This Blog Is Moving!

A collection of objects hanging on my studio wall.

With the launch of my new website I've decided to move my blog as well. The archives of this blog, 2009-2015, will be left intact for you to peruse if you'd like. If you have not done so I'd love for you to join my mailing list. A big thank you to all my faithful followers--I do hope you'll join me in my new space!

Sabbatical

Dear friends,

A note to let you know that I've decided to give myself a sabbatical. I'm closing my Etsy shop and this blog for an undetermined length of time. I thank you for supporting my work and sharing in this Sushipot adventure. Please do not be alarmed--all is well! I know this appears to be a sudden decision but it is one I have contemplated for a long while. In short, I want to give myself some room to work and grow as an artist. I have many ideas and projects that have been placed on the back burner due to time spent playing the 'Etsy game'. Any future updates will be posted here, though I am leaving my timetable open-ended as my off-line life is calling. 

All my best,

Suzanna

Free Holiday Shipping

I've made a little deal with Santa and his crew ;) Everything at Sushipot now ships for free anywhere in the world through January 1st, 2015. Keep an ear out for those jingle bells....more holiday goodies will be posted in the shop this week.

Oh October!

Seems like every time October rolls around I have an 'oh s**t' moment over my things-to-do-before-the-holiday-season-begins list (as an Etsy seller that is). All summer long I have the best of intentions to be prepared but when you run a one woman show it's much easier said than done. Anyhow, it's no different this year and today is that day. haha! So I'm telling myself to kick it into high gear and tackle that list (we'll see how it goes!). First up is to finish this bevy of wall dolls who have been patiently waiting for additional limbs. They gotta have something to kick around with you know ;) Oh....and before I forget....a happy October to you!

Eight Years & Counting

Vintage Letterpress Number 8 at Wretched Shekels

Eight years ago I stumbled across a fledgling website named Etsy and decided to pitch a tent under the moniker Sushipot. Little did I know that small action would turn into a full time venture (job!) for me. As Patrick has pointed out so sweetly, I've never held any other job down for that length of time. haha! Working for myself, working from home and working with my hands everyday is a dream come true. And to celebrate these eight years (....and counting!) I'm having a BIG sale on my most popular product:

Sushipot's Art Block Sale

1/2 OFF All Art Blocks

Sale ends Sept 21 at 11pm cst  

To each and every Sushipot patron around the world....a big THANK YOU for making this my reality.

Xmas In July Sale

Grampa's Toy Shop, Illustration by Stuart Pratt, 1922

Even during these long summer days Santa's elves are busy. They're tinkering away in their workshop building toys for all the nice little boys and girls ;) I'm thinking it's the perfect time for a big sale here at Sushipot. If you've had your eye on something now's the time 'cuz this will be the one and only sale this season.

Sushipot's Christmas In July Sale
 25% off (no coupon code needed)
July 18th thru July 20th
Ends Sunday at 11:00 pm cst

Free Shipping

It's that time of year here at Sushipot. All orders ship for FREE 'round the world from now 'til December 31st. Happy shopping!

Sushipot Newsletter

Super cool old envelopes via Fuzzimo

Some of you have noticed I added a mailing list 'subscription button' to the sidebar of this space. I'm working on building an official mailing list so I can start a Sushipot newsletter of sorts. Not sure what all it'll include but I'm sure it'd be a great way to send you secret coupon codes 'n such ;) Just click this link to submit your email. Once I've got a good handful subscribers I'll go ahead and give MailChimp a test run.

So Long Vintage

Vintage Children's Reader Illustration by Marguerite Davis

Well...this is kind of a happy/sad announcement for me to make...Sushipot Vintage will be closing at the end of this month. As much as I love finding and sharing vintage objects with y'all the time has come for me to move along and free myself from much of the "busywork" involved with keeping a well stocked vintage shop. So...if you've been eying anything now is the time to claim your treasure. Enter the coupon code SOLONGVINTAGE and you will receive 50% off your entire purchase. And...to all my vintage patrons who've made this shop such a success over the past years...my family and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts to the tips of our toes!

