creative flow

I’ve been giving a lot of energy to my Etsy shop lately, and creativity is going in multiple directions. One day I’m spending hours in front of the sewing machine, the next I have a paintbrush in hand. I’ve also been creating videos to add to many of my listings (adding optional videos to Etsy listings is a fairly new feature on Etsy, but I’ve never used it until now). I feel like my shop looks really good right now, and is successfully reflecting my current creativity.

The hardest part for me when it comes to listing new items in my shop is still setting the prices for them. Does it ever get easier!?

My first reaction is to always think that I’m pricing things too high, because you can pick up things much cheaper from Target, T.J.Maxx, and Walmart (although those are all mass-produced items, unlike everything found in my shop).

But when I deduct the shipping cost (I offer free shipping on everything, so I pay $4 – $12 shipping on each order, depending on the items sold), and the Etsy fees (6.5% of each sale), and the taxes…don’t ask how much I’m left with for the time I put into my work.

Finance can get tight when you run your own business (as they are for me right now!), but this is really all I want to do, so I make it work, and I’m excited to keep branching out!

new in my shop

A year or two ago (when I was still on Instagram) I experimented with painting some wood earrings and listed them. They didn’t end up moving much, and then I went through one of my phases where I “rebranded” my shop’s look and decided to keep it 100% pet portraits.

But this year I’ve been embracing more of my hobbies, and I want to fill my shop with the things that I’ve enjoyed making. Sure, they might take more time to be seen or catch on in the big wide world of Etsy, but I’m really happy with how these projects have come out.

Here are some of the earrings that are currently listed in my shop; many of them have metallic detailing that makes them shimmer in the light!

(even if you click on a link just out of curiosity, the traffic will help my Etsy shop and items be seen more!)

snowy night & snowmen

floral honey bee & blue floral

christmas trees & cottagecore mushrooms

christmas floral & honey bees

christmas ornaments

And in this exciting post-Halloween, pre-Thanksgiving time of year (you know that our Christmas tree is already up), I’ve added a couple new ornaments to the ornament section of my shop.

It took me years to find a floral design that I liked the look of and that I enjoyed painting, so now that I have one, I use it for everything.

You might recognize the design from this mirror that I painted earlier this year.

floral cross ornaments & floral star ornament

barn owl ornament & great horned owl ornament

throw pillows

I’ve also started adding some new throw pillows to the shop. These aren’t specifically Christmas themed, but they are winter themed, so they’re perfect and cozy for all of the coldest days of the year!

I fell in love with this FPP pattern (purchased from RachelNicolePatterns) and so I had to make a few different color options (my favorite so far is the gingham).

blue christmas & pink christmas & classic gingham

vintage christmas

on a closing note

Throughout all my new creative ventures, I still have my Etsy shop staple: pet portraits.

If you’d like to order any pet portraits for Christmas gifts this year, I would suggest placing an order soon! I’ve been doing a great job at keeping up on all of my open orders, which means that I’m hoping to be able to take more Christmas orders this year. But the USPS has been super unreliable with delivery times as of late, so you’ll want to order with plenty of time for your package to get delivered before the holiday!