New Etsy listings

Four new listings in my Etsy shop today.

 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeniseDoesCouture 

My Shopify Store will be going live on Saturday, December 5th.

Coming soon to DeniseDoesCouture...

Here's some of my latest stuff. I just have to take some good photos, and they'll be ready for sale. I have a bunch of other new items, but I want to photograph everything in color themes, for the "Coming Soon" section of my Shopify account.

 

Shopify Card Reader!

Look what came in the mail yesterday!

http://amzn.com/w/3EWHSIXVMVA2J

PinteFollow DeniseDoesCouture's board Products on Pinterest. My "buyable pins" aren't live yet, but they should be soon. I'm still in my free trial period, so maybe that's why they haven't gone live yet.

Music to do art to

Wednesday night. I'm painting, creating, and reaching all new levels of creative inspiration.

I'm pretty sure Lana Del Rey is my soulmate. Soul sister. Her lyrics give voice to my soul and spirit. She's my current favorite artist to listen to while painting and doing arts & crafts. My second favorite artist to listen to while working on art is Elle King. I can't get enough of the "Love Stuff" album. 

My current favorite song is "Ride" by Lana Del Rey. It really speaks to me. 

Here are the lyrics. So beautiful. 

"I've been out on that open road
You can be my full time, daddy white and gold
Singing blues has been getting old
You can be my full time, baby
Hot or cold

Don't break me down
I've been travelin' too long
I've been trying too hard
With one pretty song

I hear the birds on the summer breeze, I drive fast
I am alone in the night
Been tryin' hard not to get into trouble, but I
I've got a war in my mind
So, I just ride
Just ride, I just ride, I just ride

Dying young and I'm playing hard
That's the way my father made his life an art
Drink all day and we talk 'til dark
That's the way the road doves do it, ride 'til dark.

Don't leave me now
Don't say good bye
Don't turn around
Leave me high and dry

I hear the birds on the summer breeze, I drive fast
I am alone in the night
Been tryin' hard not to get in trouble, but I
I've got a war in my mind
I just ride
Just ride, I just ride, I just ride

I'm tired of feeling like I'm fucking crazy
I'm tired of driving 'till I see stars in my eyes
I look up to hear myself saying, baby
Too much I strive, I just ride

I hear the birds on the summer breeze, I drive fast
I am alone in the night
Been tryin' hard not to get in trouble, but I
I've got a war in my mind
I just ride
Just ride, I just ride, I just ride"

Lana Del Rey - Ride

Spreesy - Partners Program Coming Soon

Spreesy - Partners Program Coming Soon

Spreesy - Partners Program Coming Soon

Spreesy - Partners Program Coming Soon

I hope AdSense doesn't consider this a conflict of interest.

#EverydayI'mHustlin'Hustlin'

Don't worry I won't get crazy with the promotions. But last time I checked, I didn't have any followers here on blogspot, so suck it.

Seriously though, this is a huge world and the fact that I don't have any blog followers is kind of depressing.

I even have an English language translator widget at the top of my blog, so anyone, from *any* country, can translate my entries into their native language.
Unless they can't read, but then they probably wouldn't be on the internet anyway...

I'm going to start watching Jessica Jones on Netflix in a bit. I've waited long enough! The boyfriend can watch it on his own later.

stores, e-commerce, a mailing list and a newsletter

I finished setting up my Shopify Online store and I'm so proud! It wasn't easy. I did countless hours of research on all the features, integrations, apps, and settings, but it was worth it. I can now officially say the store is now live. All I have to do now is list new items as I create them, just like on my Etsy page. Also, I have the Shopify Point of Sale App on my phone, and I can sell in person too, just like with my Etsy Store. Shopify has many other features too. It's an e-commerce platform, I believe, and it auto updates my Pinterest business account with all my inventory, and those pins can be purchased directly via Pinterest. It does the same with my Facebook Small Business page, and I can share listings on Twitter and Tumblr with a buy now option. I could go on but I just want to say I'm pretty psyched with my free trial and I'll be keeping the service. 

There's so much competition online amongst arts and crafts small businesses, that I really need to branch out and make myself visible. So this is definitely a step in the right direction. 

My shop is as ready as it's going to be.

With that said, visit me here:

http://denisedoescouture.myshopify.com

I've even got a mailing list on there! Please sign up so I can email you my newsletter! I won't share, sell, or exploit your personal information. Promise.

