paper craft – Stars Seen

A Small Business

Is it strange to even call the endeavor K and T embarked on as a small business. I think of it as a collaboration of the minds and passions. It’s more proper to say that I just want to spread some encouragement, joy, and happiness, and she wants to help me with my reach and ideas.

I have learned many things thus far…

Etsy is a great tool but if you don’t sell enough, it ends up being not worth it. More than anything, I love that Etsy supports small businesses which makes selling more possible despite the fees and such. It’s always interesting to see just how far we can go on there.

Instagram and TikTok are great marketing tools because you can put up anything with great music and draw attention to your products. Now, I just have to figure out how to get my cats out of my videos and keep them from stealing the show…

CreatorU is a great tool if you want to be like everyone else had have a growth like everyone else. They do recommend you copy and create more content like others. And I found that sickly. But it’s good to know what they are doing and how they are teaching it. And it helped me realize that our business is not like theirs.

Here is one of the captivators and show-stealers…

While working in the Library, I mainly did passive programming at all the different libraries I’d worked at. I didn’t think much of it. It just came naturally. When I offered my starts as part of an outreach technique for an in-person job of mine, they were shocked at the response of the community, which further proved to me the power of a jar of lucky stars. It was wonderfully knowing how few people had seen it, knew how to make it, and how many people wanted to learn more.

So, we’re back. Getting ready for another year and hoping to grind it out better than the last!

How has everyone else been?

Are you ready for 2024?

Doing What You Love

Something strange that hit K and T was when people add “work” to what they love to do. The word in itself held no depth of sorrow nor madness, but once it was added, suddenly the feelings related to what they were doing changed.

For example, K had always enjoyed packaging and bottling stars and other products. Letting loose her creative energy on the product and how to best package it had always been the way to go for most of her works. And it was relaxing and fun for her, especially with how well she was getting to know her local Hobby Lobby.

This is not K, but a suitable representation…

But once she tried to think of it as work, it soured. It became less of something she wanted to do but she needed to do it. She suddenly had a deadline and more pressure to make it beautiful despite using sustainable products.

So, she removed the word and it took on the lighter and more friendly meaning of ease and companionable comfort again. Strange how this word would bring her such a change, but she found it easier after that.

Moral of this post is that, once you find something you enjoy doing, don’t try to define it or tie it down with words not often associated with enjoyment, pleasure, and ease. In our culture today, it’s far easier to keep the words you use for different purposes separate. This just simplifies and compartmentalizes your life and what you do.

And for most humans, this is definitely needed. So, thanks for the read and enjoy yourselves. Remember to stay safe and healthy, and keep doing what you love to do!

Rest Is Important

It is understandable that most people don’t see this as a labor intensive job. After all, T isn’t hauling bricks or wood across construction sights, nor is she moving masses on a tractor and picking them up later if they fall. Why would this be considered labor intensive and why would rest be important.

The most popular T’s often heard is, “Isn’t this rest for you?”

As much as it may pain you to hear this, origami requires hand strength. It’s like typing endlessly, but working all your fingers, wrists, and arms as you do it. It tires your shoulders and back as you keep going, and walking while folding can be seen as strange, but she does it, too.

Needless to say, the demand for folding has never been as high as this. Which is why with daily activities and folding of stars, flowers, hearts, and whatever else, her right hand went numb during the night. Her elbow joints started aching and clicking more. And, during the mornings, her body rejected waking up as the numbness and sciatic pains moved from her fourth and middle finger to all over her hand and then away again.

On this day, T took a break from folding and didn’t even touch the paper. She didn’t want to risk anything and so, she fully rested her hand.

Fully enjoying, I mean comforting, CatMom T’s day off from folding stars.

It was a glorious day for the cats. Plenty of petting and massaging, cat hair and dust mingled in the air all day wherever CatMom T was. And as they enjoyed her presence and service, they meowed and purred to T’s heart’s content.

Which is why, we at Stars Seen strong advocate for mental and physical health. Once your relaxing hobby becomes a strain on your body, it’s alright to rest and regain yourself before doing more. Take care of your body because you only have one allotted to you per lifetime.

And if you need something to calm or smooth your soul, come back to this blog or our Etsy shop to see what we can do! Thank you for your time and have a safe and great day!

From Afar

Long distance romantic relationships can really bite one in the butt and make it hurt. For T, she opted to stay in Los Angeles when her partner moved to the East Coast for work. But after a few months, it got too hard, so she put in her two week’s notice, made quick arrangements, and moved out to the East Coast.

