8 days and counting...

until Christmas! Phew. December has been flying by and I've been catching up on blog reading this morning. I'm a tad embarrassed that our tree is so minimally decorated after seeing so many other beautifully dressed ones among the blog world. There's still time to make some ornaments or pick up some if I dare brave the shops again in the next week.


This is the first Christmas tree for Dex (to our knowledge) and Suki's second, and so far they've both been pretty well behaved. A little paw batting of the red ornaments and rubbing up against the branches, but the tree is still standing. Since we spent last Christmas in Arizona, we opted to stay in Toronto this year. I wish our families could be here with us... I seriously don't have the energy to go anywhere. Working outside of the house for the past several months has drained me and I'm ready to hibernate until the New Year.

Creatively, I have felt a bit uninspired of late, but I hope to introduce some new things to the shop in 2009. As well, I look forward to sharing a new project that I've been working on with everyone soon. For now, I have to remain *hush hush* though.

Well, I best get busy and package up gifts to send to my family. If I don't get around to posting here again before Christmas, here's hoping everyone has a very Merry one!

Hello, December.

I've been away from blogland for the past week and a half, so am late announcing the arrival of gift certificates in the shop. They're a Sweet Shop first.

Once again, I'm helping out this sweet gal at the One of a Kind Show, which is one of the reasons for the lack of blogging. The other is that I picked up some part-time work at a design firm down the street from us. Go figure that the almost perfect job for me was almost right under my nose, or only a 10 minute walk away. While I can handle working retail every once in a while, it is certainly not my favourite job in the world. Candice's booth can get pretty hectic at times - as her undies and briefs are a big hit - so by the end of a shift, I'm eager to get home.

Still, the crowds at the Show have not been that bad, and I'm sure they are nothing compared to the one that was gathered outside that Wal-Mart in New York this past Black Friday. Disturbing and crazy and sad all at the same time. Poor man. Matt told me about that incident while we were grocery shopping this morning and I almost couldn't believe my ears. My mom used to work as a greeter at Wal-Mart, and though Saskatoon is not nearly as populous as New York, when there are deals to be had, I know people can be pretty fanatical about getting them. I remember seeing long lineups outside stores on Boxing Day morning in Saskatoon. Heck, I think I may have even stood in one myself years ago. And all to save a little big of money on stuff you probably don't even need. Was it worth it, people? A man's life for $50? May he rest in peace.


On a happier note - I don't want to end the post on a dour one - I received a lovely email from one of my sweet sweet customers the other day. She bought the painting above from me a while ago and had it framed. Her daughter is now the proud and happy owner of this piece and I feel blessed to know that someone else is enjoying this in her home.

Holiday Sale Now On!

I feel so behind with the holidays this year. Every year around this time, I say I will start prepping earlier next year, but I still haven't mastered that feat. There's always next year to get my act together, though.

Since I don't think I'll have time to partake in any holiday shows, I'm having a big sale in my shop. (Click on image above to enlarge it) I've got an abundance of summer tees that I'd like to clear out to make room for new stock in 2009. So for every 2 tees or totes or a combination of 1 tee and 1 tote, you get a free tee/tote of your choice. The catch is that the free item has to be of equal or lesser value than the lowest priced item and also that the free item must be in stock.

Several new tees have been added to the shop and I will be listing more later today, as well as some other items.





I will be selling some of my goods at this event next Sunday, but won't actually be there. This lovely lady will be selling things on my behalf. Hope the event is a success. If any of you readers are in the Montreal area, please check it out.

And here's a cute image (I'm a little biased) that I came across the other day, c/o this awesome store's new site. They carry an assortment of my kitty items, which reminds me that I should send them some more stock soon.

I'm Back!

It's been ages since I've blogged. Okay, well only several weeks. I feel a little rusty though. I missed posting about Halloween, the beginning of November, Remembrance Day and American Thanksgiving. Now Christmas is just around the corner. And I haven't had a chance to create any new holiday cards this year as of yet. So the ones from Christmases past will have to do for now. You can find them here.

I'm happy to report that I'm back working from home these days. The job that I started only a month ago was making some changes as far as how we'd be paid, which made it all the easier for me to tell them "Sayonara!" (I'll elaborate more in tomorrow's post.) So I will hopefully get back to creating some new things for the shop very shortly. For sure there will be gift certificates available this year. And I'm considering a holiday sale to clear out an overstock of summer shirts. Check back later this week.

Running back to Saskatoon

August has been really slow so far in my etsy shop but when it's slow, instead of getting down about it, I have to take advantage of that time for creating new things. I finally made some more girl aceo's which are all listed in the shop now. My favourites are the pink and yellow girls. If I didn't have black hair, I'd want to be a redhead.

In an effort to get some new wholesale clients, I pounded the pavement today along Queen Street West. After the first shop owner was less than impressed about my drop-in, I decided to just get the rest of the owner's/buyer's contact info from each store. Lesson learned. But you never know until you try. Plus, I don't have a ton of money to invest in getting catalogues printed and mailed out right now, so a face to face meeting is the most direct and cost-effective way for feedback right now, even if it means dealing with some up-turned noses and dirty looks.

The highlight of my excursion was when I spotted a woman wearing one of my Bad Kitty shirts. I even held the door open for her, but was too chicken to blurt out that I'd made her shirt. I think that was the first time I've seen someone wearing one of my shirts.



