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Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade DakorahGardens.etsy.com

WOW I'm finally well!

I did not realize it had been so long since I posted on my blog, I do apologize to the few followers I do have. I started out with what I thought was a bad cold or the flu, which quickly turned into a lovely case of bronchitis which in turn became pneumonia. Once I was on the uphill swing I started having a really bad headache behind my right eye and going to the base of my skull. New Years Eve was a nightmare. I was in excruciating pain, and I have regular migraines and this really topped them even. I felt like the right side of my head would explode any moment. Turns out I had an ear infection in both ears and a bad sinus infection on the right side. I received an injection for pain and nausea, the pain was so bad I was sick to my stomach. I rolled into the New Year fast asleep from the injection medications. :) I am finally feeling completely better, although I do get tired easily. Ive started taking some B12 to try and help me regain some strength. 

Ive been busy trying to get a ton of items listed on both Etsy shops the last few days. I have SO much inventory that I just have not had time to go through, photograph and get listed. I have spent the last few days trying to organize, take photos and work on new listings. 

Vintage Chocolate Dragon Water Pitcher and Plate - JAPAN

Sadly, I am working on an impending big household move which has me downsizing my own collections including my vintage creamer collection. I have a thing for old creamers and just about can't pass one up when I run across them. I know I have WAY too many, so alas I must sell off some of them and just keep the ones I really really really love. I have started adding them to the vintage shop, and will be adding quite a few more in the next few days.

 

 Vintage Silver Plated Creamer

Vintage Franklinware Ivory Porcelain Cream and Sugar Set - 22kt Gold

Ive also started adding quite a few of my vintage planters to my garden shop as well. Another things I just about can't pass up are vintage planters too! LOL I love the milk glass Urns and old footed style planters. I love WHITE accessories, so I tend to pick up lots of vintage white planters. I just can't use them ALL. I know, it's an addiction. I will freely admit it, I do have a problem. ;) All of these can be found in the garden shop within the next week. Please feel free to message me if you see something pictured here on the blog that is not listed yet and I will be happy to discuss it with you and make a personal listing just for youVintage Chocolate Dragon Water Pitcher with Plate - JAPAN!

 

 

Be sure to follow my blog, I am planning an Etsy give away from each shop within the next couple of weeks! 

Ciao!

Anja 

 

BLACK FRIDAY SPECIALS

I'm running special sales including FREE US SHIPPING on a ton of items for Black Friday which will run through midnight November 30th, Central Standard Time. Sales are running in all 3 shops! 

Be sure to check back often during the sale, as I dig into my inventory and add more items at great prices or with FREE US SHIPPING! :) 


Dakorah Designs - quality vintage items

Dakorah Gardens - succulents, heirloom seeds, moss terrariums, etc

Dekora Prints -  photography prints 

Settling in and getting back in the groove :)

Well I am trying to get settled in to a new life here in northern Arkansas, it's taking a bit of a toll on me, really missing my ex-significant other allot. I'm working on getting back into the groove of things so Ive started working on new moss garden terrariums and small, personal succulent gardens. Ive come across a fantastic supplier here locally for my succulents and they are gorgeous, let me tell you. There are the best looking succulents Ive seen in a long time. I was to the point I was going to start ordering in bulk for clippings from succulent growers but I think I will hold off a bit now that I have a local supply. :)

I'm still sorting through and editing the numerous pictures I took around the area the other day. This may take a while. lol I found so many interesting places, I cant wait for Spring to get here already now so I can go out and find more cool new places around here. Its starting to cool off a bit and the daytime temps are dropping here now. I really hate daylight savings time - the days seem to short now. It usually puts me in a bit of a funk for a while. Maybe I can nip that in the bud by trying to stay busy cranking out moss terrariums and succulent containers. :)

I love shopping the thrift stores for vintage and out of the ordinary containers to put the succulents and moss gardens in. Everything I see I am constantly thinking of ways to upcycle and which plants will look good in it. lol This is thrift store mecca here in Harrison, AR and I have not even broken the surface checking them all out yet! I think I visited 5-6 in one day last week.

I am a little disappointed that Harrison doesnt have a city wide recycling pick up with the trash service. :/ This is a decent sized town here, and I would have thought they would have been on board with this already. May have to check into that.

