I can't resist sharing some Springy, outdoorsy stuff that makes my Etsy Favorite list light up and my consumer lust go ding*ding*ding*.
Just for fun, shall we?
White Owl Medicine Moccasins, TreadLightGear.
Vintage Comet Percolating Coffee Maker, SunsetSideVintage
Brass Arrow Earrings, BlackStar
Leotie Necklace in Sunset, littleocean.
Blanco Mexican Party Dress, AidaCoronado
Lynx Swirl Design Cards, ALineofHerOwn
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Am I crazy to write letters to sellers like this one I wrote tonite?
Hi [Ms. X],
I received the capelet today and I wanted to thank you for prompt shipment.
I wanted to tell you that I'm a little disappointed in the quality of the capelet and of the hand. I expected something softer for a baby item and perhaps I should have asked about it first-though it's difficult to describe wool softness. The button seems small and the loop, (which was also disappointing and unattractive with just a knot tied) would not stay on it. I'm going to line it for my baby and replace the button and loop.
I'm telling you this because you have a nice record of positive feedback and I didn't want to give you neutral or negative feedback.
I'm in a pinch and my babe needs something to keep her warm on our travels next week, so I'm going to try to make it work. The color is beautiful for my little Ivy.
I think that capelets for babies are brilliant and underrepresented on Etsy and you could really do something with it if you clean up the design a bit, and make it with softer wool or cotton. I would have gladly paid more as a consumer for a superior product.
Hopefully this is feedback that will be of value to you and your store.
Thank you,
pixie
Have you ever done such a thing? I need some feedback if you'd be willing to share your thoughts. I, for one, would like to know if my product was disappointing to someone and I'd think nothing of offering to exchange it or credit a portion, if not all, back to the consumer if they came across honestly about their experience. On the other hand, I am far too accomodating to strangers and perhaps Ms. X needed to hear some harsher emotions from me.
I'm big on feedback. I also love to see people do well, I just hate to see someone with a great idea execute it halfassedheartedly. What do you think?
Postscript:
Hi
Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate it.
I agree that a softer wool or cotton would be very nice and am going to be using something different going forward.
In this series they were made from a very nice wool that just happens to be a bit rougher. I liked the rustic quality of it and didn't think it would be an issue since it is meant to be worn over something. My daughter is 1 1/2 and wore it last Winter with no issues and will continue to wear it.
I am really sorry the loop did not stay on.
Thanks again for your input.
[Ms. X]
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The lovely explorer, Keri Smith and I share a love of tiny houses. I excitedly read her blog last week and began another tear through tiny home blogs, Jay Shafer's awesome site of Tumbleweed houses, gypsy vardos, and hobbity little earth dwellings.
What is it about the wee house that we love so much? From a simple little living room fort to a backyard yurt or tipi, a private treehouse or beautiful boat, I can't get enough of small spaces.
My godfather in another life, Carl Jung, said, "Everything in the unconscious seeks outward manifestation". One could run in any bloody direction with that, Carl. But as it applies to "stuff", I think it's worthwhile to investigate how we collect, what earthly items we cherish and what houses we dream of.
I'm dreaming of a tiny house in a wooded glen at the moment, as I'm deeply missing the trees once again...
And as for earthly items I cherish, here are a few:
1.Hairpins from the vintagebelljar
2.Jeans
3.My favorite mug and this tea
5.Sewing machine
6.Yarn/needles
7.My collection of big feathers
8.My grandmother's cast iron skillet
9.Blockprinted dishtowels (sneaking in functional art wherever I can)
10.My worn-out copies of (surprise) Women Who Run With the Wolves, Gift from the Sea and Walden.
I'll keep this list going and encourage you to create your own- bearing in mind that if you only had 200 sq ft to live in, what would you bring with you? What are you afraid of not having?
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There are so very, very many good mamas around me. So many. When I started this blog in 2005, I was about to give birth to Miles. Mamahood has been woven tightly into my little piece of fabric here in blogland. It is such an essential part of who I am in my soul and who I am as an artist. Lately, with the boom of just about everyone I know connecting and reconnecting on Facebook, I am experiencing another explosion of meeting and greeting new mamas that I've never known, but, like me, have been finding others like them and growing their circles. Plus it seems like new babies are popping out everywhere! Another baby boom!
