Is featured in a treasury again, this time for the evil soaps

There he is, lower right corner, my evil orange satsuma bunny soap.

This is the link to the treasury page: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=92316

They havent gotten much attention on there, and thats ok. I have not been doing a lot of selling on etsy lately. I am thinking that in April I will try again for a bit cause I will be bored.

Also, another etsy thing happened! I sold the one mug that I had on there a couple weeks ago. Noticed it was sold to someone who lives in Vancouver. Thought that was neat in itself as my stuff is usually shipped to the USA. Anyways, my fiend Tamara (who used to work at eBay with me) messaged me today on facebook about how she got the mug as a birthday present from her friend. Crazy awesome. We also have the same birthday, so that is double cool.

again yay!

Theres my robot again! This time the front page feature worked well and I sold 4 mugs tonight. Awesome stuff. I need to get back home and get these out, and find more boxes :D

Front page of Etsy

OH MY GOODNESS I AM SO EXCITED! I was kinda weirded out as to why one of my items sold today, normally they sell when I post something new, but I checked out my stats and found that my robots in love mug was featured on the home page in a treasury. SO EXCITING! I am so thankful to the nice person who choose my item to be in there.

So now to post more things I think, I do have a few white mugs to do.

home made wrapping paper or art

I recently aquired more printing inks, in red and white. What better way to test them out than to mix them up a bit and print pretty pink robots!


This craft paper on a roll is so awesome. I really want to use it for wrapping paper to make presents. I think I will also use it to wrap my mugs when I send them in the mail.


Here is a close up of the robots in their pinkness!


I also did some bunnies the other night. I forgot to get rid of all the black that was on the stamp, so it started making a variation of the pinks and purples on the bunnies.


They all hang to dry on the kitchen cupboards and then I need a place to store them. Stupid small apartments.

just some things I've been working on lately

Well actually, these guys were done a long time ago back when I first started painting dishes. I figured it was best to sell them and make a little money as I am not working.


The penguins will be done for a friend later when I find a bigger set of 4 mugs.




This guy was new, I liked this mug and kinda wanted to keep it, but its smaller and I want to find me a pink one. I loved the pink ones.


They will appear this weekend in my little etsy shop. I found its good to do one or two items a day to drive the traffic to my store.

pointillism on a coffee mug

A pointillism mug of flowers and vines. One of my more elegant mugs compared the the vicious bunnies and robots.

The first of many days alone

I came back yesterday from Chilliwack. Visited the family for a few days, it was nice. We went blackberry picking and that was lots of fun. Mikaela and I also hit up the mall and I bought some running shoes that were desperately needed. We had a great time looking around and talking about twilight. I stayed in her room and we read the books and chatted till I fell asleep. Man that kid can stay awake so long.

It was so pretty and sunny today, not too hot, just right. I decided to hop on the bus to Richmond today. Visited Michael's and didn't get lost once on the bus ride home. I could stay there for hours, but I was on the hunt for rubber latex mold making stuff and candle wick. I really wanted to find some cute stamps for cards, but those were just too expensive, so I refrained.

Today was also the first of many cleaning days. I made many trecks to the garbage bin / recycling with cardboard and kitchen garbage. It feels better in here. Must lug the heavy dead printer to the garbage can next.

Tony came home and we bbq'ed and he helped me set up a WOW trial account. Its not bad, I am bored with the game so far because its taking lots of time to get where its fun. Its slow going and my character is not astetically pleasing. If I do get more into it, I will be creating something prettier.

Tomorrows to do list involves candle making and painting of a set of mugs. Also, I am going to go running around the neighbourhood. This will make me feel self concious, but oh well.

on a blog!

I am also on someones blog! My creations are gaining popularity I think!

etsy treasury and more

I am featured in a etsy treasury, or my bunny mug is! So exciting this is. So, you all may be wondering what a treasury is. On etsy, people are allowed to pick about 12 items that they like and post them on a treasury page. This is a page that can be searched by others or be featured on the etsy home page! So I am excited about this as someone picked me :)

This is me on the Treasury page

In other news, I finished work today for good. I am officially off until September 27th when school starts. It feels so weird to come home and realize that I don't have the routine of getting up every day and taking the bus to work. I am sure it will kick in soon though.

