Special offers (grrrrr)

I'm giving up.

I'm going to introduce a limited time special offer for next three items added to my Etsy shop. I'm bringing the price down from 35 to 25 dollars.

I'm really angry about it (can you guess??). The reason being - no, not that I'm some stingy witch who's crying for her potentially lost money. The reason being - I'm compromising my beliefs and it hurts.

Let me show you the picture. My earrings take about three to four hours to make - not a chance in the world to do them quicker, that's the peculiarity in stitching. Every stitch has to be sewn by hand, I cannot get around that. So I can't introduce any time-saving techniques. I guess I'm glad, because this means that my items get my full attention, fully special treatment, I'm putting my time and care there. Add some materials to that and you will see that I'm not really making any money with prices as they are.

Then - I have no sales. Nada, not a single one. And two people close to my heart suggested this is because of the price. I heard today - 'You tried everything, you changed descriptions, changed pictures, posted on blog, but you didn't move the price'. So ok, here's where I break. I'm willing to give it a try, just to see what happens.

What I hate about it is that the bullshit marketing I hate so much has finally caught up with me. Now I will have to use those hated phrases, to tell people out there how fantastic it is that I brought prices down. It's not fantastic. It's supporting all the wrong ideas. It's giving up, it's losing my personal fight. But here we go, I'm doing it.

I feel awful. This, too, happens.

How about a bracelet?

There, I have just given away my secret. Or, in other words, told you what my latest project is.


I am not yet sure how it will turn out. See, what I love most about my project is that they 'make themselves'. It's very simple. If I hit the right idea, making it into a tangible reality is piece of cake and I'm loving every bit of it. If the idea is not so great, soon I'm losing interest and simply abandoning it. I'm not going to get freaky and talk about destiny, let's just say that my creations enjoy bits of personality.


I've already tried making bracelets once upon a time, but it proved to be one of those failed projects, so this time I'm a bit apprehensive. Yet, I'm giving it a try. So far it's going smoothly. If it all works I'll be screaming with pride so you'll be sure to know. If it doesn't work... heheh, I might just as well treat it with elegant silence :)


I'm still wondering how to finish off the new bracelet. Of course it's cross stitched, but I'm hesitating whether to put it on felt or on leather backing. Any suggestions?

Zodiac jewelry

I silently launched my zodiac jewelry line.

Three signs are up on Etsy by now, pendants only, but I will add earrings and sets later on.

I was going to wait until I have the whole range photographed, but one evening I just decided to get on with it and see what happens.

Nothing much happened :)

The views are pretty low and it makes me not-so-happy. I want my items to be seen! How are they to be liked if nobody knows of their existence??? I guess patience, patience is the key, but it is not that easy to summon.

I guess I do not have that much choice, I just have to wait and see what happens. And hope like hell that some Readers will visit my little gallery on their travels.

Right place, right time

I am not a religious person. At all. But I do believe in some kind of spirituality, and that's what this post may smell of.


Don't know how about you, but for me, everything I do requires right timing/conditions/enter whatever you want. And it applies to absolutely EVERYTHING, from craft to work to fun to intimacy. When regarding to crafting it means one particular thing - there are no shoulds.


I'm reading a lot of teach-yourself online sources on how to develop a successful home based business, and most of them advise creating some kind of routine and sticking to it. Do this or that everyday, blah blah blah. Sometimes I'm in this really self-perfecting frame of mind and I'm even trying to. Guess what - never works.


I much prefer my own way of doing things. There are no shoulds. You know all those voices that tell you that you absolutely have to do this or that or something terrible happens? I tell them all to shut up and I kick them out of the door. The reason being - they are a terrible bunch of liars.


Ultimately - what would happen if I don't list/stitch/write when I don't feel to? See, inner critic saying that my business will never get off the ground is pure bullshit, for one simple reason - I love what I do. I stitch because I enjoy it very very very much. I'm putting all this online because I kind of like it too. And if I'm in no mood to do any of this - the only thing that happens is that I avoid making/publishing something of inferior quality. I don't need to force myself to do any part of my work if I don't feel like doing it. I'm sure as hell that some time will pass and I will be able to do this with all the joy and satisfaction.


