Updated Order Status as of November 3, 2009

Status of Current Orders:

- Organic order [paisleyandwillow] - 100% complete

- Wholesale order [tapiocatiger] -

3 regular size carrot bunnies: 1 finished, 2 need to be made

3 small size carrot bunnies: in the making...

3 large pandas: 2 almost finished, 1 still needs to be made

3 regular size pandas: 2 finished; 1 still needs to be made

3 large owls: in the making...

3 regular size owls: 2 almost finished; 1 still need to be made

- 1 Owl [momoshari] - shipped
- 2 Owls [LCPierce97] - shipped *received! yay!
- 1 Owl [artisticlynerdee] - shipped * received! yay!
- 1 set of Panda buttons [ambriaeden22] - shipped
- 1 Owl [TheRedGarage] - shipped * received! yay!

- 1 custom monkey [Joie] - 50% done
- 1 Set of pandas [LoLexxx] - 50% done
- 1 mushroom bear [HipCats] - 50% done
- 1 owl & 1 marching polar bear [littleoddforest] - in the making...

- 1 mini felt mushroom bear [WinchesterWench] - shipped

- 1 custom 6.5" tall owl + 1 mini green felt mushroom bear cellphone charm [ginzuishou] - order received October 28, 2009

- 1 Mushroom Bear Family, 1 Carrot Bunny, 1 set of Ducky Family, 1 set of polar bear pins, Mushroom bear stationary, carrot bunny stationary [aileenlunaburgos] - order received October 29, 2009

- 2 custom small momo bears in the colour pink and purple [zeehondpunk] - order received October 31, 2009

- 1 Small momo Bear [Hint] - order received November 3, 2009

Introducing: Keiko ^^

Today (October 30) was suppose to be my little Kazu's birthday... unfortunately he passed away 10 days ago (as some of you may know). Today, we've also decided to add a new member to our family. I've decided to name her Keiko (aka Koko). I'll try to post a photo of her soon (right now she's extremely full of energy, being a young hamster and all) and just wants to keep running around in her exercise ball. So once she sits still enough for a photograph, a photo of her will be posted on my blog :)
Edit: Photo now posted. Brief moment of when she decided to take a 2 minute nap inside her exercise ball before discovering that I was taking her photo...

I miss my little Kazu, and wish we could celebrate his birthday today. But I'm hoping that Keiko will enjoy living in her new home with her new family :) I hope we'll have plenty of fun memories with her too. I also hope that Kazu (being her older brother and all, will watch over her ^^)

She strikingly looks a lot like Kazu (although she has a more orangey fur colour). I didn't notice this until I got home. But she's got a completely different personality :) She's also a lot younger than how Kazu was when I first got him. Keiko is also a lot more jumpy, and I can't quite hold her in my hands yet, as she'll just want to jump out and go explore some other place...lol

When my sister gets home, I'll introduce her to Keiko. I Keiko will bring a smile to her face, and replace sad memories with happy ones :)

New order status updates.

Status of Current Orders:

- Organic order [paisleyandwillow] - 100% complete
- Wholesale order [tapiocatiger] - 1 carrot bunny complete, 2 large pandas almost finished, 1 regular sized panda almost finished, 1 regular sized owl in the making, the rest need to be made
- 1 Owl [momoshari] - shipped
- 2 Owls [LCPierce97] - shipped
- 1 Owl [artisticlynerdee] - shipped
- 1 set of Panda buttons [ambriaeden22] - shipped
- 1 Owl [TheRedGarage] - shipped
- 1 custom monkey [Joie] - 50% done
- 1 Set of pandas [LoLexxx] - in the making...
- 1 mushroom bear [HipCats] - in the making...
- 1 owl & 1 marching polar bear [littleoddforest] - in the making...
- 1 mini felt mushroom bear [WinchesterWench] - shipped
- 1 custom 6.5" tall owl + 1 mini green felt mushroom bear cellphone charm [ginzuishou] - order received October 28, 2009
- 1 Mushroom Bear Family, 1 Carrot Bunny, 1 set of Ducky Family, 1 set of polar bear pins, Mushroom bear stationary, carrot bunny stationary [aileenlunaburgos] - order received October 29, 2009

More updates will come after I come back home since I have class tonight :) Hope you are all having a lovely day ^^

My dad said he saw a really cute furry teddybear hamster in the pet shop yesterday... I'm still debating if I should go and check it out tomorrow (since I'm still grieving over my little Kazu), but he said the ones he saw were very adorable so we'll see :) Maybe if I get a new one, it'll help me get over my sadness ... hmmm (but maybe it's still too early... )

Cute Treasuries and updates.

