Happy Halloween

daydogdesigns

I couldn't help it....saw this wistful pup's face on the front page of Etsy, and knew immediately that I had to include it in this post.  So Happy Halloween to you and yours.  Safe trick-or-treating, apple bobbing, pumpkin carving, and all that great stuff!

And here's another favorite:

PawsitvelyUnique

Cozy Gift Guide

January Sun Yarnworks

Cadron Creations

the Yarn Kitchen

Dear Pony 

Let's Backtrack

Ellaina Boutique

Aren't they cozy and gorgeous?

Fall, Onward

I sure hope you got my humor in the last post.  Moving on, gracefully of course, the weather around here has been varying within 15+ degrees for the last few weeks.  One day is skin-burning weather while the next urges you to wear a sweater over a t-shirt.  Much to my surprise, today is one of those sweater weather days, as is/will be the rest of the week, which so drastically differs from a short week ago.  It's finally feeling like fall around here.  So it's not quite my fault that I recently began to crave drinking coffee and eating dark chocolate all day long--a questionable coping mechanism in anticipation of more crisp, late autumn weather to come.  All I need for accompaniment is a good read, and the afternoon is set.  Fall, onward, I say!

On the EmeraldCut shop front, I've many new designs swirling around in my head for late autumn/winter.  One of these new pieces, which is shown above, is now for sale in my shop.  It's a vintage book-page words poem on birch, which gives the work a festive, rustic, wintery aesthetic.  Will share more items once I put my ideas into motion.  Thanks for all the support.

In the Blogging Spirit

An image from my October photo-a-day challenge.
Read about it here.

Been thinking a lot about my comfort zone lately, which has always been quite cushy and warm.  But lately, it's become rather overwhelming and stagnant--like a bad rush of mid-summer heat in the fall.  So, in the blogging spirit, to push myself out of that comfort zone, I'm going to let you in on a secret: someone who I am close to is getting married, and asked me to be one of her bridesmaids...I am terrified.  The photographs (that I won't share here, sorry), the full-on upbeat smiles, the dress I most likely won't be comfortable in, the ceremonial camaraderie of it all.  It frightens me so, to the point of my only saying yes because she is who she is to me; and she is lovely.  (By the way, yes, I did indeed say yes.)  Picking my own bridesmaid dress would alleviate much of the anxiety (hint hint).  But all playfulness aside, she--a quieter soul, herself--is as graceful, poised, and silly as I am contemplative and introverted, so I know it will all be fine.  It will be a beautiful day.

Etsy's New Guidelines

Disclaimer: This is solely my perspective as an Etsy seller of handmade goods.

Etsy's new policies regarding what can be sold on the site as handmade now blurs the distinction between handmade and mass production.  I understand that this decision legally opens the website up to a whole new seller-manufacturer demographic that Etsy will greatly profit from--to be fair, these manufacturer-type shops have always been present on Etsy, albeit by not being forthright about their manufacturing process--but at the same time, these new guidelines constrict the creative process that drives many other Etsy sellers who make the deliberate choice to create and sell goods that they themselves--and not a manufacturer--conceptualize and mold from start to finish.  

It takes hours, days, and sometimes weeks for the creative process to unfurl.  This creative process includes not only the conceptualization and molding of a product, but also the intellectual property, photography, and shop listing writing--which adds up to hours spent on quality control, which is then reflected in shop prices.

The mass production of jewelry, for example, brings prices down so low that it is difficult for someone like me, who hand chooses each stone and carefully creates each piece without having to worry about creating x-amount of items per hour, to compete.  Even if the same materials are used.  However, it's the Etsy buyer who is ultimately given the choice of where to shop, but how influential are the new Etsy policies on this choice?  Only time will tell.  The rallying cry, "Shop Handmade" now has a new face.

I just hope with all my heart that Etsy takes a long, hard look at its newly minted corporate-type guidelines because handmade is, at its heart and soul, priceless.  

New in Shop: Halloween Gifts

Been a little delayed in posting photos of some new shop items, which is a darned shame because they are such darkly beautiful, Halloween things.  Here are some of them:

  

Autumnal Glow Small Kraft  Gift Box

Cascade Collection: Dark Tourmaline
and Peacock Pearl Cluster Pendant

Small Geometric Garnet Pendant

Custom Wedding Favors:
Raven Crow Hand-stamped Vintage Book Page

Tiny Pink Tourmaline Dangle

Available at emeraldcut.etsy.com.

Raven Treasury

 Beyond pumpkins, costumed kiddos, candy corn, and the inevitable sugar rush, ravens and crows are to me (thanks to my husband) a welcoming reminder of the Halloween spirit.  These intelligent birds are altogether mischievous, aloof, and ravenously intriguing (sorry, couldn't help it).  So when an EmeraldCut listing was included in westernplainsdesigns Etsy Treasury, Ravens I Love, I was elated:

October Challenge: A Photo a Day

At the last minute (October 2nd to be exact), I decided to take part in a self-guided, photo-taking challenge for the month of October.  My goal is to take one photo per day that captures the particular subjective feel of the day, whether it be the mood I am in, the weather, and/or even lighting and color saturation.  Why October?  In addition to being prime autumn season, it's also my favorite month for a variety of reasons (mainly seasonal, of course).

I am very curious to see if a consistent theme emerges beyond the obvious autumn one, since what catches the eye is, in my opinion, at once aesthetically driven and unconscious.  Or should I say, subconscious?  From my Pinterest pins, I already have an idea of what draws me in, yet being the person behind the camera--rather than a passive-yet-entertained image collector via Pinterest--has its given advantages in the emotion-unfurling department.  Let's see if my theory is plausible.  

Come November 1st, I will post the October challenge collage, in its entirety, here in my blog.  Perhaps I've had too much coffee, but I'm really excited for this!

* * *

P.S. I'm offering free domestic shipping (US addresses-only) on orders over $15.00 for my Etsy customers!  All you have to do is apply FREESHIPPING at Etsy checkout to take advantage of this coupon code.


Have a great week!

October

The pendulum swings.  Life goes onward and forward, occasionally vacillating between neither here nor there, lost in the in-betweeness of it all.  The years blur, while the memories made burn an indelible imprint in your mind.  But the unforgiving thing about time is that even the memories that you prefer not to forget begin to get fuzzy along the edges after awhile--their imprints become hallowed-out outlines of a conversation had or of a scene seen...

Of everlasting memories ripped up at the seams.

Yet, you move on, forward you go--because you have to.  It is a necessity.  You blink and wonder where all the time has gone: two days meld into four weeks into six months.  Or is it seven?  And we still remember.  The memories that we hold onto so fiercely define us, cradle us in their depths.