The Mouse Market

Chicken with Mustard-Cream Sauce

A couple of days ago, I received a very unexpected email with a job offer for a full-time position with benefits and, for my lifestyle, a very comfortable salary, and after obsessing for most of the afternoon and realizing that I was getting nowhere with that neurotic method, I decided to meditate. By the end of the evening, I felt confident with my decision to turn down the job, and even though it was quite scary to walk away from financial stability, I know I’m making the right choice.

What’s interesting is that while talking the situation over with a friend, he helped me to realize that underlying my conflicting feelings about whether or not to take the job was a strong desire to put more money towards my homesteading goal. Right now, after my bills are paid and a good chunk of money goes back into my business, I have a bit left over for savings, and this is with a lifestyle that involves virtually zero eating out, no drinking, and rare, inexpensive purchases (e.g. a $3 tank top from a thrift store to replace rapidly disintegrating yoga gear). The point being, a little extra money could mean quite a lot in terms of our timetable for purchasing land and breaking ground on our cob house.

A Trip to the Farmers Market

So, last night I did some journaling and came up with a tentative plan for shaping up my finances. First, I need to know precisely how I spend my time, in terms of work, so starting Monday, I’m going to track my hourly activities for one week. From there, I should be able to pinpoint areas where I’m frittering away too much time online, for example, or ways that I can prioritize more important tasks on a daily basis. Some initial thoughts are that if I’m more disciplined about the time I allow myself to read blogs or drool over food pictures, I’ll be able to accomplish more in a shorter day (what a novel concept, eh?), and if I find that I’m only spending 10% of my time promoting my work, then perhaps I can increase my marketing efforts over time.

The Finished Bento Hutch Drawers

Some specific ideas that I hope to set in motion include rephotographing older items in my shop to ensure that my earlier (crappier) photos aren’t preventing items from selling, particularly during holiday gift-buying season, getting my shop up and running on this site–again, so any snags can be ironed out before holiday shopping begins in earnest–touching up my product descriptions and including links to similar items in every write up, developing my first cohesive product line and creating advertising to release on various blogs and sites to promote that line, and working on a wider variety of tutorials. If I can tackle these tasks within the next 3-4 weeks, I should have a good head start for the holidays. What are your plans for preparing your shops for the gift-buying season?

P.S. If you’re in need of eye candy, check out this absolutely wonderful photography portfolio.

Mix 'n' Match Ice Cream Hair Pins

The other day, I was flipping through an issue of Yoga Journal, and there was a piece by the editor in which she was discussing the mental shift between having to do something and getting to do something. She says, “The stuff I sometimes complain about ‘having’ to do (making school lunches, finding time for meditation, meeting my deadlines) is actually the stuff I ‘get’ to do (nourish my loved ones, enjoy a relatively calm mind, create a magazine that helps people enjoy their practice).”

Birthday Sprinkles Ice Cream Earrings

Then, after putting in a good ten hours of mini-making yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a movie, and I popped up a bowl of popcorn and settled in to watch a film called Paris (I’m a big fan of the director, Cédric Klapisch). The movie ends with (spoiler alert!) the main character riding through the streets of Paris in the back of a cab en route to the hospital where he’s scheduled to have a heart transplant, and as the faces slide past his window, he remarks at how lucky everyone is just to have this opportunity to be alive and to go about their daily activities, temporarily oblivious to the fact that, one day, they will die.

Double Fudge Cake Earrings

That might sound a tad morbid, but what I took away from the YJ article and the film was this overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the fact that, even when things are a little crummy, maybe with bills breathing down my neck or too much work and too little time, I’m alive, I have loving family and friends, a roof over my head, good food in my belly (a great gerbil ), and the list goes on. When work gets long and tiring, I can remind myself that I “get” to make miniatures for a living, and I have the strength in my hands and eyes that enables me to do what I love and share it with wonderful people. And if that’s not something to be grateful for, then I don’t know what is!

Gummi Worm Cupcakes Custom Order

I know I often rely on my readers to help me puzzle through mini food issues, the most recent example being the question of the varnished versus unvarnished mice, which was resolved due to an overwhelming vote for the latter version (thanks, everyone!), and it looks like I could use your help again. Here’s the situation: Last week, someone commissioned a pair of rainbow cake pendants (pictured in this post), and once the pieces were listed in my shop, I received a few more emails from customers requesting the same piece.