On October 24 and 26, 2009 my pandas and my owls were featured in two very super adorable Etsy Treasuries!
Have a look! I'm so thankful to both ShyPanda and fantasTshirts for taking the time to feature my panda stationary, and my knitted amigurumi owl in their own treasuries :)





I've been super busy this week/last week with finishing up some orders. Here are some photos of the owls that I have most recently finished and shipped off to their new homes :)







Also here is an updated list of my progress with current orders :)
Status of Current Orders:
- Organic order [paisleyandwillow] - 98% complete
- Wholesale order [tapiocatiger] - 1 carrot bunny complete, 2 large pandas almost finished, 1 regular sized panda almost finished, 1 regular sized owl in the making, the rest need to be made
- 1 Owl [momoshari] - shipped
- 2 Owls [LCPierce97] - shipped
- 1 Owl [artisticlynerdee] - shipped
- 1 set of Panda buttons [ambriaeden22] - shipped
- 1 Owl [TheRedGarage] - shipped
- 1 custom monkey [Joie] - 50% done
- 1 Set of pandas [LoLexxx] - in the making...
- 1 mushroom bear [HipCats] - in the making...
- 1 owl & 1 marching polar bear [littleoddforest] - in the making...
- 1 mini felt mushroom bear [WinchesterWench] - shipped
- 1 custom 6.5" tall owl + 1 mini green felt mushroom bear cellphone charm [ginzuishou] - order received October 28, 2009

Updated Order Status.

Status of Current Orders:
- Organic order [paisleyandwillow] - 98% complete
- Wholesale order [tapiocatiger] - 1 carrot bunny complete, 2 large pandas almost finished, the rest still need to be made
- 1 Owl [momoshari] - shipped
- 2 Owls [LCPierce97] - shipped
- 1 Owl [artisticlynerdee] - shipped
- 1 set of Panda buttons [ambriaeden22] - shipped
- 1 Owl [TheRedGarage] - shipped
- 1 custom monkey [Joie] - 50% done
- 1 Set of pandas [LoLexxx] - in the making...
- 1 mushroom bear [HipCats] - in the making...
- 1 owl & 1 marching polar bear [littleoddforest] - in the making...
- 1 mini felt mushroom bear [WinchesterWench] - shipped

Kazu.

For someone so small and full of life, he brought a large amount of joy and happiness to our family. I miss you kazu. Will never forget you T^T

I'll resume working on orders tomorrow...
For now, check out ulixis.blogspot.com as Amanda has featured Kai, my owl.

Quick note on Order Status.

As orders start to pile up (and as I am only one person) most made-to-order items will be shipped out (at least) approximately 1 - 2 weeks after order has been placed (made and shipped out in the order than each individual order has been received). You may check the status of your order here on my blog as I make further progress through each order.

I'll post an update to this post later on today with the status of peoples orders. Thank you for your understanding and patience as I try to get your orders out to you as soon as possible :)

If you have any questions, please send me an email: sheryan@gmail.com.

Thanks!

-------------------

Status of Current Orders:
- Organic order [paisleyandwillow] - bunny and owl are complete, mushroom bear needs arms/feet, need to make momo bear
- Wholesale order [tapiocatiger] - 1 carrot bunny complete, 1 large panda almost finished, the rest still need to be made
- 1 Owl [momoshari] - 90% complete
- 2 Owls [LCPierce97] - 75% complete
- 1 Owl [artisticlynerdee] - 75% complete
- 1 set of Panda buttons [ambriaeden22] - shipped
- 1 Owl [TheRedGarage] - 75% complete
- 1 custom monkey [Joie] - in the making...
- 1 Set of pandas [LoLexxx] - not yet made... (order recently received)
- 1 mushroom bear [HipCats] - not yet made... (order recently received)

Notes:
* Most owls should be either done by the end of this week or next week/shipped out next week :)
* I will make the pandas and mushroom bear asap
* Wholesale order and organic order will be done at the same time as the rest

:)

Special treat for Rosie.

