and now i'm married :)

photography by 'i heart photography'

well friends, i am finally married! and i have to say, it feels great to be melissa a. griffith :).

the picture above is, so far, the only one i have to show you (the others are being edited as we speak), but you can clearly see that it was a gorgeous day; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. don't worry: i'll post more pictures as i get them! :D

the day itself was... exhausting. brandon and i barely got to eat anything because everyone and everything required our attention, and i had a terrible migraine through much of the day and night, but it really was lovely and i wouldn't change a thing about it :).

we stayed at the hyatt in downtown austin (right on town lake, which we had a beautiful view of from our 14th floor window), and were greeted with chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne. how romantic! the next day, we went to north austin and met two of brandon's friends for bowling, which was a lot of fun, and later, we met another of his friends for dinner. after that, we swung by my parents' house to get our wedding gifts and such, and then we headed home. we pretty much spent the whole weekend recovering from thursday and friday, haha, and this week, for me, has been all about catching up on things like cleaning, emails, and school, as well as preparing for my meeting tomorrow and working on my name-changing. i'm a bit worn out, but glad that everything has worked out really well.

so now that the stress of planning a wedding is behind me, i can refocus on the other important things in my life: my shop, my health, and my schooling.

i have an appointment tomorrow with a nice lady near austin who owns an upscale home decor and personal accessories shop called 'sanctuary home.bath.garden', which i am really excited about. this will be my first experience with consignment; i am generally leary of it, and much prefer wholesale, but she runs a very reputable shop, so i am going outside my normal boundaries of selling comfort for this opportunity. she says that if the consigmnent works out well, we'll switch to wholesale for simplicity's sake :). her shop is stunning, and i am extremely honoured that she contacted me. also, brandon and i are often in that area (my absolute all-time favourite thai restaurant is there, 'thai kitchen'! mmm!), so making deliveries/checking my stock and picking up checks will be very convenient. i am feeling really fortunate lately, and this is part of the reason why :).

on the health front, my good friend lea recently told me about this "self-hypnosis diet" book/cd that she found, and was saying how astonishingly much it has helped her so far, and recommended it to me. i have undergone some hypnotherapy in the past, which worked out very well, so i decided to buy the material and give it a try. i've got to say, it's incredible how much power your mind has over your body! i started reading the book on monday, and i've already lost about 3 pounds, simply by altering the way i think. for instance, instead of telling myself, "no matter what i do, i can't lose weight", i now think, "i am becoming thin and healthy". it may sound silly, but it obviously has helped me so far, and i haven't even tried the cds yet! i have not changed my eating habits (which were mostly healthy already), and have merely continued with my semi-regular exercising (other than cleaning, i've really only exercised by playing 'dance dance revolution' on the playstation, haha). i am hoping i can get into a routine where i start doing the abs-ball exercise every other day, and pick up pilates again. i love pilates, but i tend to put it off because it takes over an hour to do. however, i feel so much better at the end, and really there's no excuse for me not to take an hour out of my day to do that. so anyway, i'm going to keep thinking positively (whereas i'm used to simply thinking realistically), not say that i'm going to "try" to do things to get healthier and instead actually do them (do or do not, there is no try! :p), and add more exercising into my daily life.

i am working really hard on not getting blue about college. it seems a little overwhelming sometimes... all the courses i have to complete before i can graduate. but really i have less than a year left, and i am grateful for that. i think the main thing that really bothers me is that i will have to take out another student loan, but with the banks as they are currently, i'm worried i won't be able to get any money. at that point, i would be stuck, because i won't be able to continue my current lifestyle: i'd have to get a full-time job in addition to my shop, which in turn would make my schooling suffer, as that's less time i would have working on my classes. and let's face it: bills have to get paid :p. so i'm in a bit of turmoil here. hopefully, all my worrying will have been for nothing (that's usually the case, haha), and i will get my loan and everything will be fine. it would also be great if i could make a living wage off my shop! ;)

so those are the things that are currently on my mind.

oh, and as for shop updates: i have decided that after the holidays, i will be slowly switching to the glossy, waterproof finish for my items. in general, people seem to prefer the glossy look, and i will still be able to make items matte-finished on request. also after the holidays (or perhaps before, depending on if i run out of ribbon or not, haha), i will be switching all my pendants to the 18" sterling silver-plated chain. as many of you have mentioned to me, it looks nicer and is more durable than the ribbon (although the ribbon is so cute!). the ribbon necklaces will be available on request, like the matte-finish. i think these are the best ways to push my merchandise up to the next level of awesome, and i hope you agree :).

well wish me luck tomorrow (i am shy!), and i'll update you later! :)

♥,
melissa

lea is awesome!

