Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! XO, Etsy from Etsy

I saw this cute video on Etsy and just had to share the love!

Free Digital Collage Sheet - Children's Storybook Illustrations by Virginia Frances Sterrett

This series of black and white storybook illustrations by Virginia Frances Sterrett. Her first commission came in 1919 from Penn Publishing Company to illustrate the Comptesse de Ségur's Old French Fairy Tales. She was only 19 years of age and received $500 for the eight watercolors and 16 pen and ink drawings, with a supplemental $250 for a colored drawing for the cover and ink drawings for the end papers and boards.  I also have some of the color illustrations as high resolution digital printable files in 8.5" x 11" and ATC ACEO sizes in my Etsy shop. 

Unique Paper Mache Materials Technique and Weldbond Adhesive Product Review

New hat displays and wig stands in my Etsy shop.

I just uploaded my latest creations of mixed media wig stands and hat displays in my Etsy shop and now I want to break it down as to how I made them. If I knew how awesome they were gonna turn out, I would have photographed a full on tutorial. But I didn't. When I started making them, I was just going by intuition so now I need to back track a little bit because I want to talk about some of the techniques and materials I used.

We'll begin with the fact that I wanted some pretty models for my vintage hats that I've have listed on Etsy.  So far I've used a beauty school dummy head (image left) which I think is OK, but I wanted to try something else.

For my fairy kei wool dread falls, I use an average Styrofoam wig stand (image right) because I need to pin the falls into the head to make them stay on so I could photograph them. Now I think white Styrofoam looks cheap in a photo so I spray painted it gold to simulate a skin tones. I love the face on these displays, but I hate that Styrofoam. It makes it look like the skin is reptilian which is cool if you're going for that effect, but not good if you're trying to sell dread falls. I mean, wool dread falls are pretty avant garde already, but the reptilian skin is distracting and freakish and I think takes away from the product you're trying to sell.

So here comes my ideas for hat displays for my latest round of vintage hats.  I took the same Styrofoam head style and made "Becky" (image left). I paper mached her with coffee filter paper and wallpaper adhesive that I got at Lowes with the idea that the face's skin would be smoother.  I made three layers of paper mache and let it dry for a day in between.  Then I sanded it smooth.

This is the paper mache technique I'm talking about: coffee filters and wallpaper adhesive!  I had both of these on hand so instead of running out to get more supplies, I just used what I got with great results.  Just shred the coffee filter paper by hand and as for the paper mache paste, simply add water to a glop of wallpaper adhesive until you get a consistency you like.  I can't really advise as to what the water to adhesive ratio is.  I just added water and stirred it with the wallpaper adhesive until it was thick and creamy.

What's great about using these two materials for a paper mache pulp is that when I went to color the head with walnut ink (that I also make and sell on Etsy) the paper mache grabbed the ink the way I wanted it to.  Also, wallpaper adhesive is anti-bacterial. It's meant to be that way so that mold doesn't grow between the paper and the drywall when used as indicated. So that means your paper mache work won't rot either! 

Now for shabby floral hat display (image right). I saw in the blog DIY Lunacy how Madz made a hat stand using Styrofoam ball.  I thought a paper towel holder would be perfect as a base because I wanted to mount the paper mache dress form you see pictured on the hat stand to use as a jewelry display.

To make this, again I paper-mached the Styrofoam ball with coffee filters and wallpaper adhesive to get a smoother texture.  Originally I  thought I was going to use the piece of metal that's on the side of the towel holder to mount the dress form but it just wasn't positioned where I wanted it to so I just removed the stick completely and mounted the dress form (as well as the ball) to the base using Weldbond glue.

Let's talk about Weldbond glue! It's pretty amazing!  All this time I've been using E-6000 for any and all serious hardcore adhesion applications. But now I think if I can use Weldbond on a project, I'll opt for that instead.  I love it because it's just as strong as E-6000 but not as stinky. So no fumes and no headaches.

