Bestie New Year Fishes!

Greetings from the Year 2025 - who ever thought we would make it so far! Oh I suppose some people did. But for an 80s punk raised on Live Fast Die Young, it’s an almost unfathomable concept. But here we are. Here I am. I’m writing this blog from my home office, which is not my bedroom or my dining room table. It’s also still the messiest room in the house (well, maybe save for the basement), but the corner I spend all my time in is functional (really - never mind the cock-eyed lamp).

I’m looking out a back window as fat snowflakes fall into the yard. The garage door is down, and my car is tucked snugly behind it. It’s an old garage, original to the house; but it has walls and a roof and two (!) doors that open and shut. An undreamt of luxury for a city dweller used to apartments and shared spaces.

My craft area is similarly functional if not yet beautiful. I should go down and put some things away - maybe later. My resale room has already proved its worth several times over, however. Not quite as organized as I might like; there’s not a shelf for each type of thing I have. But there IS a corner of the bench that I’ve set up for photos (so. many. photos.) There’s a roll of bubblewrap right there, whenever I need it. And the resale items are clogging the back of the bench, waiting for me to post them, sell them, send them off to their new homes.

Which I’ve been doing! Dakini Trading is far from the most active shop on Etsy, but I’ve been making a sale here and a sale there and oh would you look, just made another sale. Enough to make me think that yes, I’m heading in the right direction here. I got off to a bad start on the design side unfortunately; I sold a sticker before I fully understood how print on demand works, and it was late getting out to the buyer. 

Once I figured things out, it got sent off to them and I even refunded their cost, but they still left a bad review. Boo. I did make another sale over the holidays, though, and I hope if I keep plugging away at it I can get that up to speed. By the way, if you haven’t been to the Dakini Designs shop, I’d love it if you stopped by and favorited some things. Any traffic helps - and of course, if you see something you like, feel free to make a purchase! 😄 We won’t talk about the Handcrafts side just now - I still intend to pursue the concept, but there are only so many hours in the day. Maybe this spring.

As has become tradition, my bestie and I took a Solstice trip down to Akron to see the World’s Greatest Christmas Band, Missile Toe, at my favorite club, Jilly’s (they have seats! Are you listening, Beachland?) My daughter’s job allows me a family discount on hotel rooms, so we stay literally across the street. The next day, we take our time coming home, visiting thrift stores all along the way. And boy, did I find some goodies this time around.

In fact, I just sold a sweet pair of midcentury ceramic Christmas bells - I couldn’t find a positive identification of them, but they’re probably either Lefton or Napco. I didn’t grow up with these popular home decor items, but boy, it seemed like everyone my age sure did. I’ve developed my eye enough to fairly accurately spot them in the wild, and they do seem to be found with some regularity around these parts.

Other goodies I picked up include some midcentury bookend/shelf sitters, some boho pottery pieces, kitschy collector plates, even a pair of goblets that just might be uranium glass. I’ve got to track down a blacklight so I can check to see if they glow - once I know, they’ll be up in the shop.

Of course, my dream is to open a brick and mortar down the road. While I’m certainly not mad about selling pieces online, I’d love to be able to do it in person - along with locally handcrafted goods and other items that match the theme. That’s still out ahead of me, but I am trying to keep what I do on the internet in line with the future goal of supporting the sort of funky, witchy, artsy place people want to visit regularly just to see what’s new.

Now that my ENTIRE LIFE is (hopefully!) done being knocked arse over teakettles, I’m aiming to get back on a regular posting schedule here. Etsy is still the best place to keep up with what I’ve got for sale, and I just might get around to adding a newsletter as well - if that’s not too ambitious! I do still have a day job, after all, and that takes up the bulk of my time. I'm still looking into the best way to do that, but if you're interested, drop me a line and I'll put you on my future list.

So for now, I’m wrapping this up and heading downstairs to Do Stuff - well, right after I walk the dog. For some reason, he loves the snow - you'd never know he's part chihuahua. Sending you Best Fishes for the new year, I leave you as always, with Perfect Love and Faerie Dust. Ta!