Whoopsie

Um... didn't realize I have to file my ST-1 every month for 1-2 years. I received a letter -- "Notice Before Collection Action" and had a little freakout. So I called the number, and the kind lady explained to me that even though I haven't done anything with my business yet (explaining that to her made me feel like I had rocks in my stomach), I still need to fill out the form with a 0 for returns. Then after 12-24 months of monthly filing, they'll get an idea of how my business is doing, and it will switch from monthly to quarterly filing.

So. Gotta stay on top of that! Glad I had a chance to correct my mistake!

But then comes the next question -- when I DO make a sale, will I know how to fill this thing out?? I'll probably need some help. :) But that's thinking way too far ahead. It's probably a good idea to focus on the task at hand, which is GETTING MY BUSINESS GOING!!!!

It's getting there. No matter how slowly, I'm going to get there.

Oh My...

Sorry, been a while.

Conundrums. *le sigh*

Trying trying trying to get my Etsy shop up and a-runnin. And I keep missing the mark.

I've been crocheting like a mad woman. I have a lot of stuff built up, which is very exciting. But now I must assemble, which -- while it's one of my favorite parts -- takes some precious time that I simply don't have these days.

In January, when I wanted to open my shop but missed my deadline, I decided to reason with myself and not even try for February, shooting for a March launch instead. I KNEW I'd have stuff ready to go by then.

And here we are, April 1st. EmyJJ.Etsy.com... still 0 listings. I DO have stuff. But not enough. And I need to build my lightbox so I can take purdy pictures of everything. And I need my logo. Then I can make my shop purdy also.

While the crocheting is going along swimmingly, I'm running into problems with the clay. After years and years of using Sculpey for myself, I've never had a problem. Until I made a necklace that everyone seemed to be especially fond of, and one day it just snapped in half. Just what I was afraid of.

The good news is, I found that out before I sold them and let customers down with an item that couldn't handle daily wear n tear. The bad news is, I'm switching clay brands -- or at least mixing stronger clays like Premo or Kato with my Sculpey. And this has turned out to be a long process, because I like to make my own colors. I was pasta-rollin an ugly yellow for hours on Sunday before I tried to make a rose. By then, the clay was STILL waaay too firm to work with, and too brown to be my cute mustard yellow.

So again, *le sigh*

But there's light at the end of the tunnel, folks! EmyJJ will INDEED go up, and soon. Then I'll have more than enough time to make lots of stuff and continue to update my shop and wait ever so patiently (or not patiently at all) for my first sale.

Until I get some lovelies up, check out these lovelies:

Dottie Angel
Been looking at Dottie Angel all day. Such fun, beautiful stuff -- I want to go home and crochet NOW. And maybe re-do my apartment a bit. ;) And I loooove the skirts and boots she wears, too. Girl after my own heart.

Ms. Elsie Flannigan
Elsie has a pretty rad deal -- always making stuff, runs a store, has lots of crafty friends and the girl's got a fabulous eye!

Skunkboy Creatures
I saw Skunkboy Creatures at Renegade and felt like I saw a rockstar. Her adorable daughter was there too! I think they have one of the cutest mother/daughter relationships I've ever seen. They seem to have a lot of fun together! And the stuff she makes is super cute!


I heard about Dottie Angel and Skunkboy Creatures through Elsie -- and heard about her through Stacey from Eisley.

I love how music and craftiness and photography all bunches together. All things I am very, very fond of. <3