Going to visit the fam in Chilliwack this weekend, maybe take a dip in Cultus lake if its warm enough. Very excited about this as I get the chance to pick raspberries or black berries. I always see overpriced berries at safeway and sigh cause they are in chilliwack :(

forgotten fireworks pictures from the Celebration of Light

So this year I went to see the fireworks with Tony, my parents and siblings. We saw the UK put on their show. It was pretty good, the music was just ok though.


This is the first time I've taken pictures of the fireworks, my dad brought an extra tripod and taught me some awesome fireworks skills.


Mikaela bought us popsicles cause she had money burning in her pockets and my tongue turned orange. She has yet to post those pictures though, I really want to see them.


That was one of the hottest days of the year. We came home and even with all the doors and windows open, the apartment didn't cool down and just felt like hot air was blowing through the fans. Air conditioning is not something we use often, but man I wish I had some.


Baking the orange fat cat mug in the oven. I have been tracking my shops traffic through Google Analytics and its been interesting to find out where people are finding my store. Apparently a chunk comes from the google search, and the rest come from etsy. People are using some pretty strange search words and are finding my store, I have no idea how though. Oh well.

inalather solid shampoo

I am so hooked on this stuff. I saw her shampoo on etsy and it looked so cool. Its like soap for your hair. Its less shampoo bottles to throw away and takes up less space in my shower, and it smells amazing! I have thai coconut and have tried lemon curd.

This time I stuck with coconut and got a new one, spearmint and eucalyptus. I even got a little bonus lip balm as well, which is peppermint. I love my peppermint lip balm it feels so good.

In other news, I sold another mug today. The cute bunny mug is sold. Found a scale on eBay to weigh my packages, which will help with my shipping prices. Will also help with measuring ingredients for soap, which I am going to attempt to make this summer.

Work is almost done, thank goodness. Its busy and I am ready to be done. 2 days left to work and after that, Tony said he will be taking me out for dinner :) Looking forward to that very much.

I am feeling way less stressed out now that I have school mostly sorted out. Still need to get info on bursaries and finish with the student loan.

Thinking about ideas for crafts, so many things I want to try this summer. Off to Michaels for some mold builder liquid latex to make molds for a soap idea and then off to deserres for soap ingredients.

New Robots wanting love

New Robots wanting love
Originally uploaded by jamesblonde85

This is my very different robot mug. I like this one lots better. He was harder to do, but was worth it. I am gonna make more of him I think. We shall see how fast he sells.

Its nice outside today. My tomatoes are all little and green. I am waiting for them to ripen, cause I am dying to try them in salad.

Fat yellow cat grasping at mouse

Fat yellow cat grasping at mouse
Originally uploaded by jamesblonde85

another mug I've done today. This cat is grasping at a mouse, but I am sure it really wants a big mac instead. Time for strawberries!

Robots in love

Robots in love
Originally uploaded by jamesblonde85

Found a bunch of mugs at the thirft store! Perfect ones for my fat cat mug, but today I decided to do a robot because they tend to sell fast.

Grr I forgot, my mission was also to find tea cups...hmmm I guess I can do that tomorrow or later

Baby Penguins on a mug

The latest thing in the making. Almost done, one more coat of black paint for the other little guys on the opposite side of the mug. They don't look that bad I think. They are the first time that I did baby penguins.

So today was especially boring. Work was the same stuff, kinda lame. I just want to get out of there. Its near the end, only 14 more days of work before left. I have a countdown to help. I am being laid off and then off for a couple months till school starts and the end of September. Its not the end of the world, I am getting severance that will cover that time of me being away.

Saw Harry Potter this weekend. It wasn't bad. I enjoyed that book way more than the movie though. I think that's the case with most of them, except the Prisoner of Azkaban. That one I really liked as a movie. This recent one was a little too happy for me. I was hoping it would be a little more darker. Oh well.

Next movie on my list of ones to see is Funny People. It looks very good, and I like Seth Rogan.

