relocation

dear all,

happy February and goodbye old blog. i’ve decided to move this baby over to www.whiteduckshop.blogspot.com. it’s nothing personal, wordpress has such a nice interface, easy management, great traffic meter, but alas, it lacks a big crafting community (or i’m just too lazy to look for it).

anyhoodles, the winners of the giveaway have…NOT been chosen yet. i find the lack of participation rather discouraging. it will be reestablished in the near future. winning hopefuls, i’m sorry for the flippity flop!

xoxo whiteduck

giveaway

As I was trying to come up with a contest, I realized that I definitely don’t have enough readership to have substantial participation. With contests, there is an assumption that people have a strong desire for the prize and thus want to compete, but since no one really knows about my shop yet, I propose a GIVEAWAY instead. My hope is just to get my products out there, where ever there may be.

In the nature of giveaways, I will be selecting the winners at random. To enter please leave an alias in the comments and, just for my entertainment, an answer to this question: if you could make one wish in the world and it was guaranteed to come true, what would it be? I will be putting the entries on little pieces of paper in a box. Three will be selected and the winners will be posted at the close of the giveaway. Enter by January 31st to win.

Sound good? Open to the whole world. Tell your friends!

Here are the 3 prizes:

and a magnet, to be determined.

the new year

So 2010, what are you going to do for me this year?

As with every new year, I usually start off with a burst of new-found motivation. I psych myself up with delusions of how this will be the year I achieve my life’s ambitions. Without fail, I usually lose my steam mid-year. Plans fall to the wayside, I lose track of what my goals are and around the coming of the next new year, this vicious cycle begins again. I refuse to let it happen this year. No way, no how.

I’ve got an endless list of resolutions, and being better at keeping up with this blog is at the top of the list. It’s been a little over a year since I joined the Etsy community with my bottle cap goodies, and my sales have been less than stellar. I am very thankful for those who have supported me through purchasing items, collecting bottle caps, complimenting my creations, etc… I appreciate you! But, it’s time for a whiteduck face lift. I plan on making more sales, creating a presence in the crafting community and existing in a boutique near you.

I have a feeling this year might actually be the year I get things rolling. After all, it is the year of the tiger, which means that I have successfully lived through 2 cycles of the lunar calendar… and that has to mean something good. To start the year off right, let me introduce you to the first item on my agenda, executing guerilla marketing tactic numero uno: contest for freebies.

Stay tuned as I tweak the details for the next post on how to win: (1) pair of earrings or (1) magnet or (1) ring

Now, here’s a sampling of the x-mas cards I made this year:

click to zoom

Happy New Year!

thanksgiving

I, for one, cannot believe that Thanksgiving is in 2 days. This year flew by so quickly. I hope next year gives me a little warning before it passes me by. Like a lot of people, I had always wished to grow up faster when I was little. Now that I have grown up some, I want it to stop. I was talking to my dad one day about how old he feels. He told me that his body feels old at 55, but in his mind he feels like he’s in his 30′s. The perception of time is a funny thing.

Back to Thanksgiving. My family doesn’t really celebrate the holiday, though we do use it as an excuse to eat a big meal, usually of chicken and seafood. This year I’ll be going with my special guy to Virginia to celebrate. Coming from an immigrant family, I’ve coveted all all-American traditions since I can remember. I’d watch Full House and live vicariously through the Tanner family shenanigans. This year, it’s time to put down the chopsticks and work the fork and knife. It’s going to be awesome.

And, of course, being my mother’s daughter, I won’t be going empty handed. I made some holiday season inspired magnets.

click on images to zoom

I’ll be starting a holiday collection of cards and magnets when I get back. Stay tuned for updates!

& Happy Thanksgiving folks!

new things

As promised, here are some new pictures of the rings I’ll be adding to my etsy shop. They all range between the sizes of 4-8. I just got into making them so it’s still kind of difficult for me to gauge the sizes. But, need not fear! I’ll be trying my best to customize them for orders.

click on the images to zoom

In addition to the rings, I’ve posted up 2 pairs of earrings that are quite different from the usual ones that I make. These are also made from bottle caps, but they’ve been flattened and fused together. This variation is double-sided.

click on the images to zoom

There are a few more things I’ve been working on that I’ll be sharing later on…after I come out of this lazy streak I’m hitting. After making the Christmas card (below) and having made a birthday card earlier in the month, I’m thinking about getting into that too, with the holiday season quickly approaching and all (or are we in it already?). Anyhoos, that’s it for now.

How about some comments dear (handful of) readers mine?

little noah biorkman

Last night I made a Christmas card. My little sister had told me about a project her community service club was working on. They’re gathering Christmas cards at her school to send to a 5 year old boy named Noah Biorkman from Michigan. He’s losing his battle with cancer and is not expected to make it to the end of December. His family wants him to experience the holiday one last time and many people from across the world have already been flooding their house with cards and gifts.

It’s an incredibly sad story, but it really warms the heart to see so much support coming to the Biorkman’s. If you’d like to send Noah a card or a gift this is his address:

1141 Fountain View Circle
South Lyon, MI 48178.

update: The family has requested for no more cards to be sent to them because little Noah’s condition has worsened. He is currently unable to get out of bed and the family would like to focus their attention on him.

**card painted on cardstock with pop-up words. pardon the wimpy “noah” in the last image. it was fixed. click on image to zoom.**

something neat

So I was surfing the web for inspiration and clicking through craft blogs for new ideas and I came across a video showcasing this product by Klutz called Capsters. It’s a bottle cap art kit…for kids! Although pretty neat, I sort of wish I never came across it. Just like I sort of wish I never came across a whole mess of other people making things with bottle caps. Here I am foolishly thinking I’ve got some awesomely fresh ideas, and there they are taunting me with their creativity and success. But, there’s nothing better than some tough competition. Believe you me though, my knick knacks will gain a wider audience… once I figure out how to market them better.

Anyhoozies, here is the video if you’re interested:

attempt # 2

dear blog:

I failed to reread that first post before I published it. It is super lame. I am aware I can delete it, but it’ll mean that I’d have to start all over again. That’s not for me. Anyhoos…

Here is a preview of the rings I’ve been working on:

Better photos to be posted… I promise.

hello world!

blog post #1. what to say…

Hello. My name is Sandra, and I make things. Blogging was so much easier back when over sharing about my pseudo teenage angst seemed semi cool. Here I am, sitting at my kitchen table trying to summon words that won’t make me sound like a dweeb. So, let me cut to the chase.

This is an outreach blog. This is an attempt to gather as many admirers, potential customers, haters, what-have-yous as I can get of the things I make.

For the past year, I’ve been working with bottle caps. I have a handful of earrings for sale on etsy (www.whiteduck.etsy.com), and am working on using the bottle caps for other things. I started using bottle caps when I was in high school. I went through a strange phase where I’d peel stickers off light posts and collect rusty old bottle caps I’d find off the streets. My ways have since reformed. I stick my own stickers on light posts and collect bottle caps from friends, family and occasionally when I hit the sauce.

My earrings are currently on sale at etsy. However, if you don’t have an etsy account, and would like a pair, feel free to email me at whiteduck.etsy@gmail.com.

That is all for now. Here’s a picture: