Save on shipping

As a new etsy seller I have found shipping to be the hardest part of being an online seller. Buyers would rather pay more for an item than pay more for shipping (as a result of the "ebay effect"). I would like to keep prices fair but shipping can be expensive--more so these days as high fuel prices keep shipping costs high--and no more predictable or timely.

My husband just emailed me this article from the WSJ and I am definitely going to check out the price comparison sites mentioned: ShipGooder.com, FreightQuote.com and RedRoller.com.

A Lil' PR from Lil Sugar and Casa Sugar

Pimp Your Crib: Terrific Design-rific Bedroom Decals

Jul 29 2008 - 10:30am

I adore wall decals because they are a fun, but semipermanent decoration option that kids and adults can both love. (Unlike say, crayon murals all over the walls!) Etsy seller Lunule sells these imaginative wall art installations made from hand-cut vinyl for about $25.

She designed her first decal for her daughter's room and later included the patterns in the book Making Stuff For Kids. Apparently, so many people commented on the decals that she expanded the series. And the best part? She accepts special requests!

The only tools you will need for application are a pencil, level to make sure they are straight, and a squeegee.

To check out more designs:

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

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Illustrator CS3 Help

from the Poppytalk blog:

Today I'm going off a bit of the beaten path and offering a wee tutorial on making a clipping mask in Adobe's Illustrator CS3. It's one of those things I always wanted to know before I knew how, and the fact that it's so easy, I thought I'd share it here. I made a cover for last week's newsletter using a clipping mask, and so I'm using that as the example. Thanks to Dallas Shaw for the use of her image (of her beautiful new vintage key series) and to dafont.com for (Bleeding Cowboys) courtesy of
lastsoundtrack.fontspace.com. I may not do it the correct way, but this is the way I do it. Here it goes:


1. Open a new document to the size specs you need. Place the image you wish to use onto your document.

Read more...

Homemade Notepads

From Craft Magazine by way of Sarah Neuburger at the Small Object:

I have always wanted to do this! What a great way to recycle paper too or notebooks for my notebook obsessed husband and daughter!

I hope that you can purchase brush padding compound in Canada!

Sarah from The Small Object shares her adventures in making her own notepads using this handy-dandy brush-on padding compound. I'm totally inspired to run around my place gathering up scrap papers to turn into notepads now!

sewing help from the purlbee

Here is a super-clear and useful piece from Molly's Sketchbook (Purl Soho, The Purl bee) on how to use marking tools in sewing.

And, for your listening pleasure while you work Shugo Tokumaru.

One last one before I get back to work...just thinking about some children's chairs I am working on for Hoopla in September...I was just checking out Colorlovers and just came across this post--wowee! simple pack a punch (or maybe kick in the pants) colors. Grouped together, these are a bit frightening! Compare to the strength/complexity of the graffiti colors...

This is a great link for an explanation of sizes and terms for Japanese patterns. I have a couple of pattern books that I covet but have not tried mainly because I cannot figure out the sizes. Thank you Japan Craft Journal!

I have decided to make a blog for the craft/design work that I am doing and to keep "lunule" for my art practice. Both will progress at different paces depending on what I am working on but I hope that they will intersect from time to time. I hope to share my inspiration, process, (and yours) and link to interesting tidbits that I stumble across on my web walks.

I think I will start my day off with some images from the Japanese Jeu de Paume books that I recently purchased...never mind that the text is in Japanese--the images are so fantastic!