Blog Giveaway - English Rose and Loveclops

Sarah of the Salad For Breakfast fame is hosting a blog review and giveaway for my Artbysusmitha and Veganosaurus etsy stores. The winner gets to walk away with 2 awesome prizes made by moi! :)



Click on the picture to be taken to the giveaway page and follow the instructions to enter.

Good luck! :)

Café Gratitude San Francisco

Located in a little hideaway at the Mission District of San Francisco, Café Gratitude is a cozy, New Age, live food restaurant where they serve all Vegan, all Oraganic, mostly Raw nourishment for your body, your soul and your mind. From the moment I stepped into this place I knew I was going to be speechless. So I started clicking pictures... loads of them! :)

I am usually not one for crowded places but as packed as this place was, I could feel nothing but ripples of happiness and contentment beaming out from every person, every wall and every piece of furniture in the room. The atmosphere was extremely welcoming. I immediately knew that the people who ran this place did a daily cleansing ritual of some sort to maintain this kind of an energy level. There were only two empty seats, waiting just for us. They were located near the entrance, at a table occupied by two other groups of people. Normally I've found sharing tables with strangers an awkward experience but this time I felt absolutely comfortable exchanging a polite smile with the person across the table from me and then just continuing on with the rest of my evening.

The table had a game board spread out on it and a basket with cards. We didn't play the game but we did pick out a few random cards. The messages were were insightful.

I was particularly struck by what this one card said.

And it wasn't just the cards which carried messages, the walls of the Café were covered with beautiful art and words of wisdom.

Including the restroom!! I walked into the restroom and came running back out to grab my camera! LOL It could be considered a regular old restroom - small, clean, with a dim light. Except that this one had a scented candle burning on a quaint little shelf.

And the mirror told me I was the adoring love of God..


And the walls had posters with food for thought!!


This one poster particularly caught my attention. The artwork on it was impressive and the words... well they are truly words to live by! It's not the best photo since the lighting was dim but I took a close up of the words which I am constantly repeating today...


The people who work at the café were pleasant and friendly. Our server had a constantly radiant smile on her face and was very welcoming of our questions. She explained the day's specials to us and then asked us if we'd like to ponder The Question of the Day - "When are you truly free?" Chewing on something like that and holding on to the resulting feeling while one eats would definitely make the food taste better! :)

Even the menu was full of beautiful thoughts! Each item had a special name associated with a feeling - I am healthy, I am passionate, I am giving... Anything you ordered would create a wonderful sensation! :)

We decided to try these -






I AM RENEWED - a simple and effective Wheatgrass Shot.

I AM INSIGHTFUL - fresh and crunchy Raw Spring Rolls made of avocado, seasonal fruit, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, sprouts and fresh herbs wrapped in blanched collard greens. Served with a Thai Coconut-Almond Butter Dipping Sauce, which till date is THE BEST dipping sauce I've EVER tasted!! A bite of the fresh fruits and veggies coupled with the nutty, rosey flavors of this sauce... OMG I could literally feel a celestial dance taking place on my tongue!

I AM ELATED - a delicious Special Enchilada made of a live, soft vegetable tortilla with sprouted seed filling, topped with spicy salsa verde & cashew sour cream (mmmm). The tortilla was soooo soft and the filling was heavenly! The flavors were perfectly balanced. In fact this was so delicious that for a few moments we considered spending the dessert money on a second serving of it :)

I AM ACCEPTING - a Sushi Bowl of steamed Bhutanese red rice tossed with kale, avocado, cucumber, nori, scallions and herbs in sesame-ginger sauce. It was light and filling at the same time. I asked for more of the Thai Coconut-Almond Butter Dipping Sauce and poured it all over this... the result was ambrosial!! I didn't care what anyone thought, I licked my plate clean!

I AM BLISS - Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse Pie. An exquisite concoction of rich cacao & hazelnut mousse topped with coconut meringue in a hazelnut-macadamia date crust. Every bite was truly blissful!

Maybe someday I can run a café like this. What a way to live it would be! :)

Treasury - Someone please buy me these.... :)

I used to be a HUGE treasury addict back in 2007 when I was new to etsy. Used to grab 2 or 3 at a time sometimes! :) My friends used to call me the treasury ninja mistress LOL

Today, after a long, long time I finally caught an opening at the Treasury West. I'm so happy about it :)

I was first thinking of going with a specific theme but then decided to just pop in a bunch of my favorite items. Most of the goodies are from my fellow members at the Vegan Etsy, Cruelty Free Etsy and Etsy for Animals teams. I also decided to feature my favorite girls Nathalie Girard, Cindy Pack and Donna Mayer who make the most fabulous jewelry creations!!

Here's a screen shot of the whole treasury showing the hidden column on the right where the stand by people are...

Make it with love and it will sell!

As an independent artist who's been selling online for a few years now I have learned many selling tips from other online sellers who generously took the time and effort to share their knowledge - from taking top-notch photographs to dealing professionally with customers.

But I've also learned many lessons by personal experiences. Among these, the most important one is to never let a slump in sales bring me down. I understood the hard way that the more I obsessed about not having a sale, the longer it took for one to occur!

It happens to all of us. The problem is, not only do we let the lack of sales bring us down but we also make some really wrong moves which could be avoided if we took a few breaths and looked at the situation for what it really is... a fall which will be followed by a rise. It's always a cycle!