I consider myself so lucky to know so many yummy mummys. One such lady just whipped the business out of breast cancer last year and I am SO proud of her. One of the unique things about Jill is that she's one of those mamas whose ears are wide open and wants only to hear about me, me me (or whomever she happens to be talking with). She is absolutely the most amazing and attentive listener I've ever met. This is such a rare gift, one that I cannot claim myself, but wish I could! She is deeply intuitive, (to the point of saving her own life with the cancer thing, choosing to do the opposite of what her doctors recommended) wise, caring and bursting with the joy of life and her two boys. Plus she has mondo cajones.
I decided to honor Jill by driving the beautiful Stacy of Bellawish crazy with a last minute necklace order the week of Mother's Day. I think we were both half asleep, burning the midnight oil, (as I am now) when we discussed the details, but she agreed to hustle and ship it out next day, because she is, in fact, saintly.
What ended up happening was that in our haste, we crossed wires, I didn't match my stinking paypal address! and the necklace was shipped to me instead of Jill. It arrived Monday and I was having a crappy ass, shit-tastic day and so I tore into the package and put the thing on myself, shouting dramatically, "I need a little JOY in my life!" And in that moment, I realized my foible was totally meant to be. (I really did need some serious joy right at that exact moment.)
So, to Jill, there is another superb JOY necklace on it's way to you. And when I see you in a couple of weeks at hippyfest, we can take a twinsie picture!
And that is my little story for today.
Wishing you a little joy...
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Miles loves sporting his Mati Rose Original tee shirt. She has a cute entry up featuring a montage of babes wearing this shirt which we bought for M at the art sale that followed Squam Art Workshop in New Hampshire last Fall. If you haven't heard of this magical, creative gathering, check it out! Sessions are in June and September this year-treat yourself to some creative resources and downtime in the gorgeous NH forest on infamous Golden Pond.
My psc has been acting out lately, preventing me from making color copies and enlargements to create with-so after a bit of research, I chose a cheap HP all-in-one rather than the Canon that I think will do a better job of making prints of my work. The HP will aid more in the process of creating, which is more of my focus at the moment. It does use archival quality ink, so I may be surprised at the quality-I know so little about this sort of thing. If you are a printer expert, feel free to throw your $.02 my way! Be sure to tell me if you use a model like this for printing your own artwork.
I may treat myself to the Canon later on down the line when it makes more sense-it accepts those lovely, thick, fine art papers that look so juicy when printed upon. In the meantime, I need my copying and scanning capabilities! I'm running out of time, here!
I hit the jackpot at one of my favorite antique store haunts-a collection of 1950's cityscape postcards that I'm excited about collaging with under the paint. The bright pastels are inspiring me as Spring draws near and they grey of winter is being chased away. I am digging the way the yellow sun spills across our floor and warms the house. Everything seems bathed in amber light.
It's been a rather lazy day-I haven't given one thought to alkalizing food (my new obsession), instead I've been eating comfort food (avocado and cheese sandwiches, bbq chips, buckwheat pancakes...)and lying around on my duff watching Sesame Street with Miles. I did scrub the kitchen up and down this morning, which could be part of that frenzied nesting one does when babe is really wanting out. It's a game of anybody's guess as to when this little elf is going to arrive! Shall I start taking bets??
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Months ago, when we found out that our little bean was going to be a girl, Miles glommed with all of his heart onto the name "Triton" for her, because he loves the solar system and Triton is one of Neptune's moons. We tried to entertain it, even for a middle name, and to his deep dismay, we shan't be using it for our daughter. We have a little party planned at a local eaterie this Sunday in honor of his rite of passage into big brotherhood and one of the gifts we gave him this week was a little Waldorfy Cuddle Doll, which he quickly named... you guessed it: Triton.
Today he wanted to take her out into the world and share her in his silky sling (hand-dyed by the amazing Wendy Cook). He has been nurturing her and practicing all of his big brother skills since we presented her to him. (She is a fair-trade cotton and wool Peppa Cuddle Doll and we got her on ebay, but they sell them at Down to Earth). He got a lot of positive little coos from the grandmotherly types, but can I tell you, in that hat, everyone thought he was a girl. Are boys who nurture that unexpected?? I have to ask. Maybe it's his eyelashes...
