Ornament Photos Complete!

I have been pretty busy, all my ornaments have been rephotographed, and are posted on the site. Even the holiday ones

Next I am going to be working on reorganizing and reworking several of my pieces.  You might notice that a couple of the ornaments are gone, particularly the orange, a fuchsia, a red, and an aqua ornament.  I also have several kanzashi fixed up and I am deciding what to keep and reuse and what to send off to the TZArtisan store.

New Ornaments are Up!

Thats 14 listings you are looking at here.

14.

Thats a lot of pictures.


But now that I have some new inventory I am going to go back through and clean out some of the stale stuff.  A friend of mine asked if I would offer some items for silent auction to benefit the McKinney animal shelter.  Which is great! I get to dump my old inventory and make room for new while getting some publicity in town and help out a good cause.  Cause I love fur babies!

Only one problem with that though, I need new business cards.  I haven't printed any with the new Emporium naming and updated informational links.  So I was up till 1am last night working on business cards. And since I actually have a color printer now I am working all kinds of professional looking things.  I have the cards, I just need some new ink and a little time. 

I have a busy week ahead with family, not sure what I am going to accomplish. Especially since now I have come down with a bad cold. 

Don't forget all sales from the shop are going to Elizabeth Comer to help her cover the costs of fighting thyroid cancer.  Click the name to donate directly!

Ornament Update

So as of right now:

49 ornaments in inventory that need re-shooting.
16 that need original photos.
5 of the ornaments in the picture I finsihed last night, the top three and the middle two from the left.

So with proper math, I have 65 ornaments to shoot, not including the ones that still need wrapping.

I still need to make more christmas version ones, right now I am pinning the opposite of the holiday one at the top right with alternating colors so they go as a set.  Then I want to do a set in silver, and in white.  But that probably won't be done till December, when I get this big Kanzashi project out of the way.

Not only that, but my husband has decided to change jobs, which may mean relocating. Not what I wanted to hear right before the holiday season starts but what the hell.

Two More Ornaments.....Ok, Maybe Three

I finished the blue one and realized I need more ribbons than I have to finish off my pieces.  That shopping trip will have to wait a while as I am under a lot of pressure from medical bills.  Just have to budget for it, and with the expense of a brick of pins and other odds and ends, I have blown it for this month.

I still have plenty of materials, and plan on a variety of the bottom one, a pink, aqua, and lavender piece for Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month. Seeing as all this goes to someone with thyroid cancer, the color scheme seemed fitting. I might have enough ribbon to wrap that one, but several others are just going to have to wait. I will use up what I can, and then just have to go back to kanzashi. What will I ever do? LOL!

Also I still haven't cut the silk yet, so that is still to come as well.

UPDATES

The picture didn;t come out so well, but you really make out the colors.  Pink with ume, Red with ume, and Orange with gold chinese lions and clouds.  The red I didn;t realize was still in inventory, the orange I always sell so I remade it, and the pink I love, I have one similar but not of the ume print.  The other is a multicolor chrysanthemum print. I have one more that is orchid purple with blue and hot pink, its beautiful, but I still need to finish it.

After those four are finished I will be starting a line of thyroid awareness balls for obvious reasons.  Not only is September Thyroid Awareness Month, but my poor Elizabeth Comer fund is going nowhere again.  We managed to raise a little over 10% of the total she needs.

I am going to be out for a while, I hope.  It is not for certain yet, but I will probably be going back under the knife again, this time for an elected surgery on September 18.  I should only be out for a week or so, and I am not closing the shop.  But I will probably be doing ornaments like mad while held up in bed.  After that it is back to kanzashi.

I already have plans to remake several pieces, I just need to find the time!  With kids back in school my nightly work hours have been cut short. I keep falling asleep before I can get to it! But remakes so far include: sister kanzashi set, butterfly garden, and phoenix, which I started and never finished.  I also want to do some stock pieces, like I never got to before switching back to ornaments.

Tomorrow night I have a friend coming with photography stuff to take pictures of my latest batch of kanzashi!  Maybe we can do the balls I have to photograph still as well.  But truth be told I have a lot of editing to do on the site, to take off the old kanzashi temple theme logo from many of the older kanzashi photos.  I am fairly certain all the ornaments have been updated.  Lots of photo work.  Fun fun!  Still deciding on wether or not to bring back the teapot.  Meh.

And PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!! DONATE HERE!  Or make a purchase at LilyAshes Emporium and 100% of sales will go to Elizabeth's Medical Fund.

New Ornaments Finished

I was able to make some unexpected time last night to finish trimming all the new ornaments.  I am out of pins until Thursday or so. It will be a bit before I can take final photos, since my cat peed on my backdrop and tonight I have my kid's school open house.

My nori is supposed to arrive today, so there is that to work with before the pins arrive.  I know I want to start with a kiku, I just have no idea how many layers of petals it will take. Habutai Silk is very thin compared to chirimen weave rayon.  It will be a learning experience. 

More Ornaments on the way

There are actually 4 more on the way, I have a blue gradient that I am working on as well.  When that one is finished it will be time for trimmings and listings.

So as you can see I have one remake of the pink lady, cause I have sold her more times than not.  I was going to redo the mauve one, but went with the brighter fuchsia at the last minute.  The green one I finished probably a year to 9 months ago and just getting around to putting trimming on it. It just sat on my desk, waiting until the time was right.

I'm probably going to run with ornaments a few more weeks.  I have a 1/2 lb box of pins on the way from amazon, lol. And I still have at least 25-30 foam balls still.  I should be set for a while.

I also put in that order a nice sized container of Nori Paste, or rice glue.  I could make it myself, but honestly, I don't have the energy or drive for that, and it often molds.  Plus this will get me to makeing kanzashi sooner than later. I am pretty excited about the prospect of using real hand dyed silk and the traditional method.  Especially seeing as Elizabeth Comer is the one who dyed it and sent it to me!

Please remember all this is for charity.  Every sale goes toward Elizabeth's Medical Fund. Click the link to donate directly.   We are still hanging out steady at $625.  I was hoping to break a grand before the end of the month.  So, back to work for me!

Back to Ornaments

Ok so these two babies got sold to a sweet lady from Canada.  Honestly, the pink lady on the left has been sold 3 or 4 times now, so I am remaking her, once again.  I want to do more like the one on the right, but we will just have to see.  I have a couple new fabric options I want to try out, and a full supply of foam ball bases.  I just need another pound of pins, considering I am down to 3-4 balls worth max.  But I KNOW I need a kanzashi break.  Just for a little while. Plus I sell more ornaments than kanzashi. But with this purchase we are up to $625! And $375 I raised myself! SO happy! Remember, you can go to GOFUNDME to directly donate! 

Now that school is back in session, I will have more time to work on ornaments, sitting in the car line for 30 minutes a day during the weekdays gives me plenty of pinning time.  So look for more of those upcoming!