Dance Party Friday! British Version

Oh come on, you know I had to, right? Here are some songs by some of my favorite Brits. Forgive me if I've played them for DPF already.

From my favorite album of theirs, Sgt. Pepper's


Listen to this song in the dark. Very, very loud. Just lay down and let it wash over you.


Leave the lights off but get up and rock out to this one. Do the wop.


I WANT TO BE IN THIS BAND.


If we're facebook friends, you know I post this just about once a week. It never gets old.


George Michael makes great dance music but I highly, highly recommend you check out his album, "Listen Without Prejudice". A departure from the Wham! sound, really good stuff.


Like I said - amazing album. People really shouldn't cover Stevie but this is an amazing, amazing version. If you turned your lights on, turn them back off and listen to this. You can lay down or maybe just stand there and sway.


Ok, so Glen Hansard is Irish but Market Irglova is from the Czech Republic. Still. Amazing song. Sounds tame at first but then they kill everything. Listen loud. I keep saying that, don't I?


I can't say Hot Chip is a favorite band of mine - I only know this song - but this is the bomb. Give it a chance and let it grow on you. You'll be surprised at how much you like it.


Love this band that just kept going!


Top 5 band. Love them so. Not a fan of Sting solo, though.


Dance! Dance! Dance! Don't worry. I won't tell Morrissey that you're happy.


Not my very favorite by them (I know I've posted it like 37 times - Gangsters) but great nonetheless. Stop your messing around!


Fell in love with this band in jr. high through a friend, lost them and found them again in college. Never lost them again.


What can I say? All around great pop. Such great songwriters!! Don't think you remember this song - listen to it again, really listen to all of it.


Oh, Fran. *jr high crush sigh*


It's really spelled Elenore, but this recording is good. Listen to it loud and sing along.


From their very best album, War.

Who did I forget?

What’s wrong with FUN every once in a while?

Maaawwwage . . . is wot bwings us tooogevvah today. Wuv . . . TWOO WUV.

So, about this whole Royal Wedding bizness. A lot of people have been talking about it recently. In real life and online, I see person after person getting upset and complaining about all the attention being paid to this event. Yes, some people are taking it too far. Yes, however much has been spent on it is ridiculous (and I’m a big fan of focusing on the marriage more than the wedding and going simple – my entire wedding cost less than $1K and 70% of it was the food at the reception). Yes, (insert various statements about the outdated monarchy and spectacle and wars/poverty/serious issues that should be our focus). Yes, yes, yes.

However! If you think paying attention to the Royal Wedding is completely stupid, enough that you are going to Tweet, Facebook, blog, email or face-to-face talk shit about it . . . I’m gonna need you to ALSO stop talking about:

Real Housewives of (insert locale here), Oprah, The Super Bowl, NCAA basketball tourneys, The Bachelor, RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Office, Twilight, Harry Potter, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Any Major Box Office Movie, Any Major Concert, Anything on E!, Bravo, MTV, Vh1, BET, ESPN, Trashy Novels, Jon & Kate, OctoMom, The Hills, America’s Next Top Model, and so on.

If you still want to talk about those things? On a weekly basis? Then you really need to stop talking shit on people who have been entertained by Royal Wedding madness. Because that’s what it ALL is. It’s ALL over-the-top, stupid expensive, priorities-in-the-wrong-place-you-could-be-doing-something-more-productive-with-your-time ENTERTAINMENT.

I don’t care if you think the Royal Wedding is completely stupid, that doesn’t bother me. I promise you, I’ve been having fun tweeting silly stuff with the #TinfoilTiaraBrigade, but the Royal Wedding means nothing in the grand scheme of my life. What bothers me is that every single person that I have heard moaning about the Royal Wedding also spends a significant amount of time - on a regular basis - being ENTERTAINED by the various things in that list above. So why is their shallow, expensive, mind-numbing crap any better than my shallow, expensive, mind-numbing crap?

At least my shallow, expensive, mind-numbing crap has insanely gorgeous architecture!

Westminster Abbey, y’all.

Watch the first few seconds of this video to see the BEAUTIFUL way they decked out the inside of Westminster Abbey with TREES!! The whole video shows amazingl shot after shot. Here are a few stills I pulled from that video:

And crazy-ass hats! Note Fergie’s daughter in the first row of people standing, in the pale pink, with the Medusa joint on top of her head.

AP Photo from here.

So – chill. It’s pretty, sparkly fun. You like your pretty sparkly fun, too. You know you do.

A dinosaur ate my Elmer’s prize pack. That jerk.

A while back I was following along with the #craftsocial tweet chat hosted by @SisterDiane and @penguintrax, and noticed that trivia questions were being asked. The first person to answer correctly was winning a prize from @CraftTestDummy – a prize pack from Elmer’s Glue! So when I saw the question: Why is glue sticky? (along with the hint that the answer was on the Elmer’s website), I scrambled over and searched until I found the answer (it’s the polymers and tackifiers).

I responded, and won! An Elmer’s prize pack! And then! A while later! My prize pack came in the mail!

I’m excited about what as in the prize pack, basically for 2 reasons:

1. These items will help me with some newbie paper-crafting projects I’ve been wanting to try lately, and . . .

2. I am always running out of sticky stuff and so these things will come in handy in a pinch when I need to glue something back together. Just keepin’ it real, y’all.

I do intend to do something crafty with this stuff, and will put it on the blog! Until then, you get the photo shoot of my winnings, propped up by the things I had closest to me at the time – a handful of my 3-year-old’s toys.

First, a lovely Craft Test Dummies sticker. Maybe this will go on my sewing machine, the way rock stars put stickers on their guitars!

Here’s all my swag. But let’s take a closer, more personal look, shall we?

T-Rex and Weird McDonald’s Toy have been watching Wonder Pets. What’s gonna work? Teeeeeamwork! They’re putting their eons-old differences aside for one night, much like when the Crips and Bloods of Los Angeles came together for a unifying hip hop album. It was basically just like that. All in the name of an Elmer’s Dot Runner. I’ve used a dot runner before – they give you these little dots of stickiness that help you adhere two small, lightweight things together. Like a small paper flower for your scrapbook or handmade card.

T-Rex was being especially helpful during this photo shoot. I don’t know, it could be guilt over the bloodshed he’s been a part of. The thing is, T-Rex, it’s who you are. You were born that way. Don’t fight the feeling. You are beautiful, no matter what they say – WORDS CAN’T BRING YOU DOWN! Ok, so the tape runner. I haven’t used this sucker yet but I think it’s probably a skinny strip of tape, possibly double-sided, again to be used for scrapbooking & whatnot. Let’s all give a big round of applause to T-Rex! Thank you, buddy.

 

X-Acto knife! Great for cutting scapbook paper . . . AND FOOLS. Also note the boxing glove – only one of 4 in our home – I hope this photo sends a message. You know what message I’m trying to send. That’s right: Don’t mess with my Cool Ranch Doritos.

         

Uh . . . ok.

(Isn’t it funny how I pretend I am just watching this as it happens to me, when in fact I staged, photographed, edited, uploaded, re-sized, arranged, captioned and published the whole thing?) (Oh, and do I really need to explain what glue sticks do?)

“But Ashley”, you say. “I thought you were using your 3-year-old’s TOYS as props along with the items you won. That’s a black Sharpie.”

I’ll just let that sink in.

Photo Corners . . . well, they help you attach photos to scrapbook pages – pretty on the front, sticky on the back! Kind of like . . . ok, I won’t go there.

Finally – MAMA’S PROP. It was PROPelled into her mouth.

Thanks Craft Test Dummies, for sending me the Elmer’s prize pack! I promise to do SOMETHING crafty with it all and not just use it to stick grocery lists to my fridge.

Confronting Racism – The Wrong Way

A week or two ago, I came across a link in Twitter that led me to an article detailing a poll. The article’s headline stated that half of Mississippi Republicans thought interracial marriage should be illegal.

I was immediately angry. I clicked through to the featured poll to see exactly what was asked. It turns out that only 400 people were polled and the poll was primarily asking participants which local candidates they supported. There was only one unrelated question, and it asked if the participants believed interracial marriage should be banned. I believe 46% (so just under 200 people) said it should be banned. A smaller number said it should not be banned and another group said they weren’t sure.

I don’t know much about polling organizations so I had no idea whether this was a credible source, but after noting that only 400 people had been polled and only one random question asked about interracial marriage, I thought the headline – generalizing that half of Mississippi Republicans (i.e. likely a significant portion of the state) wanted interracial marriage to be illegal – was at the very least inflammatory. It was pretty obvious that the polling organization and news source was hoping to draw a tie between the Southern GOP and racism.

I didn’t really care. I was pissed, knowing that there are a hell of a lot more than 200 people in our world that believe these things. I re-tweeted the article and posted it on Facebook. I noted on Facebook that I thought the headline was inflammatory, but invited my Facebook friends to remove themselves from a relationship with me if they believed my marriage should be illegal. Oh yeah, readers – if you didn’t know, I’m White, my husband is Black and our three kids are both.

A friend commented and pointed out that the poll’s credibility was in question. I agreed, but stated that my point wasn’t to throw mud on Mississippi Republicans, rather to state clearly that I didn’t want to be in a relationship with people who thought my marriage should be illegal.

A couple people commented about how much racism sucks. Then an old friend – someone I haven’t been in touch with since the late 90s except for a couple short “Hi, how are you”s on Facebook – commented about how much he disliked news items like this. He stated that he believed that these “issues” were nothing but media hype and that it was only the media keeping them alive. If media would shut up about it all for a while, we’d see that the very next generation would have no racism at all.

At this point, I was already regretting having posted the article & poll. I knew I’d made a mistake trying to use sensational faux-science to make my point and that it hadn’t really added any credibility to my point. I could have just written a simple status with no link attached, asking friends & family to remove me if they believe in an interracial marriage ban. I only barely owned up to this mistake and instead responded to the old friend, noting a few anecdotal and personal experiences with racism that had no connection to media hype whatsoever.

I mentioned the time a family member (through marriage) gave me a lecture on how there are Black people and there are niggers. I noted that people have said to my children (in front of me, even) that they are lucky to have turned out so light skinned. Like me. Not like their Dad. I reminded him that there are still churches in the U.S. that teach that interracial marriages aren’t blessed by God (and no, I’m not talking about Westboro Baptist). I didn’t mention that these same churches teach that the products of interracial relationships – you know, MY KIDS – are also exempt from blessings until something like 7 generations have passed. I.E. once one or the other race has likely been bred out (at least visibly). These aren’t churches affiliated with militia groups, they’re regular conservative, Bible-belt churches that don’t consider their beliefs racist. I told him that if he lives in a world where racism only exists in the media, then he was a lucky guy. That wasn’t my reality and it wasn’t bound to be the reality of my grandchildren, even if the media never said another word about racism.

The old friend backpedaled a bit – he said that those things were said by ignorant people and he was sorry they’d happened to me. He said he hates when someone tries to draw a correlation between things he considers unrelated (the GOP and racism) and that is what he was responding to.

I think the truth is that we each responded hotheadedly to something that pushed our personal buttons. I knew I was posting a poll that lacked credibility and he pretended that racism only exists in the minds of people who are out to get his political party . . . each of us had our own real problems we could have been more forthright about.