This ought to have put K in a pickle because T had, until recently, been less an hour’s drive away. Now, a direct flight could bring them together from 5-6 hours. Or, with layovers, longer.

However, T was optimistic and convinced K that everything was possible still through mail. So, with this optimism that she always seemed to have and use, T packaged all the Valentine’s Day merchandise into a box and sent it off to K.

To K’s horror, the information showed that the merch wouldn’t reach until too close to V-day. But, thankfully, it reached within 5 days, as T had been promised by the USPS. And so, mail did seem to be a very good option for them.

Still, it’s difficult for two besties who often visited, chatted, and met up to catch up to be so far apart. However, K’s kitty is T’s self-proclaimed god-daughter. And K has fond of T’s floofs, too. So, they’re also connected through fun cat videos and photos, and stories, too.

Even more than that, K and T text almost daily. Because of the technology available, they are able to shoot of texts and videos that may seem boring to the passing person, but will excite and make T giddy with glee.

So, yes; though distance separates the two buddies, they’re determined to remain close friends! Which is always possible, given the venture they’ve undertaken together.

First Sale Report!

Hello friends and visitors, welcome to our blog!

As the Lunar New Year craze hops away from us, Valentine’s Day looms ever nearer. With so many options available on Etsy, we understand that it can be difficult to make your choices. So, we thought we’d put it more out there that we are environmentally forward thinkers and hopefuls.

As it is, T is making the stars and crafts on the East Coast and will send packages across the country to K, on the West Coast, to put into jars to be sold. This means a lot of thought goes into how the stars are packaged, what material are used, and how to remain environmentally friendly despite plastic being the much easier and cheaper solution.

Paper Soup Cup with lid & Cleanomic Compostable Zip Snack Bag

As for T, she has opted to used paper soup cups with lids for holding her stars she is making and once she has made an abundant amount to fill the cup, she will count out 100 at a time and put them into the Cleanomic compostable zip bags. Then, once the box is ready to be packed, the bags and packed and then sent off. No extra materials are added because paper and air don’t need much cushioning. And no unnecessary taping is required after the box is sealed.

As for K, once she receives the stars, she keeps them in their packaging and uses them in bags to store until she needs them for a design. Once the baggies are emptied, she can reuse them for other uses around her apartment and/or to package food. Because these bags are compostable, she can just recycle them, too.

For the boxes, paper is mostly used to cushion everything. Paper can be recycled and reused for multiple purposes and some harder papers can be used for animal usages and etc.

Placing the Stars

For the most part, K is the brains of this operation! K will find something that inspires her and will share it with T. T will look into how to make it and then, the two will discuss logistics on how to create and continue to fan that spark into a flame. Once both are pleased with how things are going, then the produce goes into pre-production and then production.

Once T has folded the necessary parts, K will place and arrange the stars into the right places to bring about the final product. And this is when K will do what she can to get the items bought. And well, that has thus far been successful!

January 3rd is when this Stars Seen endeavor began. K and T had brunch to discuss it and put it into action. And then… that started the TikTok, Instagram, and Etsy shop! From there, things grew as the holidays spun closer and K really wanted to jump on the wave.

T worked hard to fold and learn and then modify to make it easier on her hands. Origami can be complicated if the holds folding the paper are older, weaker, or tired. And well, T did get tired and her right hand went a little numb at nights, but she exercised them every day to keep them in shape!

This is a partnership between two friends motivated by their inspiration and to promote mental health. They believe that no one can look at these designs and not smile. If not because many make stars and are surprised to not have thought of doing it or because it’s just something that warms the heart.

Of course!

Imperfect Success

Many fold puffy stars and call it all sorts of names like, “lucky stars” and “happy stars”. As for T, she has always enjoyed such activities for the enjoyment of other people. K had always been upset whenever T gave away the thousands of small stars, kusudamas, and other such favored and delighted origami crafts she comfortably created.

It was K who watched T continue to be under appreciated and thankless for her efforts to make others happy. And K who decided to harness T’s passions and projects for the good of the world and make available to the greater world around her. Instead of being someone who made beautiful creations for any and everyone, K helped T create a small shop on Etsy and continues to teach her to utilize the tools on social media to share these stars.

Of course, not all creations were perfect. In fact, most of them weren’t perfect. Looking closely, nothing is perfect, which is why the more perfect looking is often the more practiced works of beauty and loveliness.

Please ask any questions and enjoy ALL of our creations. We will have limited editions and one-of-a-kind works of wonder type of drops. Pay attention and you may end up buying a little piece of happyness from StarsSeen.