Christmas In July

Santa Claus, published by The Platt & Munk Company, 1935

Sushipot is participating in the Etsy-wide Christmas in July sales event. No need to wait for those holiday deals...you can tuck away a present or two a lil' bit early this year!

Sushipot's Christmas In July Sale
25% OFF (no coupon code needed)
July 11 - July 21st, 11:59 pm CST
Sushipot Art & Sushipot Vintage

Sushipot Spring Sale

Doing a bit of Spring cleaning in house & shop this week so I thought it a perfect time for a 'lil springtime sale in both of the shops. Let me know if you'd like to reserve an item :) Here are the relevant details:

SPRING SALE

25% Off Everything

Sushipot & Sushipot Vintage

'till Sunday, April 14th @ 11:59 pm cst

Postal Pains

Illustration from a 1936 First Grade reader

Despite my best efforts to keep shipping rates reasonable, with only slight increases since I opened Sushipot back in 2006, the recent USPS rate hikes are causing me to adjust rates accordingly. I spent the weekend going through the tedium of creating new shipping formulas. Wrapping my head around the ridiculous rate hikes to Canada and all other international destinations is causing me severe postal pains. For instance, the cost of shipping a small package which weighs under 5 oz has basically doubled in cost. This means some items in the vintage shop suddenly cost as much or more to ship internationally than the cost of the item itself. Makes me feel a bit ridiculous but I do want to be up front with all of you loyal patrons about these changes. Luckily many of my domestic shipping rates remain the same. Please bear with me as I'll continue to tweak the shipping rates as I find discrepancies over the coming weeks. And please know that I will refund any crazy overages in your favor!

And on a related note...an interesting op-ed published in the New York Times last Friday.

Hello Friends

Hello friends! I feel I must explain the crickets chirping in this space and over in the shops. It's been a seemingly endless absence and frankly one I would have much preferred to do without. Long story short....we all came down with the flu early last week and are just now slooooowly making our way back into the beautiful routine of daily life. I miss it so much.

Also....if you've emailed or convo'ed me within the last 10 days please know that I am slogging through my inbox and will be in touch with you soon-ish! Thank you for understanding.

Back to the Basics

Well, I'd mentioned last week that there were some changes afoot at Sushipot and I've heard from a few of you wondering what was going on so I apologize for being a bit vague! My plan this year is to go "back to the basics" so to speak and narrow down the variety of items I offer in the shop. This means I'll no longer be offering smaller items such as the pendants, art blocks, etc. I am doing this to simplify my studio time and focus exclusively on creating one-of-a-kind assemblage and collage pieces. This is where I want to concentrate my creative energy going forward as it brings me the most satisfaction as an artist/crafter/designer/maker-of-objects. Thank you dear Sushipot patrons for bearing with me as I make these changes. I appreciate you!

PS: You can generate your own design-y quotes at Recite This. Try it. It's fun!

Filling Drawers

Remember this metal cabinet I recently claimed for my studio? Thought you'd like to see the drawers are now filled up with inventory and a few of my rotating vintage collections. I didn't realize when we brought it home that each drawer slides out and removes easily--like those old school card catalog files in the library. This drawer-removal feature makes it super handy to quickly make up game parts and game ephemera packets for the vintage shop. All this stuff used to be stored in plastic totes, stacked on a shelf which worked ok but this is even spiffier and more efficient.

Resolution: Time

With the onset of the new year comes the chatter of resolutions being made and much advice on how to keep them. I go back and forth each year on whether to set to paper (or blog) a resolution or goal for the year. In truth, I'm making resolutions all the time, setting little goals for myself and marking off the milestones I make in life and business. As I've mentioned before I'm a dutiful list maker to an obsessive degree.