Weldbond is also elastic and stretchy like E-6000 so things you adhere with it won't crack off as easily like hot glued projects. I also love Weldbond because it acts like your average Elmer's white glue when you apply it, so therefore I have a better experience in working with it to get the results I want.  E-6000 is more gooey and tacky like a relentless booger and I find it really hard to work with.  But Weldbond is water based glue therefore if you get it on something like your clothes, you can rinse it off with cold water. Just be sure to do it RIGHT AWAY before the glue hardens and sets.  Finally, Weldbond can be tinted with tea, paint and even nail polish.

Now I don't want to bash E-6000. It's still great stuff. I've been using it for years and will continue to do so with the right application to a project. For the record Weldbond has it's limitations but they weren't applicable to my hat stands and wig displays so I gave it a try and as you can tell, I really like it.

As things turned out, both these hat displays are really pretty in and of themselves but as a photographer's model for my vintage hats I find that they distract the eye.  I can't tell whether to look at the featured hat or look at the model.  I think they work as a unique piece of home decor or even better as a display in a boutique or crafts booth. So it looks like I'll keep experimenting with some ideas but use the old beauty school dummy head until I get the right model!

For the records, I am just a crafty vixen and not an employee for Weldbond. Furthermore, I have received no compensation to blog about them. However, if you work for Weldbond and you're reading this blog, can you please kick down some free product for me?  I'll try to think of more projects to make with it! =)  And if you're a rep for E6000, if you guy's kick down some free product I'll come up with unique and fantastic project that only E6000 can handle. XD

Oh, what an adventure I've had today!

See this hat on Etsy!

I was originally going to list this post in the "shop" portion of my blog but I simply had to tell you this amazing story of my armchair travels today.  It started when I went to list a vintage hat by American designer and milliner Marian Valle (left) in my Etsy shop.  It's cute, don'tcha think?

Well anyway, one of my favorite things to do when I offer up a vintage gem is to do a little research about the item and share the story of how it came to be.  So I type in "Marion Valle" and hit "I'm feeling lucky" and the first thing to surface is another hat by Valle that's also featured on Etsy. Isn't that funny?

Milliner Marion Valle's Spring Collection

I'm starting to really like Miss Valle's designs, but I still have no information on her so I dig a little deeper into my search and up pops this old news story from the Montreal Gazette dated March 22, 1934 in which Valle is interviewed for her new spring collection of hats. She is quoted as saying: "The upturn of our spirits is making itself felt in an upturn in our hat lines as well."

I continue  reading this edition of the paper when  I come across this amazing story about how Catherine Theresa Carr,  a 24 year-old Irish domestic from Belfast, spent eleven gruelling days hidden in a lifeboat on the ocean freighter Sulairia without food or water as she attempted to illegally immigrate to Canada.  She barely survived the ordeal and was taken into custody by immigration officials who promptly threw her in a hospital to recover from the effects of frostbite and extreme exposure upon docking in Halifax before deporting her.  The thing that fascinated me the most was that she said she was without hope with the prospect of being returned to Ireland and that she willingly suffered her hardships to come to America because back home "they work you to death."

A little more searching, and I learned from DIPPAM, an online virtual archive relating to the history of Ireland, and its migration experience from the 18th to the late 20th centuries that Miss Carr had made it back to Liverpool via the Cunard liner "Scythia".  Her story ends there, but still I wonder: what happened to her after that?  She would be 101 years old if she were alive today.  Oh, I'm so curious!

Laura Ingalls, American Aviator

At any rate, I continue to read the paper and learn about American aviator Laura Ingalls (not to be confused with author Laura Ingalls Wilder of the "Little House" series of books).  Laura Ingalls was was the first woman to fly over the Andes. She also made the first solo flight around South America in a landplane, the first flight by a woman from North America to South America, and in so doing, set a woman's distance record of 17,000 miles.

Lilyan Tashman, Actor

Finally, on the same day that these other previously aforementioned women made the news, I come to learn that glamorous movie star Lilyan Tashman died at the young age of 37 due to cancer.  A little more searching reveals that Tashman was a lesbian who had an affair with Greta Garbo!

I must say: phew!  It's been quite a day surfing  the net and learning all about what happened on March 22, 1934 just so I could list my pretty little chapeau on Etsy.   I'll wrap this up with a clip from 1931 film "Girls About Town" (below) featuring Tashman and directed by George Cukor.

