Frida Magnets and Map Hearts

Helloooo, out there! Have you wondered where I've been, dear readers? I've been right here, of course, but have not posted due to extreme work pressures. I picked up an extra temporary job bringing my total up to 3. Three jobs? Yeah, sure, I can do it, I said to myself, at least for a while to make a little extra money and catch up on some bills. Man oh man, it was not fun. Do that indefinitely? Heck, no. Er, I'd even go so far as to say: Hell, no!! But enough about that--let's get cozy and talk crafting, shall we?



Also in the interim, I've done my taxes including all of my business expenses and profit. The good news was: last year I sold a lot of items from my etsy site and in shows. Yay! The bad news was: uh, I may have sold a lot, but I didn't actually make a profit. Booo. I didn't even break even. dammit.




So, obviously, it was time to examine what was going on and do some strategizing. After reviewing expenses, products and consulting with my awesome CPA, I came to some conclusions. Bottom line: I over invested in supplies and constantly produced many new types of products last year, most of which did not sell enough for me to recoup. (I had a lot of fun doing it, of course, but my goal is to make a profit eventually). I did definitely learn what my most popular sellers are: vintage map covered composition notebooks of all sizes.




OK! Lesson learned! No new products this year unless I already have the supplies under my roof! Purchase supplies only to replace out of stock popular sellers.

So here are a couple of projects that have been on the back burner for a while: some lovely fridge magnets using some glass wafers I had planned to make into pendants and a fine art postcard book of Frida Kahlo art.



 I made four different sets of four each, as you can see here. I'm glad I chose to go with magnets rather than pendants or pins. I only made for sets because: A. there were only so many appropriate postcards in the book and B. I only ordered 16 of the glass wafers way back when.



Then I got to work on some other supplies that had been sitting around, taking up space! I'd worked on an earlier version of map covered hearts and not liked the outcome at all. But here are some cutie little vintage map covered heart pins that are simple and sweet and just what I was going for!


I just adhered a pin back with some E-6000 (my favorite all-purpose glue) and signed with my etsy shop name. They just measure 1.5" x 1.5" so they're not big and bulky.

Stay tuned for more items from my too big supply inventory!