I could have said, “If you think my marriage – and more importantly the lives of my children – should be illegal, that cuts me to my soul and I don’t want you looking at pictures of my family, of these children, I don’t want you thinking evil things about us and pretending to be someone who loves me. I don’t want to see you one day, with my family, and have you say something really hurtful that means nothing to you but will be etched on their hearts forever. I want to protect us from that so please get out of my life.” But I didn’t.

He could have said, “I believe in my party’s ideals and I don’t agree with racism and it really bothers me that you see a link between the two. I’m so tired of being labeled a racist just because I’m fiscally conservative . . . when you say something about the GOP, you’re referring to me as a member, and I resent that because I don’t believe those things. It would be one thing if your poll had any credibility, but it doesn’t. So you’re pointing a finger at me for something that was actually concocted with the intent to deceive.” But he didn’t.

I was sick to my stomach all night over this – oh, I’ll fight for what I believe in, but the conflict tears me up – and in the morning, what made me feel so bad was this: My actions added weight to the belief that racism only exists in media hype. Besides the handful of people who commented on the poll, how many others read the headline, saw my upset response, noted the comments about the poll’s lack of credibility, and thought, “Yep. Just another example of someone crying ‘racism’ where it doesn’t really exist”?

I left one more comment that morning, a long one – and then I deleted the status, poll and comments. I told a story about an old friend, who, upon hearing that I’d gotten married, allegedly gave only this response: “I can’t believe Ashley married a Black guy.” I don’t know whether that guy really said this, it was told to me second-hand. But I believed it. I was shocked and hurt – from his family, friends and community I’d expect that sort of response, but from him? No way. I also hadn’t been in contact with him since the late 90s, so when he found me on Facebook last year, I didn’t want to get into it. “Oh, hi, old friend! By the way, did you express regret over my marrying a Black guy?” That’s an uncomfortable conversation. Confronting someone who has hurt you is uncomfortable. Talking about race is uncomfortable. But I should have done it, because when I saw that poll, I thought of that guy. I thought of the fact that I never asked him if he said that, I went ahead & added him on Facebook, and he had access to pictures of my family. What does he think when he looks at them? When I posted that poll, I was speaking to him and any others like him.

Except I wasn’t doing it with any courage.

I thought about all of this again last week after reading a couple articles about a GOP official in Orange County, CA, who sent out a Birther-themed email showing President Obama as a chimpanzee. The photo’s caption said something like, “Now we know why there’s no birth certificate.” The official was  denounced by her local GOP chairperson and she was asked to resign her position (apparently the most they can do TO her is censure her). She has refused to resign. She initially said she didn’t see anything racist about the email, that it was strictly political. She said she isn’t racist, she has “Black friends”. This has been in the news and Friday she issued an apology, stating that she hadn’t considered the historical ramifications of comparing Black people to apes, and that she’s sorry for offending anyone.

You know what I wanted to do? I wanted to post that article on Facebook. I wanted to post it right on that guy’s page who said this stuff only exists in media hype. I wanted to hear him try to explain away how what she sent out wasn’t really racist. I wanted to tell him that this is why racism isn’t going anywhere. We have parents. And pastors. And elected officials. Teaching their children, congregations and constituents that racism is ok. THIS is why racism is around, not because the liberal media has it out for the GOP.

But I think I burned that bridge. I could make the most eloquent, educated, practical argument, I could send him story after story of For Real Racism, and I don’t think it would matter. He already has a belief growing in his mind that racism is just a story people make up when they don’t get what they want. And I fertilized that belief.

Dance Party Friday! GIRL GROUPS Edition

The other day something made me think of Danity Kane, the defunct Making The Band girl group. Man, I don't know if I can express how much I loved every season of that freaking show. And I mean going all the way back to when it was on ABC and those O-Town fools were on it. And yes, I watched the Ashley Angel show on MTV that one season too. But Dan from O-Town was my favorite, I loved his electronic-ish voice and dude could DANCE.

But I digress . . .

Anyway - today's Dance Party Friday is gonna be devoted to Girl Groups. I'm taking requests, too.

Of course, kicking off the party, none other than DK:

Not a dance track, but their best.

Oh Lawd. This is making me thinkg of Xscape, Aaliyah . . . I can see I'm gonna have to do a lotta themes in the future to capture all this great music.


This song stands on its own, but tell me you didn't fall in love with Hugh Grant a little bit as he rocked out to it in Love, Actually. Tell me you didn't.


This song is so melancholy and wistful. Sigh. I love it.


Ok, just ignore Common and focus on Eryka Badu/Jill Scott. They KILL. And get this DVD if you don't have it yet.


My favorite song by one of my top 5 favorite groups. Hope to see them live again soon! Singalongs at their concerts are better than any other, anywhere! IG fans, you know it's true.


More sighs. Love this song.


Good two-stepping song. I miss two-stepping!!


Ok, I know this is an obvious choice for this group, but it's such a dang good song! And this was THE skating rink song in the 4th grade and I was just talking to someone about going skating, and I saw them perform this live last summer SO I'M POSTING IT!


Man, I was a big fan of this group. Up until No Scrubs.


First request! It came with a slap on the hand for forgetting this group. ;)

Etsy Gameface Update: Packaging and Promotion

I’ve been writing about things I’ve done recently to improve my Etsy shop. You can read about my updates to Facebook, blogging and Twitter . . . my involvement with handmade artists who promote great causes . . . and coming up with a full-fledged brand and new products for my shop.

Today’s post will focus on some small updates I want to make to my packaging and promotion. I already like my packaging and am not going to change too much about it right now. However, there are some small things I can do that will give a bit more to my customers and be a little more eco-friendly. Many of these changes will also involve ways I can promote my shop.

