Custom Order Week #1

I'm trying out a new adventure in organization. My shop is currently split between the custom order/wedding world and the ready-to-ship/fun little original figurine world. At the moment, both "worlds" are hitting me at full force. And it's way intense. Note to self: June may be the official month for last-minute wedding topper orders! Seriously, I'm already swearing to myself to have at least a bazillion-and-a-half elephant sets ready for May 2014!!

This is all very, very good news, but it also means that my projects have to become much more scheduled. So I've thought about my goals, and have decided to assign just one "CUSTOM ORDER WEEK" per month, which will be dedicated exclusively to finishing custom orders......Um, as if you didn't already guess that by the clever name I gave it.

And so the rest of the month will be for building inventory for shows and my online shop, working on my actual "business" goals and regularly listing figurines on Etsy. This is actually quite a big (and somewhat scary) switch-er-roo for me. Up until this point, the wedding/custom order category completely dominated my schedule and any "left over" time (if there ever was any) was just a "bonus" to treat myself to doing my "own" sculpting work.......But honestly, that's the stuff I LOVE (the reason why I'm even doing this in the first place), and if there's a chance I can make that area more successful I will do it!

Hence the whole "custom order week" thing.

We'll see how this goes. And if it doesn't work, I'll just try something else and adjust the priorities. That seems to be the best method here: jump right in, commit to a decision and hope that it won't bite you in the butt.

First ROC Photo Challenge Winner!

Congratulations Haley! Your photography prowess has won you the first photo challenge and has earned you a free Republic of Cute figurine of your choice to add to your collection! Yippee!

Thanks to everyone who shared your creative photos with us! There were some darn good ones in the batch, and it was difficult to chose a favorite. If you didn't win this time, do not despair. If you enjoy doing it, you may enter the photo challenge as many times as you'd like, even if you're using the same figurine (just as long as your photo is different!).

The cycle for the SECOND photo challenge has now begun! The winner for this round will be announced on AUGUST 17th.

I'll be updating this website soon, and hopefully I can make it easier for everyone to submit photos for the challenge. In case you didn't already know..... 

THIS IS HOW TO ENTER:

Any one or a combination of these entry methods will work!

1.) Email me with your photo

2.) Post your photo on The Republic of Cute Facebook wall

3.) Follow me on instagram and hashtag your photo as #republicofcute 

Thanks again for all your creative work and happy picture-taking!! I can't wait to see what other good stuff you guys dream up!

Dude, where's my tent?

Yesterday at the Clifton Arts and Music Festival!

These events just keep getting better! Great weather, great crowd, super-well organized, sold a ton of stuff. All-around AWESOME.

Though at 6am I was convinced it was going to be the WORST show ever (or maybe not even a show at all for me). Because 5 minutes before you're scheduled to leave the house, there's nothing quite like realizing:

  "HOLY MOTHER OF MONKEY CRAP. 

MY F***ING TENT IS F***ING GONE!!!"

(*insert more profanity and incoherent cries of distress*)

??????????

 I honestly don't know what happened. We either forgot to pack it in the truck after last week's show, or it was stolen, or we're both blind and it's hiding in the house somewhere, or aliens abducted it......who knows. But I'm going with ALIENS, because the other options don't feel so good. 

In moment of hysteria, I considered calling to cancel out of pure embarrassment (saying, "I lost my tent" sounds like a pathetic lie the morning of the show, but that's exactly what happened!). But we got in the car and went on our way, tent-less. Ben drove as I half-sobbed, half-freaked out and tried not to totally lose my mind or leap out of the car window in a crazed panic.

I never thought I would say this, but THANK GOODNESS for the Walmart that was open at 7am and had a stock of pop-up tents available. The selection wasn't as *nice* as the tent I had originally bought, but obviously this was no time to worry about such piddly, insignificant details like *nice* I just needed a freaking tent, and at that point I don't think I would have cared if it was lime green with bananas on it!

So we found a tent (it wasn't lime green with bananas on it, thankfully) And I'm also glad I didn't leap out of the car window, because the day turned out to be really good.

The end. Next time I'll check to make sure none of my stuff was abducted by aliens BEFORE the morning of the show (yes, I'm still sticking with ALIENS.)

Find The Stella

It's time for a fun game called "Find the Stella!"

This is The Stella:

Ready to find the Stella?

Let's play!

LEVEL 1 (easy)

Did you find The Stella?

Good job, you're a Stella-finding master!

LEVEL 2 (intermediate)

This one is tough because you may be distracted by Luna's crazy eye-slits.

Stay focused and you will find The Stella!

LEVEL 3 (advanced)

If you can't find The Stella don't give up!

This will challenge your Stella-finding skills to the max.

Fierce Unicorns

A pack of fierce unicorns. 

All wielding rainbows.

Cat Club

Luna is frustrated (what else is new?)

She wants to join the feast.

And bother the heck out of the cats.

Bothering soothes her.

As does eating cat food.

Big, small, big, small.

All hungry.

In progress stuff!

The beginnings of a unicorn.

How not very exciting.

But before it gets cute, this is how it all has to start.

Donut gang! They'll eventually be wielding forks.

This one is ALL Ben. 100%.There's no way my mind could possibly conceptualize, plan, or actually construct this beast so I'm very, very glad that Ben possesses those crazy skills. I certainly do not.

This mega-shelf is designed to display all of my hard-to-display items at craft shows (wall hangings, magnets, etc). Ben came up with the entire design and is almost done building it. I cannot wait to see it finished. This thing is going to be sweet! And heavy, but that's a small price to pay for such awesomeness.