Anyways, I am off to read for a bit.

little robot thank you cards

I saw these little cards and envelopes yesterday at deserres and they were so cute. They will be great for sending in my packages. I have bunny ones as well, but the robots turned out better. This etsy thing is getting to be fun and will be good for me to do in the summer.

I need to get out there on the internets and advertise my creations. A scale will be helpful to not be guessing shipping rates, but I only messed up 2 orders, so I'm not that bad.

My next big project involves going to ikea for Coley. She is wanting a set of dishes, and ikea has dishes that will match and not be a mismash of things from the thrift store.

I ran out of tissue paper, and am wanting a big roll of craft paper. That would be perfect for printing on! Where can I get me one of those?

burning up

Oh my goodness its hot out. Went to visit Tony at work for lunch. It was a defiantly a day to get a frosty. Having that in a nice air conditioned Wendys was perfect for 30 min. Then it was back to the heat to look for odds and ends.

I have been on the hunt for little clips that hook to the back of a picture so I can hang them. Apparently nobody had what I want. Stupid Ikea frames! Time to go to the maker and see if Ikeas parts dept has these guys.

I also went to the hippy Whole foods store. It was kinda fun. So many things that I have been getting on eBay I could have gotten there. Well, at least I know now. Essential oils for bath bombs and soap and things and they were even on sale today! yay! I bought peppermint, tea tree and lemon grass I think. They smell so good.

Things are slowing getting together for the big soap making day. I have coconut oil too, so now its the equipment. Goggles, gloves and a big pot. Pot shouldnt be too hard, sally anne should have one thats cheap.

More things for sale:



Angry clouds again! I couldnt think of anything that better suited the mugs. But now I am gonna try a penguin mug. Those guys are so awesome.

Ahoy its an Octopus!

Figured I would do something different. I am curious if this will be something trendy that someone on etsy will like. Right now everyone likes the tea and cup painting and the robot and bunny mugs. The painting hasn't sold yet, time to reduce the price I think, or have a sale.


My favorite part was the tentacles, they were the most fun to do, oh and the bubbles.


I am going to be off to visit Tony at work today. He seems real excited to show me where he works. Hes working at a genome research type place. Hes really liking it, and that makes me happy.


While I am down there, I shall visit the store and get some coconut oil for a new craft. I cant wait to see how it turns out. Its a secret craft cause its for presents, and some readers will not be suprised.

going going gone!

Its been nice to have little things to sell on etsy. Been making little bits of money here and there. I always get excited when something sells.

Lately its been bunnies, bunnies and more bunnies, but yesterday someone loved my robot. :) Must do some more, as my store is looking pretty bare.

The only scary thing about selling online is calculating shipping costs. I thought my shipping was too high, and sold 2 mugs for shipping that basically cut out all the profits for them. Never will do that again. What I have set now, especially for the USA is on the dot. I am now using the scale at work for as long as I can (before I am laid off). It has helped a lot.

I am gonna be getting a scale for measuring soap ingredients, so it will work out quite well for shipping and soaping.

Oh soap, the next great summer adventure. I have read 2 books (skimmed one and read another cover to cover). Very informative books, lots of good ideas and tester recipes. I'm not attempting to do the melt and pour soaps, I feel that this is kinda a cop out because anyone can get a brick of glycerin and make a soap, but it will take some skill and guts to make real soap using lye and oils. I am very ready for this adventure. Slowly getting all my supplies in gear using my etsy money.

Other projects are also in the works, I like to do this all now in the summer. I am thinking if all works well, there will be crafts for Christmas presents.

kinda of off topic, but I am watching a cake competition on the food network and some idiot covered her cake in sugar, and then tried to make a Bacardi candle with sugar and the cake was set on fire. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA loser!

Enlisting Tonys help

Apparently I was "doing it all wrong". So he took over my art project. Apparently this was the only thing he was able to do well in art class at school. He carved a bird in his print. Figures.


He learned from my first picture that I am spying on him. He then threatened not to do my work for me so that was it after that. I am finishing the details on this robot as I wont trust anyone else but me.