The True Cost of Selling on Etsy

I've been sitting here doing some math and realizing I often undersell myself on Etsy just because I price things on what I'd be willing to pay for them. According to all I've been reading, this is just plain foolish.

Before I share with you how I got my bearings on what to charge, first you need to know a little bit more about what I was thinking (which honestly, I really wasn't :).

In poring over Etsy's highly informative members blog called Storque I've come to realize that I need to be more mindful in taking into account my true costs and that includes overhead costs such as Etsy and Paypal fees as well as packaging costs. I also need to consider the time involved to prepare an item for listing which includes photography work and description writing.


It Adds Up!

Any Etsyan will tell you it costs $.20 per listing plus 3.5% of total sale to list an item on Etsy. It also costs $.30 per transaction and 2.9% of the transaction amount to make your customer's life a little easier by using PayPal.

So remember to add the combined costs per listing/transaction of $0.50 ($0.20 + $0.30) plus the 6.4% (3.5% + 2.9%) when figuring out your price for a listing.

That's $.50 + 6.4% in costs and fees to list your item so use this equation when factoring the price!

These costs ain't bad if you're doing all your sales on-line and don't have to worry about renting out a brick and mortar space or sales booth but they do add up.

It's important to keep in mind that these figures are only the base line. They don't take into account whatever it cost you in purchasing supplies, transportation costs, interest fees if you use a credit card to leverage creating items for sale, tools and equipment, taking photos, creating listings or your work hours.

And let's talk about shipping for a minute: I usually charge the true price of shipping plus whatever it costs for the packaging. That includes the manilla envelopes, packing bubbles, boxes, big juicy 1/2 sheet shipping label, tape, business card and promotional items, packing slip, etc. If it's an awkward number of just a few cents, I'll round it up to make the math easier for me in my head but I don't aim to overcharge on shipping.


One Friend's Pricing Method

I have a friend who manufactures high quality silk and wool scarves that retails at finer department stores. She runs her business out of the California Mart in downtown Los Angeles. The venue is home to hundreds of wholesale showrooms for fashion, textiles, gifts and home decor. She told me her pricing method was to take into account all her true costs plus her hourly wage which she wouldn't tell me but she threw out the the imaginary amount of say $30.00 per hour. That includes developing and creating the item, as well as preparing it for listing and ultimately handling it for shipping.

Then she said to take all those numbers: the itemized costs, the hourly rate and add it all together and THEN multiply that sum by three to come to a price. That's right: triple the number!

While I don't do all that, as I mentioned from the start, I also undersell myself, too. Like I said, I usually price an item to what I'd be willing to pay for it. I also take into consideration that my sales are not my lifeblood when figuring out what I hope is a fair price. I mean, the stuff I put up on Etsy is not my business per se. It's an avocation. So I don't have other things to consider like employees, insurance, licenses, taxes, etc. But minimizing my production efforts and comparing them to a successful apparel manufacturer is self-defeating. I need to work smarter!


Presenting: The Etsy Fee Calculator

The Etsy Fee Calculator by Ryan Olbe

Determining the true cost of your work and what to fairly charge a customer can get complicated -- yes ma'am it sure does. I got kerfuffled. Doing math is not my idea of fun. But after spending hours freaking out over the numbers, I found this really great tool called the "Etsy Fee Calculator" by Ryan Olbe. It's pretty cool and it made my life so much easier.

The Etsy Fee Calculator is a free web-based tool can be used to easily calculate Etsy fees and PayPal fees for any amount. It also supports multiple quantity listings and has a special field for your "cost of materials".

I especially like the Reverse Fee Mode feature. This allows you to enter the amount you want to receive after fees and the calculator can tell you what price you would need to sell your item for or how much to charge for shipping & handling, to receive that amount.

This Etsy Fee Calculator is just so super awesome that I had to share it. Now you can quickly determine your what your Etsy fees would be and how much profit you can make from selling an item. That said, most of what I sell on Etsy was initially created out of the sheer joy of making. It's fun and that's why I do it! But I'm interested to know how other crafters determine the price for what they sell whether it be on Etsy or otherwise.