Bitcoins

Now accepting bitcoins

https://denisedoescouture.myshopify.com/

Cold Porcelain Clay and About My Day

THIS:

http://m.wikihow.com/Make-Cold-Porcelain

 

And this: 

http://allaboutdeco.blogspot.com/2012/02/cold-porcelain-clay.html?m=1

....

Is the beginning of a whole new journey for me. Sure, I have some polymer clay, but it's so expensive I have to use it very wisely. Being able to make my own "cold porcelain clay" means I can have clay on hand at all times for sculpting, because it costs close to nothing to make your own. Also, it air dries, so no baking is required, and when it sets, it looks like porcelain. 

I found out about this while doing research into doll making. I don't want to make fabric raggedy Anne dolls, but nice dolls. Like porcelain dolls. And various other sculptures as well.

I've fallen in love with Blythe dolls as of late. I still have yet to get my first porcelain or Blythe doll to begin my collection. They are very expensive! And I still intend to collect them, Blythe dolls primarily, and some porcelain dolls as well. I guess I just felt like it was time to start collecting something other than coin banks (which I'm never going to stop collecting, but I'm insanely picky about what coin banks I'll allow into my space, and most of the time, I won't see one I love for several years.) 

I spent hours looking at Blythe dolls today, bookmarking the ones I want for my collection. I recently started a part time job, so an expensive new hobby is in order. It will help keep me motivated. My bills and extensive shopping list aren't always enough to keep me going. Neither is the fact that I need to start saving money, my bank account only has a dollar in it, and if my car doesn't get to the shop soon, it will meet the true death. Sometimes I just think fuck it I don't care I'll just be poor, I need my freedom! But as my boyfriend has reminded me time and again (not that it helps very much), "Feet on the floor and head in the clouds" Or is it, "Head in the clouds and feet on the floor"? Semantics. Whatever. He's supportive no matter what I choose to do, and I've chosen to take a job to help with the bills and have shopping money. As soon as I get my first paycheck, I'm going to treat myself to a manicure. I really love the round and pointy acrylic nails that are in style right now. Even my MOM gets her nails did. I deserve it, so I'm going to treat myself.

Today was my day off from work. I had canceled my Shopify account in frustration, so I reopened it, and took the time to familiarize myself with it enough to utilize it and make the most of the things it can offer me. It took a very long time to manually add all the things I already have in my Etsy shop onto my Shopify account, but it was worth it. I can now Tweet my inventory items from Shopify, and they appear on Twitter with a "Buy it now" option so my followers can just click to buy. Shopify also transfers my inventory to my Facebook Small Business Page (DeniseDoesCouture) with a buy it now option on each individual listing, but Etsy also provides my Facebook Small Biz page with a "Shop Now" button placed over my cover photo, and to the right of my profile picture (which is an avatar, for business branding purposes), and this button redirects to my Etsy store. It's nice to give customers options, I think. 

Another thing Shopify offers me is that they automatically load my products onto a board called "Products" on my Pinterest Biz account. These pins are all purchasable by clicking the "Buy it" button. It looks like this:

Pretty cool huh? Also, I have my own Shopify online store, and I can also sell in person.

The only thing I haven't gotten to utilize yet, though I wanted to, is the customizable buy it now button. Basically I choose one of my products, and an embed code is created, and once embedded somewhere, it shows a picture of the item, a litte preview, price info, and a click-to-buy option. I couldn't get it to work on my wordpress.com account, and then I realized that if I want to do e-commerce things like that, I need to be using wordpress.org, not wordpress.com (which is confusing as fuck anyway, so good riddance I guess). I didn't try using this feature on Tumblr because I was exhausted with the internet after the whole Wordpress.com fiasco. 

If a wordpress.org account is free and will allow e-commerce (supposedly it does) then I'll sign up for an account, because that's more exposure, another opportunity to brand my biz, and another avenue through which I can connect to prospective customers. 

I just want to set everything up so my marketing can almost run on auto pilot, for the most part. I don't want to spend hours of my day troubleshooting computer things!

I finished three new paintings today and made a very basic sewing design pattern for some throw pillows I've been wanting to make. Finished half a scarf. Not bad I guess, I only wish there were more hours in a day. I don't want to be in bed right now, pretending to sleep, blogging through an app on my phone. There's so much I want to do, I can't even fall asleep. 

Shopify Me

Sunday night.

