Waiting for a new place to stay

I have grown out of the limited space that I have available for my "production", and for years I have wished for a garage/barn with loads of space for me and my crafting business.

imagine the boat being replaced by a garage

In 2010 we finally managed to start the building project,  we deceided to go for a prebuild model from Grimstad Garasjene.

the first day of building

later the same day

- and later that week  the garage was completed - or at least completed enough for us to use it for our cars this winter....just in time before this loooong and cold winter started.

the garage with our house in the background

The ground floor is for our cars, motorcycle, machines, equipment etc

my soon to be studio :)

.... and 'tam-ta-da' the "loft" is all mine. I am planning to have my sewing machines, fabric and everything needed for that part of my business in the part with window facing towards our house. And in the other half of the loft I will have my metalsmith studio.

my metalsmith "corner"

As soon as possible this year, that is whenever the ice and snow has left us and it is possible to start digging in the soil again, we will build a bridge over to the loft.

Building the bridge will be the first step this year towards the completion of the loft.

 If the year turn out as planned, I will be able to start to decorate and move my stuff before the next winter sets in.

To blog or not to blog

I have kept this blog, but it seem like I never get aroud to post any new stuff - so the question is: Close it, or keep it and hope for better time, energy or whatever I need to keep the blog alive?

I have the same "problem" when it comes to my Etsy-shop, Epla-shop and Flickr-account - I keep them barely alive, but I fail when it comes to being able to add new products and new photos on a regular basis.....it is not that I don't produce new products - I do! The problem is to get the products out on the internet ;)

Well, I am an optimistic person - and I always believe that I am going to change sooner or later, so I am going to keep this blog, my shops on Etsy and Epla and my flickr account. I might not be the most active person on these sites - but I will be hanging around, and from time to time I'll be adding something new ;)

Today I was able to photograph nearly all the products I've been making lately; earrings, bracelets, bookmarks, rings and necklaces - and all 300 photos has been edited. So, the first 3 steps towards selling my product are completed (1: make the item, 2: photo of the item, 3: edit the photo), only the final step missing - make the item available to your customers!

The optimistic part of me tells me that I will start on the final step tomorrow - so only time will tell if I'll manage it this time ;)

Learning new skills

Wow, it's been a whole year since my last post, and of course lot has happened during that year and I will not make you all yawning while I tell you about everything. So I'll skip last year and just tell you about two great weekends in February this year and about VKnO learning new skills.

The first weekend-course I went to was to learn how to transfer digital photos on to fabric. I was looking for a new technique to use on my bags, and I was amazed when I learned how "easy" this was. My head has been producing lot of new products in the weeks after this course - I'm just waiting for the perfect time to get my hands and sewing machine to start producing what my head's already completed ;)

Here's what I made at the course:

- a handbag with photo of my two girls on one side, and on the other side there is a photo of the local nature.

The second weekend-course was held already the weekend after the first one - and the theme for this one was "Sterling silver jewellery with soldering". 20 hours with sawing, forming, soldering, polishing.......wow, it was fun! I really loved to work with silver, and I'm really looking forward to start to make my own jewellery using the newly learned silversmith skills. But, I reccon it will take a while before I can list any of my own silver products in my shop at Etsy of Epla.......I need to practice a lot first ;)

I made myself 3 rings during the course:

I've already started to work on a few projects involving sterling silver - practicing on the techniques and having fun!

....stay tuned for more news from VKnO and my products.....

Made in Norway

A few days ago I got a mail from Lise at trollsmed. Lise is a Norwegian silversmith, and she makes gorgeous necklaces and other products out of her own handmade porcelain beads and sterling silver - take a look at http://www.trollsmed.com/ for more info.

Lise wanted to know if I was interested in starting a Norwegian Team on Etsy, and inspired by her question I had to go looking for other Norwegian sellers on Etsy.

I found more than I had expected, and here are some of them:

(click on the picture before Feb 28th to see the treasury with link to the featured items)

So what do you think about a Norwegian Team?

I would love to see YOUR answer to that question - no matter if you are a fellow Norwegian seller, a customer, a friend or just another person with an opinion - please leave your comment!!!!!!!!!

My office

My new working area are finally completed. The room used to be a combination of bedroom and office, but when our daughter got a new room upstairs we deceided to turn this room into a flexible office.

This is something that I've been waiting for and I'm very pleased with the result.

Here is how messy and awful it was by the end of December:

And today when everything is completed:

There are a total of 3 tables/desks in the room; one where I have my sewing machine, another where I can make my pendants, drawings etc (this table can be tilted when used as a drawing table), and the third one is where the "family pc" is placed (normally used by my husband).

We have loads of shelfs for storage, and if we manage to keep the room tidy, it is organized in a way that makes it possible for the whole family to use it at the same time - but I prefer to have it all by myself :)

Looking back at December 2008

As this has been my first holiday-season as an Etsy-shop-owner, I didn't quite know what to expect. So I decided to take everyday as it comes, and didn't set any special sales goal for the season.

However, when I look back at December, I am quite satisfied. I managed to sell some products on VKnO at Etsy, I sold some locally, I got my first custom order (locally) and I made a few special pendants that I gave away as gifts to family and friends.

I don't have photos of all the products, but here are some of the products that left my house this December:

That was the end of 2008. When it comes to 2009, I am also quite happy the way things are going right now. So far I've had a quiet forthnight at Etsy, probably due to the fact that I've done next to nothing to promote my business.

But I've had a couple of local sales:

...... now I'm looking forward to the rest of 2009 - I think this is going to be a great year!

Happy New Year!

Hope you all have a wonderful evening.

Best wishes for the New Year!!

New Years eve 2008 (Hvaler, Norway)