Etsy shop is up and running . . . sorta – and Domestic Bliss

Yay selling things online!  The Etsy shop KJ is Crafty has been “opened.” It’s pretty bare-bones, but it’s there.  I have to say, not sure I’m super in love with Etsy – there is a lot of information out there to help sellers, but at the same time no actual website building guidance – I don’t want to blah blah blah this sucks or anything, it’s all good, and I’ll continue to learn – there’s just a lot of things you have to figure out or know beforehand about basically running a full site and how to price and how to this-that-and-the-other-thing – I guess this is what it means to be an “entrepreneur.”

I am glad a place like Etsy exists, don’t get me wrong.  I researched all the different ways to sell online and let me tell ya, it’s tough if you want to feel legitimate in what you’re doing.  So, yay Etsy!

Alright, so, rundown: I have an Etsy shop: KJ is Crafty, a Facebook Page: KJ is Crafty, and this blog.  I also have Pinterest, which you can find on the sidebar, and I’ll be posting things there, too.  I’m really excited about this guys, super-duper excited, but I’m trying not to get too caught up in all of it.  This is just a side hobby that I really enjoy doing and I have to keep my head there, and work on improving the things that I do have and, hopefully, I’ll get to sell some items that people really love.

In somewhat-other news: This weekend was wonderful – I felt like it was both intellectually stimulating as well as humdrum and fun and relaxing and boring and wonderful again.  And by boring and humdrum I mean it’s not something to write a memoir about but MAN I LOVE DOING ORDINARY THINGS!  I think it’s having Matt with me for a lot of it.  For anyone who doesn’t know, Matt (my boyfriend/partner of 5+years) just finished his Masters in Architecture (of Architecture?) and has basically been the guy who brings me places and leaves after dinner for two years.  Before that we were long distance for a year, really a year and a half, so we haven’t gotten to really DO THINGS together.  It was me, or him, or me and him when I was about to have a break down over all the dishes in the sink that I couldn’t possibly wash.

So doing laundry, washing dishes, grocery shopping => lame  BUT! Now kind of awesome because I don’t have to do them by myself unless I want to.  We plan meals, we’re in a concert band together – this weekend we subbed on the kickball team I’m on (it’s too cold to commit for the next few weeks, I’ll wait ’til spring, thanks!) together!  We also went on a tour of the SLPL Central Library in Downtown StL which was super awesome and both of us have decided we MUST pay off our late fees so we can get at all the new cool stuff there like: DID YOU KNOW THEY HAVE CROCHET BOOKS?  At the LIBRARY?!  Yeah, I didn’t.  We also attended an open house for the WashU art studio which showcased the Masters of Art Program students => some weird, one anti-Christian piece (ooh, shocker! not), and some really neat ideas.  Matt and I also did a “photo shoot” for the items I’ll be selling online.  I had previous clients bring me their scarves in different colors and they turned out really well!  Matt used photo-shop for touch-ups but it was mostly so the backdrop looked clean and the items looked sharp – yay boyfriend with photo-shop!

The only thing that isn’t great about having Matt around is that going to work is that much harder, but, bonus – I don’t feel like I work for the weekends quite as much since I know I’ll see him tonight for more than an hour.  Ah, domestic bliss 🙂

The Beginning of my crafty adventCHAR!

To begin, I must admit that I’m not all that crafty – there must be someone out there who actually DOES all those projects we find on Pinterest, but who?  I mean, there’s a picture of a finished item, so it’s gotta be completed somehow.  I like projects, I like accomplishing things, and I like making things for other people.  That’s where it really started: wanting to make something for someone special. These girls are a great example:

The original-6 with the scarves I made them, 9/27/13

The combination of my mom and my friend Emily taught me how to crochet, and I keep coming back to it – a scarf for mom, a blanket for a friend’s newborn, a bedspread I’m sure I will never finish.  It’s easy enough to start and after awhile you can get really good at it and can do it while watching tv – which is awesome since I usually do other things while watching tv, why not be productive with it?

So when a co-worker asked if I could make her an infinity scarf I was delighted, and then she asked how much? and I was like, um, I don’t know?  Cover costs and a little extra?  And the orders kept on coming.  Now my hobby has turned into some decent side cash, and I really like seeing my scarves around the necks of my friends,  family, and co-workers.  I get to say I made that and someone REALLY likes it.  I want to keep making things people like, so I decided to try my hand at selling online.  This is not something I would have thought of doing, except people kept asking for them, so I keep making them, and then they would say, you should sell these, and I was like, nah, it’s okay – I’m from Minnesota, so any suggestion like this needs to happen at least three times before I’ll actually seriously consider it – but now here I am, putting myself and my work out there.

I don’t know if anyone will even like them or want to buy them or read this or anything, but this also has to be for me.  I want to document, I want to connect, and I want to continue to make special things for special someones.  The adventCHAR (the best way to say this word) begins!

Thanks!