This guy sent us a compliment on our scrollsaw work thru Flickr. Looked at his items he scrolls and found them to be awesome! I am showing one of his intarsia items here and have told him about Etsy. So will be looking for him on there if he chooses to join. We need some more fabulous woodworkers on Etsy.
Looks like we get to tame some more feral kittens! They all have blue eyes and are cute as a button! The one standing behind them is Chip, he has a brother named Dale. They are so wild we have been unable to catch them as yet. Their mother is getting tamer by the day.
Wish we had some kind of program to help out with the cats but the town we live in doesn't so it's up to us to take care of them.
Our store is now back open but the sad thing is only 2 items are available.
Found out what was wrong with our daughter's shoulder, no surgery. She is on the mend now.
Sister is coming to visit so decided to hurry up and do some remodeling we had put off far too long, what a mess!! So now the workroom has all the boxes of hardwood flooring in it until we can get them laid, but of course before we could do that we had to texture the walls and paint. Then the bathroom had to be repainted so let's just say we took on more than we can handle so the woodworking is on hold until after the first of October.
Our shop is closed at the moment due to medical reasons. We are still able to work on items and will have some new ones items listed as soon as we can. Our daughter is having shoulder problems and may need surgery so taking care of her is our number one priority right now. I will still be featuring Etsy sellers and posting when I can.
If you have never heard of Etsy.com you are missing out on a great site for buying handmade items from the most wonderful online sellers you will ever meet. If you are thinking about joining Etsy to sell your handmade items, you won't find a more friendly, helpful community than you will there.
I am still to this day amazed at the talent of the guys who developed the site and the artists who sell their items there.
Since joining the Etsy community, I have found items for myself, family and friends to which I would of never found elsewhere. If you are looking for a special item, that is also handmade, then Etsy is the place to go. If you have that somebody in your life who seems to have everything, you will be able to find something they don't have on Etsy.
So click on the Etsy logo and get ready for the best online shopping experience you will ever have!
One of her handpainted birdhouses!
Her featured dog - Brody
This guy is always taking his naps in front of my monitor. I guess I could use that for an excuse as to why I am behind updating my blog!! His name is Mr. Gray aka Google. The other night he activated my spyware program and I am glad he did because I hadn't done it for awhile.
Check out our Etsy shop, as we are now selling our arrowhead clocks in it. They would make a great gift for the man in your life! Also coming soon will be a farm puzzle to which includes a barn with silo, a cow, a rooster and a horse. Would look great sitting on a fireplace mantle/shelf in your country themed room!
Decided I would talk about this subject today, as it is very frustrating to me. When I go into a brick and mortar store I expect certain things out of their staff. I expect them to be courteous, answer questions I have, show me where something is if I can't find it, thank me when I'm done for doing business with them, and the most important, I want to see a smile!!
Now I know online buying is somewhat different than that but in some ways a lot alike. When I ask a business a question through an e-mail, I expect that business to get back to me in a timely, courteous way, expect them to send me an order confirmation e-mail, your item has been shipped e-mail and a thank you somewhere in one of those. Kinda hard to see that smile online though!!
I haven't had the greatest experience with a few online companies lately. One answered my question about an item they carried but wouldn't answer when I asked where's my order, it should of been here. Well finally receive it just to find out they lied about when it was shipped, it was shipped out after I e-mailed them asking where it was instead of 8 days before, when they said it was being shipped. Not very good customer service in my book!! Of course it was a store to which I would of been making multiple purchases from but because of their lack of customer service I will be on the lookout for another place to buy from.
Another one was, my husband and I placed an order just to find out it was out of stock and they had no idea when it would be in. They did though take our money!! Go figure!! Finally have to make a phone call, not getting anywhere through e-mails, still don't know when they will be in but they do find a few of what we needed and at their expense ship them to us. Weeks pass by and still no word on our order, another phone call to them just to be hung up on because they are busy and I guess we aren't one of there high dollar buyers so we don't matter. Who knows!! Call back the next day and tell them to put our money back into our account and when they come in let us know and we will re-order them, they say no problem and say they are sorry. Move forward another few weeks and still no money back in account, warrants another phone call just to be told sorry don't know what happened, here's your paperwork on our desk, will take care of it right away. Next day money back in account. Yes, finally. Move on, order from another company, get order in a matter of days even though they are nowhere as good as the ones we initially ordered from the other company. Fast forward another couple of weeks to find our first order in the mailbox, panic because if they take the money back out, it will bounce our account since we only put money in it when we order online. Warrants another phone call to let them know that and they had no idea they had put the money back in our account! Duh! So finally they tell us thanks for being so honest, keep the items with our apologies.