Here's a sneak preview of 1/4 of my organic order for Rosie :)
Hope you'll like it. It's a tad bit different from my original version, but I really love how this one turned out ^_____^


^ Click to view a larger version of the photo

Created from 100% organic cotton yarns, stuffed with organic wool. Features 6mm black plastic safety eyes, embroidered nose and smile. Still missing his tag, but that will be attached to the back once my tags arrive ^^ Did I mention that his ears are somewhat posable? It's very cool :D

I still can't get over how cute it turned out *happy dance* ^______^

Kai is living a handmade life.

Yep that is right, Kai (my mister popular owl) has been featured in a blog known as Living A Handmade Life. Check it out when you get a chance :)


^ A big thank you goes out to Teri for featuring Kai in her blog :)

Because of his popularity, I'm actually considering whether or not I should do a giveaway, where the winner gets their very own custom made owl named Kai! Hmm, what do you think? Should I? ^_____^

Late night creativity.

I often find myself staying up really late at night to either finish working on orders or to make something new. Last night, while in bed, I opened up my sketchbook and started drawing stuff that I'd like to make, and stuff that I've already made. Sometimes I wish I had gone to art school to become a better illustrator. I should probably kick the habit of staying up late though, as it's really taking a tole on me. I feel so drained and sleepy, and just plain tired. And although I'm feeling fatigue, I find myself still staying up to work on things, not because I tell myself I need to finish making stuff (although that sometimes IS the case), but mostly because I'm having fun creating something with my hands, and wanting to see it completed sooner?

I've been working on my long over due custom organic order for Rosie. She's been so kind and patient, and I'm so grateful to her for giving me an opportunity to make some adorable characters for her. I've finished an owl, I'm about 80% finished her mushroom bear, as well as her bunny rabbit (both the mushroom bear and bunny need their arms and feet, and the bunny needs one more ear). I really love how they've turned out, and I'm really liking this organic order a lot! I still have one more bear to make for her order as well, and then once my new logo tags arrive (which I'll be able to sew onto these items) they'll be shipped out to you next week (I really wanted to send them out this week but the tags are not here yet). I'll try to post some photos soon :D:D:D

I've still got about 5 more owls to make for other individual orders, as well as a set of pandas that somebody has ordered from me today. I've also got my wholesale order to work on. For this wholesale order, I plan on working on it at the same time that I make the owls, that way I'll progress at a faster pace, and hopefully complete things a whole lot sooner. I'm really excited for the wholesale order though as my pandas, carrot bunnys, and owls will come in two different sizes! Horray! It will be another new experience for me, and I'll definitely grow and learn a lot from it.

NOTE ON CURRENT ORDERS: I'll let you know via Etsy Convo, Email, and or On my BLOG, when your order is ready to ship out. Please do understand that I am only 1 person working on these items for you :) But I will do my best to get them out to you in a timely manner ^^

Tonight, however, I will be taking a break. I will have to wake up early tomorrow anyways as people are coming over yet again to *hopefully* (and finally) close up the hole in the wall in our washroom. Today the closed up the one inside the closet... but in the washroom there still remains a giant hole where pipes can be seen. I'm really hoping they will finish tomorrow as I cannot stand not being able to use my own washroom when I want to use it to take my shower or to do other usual washroom bits... lol...But yeah, it has been quite frustrating having to wake up extra early because those people may (or may not) be coming in (sometimes they don't even show up... and I'll feel like I've waited for no reason, or waken up early for no reason). So here's hoping that they finish on time!