Mad Mad May Day - A Burner Bazaar 5/1/2010

The  Etsy Black Rock Crew headed up by LaLinda Loca is going to be throwing their first event: the Mad Mad May Day Burner Bazaar coming up on May 1, 2010 at the Angel's Gate Cultural Center located at 3601 South Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA. I've been so busy preparing for this show that I'm going to be tremendously relieved when it's over.  I'll be joining forces with a lot of talented Etsyans within the burner community (drink!) it's gonna be hella cool. The video above is just some of the artists who will be showcasing their arts and crafts at the event. More about the artists here.

PIF It To Me Baby! (Pay It Forward on Etsy)

Here's a little video I made featuring some of the PIF listings I've put up on Etsy this week.

PIF stands for "Pay It Forward" and it's been a phe-bomb-enon on Etsy since I joined. The idea about a PIF listing is simple: you must do something nice for someone else. You can either list an item of your own as a PIF, or do a generous act of kindness for a friend or even a complete stranger!

Etsy PIF listings are essentially free -- the price is set at the Etsy-mandated minimum of 20 cents to post an item on the site. Some PIFs charge very inexpensive shipping, and some sellers even ship their PIF items for free.

I think PIFs are a fun way to connect with other Etsyans so I really hope that whomever purchases my PIFs enjoys them more than me having them sitting there in my craft pile all neglected and sad! :)

In most of the PIFs I offer, by the time I stick the item in a fresh new envelope, put some stamps on it, pay my Etsy fees and PayPal fees, tootle on down (by foot -- mind you) to my local post office this listing comes out even for me. It is not my intention to gouge or overprice PIFs to make a profit although I've seen many listings do this and IMHO it kinda sucks because I feel it takes away from the spirit of PIFting.

When offering a PIF it's my heart's intention to pass the item forward to you for the true cost of the item alone, not the item plus the taxes, fees, handling materials and shipping costs involved. I mean, I want to pass along a free cuppa coffee but I'm not into handing out an entirely free lunch! ;) That said and all humor aside, I truly hope you'll find my take on this as fair. A lot of my friend's are suffering from the effects of bad economy right now so I'm just trying to make the day go by a little more joyously through PIFting.

Also, while I totally ♥ repeat customers here's the deal with my PIFs: please only one PIF per person within 14 days of ordering your last PIF from me. I just want to be fair to everybody so I hope you understand and come back to see what else I'm offering.

Had enough? Ready for some PIF action? Click the image below and get yourself PIF'd!

P.S. I realize that most of my PIF's listings appear to be from the same manufacturer. Since this is not a sponsored blog I don't want to mention the brand. I just want to say that most of the stuff in my scrapper's box is from this company and it's not my intention to promote them. These PIFs are just PIFs! XD

Glamour Bomb's Spring Collection of Vintage Eyeglasses 2010

Oh you hipster you! I've got a couple of pairs of gorgeous vintage eyewear that are totally retro and hot in a sexy librarian kinda way. Take them to an optician to be properly fitted to your face and filled with your prescription. Available for purchase at my Etsy store.

Oh, before I forget: Come enter my my giveaway drawing here!

Glamour Bomb's Spring Collection 2010: Fascinator Hats

Now available for your fashion pleasure is my spring collection of fascinator/mini hats.

In keeping with the theme of Easter this week  I thought I'd share with you this vintage clip. While my line of fascinators would make a lovely chapeau for the spring break, they are also make quite lovely Mother's Day gifts not to mention derby hats!
Enjoy my spring collection at my Etsy shop by clicking on the image below.

Vintage Easter Greetings!

I don't usually post items I'm selling in this -- my personal blog -- because I use my shop links for items I'm selling either directly or through Etsy. I do this as a courtesy to my readers because who wants to read stuff I'm selling (which is a lot) all the time? I sure don't. Unless I'm in the mood to shop.

But today is going to be different. I'm cross-posting this gorgeous Easter Bonnet/Vintage Hat from my shop by promoting it with a with this trailer from the 1948 MGM classic Easter Parade starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. Yes, I think it ties in well with my hat promo!

Isn't this hat bomb? Click it! ➤

Enjoy this clip and if you have a moment, come admire the pretty bombdiggity bonnet I'm selling over here.

'Tis The Season

     
Has anybody missed me? No? Oh well...boo!