a few weeks ago, brandon bought me this ring from esdesigns on etsy. i fell in love with this ring a long time ago, and i was thrilled to be able to call it mine!:

in return, i wanted to do something sweet for my thoughtful honey-pie. so i asked my good friend lea if she would be so kind as to accept my money in exchange for one of her amazing portraits. she was just as excited as i was, and once i sent her the picture i wanted done, she had completed the portrait in no time!

it turned out fabulous; blue is brandon's favourite colour, and he loved it! lea is amazing; i gave her a black and white printout (one of those you get from a photobooth at an arcade, in my case, dave & buster's), and she was able to perfectly capture the essence of the picture in her own unique style. and i LOVE how she did my hair! :D

so as you can see, the portrait is now proudly hanging above our gigantic collection of dvds (lea's idea to make the portrait inside a "widescreen" background was my reason for wanting it near the movies, heehee) and below the shelf that will house our wedding album, momentos, etc. in a few months. it is a lovely addition to our home, and an awesome work of art that we will forever cherish :).

thank you so much, lea!

and to all the rest of you, lea sums up her portrait listing best when she says, "Maybe you appreciate the traditional portrait, but it simply isn't for you. You don't want classic, you want awesome! This makes a great gift for a wedding or anniversary, or any other occasion," she ain't lying! so if you want a portrait of you and your honey, your pet, or just you (you narcissist, you! :p), hire lea and her mad skillz for the task!

(i can't wait to marry this man!)

♥,

melissa

taking a little break...

... to write a blog. whew, what a weekend!


saturday, brandon and i had our second cake tasting for our wedding cake (delicious!), and the ladies who are doing our cake complimented my purse and asked about it. i told them i bought it from a woman on etsy, and it turns out that one of the cake ladies' husband has a shop on etsy! i told them about my shop, which turned into me telling them about my wedding washi fortune cookies, and they said they would put my store's link in their "friends" section of their company's website as soon as they have a free moment! wow! also, they told me about this indie shop near downtown austin that sells on consignment, and after checking it out, i am definately going to make an appointment with the buyer so i can begin selling there. and when brandon and i got home from austin, i saw that i had sold a pair of earrings ('the dawn is still dark')!

sunday was full of cleaning and reorganizing.





here's what my workspace looks like now that it's all organized. MUCH better than before, trust me! i am normally a very organized person, but my workspace can be a very confusing place at times. but the most exciting thing about sunday was that i sold 7 things from my shop, plus 2 books from my half.com store!


and this morning, i woke up to ANOTHER sale - this one from a friend of a friend! i truly am on cloud nine. i am so happy my little shop is taking off. hopefully soon i won't have to worry about how i'm going to pay bills :).


so today has been one big, busy blur - packing orders, mailing orders, ordering new moo cards (yes, i am already almost out!), starting to remake all my sold items, and talking business with lea (who is having a "free shipping" sale today, by the way, in honour of her 2-year etsyversary!). here's what my fat stack of mailables looked like today:





on my dining room table. 7 packages (... and my mortgage payment, grrr...), including 2 international ones!

and the day's not done yet: i just made ANOTHER sale! the etsy gods must be testing me to see if i've got what it takes, haha ;p.


all i can say is i am so grateful: i'm grateful for all my blog readers. i'm grateful for all my customers. and most of all, i am deeply, deeply grateful for all of you that i call "friend". ♥


have a wonderful evening :). who knows what tomorrow brings!


♥,
melissa

let me tell you about one of my favouritest people...

lea keohane of leakarts and supplyriot! she is one of the sweetest, coolest, and most amazing people i know, and i wouldn't have met her if it wasn't for etsy!

to let you get to know lea a little better, i conducted an interview with her, and here's what she had to say:

• what 5 words would you use to describe yourself?

Creative, hilarious, (see, wasn't that funny?!?), busy, Aquarian (that one pretty much sums it up), and wordy :) See, I can't even bring myself to a 5-word answer!

• so when did you discover your artistic talent? did it sort of come naturally, or have you really had to work on it over time?

I guess it just came naturally for the most part (not to discount all of the hard work that I have put in developing my personal style). My mom used to leave little crafty projects out on the kitchen table on the weekends so that she could sleep in :) Also, my stepmom gave me a little journal when I was 8 and I used to write the dorkiest poems in it, but it sparked my imagination and got me writing a lot. Finally, I had an amazing art teacher, Mrs. Luna, in high school that really encouraged me.

(what a cool name for an art teacher - mrs. luna!)

a portrait of maya, lea's cat; © lea keohane, 2008

• do you ever get "artist's block", and what do you do to snap yourself out of it? i imagine that could be especially annoying when you're trying to work on a custom piece.