Currently, my packaging consists of the purchased item, a card with a handwritten note on a cute card, a business card, a flier with information about the organization I donate 10% to, and it’s all tied up with a cute ribbon. Each of these items either has specific information for the customer and/or can be used again for their own purposes. Back when I was planning to open my shop, I wanted to use brown paper bags for both my business cards and for my shipping envelopes. I ended up scrapping both ideas – the biz cards didn’t print up nice enough and the envelopes fell apart too easily. I ended up going with Moo mini cards, which are BEAUTIFUL, but expensive and 6”x9” Tyvek envelopes. So far, I’m very pleased with the Tyvek envelopes – they’re just the right size and no one has complained of an item being damaged through the envelope.

Old pics of a batch of Moo cards from 2 years ago!

I would like to begin including more than one business card in my packages, and handing them out more freely to people in person. So far, I’ve been very stingy with my cards because they’re so expensive. I think that I would rather have a less awesome card that I can get many of. For example, I believe I read one shop owner’s report that she purchased 2,000 cards from one business card company, for the same price that I got 100 Moo cards for!

I would like to start offering both information about the org I’m donating to on a flier and information on my Facebook fan page, blog and Twitter account. I’d like the flier to include a special discount code that returning customers can use. If I can get the printing to work well, I’ll use paper bags for these fliers, as I have access to a lot of them through my employer from the various catered events we host.

There are some promotional events I hope to explore with my blog, Twitter and Facebook fan page. I still need to find a way to promote having people post a photo of their purchased cozy on my Facebook page. My friend Ngan of eNVe Jewelry had the great idea of entering everyone who posts a photo on her page into a contest to win credit in her shop. I think I’m going to steal her idea (pretty sure she won’t mind) and make sure to include that on the flier that goes along with each purchase to a customer. I’m also thinking about doing some shop credit giveaways for participation in polls. I think it would also be fun to do something regularly that isn’t necessarily shop-related, but fun. Maybe I could ask people to tell their favorite joke or tell me who their celebrity crush is . . . something lighthearted, you know?

Awesome pic left on my Facebook page by friends Scott and Rosemary of Blueorder Art & Photography, one of my favorite Etsy shops. Check out their shop, Facebook & Blog!

These are the main things I am hoping to implement in the next few months, especially before my busy holiday shopping season that starts in November.

What are you working on to improve your shop or blog?

ABC’s of Me

 

Baaaaa. <----- Me as a sheep. You see, I’ve not only written this post just because I saw others doing it (ok, it looked like fun, I love these memes), but I’m posting it today, even though I already have a blog post today, and even though I planned on posting it next week, JUST ~ BECAUSE ~ EVERYONE ~ ELSE ~ RECENTLY ~ POSTED ~ THEIRS!

A. Age:  33! It’s one of those years where I have to think for a minute – I want to say 32, but that seems wrong, then I want to say 34, but that seems wrong. Must be 33. And am I the only one who, when seeing the word “must”, thinks, “I Must, I Must, I Must Increase My Bust!”? THANK YOU, JUDY BLUME. FOR NOTHING BUT A LIFETIME OF TORMENT BECAUSE THE WORD MUST IS ALL OVER THE PLACE.

B. Bed size: Queen. Somehow I get edged into using only about 6 inches of it, I spend all night almost falling off the side. My husband is bed-greedy, but it’s when he’s asleep so there’s not much that can help.

C. Chore you hate the most: Putting stuff away. I will happily scrub, launder, iron, sort, clear out . . . but once something is all sparkly & ready to go, I’m gonna need you to put it away for me. Or it will sit there in the laundry basket or the dish rack or on the couch. Forever and ever, Amen.

D. Dogs?  I enjoy them think they’re great companions. For someone else. AND NO IT DOESN’T MEAN I HAVE NO SOUL OR HATE ANIMALS. Just don’t want to live with them. (Can you tell people have said these things to me before?)

E. Essential Start To Your Day  Reading a few tweets on my phone while I pee before getting in the shower. At work, coffee. Weekends, sleeping well past the start of the day.

F. Favorite Color  My long-time favorite is RED but for a while now I’ve been in love with various shades of aqua. And I love those together. My wardrobe, however, has lots of black, white, charcoal, with colorful cardigans.

 Chalcedony and Garnet Necklace by Karina Grace Jewelry on Etsy

G. Gold or Silver Silver. I do think rose gold is pretty on occasion.

H. Height  4'10" – Yes. I am really, really short. I rarely notice it and have decided it’s because I look in people’s faces when I talk to them. If I constantly looked at their abdomen/chest, I might notice it more. I get surprised in mirrors & windows when standing next to people who are lots taller than me. “HOLY CRAP, DO YOU REALIZE HOW SHORT I AM?!”

I. Instrument You Play Piano, but I rarely play anymore, mainly because I have a keyboard WITHOUT weighted keys and no pedals and booooooo. Real pianos rock. I played clarinet in junior high but gave up band to be a high school pommie (practice was at the same time, I’d have done both if I could’ve). I can play a couple chords on the guitar and am always saying I’m going to learn to play it for real, soon.

J. Job? I have a low-totem-pole job in a high-totem-pole department in a graduate school. My job is to support my boss in his endeavors (he is overflowing with endeavors) and to be a know-it-all so I can alert people to problems and how one decision will impact something else.

 Merchandise Mart in Chicago, by re4mado at Etsy. See the dark building on the right edge of the coaster? That’s where I work.

K. Kids: I have 3 kids, ages 11, 9 and 3. They’re beautiful, smart, talented, funny and kind. I feel like I won the kid lottery and am scared of what horrible episode of Law & Order: SVU might become of our lives because really? They can’t stay that awesome forever, can they?

L. Live? I live in suburban Chicago in an area that is mixed re: class, race and ethnicity, which is important to me.

M. Mom's Name? Peggy.

N. Nickname: No matter where I go, people end up calling me A-Ray. Sometimes Ash and sometimes AshRay. One co-worker calls me AshBoo. Also, “going A-Ray” on yourself means to cut your own hair.

