Still Into Simple....but...

The bracelet making is still holding my attention, right now I'm focusing on learning new ways to do the finishing.  Knotting and burning seems a bit sloppy so far so I am continuing to practice, but would also like to discover ways to avoid some of that (I'm not a fan of the burning to seal things) so I spend a lot of time searching online for tips and tricks.  Today I was working on mastering the uni knot, its a nice way to attach a hook (the way fishermen do) when I don't want to do the adjustable closures I've been doing so far, and no burning involved! Here's a couple bracelets I did today.

The one with the hook closure is my first attempt at using the uni knot and it worked out well.
I now have 51 bracelets in my collection!
Next chance I get to work on these I want to start working on more complex knots/designs.

Sweet and Simple Bracelets

I seem to be focused on very simple bracelet designs.  Here's two of the latest that can be found on the website in the 'Bracelet' link.

Just Great!

In the past few weeks I have spent over $1300 getting the floor of my 1991 car repaired as well as getting one of my car windows fixed...last summer I drove the car with no AC and no working windows and I couldn't go through that again!  So now that I have maxed out my credit cards and never have spare money in the bank some idiot decided to break into my car this past weekend and he did it through the roof!! Just cut a big ol hole.  There is no money (or insurance money) to fix this one, just plastic and duct tape til whenever the car decides its time to go to that big junk yard in the sky. Ugh.

On a happier note I spent much of the weekend working on my website and making more bracelets. Check it out if you get a chance. karenhetzer.com

Checking In

I haven't been doing much (ok any) painting lately. I have a couple of small paintings and some prints listed on ebay but its like their third go around and no one seems interested. I think my style is out of favor right now......if only I could (or rather would want to) paint cats, they seem to be very popular.

 

Anyway.....I haven't been sitting idle, I'm boning up on my knitting skills and I'm learning to make macrame bracelets, I find both crafts very meditative.

I have closed my etsy shop, it never got any attention.  After listing some bracelets a few days ago I did make one sale after announcing on a community post that I was leaving etsy.  The sale was for a box of cards for $15 and after etsy took out for my listing fees, taxes etc I made $2.67, and they've decided to integrate with Paypal and disable peoples stand alone Paypal accounts which means you would have to wait for payment through etsy......ugh.  Doesn't matter, like I said that was the only sale I ever made and I just couldn't compete with 7.2 million other sellers, so many talented artists out there!
So........everything that I create to sell is now listed on my website , I still have prints and cards listed there for sale.

I have a Weebly website that I created a few years ago, they offer a few plans, one free and a couple other 'pay for' options including a way to sell through them.  I decided to keep my free plan and just direct folks to contact me if they want to purchase something.  It's hard to sell online when you can't afford to pay to promote/market stuff and I just can't bring myself to pay a monthly fee to set up a shop through a site provider on the hopes a sale will happen. I'm still in the process of redesigning my website to accommodate the changes and addition of new interests, my craft skills are still at the 'beginner' level, it feels like starting all over again.  I'm not complaining, it feels good to develop other interests, I haven't felt inspired in a really long time and that worried me more.