Ice Cream Cone Hair Pin Custom Order

The reason that I haven’t made that particular style of cake in the past is that another Etsy mini maker sells them, and while I can’t guarantee that they were the first, since I only keep tabs on mini makers who are very successful (simply because there are too many to keep track of them all), they seemed to have quite a bit of success with that style of cake when they first debuted it in their shop. Since that time, I’ve seen many other sellers copy that style, so I certainly would have company in doing so, but it still makes me uncomfortable.

Today's Project: Preparation Boards

What I find particularly tricky about this decision is that, with mini foods, can you really say that someone is copying when they make the same foods? I mean, waffles or cupcakes or pizza existed long before anyone was modeling jewelry after them, but nonetheless, it’s usually pretty easy to see which seller pioneered the idea of, say, making miniature snow cone earrings, or to use an example from my shop, pretzels dipped in cheese. I certainly don’t want to cross into the territory of sellers who, I’ll admit it, really irk me with their constant copying. A few in particular have virtually zero items in their shop that I haven’t see other sellers doing first, and the copiers will sometimes even use the same exact item name, and then, to add insult to injury, charge less for the piece and undersell the original artist. Augh!

So, what are your thoughts, readers? And are there any sellers out there who struggle with where to draw the line between finding inspiration in other artists’ work and outright copying? It’s such a tricky issue, particularly with the Internets, since you can access the work of an entire globe-ful of people with a few clicks of the mouse!

Vietnamese Steak Sandwich

Well, my mom and grandma headed back to Illinois this morning, and I’ve actually been crying for the better part of an hour. Yes, I’m almost 30 years old, but man oh man, was it ever nice to see my family and super sad to see them go. Since moving to Missouri two years ago, I’m lucky if I get home twice a year, partly due to the cost involved, but also because of the time Jake and I would have to take off, since two days of the trip are pretty much spent in the car/bus getting there. Thus, it was such a nice treat for my mom and grandma to make the drive down here, and we had a really nice time in spite of the bazillion degree heat.

Coconut Shrimp Soup

I think one of my favorite parts of their visit, beyond the obvious joy of just being around them, was the fact that I was able to cook a few meals for us to share. There’s something so wonderful about having loved ones in your home and providing them with tasty, healthy food. I can only imagine what it will feel like once Jake and I are able to build our homestead and we can have people stay for overnight visits (with my roommates here, it pretty much necessitates hotel rooms when family comes to visit), and on top of that, we’ll be able to feed them with food we grew or raised ourselves, which seems almost magical.

Beef & Chicken Chimichurri Kebabs

On a happy note, while I was away from my computer for the past few days, my friend, Lisa Marie, commented on my blog that she’s landed a new job, which warrants a big, huge YAY!! Congratulations, Lisa Marie! I also received a lovely email from Inhae, the creator of My Milk Toof, in response to a package the Nutmegs sent to her teef, ickle and Lardee. The Nutmegs are a HUGE fan of her blog, so they thought it only right that they should send some tasty treats in appreciation of her incredibly creative work, and they were quite excited that the teef received their package.

Today, I have three custom orders to work on, and then it’s back to mini-making for my show at the end of this month. I’m super excited, because not only are we heading to Louisville for the show itself, but we’re also taking a side trip to Knoxville (possibly our home-to-be?), and it will be nice to have a few days forced vacation before the holiday shows/online shopping madness is upon us. I have a feeling this fall and winter are going to be a veritable mini-making frenzy!

Summer in Paris Macaron Necklace

While working on a bunch of mini burgers yesterday, I was listening to old episodes of the radical politics/craft podcast, Craft Cartel (new episodes might be in the works, according to one of the the show creators–yay!). One of the episodes contained a review of the now-defunct magazine World Sweet World, which looked like crafty-sustainable-design heaven, and I was heartbroken to discover that back issues are virtually impossible to come by, with the exception of a couple issues that would have cost me $35 in shipping alone from Australia. Yeah, right. (As a consolation, check out archives of cool craft/DIY tutorials on their website.)

