Inspiration ✨✨✨

Inspiration ✨✨✨

I’m Breaking Up with…

This has been a long time coming. I’m breaking up with Etsy. I have many reasons, a lot of them personal and not even involving the strike that is happening right now. The strike is more or less the shove that I needed to start focusing streams of income I’ve neglected since I created them. No wonder they haven’t generated any income for me! Well, the winds have changed, indeed.

I’d like to formally introduce you to my BuyMeACoffee and Patreon!

I already put my store on “holiday mode” and it’s given me instant relief. I’m not sure where the tide turned but at 250 sales, I’m over it. Unless they change their policies or explain the random nickel and dime charges (I couldn’t find ANYWHERE on their site why I’d get charged an extra 45c for each purchase and a combined 65c for a ‘no shipping fee’ and 85c for a ‘shipping fee’ MAKE IT MAKE SENSE) Etsy has been slowly funneling money from us sellers for far too long. I’d lose an estimated $2.50-$4 per sale, and my items run about $5-$15, so that adds up FAST. Last year, they took over 40% of my income and I’m just done.

I’m moving most of my items over to BuyMeACoffee (some items just won’t make the transition) and with a small subscription fee to my shop, my return shoppers get discounted items all month long! Or you can pop in and pay full price. If that’s how capitalism is shaping up, I might as well get with the game. Patreon will be more focused on my books, vellas and twitch streaming content while BuyMeACoffee will be art centered, with a little overlap of some other things. They’ll both give you access to my discord and I’ll cross pollenate some previews of books, and spoilers from recording the audiobooks. I understand that in most cases people will either be on BMAC or Patreon, not both. (Which is completely understandable.) So I’ll try to work on making sure I post those special content things on both so those that support me monthly aren’t missing out!

Etsy was pretty much paying for it’s self and not much else and I’ve been trying to get out from under from that platform for some time now. I need a “store” that focuses more on the actual content I would rather be putting out there: my writing! I’ve been trying to figure out how to convert this website since I already pay for the domain to become a store front but it would remove the follow option, which keeps bringing people back every time I post. I refuse to create an email list because I’m already writing a blog, running multiple socials medias and trying to find time to do house work while I spend the bulk of my day streaming on twitch (when I feel up to it, which hasn’t been a lot recently). The hard fact is my time is running out for me. Twitch doesn’t give me a lot of my money that I earn through bits and subscriptions either. You almost need a ten fold law in your revenue before you start making actual cash-out limit type of money.

I know it’s considered unprofessional to talk money. I’m not suppose to tell you that if I can get subscribers the money would help me keep the lights on or buy gas for my husband to make it to work while others are suffering from similar cash flow problems. I’ve always been a content creator that is very transparent in my mental health and normalizing being a regular human stance. This is just another thing I’ve decided to be open about. My Patreon is only making $8 a month right now (after their fees and the $1 I have subbed towards my friends project) and that $8 has bought us groceries before. I am making an estimated $100 every four months (Thats roughly $25 a full month, or less than $1 a day.) on Twitch. With these websites, I’m hoping to become a contributing member to my household in a monetary way since my anxiety isn’t allowing for any outside-of-the-house type of capitalistic endeavors at the moment…. and provide entertainment to you all along the way!

Ace of Swords: Success & Spiritual Growth

It took me little over a week to complete this piece. I did some research and stared at the card for awhile. I sketched it a few times and then applied the sketch to canvas. There were some challenges that I didn’t anticipate while other things just came easy. Over all, I’m very pleased with the finished piece!

There are little details all over it that I added trying to really grasp the character of the card. I went with an actual wreath instead of just the hint of one in the original card. It translated better for me and it really made the victorious meaning of this card come through. I used metallic paint pens for the sword and crown to get the reflective surface the way I wanted.

The words were a bit of a challenge. Originally I was going to use a paint marker and then just carefully outline it but when it came right down to it I ended up using a small brush instead. I sketched it out a few time with a pencil until I had gotten the spacing right so once I started painting it was basically just staying on the lines best I could.

The gems on the crown were a little bit of a challenge but there are a few of them I really like. (We’ll not mention the ones I’m not so fond of) It’s kind of hard to see in the first picture but they really are red.

The next card I’ll be working on is the Ace of Pentacles and I’m very excited for it!