Ta Ta for now....hope everyone has a fabulous week. Don't forget Wednesday, November 11th is Veterans Day! Be sure to thanks your Vets for what they have done and members of the Armed Forces for doing what they do for all of us. I am a PROUD Army Mom! HOOAH!

The Flu.............. and a Treasury

I've been MIA for a few days, my youngest son has been home with the Flu since last Wednesday so things are a little off kilter around here. I had hoped he would be back to school today - but no such luck. It's a short school week, with the kids being off Wed-Fri of this week already. I will be picking up school work later this afternoon or tomorrow for him to start working on when he is feeling better. Poor kid is actually feeling worse today than he has in the past week and is now running fever as well. Today is the first day for fever. :(

One of my items was featured in an Etsy Treasury today - so that was a definite nice pick me up for a foggy, drizzly Monday morning. Thanks Maddo!

Chicken or the Egg? Treasury by Maddo

Be sure to take a peek at the treasury as well as Maddo's fabulous jewelry and other items in her shop!

Happy Monday To Everyone!

Chi Town Here We Come :)

Tomorrow we head down to Chicago Tinley Park for a big reptile expo (www.narbc.com). It will be a nice, quiet weekend get away for Dan and I, without the kiddo. :) We will get to catch up with old friends and get to know new friends better as well. Hopefully we will sell a bunch of our snakes we produced this year as well. ;)

I have a ton of new items to list in the shops next week, this week has just gotten away from me while we have been trying to get ready for the show this weekend. I have a few new moss gardens that are ready for new homes now, as well as some new succulents.

I think Wisconsin just skipped Fall all together - Saturday night its supposed to be 31! I'm so not ready for this cold, cold weather just yet. The majority of my tomato plants were late getting going this year due to an extremely cool, mild Spring and early Summer, so I lost the crops off of them.

TEAM WIST (Wisconsin Etsy Street Team) OCTOBERFEST SPECIAL ~ OCTOBER 3-11, 2009

TEAM WIST (Wisconsin Etsy Street Team) OCTOBERFEST SPECIAL ~ OCTOBER 3-11, 2009


As a proud member of Team WIST - The Wisconsin Etsy Street Team - I am participating in the Octoberfest Special Team WIST Sale October 3-11.

I am offering 15% off any purchase in my Dakorah Designs shop as well as Dakorah Gardens. This does not include your shipping fees. Just enter "octoberfest" in the comment to seller section at checkout and I'll refund your money via PayPal ASAP! :)

To see other great http://wist-etsy.blogspot.com/2009/09/octoberfest-special-october-3-11-2009.html specials from Wisconsin artists, check out the Team WIST Blog. :)

The Whirlwind Tour

Whew! Its been one heck of a week for me. :) I left last Wed morning about 3am heading to Ft Knox, KY from Just north of Milwaukee. Wed evening I got to socialize with my Army Cav Scout son and his Drill Sergeants and troop Commander, then Thur morn I watched him graduate from Cavalry Scout school and officially become a Soldier.

We left directly after graduation and headed to central Arkansas for my son to pick up his Jeep and for us to visit with family members that we had not seen in months. It was a great visit, but way too quick and too much driving. We spent 3 days in central Arkansas then headed back up here to Wisconsin, with Loren following me in his Jeep. One small blowout on his Jeep cost us 4 hours drive time and I ran out of steam and stopped to get a room for the night. We finally made it home Monday afternoon about 4pm.

I am still completely drained and worn out. Its been great having my son up here to visit before he has to report to his first duty station on 5 Oct, at Ft Campbell, KY with the 101st Airborne Air Assault. The time is going by too fast for me though, I'm not ready for him to go yet.

My body is still trying to play catch up, so I havent had much time to add things to the Dakorah shops, but I did post a couple of new moss garden terrariums. One is a really cool Halloween themed terrarium, with a skeleton in a suit with a briefcase called Death of a Salesman. ;) The other is a gorgeous hand blown glass pear with moss and a big chunk of raw Amethyst.

Hope everyone has had a great week, and will have an even better weekend!

The work week is almost over...

It's Thursday and the regular work week is almost finished - although with working to get my Etsy shops going I don't seem to ever stop working these days. (thats OK I will get a bit of a break next week when I make my trip to Ft Knox, KY to see my oldest son!)