O. Overnight Stay At Hospital? 3 Kids, 3 overnight stays for their births.

P. Pet Peeve  General rudeness. Not holding doors open for people, not saying “thank you”, “you’re welcome”, “excuse me”, not returning your shopping cart to the cart corral. OOHH!!! When people are jerks to waiters or other service providers, because they’re seen as “less than”.

Q. Quote From a Movie: “I HATE YOU AND I HATE YOUR ASS FACE!” Corky St. Clair, *Waiting for Guffman* (best movie eveeeeerrrrrrrrrrr). Also, “You’re bastard people!”

There should be a needlepoint with that line. I would insert the picture here. Instead I’ll give you a photo of Corky in his memorabilia shop. Not shown is his Remains of the Day lunchbox.

R. Right or Left Handed? Right. No good stories about this.

S. Siblings? A plethora of steps and ex-steps and Halfs-I’ve-Never-Met. The two that are still around: Andy & Mike.

T. Time You Wake Up First phone alarm: 6am. Second phone alarm: 6:09. Third phone alarm: 6:20. Occasional fourth phone alarm: 6:40.

U. Underwear Yes. I have unnerwears (as my 3 year old calls them) and I wear them.

V. Veggies You Hate: Cooked greens. Brussel sprouts, spinach, cabbage, collards, BLECH. I can deal with that stuff IN stuff, like spinach in lasagna, cabbage in Bierocks or eggrolls. But on it’s own? Stinkey grossness. EW. Also, no one up here in Chicago has ever heard of a Bierock (BEER-rock). What the hell, dudes? It’s a hot pocket of beef & cabbage from Eastern Europe, how does Chicago not know this??

Ze Beirock

W. What Makes You Run Late? Getting involved in something and zoning out and losing track of time. Sorry, y’all.

X. X-rays You've Had Broke my pinkie as a kid, sure I had one then. Various teeth x-rays. Sprained my big toe really bad during a Grease teaser for the local high school, got one then, couldn’t believe it wasn’t broken because my whole foot was so swollen and purple/black. Also, when my son had to go for various scans due to his brain cysts (long story, he’s fine), I had to hold him and get scanned myself because they needed him perfectly still but the sedation wouldn’t work and he’d only be still if he was sleeping on me (he was a baby). So I went in the MRI tube with him laying on me.

Y. Yummy Food You Make? I make a mean turkey and green bean casserole. Invite me over for Thanksgiving.

Z. Zoo Fun, I love the big cats, apes, otters, penguins . . . but I feel bad. I don’t know much about zoos, I assume they’re not as bad as circuses, and maybe zoo save animal lives, but I still feel bad. The life in a cage or exhibit isn’t what they’d have in the wild. Eh.

Also: I’m tired of my bangs so I’m not wearing them anymore. A plus to curly hair is that it’s easy to make stuff blend.

 Taken in my regular portrait studio – the office bathroom.

Etsy Gameface Update: Branding and New Products

I hope you’ve been reading along this week as I detail work I’ve done in recent months to improve my Etsy shop and overall experience! You can read entries about Facebook/blogging/Twitter here and handmade philanthropic efforts here. Next – branding and new products!

I asked a graphic designer to help me with branding. This involves coming up with a clear idea of what my brand is suppose to say and developing a look for my shop that will extend to this blog, my Facebook fan page, Twitter account and print materials like business cards. I was already going to my friend Kelli for advice, and decided to ask her to officially help me. Thank goodness she agreed! The great thing about Kelli (well, besides the fact that she’s pure awesome-sauce) is that she knows me personally. Obviously that isn’t a requirement for doing good work for a person, but it sure sets my mind at ease. There are things I won’t necessarily have to explain to Kelli, because she knows me and has seen my shop in action since I started it. I know Kelli because we used to work together – she managed creative services for our employer. I’ve seen her work and I trust her 100%. Now she’s working on her own small business as a freelance designer and I’m excited not only for what she can do for my shop, but what I can do to promote her work to others.

Miss K as the parrot for the High Five Chiditarod team. See, she's all pretty & colorful and stuff. Perfect for doing my designs!

So far, we’ve talked a bit about the direction I want to go in and I’ve sent poor Kelli these horribly long, rambling emails telling her the 37,000 different things I want my Etsy logo to say to someone who doesn’t know anything about me or my shop. Seriously, y’all, pray for Kelli.

I’ve been working on new products for my shop. I have to tell you, this has been really challenging, in both exciting and frustrating ways. The exciting part is putting my brain to work, thinking about what new products I’d be excited to make and sell in my shop, experimenting with materials and methods of construction and getting feedback from my friends who are testing the products. The frustrating part? Coming up with something that really, really works and makes sense to be sold in the same shop as my current items.

Whatever could it be?

My first new item (an accessory to be worn) that I began sending to friends for feedback had mixed reviews. Everyone was excited about the concept and liked the look, and the work seems to be sound (i.e. they didn’t fall apart). The problems are that I can’t seem to come up with a universal fit and they don’t stay put as they should. I’m not sure if I can come up with solutions to these problems. I’m thinking about a couple changes – the construction would stay the same but the shape would be different and I might use slightly different materials.

I have another item I’m interested in adding to the shop that hasn’t been tested by as many people, but hasn’t run into as many problems. I think if I can get a few more of these out to people to test – and can get over a roadblock of . . . ok, let’s call it what it is – laziness – I will feel confident about putting this item into my shop.

