Hide your reading habits from prying eyes

Usually when I start something, I like to complete it before I move on to the next stage, but that doesn’t always work out.  My plan was to make a whole bunch of stuff and then photograph it and then upload it to my Etsy shop all at once, just because that’s the way I like to work.  However, it occurred to me that while I am doing all that making/photographing/uploading business, there would be nothing in my shop to sell!  Duh!  So I decided today to upload the first of the products and then I could relax and get on with the rest of what I wanted to make.

So here we are, I give you Book Addicts Undercover (book covers)

The ones in the photo are mass market paperback size but I have a range of sizes available. Mostly in the US they have mass market and trade but just to be different (and irritating) in the UK they have three main sizes, plus just about everything inbetween! To cope with this I actually have four sizes, though at the moment only the mass market ones have been made. (I had a lot on this month plus a throat bug to shake off).  All of the covers are made with vinyl (archival quality) and fabric unless otherwise stated ie some are made with paper like the pink and black design, but I prefer working with fabric and there are more options. All covers come with built in ribbon bookmarks in a contrasting colour.

I’ve been making these for quite a few years now.  It started when I was studying conservation and preservation at Uni as part of my Librarianship and since I’ve always been a bit crafty, I began covering my books with something more interesting than just the usual boring old options. I used to give them to friends and family and then sold more through word of mouth.  It’s only now (after a year of having it) that I am getting around to actually putting stock in my Etsy shop.

I like these in particular if I am out and about reading a book, because you can keep people guessing what it is you’re reading and foil the nosy parkers, plus protecting the book itself!  I remember being on the tube when the latest Harry Potter came out and there were so many people on the tube reading it, some more furtively than others lol and I realised that they could all do with some undercover covers.  The Harry Potter publishers have realised that to some extent by bringing out adult covers for the books but I like to go a step further and hide what I’m reading completely from prying eyes on public transport, waiting rooms etc.

And let’s face it with some of the books we are reading these days either the covers or the titles themselves might cause a few eyebrows to be raised on the commute to work!

It’s also good for added protection for those of you like me who like to read in the bath!

Zazzle Update:

I posted the other day about how I wasn’t getting any notifications from them and how they told me I should check my junk mail etc (not helpful) well it turns out that there was a problem with the email notification system and they announced today that they were now working on it!

I decided yesterday (and the postman agreed) that I sounded like Barry White after a hard night of booze and cigarettes.  So I decided to track down some Barry and compare.  Actually I kicked Barry White’s ass, my voice is much deeper at the moment and maybe I should go out and do some one night only appearances around town.  (Remember Phoebe from Friends with her “sexy” deep cold induced voice?)  Problem is I feel too sick to leave the house let alone go out on the entertainment circuit lol.

This damned virus is getting in the way though and I have so much I need to get done, including a term paper due on Tuesday and a bunch of stuff to make for the shop and for Christmas, but it’s making me a bit useless at the moment.  Stupid viruses, I feel like a man, I’m complaining so much about such a small thing.  The IT Crowd was on last night but I couldn’t enjoy it as much as usual because trying to laugh results in a coughing fit and it shoulds like I’m hacking up a lung or something lol.  I recorded it and will watch it again when I feel better and can give it laughing justice.

Everything was white when I got up this morning.  It’s not snow, it looks like really thick frost.  I had no idea it was so cold last night but then I may have a fever.  Still waiting for the postman to deliver something/anything but the Christmas rush has started already and the postman is running about 2 hours later than usual.

Part of my order from Zazzle got cancelled while I was sleeping last night.  They had a problem with one of the images, which is odd because of the four items I ordered three of them had the same image and they were all approved. *scratches head*  They sent me a nice email with links to the approved and un-approved items so I could see what the problem was, but unfortunately none of the links they gave me linked to any of the products, so I am still clueless.  It will be a surprise when the package arrives since I have no clue what I will be receiving.

Colour me confused!

What else is confusing about these people is that I never get any emails from them if anyone buys anything, comments on my shop, etc but I do get emails from them advertising stuff, confirming my orders etc.  I have all the notifications set correctly, I emailed them about it last week and all I got back was make sure you check your junk mail!  I was under the impression that no one was ordering at all but that’s not the case.  People are ordering, I just don’t get told about it!