I sat up last night designing some new business cards for Dakorah, and included both Dakorah Designs and Dakorah Gardens on one card. I think they look pretty nice to have designed them myself. ;)

I also spent the evening thinking of things I will need for my set up at a local craft sale & flea market this coming Saturday, that is held once a month here in West Bend. This will be my first time setting up with the vintage goods and plants. I'm used to doing our reptile expo set ups. ;)

I think I might try to set up at the Saukville, WI Farmer's Market on Sunday as well and see how that goes. It's a relatively new Market so still small compared to the one here in West Bend. We are quite lucky to have a really nice Farmer's Market so close to home. :)

Monday blahs - weekends are way too short!

I despise Mondays lol I seriously could use a 3 day weekend every week. :) (of course IF my regular employer continues as is, that may be my reality very soon)

I had a great weekend in the Etsy shops - Dakorah Gardens & Dakorah Designs - thank you to everyone who ordered a moss terrarium or succulent from one of my shops over the weekend. <3

Don't forget to take a peek at all of my vintage kitchen and home goodies in the Dakorah Designs shop. :)


................
10 days and counting until my son graduates from Army Cavalry Scout school at Ft Knox, KY - I can't wait to see him and get to spend some time with him. :) HOOAH!

I finally did it :)

I started a new shop on Etsy just for my garden items so that the vintage shop is not cluttered and hodge podge looking. I figured from feedback I had received from folks that each shop looks better and does better with sales if it is specialized and devoted to one type of market, so as soon as I can get them moved over, all of the succulents and moss garden terrariums will be moved over to the new shop. Ive got a few listing already up in the new shop, so please stop by and take a look around. Let me know what you think - feedback is always greatly appreciated. I am including several varieties of seeds - including heirloom tomatoes, ornamental as well as a variety of hot pepper seeds and a few types of flower seeds.

www.DakorahGardens.etsy.com

You can still find some garden items in the vintage shop for now. ;)

www.DakorahDesigns.etsy.com

I have been working on quite a few larger succulent containers to try and market locally as well, so if you are in southeast Wisconsin give me a shout if you are interested in seeing what I have available.


Have a great weekend everyone!

XOXO

A wonderful 3 day weekend...

Which was very much needed. :) I have so many projects started around the house that I just haven't had time to finish lately. Now Ive got the time, and hope to get projects AND housecleaning both done this weekend.

Another project I am working in is moving all of my garden items (moss terrariums and succulents) over to my new shop, devoted solely towards garden items. I will be adding new terrariums, new succulents and a few ornamental pepper plants!

www.DakorahGardens.etsy.com

Be sure to heart the new shop and check back often for new items. :) The focus for Dakorah Designs will go back to fine quality vintage items as well.

Etsy product photos - so important

On Etsy and any other site where we sell our wares and creations, pictures do most of the work for us. If our photos are dark, and hard to see, the products simply won't sell as readily as those with bright, clear images. For small products, such as jewelry a light box can make a world of difference. Here are some simple instructions I found on how to create your own light box, instead of buying an expensive one. Hopefully this will help you create better images for your products. :)

*I did not create this tutorial, but I no longer have the original link to the page it was on so if anyone has it please send it to me and I will link to it on here. :)

HOW TO MAKE A PHOTO BOX

I GIVE PERMISSION TO COPY THIS PAGE AND POST IT ON YOUR SITE...

I wanted to share my knowledge on how to take good photos of jewelry
and other small objects. I created a "Photo Box" which is easy to
construct and use! I've noticed that a lot of people (in general)
could use this method I use.

ITEMS YOU NEED

12x12x12 box
14 x 10 piece of plexy glass or glass

a knife
background paper (scrapbooking paper is great from craft store)
wax paper
60-100 watt light

How to put it all together:

1) Take your 12x12x12 box and cut out one side. Keep the bottom of
your box intact.

2) (open side you just cut out) Measure 9 inches from the bottom and
make a slit all the way to the back of the box on both sides. Do not
cut the back of the box.

3) Slide your glass into the slits of the box

4) Take the wax paper and tape it over the light source. The
wax paper is used to defuse the light.

5) Aim the light towards the opening of your box.

6) Lay your background on the bottom of your box as your background.

7) Shine your light into to open area of the box. Take your photos from the back of the box... with the light facing you.

Your camera should focus on the jewelry or small object. The
background will be fuzzy due to the distance of the background from
the object.