I also have some ideas of things I could introduce to the shop, but haven’t even tried making yet, for a couple of reasons. One is that I’m plain old scared to try something new. I got some courage a while ago, which is how I got to my previously mentioned new items . . . but my courage has run out and now I’m back to being scared that a new item won’t do well. What if everyone just thinks I should stick to cozies? What if I do a big unveiling of my new products and no one buys them? What if I sell a bunch and they fall apart and I get bad reviews?

Fraidy Cat

Another reason I hesitate to make new items is that I’ve been bitten with the “but this isn’t original enough” bug. I’m not saying this is a bad bug to be bitten by (say that 8 times, fast), but it’s not great when you’ve pledged to yourself that you’re going to introduce new items to your shop this year, and every day you see new handmade items that make you feel so very, very unoriginal. I’m feeling very “can’t see the forest for the trees”, you know? Sure, the people who are testing my items think they’re super cool, but will other handmade artists? Hmm . . . who buys my stuff, anyway? Methinks I might need to relax a bit. Youthinks that too? Yeah.

Coming up next – things I want to do to improve my shop, but haven’t . . . yet!

Have you developed a brand? Is it easy for you to come up with new products for you shop? What process do you use to determine whether you should add them?

Etsy Gameface Update: Handmade Philanthropy

I’ve set some goals for myself, hoping to make improvements to my Etsy shop and things connected to my shop. You can read about the way I’ve stepped up my game with Facebook, blogging and Twitter here. Want to know what else I’ve been doing? Read on!

I’ve gotten more involved in philanthropic efforts in the handmade community. I’ve been donating 10% of my Etsy sales to charity since opening my shop, have done special promotions in my shop where all sales were donated to crisis relief efforts and have donated items from my shop to things like auctions and giveaways for good causes.

Upcycled Vintage Necklace, donated by skeptis to the Love For Japan shop.

Over the last month, I’ve been exposed to a lot more people who are doing great handmade work for good causes. It started when I was talking to handmade people, trying to figure out what we could do to help raise money for relief efforts in Japan. I have been so impressed by how many handmade artists and bloggers have stepped up to donate time, money and their art to help those in need. I was able to participate in a Twitter chat devoted to using handmade shops and blogs for philanthropy, and through that, became connected to a blogger/shop owner who was organizing an effort to spend the month of April focusing on blogs and shops that donate to great causes.

You’ve seen me blog about both of these big efforts – the Love For Japan shop and the Handmade With Purpose blog. Both of these efforts highlight the giving spirit and wonderful artistry of MANY people and it’s been an honor to be involved in each. I feel that I’ve found something I can stay passionate about and want to continue in this direction.

Sunshine/Grey gathered clutch, by MoxieMandie, who is donating a portion of sales in April as part of Handmade With Purpose

I’ve also been really fortunate to be connected to a great organization for my sales donations. Once a year I select a new org to donate to, and this year’s org, the Emergency Fund, has been extremely receptive to my interest. I’ve been in touch with a contact from their development (fundraising) department and am excited to have been invited to attend an event of theirs and get to know their organization better – and it’s been less than a month since I approached them about donating sales to them this year!

So – with these 3 major things happening all at once and so recently, I’ve been on a bit of a “handmade philanthropy” high and feel like this may be something I can really grow into. Even when I feel like I’m in a rut creatively or am just not in the mood to sew or knit, I get instantly energized when I hear about a cause that needs promotion. Lindsay from the Handmade With Purpose blog and I have talked about putting together a “How To” series for handmade philanthropy, which will hopefully come to fruition soon. Maybe someone is trying to tell me something?

There’s still more to say about my efforts to improve my shop, so keep an eye out!

Has your shop been involved in any philanthropic efforts? How was your experience? Do you have any questions or concerns about getting involved in stuff like this?

Etsy Gameface Update: Facebook, Twitter and Blogging

I’ve been evaluating my Etsy shop (and all things related) for a while now, and have a list of improvements to make, pretty much all the time. Some I find time to work on, others I don’t. Some I decide I don’t want to implement after all and some I would like to put into action but just can’t figure out how or don’t have the money yet.

I wrote a short series of blog posts a couple months about overhauling my shop, and much of that I haven’t yet had the chance to do. Like every other aspect of life, sometimes things get in the way. Today I’m going to tell you about some of the things I’ve been able to work on.

I’ve begun posting a lot more on my Facebook fan page. I post something almost every day, Monday-Friday. I’ve also begun to comment on other fan pages with my fan page account rather than my personal account. When I first began posting more on Facebook, I felt discouraged because still, I got very little response from anyone on the things I’d post. I stuck with it, though, and people have been commenting more! I credit this to my thinking more about the sort of things my “fans” would like to read, and because I’ve been interacting more with other fan page owners on their pages.

I still would like to see more activity on my Facebook page, so I will continue to monitor what people respond to most often. I would like to do some more behind-the-scenes posts, including photos, as I’ve both seen a good response when I do things like this, and have also heard from social media afficionados that fans really enjoy this. My downfall? Poor preparation. To do behind-the-scenes, I need to do at least a *little bit* of planning, and honestly, most of my Facebook posting has been spur-of-the-moment stuff.

I’ve expanded who I interact with online, mainly via blogs and Twitter. The truth is that crafting and handmade is NOT my life and has never been my main interest, it is only ONE interest of mine. I’m also very interested in music, social justice issues (especially race and class stuff), history, faith/religion, and back-to-basics/natural lifestyles (especially the domestic arts and pregnancy/childbirth). The thing is, this little corner of my online world didn’t reflect those interests very much. If you knew the “rest” of my online world – my locked LiveJournal and Facebook, you’d have seen all this stuff in abundance. But this blog and my Twitter account had been underutilized until recent months, and then I decided to get more involved online for Etsy stuff, so I suppose it’s natural that I started off by surrounding myself with nothing but craft/handmade blogs and Twitter accounts. Anyway, the purpose of this blog and my Twitter account is not just to highlight what I’m doing in the handmade world, but to also invite customers, handmade peers and friends into the rest of my interests. I want people to know the whole me, or at least a little bit of every part of me.

Having said that, I didn’t write up a list and say, “Ok, Ashley, today you’re going to go find a blog or Twitter account that writes a lot about interracial marriage". Rather, when I’d come across something like that, I’d follow the trail it took me on, and maybe that trail would lead me to a collective blog, and from that collective blog, I’d end up following 3 blogs that write a lot about interracial families. The next week, my friend who’s studying to become a doula might point me toward a natural childbirth article, which caused me to follow the author in Twitter.

It’s said a lot in the handmade community (and most others, I’m sure) that you should really enjoy what you’re doing, or there isn’t a point. Well, I both want to share the stuff I’m doing in the handmade world with my friends and peers in my other interest areas, and I want to bring new topics of thought and discussion to my handmade peers and friends. Already I’ve been able to get involved in handmade philanthropy and have been exposed to so many great causes, and have been able to spread the word to others.

Ok, I think that’s enough for today! I’ve got more to write about – both what I’ve worked on so far and what I still want to do soon (hopefully). Stay tuned!

Have you thought about why and how you want to use an online presence for your shop? Do you mix personal with business online? Have you found it easy or a struggle to maintain or find the right balance?

Etsy Gameface Update: Facebook, Twitter and Blogging

I’ve been evaluating my Etsy shop (and all things related) for a while now, and have a list of improvements to make, pretty much all the time. Some I find time to work on, others I don’t. Some I decide I don’t want to implement after all and some I would like to put into action but just can’t figure out how or don’t have the money yet.

I wrote a short series of blog posts a couple months about overhauling my shop, and much of that I haven’t yet had the chance to do. Like every other aspect of life, sometimes things get in the way. Today I’m going to tell you about some of the things I’ve been able to work on.

I’ve begun posting a lot more on my Facebook fan page. I post something almost every day, Monday-Friday. I’ve also begun to comment on other fan pages with my fan page account rather than my personal account. When I first began posting more on Facebook, I felt discouraged because still, I got very little response from anyone on the things I’d post. I stuck with it, though, and people have been commenting more! I credit this to my thinking more about the sort of things my “fans” would like to read, and because I’ve been interacting more with other fan page owners on their pages.

I still would like to see more activity on my Facebook page, so I will continue to monitor what people respond to most often. I would like to do some more behind-the-scenes posts, including photos, as I’ve both seen a good response when I do things like this, and have also heard from social media afficionados that fans really enjoy this. My downfall? Poor preparation. To do behind-the-scenes, I need to do at least a *little bit* of planning, and honestly, most of my Facebook posting has been spur-of-the-moment stuff.

I’ve expanded who I interact with online, mainly via blogs and Twitter. The truth is that crafting and handmade is NOT my life and has never been my main interest, it is only ONE interest of mine. I’m also very interested in music, social justice issues (especially race and class stuff), history, faith/religion, and back-to-basics/natural lifestyles (especially the domestic arts and pregnancy/childbirth). The thing is, this little corner of my online world didn’t reflect those interests very much. If you knew the “rest” of my online world – my locked LiveJournal and Facebook, you’d have seen all this stuff in abundance. But this blog and my Twitter account had been underutilized until recent months, and then I decided to get more involved online for Etsy stuff, so I suppose it’s natural that I started off by surrounding myself with nothing but craft/handmade blogs and Twitter accounts. Anyway, the purpose of this blog and my Twitter account is not just to highlight what I’m doing in the handmade world, but to also invite customers, handmade peers and friends into the rest of my interests. I want people to know the whole me, or at least a little bit of every part of me.

Having said that, I didn’t write up a list and say, “Ok, Ashley, today you’re going to go find a blog or Twitter account that writes a lot about interracial marriage". Rather, when I’d come across something like that, I’d follow the trail it took me on, and maybe that trail would lead me to a collective blog, and from that collective blog, I’d end up following 3 blogs that write a lot about interracial families. The next week, my friend who’s studying to become a doula might point me toward a natural childbirth article, which caused me to follow the author in Twitter.

It’s said a lot in the handmade community (and most others, I’m sure) that you should really enjoy what you’re doing, or there isn’t a point. Well, I both want to share the stuff I’m doing in the handmade world with my friends and peers in my other interest areas, and I want to bring new topics of thought and discussion to my handmade peers and friends. Already I’ve been able to get involved in handmade philanthropy and have been exposed to so many great causes, and have been able to spread the word to others.

Ok, I think that’s enough for today! I’ve got more to write about – both what I’ve worked on so far and what I still want to do soon (hopefully). Stay tuned!

Have you thought about why and how you want to use an online presence for your shop? Do you mix personal with business online? Have you found it easy or a struggle to maintain or find the right balance?

Dance Party Friday! TRL Version

I'm taking requests for today's Dance Party - what kind should I throw?

Quick story: I was a little girl at a church skating party and I wanted to request a song. The DJ booth was way high up so my dad lifted me up to talk to the DJ. I told him I wanted to hear, "Like A Virgin" by Madonna, and the DJ laughed and told me he'd get fired if he played that.

Started young, folks. My dad likes to tell that story.

Ok . . . tell me what you wanna hear!! Specific artist, genre, songs about certain things . . . what?

First official request comes from Darlene - @DoBatsEatCats on Twitter, and one of my Chicago Style Crafters team members in Etsy. She asked for goth/industrial. I don't have a lot of that up my sleeve, but I do remember LOVING Depeche Mode's "Stripped" from the "Say Anything" soundtrack. I always love when the drums jump in about halfway through the song.

Who's next?