This 'rule' applies to everything. I don't care if you take it up or no, but I can tell you one thing - following it makes me one happy person. Listening to shoulds and ignoring what I really want to do makes me miserable. Which one would you prefer? I have no doubts.


And you know what's the best part? Some magic happens, that it all works out fine in the end :)

Bored to tears

I was really, really bored yesterday. More than that, I was THIS close to writing a post about it! Luckily for me, someone distracted me halfway through typing, I saved a draft and returned to have a look at it only today. What a pile of rubbish it was! Delete, delete, delete!


Why I'm telling you all that? Because I want to admit that boredom DOES happen. I guess everyone gets those moments, when nothing seems interesting, worth of your attention or a smile. Man, how frustrating those moments are!


I've observed one thing yesterday. The harder I struggled to think something up, to find something interesting to do, the worse it actually got. Not only I wasn't really hooked, I also started to hate things I would otherwise love to do! Lucky me, I didn't end up stitching so I can still embroider a thing or two :).


New items added to the shop almost daily. Check it out, make my day :).


Oh, by the way, did you know that a new book by Terry Pratchett has been out for about a month? I found out yesterday-ish and have been itching to run to a bookstore ever since. Broke as I am, I will have to wait some more, but if you are bored and looking for a good read, I shall wear midnight would be the perfect antidote. Even if you don't treat Pratchett as a guru (god incarnated, the wisest creature on Earth :) as I do, you're guaranteed a good laugh.


Nothing kills boredom better.

Surprise, surprise!

Let me bore you with some stats today.


Until yesterday, my total blog pageviews for this month equalled 104.
Then the surprise arrived - 80 (!) visits within one day.


I AM not only surprised, I am positively shocked.


I am also wrecking my head trying to find an explanation for this phenomenon.


Do I have a good fairy out there who corralled some readers and kicked them in direction of this blog? If so, hell, I'm grateful, dear Fairy :)


Or does it have something to do with the subject of my last post? I'm wondering - is it maybe that there are more people out there who are tormented (:P) by some metaphysical questions and stumbled here in search for answers? I find it quite hard to believe, but as long as I don't have any intelligence on the subject, I can let the imagination soar.


I would very much appreciate some feedback, though. Can I ask you a favour, dear Reader? Could you let me know, in comments or otherwise, what paths brought you here, on this website? What were you looking for to find my humble persona? I'm not being nosy, just curious :). Well, I can offer something in exchange - if you tell me what you liked, I can promise to write more about this subject. Does it sound like a good deal?


All this is also to say hi to all who travelled here, even if by accident. It's more 'cool' to pretend indifference, but I'll be brave enough to say that I DO care, that it feels pleasant to be read and that I feel grateful.

Acceptance?

There will be some philosophy in today's post, so if it gives you the creeps - turn back here and run!!!


See, I'm curious. One of those big, 'what it's all about?' questions. It's not really that I'm looking for an answer - I guess everybody has one, and surely I've read so many versions of how it's supposed to be like and what we are supposed to do, that my head starts spinning as soon as I think about it. But I'm still curious.


I was given a book today, on how to defeat self-hatred. I think it's a big, big, big issue and I would so much love to live without this cruel critic in my head, and maybe with some joy instead?


One of the things the book (and many others) say is that acceptance is the key. That the greatest blessing a human being can achieve is to accept WHAT IS. It's hard to do, maybe one of the hardest tasks out there and it surely brings a lot of inner peace once you manage to get there. All the magic, all the happiness is there, just as promised.


And yet... If we accept what is, how could we ever CHANGE it? Where the hell would a motivation for a change come from?


I do understand and value the tranquility that acceptance brings. It might be the only possible way out of hopeless situations, those that we simply cannot escape. It's a fantastic anaesthetic when you're stuck somewhere and cannot leave. But it's nothing, NOTHING, compared to satisfaction you feel when you successfully change some deep shithole in your life into something better. It can feel like a paradise, because not only the reason for your pain disappeared, you also have the knowledge that it was you who caused it.


See, I don't know, and probably never will (and how much I've weakened this post by saying so - wouldn't it be great if I had The Answer?). What I do know is that sometimes acceptance is only giving up sweetened by some agreeable self-lies. And sometimes the need to change is just fear in disguise.


What a messy life we're living, hey?