Friday cat blogging... and a YART reminder!

I've missed a few Fridays now, and so my cats need some coverage; they've been ignored - on my blog, not in real life of course!

I discovered last week when I ate some corn on the cob that Chibi loves it. It must be the salt and butter, but she was really wrestling me for that cob. Didn't know just how strong she was! Please click on the collage below to see all her crazed expressions (^_^)

These are few shots of her trying to pull the cob out of my hand; some of them really crack me up since you can see how hard she's biting and/or pulling. And apparently Chibi is not alone - other cats like it too!

To business... My YART SALE (that's Art + Yard sale, please see yesterday's post) runs through until midnight EST Sunday June 14th. Anything and everything in my shop will ship for FREE WORLDWIDE, plus blog readers (that's you) will get 20% off their purchase. Even items in my sale section that are already reduced by 30% will be discounted an additional 20%.

Sakura So Bright earrings...

Happy Doxie chasing Bunnies card...

Mitsuko chiyogami necklace and earrings set...

Great savings! Come and have a peek at http://www.tatsuko.etsy.com/. Have a great week-end everyone, bonne fin de semaine!

This and that, and a wee bit of Friday Cat Blogging

Got my order of shipping supplies a couple days ago and today I'm waiting for a sterling silver order from Indonesia. I love looking at all my lovely little beads and findings when they arrive, although I'm always shocked at the customs fees and handling charges that accompany such orders. Even with all the extra fees, though, it is still less expensive to go directly to the source in Bali than buying them here in Canada, and definitely worth it since the silver is so beautiful.

Now that I've reserved Fridays for cat blogging, I don't have anything to say about my cats.

Well, I do have this photo of Ebi trying to look small and cute in a Uline delivery box when my order arrived the other day.

To mark the winter that is ever so slooooowly leaving us in Montreal (still hanging on!), here is my brother Doug (Dougie, back then) pulling me down the street in 1972 or so. The mounds of snow we had this year were the norm back in the '70's. In the spring, Doug would sometimes ride me to school on his bike and ride right into the schoolyard to drop me off, and my friends would be so impressed at my big brother (some said he looked like Bruce Lee - heee!). Maybe I'll turn this into Friday Cat and/or Family Blogging.

And I love my little map from whosamung.us (see right hand column, just under my profile). So much fun to see who's been reading your blog - I've had readers from all over the US and Canada, and in the UK, Finland, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia! Try it out, it's free!

Ok, gotta be heading off to the post office soon and then working on some jewellery for the day. Taiko practice tonight ☺Have a good week-end!

Solution

Yippee for orders that arrive a day after ordering them!

Now that Uline has a warehouse here in Canada I can order shipping supplies at great prices and the shipping fee to my home ends up being reasonable too (helps that our dollar is still pretty high). Yes, even receiving orders of shipping supplies makes me happy. You can see Chibi likes the boxes too.

I was particularly excited because I wanted to try this out... This little slab of cardboard is the solution to what, up to now, has my biggest shipping problem.

Since I’ve been selling online, I’ve been shipping many of my jewellery pieces in a cotton-filled jewellery box inside a bubble mailer. Very secure, looks good, and easy. Rather costly for me though, and shipping is pricey for my customers since Canada Post considers any parcel thicker than 2cm a parcel. Crazy but true. They charge a flat rate of $6.45 anywhere in the US and between $7.80 and $8.20 internationally, for a small jewellery box in a 4"x8" envelope. And what makes even less sense, is that it’s even more expensive to ship to many parts of Canada – my own country ($11 to Vancouver)! Sheesh.

I recently switched my earrings and chiyogami pendants over to just bubble mailers, thus reducing shipping costs on those; I was envisioning frustrated, unionized mail carriers jamming them into tiny mailslots, but I'm careful to wrap them well before putting them in the envelope, and all is fine so far.

I’ve kept my sushi pendants and larger necklaces in the jewellery boxes though, for the added protection, until this piece of cardboard... that folds into this wonderfully flat cd mailer. ♫♪ Ta daaa ♫♪
And when folded up, it's all ready to address and send. All this protection and 1.2cm thick - take THAT, Canada Post! There are a couple things, like my taiko (Japanese drum) pieces, that are too big and will have to continue to be shipped in a jewellery box and mailer, but I am thrilled that I can now use these for the majority of my jewellery pieces. I have peace of mind that my things will get to their destinations safely and the customer pays less in shipping. A win-win situation ☺

If you'd like to try these out yourself, you can find the cd mailers at Uline Canada and Uline USA .