What I've been up to, including my Etsy shop!

...So I was debating whether to continue with this blog or just put everything in my Pirate Treasures one, as all my Emporium things were on the website anyway. But then last summer I decided to open an Emporium of Curiosities shop on Etsy as well. So after much deliberating, I decided to do another post here and see how it goes! Not that I have that many followers and I was never the best at updating my blogs anyway...

My Emporium of Curiosities Etsy shop opened last summer and is a mixture of ACEOs, gift tags, cards, decorated wooden things and "assemblage" jewellery - made from a concoction of vintage finds and reclaimed broken jewellery.

Here's a few examples of paper and wooden things from the shop

ACEO vintage style

Paris gift tags

Decorated wooden box

Steampunk art

Altered key cabinet

 To see the jewellery, I've done a couple of posts on my Pirate Treasures blog here. 
I am not great at remembering to post on that one too, but you never know, I might get into the swing of it! I already have my next post idea planned for this blog!!

~Jane

Moving to my website...

Hello,

Well I had a serious think since I last blogged here and decided that the Emporium of Curiosities would move to its own section on my website http://www.pirate-treasures.com/. As I was unhappy with the whole Folksy's new "vision" situation and the fact that they've just added VAT to both their listing fee and commission, I think it's the right thing for me to do. I have been busy adding lots of ACEOs, cards and gift tags to the website, so now all I need to do is promote to make people aware that they are there!

 

Talking of promotion, there's a fantastic Christmas showcase of UK designer-makers by the one-woman show behind Support Handmade, However it's Made - have a good long browse and get your Christmas present ideas here!

I promise not to leave it so long between blog posts, as I'll have Christmas cards & gift tags to show soon!

~Jane

News, Folksy problems & stuff!

Well it's been a while hasn't it?!
Not too much has been going on in the Emporium over the summer...
We had a great holiday in Lido di Jesolo in Italy and visited Venice and the islands of Murano and Burano and another day spent in Verona and Sirmione on Lake Garda. Then had three days in Paris. Fantastic!

Since I've been back, I created an Emporium of Curiosities section on my jewellery website http://www.pirate-treasures.com/ - it's not got masses in it at the moment, but I'm adding my delisted ACEOs from my Folksy shop and more after 1st November when most of my Folksy items will have to be removed due to the new rules.

In case you're not familiar with the new Folksy rules, well you're lucky to have avoided all the nastiness on the Folksy Forums! I've been trying to stay out of it as I haven't decided whether to continue there or not. Basically Folksy want to become a little more upmarket and concentrate on their definition of handmade. However, they have handled it quite badly and many sellers are left very confused, as some of the rules are a bit ambiguous or contradictory advice has been given to different people. I understand Folksy's wish to move away from the hundreds of "bung it on a chain" charm necklaces on sale, but what constitutes "original design" has been interpreted differently and inconsistently. I will go into the jewellery side of the argument in more detail on my other blog later... 

 As far as the Emporium of Curiosities is concerned, I will no longer be able to list anything (ACEO or greetings card) which has just one stamped image, whether I've inked the background or embossed the image or enhanced it in any way. I will only be able to use stamps if I make a collage or layer or use more than one stamp in order to create an "original design".

One of the (ex-)Folksy sellers has set up a page on her website here dedicated to Supporting Handmade However It's Made (see the badge on the right!), where sellers who have been affected by the new Folksy rules can have a free advert and support each other. If you're on Twitter just search for #shhim or pop by the page to see the links to the ever-growing list of sellers and shops. Some are no longer able to sell on Folksy, but have prepared stock for the busy pre-Christmas selling time and will miss out due to Folksy's bad timing and lack of consideration.

I will be adding more ACEOs to the website over the next week and I'm working on a postcard size collage at the moment. I may be having a stall at a couple of vintage & handmade fairs before Christmas so need to work on some festive themes!

I'd better have lunch first though...

Challenge 52 - week 2

I have accomplished some things this week...

I have added a cool little "Challenge 52" logo that Abi at Birdcage Creative made me to the side of my blog. If you look closely it has my website address in it!

I have just added a Flickr Photostream to the side of the blog too. That took ages of Googling until I found somewhere that showed me there was a gadget on Blogger if I had clicked on 'featured' in the first place. Took about 5 seconds to add once I'd found it!

Of course the next thing I need to do is remember to keep adding photos to Flickr. Maybe that can be an ongoing bit of the challenge - if I don't remember to add things as I go along, I can do a once a week upload.

[Edited] I have also just added the Networked Blogs app to add blog updates to Facebook. Hopefully!!

This week for my Folksy shop I have made a couple of cards and an ACEO.

So the next bit of the Challenge for me is to add the rest of my photos to Flickr. Not very exciting, but something I can tick off the "to do" list!

~Jane