-------------- Anticipation of my upcoming 2 week trip:

My mom went and exchanged some CAD for USD today (the exact amount I will not disclose on here lol), but I makes me really excited as it means my trip is approaching really fast :D I still have to exchange CAD for KRW... (hopefully I can get around to doing that soon?) I cannot believe that it is almost the end of October already! That means it's almost November! Which ALSO means, I'm one month closer to it becoming DECEMBER! YES! December is the month I am looking forward to because it'll be my first time traveling outside of Canada with one of my friends (and not with our families). The last time I traveled outside of Canada was when I was 6 years old, and that was to visit our family in the Philippines. This time however, my friend and I will be visiting our friend in Korea who is doing the TaLK program (Teach and Learn in Korea). She is doing a 6 month long program, and to make sure she'll have an exciting christmas and new years, we will be there to spend that valuable time with her.... and of course... go shopping! :)

I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to visit South Korea with my friend, as it one of many places that I've been wanting to visit. I also want to go to Japan, but I'll only be in Japan for 3 hours for my connecting flight lol. Oh well, at least I'll be IN Japan. But I'll be spending 2 weeks in South Korea from December 18, 2009 to January 1, 2010. What's super cool is that even though we are leaving on new years day in Seoul, South Korea, we'll be coming back new years day in Toronto, Canada ^____^.

Double Feature & Front Page Success!

Now for some good news!
Today for the very first time, my pandas were featured on Etsy's FRONT PAGE! *Clapclapclap* Unfortunately I was not home to witness it, BUT I did check on Craftcult.com and saw that not only were my Pandas featured on Etsy's front page, but they were also featured in the Gift Guides as well (page 7) lol. Horray! I'm so happy! It's the first time that any of my characters were featured on the front page! Although I didn't get any sales from it (today), many people have hearted my shop and the pandas as well, and my number of visitors skyrocketed to over 600 unique visits! *happy dance*

Of course, I took some screen caps for my own record lol...





^ Click the above images to view a larger photo :D

Oh and the reason why I was not home to see this? My friends and I had a surprise dinner get together for one of our very good friends who is off to Taiwan for a few months ^^ I was really happy that we all got to see her before her flight, and she was also super surprised :D I hope she'll have a safe flight!

Frustrations.

A few days ago, I was super excited to receive an order from someone on Etsy. They had purchased five things from my shop: (1) a set of pandas, (2) a mushroom bear, (3) a mini felt mushroom bear, (4) adventures of tweet tweet panda stationary letter note set, (5) cute couple momo bears. Due to my excitement, I almost forgot to check if I had received payment from this person. I went and checked, and it showed that no payment had been received. So then I went and checked my paypal and my email (since sometimes it doesn't always show up on Etsy if someone had paid. Those pages also showed that no payment had been received.

I decided that I'd send a friendly reminder to this person via email and Etsy convo. The message I left in the email was the same message left in the convo -- I decided to send my message to both places incase the person checks one and not the other). The following day, I checked my Etsy page... no reply to my convo message, no check mark in the 'received payment' box. So then I checked my email and paypal again...no payment received. I decided to send another message to this person via email and Etsy convo. This morning after I woke up...I checked Etsy once again -- still no reply. Then I checked my email and Paypal -- still no payment. I've started to loose hope.

Now, right when I was going to send another message via convo to this person, I see that they have deleted their Etsy Account... so what do I do? I sent another email expressing my frustration, apologies, confusion, and ultimately my wish for this person to send me a simple reply to my email message. Is it really that hard to send a simple reply? If the person wasn't willing to pay for her order, I would have rather have that person not purchase my stuff in the first place. If the person really wanted to pay for his/her items, but needed more time, I'd appreciate them telling me so, as I am pretty flexible.

How can someone do something like this? It can't be a mistake to purchase something. You go through so many steps plus a confirmation page to actually process your order. So obviously I thought they had just forgotten to pay. If they were new to Etsy I would have been even more understanding... but this person has shopped on Etsy before.

So now I feel like, why me?
Why did this person do this to me?
Why did this person want to get my hopes up.
I put in a lot of effort to make these things in hopes of it bringing joy to someone. I put in effort to email my customers incase they forgot something. I put in effort to ask my customers different questions, and a great majority of them take the time to reply (e.g. if they want something sewn on, or if they want it made in a different colour or different size).

So now what? Now I'm left paying extra fees for the sale of this order, as well as extra fees for relisting this order.
I haven't really had to cancel an order before, except for once when someone requested that I cancel it because she was having trouble with her paypal (but at least she contacted me, unlike this individual). So I'm not really sure if these fees will be refunded. I know it will probably take some time for the fees to be refunded, but in the meantime I'll still have to pay for them.... it all adds up... and I don't think it's really fair.