December is turning out to be a crazy month as I prepare to close up my real-life business in here Los Angeles. Unfortunately it has become the poster child for the new economy so I've got to downsize things a bit and find myself a real job! Then of course, it's the holidays so there's family to see, parties to go to. So yeah... my dance card is getting chockerblock and I haven't had a moment for blogging.

Funnily enough, the day I gave notice to my landlord an amazing opportunity to travel for work has come up beginning the day after New Year's. It's a two week stint so it looks like my blogging ambitions won't be back on schedule until mid-January.

I was hoping that I'd at least have the newest video portfolio of my latest contest winner to post on this blog but alas, poor girl, her laptop died and along with it all her images of her art work and then some.

So I thought I'd take this moment to do a little bit of shameless self promotion for my Etsy store, eBay listings -- oh and also my Amazon listings as well. All orders placed on or before December 31st will be shipped before my trip so don't worry that I'm going to skedaddle without making sure your purchase is on it's way to you! Click on the animated image above to be taken directly to my shop.

Hope you're all enjoying a wonderful month! Happy Holy Daze!

"Hawaiian Style" A Free Blogger Theme from Glamour Bomb

Now I did it! I done designed my own blogger theme with a free template I got at OurBlogTemplate and a color palette from ColourLovers. I call it "Hawaiian Style" and you can get the XML code and see a live demo by clicking here or on the image above.

The whole story about the theme is in the latest non-latin blog post on the live demo. I just wanted to add in this blog post that I've been feverishly working behind the scenes on my own blog re-design.

It's been challenging because I'm not a natural born geek (I don't have training in coding or web design) and I'm not a graphic artist either. If I were gainfully employed I would hire my old boyfriend at Kapow and pay him tens of thousands of dollars to make me a custom website. But the recession is hitting me hard and that's why I'm learning all I can to come up with my own.

It's a lot of work as many of you know but the experience has been priceless. Along with all the skills I'm learning I've met some incredibly talented artists and designers like Itkupilli, Yummy Lolly, Nymphont, Gisele Jaquenod (and Birdie!), Kevin and Amanda, Coastal Sisters, Susie Jefferson, Two Dresses Studio and many, many more.

So I came up with Hawaiian Style because it's a theme I haven't seen yet. Now granted, I've been spending a lot of time reading and following scrapper bloggers, mommy bloggers, mixed media bloggers and other web designers. I'm sure there are some lovely Hawaiian and tiki themed blog templates are out there. I just haven't seen them in my little neighborhood of the blogosphere so I thought I'd give it a try.

The only part I'm a little worried about is offering support if the user has trouble with it. I'm not really skilled to enough to be giving tech support but I'll certainly do my best.

So mahalo for checking out my latest offering. As always, I'd love feedback.

Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am Sports My Goggles!

Over the summer I was selling some vintage goggles in my Etsy shop that were such a huge hit with burners and steampunkers that they completely sold out.

And what do you know but Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas was sporting a pair while on tour with U2 earlier this year.

How cool is that?

You can get your own pair for $33.00 plus $6.30 S/H and PayPal convenience charge simply by clicking the button below.

UPDATE: My friend Luna-See just shared with me that one of the Midnight Ridazz is wearing a pair in this "30 Seconds to Mars" video! W00T!

Thirty Seconds To Mars - Kings + Queens - HD

30 Seconds to Mars | MySpace Video

Introducing GlamourMom

My mother taught me everything I know about being creative and getting crafty. When I was growing up she would make amazing pieces of decoupage items -- anywhere from furnishings to home decor. She also used to knit all my sweaters, sew all my Halloween costumes, fix fabulous meals, and keep a beautiful home nice and clean. After all that she would handpaint china in her free time.

GlamourMom doesn't do any of these things any more. But she's still pretty active. She works tirelessly in her garden almost everyday tending to her roses and taking delight when the hummingbirds come to feed. I've made a few videos of her when I was just starting out in vidcasting last year so I thought it would be really, REALLY fun if she would do a small tutorial series on knitting for beginners. I mean, I could do it -- she taught me how -- but it's hard filming and being the subject at the same time. So I thought I'd get my mom to do it and together we'd have some fun.