So it makes a person wonder how these people stay in business. Can find my first items through another company, as there are many who sell them, but was trying to help the little guy. The second one we have no choice because they are the only company to sell a brand of item we use.
We have purchased a lot of items online and have gotten the best customer service a person could want and for that, they have us as a repeat customer.
So if you have an online business you really need to think about how you treat your customers so they will come back and also refer others to your site. If you don't care about the customer then I would imagine you probably won't be an online store for very long!
I finally got the Mountain Goat & Bighorn Sheep(Buck) done for my brother. I think he was beginning to think I would never get them done! See photos on the right. Now to get the Wolf & Bear done. Told David after he gets the other 2 done he's working on, I want to see something besides an arrowhead clock to finish for him!!
Thought today I would describe what David does in order to make an item.
As you can see, a lot of time and effort goes into creating each piece. Sometimes projects go into the scrap pile because they break, didn't meet our standards, etc. He did a cougar arrowhead clock and completely finished it at which time the side broke. Very frustrating since he had put quite a few hours into the piece. That's part of the crafting world though!!
Coming soon photos of our newest arrowhead clocks.
Mountain Goat out of Wenge, Bighorn Sheep(Buck) out of Jatoba, Bear out of Mahogany, and Wolf out of Mahogany. As in an earlier post the Mountain Goat & Bighorn Sheep(Buck) are for my brother. The wolf may already be sold to a previous customer, the bear will be getting listed in our shop. Next will be an owl, eagle, and linx. My husband enjoys making these arrowhead clocks. I've been having a hard time getting my finishes to look right on some of them but won't quit until I do, somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to crafting!!
Until Next Time!
Have a Great Weekend!
Diane
Etsy is very slow today, needed to get away from there! Sold a set of seahorses. Now need to finish up items David has made. He scrolled a Mountaim Goat Arrowhead Clock out of Wenge and a Bighorn Sheep(Buck) Arrowhead Clock out of Jatoba. Beautiful exotic woods but very hard to work with. Ended up breaking 3 drill bits while drilling into the Jatoba. These are for my brother. They will definately be the last ones we do, out of those two woods. I still have to get them stained and sealed. He finished a Wolf Arrowhead Clock also, it is stained but not sealed. I should be finishing them all instead of being on the comp but having a hard time with the odors so taking a break! He is working on a Bear one next, scrolling on it for about an hour after he gets home from work. Will be posting the photos of them when finished.
I really thought the Bighorn Sheep(Buck) was my favorite, but after seeing the Wolf, I'm not so sure now!
More later!
Custom & OOAK Creations
Boutique Children's Clothing
I have chosen Francoiselamasolet as my new featured Etsy seller. She designs and makes outfits for children. She has 25 years experience in sewing.
Workmanship, High Quality, Originality, Hand-Made, Custom-Made, Unique, One of a Kind, descibes what her designs are about.
I wish I had little ones, her clothing is beautiful!
Be sure to check out her Etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5120924
Here's some of her other designs:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5739846
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5737892
"Snow Owl"
This is David's latest creation. He has been working on this in between custom orders. It is one of his favorites. He is now working on a wolf arrowhead clock.
We will soon be offering our arrowhead clocks in our Etsy shop. The animals available will be: wolf, eagle, linx, bear, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, bugling elk. We are in the process of finishing up 4 of them for custom orders. Take a look on the right hand side to see what they look like.
I am looking for my next featured Etsy shop. I am going to start featuring shops twice a month instead of monthly. I will be able to feature more sellers that way!
Update on the street team:
BathandBodyBoutique was randomly selected to choose her favorite animal charity for the month of April. If you want to donate to her charity go to:
http://www.bigcatrescue.org
Join the Etsy for Animals Flickr group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/efa/
Here are just a few examples of items available from some of the shops:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5166340
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5442050
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5587936
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=510549
I have taken the Etsy for Animals shop links from the right hand side and put them in a table at the bottom of page.