French Picnic Necklace

Anywho, in my search for back issues, I came across the online shop of a nifty Aussie store called Lark, which then led me to a series of books by a Japanese publisher called Paumes. Seriously, check out this link. If you like design, decorating, yummy food, or travel, you’ll totally freak (in a good way). In a roundabout fashion, I was then led to the site of Frankie Magazine, which has put out a couple of books featuring sweets and afternoon treats that are total eye candy. By the end of my Internets adventures, I was actually feeling a bit overwhelmed, and this is something that seems to happen frequently whenever I’m exposed to lots of images, products, or ideas.

A Burger Bonanza

Often, when I find cool books, magazines, or websites, the urge is to buy whatever it is they’re offering. (Good thing I’m also broke, so that never really leads to anything.) The problem is that this is a trend that never ends. I’ll never reach the absolute, last “cool thing,” and I could conceivably consume myself into infinity (with a big enough wallet, that is), but where does that really get me? I can’t possess these cool ideas in any meaningful way, even though that urge is what’s driving my desire to buy, buy, buy. However, what I can do is find inspiration and weave that into my own art in a way that’s unique to my experience, which, I could argue, is much cooler than buying another book or other random object that I likely won’t even remember six months from now.

Custom Order: Festive Cranberry Sauce

When I’m feeling barraged by an onslaught of stuff (a common occurrence in our culture, unfortunately), I have to remind myself that desire in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it also is something that can’t be “cured” by obtaining the object (or person or experience) in question, because there will always be another object of my desire waiting in line. If this is something you’re interested in exploring, you might want to check out an awesome book called Open to Desire by Mark Epstein, which talks about the gap that exists between our feelings of desire and the thing or person stirring up that desire. He offers guidance in how to settle into, and even enjoy, that gap, instead of constantly seeking to quench those feelings of desire, which, as we know, is a never-ending cycle.

In a total about-face, tune in tomorrow when I talk about my Aztec Imports order that just arrived, including my new mini kitchen.

Custom French Lavender Macaron Necklace

I’ve completely given up on my (rather foolish) goal of having all of the miniatures from my last show photographed and listed by the end of this week. In fact, I’ll be lucky if I have them finished by the end of this month, so today, I’m going to clear my work table (the miniatures are completely dominating every available space) and start working on new pieces. There’s only so much computer and camera time I can take before I start feeling the urge to make some minis!

Custom French Lavender Necklace...Again

I have some ideas for new summer jewelry that I’d like to tackle this afternoon, including a new assortment of ice cream earrings, since I only have a few pairs left, and I’d like to make a cupcake charm bracelet, because while I was making a custom necklace last night, I happened to see all of the blobs of various purple clay colors that I’ve mixed recently, and they look so nifty all together that I want to incorporate them into a single piece. I’m also eager to try out a new style of cupcake with less frosting and more exposed cake, so we’ll see how that turns out.

I dragged my bookshelf up from the garage last night and cleaned it up (sorry, spiders!), and if I have time this evening, I might pop over to Michaels with my 20% off an entire purchase coupon (yippee!) and pick out some wallpaper and balsa wood for dividing walls and furniture. I’ve been feeling a little stuck creatively for the past week, which I’m sure is a result of way too much computer time, so I’m excited to start working on something a tad more imaginative.

Turkey Spread

My plan to plot out an accurately scaled template of my miniatures booth display turned out to be the best thing I could have done, because the mini-making fire has been lit under my butt, and I’ve been churning out pieces like a maniac. I realized why the template has had such a dramatic impact on my productivity, and it’s because I’m a total sucker for measurements of progress. If you want me to donate to your charity, be sure to stick one of those thermometers that measure the percentage of your financial goal earned to date somewhere on your website; if you want me to take your survey, stick one of those progress bars on top. Seriously, it gets me every time. What’s your golden carrot?

Roast Beef Dinner

With these templates, I can check off each dish as I make it and see a visual representation of how much of each display area I’ve filled. I love it! Yesterday, I completed a meal for the turkey I made last week, complete with four turkey plates with sides, one of those weird, jiggly cranberry moulds, a plate of stuffing, and a platter of rolls.

Country Stew in Bread Bowls

French Picnic Basket

Today, my plan is to work on the second dinner display area, and once I finish that, and the paper plates arrive for the eight peanut butter and jelly sandwich meals I need to glue together, I’ll have finished the picnic, sandwich shop, and two dinner areas–that’s four out of the twenty displays I have planned with roughly a month left. Woo hoo! And now…back to the mini-making.

