All Things Littleput

Take three. The reconfiguration of my head.

So it started out with a scrabble pendant, and more specifically the goal to make the scrabble tile pendant something that others could not replicate. Well we all know how that turned out, things changed and so did my head.

The idea was there, to make jewelry with my photos, non scrabble jewelry. But idea to execution isn't always what we want it to be. I started off, pleased in my own way with these:

but my happiness with them didn't translate well online and since they really only look good on people and not on something my slow sales pushed me to rethink the design.

These were the next step in my process, much more delicate, light, airy, made with silver (I love metals) and still intended to showcase my photographs.

But again, they didn't feel perfect, they seemed unfinished and I was unsatisfied.

And then, almost by accident, I made these:

and knew (KNEW!!) that I had found the perfect combination of durability, femininity, lightness and brightness to create the unique new line of littleput goodness. I am happy now, and I am stopping here, at the end of this process.

So yay for trial and error, but mostly yay for trying until it works, because when it works, it feels great.

I'll be offering a new line sale in the next week or so, so stay tuned. And happy Wednesday too!

Peace!

Oh and if you want to see them all, see them here: Acrylic Pendants in my Etsy shop.

Toodles Noodles!

Evolution!

Wow. It's been 2 days since I made a sale on Etsy. This is my first dry spell since shutting down my shop and I absolutely know why. My energy has changed.

Now that I am spending my weekends working at Portland Saturday Market my weeks are full of new thoughts and ideas of things to make and sell there. I used to have the same drive for Etsy, I was fueled by my successes and downfalls and it was exciting. Now each weekend I come home with the same drive only it's pointed at the real world.

I am hoping for a happy medium, as I still love both venues. This week actually I will be revamping my online shop and taking some pictures of my new wonderfuls to share with you non locals.

I am happy that I have my inertia back, I love being compelled to be a better and better artist every day, I missed this!

Happy May All!

Pictures of Flowers.... Blah blah blah...

To be quite and entirely honest I love flowers, I love them, I love them, I love them. I also love photographing them, mostly because I have to do it outdoors and I love being outdoors too.

And living in beautiful Oregon flowers are not all that hard to come by.

But sometimes I feel entirely cliche. And uninspired. And boring.

Only I really like taking pictures of flowers. :)

What's a girl to do?

(I know! I know! I know!) Make earrings. Earrings out of photos, of flowers :)

And really, little daisy earrings, a real photo of real flowers, makes me kind of non bored and happy. So now I get to go take more photos of more flowers and maybe be a little non-cliche after all. :)

Here is hoping you are all non bored and happy too!

New Littleput Earrings can be found by clicking the link, if you're so inclined.

Have a great weekend!

Ryan *still girl

Spring Break....

Hello all! Sorry for the bloggy down time. Miles has been on Spring break and we have been enjoying lots of "us time" which just makes me feel good and useful all over.

I've also been working on new pendants and getting myself settled into my new, two job lifestyle. Vending every weekend at Portland Saturday Market has been both a challenge and an absolute motivator. I think I really needed some kind of out of the house job; being home, all the time makes stagnation almost unavoidable.

I am gradually working out the kinks of combining both venues and still finding time for me, the dishes and Miles. I am really kind of thrilled to have this new change in lifestyle, being busy makes me feel accomplished.

I hope you all are coming down off your Easter basket sugar highs and enjoying a tranquil Monday. I've got some posts in the works so check back.

Peace!

Okay, let me just say this...

THANK YOU!

:)

To everyone who has commented over the past few days or contact me in private, your support has been amazing. I have been feeling a bit exposed with all the personal personal-ness on the blog, I became very comfortable hiding behind the screen. But knowing that what I have been through is something that so many others face has made me feel stronger, less isolated and encouraged.

I am posting this as I am headed to the market so I'm keeping it brief but I really just wanted to let you know how much your support means to me. It has helped me feel free to express more, so watch out, I'll be posting lots & lots.

Happy Weekend All!

Contrary to what you might have heard...

...not everything I make sells like the wind. In fact, my new most favorite line, the Acrylic Pendants are not selling nearly as well as I'd hoped. And while they are slowly beginning to pick up speed there has been enough non selling time to fill my head with doubts and re-thinkings.

It is hard not to wonder why things we love aren't coveted by the masses; like anyone who puts their work forward only to receive a luke-warm reception, I have lots and lots of thoughts about what could be wrong.

• 1. no one likes them.
• 2. they don't photograph well.
• 3. the economy is screwy and no one is shopping
• 4. they aren't yet perfect and need to be revised.
• 5. They are too thick/thin/fat/small/short/stubbly/long/ chunky/bright/dark/cheap/expensive...