Ah on Cafepress everything is so transparent.

I was feeling pretty bad today with this virus thingy, and was pretty useless.  All the crafting I planned to do today fell by the wayside.  But tonight I was fiddling about with the shoe designer function and made more Zazzle shoes.  The results can be found in the box below.  Jack said “you’ve made emo shoes” lol

buy unique gifts at Zazzle

I also took advantage of the black friday discounts and made a tie for my BIL (50% off!) and a personalised travel mug for both of them.  The blooming postage was almost as much as the discounted products lol

Got an email tonight from the lovely Zazzle people announcing that they will be having a Black Friday sale this Friday, some product lines will be 20-50% off, plus some free shipping options and a bunch of other stuff.  I’m going to bed so I can’t do much about it now, but I guess I should aim to get as much product in the shop tomorrow in preparation for the sale.  At least that way there will be something there should anyone decide to buy something.

Bought more craft supplies today.  I can’t really say I needed most of it but I like to be prepared and have things just in case I might need them.  I guess I missed my calling as a boy scout. Spoke to the girl in the craft shop and she was saying the same thing.  She likes to have something just in case.  Maybe there’s a lot of that going around, what do you think?  I also told her about Etsy and she wrote down the URL and might be checking it out.  She makes jewellry too!

At the moment I reckon I could open my own craft supplies shop as I have a fair amount of stock just sitting around waiting/begging/pleading to be made into something, and um well not a lot of free time to sit down and do it.  Plus I keep going off on tangents.  Today I saw things in the shops, got inspired and bought raw materials to try and make my own.  Not what I went out to get.  Also ordered some rather nice fabric last night from the US, stuff I can’t get here, and then tonight ordered some more fabric via ebay, for the same reason - can’t get it locally. See I just went off on another one, what I was going to say is that I’m very good at the organising/getting the supplies in side of things but I fall down when it comes to the actual doing part of it.  I’m ready and have just about everything you can think of that I might need to make just about everything… or open a craft shop!

All the pretty bags arrived today for Tablet packaging but unfortunately me and my BIL/sister seem to have eaten it all so I will have to start again tomorrow *whistles*

Oh and I nearly forgot, Cafepress have added five new products to their list, all hoodies, zip up hoodies, black hoodies etc.  And last night Zazzle made it easier for shopkeepers to add designs to multiple products.  It’s all happening!

I read an interesting article today which was sent to my email from Etsy (I think I joined every email list they have!) and this one was all about Pimping Your Shop for 2009, although actually when you read it, it’s more about getting traffic to your shop and getting the word out, and a little about how to make your shop look better and rate higher etc.

It’s interesting to consider the business of attracting customers.  Any other time I have sold handmade products it has been through word of mouth, friends, family, work colleagues, or in a physical location with passing trade, like a market stall.  You don’t really have to do much promotion, it’s mostly done for you by the word of mouth or the market people promoting the overall market.  You just have to sit back and wait for the customers to come to you.  Online it’s different.  There are millions of people out there surfing the net, internet sales are growing year on year, but unless you have an internet presence and people can find you easily then you may as well be in a locked shop with the lights out!

That’s why I like the Etsy concept, although it’s so big you can still get lost in the 100s of shops there.  Although I’ve had my shop account for a while now, I still don’t have any products in it, mainly because I’ve been too busy to get them made, but also because I like to research a lot and make sure I get it right.  So this article appealed to me as a new internet craft shop owner and ties in very nicely with something else I was reading a few weeks ago; a blog by another Etsy shop owner, all about her personal experiences of setting up an Etsy shop and also her craft business in general.  It makes interesting reading for anyone in the same position and it’s full of helpful hints and ideas.  She also documents how many hearts and sales she gets week on week and what she might have done or not done to achieve this.  Her blog is here  Rifferaff and her Etsy shop.  She specialises in handmade gift wrap, journals, cards etc.

