in the land of toddler mums? LOL I only know a few people with kids the age of my son but man!!! I just seem to be someplace else right now. I'd love to curl up with a coffee actually, although I think that's the ID in me doing the tempting thing, as I know yestrday I completely over did the coffee and spent the day jittering and being grumpy!

I love my son to bits despite the fact he's been mr night owl for the past few days. He's fab at sleeping through the night, and I'm pretty lucky really as I still confront gaping mouths when I tell my friends that he's been this way since way before his first birthday. But I'm starting to think that maybe he's doing the sleepless nights thing to me in reverse LOL!!! Ahhhh but he's so cute, I still shower him with kisses even if my eyes feel like they are about to hit the floor :D
So probably the only organised and sensible thing I have done so far today is to cancel a dinner date for us both with my mum as I could do with the early night, and I doubt motorists on the street would appreciate a dancing car waving past them. I'm a bit gutted though as I hoped to take Yukio to Hickory Dickory (a big ol' jungle gym type place)... always tomorrow though! Instead I may see if some fresh air will rid me of my headache and keep young mr entertained this afternoon.

In the meantime I'd better crack on with some work whilst I can! My latest update due on etsy in the next hour is a new fave of mine. I'll have to make one for myself I think! I'm bound to post a picture of it by the end of today so keep an eye out for it, and in the meantime take a peek at my other items if you have the time. Love to all xxxxxxx moonangelnay.etsy.com