Introduction to my Betta's aquarium!

I want to post more videos in the future, especially when he is being active.. but at least this gives you an overall view of his aquarium.

Stress Relief Glitter Jars

Several times online I've seen tutorials on how to make stress relief jars. They are sort of like snow globes. You fill an old glass jar with water and lots of glitter and when you are feeling stressed you shake up the jar and watch the glitter slowly fall.

There are lots of different ways online on how to make them. This is how I made mine. c:

You will need some clean glass jars, water, some corn syrup, and glitter. Feel free to use whatever kind of glitter you wish. You can use fine, chunky, shaped, and even glitter glue. 

If you use glitter glue you will need to boil your water before you add it to the jar so the glue part will be easier to break apart. Even if you aren't using glitter glue you should warm up the water a little bit first so that it will mix easier with the corn syrup. The corn syrup makes the water thicker so the glitter doesn't fall down as fast.

You won't need to add too much corn syrup. I added enough to cover the bottom of each jar. Then I poured the warm water on top and mixed it all together with a spoon for a few minutes.

Now add your glitter! Feel free to get as creative as you want with this. I bought a huge pack of Martha Stewart glitters for my resin and I rarely use these colors so I thought this would be a fun way to use them up. I used 4 different shades of green and 6 different red/copper glitters.

 If you used glitter glue you need to mix it up for a while. You want to cut up all the strands so it mixes in smoothly in the water. While your water is warm the glitter is going to fall to the bottom fairly quickly. Do not worry. Let them cool overnight and it should fall more slowly. If you may not have added enough glitter or corn syrup.  

Once they have cooled down you can now decorate the outside of the jars. Sorry that this picture isn't very clear. I took several pictures and the camera did not want to focus. I think it is because of how sparkly the whole thing is.
But you can decorate it with all kinds of stickers. You could also tie ribbons on it. It is usually best to get a jar with smooth sides because it is easier to add stickers on a smooth surface.

Now make sure you have the lid tightly screwed on and shake shake shake to your heart's content and watch the glitter slowly fall to the bottom. Still feel stressed? Shake it up again, and again until you feel better. 

Custom Painted Platforms

Today when I was at Walmart I picked up these canvas platform shoes. They were about $15, but they also had some other canvas shoes for about $6.

I got my paints, some pain brushes, some popsicle sticks to mix the paints, a paper plate, and of course the shoes. It is best to work outside. If you can't work on them outside them be sure to cover your work area with lots of newspaper. 

I worked with one color at a time. I almost didn't have enough pink. I was afraid to make more since I wasn't sure if I would mix in enough white. Thankfully I had just enough to finish. 

Originally I wasn't going to paint the eyelets, but I smeared a little while painting.. so I just painted over them. They didn't take the paint as well as I hoped, but I didn't want to risk over painting them. When painting canvas shoes you really only want to paint one or two layers because the paint will stiffen the shoes up. 

And last I painted on the lavender. Yay~ My three favorite colors. uwu 

While I waited for the paint to dry I went over next door and visited my Grandmother's cat. Her name is Goldie and sadly one of the neighbors left her here when they moved. She's really friendly and Grandma always makes sure she has food and water out. 

Once the paint dried I sprayed the shoes with a glittery sealant. It usually isn't a good idea to wear painted shoes when it rains, but this will help at least protect it from some moister. I sprayed more than I intended so it is suuuuper glittery. 

I'll probably change the laces around, but for now I put the original laces back on and clipped some extra bone clips I had on them~ I might add more decorations in the future. For now I am happy with them. 

Egg Drop Soup Recipe

One of my favorite meals to cook around the house is egg drop soup. It is simple and yummy. This recipe works well for a meal or a snack to share with a friend. 

What you will need! 

• 1 and 1/2 cups of chicken broth 
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon of soy sauce (more or less can be added depending on your tastes)
• 1/4 teaspoon of sesame seed oil (usually can be found in the Asian cooking aisle)
• 1 table spoon of cornstarch
• 2 table spoons of water
• Optional: veggies or tofu/meat cut into small bits to add to your soup
• And of course you will need a pot, small bowls, and mixing utensils. 

How to cook it~

• Pour all of chicken broth in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add in the soy sauce and sesame seed oil and mix. Allow to boil. 
• In a small mixing bowl combine the cornstarch and water. Mix until it feels like it is completely liquid. Pour the cornstarch mix into the broth before it settles. Mix quickly and then turn down the heat a little  bit. 
• In another small bowl crack an egg and mix until it is smooth. Slowly pour the eggs into your broth. I like to pour a little at a time, let it set, stir it slowly with a fork, and then add more eggs. You do not have to add all of the egg if you want your soup to be a little more brothy
• If you wish you can now add some fresh veggies or tofu/meat cut into small bits. It is easier better if the meat is precooked. That way you won't overcook your eggs.
• Allow to cool for about 5 minutes, pour into a bowl, and enjoy~

I hope you guys will enjoy it. It is such a simple recipe that can be made in about 10 minutes. The protein from the eggs is good for you, and you can make it even better by adding the veggies. My personal favorite is snow peas, but cut up carrots are yummy too. (◡ω◡✿)

About shipping!

