Chocolate Cake & Beer » takin’ care of bidness

New cards and prints available!

Kate — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:09:05 +0000

I’ve posted new notecards and 3 prints at various price levels over on Etsy. Prices on older stuff have also come down a bit, so have a look.

6 awesome animal notecards.

I’ll be replacing the images with better ones as soon as I get some sunshine in this place. Unfortunately, we don’t have great lighting for this kind of photography in our flat, and the weekend was dreary, so I took what I could get.

This is my favourite! There's no yellow discolouration on the bottom right, that's just bad lighting.

I’m working on more new stuff slowly but surely. I’m thinking of printing a few things on little pocket moleskines. I tried it with the green giraffe print on an extra book I had leftover from another project, and it looks pretty cool. Also, printing on fabric if I ever get my act together.

Oh, and PS, that cheese popcorn I talked about in a previous post? Kind of weird, yet strangely addictive. It’s not a cheddar-type cheese, more of a swiss-type. A little too salty though. I’ll stick to stovetop popcorn I think.

New stuff coming soon and a London update

Kate — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 13:21:56 +0000

I just wrote this whole post, and wordpress ate it, so you’ll have to gather from the tags what the contents were for now. Hooray for wasting a whole lunch break!

I am officially an Etsian!

Kate — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:20:31 +0000

This weekend I finally took the plunge and listed my stuff on Etsy. Now I’m just trying to avoid looking at it every five minutes to see if A. I’ve made some kind of typo or error, and B. Anything has sold.

Surely I can’t be the only new seller having to exercise this kind of restraint, but it feels nice to have it all up. There’s a lot left to do behind the scenes (like accounting. Yikes!), but I actually feel like I got stuff DONE this weekend, which is satisfying.

Thank you so much to everyone who has reposted my link on Facebook and left me likes and comments. It’s really helpful! And it’s nice to see that people actually do like what I’m making. That’s half the battle.

And thank you also to Heather, who has some amazing bags and accessories you should buy at BarelyMeasured, for her Etsy tips and encouragement. I’ll definitely be placing an order with her soon. I’m making a dress for Scott’s cousin’s wedding in November, and I’m going to need a bag.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be working on getting my first run of Christmas cards done and up for sale. I’m on holiday for the first two weeks of October, so there will be a pause in shipping, but I do intend to continue taking orders during that time if people want to place them.

In the meantime, it’s been a while since I’ve made a cake. So I think I’ll do that this week to celebrate. Expect a tasty post in the near future.

Coming soon: Bidness

Kate — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:04:10 +0000

So I AM actually gearing up to sell on Etsy, it wasn’t just an empty threat. There’s a lot to do for it though, as I’m discovering. I’m hoping to open up shop the first week of September. Right now, as the holidays are sneaking up, I’m working on some Christmas card designs. I’ll also be collaborating with Liam on a few, because I feel it’s time his cartoons reached a slightly larger audience. Even if that only means my Christmas card list. But hopefully it won’t end there, you know?

So here’s a peek at what I’ll be listing first. If you’re interested in any of this stuff, let me know. I have a fairly decent stock of things (it’s all just been piling up and piling up, seriously), but I can always print more! Also, totally willing to discuss custom orders.

Fruit and veg recipe card set

Koala print

Yellow windows and door card

Elephant notecard set

Multicoloured tapirs card

Parachute duck card

Scheming

Kate — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:30:55 +0000

Ok. I’m already getting bad at being more or less consistent with the posting, but I do have an excuse. I’ve been considering, slightly more seriously than usual, the possibility of embarking on the whole etsy thing. A very small side business would seriously up my vacation and new computer funds. (And pay for my freaking visa, which is another post altogether.)

In any case, I’ve been looking at money. I know a few friends who do the etsy thing, but they’re all American, so I can ask for advice til I’m blue in the teeth, but none of them are going to know a lick about UK income tax and VAT and the way business accounts work over here and all that. Plus all the books I’ve read on that stuff are American as well. So I’ve been trying to do the research here and there while also redesigning the design part of my website in my brain, because it’s going to need an update and an overhaul.

If anyone cares to weigh in on what sort of things they’d buy, that would rock. I’m doing a lot of screenprinting practice runs. I’ve got some plans for posters and things, and I like printing stationery. But I’m also thinking I’ll refine my yoga mat bag and various other simple accessories. I really want to start printing my own fabric, but I think I need to have my own screen to do that because it requires special inks that EP probably don’t let you use on hired screens. And my hired screen just split last week, so any money I had thought about putting towards my own is now going to the repair. Lame. But that’s how it goes. I consoled myself by pointing out that these things could soon count as business expenses.

Anyway, that’s what’s happening around these parts. I’ll try to post something more exciting soon.