At this point any of the above could be true. The only way to know why people aren't scooping them up by the armload is to take them into the real world craft market and get real world reactions. I've offered this advice to many people looking for direction about their work: When your products aren't jumping into the carts of the online masses, get face to face with your shoppers, listen to what they say, watch what they pick up, change what they ignore and pay close attention to everyone.

Now it is my turn to put that challenge to the test.

I am headed out to Portland Saturday Market this weekend (yay!) and I will be showcasing my pendants prominantly in my booth. Depending on the response they get I'll either go back to the drawing board or just shrug the slow sales off on the economy. Online I have no way of reading a consumers reaction, in person I can watch and get a sense of what is connecting with people and what isn't. If I get a lot of "what are these?" and, "oh isn't that different..." I'll know I've got it wrong. I'm hoping for ooooo, ahhh and ohhhh but I'm willing accept that I may need to make some changes.

I'll be sure to update you on the weekend, good or bad, and hopefully the pendants will all be sold out by Monday :)

Happy Friday All!

In the face of total honesty....

I can't say that I would have written my previous post (see below) about gaining weight and falling into the un-obsessive slump if I weren't already headed out of it. This online world is amazing in the way we can choose the parts of ourselves to present; we can control our flaws, thoughts and words to paint an almost perfect picture.

I can say that in the months that I was dealing with the burnout there was an overwhelming sense of shame and of being a fraud. Here I was, Etsy top seller, who wrote how to articles and touted my great achievements while just barely hinting at only my most forgivable flaws (I'm messy, I don't like shipping and so on). I wanted everyone who didn't know me to see me as an epitome of success and admitting anything less felt disastrous.

We bloggers and online business persons have a lot of control over our image. We can pick and choose our honesty to create a persona that fits who we'd like to be, instead of who we are. I didn't feel safe admitting failure until the moment I realized I was no longer on the downward spiral. My failures, although still something I am fighting my way out of, are slowly becoming my success and it is only because they are turning into my past that I feel I can talk about them.

This isn't bravery, or strength; it is just me, stepping away from the need to be perfect and accepting that I, like many others, am absolutely not.

So I hope you don't mind if a few of my posts read more like journal entries than business information. Oddly enough I still have my business wheels turning and will continue to add informational posts as they come up. I promise to use my categories so you can find what you're looking for if you stop in for a read. :)

I hope you are all having the most amazing day, I am headed into the studio to get things made, I'll let you know how they turn out.

Peace!

The Good thing about waking up too early....

....is catching a photo of the moon in the morning sky. :)

Things are well here, Christmas is slowly sneaking into my shop. I'll admit I've wondered a time or two over the past few weeks if taking time away from my shop was going to mean the end of my business. It is not so easy coming back into it, things have changed, Etsy has changed and of course, I have changed. I am really having too much fun with the photo blocks and when they sell it makes my whole day.

2 things.

• 1. I've set up a twitter account twitter.com/littleput for those of you who want to keep up with me on a daily basis. I am having fun posting silly little tidbits about my day and finding random people to follow. Tweet!
• Thing 2. I am working on a new short article to help sellers improve their sales with a shrinking economy. I hope to have it polished and listed before Thanksgiving so keep your eye out. I won't be bugging my mailing list again until December so if you're interested check here, check my Etsy shop or follow me on Twitter.

I hope you all are well, happy Wednesday!

Ryan

Done, done, done, done, Done, done & finished :)

Wow, what a long and drawn out process, the Branding tutorial is finally done and I am really grateful. All the time it took to write the piece, get it approved and re-write it to make it perfect really helped me put together something I am very proud of.
If you have any interest in the article you can find it here: How to brand you Etsy shop.

Additionally I've teamed up with awesome graphic artist, Renee from Thompsondesigns to help new sellers get a great start on Etsy. Renee is offering $10's off her Etsy business package to everyone who picks up a copy of the branding article. Not only will you get ideas on branding your shop from me, Renee will help you put them into action. So Yay :)

Those of you who've kept up with me here, even after my hiatus I want to thank you.

If you do buy a copy of the tutorial send me a convo after reading and I will give you mini shop critique. Just let me know you're a blog reader and my funky marketing brain is all yours :).

I've got some new goodies coming out of the studio next week, I am really excited about returning to a crafters life.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend! Peace and warm weather,
Ryan

Branding, not as easy as I want it to be :)

Well my article is getting closer every minute but still not entirely polished. The main issue is the information pertains both to brand new sellers and to sellers that know how to use Etsy but want to learn how to create a strong image. It is hard to balance the information for both sellers and I am thinking of splitting it into two parts.

In addition I haven't been working after school hours so my free time to get things done is limited and it seems I have more things to do than time. Anyhow, I am plugging along and trying not to break my promise but it may be tomorrow before the article is listed and there may be a second version following shortly thereafter.

I hope the seasons are finding you well, Portland is exploding in sunshine and fall colors, I love love love this time of year.

Happy Wednesday!

Me