Also as one link leads to another, I came across this The Etsy Handbook - All Our How-Tos About Selling which I had no idea existed and they seemed to have it hidden away somewhere.  This kind of stuff should be linked to your shop or to your profile or something, especially when you first get started.  *runs off to check there isn’t a link to it on profile*  Nope I’m ok, and not blind.  Anyway, good to know it’s there and from the first look, seems to be full of helpful advice.

I started off well this evening cutting and ironing fabric - got distracted briefly by ordering some sexy fabric which may or may not be here in time for me to make anything for Christmas - and then got a phone call from my BIL who begged for help with a powerpoint presentation.  He came over after he’d had dinner (I still haven’t btw) and well two and a half hours later, he’s gone home with a pretty cool presentation for tomorrow.  He seemed to think I was some kind of genius and that I should get paid lots of money for doing PPT but sadly I don’t, and I actually wouldn’t want to.  Oh and I’m not great at PPT but I get by.  The point is that the fabric is still on the ironing board, and it’s nearly 10pm and way too late to be thinking about making dinner and the BIL ate most of the Tablet!  Tomorrow I was thinking about visiting my favourite craft shop before it closes down - it’s actually relocating/merging into another slightly larger shop - and they have some great discounts on the stock they don’t want to move.  I was in both shops last week - the old and the new - and the new one which is an existing art supplies/stationery shop, really has no room to fit in all the stock from the other shop, so I doubt that I will be shopping there very much they just don’t have the space to duplicate what the old shop had and they had very little actual craft stock at all.  It was all very disappointing but one of the few places around here without me having to travel like 50+ miles.

Time to catch up with last night’s Heroes!

Ok I am waaaay too excited about this but look what I made today.

Ok, so I know that no one will probably EVER want to buy them but I really had a lot of fun designing them hehe.

I came home today and felt inspired to create something, so I decided to try out the shoe design option on Zazzle.  I think I’ve made 5-6 pairs tonight but they have to go through an approval process and this is the first one I made and it just got approved!  Yay!

I feel the need to make more shoes, but it is a little time consuming and I haven’t eaten yet and I need to watch True Blood in about twenty minutes, and as I’m typing this I’m thinking that actually if I could have a superpower I think right now I would like Hiro’s so I could stop time and get a whole lot of work done lol  That’s one handy power he has there.

Now, apart from these Keds shoes on Zazzle, I also came across a pattern for making these slippers the other day

So I can feel like Betty Grable

I really want to make these NOW.  The ones in the photo don’t have any soles so I think if I was making them I would be adding some rubber soles, preferably non-slip.  (note to self:  track down supplier of non-slip rubber soles)  I really think my mum would love these, she loves the 40s and she has some peep-toe shoes, so I think maybe if I can find the sole suppliers, then I might make her a pair for christmas.  Of course she never wears flat anything but maybe she’ll love them and make an exception.

Now back to the shoe designing…

Finally managed to get some kind of stock in the Zazzle shop - heh it’s only been two years so what’s the rush!  I guess I haven’t really bothered because I can get most of what I want/need from Cafepress but lately I have noticed that they have some nice ranges of products in areas that Cafepress isn’t covering.  So I’ve started with a few designs, and I’ll build up…slowly because it takes a lot longer than it does with CP to get products in your shop.

Check out this bad boy - I mean the shirt obviously. Even though this is a guy’s shirt I’m thinking of ordering one for myself!  I like the colour combo, althought there are like a gazillion shirt/colour combinations to choose from.  *head spins*   Design is on front and back (smaller on back because I like it that way) but here’s the IMPORTANT thing with Zazzle…

You can usually adjust the image size to suit yourself AND add your own text to designs, so I could make this design smaller and then write my name underneath for example.  There’s a full range of colours and fonts to choose from.  I bought myself a bag last week and did exactly that.  The bag is in my shop with just the design on it but if anyone wanted to add some text, well they can!

So there is a whole range of products with the above Reading is Sexy design on it now, including quite a few mug options.  They have two types of thermal travel mug to choose from, and a frosted glass tankard, white mugs with different coloured interiors and a special mug that is black when empty/cold and reveals your design when it’s warm!  You can also see a few of the designs in the gallery widget on the EOTC blog.

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