Sharks and Totes

Yesterday my dad went early morning fishing (just as he does everyday) and was surprised by a surplus of migrating sharks. Yes, all those spots in the picture above are sharks! Thousands of them. This is actually not a rare occurrence. Several times a year we get the coastline dotted with spinner sharks chasing smaller fish for food along the shore. What baffles me is the fact that no one tells you. Unless you catch the news that morning, you might think you're headed to a lovely outing at the beach. "Let's go swimming, everybody!"

My dad has some great footage on his digital camera of them turning on one shark and eating him, causing a frenzy a mere couple of feet from shore.
Word of the wise to tourists - ask the fishermen on the beach if the water is safe for swimming, don't rely on the forecasters.In other news - I've finished my sister's Monty Tote! Well, almost. She informed me she wants a small pocket so I need to add a small lining and zipper. And 4 more rivets for the handles. The colors are ones she picked out - except the brown. There was no brown dark enough for her so I had to hand-dye a lighter brown to make her happy. The small circles contain some snake-print lambskin pieces.
Now I just to make some more.....

Featured Etsy Find

Every once in a while I find an Etsy store that literally makes my jaw drop.
I found a store called sacaclaques the other day. They have the coolest handbags! Really, I should just use tons of pictures to illustrate the coolness, since the photos speak volumes.Aren't they amazing! They're constructed out of wood slats and leather for lining and handles. I'm totally in love with this olive one. Tara Appreciation Day is coming soon, people! Pay attention!!
Scrolling through Etsy listings is becoming a potentially expensive habit to have....
Check out Sacaclaques today! I get the feeling these bags are going to be flying off the shelves (so to speak). And they're just so cool....

Easter Candy Time

I'm all hopped up on sugar and caffeine.

I woke up fairly early to pick Allen up from the train station as he got back from Miami. They all had fun and nudie pins (thanks to tom and chris!) were given out to all the checkpoint volunteers. Allen said it was a bit grueling but he made it to every checkpoint and then the after party.
So I've actually been having a fab morning. My mother gave us each a lotto scratch off in our goodie baskets and I won $40 so today is starting out pretty well. Candy, Allenface, and free money is a good way to start the day!And I'll be eating too many of these bad boys today. I wait all year for the Cadbury creams eggs to come around....

Bicyle Race in South Beach

Allen's getting ready to go on a trip to Miami for an AlleyCat Race on south beach! If I weren't such a bicycle chicken it would sound like a lot of fun. Maybe we need a rickshaw so I can participate. I can't do the tandem bike thing, because I'll eventually stop peddling and just let the other person do all the work. And we could all use fancy bicycle caps like this one from Bicycleocean!

I really do miss Miami. The city is so beautiful, so raw, and so full of life. Here's a picture from our last trip, which was ages ago. Late night concerts and early morning sunbathing on the beach. We need to get back down to the keys, too.

On April 5th I'll be participating in the West Palm AlleyCat Race. Not riding, but manning one of the checkpoints. If what Naomi says is true, I'll be the happiest girl slapping everyone in the face with red paint. I can't imagine anything more fun to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Beer Holsters in Storque!!

I had the most exciting news from my friend Naomi at Bicycleocean yesterday! We had our Beer Holsters featured in the Etsy Storque!! The article is very awesome and you can read it HERE!

I'm so happy to see them appreciated. Allen has worked very very hard to make this completely unique design for our holsters. Yes, there are other beer holsters, but they're hardly the same and you sure can't pretend you're a gun-slinger with them. It really brings a huge smile to my face to see the pattern Allen labored over for months come to fruition and be a big hit! Now we just need our new veg tan leather so we can make more! Excitement Excitement!!

In another bit of exciting news, I sold my latest Monty Tote yesterday! I'm going to have to make a new one. And finish the one for my sister. And start the one I had in mind for Allen's sister and his niece.... Hmmm... I've got a lot of work to do.

New New New

Oh, today is full of new things.

