22 posts tagged “shopping”

(This girl and her smug little cat is in the shop at Calobee Doodles!)

I didn't actually start selling until the 31st of March or so, but as of the 22nd I've officially been with Etsy for a year. And what a year it's been! I went from feeling like I'd probably never sell my work to making 1-2 sales per week. That may be small potatoes for most, but it's a huge accomplishment for me.

I also picked up "doodling," which was both an excellent business move AND a lot of fun! It's opened the doors to doing custom work, which I really enjoy, and it's more relaxed and low-key in comparison to my photography.

All in all, I give the last year's business adventures an "A." There have been bugs here and there, but ultimately, opening an Etsy shop has been a very fulfilling, rewarding experience.

And now for the best part: in honor of my Etsy-versary, I'm having another contest! Yay!

Here's the nitty gritty:

• The prize is one print of your choice from any of my shops, up to a $20 value. Two small prints would be acceptable as well, as long as they total no more than $20 (not including shipping).
• Leave a comment on this blog entry and tell me which print(s) you want to win.
• The contest ends March 31st at 11:59 p.m. I will draw the winners on April 1st and contact the winner by e-mail.

(Please note that comments are turned off at Vox and Livejournal, so you’ll need to comment at the blog.sixhours.net address to qualify, and don’t forget to leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win! This contest is open to U.S. and international readers alike!)

Good luck! :)

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

It was a busy, productive weekend, which is exactly the kind of weekend I like best. I made these fabric thumbtacks, Tim and I spent some time in the kitchen making meals for the week (the fridge is packed full), I doodled a bit (see my pretty new desktop?), had dinner with Sarah and Ian, and hung out with Danielle.

One thing I didn't do that I wanted to was set up another photo shoot, but that's OK. Thankfully Danielle is in the area often, so it's not hard to find a few hours here and there. The days are getting longer, too, which helps tremendously, because I can schedule shoots after work instead of restricting myself to weekends.

I also spent a bit of money, which is something I've been trying to avoid doing lately, especially where sales have been slower than usual... but I couldn't resist a bit of retail therapy. In the spirit of NaBloPoMo, a list:

• I loved the fabric thumbtacks so much that I bought a bunch of supplies to make more, along with some super-strong magnets so I can try those as well.


• I won an eBay auction for 6 vintage cups and saucers with the same pattern I found on my favorite thrifted platters. Liz (Madeinlowell) pointed out that my platters are Temporama, which was a very popular dishware set in the 50's. I did a search out of curiosity, and wound up bidding on a few auctions. I'm going to try to incorporate the cups into a photo shoot or two (at least then I can say they were a business expense!)


• Also from the 'Bay, a wireless remote flash trigger, so I can use my studio strobes with my camera. The Pentax K10D is inconvenient in one giant glaring aspect, and that is the lack of a PC socket for additional flash units. At some point I'd like to get a real hot shoe flash, but this trigger will work in the interim.

Also: Stay tuned for a contest! Someone's Etsy anniversary is coming up...

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Danielle and I had some impromptu photo shoot good-ness yesterday evening, in what little light there was left for the day. We didn't get to do much for that reason, but we're going to do another shoot tomorrow. I particularly like this shot because it creeps me out, like something from a Stephen King novel. I keep expecting her to turn around and have no eyes or something.

And the dress! I love the dress. It was a recent thrifty find--I've had really good luck with those lately! You can get a better sense of it in this photo.

(Danielle also started her own Etsy shop for photography, so go see! My personal favorite is "in the doghouse."

In other news, it's been an upsy downsy kinda week, and I'm quite glad that it's the weekend, finally! Is there anything better than a lazy Friday night?

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Thanks to everyone who's weighed in on the prints pricing issue so far! I appreciate your input. More thoughts/opinions are welcome!

I posted a few photos of my office at Flickr. Someday I will be one of those people whose home inspires lengthy interviews on interior design blogs (heh, yeah, right). Until then, you get to see my fugly beige carpet and bright purple walls with blue trim.

In other news, I am so excited because Etsy re-launched Alchemy  today! I've never had the opportunity to experience the wonder that is Alchemy... when I joined last March, it was but a whisper in Etsy legend, and many feared it had gone the way of the unicorn. But now it's back, and I'm already hooked!

For those who aren't familiar with the concept, Alchemy allows buyers to request custom handmade items and designs. Etsy sellers can bid on buyers' requests and offer to make whatever it is the buyer wants, and the buyer chooses the bidder that best fits the bill. I've placed a few bids, and I'm already dreaming of all the things I could request.

On a related note, you may notice that there is a "Request Custom Item" link on the right-hand side of my Calobee Doodles shop. By clicking on that link you can now place custom orders using the Alchemy interface, which allows you to request specific items or designs I hadn't thought to include in my standard "Custom Doodle" listings. Please feel free to abuse it! ;)

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

I've been doing a bit of market research, and I think I may be changing my prices soon... raising them a little bit to be more in line with other artists with a similar level of skill. Most of the people I've talked to about this have told me I'm under-priced, but I can't tell if they're just being nice or if they're serious.

Pricing has always been a tricky point for me. I never intended to make a living at photography, so I've always priced my work closer to the hobbyist end of the scale. At the same time, I don't want to sell myself short. Confidence in my abilities plays a huge part... I have a tendency to underestimate my strengths, and I think my current prices reflect that.