So this year, in lieu of a list of resolutions, I've decided to take to heart a word/theme/sound I've been mulling over lately and that is TIME. You know....tick-tock.....tick-tock.....tick-tock....in all its forms! As I come up for air after such a busy season in my shops I want to rein it in, slow it down and embrace it. I want to name those things that fritter it away and spend it wisely. Kind of like the day back when Lizzie was only two and we decided to throw away our television permanently! I want that feeling of freedom again--the gift of time--time to live, time to love, time to read, time to create, time to savor all those little things that sprinkle our days.



In order to be more mindful of my time and how I spend it I'm starting by identifying those little "time thieves" in my day and deciding on which ones can stay and which must go and what I should cut back on. No...I'm not planning to do anything rash like throw out my iPhone, but I will cut back on how many minutes of attention it receives!



One big decision that I've wavered on is whether or not I need/should post here on my blog every week-day as I've tried my best to do for the last couple of years. Even though it may only take a few minutes of each day to create a post, there is much brain-time spent mulling over what to post and time spent keeping up with the extra photographing that is involved. Looking back to my pre-blog days I can see I had a bit more studio time and that is what I crave. So...my first little experiment with TIME in 2012 is to scale back here in this virtual space. I'm thinkin' 2-3 posts a week as opposed to 5 or 6. I know all of you artist/maker readers will understand and I thank you for reading what I think is my longest rant (errrr.....post) ever and feel free to call me out if you see me frittering my time away here or Twitter or Instagram or even (oh the tragedy!) on Etsy.

All mixed media collage images by Suzanna Scott, 2007 & 2009

My Kiva Resolution

About this time every year I start to think about the resolutions I didn't follow through with from the previous New Year. But this December I'm here to report to you that I've carried out my resolution from last year to make a Kiva loan every month (although I hate to admit my other resolutions didn't fair as well!).

Kiva's mission as a non-profit organization is to connect people from all over the world together through lending with the goal of alleviating poverty. The best part is you can get involved for a minimum loan of just $25.00! This year I've lent to a baker in Iraq, a weaver in the Philippines (her picture above), a stone carver in Kenya and a bee keeper in Armenia (see first photo) just to name a few of the diverse countries and sectors represented on the site.

Once you start lending you can track the progress of each loan and get all kinds of basic stats and regular loan status updates via email. As you can see I tended to loan mostly to others in the Arts but was quite diverse when it came to where I made each loan.

The experience has been rewarding in so many ways and I've decided to double up this coming year and pledge 2 loans a month. Running a small business has its challenges each and every day and this is definitely a way to pay forward those opportunities that I've been given through my own small business. I've attached a short video from Kiva above--it illustrates how one small loan can help to make a huge difference in another persons life.

Still Time To Shop!

There's still time to shop at Sushipot and Sushipot Parts if you live within the United States. I'm offering free shipping at Sushipot and this coupon is still valid at Sushipot Parts. Anything you order at either shop between now and December 20th will be automatically upgraded to Priority Mail via USPS to ensure you receive your goodies by Christmas Eve. And...thought you may wanna to know that I'm still working on my shopping list too...we still have plenty of time!

December Daze

Gosh, I've sure been sporadic in this bloggy space--it's kinda the name of the game right now. We had a record breaking day of sales on Sunday and have been scrambling to get it all out the door and on its way 'round the world. Seriously fun to ship to the United Kingdom, Israel, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and over a dozen US states in a 24 hour period! Thank you to all of you wonderful Sushipot patrons! Before all this ensued we did attend our local Christmas parade and enjoyed many a Christmas story. Now back to the studio...!

Our Post Office

Thank you everyone for making my art block BOGO sale a big success! All the sale packages have been shipped so if you're expecting one it should arrive very soon. Lizzie is such a little helper on our post office excursions several times a week. Chances are your package was personally deposited in the package drop by her! After the thousands of packages we've shipped via the USPS since opening our Etsy shop 5 years ago it's hard to believe that the post office is facing such financial straits. I for one wouldn't know what to do without them. Saw this article with some off-the-wall ideas to save the post office. And...not that I'd personally hurt from a 5 day delivery...I'd really feel for Jim, our postal carrier, every Monday with all that extra mail to sort 'n deliver.