Thing is, GlamourMom doesn't want to. :/

Today my sister and I were making mixed media ACEOs and I could tell GlamourMom wanted to get in on it. She'd just stand there, watching us, pursing her lips together and squinting. So I suggested "Hey mom! Let's get you an Etsy shop!"

GlamourMom said no and shook her head. "It's too much. I don't want to," she said.

It would seem that GlamourMom is no fun. Boo!

But then, after lunch, GlamourMom came up to me and asked me if I would sell this vintage decoupage wicker tray that she made in the seventies.

"What???" I asked her incredulously. "You want to sell that?"

Personally, I didn't want to see it go. And then I realized what a doof I was being. I'm no help! My mom finally has mustered the strength to sell a piece of her own work and here I was going noooooo-don't-sell-that-gorgeous-piece-that-I'm-attached-to-and-have-fond-memories-because-it's-a family-treasure-mom!

After much backpedaling I told my mom I would sell it for her but not before I made a video -- not so much for advertising sake but for posterity's sake.

It's a really sweet piece to me. The elements came off of a pre-cut strip of decoupage sheets and you had to snip off little ends to get it out of the paper. Then she would use Mod Podge to lay it all down and when she was done finish it off with shellac. I think my mom has a way of making anything look truly magical and glamourous! It's up in my Etsy shop and in a way I sort of want it to stay there. But I know how delighted she would be if it sold and then maybe she might be inclined to take up china painting or knitting or decoupage again and open her own Etsy shop just for fun. We'll see! (Fingers crossed). XD

Some Items Currently Listed In My Etsy Shop

Here's a slideshow set to some pretty music of items I recently posted to my Etsy store. Enjoy!

Classic Vintage Eyewear - Cat Eye Style

Oh you hip vixen, you! I'm selling my styley vintage eyewear on Etsy. See a pair in this video you like? Contact me directly. Free shipping with every purchase!

Get Dready For Burning Man

Jewel tone on a black base dread falls. They're my latest work. These are not listed on Etsy so contact me directly if you would like to purchase. Price is $100.00

Features:

• Rubber bungie to attach to hair.
• About 21" long at longest point.
• Solid black yarn is 100% wool.
  
  
• Variegated blue/green/burgundy/teal yarn is 25% acrylic and 75%wool. 
• Add $10.00 for flat rate USPS Priority Mail shipping or pick up at my home.
• These falls are very light and comfortable to wear. 
• They will not pull on your scalp like a synthetic hair piece.

They'll keep you warm on a cold playa night at Burning Man because it's almost like wearing a hat and a scarf at the same time. But they also breathe, so it's not like you're going to die from heat stroke. I've worn them in the middle of an August day in the Black Rock Desert with ease and comfort.

Please note: in compliance with federal, state and local sanitation laws NO RETURNS/NO REFUNDS ARE ACCEPTED.

I have excellent feedback on Etsy. 100% positive!

Classic Vintage Eyewear - Cat Eye Style

* Arm: 5 1/2

* Frame: 44/24

* Color: Brown and Copper

* Plastic and metal etched frame

Available on Etsy!

Steampunk Goggles

Now available at my Etsy shop!

Perfect eye protection from dust and wind at Burning Man.

Vintage Chartreuse Lace Evening Gown/Prom Dress

This gorgeous gown is in excellent shape. It appears this gown was custom tailored as there are no manufacturer labels. It is a solid well constructed garment with no rips or tears.

Details as follows:

- Taffeta and lace construction with princess seams.
- Scoop collar.
- Cap sleeves.
- Sequined waist band with applique and rhinestones.
- Hook and eye closure on zippered back.
- 50's/early 60s style skirt.

Measurements:

- 19" across bust (from armpit seam to armpit seam).
- 14.5" across waist.
- 36.5" skirt length from waist.

Notes: This dress fits me well and comfortably. It is designed in a flattering silhouette that works great on all figures. For example: I am extremely pear-shaped with a size 5-7 top (depending on cut) and a size 10 pant. My bust is a 34. The dress makes me feel so glamorous as the design makes me look balanced and curvy. This item is vintage and may require dry cleaning.

Available on Etsy here.