And last week when I stopped by the vet's to pick up more pills for Suki I got another ego boost. The receptionist asked for my name and when I told her, she said "Oh you make those shirts! I have one (bad kitty)."

The feeling I get when I sell one of my creations, especially an original painting or one of my shirts makes what I do worthwhile. While it doesn't make the tough times go away - how I wish it would - it fuels my fire to keep doing what I'm doing. After all, Bad Kitty was the original design that started off my line of kitty products. If people are still interested in her, then I'm doing something right.


Tomorrow, Matt and I are off for a week to Saskatoon. It'll be my first visit in several years - I can't even remember how long it's been, that's how long it's been - and Matt's first time ever. I'm looking forward to my mom's cooking, seeing my sister's place, playing Scrabble with the family, catching up on reading and checking out the annual Folkfest that I used to partake in. I'm sure we'll be following the Olympics too. Hopefully the kitties will be fine here (yes, that's an old photo, but I haven't gotten around to uploading new ones). Our cat sitter has promised to keep us updated with daily emails. While I will have internet access, I probably won't be updating my blog until we're back.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Sw-eeeetness!

I reached 700 sales today, thanks to a sweet buyer from Toronto who first found me when I sold my stuff at St. Lawrence Market! She was the lucky recipient of a free print from my shop. And upon returning home from the post office, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a timely deposit into my bank account. At least, I think that's where it's from. Now I don't feel so bad for spending more than $40 on some much needed skin cream.

Some wip photos to come this weekend.

A New Addition

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had something new to add to my shop. So you can now get your very own lucky kitty handmade by yours truly. There are only 2 available right now and I don't know how many more I'll make. I haven't sewn too many things in my lifetime, but am pretty satisfied with how these turned out. Pretty Kitty is another design that I think would work well as a stuffed doll, so those will be next.

And here are some more photos from the Clothing Show. My setup was not the greatest but since it was my first show I didn't want to invest a ton of money into it before I knew what to expect.



You can see the lucky kitty dolls in this photo:


Here's my friend, Cheryl's table:


You can't really see the jewellery that well from this photo, but her stuff is really great. She was also a sweetheart and lent me an extra table and chair as well as driving me to and from the show everyday. Thank goodness for friends with cars :)

This week has kinda flown by and Mother's Day crept up on me that I didn't even realize it was this Sunday until Wednesday. Oops! I had to ask my sister to sign a card from both of us this year. Even if I did get her a card though, she'd most likely have this reaction, typical of most Asian mothers, I think.

No Jacket Required

Oh my, it's gorgeous outside. Just before leaving the house to run some errands, I checked the weather online and was amazed to see that it's 21 degrees out! It feels so different to be outside and seriously, I didn't need to don a jacket, though I did. (I tend to feel a bit naked without one, unless it is boiling hot).

So this new illustration is very fitting for a day like today. It will be making its way into my shop shortly, as a new print.

Matt has tomorrow and Monday off so we'll have a long weekend together and will hopefully be able to take advantage of the warm weather. Taxes are waiting to be done and I really want to paint the walls upstairs. We'll see how things go.

On the Catwalk...

A new print is in my shop.

And in honour of Spring Cleaning, I'm having an Art Sale to clear out original paintings that have been collecting dust in boxes since we moved in. I will be parting with some much loved artwork but then again, if I love it so much, why isn't it up on our walls yet?
So hopefully my art will find many new homes where it will be more appreciated.

Quick, someone hurry up and buy something!

I reached 666 items sold today! It was a moment I was sort of dreading though as that number has certain connotations associated with it. But really, I'm happy to have sold that many items on etsy.

I've sort of been in a creative funk of late and blame it on my less-than-perfect home office setup. So the past week has had me moving stuff around several times and I'm still not satisfied... so no photos yet. Other than that I've been putting together consignment shipments for a few new places and have been brainstorming ideas for new illustrations, etc, but no finished things to show off right now.

My stomach is calling for lunch. Soup's on!

A Fresh Start!

Hello! I've started a new blog. With a new year, I'm trying new things and while I liked my old blog, it doesn't offer as many possibilities as I would like. I love all the features you can add in this blog format, like the etsy mini, links to other sites and lots more. If you could do that in livejournal, I never figured it out.

This blog will be devoted to Cathy's Sweet Shop whether it's new items added to my shop, new things in the works, special promos, etc. I will of course intersperse details about my ever-exciting life when I get the chance... life with our cats and yummy food and the latest movies we've watched. You know, THAT exciting life :) Plus, whatever tickles my fancy at the moment. There are so many great blogs out there and amazing creations by other indie artists and designers that inspire me that it's about time I start writing about them.

These days I divide my time between etsying, finding new retailers and restocking current ones, painting portraits and coming up with new ideas for things to make and sell. I wish there was more time in the day to do everything I want to do, but I also do my best to spend time with loved ones. It's tough running a business solo, but I know I have to be thankful that I am able to do what I love to do for now while Matt works his buns off outside of the home. Hopefully I will be able to grow my business enough this year, so I'm able to hire employees soon. That would make me one spoiled kitty.



Saturday, I move into Fresh Baked Goods in Toronto's Kensington Market. For those of you in Toronto, please pop on by. I will be working Mondays at the store and I will have new things available for sale.