Looks like it'll be co-worker M via co-worker K - K knows M likes ska (does K know I like ska too?) so K suggested ska for M, though I have already asked M to weigh in and M is ignoring me! (not cool)


As you can see in the comments to this video, though this song has been often credited to both the Specials and the Clash, it's actually someone else's song that was the B side of an old Clash/Specials record.

Next on the playlist . . . YOUR SONG! What will it be?

Co-worker M has come out of hiding and asked for some Prince, specifically this song:

Prince decided he's not playing for Shirts OR Blouses in this video!

Who's up?

Co-workers are now passing TGIF videos around. First?

That's not my . . . name.

The very serious conference attendees who are taking a break in the hallway outside my office enjoyed this one passed on by another co-worker:

I am nothing if not professional.

My co-workers continue to provide gems for this dance party!!

Not Gonna Lie, I wanted this video. Not ashamed. Ok, kinda.

Teach me how to Kevie, teach me, teach me how to Kevie


I really encourage you all to watch The Wire. Really.

Knitting Class at the Sweatshop of Love

 

I learned to knit a few years ago and in the beginning, was very ambitious. I tried written patterns, ribbing, cabling (once – gave up quickly) and my favorite – INTARSIA! I drew out all kinds of designs on graph paper so I could knit items (mostly coffee cozies for my Etsy shop) that had cool little pictures on them. Here are a couple things I knitted back in the day:

A tree! (I used a variegated green yarn)

Two-tone!

One of my favorites was a black/white houndstooth, but I can’t find any pics of it. Boo!

So! I thought I was going to take the knitting world by storm . . . and then I found fabric. OH LAWD. Fabric got a hold of my soul and knitting kind of fell by the side of the road. I still knitted, but decided on using simpler knitted designs in my shop and haven’t touched anything more complicated than a knit stitch in at least a year! (For those who don’t knit, the knit stitch is the foundational & easiest stitch to knit).

Anyway, a while ago I came across a blogger named Allyson who writes about her knitting adventures, among other things. She designs, teaches and sells her creations, and she’s funny to boot. Check out her blog, The Sweatshop of Love.

This is Allyson! I shamelessly stole her photo from her blog!

One day I noticed she had an opening in one of her classes, so I signed up – to learn how to knit the cowl she’s wearing right ^ up there ^. My class was Monday night, and here’s what happened . . .

Hi, this is me.

The beautiful indoors of my suburban Metra station (the Chicago-area commuter train system). During the morning rush hour, the gate is opened so you can get a muffin/coffee or your train tickets.

View from my seat as another train whizzed by . . .

Once I got into Chicago, I walked a few blocks to the Blue Line – Clinton stop. No, not Bill, Hillary or Chelsea. Rather, DeWitt Clinton, an important guy in Chicago history because of his involvement in getting the Erie Canal built. In other historical news, he was a senator and Governor of New York.

Looking down the track at the Clinton stop . . . typical subway platform in Chicago. Stay behind the blue line when the train is approaching, kids!

After a 20-30 minute ride where I read Twitter the whole time, I emerged in Chicago’s hip Logan Square neighborhood.

It was at Choi’s Chinese that I noticed the address and realized I was walking the wrong way down Milwaukee . . . time to turn around! I have a good sense of direction and know how to find my way around, but the 87 streets coming to a crazy intersection right at the Blue Line station mixed me up a bit.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church (aka Minnekirken). The NW part of Chicago is home to a lot of different once-Scandinavian neighborhoods & histories.

 

Look! Things are getting artsy! I think I’m headed the right way!

YES!! I found it! New Wave Coffee, home of knitting lessons by the Sweatshop of Love! That’s my kind of sweatshop.

New Wave windows.

First photo I took while trying not to look like I was taking photos and it was probably all good but I still felt nervous. New Wave was very funky inside – bright colors, folks on laptops all over the place, tables/chairs/couches spread all over the place.

Second photo I took while trying not to look like I was taking photos and it was probably all good but I still felt nervous. Great art all over the place, and framed album covers/posters. I wanted to people watch!

And then I saw Allyson! She was just as nice as I thought she’d be. I felt right at home and welcome to chill out and enjoy myself. Very soon the other 4 ladies taking the lesson arrived, and we gathered around 2 tables.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the knitting pattern – I know how to knit, but like I said, it’s been quite a while since I’d really stretched my knitting muscles, so to speak. Allyson’s pattern was super easy to read and understand, and I was reminded that this is something she thinks is important – making patterns easy to understand and truly representative of the work required. Even with my limited knowledge of knitting terms and abbreviations, I was able to get knitting right away.

I was the only one who cast on my stitches with a knitted cast on . . . Allyson and the others all used a Norwegian cast on, which is something I’d never heard of before. Want to see them both in action? Here’s a short video demonstrating the knitted cast on which requires two needles (though slightly different than the way I do it because I am self-taught and taught myself some wonky way) and here’s one demonstrating the Norwegian cast on, which is done mainly with your fingers and only one needle. Not sure if this is exactly how Allyson does/teaches it, but you’ll see a different in the two types.

After a bit of time, I’d gotten through my first cable and had this:

By the end of the lesson I’d finished quite a few more cables!

 

That’s Allyson in the striped sweater (that she knitted, natch). I told the ladies to look very intent on their work. Most of the time, though, we were talking & laughing.

   

One thing I loved is that we were all of varying skill-levels, and Allyson was able to work with us all, the whole time. She gave a lot of encouragement and took the time to investigate our mistakes.

I wholeheartedly recommend that if you’re in the Chicago area and want to learn how to knit, want some special help with your knitting project or want to learn something new, you should get in touch with Allyson. She offers a really good time along with top-notch instruction in a laidback, seriously fun atmosphere.

You can follow the Sweatshop of love here: Website/Blog ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Ravelry

Progress! A couple more movies-while-knitting and I’ll be done!