Even now, I still feel like giving this person a chance to email me back, so I can at least know the reason why they did this, and if they are still planning on paying (as I still have their address and contact information in my records). But if I don't hear from them by tomorrow, I'm going to have to cancel the order, and be put on an extremely LONG wait list for the cancellation of the order to be processed.

----------

The Reply:
So after taking the time to write everything up above, I have finally received an email from the person in question.
The response?
-- apparently they [the person] did not order anything from Etsy recently, and does not know why their account is deactivated...
At least the person apologized for what has happened, but I'm still going to have to cancel the order. Off I go...sigh*

----------

After asking someone else's opinion about the issue, we think someone might have hacked into this person's account, and purchased from my shop without paying, but I'm not really sure.. just speculating...

----------

Just finished sending my requests to cancel this order. For an order consisting of 5 transactions, it is quite difficult to send a request. It would be so much easier if we could enter the order number instead of each individual transaction number, as it only accepts one transaction number at a time... T____T

The excitement of being featured.

Recently, Kai (my super cute knitted owl) has become quite popular! Not only did people purchase him in two consecutive days (and within hours apart on the same day), but he has also been featured in a Treasury this morning! I'm so glad people are getting to see Kai and are showing interest in him as well :)


A big thank you goes out to angelasermoneta for featuring Kai in her treasury.

Now for some super exciting news! Kai was featured on the front page of Etsy's Gift Guides!.

When I came home from my Korean class, I signed onto Etsy and did my regular routine of checking for messages. Then I spotted something strange.... the stats for Kai showed 500 views!. I had relisted him on the 6th of October, so when I saw that he had been viewed 500 times my eyes opened really wide! I've never gotten that many views for an item in less than a day before! So I started searching around on CraftCult.com to see if I had maybe been featured on the front page of Etsy. Unfortunately I wasn't featured on the front page of Etsy, BUT my owl WAS featured on the front page of Etsy's Gift Guides!, which is still SUPER AWESOME!





I am so super happy that many, many people were able to see all in one day! ^_________^
Do click on the photos to view a larger version. You might need a flickr account in order to view them :)

Christmas orders + current events.

Important note about Christmas!.
I know christmas is 2 months away, but so is my trip to South Korea, so I left an important message on my shop's front page:

❤❤❤ Get your CHRISTMAS shopping done early! ❤❤❤
I will be in South Korea from December 17, 2009 to January 1, 2010. So if you are planning on ordering any items from my shop as a christmas present, please do so before December arrives so that I can make sure that your items get out to you on time! ^_______^

All orders placed between December 17, 2009 and January 1, 2010 will be shipped out after the first week of January. Thank you for your understanding :)

It is super important that if you plan to order something from my shop as a christmas present for someone (or for yourself), please try to place your order before the month of December, as I will be away for two weeks in December and will be back in Toronto on January 1, 2010. In order to receive your items on time, please do make sure that you place your order before then ^_______^ as mentioned above, all orders placed between December 17, 2009 and January 1, 2010 will at the earliest be shipped out in the second week of January and afterwards. If you place your order for something in the first week of December, there is still a chance that you might receive it after I return to Toronto! So in order to avoid delays, please try to order your items prior to the month of December :)

Thank you in advance ^_______^

Current Events during my week:
This week I've been super busy with orders. I'm really glad that people are showing interest in the things that I am making, and I have a lot of fun making them. Although I've had at least 1 sleepless night this week (I was actually awake for 25 hours the other day because I stayed up to finish one of my orders and after coming home from the post office, I still could not fall asleep so I started working on some other orders lol) I'm still having a lot of fun with this stuff.



Currently I'm working on finishing up a sheep family, which I'd like to mail out tomorrow morning/afternoon. I'd also like to finish up my organic order because my customer has been SO incredibly patient with it, and I feel bad that it has taken me so long to complete her custom order. I was actually working on the owl for her order yesterday, but fell asleep while making the second wing (since I was awake for 25 hours that day lol). I'm hoping that I'll have her whole order finished by the end of this week so that I can mail them to her in Australia ^^

Aside from that, I also need to mail out one more set of pandas to someone in the US this week ^^ I hope I'll be able to finish everything on time :D

Today I received 3 orders for owls... haha I'm so happy that Kai (my knitted owl) is super popular ^_____^ I'm hoping to have those finished for next week so that I may start working on my wholesale order :D