I've been dabbling with a new design for a messenger-type bag for a little while now, sketching out the way it'll look in my doodle book. After a week of re-working it, I'm hoping today will be the day I can finally begin. That's my doodle book, resting on my decoupaged bookshelf in the bathroom.
Also, we have a new computer! Well, new to us. Hospice threw it out on Wednesday and Allen salvaged it, added some hardware, and made it work. So now we can both surf the internet, within mere inches of each other, at the same time! I think that's ridiculously cool.
And I have a new pair of sandals! My second pair of Marina sandals are up on Etsy!
The Marina sandals are all one of a kind, since the uppers are made from fish skin. They're super comfortable, too. I'm going to have to make myself a pair. (These ones are in my size but they're for sale *sigh*)

The Value of Goodies

I need to get on Amazon and just buy the book Primal Branding. (I had it checked out from the library some months ago but I shouldn't be allowed to have a library card because I don't return things, especially not in a timely manner.) I did enjoy the book and it was extremely informative and full of helpful tips and how-to's on building a following for your product/company/religion. But since they probably have a wanted poster of me up at the library I'll just have to wait for it in the mail.

The real purpose of this post is to help me judge the value of my work. It seems to me that people think I'm under-pricing. Really, I don't think I am. We base our prices on, of course, materials used, time spent, and over all quality. Yet, it seems a lot of people don't think it's quality unless I'm charging some ridiculous price.

I don't want to gouge. Maybe it sounds silly, but I grew up poor. I enjoy making things that I can keep affordable enough for everyone. Sure I could charge $300 for a pair of sandals or a tote bag. But why? Plus I feel like that I'd be alienating a huge group of people if I raised my prices. (After all, there ARE more poor and middle class than rich). But then again, I watch loads of people save and scrimp so they can buy that brand name piece of garbage bag for $600, so maybe I'm wrong.
I guess my main issue is I want people to KNOW that our work is quality, without me having to take an arm or a leg as payment. I just don't want to charge an amount I feel is obscene.
But I want to sell more. Season is ending here in Florida and things that sell really well in our B&M (buddy bags, sandals) don't translate very well online.
So here's a question: Would you pay $56 for this Buddy Bag? (You can click on the image to take you to the detailed listing with more photos)
Do you think that's too low? Too high? If you think my price should be higher, would you still be as quick about making a buying decision? I welcome any suggestions and comments at this point.

The Day After

Oh, freaking hell, it feels like someone punched me in the face. I'll never understand why every dentist I've come in contact with seems to think extractions have the worst follow-up pain. No, no, it's root canals and everything involving them. The gums are burning and itching from where I'm pretty sure they used a screwdriver to fit my temporary crowns and it's incredibly hard to focus on anything else. And nothing for the pain. I had to ask my sister for one of the pills they gave her for her extraction (which, by the way, isn't hurting her anymore). And why do I, a person with a great fear of dentistry, get the pleasure of the new doctor, the new nurse? The last thing I want is someone working on my teeth who's unsure of themselves. Actually, I take that back. The last thing I would want would be an unsure gynecologist (which totally happened to me at the free clinic once. It was terrifying).

But enough ranting and raving about things that are over and done with.
St. Patrick's Day was yesterday and I had barely a chance to think about it. After the tooth abuse I had to spend the evening at my night job, where we were very slow for most of the evening until the drunk stragglers wandered over from wherever they were getting sloshed at beforehand. I finally got out around 10:50 or so, leaving me enough time to race to the gas station to buy some beer and then making it home with an hour left to celebrate. Celebrate is probably a pretty strong word, considering it was just Allen and I each drinking a beer while watching Futurama episodes.

Tonight promises to be far more amazing. Not only do I have hours to spend with my leather but it's Tuesday which mean it's Movie Night! I have no idea what we'll be watching but I guarantee it'll be great. Hooray for Tuesdays!! (Can I get a hoo-hah?)

Fun With The Dentist

In about an hour I go to the dentist to get fitted for my crowns. I'm frightened. It seems irrational, (and it probably is) but I'm just scared to death of everything related to dentistry. *Shudder*

SO, in order to keep my mind off of of my fears, I'm trying to list some of my new and amazing basket weave cuffs.I'm really impressed with the way these have turned out. The simple basket weave embossment seems to be the perfect backdrop for the colorful exotic fish skins. I have a few in brown up in my shop right now, but yesterday I picked up the black and made three new ones. Hopefully everyone else likes them as much as I do. And hopefully I can forget about the dentist for a little bit.

Things to Do

Every Saturday that I work at my 2nd job it's always a beautiful day. The kind of day that makes you want to run screaming from work and go to the beach or to the park or anywhere but inside a building. And I'll convince myself that it's alright, and the day will be just as beautiful tomorrow. But, no, it's a little too cloudy, a little too windy...

Maybe that's for the best, as I DO have leather work to finish. And start. Many things to be accomplished today. I'll still be thinking about the beach, though.