So I'm turning to you, dear Internets. I put up a poll on my blog and I'd appreciate it if you'd take a couple minutes and answer it. It's a very informal survey, obviously, but I'm curious to know what my audience here thinks. You can get a good sense of my prices at my regular shop or my Etsy shop (I'm not including Calobee Doodles in this decision, because I'm still a novice in that area!)

You can also leave a comment if you feel like expounding on your answer.

Thank you!

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Yesterday was quite a rush, so today we're taking it easy. Thanks to everyone for the congrats! We went out to eat last night to celebrate, and stopped by the local Borders to pick up a copy of The Somnambulist just so I could stare at it and giggle. :)

In other news, I finally finished up the layout I've been working on for the last week! Go see!  I normally don't like a three-column layout because it can look crowded, but this layout lends itself very well to blogging and shopping, which brings me to....

... the surprise: I've set up a shop at Sixhours.net! I'm experimenting with Prestashop, an open-source PHP-based Web interface. It was relatively easy to set up, and I think it is easy for potential customers to use. Etsy has been great to me, and I'll continue to maintain those shops as well, of course. But I've wanted to have something hosted on my own domain, too, in the event that Etsy goes down for an extended period of time. I believe it's sage advice to not have all your eggs in one basket.

There may be some kinks to work out, and for now I can only accept PayPal (support for Google Checkout is coming soon), but I look forward to seeing how it goes. I'm sure that, like everything else involved in running a business, it will be a learning experience.

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

NaBloPoWhat? OH, right. That thing I said I was going to do back in February and totally forgot about. Oops!

I'm getting a late start, but here's a list for your reading pleasure, entitled "Last Saturday":

• Farking snow


• Farking snow!!


• Danielle!


• Portland


• Food


• More food


• Even more food


• OMG stuffed


• Zzzzzzzzzzz

That pretty much sums it up! Alas, the Etsy Meet-up was canceled due to the weather (see the part about "farking snow"), but Danielle and I braved the storm and went to Portland anyway.

On Friday I went thrift shopping with Susan, and found lots of goodies:

• Brother Charger 651 sewing machine in robin's egg blue, $5


• 2 funky serving platters with a neat mod design, $11


• Yet another clock to add to my growing collection, $3

I was especially pleased with the sewing machine, as I've been looking for one to use as a photo prop for a long time (and I couldn't argue with that price!). This one is exactly what I wanted. It doesn't seem to work, though, so I may have it serviced at some point in the future. It would be nice to have a functional sewing machine that I could practice with!

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

Shop-related announcement: I'm finally going to start keeping a selection of prints in stock, which means faster shipping times for my customers! To start with, most prints in 4x6 or 5x7 sizes will ship the next day (and this applies to both shops, calobee and sixhours). Pretty soon I'll have larger sizes ready to go as well.

I'm not feeling particularly inspired lately, in the way of blogging or anything else. I've been bombarded with projects at work, T & I are researching some exciting home renovations (new floors!), and I'm otherwise absorbed in friends and books and trying to ignore the fact that it's still winter. A particularly emphatic "FEH" to that last part.

I set up a quick still life shoot yesterday, just to say I've done something in the way of photography this month. I still have yet to play with the clocks, but I'd like to pick up some new photo shoot clothes first... this means thrift shopping, which means going out in the cold, and see the part above, about FEH? Yeah. Feh.

What's even more feh is that, at some point in the last few days, I bit my tongue really hard, and I don't even remember doing it! All I know is, two days ago I woke up with an incredibly sore and swollen tongue with a bite mark on it that hurts any time it grazes my teeth (which, as you can probably guess, is quite often! Being that they're both in the same general vicinity of my mouth!).

Eating? Not so enjoyable. Talking? Even worse (and when I do, I'm forced to lisp). So between turning down offers of chocolate and making a concentrated effort not to talk too much, Tim is wondering who abducted his real wife and put this strange, lisping alien in her place.

Despite the amount of feh I'm experiencing right now, I'm quite excited about the Maine Etsy meet-up in Portland next weekend! I'm looking forward to meeting some of my fellow Maine Etsians in person, and as a bonus, I get to spend time with Danielle and Susan. The three of us are making a mini road trip of it. I'm also doing trades with a couple people, and bringing some prints along to show off... it should be a fun time!

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

My very wise friend, Sarah, wrote about Etsy on her blog, The Quest to Become Debt Free, which is about... well, I'm guessing you can tell what Sarah's blog is about!

At first, I had a difficult time trying to figure out how Etsy and saving money go together. In my personal experience, it's very hard to save money when you have Etsy's vast array of goodies tempting you on a regular basis. As someone who spends most of her hard-earned Etsy money on Etsy, I know this!

But then I realized that, if I'm going to spend money on gifts or other potentially frivolous purchases, it makes more sense to give that money to regular folks--people who are probably also in debt or struggling to make ends meet, or maybe they're just trying to make a little extra spending money, like me--instead of patronizing the big box stores, where your money will only serve to make the executives at the top of the food chain wealthier. When I support an economy that's a bit closer to home, so to speak, I don't feel so bad for splurging!

Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.

In the spirit of new beginnings, I decided that my first Etsy shop needed a makeover to better reflect its new content. So I doodled myself (it's not as dirty as it sounds, I swear!) and created a new banner/icon combination. For lack of a more inspired shop title, the new store is called Calobee Doodles. Go see!