Working on custom pieces is usually what gives me artist's block! I think it's because I am afraid of making a mistake or not meeting the client's expectations. I just have to remind myself that it is only paint--I can always paint over it if it doesn't come out right. Then I schedule a dedicated time in my planner to do it, and I just do it.

• does your location (portland, oregon, as well as your home) inspire you or in any way contribute to your work?

Portland definitely inspires me! The people here are so young, vital, and creative (even the older people!), and the rain makes everything sooo gorgeous. There is a great art scene here and so many fantastic, inspiring artists!As far as my apartment, well, on one hand it is really nice to work from home, and I will always have a studio in my home, but I think I would be a lot more productive if I had a dedicated workspace outside of my home! Or a bigger place to live :) I am grateful for our little apartment, though, and it's in a fantastic, central location.

"a poem in fervor"; © lea keohane, 2007

• where do you get the inspiration for naming your pieces? the titles are very poetic.

That's so funny because it's probably the one area that I struggle with the most. I totally sympathize with artists that have titles like, "Chair #76." Haha! Like I said, though, I used to write a lot when I was a kid, and actually entered college with the intention of becoming a writer (ended up with a Fine Arts degree instead). In high school I did a lot of (scary!) poetry readings at local coffee shops in Denver. So I guess words are very important to me. I try not to force the titles--my work is very intuitive and likewise, the titles often just come to me while I am creating a piece.

• what does your daughter think about your success as an artist, and do you think she'll follow in your footsteps someday?

This is a direct quote from her "I don't even care about that stuff." Haha! That's what she says when I get all excited about making sales :) She is 8 though, she'll get it someday. And she always tells people proudly "My mama is an artist!" I'm not sure if she'll follow in my footsteps but I hope that I am showing her by example that she really CAN do anything she wants with her life.

"indie's bath"; © lea keohane, 2008

• i noticed on your flickr account that you draw, also. any chance that you'll sell your drawings in your shop soon? i think they're brilliant :).

*blush!* Thank you! I do have some of my ink drawings in my etsy shop now (I am listing prints of some of them as we speak, too, so there are more affordable options). But maybe you mean my line drawings? I have considered it! We will see what the future brings...

(i'm dumb - yes, i was talking about your sketches :p)

a bunch of washi paper that lea sells at her supply shop, supplyriot

• what made you decide to delve into selling supplies on etsy at your other shop, supplyriot? how did that come about?

In October of 2007 I was running a business on eBay with a close friend of mine. It was not going well, and we ended up dissolving the business. Lucky for me, Ryan of LittlePutBooks needed help shipping, and that job combined with my art sales pulled me through the holidays. After the New Year, however, she didn't need me nearly as much, and my art sales completely died off. I had been working for myself for so long that I couldn't even imagine going back to a "real" job! Ryan helped me brainstorm and came up with the idea of opening a supply shop. She had a lot of extra supplies that she wasn't using, so with a small loan that another friend of mine gave me and Ryan's wholesale knowledge (and destashing some her supplies to me), SupplyRiot was born :).

• are there any etsians that inspire and encourage you that you want to give a shout-out to? (i swear i don't mean me, haha!).

Well, you of course! There are so many that I hate to name too many names in the fear that I will exclude someone. Etsy has been such a wonderful and supportive community for me. There are a few though that have been especially great--Ryan of LittlePutBooks, of course, and Leah Pellegrini who hosts a weekly tea time for Portland etsyians, and my friend Danielle of MissPurl.etsy.com who often shares booths with me at local craft fairs. Everyone on ESST (etsy supply street team) and PDX Etsy street teams are fantastic! There are too many more to even try to name names :).

• what advice do you have for other etsians who dream of earning a living wage from their art?

I still dream of earning a living wage from my art, too! I am not sure what the formula for that one is. I would definitely say, though, a few things:

*Don't expect all your sales to come from etsy--you should also be doing local shows, whether they are craft fairs or galleries and/or other online venues.

*Branch out. You are creative! Put that creativity to use to find other ways to make a living. Besides my own original artwork, I sell supplies, do portraits, pet portraits, custom work, piecework for other artisans... I am always looking for ways to increase my income. Teach, write articles, advertise, network...

*Don't be afraid to make a living. People think that artists are poor by nature, but you deserve to make lots and lots of money! Figure out what your weaknesses are and take a class to fix them, or hire someone to do those things for you. Figure out your strengths and go for it!

• anything else you'd like to say? :)

I think I just out-said myself :) Thank you for the interview, Melissa!

------

see what i mean? she's the best :).

don't forget to check out leakarts and supplyriot on etsy!

♥,

melissa