Formal but Fun Father’s Day Gifts

While some men only opt for French cuffs that necessitate a pair of cufflinks when they reach for a tux, others enjoy wearing them to work or even on a casual dinner date. A plus of these cuffs is that you can change the bling (cufflinks) to suit your mood or just be a bit different when you wear a particular shirt.

Whether the man in your life favors wearing cufflinks with formal wear or collects them and wears them often, my online Etsy shop, EclecticSkeptic, features a couple of fun to formal designs that would be a nice addition to your guy’s wardrobe come Father’s Day. Both the flying pigs and the music notes are available in silver plated or gold plated cufflinks. The music note cufflinks can also be customized with initials.

The third Sunday of June is fast approaching. If you want a customized music note cufflink pair in time for Father’s Day this year, I need to hear from you very soon. I have a few pair of both the flying pig and music note cufflinks in stock and ready to ship to you to give as gifts. (Of course there is nothing to stop you from buying them for yourself if you have taken a fancy to them.)

If your guy doesn’t have a shirt with French cuffs, you could get him one in addition to a pair of cufflinks and then take him to dinner on Father’s Day so he can wear his new goodies.

Meet My New Flying Pig Model

I’d formally introduce you, but she doesn’t have a name yet. You can help with this, more later.

I’d been thinking about making myself a new flying pig model, possibly out of polymer clay, when I stumbled across this wonderful pig with wings in BrondyBlue’s shop on Etsy. Don’t get me wrong, I like my old model that I have used in my photographic art on my note, holiday and special occasion cards, clocks, cufflinks and bookmarks found in my shop, EclecticSkeptic. However it has its limitations. It is only partially 3D and I wanted a truly 3D model.

I plan to add shiny black eyes and then this flying pig will be ready for her glamour shots. However, with the holiday season fast approaching, it may be next year before she debuts in a new item on EclecticSkeptic, so stay tuned.

Now for the part where you can help, I’d love to have a name for my new model. I’ve decided to open up a naming contest. Submit your suggestions in the comments of this post and if I select your submission, I will give you a coupon for 25% off one item from my shop EclecticSkeptic or 10% off your total order from one or both of my shops, EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic (excludes shipping).

So, put on your thinking caps and submit your names below. You are welcome to submit more than one name.

EclecticSkeptic Turns Two

Terrible twos? Not on your life, I’m sure this next year will be the “terrific twos” for EclecticSkeptic and my customers. To get the “twos” off to a terrific start for my customers, I am offering a sale to celebrate this second “birthday”. To find out the details, visit my facebook business fan page.

EclecticSkeptic carries a wide variety of whimsical through whimsically elegant flying pig items. These include altered photographic art of flying pigs on note cards, holiday cards, bookmarks and clocks. You will also find flying


pig necklaces, earrings, zipper pulls, tie tacks, keychains, cufflinks and pins. EclecticSkeptic also carries a small selection of goodies for the math and/or science geek.

EclecticSkeptic officially turns two on August 1. Remember to visit my EDC business fan page to find out how to participate in the sale going on that day.

Here is a toast to “terrific twos” and a great BIG THANK YOU to all of my past and future customers for your support.

EclecticSkeptic Hits 100

When I open an online shop, getting my sales numbers out of the single digits is cause for a happy dance. I also take notice each time another 10 is reached. Watching milestone sales is kind of like watching your car’s odometer when it rolls over to an even 1000 and subsequent multiples. So it was really awesome earlier this week to see my sales “odometer” at EclecticSkeptic role over to the triple digits.

While my total number of flying pig and geekery items reached 100 some time ago from craft shows and other offline sales, I don’t have one place that I keep track of the total number of sales of things that fit my EclecticSkeptic branding. So it is very nice to have that number tracked for me in my Etsy shop. A big thanks goes out to all of my customers that have been a part of this milestone for EclecticSkeptic. To further show my appreciation, any of my customers that contributed to my first 100 online sales, by making a purchase from my EclecticSkeptic online shop, will receive a 10% refund on any additional orders made between today and the end of April, 2011. Please put “I was part of your milestone.” in your notes to seller and you will receive your refund through PayPal before I ship your package.

Thanks again for everyone’s support and here’s to new milestones for me and you!

Diary 2011 Project

For the second year in a row, I have participated in the Diary Project. This is the Diary Project’s fourth year. The layout has changed a bit this year, however it is still a great solution for people that like to keep a daily diary or journal.

Artists and craftsmen are asked to submit artwork for a given day of the year. The artist is allowed to include what they do and a link to their work. This information, as well as the date, is translated into English, French and Spanish. Space is incorporated into the page design for your diary or journal entry.

You can see a preview of my artwork for Thursday, July 14, 2011 at the left. This photographic art design is of my gazelle earring model, modeling a pair of flying pig earrings. Click on the gazelle for a larger view. Additional flying pig items can be found in my shop EclecticSkeptic.

You can purchase a copy of the this year’s artistically designed diary, a CD of the diary or a download of the diary. For ordering information, please click on the Diary 2011 button at the right.

Eclectic Skeptic One Year Anniversary

It doesn’t seem like it has been almost a year since I opened my whimsical flying pig (aka pigasus) shop, EclecticSkeptic, on Etsy. I started stocking my shop with altered photographic art of flying pigs on note cards and bookmarks. I expanded my line to include flying pig necklaces, holiday cards, earrings, zipper pulls, tie tacks, keychains and pins. My latest addition takes me back to my photographic art beginnings, clocks with flying pig imagery. I hope to have at least one new type of item available before the Christmas shopping season and also plan to add some items for the math and/or science geek.

Stay tuned to my blog, by becoming a follower, my facebook business fan page, by liking it, or my monthly newsletter, by subcribing to it, for details. But I digress, back to EclecticSkeptic’s one year anniversary! EclecticSkeptic’s one year anniversary is officially on August 1. To help celebrate, I will be offering a special sale to my customers the following week on Sunday, August 8, 2010. The details of this sale will be in my newsletter, scheduled to go out on Friday, August 6. You still have time to sign up for my newsletter and get the details so that you can participate in this sale. You will find a form in the right hand column of this blog to have your e-mail address added to my newsletter subscriber list.

So here is a great BIG THANK YOU to all of my past and future customers for your support, without which this anniversary would not have been possible. Here is to many more anniversaries to come as well.

Whimsical Mother’s Day Gifts

Does your mom enjoy a good chuckle? Do you recall hearing the phrase “When pigs fly” in response to any of your requests while you were growing up? If you answered yes to either of these questions, your mom is a good candidate for a whimsical gift for this Mother’s Day from EclecticSkeptic.

EclecticSkeptic carries a variety of flying pig items. You will find earrings, purse charms, necklaces, note cards, bookmarks, keychains and pins. Each item in this shop sports a pig with wings that is sure to garner a giggle.

More traditional Mother’s Day gifts can be found at my other shop, EDCCollective. If you see something there that you think would benefit from the addition of a flying pig charm or image, please contact me about the feasibility of doing just that.

Here’s wishing you a fun filled Mother’s Day.