I think I have a problem.  I sat down this morning to make a logo for my etsy shop, and 12 hours later I had completely redesigned my website.  I was in my pajamas until about 3pm, breaking only for food and the occasional opportunity to reacquaint myself with my family ;-)  It's funny how these things snowball.  After getting set up on etsy, I thought the part of my website that I used for my claythings just looked too cold and clinical.  I wanted to make it more inviting and less like a boring list.  I'm not sure if I'm done yet, but so far I like it better.  Here's a peek: http://www.polkadotcreations.com/gifts.html.  Once I'd done that half of my website I just couldn't leave the book store sitting there looking like it used to so I had to redesign that as well.  As it turns out, I liked what I did with the books better than what I'd done with the claythings, so I re-did the claythings to match the new books look.  (tired yet?)

Anywhoo, I think I'm done.  For now anyway.  Those of you who like to occasionally do a little shopping at Polka Dot Creations are encouraged to tell me what you think, and let me know if you run into any problems.

Now, at nearly 10pm, maybe I ought to try and remember what I was planning to do today and see if I have the energy for any of it :-)

Lisa

I suspect that most of my readers are not coming to my blog from within LiveJournal.  Those that are, are probably seeing me through their Friends page, with their own fonts and colors.  Everyone else, though, comes to my main LJ page.  It has been bugging me for some time that my blog looked like a canned LJ template and not as nice and crisp as some of the other clay blogs I've been reading lately.

So, I made myself a cup of spearmint tea, brought my laptop outside in the beautiful spring breeze, and dug in to figure out how to write some custom css.  I wanted to make my blog look more like what I appreciate in everyone else's.  After 10 minutes son #2 was buzzed by one too many flying insects and insisted on going back in the house.  So much for the lovely spring breeze.  I opened the sliding glass door downstairs to compensate and installed myself on the couch next to said child.   While he absorbed an episode of The Backyardigans and a bowl of Cheeze-its (yeah, I know, I'm mother of the year for giving my kid Cheeze-its at 9:30 in the morning...), I got back to work.

3 hours (and several Cheeze-its of my own) later, my blog looks just like I want it to.  I'm still feeling a little fussy about a particular margin, but it may be more of a headache to fix than it's worth.  I hope you enjoy the new look.  I'm anticipating sharing my thoughts on all kinds of polymer clay publications as I get the opportunity!

Lisa

Oh , I have been *such* a geek this week.  When not thinking Thanksgiving-y thoughts, I was whipping up websites, digital scrapbooking, and designing t-shirt graphics.  Want to see what I've done?  Ok, twist my arm.

Check out the brand new Polka Dot Radio website, and the updated "Information Desk" at The Polka Dot Cottage.

Here's one of my digital scrapbook pages.  It will be the month of July in a 2007 calendar I am putting together as Christmas gifts (I'd never done this kind of thing before this week, but it's fun!):


I created graphics and made new Cafe Press stores for all of the elements of my little Polka Dot Empire (LOL!):
Polka Dot Creations (I had a PDC store before, but I just deleted all of the old images and started over)
The Polka Dot Cottage
Polka Dot Radio

And now I seriously have to turn "tinker mode" off and get to my email...  I've got a pile of new orders to process, not to mention the ones that I've already processed and are waiting to ship.  I had mentioned on my website that I wouldn't really be around this week to process/ship orders, but I really ought to get at least *one* batch out!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Lisa

I thought I'd post a quick update while I'm waiting for shipping labels to print...

I changed around the Polka Dot Creations home page.  I'd be interested to know what you think of it, both in terms of the layout and the content.  I'm still tinkering with it as we speak, but it's generally the way I plan to keep it.  Unless I get some really great feedback suggestions :-)

Ok.  Labels are almost done.  I'm off to snuggle with the boys before they go to bed and then I'll be pack, pack, packing orders!

Have a great weekend, everybody!
Lisa

It's been an interesting week or so, polymer-clay-publications-wise.  I was already thinking that we'd seen a lot of really neat new books come down the pike this summer, and I wasn't really expecting anything else until November or so, when I started discovering things.  You know how it is when you're wandering around the internet - you find one thing, and that sparks another idea, so you check something else out, which links you to another place and makes you think of yet another thing you wanted to look up.  You get the idea. 

Well, in the last week I have gotten myself set up to sell Bead & Button Magazine and Art Jewelry Magazine (woo hoo - finally!!!) which reminded me of something I hadn't looked into for some time - Ornament Magazine.  Now that they're online, the task of becoming a vendor has become much easier for me.  I spent the better part of a day just sifting through their list of back-issues looking for polymer clay content.  And I found some.  16 issues that feature master classes, articles, and artist statements from some of the pioneers of the medium: Ford & Forlano (or City Zen Cane as they were called in the "old days"), Kathleen Dustin, Pier Volkous and more.  I hope to have them in my hot little hands next week, but I've made them available for preorder on my website right away.   I'll be getting all of the new issues as they are published as well.

Two days ago, a customer placed an order and gave as her reference a video company I'd never heard of.  Intrigued, I googled them and found out something cool - Dayle Doroshow has two instructional DVD's available!  Did anybody even know about this??  The polymer clay community gets so few new videos every year, that there's always a flurry of excitement over a new title.   And here are TWO that have slipped under the radar.  Well, *my* radar, at any rate!  So, I've got them added to my site now and I hope to have them next week as well.  You can reserve your own copies here.

While I was wandering around that video site, I found out they will soon be filming two DVD's with Sherri Haab.  Sherri Haab's Incredible Clay Book, while targeted at kids, is actually what got me started in polymer clay in the first place.  I love her style, and have enjoyed all of her books.  The two DVDs will cover the topics of Metal Clay and Resin Jewelry, and both will include ways of incorporating polymer clay into the designs.  Seeing this reminded me that I hadn't added her recent book The Art of Resin Jewelry to the store.  They're all available for preorder now on my site.

I've added a few other things here and there - a self-published project book by Trish Hodgens that is cute and environmentally-conscious all in the same breath, and a book called The New Jewelry which showcases some of the more interesting jewelry-making materials being used these days (including our favorite) .  You can see everything that's new this week here.

Besides unearthing the few new treasures for my store, I've also been in full "tinker mode" (if you're one of the 128 people who got accidental email from me this week due to aforementioned tinkering - sorry again, LOL!). I've revamped several of the little online tools I have for processing orders, and I've been working on a way to see what you have in the shopping cart from every page in the site (not quite there yet, but close).  I've also gotten rid of that useless search box and replaced it with a google search until I can find something suitable that's not full of ads... 

Oh, on one last note - next week is my husband (clarkesworld)'s 40th birthday.  If you're at all into sci-fi, fantasy or horror, drop by his website, buy a book, and say Happy Birthday!

Now, I must nurse this dang summer cold, curl up in front of the tv for 1/2 an hour with a refreshing drink and go to bed!

Happy Claying!
Lisa