What's Going On

So I've been moving pretty slow this week. I was supposed to go down to the farm today to hang out with my brother and his girlfriend who are in town for the week from France. I hope to get on the road tomorrow morning bright and early but don't count on it. I had a ton of errands to run today and apparently I was in need of a 3 hour nap this afternoon in which I was consumed by creepy and bizarre dreams I haven't been able to shake all evening.

I happened upon the treasuries while open yesterday and put together a list of St. Louis sellers in Fall colors. I don't see it making the front page but I do like to support the local talent whenever I can.

I also had to go through my entire inventory and relabel everything since when I called the Mad Art Gallery and asked if it was ok if my item number was before the vendor number they said it would destroy the entire system just as my husband predicted. That took over 3 hours to correct. I have got to get a better system for tracking my inventory. I started one spread sheet or another over the past year and nothing has seemed to work for me. I did a google document one before the last show and I brought it to the show. I remembered to check things off the list as they sold for the first few hours and then I got busy and lost track. I have got to remember to just write the item number as I check them out and record the sale. The business side of things is last on my list of skills. I really sometimes wish I had taken a few business classes when I was getting my undergraduate degree. I remember my father and at least one advisor recommending it but I was an idealistic English major so why would I ever need to know anything about business.

My mom told me to bring a tub of items home to set up since much of the Lenox tribe, which means over 70, will be at the house this week. I told her I have another big show coming up so I wouldn't be able to give big family discounts. She then told my uncle this which I'm sure offended him since he has brought me business in the past. I did not mean that I wouldn't give Mom or Uncle Jack discounts but that I didn't want all the cousins to expect to get everything for next to nothing. For all you other crafters out there how do you deal with family or friend's discounts and does it ever get touchy?

I won't probably be blogging for the rest of the week. My mother has the slowest dial up Internet in the world and it is hard enough to get in and check on my shop a few times while I'm home. I hope everyone has an amazing turkey day and doesn't get too sick of their families or sick to their stomachs.

Treasury Chaos

I happened to click on the Etsy Treasury this afternoon in the midst of a crash where around 400 people lost their treasuries. Sorry, so sad, I snagged my first one in over a month! For those of you who don't know a treasury is a list of items on Etsy, not your own, that you put together based on some sort of a theme. I don't know what the thrill of the treasury is but so many of us covet them, think about them and look at them when really there is no benefit to the curator that I can think of. I've never had a sale that was directly related to a treasury that I had created. I have had a sale from one I was in but that is a different story entirely. I like thinking up a theme and then looking for the best possible pictures to go with it. Finding items that complement each other and flow from one to the next is kind of like an art form in and of itself. And then there is the fantasy of seeing one of my treasuries actually making it to the front page of Etsy. This is a long shot I am sure. There are a few curators that seem to be up there every other day however. I don't spend that much time obsessing over it.

This is not one of my favorites that I've done but I like the calming colors and laceyness, if that is a word. The only treasury I ever had make the hottest list was a racy one entitled "She was the High School Slut". I wish I had kept a screen shot of that one. Those are the titles that get attention. I had one last month that got a lot of clicks, "Shop for Barack", of just items that the seller was donating the profits to the Obama campaign. That was a fun one and I happened to buy a few items off it at the end. I got something cool and my candidate got the money, can't beat that.

I doubt that this one will be breaking any records but it a nice little collection so I'm happy with it. If you have any wild ideas for treasuries let me know and we'll see if we can make my dream come true of making it to the front page. I am a big dreamer, let me tell you!