Today I want to teach you guys all about shipping out your packages. If you are an Etsy seller this is a whole lot easier, and in most cases you will never have to go wait at the lines in the post office. (I'll explain about it all later on).

1.) Packing up a safe package

One of the most important things is to make sure that your items gets to your buyer safely and that they don't get broken. I have experience with shipping things in envelopes/mailers, compared to boxes, so I am going to mostly talk about those. First off; do not buy mailers from the stores. I did this for the longest time and I lost so much money because it is way cheaper to buy them online. I buy my mailers from here: http://www.tmart.com/Mailers/ All the of the mailers are a fair price and shipping is free. I've brought from this place several times and everything went over perfectly fine. 

I've found I prefer the polymailers over the yellow-ish paper ones. Polymailers are lighter (making them cheaper to ship), seal much stronger, and are water proof. Figure out what size works best for you and buy them in large amounts at a time (I buy 100 5x10). If you feel like you need to you can buy smaller amounts in other sizes just in case you get a big order and it won't fit all in one envelope. 

Bubble mailers are the way to go, they are much safer to ship in than regular envelopes. The post office is relentless with packages sometimes. I've had packages come to my door with footprints on them! I am not saying this to scare you, but you need that extra line of security. 

Another thing you will need is bubble wrap. Just about any kind will do. I looked around online and it seems like people can't agree that if you should wrap it with the bubbles in or out. You don't need to wrap up everything with bubble wrap. I personally don't need to use it for resin/bows, but I did use bubble wrap when I made polymer clay items. Bubble wrap adds that extra cushion of protection. 

2.) What to include in a package

Obviously you want to include your buyer's items, but what else should you include? You are not obligated to do/include any of the things, but I think they help make the presentation a little bit nicer. 

I've bought some packages where they wrap the items up in pretty colored tissue paper with stickers or ribbons tying it up. Another option is to put the items in either drawstring baggies (you can get them cheap-ish on Ebay) or clear plastic bags. I use the clear plastic bags. They are good for smaller items because there are many variations of size. It's a good idea to put everything in a baggy of some sorts instead of just throwing everything in the package. It improves the presentation. 

Business cards are another important thing. There are any free premade designs so there no need to worry if you cannot draw or afford to have someone design them for you.   I suggest buying from http://www.vistaprint.com/ I am always getting emails from them about sales or coupons so you should be able to get a good deal with them. One or two business cards per package is a good idea. Sometimes I have had people request more business cards with their order because they are wearing the items to a meetup/convention. Always, always, always take advantage of that. It's extra promotion from your customers. Promotion from customers usually says a lot more then promotion from the seller. 

I always like to include a hand written thank you note and a sticker flake or two in my orders. It helps add that 'personal touch' that a lot of people expect when ordering from handmade shops. You can write your notes of any kind of paper. I like kawaii memo sheets the best to write your thank you messages on. A good place to purchase them from is http://darlingdeers.storenvy.com/ 

And if you want to do other things you can either make extra items to give away with orders or give candies. I get an assortment of individuality wrapped candies (bubble gum, jolly ranchers, tootsie rolls, laffy taffy, ect) and give a few pieces with each other. 

3.) Calculating shipping prices

Etsy doesn't include shipping calculators on their site, so you will have to use another site to figure out the price. I like to use this one http://brittanysbest.com/2013/01/usps-shipping-calculator-for-2013/

First class is usually the best way to go for most domestic packages. It takes about 2-5 days (sometimes up to 10 days depending on time of the year/efficiency of the buyer's postal service/if there are any disasters causing delays) for the package to reach your buyer. 

When shipping internationally I suggest using First Class International. Other shipping methods can get very pricey for international shipping. Depending on what country your buyer lives in shipping can take a few days or a few weeks. I've had a buyer in the UK receive their packages within a week and another in the UK receive theirs in about two weeks. It all depends on how quickly it gets through customs and how efficient the post office in their area is. 

4.) Buying shipping labels 

If you are an Etsy seller, good news! Buying shipping labels in now a snap. Before you had to have direct check out activated, but now any Etsy seller can use Etsy Labels. Using Etsy labels you can print up to 5 labels for one order (if everything won't fit in one envelope or the buyer requests that you ship items separately). Purchase of the labels will be charged to your Etsy Bill that you can pay at any time. Etsy also checks that the buyer's address matches up with the USPS mailing address and if not you can fix it up with a simple click.

