Confession

The Dynamic Duo-1 Inch Buttons For Married Cool People by buttonempire

Hello, my name is Susan Schaffer, and I am a geek. And I am a crafter. Sometimes it is hard to be both. I love my comic books, my sci fi, my rpg's and especially my newest toy, Rock Band 2, which we got last night. I am reminded of the article in the Storque awhile back about a husband and wife, the husband was a gamer and the wife was a crafter. I am both rolled into one (although my husband is a complete geek as well, and I wouldn't have it any other way). I have had to give up the geek in me a little because the crafting part has definitely taken over, but now that we have our Xbox360 (which feels a little sacrilegious to me because I am a devoted Nintendo user, but I certainly can't afford a Wii).

Nintendo Controller Buttons by Slevin11

I have to force myself to stay out of the bedroom lest I be tempted to spend all my time on it, rocking out, or searching new worlds. I have reserved that time to the hours of 7:30 to 9:30 at night. I hope I can stay a good girl and keep those hours!

Any other geek girls out there?

In the beginning

I missed my Etsyversary, I completely forgot about it, it was on January 11.

This is the first book I sold on Etsy, over a year ago. When I first opened my shop, this was the kind of photos I posted, pretty bad (not to mention that horrid ribbon!)

I felt so excited if I got a sale a week back then.

I am selling the same book (with some tweaks, of course) in my shop again. You've come a long way, baby! I am so amazed and grateful for the success I have had on Etsy, and for the growth I have had as an artist because of it. Of course I still need work, but I feel that my books and photographs have improved. I know I have taken a step backward in my fine arts, but that is partly a time issue (not having the time to work on my paintings) and that I need to focus (when I have the time) on them more. I need to get back to my roots, while experimenting in the new. But in the meantime I am happy to make books everyday.

New Art and an Interview with The Isthmus

I have added a few new prints to my art shop, from some of my older art. They are a little random, not "fitting" within the style of portraiture that I have been doing, but I am usually pretty random in my art style.

I have also been interviewed for the Isthmus Daily Page, which is Madison's local newspaper. I always hate how I sound in interviews but you can read it here anyway.

Love Notes

Love Notes

Little Love Notes

Oh happy day! My new printer arrived in the mail today, and yes it works! My old printer died at a most inconvenient time (aka right before the Craftacular) and so I sent it in to Epson, and the nice people at Epson sent me a new one. I repeat "oh happy day!" Now the oodles of custom guest books that I have orders for can be completed and sent out.

In other news I am featured in a blog post by 622 press. You can read it here:
http://622press.wordpress.com, Kristin, (aka 622 press) is also from Madison WI and her letterpress cards are absolutely exquisite.

I have been very bad at keeping in touch with everyone, and I apologize. I am reading your blogs, daily, and will promise to post more here as well. I have been working on new books, some especially for Valentine's Day and have been painting as well. I have a new shop for my paintings if you haven't checked it out http://susanschaffer.etsy.com stop in and say hi.

A new day

Image found via The New York Times

I breathe a sigh of relief and happiness sitting here on such a historic day. I am so thankful that today happened I could just jump up and down with joy. I was able to (sort of) watch the inauguration today, but I am going to have to rewatch it I think. I subbed today, in my daughter's first grade class, and although they were pretty excited to see it, they were also first graders, so most of the time I spent shushing :) Congratulations and good luck, President Obama, you have a lot of work cut out for you.

Christmas Craftacular

Woohoo! It's over! But what a blast I had. The venue was absolutely beautiful, large and roomy with great lighting. I met some really great artists, exchanged wares, made sales, and made great connections! My husband was the best help I could have asked for. He helped with everything from stamping my tags, poking holes in the paper, to making sandwiches for us the day of the event. He also sat by my side and gave me great moral support almost the entire time. He deserves a huge thank you. I will definitely be doing more of these in the near future (even though I was utterly exhausted by the end of the day!)