Tag Archives | Etsy
27
Apr

#FF: Fave Etsy Shops

Follow Friday is a new series inspired by #FF on Twitter. Join me each week as I pick a new topic to explore into the weekend. This week I’m highlighting my favorite Etsy shops right now.

Clockwise from left:
Aedriel Originals
Wind & Willow 
Sweet Auburn studio
Velle Purse 

Happy weekend, everyone! Do you have big plans? It seems like every weekend is jam-packed for us. We’ll be attending our nephew’s school play, hitting up the Festival of the Arts, and catching the last performance of the season at the Philharmonic. Oh, and of course the EngageOKC speed mentoring event!  (Psst – you should check out Engage’s new site! Logo designed by yours truly!)

Have fun! And check out those awesome Etsy shops above!

Let's Chit-Chat { 1 }
27
Mar

Conga Dancing, Honey-Coated French Fries, & iPad News

There are simply not enough hours in my days it seems. We had a crazy weekend full of concerts (TWO! In one weekend!) and food. I might have also snuck away to see the Hunger Games on Friday afternoon, too. Saturday night was the Pink Martini concert here in OKC.  A delightful mix of bossa nova, classical music and international  numbers (think 1960s Paris), it sentimentally transported me back to my study abroad days in France when I was listening to their CD on repeat on my ever-so-clunky Sony Discman– don’t judge – I know you had one too — and sobbing into my citron presse at a sidewalk cafe over my unrequited love for Simon while I wrote nonsense in a journal. Yes – I WAS THAT GIRL.  I was also wearing a hot pink cloche hat that I purchased from Galeries Lafayette.

For the record –  No one wears hot pink in Paris. Except blonde tourists from Oklahoma.  ::sigh::

But I digress – it was a marvelous, glorious concert and now I have their albums playing on constant repeat on my not-so-clunky iPhone. OH! And at the end of the concert, they invited the audience to do the conga during their big encore. It was ridiculously fantastic.

Because we were child-free and with our good friends Michael & Kim, it was time to hit the town. Somehow it got to be midnight and we were starving, after several failed attempts to sit out on a patio and enjoy the amazing weather. Michael & Kim are the ultimate foodies. They know all the good places and suddenly Michael says, “We need Bobo’s.”  Apparently Simon & I are the last people in OKC to know about Bobo’s, a food truck that is in the GHETTO – and I mean scary ghetto – that is only open from midnight to 4a.m. They serve fried chicken, catfish, and french fries coated in honey. Kim and I sat in the car and surreptitiously watched the guys wait in line. We zipped outta there and took the food back to their house. HOLY FRIED CHICKEN BATMAN. There was a reason the line was 40 people deep!  However, I had a total food and conga dancing hangover the next day as we did not get in until 2am. I cannot remember the last time I saw 2am, Internet. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with changing diapers and feeding the baby. When he was a baby. Which was, oh, 4 years ago. ::sob::

All right then, enough of our antics; I know you’re here for iPad case news and I have it for you.

First of all, our iPad 2 case is also compatible with the new iPad. Which I guess we’re just calling “The New iPad.”  Not iPad 3. Completely confusing, is it not? But yes – if you have a new iPad and you’ve been waiting on our announcement, there it is. It will fit in the molded mounting system.

Secondly –


I am happy to announce that the iPad 1 cases are up & live at the shop! Hooray!

I’m a little bit conflicted about how to go about listing these as they do differ somewhat significantly from our iPad in the way the iPads mount into the case itself, so I’ve created a single listing for all iPad 1 orders. When you order, you must tell us in the “notes to seller” box at checkout which pattern you’d prefer from the ones you see available on the other listings. Confusing? Kind of. I wish there was a better way to go about it on Etsy, like dropdown menus. But as it is, I think this is the easiest way.

I’ve created this handy dandy comparison chart so you can check out the differences between the two different cases:

Got questions? Feel free to ask them here, but definitely check out the listing for photos and other details.

Finally, check out some of the new patterns I’ve listed, including the perkiest polka dot you ever did see, sweetly savvy Rothko Monos, and the gingham collection.

Let's Chit-Chat { 6 }
13
Mar

La la la lucite

You know, I give mad props to stylists and product photographers. Some things are just crazy hard to photograph, much less make them look appealing and, well, sellable.  This month I’m taking one of photographer Nicole Gerulat‘s online classes for tabletop photography and I have already learned so much in the first week. She’s given tons of amazing tips for props, setup, etc. But even with all the right elements, there’s a certain magic that has to happen. Or so it would seem.