Neapolitan Sundae Ring

I can tell that my body is ready for a nice, long break. Yesterday, one of the muscles above my left knee was twitching around in these strange little spasms that I could literally see through my pajama pants. Kind of creepy. I’m sure it’s because I’ve recently added (slow, uncoordinated) running to my schedule, and I ended up taking the night off from yoga to give my poor, spastic knee a rest. I also ate a couple of bananas, since potassium is said to help ease muscle spasms, and it did actually lessen the jumpiness. But I’m sure you’re not here to read about my knee, so on to the mini foods!

Lemon-Lime Earrings

I made a new lemon cane yesterday and used it to finish a handful of Juicy Lemon-Lime Earrings and four pairs of Organic Meyer’s Lemon Earrings. I also made a few pairs of peach earrings, and it’s strange–the pigment that I used to give them a much rosier glow disappeared during the baking process, which has never happened before. It seems to have been absorbed by the clay. After that, I replenished my stock of eggplant and carrot earrings, made my first pink rose necklace, and took loads and loads of pictures.

Meyer's Lemon Earrings

Aside from a few pairs of strawberry and grape earrings that I had planned, I really don’t have anything remaining on my to-do list, but I can’t really see myself lounging about the day or two before a show, so I guess I’ll go over my inventory and see if there’s anything missing. More fruit tarts, perhaps? Or different vegetables? Hmm…

Fair Trade Banana Earrings

After chatting with my friend Lisa the other day about her favorite organic sandwich cookies, I was inspired to look for a recipe for Oreos cookies, and my search led me to the blog of Smitten Kitten who has generously posted a recipe for Oreos, adapted from the book Retro Desserts by Wayne Brachman.

Cherry Danish Earrings

I’ve baked them twice already, which is a testament to their deliciousness, and I made a few minor changes to the recipe. I swapped organic ingredients for everything on the list, evaporated cane sugar in place of the regular sugar, whole wheat pastry flour for regular flour, and all butter in the icing, instead of icky shortening, which is probably one of the least friendly things you can dump into your body (not to mention the gross “mouth coating” effect it produces, because it doesn’t melt at body temperature). The final results were incredibly tasty and quite Oreo-like, albeit a bit softer, which is what I was hoping for. These cookies would make absolutely to-die-for ice cream sandwiches, in case you’re curious.

And finally, after much poking around in my WordPress dashboard and profile pages, I finally figured out an easy way to change my avatar from the googly-eyed, randomly generated monsters to something a little more relevant. If you’re having similar problems and you can’t find the option to change your avatar directly through your user profile, go to Gravatar.com, sign in, and change your avatar in a flash. Easy-peasy.

Heart Shaped Waffle Rings

The heart shaped waffle mold I ordered a couple of weeks ago finally arrived, and I spent all day Tuesday making teeny tiny waffle accessories. I was originally planning on making one or two rings…but I went a little nuts. Pictured at left are the Cherry Chocolate Waffle Ring with little chocolate shavings and crème anglaise, and the Cherry Vanilla Waffle Ring with a little vanilla bean perched on top of a mound of plump cherries. Below are the Kiwi-Blueberry Heart Shaped Waffle Bites Earrings, one of the many pairs of waffle bites posts that I made. Not surprisingly, we ended up eating waffles again for dinner that night.

Kiwi-Blueberry Waffle Bites Earrings

My mini supplies were running a bit low yesterday, so I shopped around for some replacements, and I’m super excited for them to arrive. I found little blue and red checkered paper plates that will be perfect for 1/12 scale picnic or BBQ scenes, and I also ordered two ornate, silver serving trays, one of which I’ll be using for an itty-bitty Easter ham, complete with the required pineapple slices and gross Maraschino cherries, but the other one’s purpose is yet to be decided. Other items included a white ceramic cake stand, which I’ll be keeping for the Petite Pâtisserie, a few aluminum pie plates for my upcoming summer dessert collection, and an oval basket that will be perfect for picnic foods. The best part? Since everything is so darn small, I snagged all of the above items for just under $20. Not bad.

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing pictures of the mountain o’ mini vegetables I’ve been making, including eggplants, carrots, tomatoes, and other goodies.