One of the best benefits of Etsy Labels is you can buy and print international labels right on the website! This makes it so much easier for sellers to start shipping internationally.

Purchasing a shipping label on Etsy automatically marks your order as 'shipped' and will include the tracking number for the buyer. 

If you don't use Etsy it is a little bit more work, but still nothing too bad. You can purchase your labels through your Paypal. When you log in you should see "print shipping label" next to your payments. Go ahead and click on that to get to the screen to print off the label. 

The biggest disadvantage of this is you cannot print off international labels. You will either have to use a third party website like Stamps.com or take the package to the post office.

5.) About Customs Forms

I think a lot of people who are new to international selling get worried on how to properly fill out a customs label. I was a little afraid of them at first too! But do not worry. Once you use them a few times it is no big deal. First off you are going  to need to have some clear envelopes like these. Instead of just taping the customs form on your mailer or box you have to put the customs forms inside the envelope and then attach it. Some countries also require that the invoice for the order is inside the envelope. 

Next is filling out the customs form. Never ever ever lie on a customs form. Not only do you risk your package not reaching the buyer, but you can also get in some legal trouble. Fines and everything. If a buyer asks you to lie on a customs form kindly inform the buyer that it is illegal. Surprisingly enough some people actually don't know how serious of an offense it is. Merchandise items cannot marked as gifts. You must mark them as other and put the correct value in USD on the form. If you sell handmade jewelry it is usually best to label your items as "Handmade Costume Jewelry" if it is not made with precious metals/gems. Some countries, like Australia, do not allow you to send expensive jewelry there without a more expensive shipping option, but handmade and costume jewelry will get through fine. 

Each country has their own shipping laws of what is or isn't allowed and what needs to be included in the clear envelope besides the customs form. If you are unsure always check places like the Etsy forums. Unless you have a very specific question you don't need to make a new thread simple search "Shipping to [insert country here]" and you will get lots of helpful results. Open a few threads and there will be lots of helpful tips from other sellers on how to fill out the customs form, what you can or cannot send, and if you need you need to include something in the clear envelope. 

Once everything is all situated you can sign the customs form and send the package on its way to the buyer. 

I hope that can help some new sellers out there. If you still have questions feel free to leave a comment and I will try and help you out or direct you to a place where you can find more info~

New Shop Items? Yay~

 New items for sale in Rara's Jewels for May 2013! 

To me the most exciting new item is my new custom designed hair bows. I meant to get these in the shop a while ago, but I got caught up with some other things. The design was made by Soapfox for me to use on bows. Each bow features bunches of winged eyeballs dripping with slime. Because these are a custom designed hair bow you won't see any other shop selling them. They are one of a kind and only available at my shop~ 

The next new items are these drippy hear bat necklaces. You may recognize the bats from of my hair clips, but the drippy heart mold is brand new. I added a little bat to the center on each necklace because I thought they may have been a little too 'plain' without it. I may experiment with other shapes in the middle like skulls. Right now I am only stocking them in pink and lavender with black bats, but of course other colors are available upon customer request!

These shooting star necklaces are perfect for fairy kei or even some sweet lolita coords. Right now I only have the pink/lavender and the pink gradient one, but I might do a lavender gradient too. These are probably my new favorite items. I almost was tempted to keep the pink gradient one for myself, but I might just make an extra one for me in the future. 

Next up are these angel wing hair clips. I think they would fit in very easily with fairy kei type outfits. I was super happy with the mold I got because the detail of each 'feather' is fabulous. The extra details does make them hard-ish to remove from the mold, but it is worth it. They are so super cute~

I have been eyeing up these fuzzy pastel bears for a while, but I just finally decided to buy them. So far I've only made the earrings and used them as bow middles, but I might do more in the future. I was thinking they would be nice for keychains too. I also purchased some similar fuzzy bunnies, but I haven't done anything with them yet. 

Then I also have some pastel coffin earrings. I may also try using them for rings depending how these go over. I will probably will make some darker colored ones to throw into my pastel goth lucky packs, so keep an eye out for that~ I really need to update them soon now that I have new items. 

I also got some small skull molds, but I haven't decided what to do with them yet. I thought they would be nice stud earrings, but they are just a little too heavy/big. I may try making them into rings. 

And that is all for today! 

Be sure to check out my Etsy shop to purchase the items you saw in this post and to see lots of other kawaii and creepy cute jewelry: https://www.etsy.com/shop/rarasjewels

And to keep up to date with new items coming to the shop and what is being restocked make sure to follow my shop's tumblr blog: http://rarasjewels.tumblr.com/

If tumblr isn't your thing then I also have a Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rarasjewels

And a Twitter: https://twitter.com/RarasJewels