Here's a link to my Shopify:

http://denisedoescouture.myshopify.com/collections/all

And here's a link to my Pinterest:

 https://www.pinterest.com/denisedoes/

That's right! Denise does! I don't know why she does, she just does!!

I went out for all you can eat Japanese food with my boyfriend today so I'm pretty tired. Starbucks maybe.

Shopify

Shopify...wow. I spent like the entire day navigating the site and trying to get familiar with it and clicking on this and that and the other and the site is still not live. Not a very user friendly interface, and what's worse I was on a DELL laptop with a shitty mouse and an even worse track pad. I fell down a rabbit hole of clicking on links that generally started with the words, "learn how (something) works" and then I'd have to double back through many an open window to where I was at and what I was doing before clicking on a link that seemed to have some bearing on what I was currently trying to accomplish, but fifty percent of the time it was a digressive course. I did find out that I can sell on Pinterest by linking Pinterest to Shopify, and so when I post a new item for sale on Shopify, it will post to Pinterest as a product available for purchase with a single click. However, in order to do this I had to create a Pinterest Business account, and Pinterest seems to think DeniseDoesCouture is too long so now my URL is DeniseDoesCoutu or something. 

Rabbit holes aren't entirely terrible though. I learned what a sole proprietor is and that you don't have to pay business tax for yourself, only your employees.

The battery on my MacBook has been dead for a while now. 

I have to manually input every item in my inventory. How tedious. But on the plus side, I can be more selective about what goes into my shop. 

Tomorrow I'll add my inventory. 

And then the fun part..modifying the template I've chosen with a color scheme I find appealing. There's a lot of tools and options and windows and links...and God be damned if they're going to let you click on your avatar and just change it! No. It's going to be much more complicated than that.  

I just want to add a banner and an avatar for branding purposes. But I couldn't find those options today. Maybe tomorrow I'll see them hiding in plain sight. 

Bitches better have my money. 

Art Supplies Are The Greatest Gift Of All

My boyfriend got me some gifts today! 

If he cheated on me or something he better keep that shit up! Just kidding. I would consider this more of a "sorry I was secretly thinking about leaving you" gift. 

Seriously though, it was very kind of him, and he got me these things because I asked nicely. 

I wanted fiber fill to make more decorative throw pillows, epoxy resin because I was out, black acrylic paint for a painting I want to paint, a painter's palette because I've been using paper plates and pieces of cardboard to pour paints onto, and I was curious to try the Jim Beam Apple Bourbon Whiskey, which by the way, is delicious. 

Handling some online branding, marketing and brand exposure. I have to branch out and reach a larger audience if I want DeniseDoesCouture to be successful enough that I can start working from home. I'm not leaving Etsy. I'm just taking steps to make DeniseDoesCouture bigger than just an Etsy shop. I started by making available for sale the majority of my Etsy listings in my eBay shop. My username there is bbloobuddha, and here is a link where you can see all the items I have for sale. I generally have my handmade items available for sale indefinitely, whereas things I just want to get rid of and make a few bucks while I'm at it will get listed in auction format. Anyway here's that link:

http://m.ebay.com/sch/bbloobuddha/m.html?isRefine=true&_pgn=1&_nkw=seller%3Abbloobuddha&_sasl=bbloobuddha&_sop=1

I'm getting started with Shopify first. I agree with Shopify that, a domain name makes a person and their company seem more professional. But I can't afford a domain name just yet. However, today I began my free 14-day trial with Shopify. 

I'll make sure to update with a link to it here once it goes live later on today.  

A Kick in the Ass and a poem by Bukowski

So just now I was reading a book called Shut the Fuck Up and Create Your Fucking Art by Garrett Robinson, which I was really enjoying a lot. And then the author throws in a Bukowski poem, to drive home his point, and I'm just sitting here like I love Charles Bukowski, and I love this book by Garrett Robinson and here is Bukowski's poem:

air and light and time and space 

 

"–you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,

something has always been in the

way

but now

I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this

place, a large studio, you should see the space and

the light.

for the first time in my life I’m going to have

a place and the time to

create."

 

no baby, if you’re going to create

you’re going to create whether you work

16 hours a day in a coal mine

or

you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children

while you’re on

welfare,

you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown

away,

you’re going to create blind

crippled

demented,

you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your

back while

the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,

flood and fire.

 

baby, air and light and time and space

have nothing to do with it

and don’t create anything

except maybe a longer life to find

new excuses

for.

 

© Charles Bukowski, Black Sparrow Press

 

And I know I will never stop creating my fucking art.