So show your love for animals ~ Check out the Etsy for Animals Street Team Shops, these are shops on Etsy that support and donate a percentage of their sales to animal charities.
Okay I believe I have everyone's Etsy shop listed that are a part of Etsy for Animals!
If I have forgot somebody, please let me know and I will add you.
Etsy for Animals is a group of Etsy Sellers who have joined together to make Etsy and the world a better place for animals. Our goals as a group are to raise money for animal charities through sales in our Etsy shops and to share ideas and promote one another :)
Be sure to join the Flickr group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/efa/
We just finished a wooden seahorse, turned out very cute. Just have to put a sawtooth hanger on it, then we will list it. David has been working on a snow owl out of pine for awhile now(in between custom orders), it is beautiful. We will leave it unfinished so the person who purchases it can do what they want with it, he says it would look great if somebody whitewashed it, due to the fact it is a snow owl. Owls are one of David's favorite items to scroll so I don't know if I'm going to get him to list it for sale or not!!!
Sent off our baby shower gift to Whittamore, hope she likes it. Kind of hard to come up with baby items to scroll out of wood!!! Working on another one, the pattern was messed up when we got it so after we make a few alterations to it, we'll get started on it. I actual feel it will be one of our best sellers.
Also today is my son's 30th birthday, so Happy Birthday to him!!!!
Until next time!!!!
Diane
Cards & Jewelry by Michele
It was made out of mahogany and then finished with tung oil. It is one of our favorite items.
It is time to get caught up!! Got the moose silhouette listed. Sold the sun and moon plaques. Looking for a woodworker/woodturner to feature for the month of February, going to post a new topic looking for one on the Etsy forums. Adding new Etsy shops, non woodworking & woodworking, that have some very beautiful items.
Well the moose silhouette is about finished. I just have to apply the satin rub on poly and then my husband will put the backing and sawtooth hanger on the back. We should be able to get it listed at Etsy.com under WoodNVisions sometime next week if all goes well. The moon is also done, just waiting for husband to get a few days off so he can finish the sun. Haven't figured out what is next, maybe an owl, there are so many patterns out there it really is hard to decide on the next project. Just got the new edition of Woodcrafters magazine and there are a few things we like. Will announce in our Etsy announcements what will be next, so check out the shop. Well that's all for now folks!!!!!
This month's featured Etsy seller is "woodturner". He has been woodturning since 1995. Here is what he has to say about woodturning:
What is it about woodturning that intrigues me so much over conventional woodworking? I've concluded that it must be the freedom to create, without being bound by measurement. The thing I enjoy most is making something beautiful from a chunk of wood destined for the fireplace!To take an ordinary log and watch the beauty of the wood grain and the character of the wood's flaws become exposed as I turn, is exciting. The knots, swirling wood grains, patterns left by fungus in deteriorating wood and natural cracks and voids make each turned object unique and full of character. I finish each turning to accentuate the beauty hidden in the wood and hope each one turns into a keepsake.
Check out his shop:
http://www.woodturner.etsy.com
These are just some of the tips my husband has learned over the years of scrollsawing:
#1 Put packaging tape over pattern after mounting pattern on wood. The best tape he has found to this date is the United States Postal Service's tape. The reason for that is it has a low glare, other tapes he has used have a high glare to them. By putting the tape over the pattern & wood, you are less likely to burn the wood or cause friction marks.
#2 When scrolling out an item from a wood that has fuzzy wood fibers: luan mahogany, pine, etc., use the back of your scrollsaw blade and rub the cut to remove the fuzzy fibers, gives it a nice smooth finished cut. Our 14 year old daughter actually discovered this tip/technique while learning to scrollsaw.
We are working on a moose head silhouette plaque, smiling sun face wall hanging and a man in the moon cat napping wall hanging. The moose is being scrolled out of red oak, the other two are being scrolled out of pine, to which they will be paint ready. The sun & moon patterns were designed by Theresa Ekdom.
Hi! I am new to blogging so here goes!
My husband and I do scrollsaw art. He cuts the items out with a scrollsaw, sands them and then hands them over to me to finish them. I stain them and polyurethane them. On some items we prefer to leave them unfinished and allow the person purchasing it to finish it to their liking. Painters we are not! We are currently listing some of our items on Etsy.com, a handcrafted only craft site. Be sure to check them out as there are some very beautiful items up for sale.
Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/index.php