I spent countless hours this past weekend photographing and re-photographing my lucite trays. They are ridiculously hard to shoot; it’s the strange mix of odd shape and the glossy finish, I think. In my opinion, the best way to promote your items on Etsy is presentation. What do your photos or product images look like? What do they say about your brand? Are they appealing? Informative?  It’s enough to make your head spin.

Case in point:

NEW Chinoiserie SMALL Lucite Serving Tray by PencilShavingsStudio

At first glance, this photo is, well, passable. Maybe. Sure, it shows the product and it’s not the worst photo you’ve ever seen. It was taken using natural light and it’s not like there’s some obnoxious flash bouncing off of the tray. But it’s… boring. Terrible.  And I’m sad to say that this is actually on one of my listings. Representing me. And my brand. Ugh. It does zero justice to the potential of this tray (and its Chinoiserie-inspired pattern)e.

So after spending hours shooting what amounted to terrible photos, I focused on what I could do to make them better, based on how I felt about the previous ones and what I feel about the trays. I love these trays; they are glamorous and fabulous and thus, they need to be represented as such. I started pulling out my fabric stash and got busy pulling accessories from my jewelry box. And what resulted was ten times better than where I started.  To me, these represent everything the Pencil Shavings Studio girl is about: bright color, mixing & matching patterns, bold jewelry, whimsical style.
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I still have a lot of learning and tweaking to do. I need to switch up the backgrounds and explore accessories more, but I feel like it’s definitely a start.  Additionally, I hope to be adding even more patterns to the current selection.  I can’t wait to see where I’ll be at the end of this month of classes.

Speaking of photography, I can’t wait to show you the photos I’m shooting today at our friends’ newly remodeled house. The before-and-after is nothing short of jaw-dropping!

 

Let's Chit-Chat { 6 }
1
Mar

Blowing It Up

Did I tell you the awesome press news? Country Living featured Pencil Shavings Studio’s gingham iPhone case in their March issue! Big thanks to the awesome team at CL.

Artwork

Secondly, I’m closing the shop for a couple of days to catch up on orders and also so I can put up these babies:

IMG_6542 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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I’ll be reopening on Saturday or Sunday and it’ll be business as normal.
Finally, this week has been a total blur. I wish I could tell you all the details, but to be honest, I guess I’m afraid that I’ll jinx it all if I say it out loud. So I won’t give you the specifics, BUT I will say that I’m working with a super awesome national retailer on a fun line of products and I still can’t even believe that it is actually happening. This week I got to work on rough drafts of Pencil Shavings Studio packaging. To put it plainly, it’s like every graphic designer’s greatest dream. It’s the kind of project that we dreamed about in design school.  And so I feel like there’s EXTRA pressure that I put on myself to make it extra fabulous. I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again: it’s ten times harder to design for yourself than it is for any other client.  Period.

Happy Thursday, guys!

Let's Chit-Chat { 14 }
23
Feb

All About Our iPad Cases

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I can’t tell you how excited I am to share the new iPad cases with you guys. They’ve been a loooong time coming but I can definitively say that they were worth the wait. Keep in mind that I’ve been testing out the case for the iPad 2; I haven’t yet gotten to play around with the iPad 1 cases yet.

I am super pleased with how they have turned out and after taking it with me to Florida, I’m even more happy to see how it’s been handling wear & tear.  Each iPad case is made to order; I’ll be offering a variety of patterns and customization options. Each case has a black leather binding; the pattern itself is printed on a cotton canvas that has been Scotchgard treated to repel dirt & liquids. The price will be $60.

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The inner lining is a rich cream-colored microsuede.  Your iPad is going to be oh-so-happy curled up in its soft little lining.

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I particularly love how multifunctional it is. It isn’t just protective; I also love how it’s a stand, too. I’ll be honest – I was not loving my SmartCover by Apple. It was flimsy, constantly coming off, and the protection was, well, nonexistent. And I never felt confident about it as a stand, either. So I was particularly pleased with these. I love that the iPad snaps completely into place into the clear molded mounting system; it’s not going anywhere.

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More samples are arriving to me later this week. My goal is to have them up in the shop, ready for purchase by next week.

Tell me – any particular patterns that you’re wanting to see? My plan is to have as many as possible, but let me know if there’s one you really want to see!

Let's Chit-Chat { 10 }