wall art blocks - a new range

What a busy week it has been! The days just keep flying by. Now that I am teaching two days a week and running Moyou full-time there isn't much left over for anything else...but I wouldn't have it any other way.


I spent today catching up with myself, the business, my emails and re-visiting my business plan ambitions. I also managed to upload 3 new items to etsy - they are the first few pieces in my new wall art block range. These little blocks are designed to hang on the wall by themselves or along with a few friends - they will also very happily sit on a desk, mantle, or shelf.
Keep watching...there will be some more to come soon :)

etsy front page

I'm so very very excited! After logging in to etsy this morning I realised that something extraordinary must have happened because my item view counts were up a lot more than they usually are within a day...and one in particular had jumped exponentially. Eep!. At this point I was thinking...*I must have been featured in a treasury listing*.


Wandering over to the treasury I passed the front page...and lo-and-behold...not only had the lovely Copabananas featured one of my little Kuma Wheat Toys...but her listing had been selected for the front page. *yay yay!!*. Thanks so much!!

handpicked for the art flock front page

I was astonished and excited to see my handbag, a scarf and a set of my gocco print cards on the front page of art flock this morning.


I have uploaded five photographs of each item to my gallery in art flock and these images rotate through constantly - so every time you visit the site there is a very good chance that the images for each item have changed. The front page of handpicked items also does this so I've included two different screen shots of the front page with this post - *yay!* :)

new kuma wheat toys | new button rings | an introduction to a new site & a lovely post...*whew!*

I have spent the majority of my day today photographing, uploading and updating. I've been busy adding new kuma wheat toys and new button rings to my etsy store and a new store that I have started with Art Flock.


The lovely Sharon, of Sharon B's: In A Minute Ago, introduced me to Art Flock a couple of days ago. It is an alternative to Etsy and is free in so far as they don't charge listing fees but commission rates start at 3.5%. It can also be used as a basic business website because you are able to upload a portfolio of work, import a blog (from elsewhere) and list current stockists/exhibitions. All good things to know! I was pretty excited by this new prospect and jumped in straight away :)


I would also like to send a BIG thank you out to Sharon for writing a lovely post about Moyou on her blog. I was really touched - thank you so much!

'a little touch of cream' hits etsy front page

*yay yay yay!!*


Please meet 'a little touch of cream: a small and beautiful selection of the cream goodies etsy has to offer'. I created this etsy treasury listing a couple of hours ago and it is on the front page of etsy as I type (10:40am EST)!!

It will be listed until Friday July 18 at 8:42am etsy time. It is such a buzz to stumble across my listing in action...happy day! :)

the mailbox & the post

I love real mail and my letterbox and the postal service were central to an exciting surprise yesterday.


A lovely little parcel arrived from Portland, Oregon. International mail! *yay yay!!* I was lucky enough to receive this cute set of fabric pins from Squid37 as a token of appreciation for leaving a comment on their blog during a giveaway. Thank you!!

'touch of grey, brighten your day' on etsy front page

*hurrah hurrah!!*


I'd like to introduce you to 'touch of grey, brighten your day: a selection of the beautiful grey pieces that etsy has to offer'. This is an etsy treasury listing that I created on Wednesday night...and it just made it to the etsy front page :)
My guess is that it might be there until 11:00am EST but it will be listed in the treasury until Saturday 6:47pm July 12 etsy time.

I just love the treasury!!

toys toys toys | a new range

*Phew* - what a busy week!! My last 7 days have been consumed by general day-to-day business tasks, bookkeeping, taxation planning, an accounting meeting, a marketing meeting, a wonderful 3 day visit from Mum, the Old Bus Depot market on Sunday, researching, prototyping and manufacturing.

And I have these little guys to unleash as a result of some of that work:
I'd like you to meet two little Kuma.


Kuma are adventurous little wheat filled, heat pack/cool pack, hacky sack toys.
Initially I wanted to design a fun rice toy that could be used as a juggling sack/hacky sack - did anyone else have little rice pillows for games in early primary school??


...and they evolved from being rice-filled toys into wheat-filled toys due to the propensity of wheat for heating and cooling. So now they can be tossed, thrown, kicked around and generally played with...and when you're done playing they can be warmed or cooled and they'll happily settle in with you for a hot/cold cuddle.

button rings & obi-style belts

I'm feeling much better today and I'm back into the swing of things. A busy day ahead.


I've just finished 3 new button rings - photographed & uploaded to moyou's etsy store. I'm also progressively working on finishing a stack of obi-style belts - the backing fabric is shown in the collection of photographs below. I just love earthy colours!


I have a marketing appraisal meeting this afternoon followed by some planned preparation time for my classes next semester. *Ooh ooh!!* - more exciting news. I think I neglected to mention that I have been offered a second teaching position for the coming semester at ANU (Australian National University). I will also be teaching an introduction class to computing for first year students. Very exciting.

taking things slowly (but bouncing back)

I haven't disappeared...but I've been taking things very slowly this week. I've had an icky tummy virus since Saturday night and I'm still not 100% - but I'm slowly bouncing back.

I still made it to the Old Bus Depot Markets on Sunday and had a good day - a BIG thank you to my two little helpers who arrived near closing time and packed everything up into my car for me when I wasn't feeling well.

I haven't begun 'making' for the week just yet but I'm hoping to get into a creative spurt this afternoon. Yesterday was a sick day - recovering, and this morning has been spent catching up with myself, my bookkeeping and my emails. Almost there!

(I've been thinking about Japan a lot recently...hence the jet-setting photos accompanying this post. I honestly can't wait to go back - even for a quick visit!)