It has been really fun preparing him for this change because he is so nurturing and STINKIN' SWEET. He tells us how much he can't wait to help with the diapering, holding and nursing (!) and it just makes it even more exciting that he's so into it. There have been times where it's felt like this baby is more for him than for us. I know I have a few who will fight for the right to this title, but I'm pretty sure I'm the Luckiest Person Alive.
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Hark! It's upon us!
If you are running behind with shopping and are desperate for a few ideas, here are some last moment goodies that may save your Christmas keister:
Wee Babes: Organic *anything* is nice for the weans because their little skins and bodies don't like chemicals. Nui booties are not cheap, but make a super sweet gift. If you are the crafting type, felt your own! My favorite source for wool top (roving) is The Yarn Tree in Brooklyn, because they're so flippin' nice. Pair I felted for friend's babe:
I would have been all over this bunting, had I known about it when M was born.
Kid Over 2: This cool chalkboard placemat is Made in USA by a company called Chalk A Doodle (I can't say it without crowing). The eraser is recycled wool and it comes with 4 pieces of dustless chalk. I love the folks at Pokkadots, too. Just dang sweet people. No time to ship? No money to buy? Make it yourself by spray painting chalkboard paint onto a lightweight surface such as illustration board or Masonite. Create the eraser by cutting a 4 x 6 square out of your least favorite wool sweater (or thrift store find) and wash it in a hot water cycle with regular laundry soap. Instant felted wool eraser. Reckon you'll have to go buy some chalk. Also, the album What Kind of Cat Are You? will drive the 2-6 set wild.
EnviroMan: Just Soap is a company anyone can love. The creator designed a bike contraption to pedal and mix his large batches of soap. Brilliant! Human powered! More efficient than Santa and no pesky reindeer to clean up after. The coyotes love Lemongrass Ginger for a scent that suits girlies, as well as boys. We are intrigued by the shampoo bars and plan to try them next-I can't think of a better idea than eliminating all of the plastic bottles that shampoo and conditioner come in. This water bottle solves all of the plastic, aluminum (evil SIGG), nalgene issues of our day. With one for him and one for you, you can get on with things more fun than searching for the perfect bloody water bottle!
Host/Hostess/Special Lady Friend: These candles from Something Wicked are wickedly guiltless, especially if you live on the West Coast and don't have far to ship (think cruel fuel). We've been burning "Hannah" (Fig Apricot) all week and the scent is intoxicating without being headachey. They are thoughtfully poured into reuseable + recyclable glass, made of soy (no black paraffin lungs) with hemp wicks, toxin-free, and are packaged in deliciously recycled paper boxes (sturdy enough to have a second life as a cute and yummy-smelling storage box). Lovely Jill Roy, creator, beloved Angeleno, and handpourer scores points for fighting global warming and gets one tiny spanking for using a teensy amount of synthetic fragrance to achieve the fruity part of the sniffins. If she can live with herself, I can, too.
eGifts: Elf Yourself is the funniest thing I've ever seen. When I received this gift from my girl, Julie, I almost peed. Spread holiday joy and crack up your friends. They'll forget that you didn't send them a fruitcake.
And,
If You Still Have to Buy for Me: Wink...
Wednesday Post Script: To SIGG or not to SIGG
I've been receiving some feedback about the water bottle issue and the comments of this post reveal some concerns and thoughts from a few well-doers. Here is my final prattle on the matter which I tried to post as a comment but Typepad doesn't love me tonite:
But seriously, my vote still goes for food-grade stainless steel (watch out for cheapies, they are out there!). And I'm a product, design and packaging whore, so you can imagine how difficult it is for me to be so puritanical on such a matter. EWG said it best when they said, "SIGG is an aluminum-bottle manufacturer with excellent publicity."
You can't recycle SIGG because of all that is in/on it vs. the plain Klean Kanteen (available everywhere, such as Amazon, GreenFeet.com). My bone of contention is that SIGG is mfd in Switzerland (smaller eco footprint, yet still far to ship) and the damned KK is mfd in China-if you know me, you know I've begun to boycott China when possible. If you use the tap to fill your bottles, you must always remember to clean them thoroughly-another problem I have with SIGG is you can't risk getting them too hot inside ....eeeeegad....(I run the hottest tap water my faucet will produce to sterilize my bottle and I can put it in the d/w, too)
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