A couple of things to keep in mind always:

VALUE YOUR ART AT WHAT IT'S WORTH

During one of my slumps, I was approached by a store to sell them my miniature animal sculptures for less than half their value just so they could mark up their selling price at a 100% and make huge profits. They said that the discount I was offering them wasn't enough. I had a hard time making a decision. By grossly underpricing my work I could make a small chunk of money right then. I had no guarantee that my stuff would sell in the future at what I was asking for anyways. But just the thought that I would be selling off my 'babies' to these greedy people who didn't even appreciate the time and love I put into them (no matter how much they oohed and aahd over the animals) really bugged me. So I didn't go through with the deal. Today I'm selling the same little critters for what they're truly worth and I feel happy knowing that only someone who completely appreciates the value of my art will pay the price for it and therefore my 'babies' will have a loving home :)

A small discount to promote sales could be useful on occasion but freaking out and marking down your prices way below what you deserve is really not the best way to go. Waiting a few weeks or even months and earning 60 dollars for that beautiful painting you put hours of work into is far better than getting 25 dollars for it right now! (Unless you're in dire need of cash which is another issue altogether). By selling yourself short you not only disrespect the art but also reduce the value of your creations in the eyes of any future buyers.

CREATE ONLY WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

I create when I feel the need to create. When I'm overcome by the urge to sculpt and mold and twist and hammer. And then, I make whatever floats into my mind and flows out of my fingers. My designs are rarely pre planned. A large part of why I don't, nor can I, make two things which are exactly the same. It is extremely difficult for me to create something on order. And on the rare occasion that I do take on custom pieces, I always make it clear that if the creation has to be of my usual top-notch quality, it might take me a lot of time to make it and it might not be exactly what is being asked for because I neither force myself to make something I'm not comfortable with, nor make myself create when I don't feel like it. It is very very important to me to pour my heart and soul into what I'm making so the final creation vibrates with the love.

It's good to keep an eye on the market trends and know what styles are popular and maybe even incorporate that into your designs. But changing your style entirely just to get out of the slump would really hurt you in the long run. Particularly if it's something you don't even enjoy making. Heck, if you have to earn a living doing what you were not happy doing then you might as well take on any regular job instead of creating art. It is very important to remember that just because the jewelry you're making is not in a popular style right now, doesn't mean no one likes it. When you make that necklace with a smile on your face that smile seeps right into your creation and well, it's hard to resist buying a necklace that's smiling at you and making you smile :)

MAKE EACH PIECE AS IF YOU'RE CREATING FOR YOURSELF OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE

My most popular pieces have been the hardest to let go of simply because I wanted to either keep them for myself or gift them to my mom, my sis or a really really close friend! :) When I make something with myself (or the people I love) in mind then I automatically pour even more love into it than I normally do. I pay extra keen attention to every little detail and I completely enjoy the creating process because of the anticipation and excitement of the reward.

Remember why you started to create in the first place? If you're anything like me then your art never started with an intention to sell. You created because it made you feel good. And you made things for yourself or as gifts for friends and family. You didn't treat your creation as just another product that was fun to make. When it's for you, or someone you love, it's more precious than that! So the next time you work on that lovely art doll, constantly picture her sitting on your coffee table. Visualize the glow on your friends face as she writes in that handmade paper book you're making.

When you create this way you have nothing to lose. Even if by a rare chance what you've created doesn't sell for a while then you are still happy because you get to keep it or gift it to someone you love.

And finally...

LEARN TO LET GO

I've seen this time and time again! When I obsess about the slumps for days together it's as if I'm creating a block for any sales to happen. I'm just focusing on what's not happening and getting frustrated. The day my mind is pre occupied with something else and I haven't even thought of my shop all day long... WHAM! That's the day I get the sale(s)!!

Trust in yourself and in your art. Make something, list it and forget about it. The less you're thinking about sales, the more sales you get. And as you keep practicing this letting go, you'll ultimately reach a point where the slumps become rare and are gone before you even notice. Nirvana! :oP

Know this...

When you make something with love it will sell! It might happen today or next week or two years down the line. No matter when, a sale is certain. No two ways about it!

Good Karma Vegan Café San Jose

My friend from our Vegan Etsy team Roni of Daisywares was so sweet to drive all the way up from Berkley to San Jose just to meet me last week. We've interacted online for a while now but this was the first time we met in person and it was awesome! :) We first chatted over tea at the hotel waiting for my hubby to get back from work. Then the three of us drove to the Good Karma Vegan Café at downtown San Jose.

The first thing you notice when you walk in is the great spread at the counter and almost simultaneously see the large art by local artists displayed on the wall.

Good Karma is a very casual, chilled out, deli style restaurant. The guy at the counter is really friendly and courteous. You get to pick 1, 2 or 3 items (priced accordingly) and your choices are served on a plate with yummy brown rice and the house sauce. The food plate is heated in a microwave and then served to you. I decided to try the mashed potatoes, stuffed pepper and curried tofu. The mashed potatoes with the sauce was heavenly! The curried tofu had a slight overdose of spices but was tasty enough. The stuffed pepper was nice too but I preferred the pepper over the stuffing. For that price the portions were HUGE! We were all totally stuffed by the end of it!



Good Karma is the kind of place that will just grow on you. I can imagine working or studying at the San Jose downtown area and then going to the Café everyday just to chill out with friends and eat the yummies. I could also see the guy who runs the place becoming good friends with the regulars. If you're in the Bay Area, this place is definitely worth one visit.

They had Vegan Baklavahs on their menu but unfortunately they'd run out of them :( So we decided to walk a bunch of blocks to Vegetarian House and grab some dessert. The walk really helped with the digestion but not enough to eat anything immediately. So we packed a couple of yummy cakes to have later.

By the time we got back to the room we were ready to have one of the cakes we got. The Vegan Cheesecake (which we ate the next day) was nice, not mind blowing or anything but the Vanilla Bean Cake which we had that night was simply amazing!! Soooo moist and flavorful!! One of the best cakes I've ever tasted!