Good Times...

This pic represents simpler times. Before bills and a job and all that icky grown-up stuff you have to deal with. When you're young and have siblings you never really think you're going to be apart for so long. My father comes from a family of six children, many of them spread out. Never did I think that "us 3" would be in a position where we could not see each other whenever we wanted.

My brother left for the Marine Corps a bit over ten years ago. He ended up in California after finishing his four years. A few years after that, my sister joined the Marine Corps also and ended up in North Carolina. My sister is back in Virginia Now, and my brother is now in Tennessee. Due to lack of money and a whole bunch of other stuff, I hadn't seen my brother in over seven years.

Thanks to the generousity of one of our old high school mates (thanks Brian), my little brother (so what he's 30 and buff...I'm the oldest so he'll always be my little brother) has come home to visit. I present to you a photo I have been waiting over seven years take. . .

Y'all have a Happy New Year and I'll be back with actual MASHULU updates very soon!

New Look

Okay, so for the longest I have been trying to design a logo that can stand alone without text and eventually identify my brand. I started out just using the Adinkra Symbol that symbolizes wisdom and creativity. I couldn't figure how to jazz it up and it ended up looking a little to plain for my taste. I'm all about symbolism and things relating to each other so I am pleased to present my new logo:

As you can see, I've had a bit of trouble trying to decide what my "signature colors" will be (you are looking at a screenshot of my color auditions, lol). So I've just decided to change them according to the seasons and holidays! I like it because it just looks a bit random in the beginning until you realize that it's an owl (cut in half). Now here's the breakdown: 1. The eye of the owl has the above mentioned Adinkra (Ananse Ntontan to be exact) in the center 2. The symbol represents wisdom and creativity 3. the owl is a symbol of wisdom and 3. in the hieroglyphic alphabet, the letter "M" is an owl. So it caters to all my needes...simple, stylized, and chock full of symbolism!

As soon as I get new labels (which I will get from MommieMadeIt...recommended on the Carried Away Blog), I will have a big sale to move items with my old labels on them. I can't wait!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Straight off of the front page of Etsy I saw this eye-catching print. So I go to see what else is in Yellena's shop and lo-and-behold I find yet another piece of work that would KILL as a print on fabric.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I'm going to send a convo and see if they'd be interested in going to Spoonflower.com to make another one of my fabric fantasies come true!

Just a Touch of Love

I recently joined the Carried Away Etsy Bagmaker Team. I've been wanting to join a team for a while and this was just so right for me. Since this big ridiculous paycut I've had to endure at my job I've had to scale waaay back, including my internet (sucks when you're trying to run a small business online). So after I get the 'net back at home I'll Join the Hampton Roads Artisan Street Team. That way I'll be able to participate in chats, etc.

Since I don't, at the moment, have any of my own pics to put in this post (and I hate posting without pics) I'll take this time to do a little something I'll call "The Sylistic List". This is where I'll do a little feature on some things that have caught my eye:

I noticed Jessica Torrant's (livefunky) Etsy Avitar in the forums once and It made me want to check out her work. After seeing pieces like the one shown here, I felt compelled

to let her know about Spoonflower.com. On Spoonflower.com you can design your own fabric (no minimum order) and I would just love to make some bags and other accessories out of fabric with the above image as the print!

Take it Easy...

True to form I have worked myself into a lather.

So much is going on with me working two jobs, trying my best to not neglect my teen, working to put together a fine arts portfolio to apply to grad school, and trying to keep a steady flow of new bags out in the open. After thinking long and hard, I have decided to do away with mashulu.com to focus on selling on Etsy. I can feel some relief already, lol. This way I won't have to worry about keeping up with codes and site design, etc. , not to mention worry about the monthly fee I was paying for my own domain. To be honest, I sold many more items on Etsy than my main site anyway, so I'm hoping this will be a great move since I won't have to split my computer time up between trying to decipher and write proper html. Selling on Etsy also makes me feel more free because with the MASHULU site, I felt compelled to keep my designs urban to keep with a certain mood. Etsy is a breeding grown for eclecticism so I feel comfortable catering to some of my more kitch sensibilities. Scaling back will also give me more time to promote, promote, promote!

I feel so silly cutting the site off RIGHT after re-launching, but I think it will be for the best. I'm looking forward to a successful year ahead. My goal is to be "Etsy Popular"* by the summer!





*the term "Etsy Popular" is a term I use to describe someone within the Etsy community that is basically a star...like you see them at a craft show and you're like..."gasp! That's Fort Cloudy or Cubist Literature". Yeah...I wanna be THAT girl, lol.