Friday, January 29, 2010

Meet & Greet: WinterCrochet

Okay, I always knew it’s a small world, but this is starting to get a little crazy… I randomly chose my 2nd fellow Etsian to interview and, in reading her answers, discovered that she, TOO lives in MA, about 30 minutes away. Apparently New Englanders are drawn to each other! She loves living here and revels in the culture; museums, sports, nature – it’s all here.

I’d like to introduce you to Margaret of WinterCrochet. A cubicle dweller by day, in her off-hours she uses yarn to make hats that literally look good enough to eat. This Mint Chocolate hat nearly had me drooling! Margaret came to crochet by way of soap making, after the smell of soap starting to get to her. As the daughter of a soap maker myself, I can definitely understand the sentiment! She was taught by her mother, who still lives close by, and crochet is a craft that “runs in the family”.

Margaret pulls her inspiration from a variety of places, people and even materials. She says, “Sometimes a certain color or texture of yarn will scream to be made into something very specific.” I think a lot of fellow artisans can relate to that experience. Something else a lot of us can understand is her studio goal – to keep it clean enough to at least be able to see SOME of the floor! :)

She has a great attitude towards entrepreneurship, and, I bet, life in general: always keep learning & growing. She says of her shop, “…a year from now I still want to be learning new things about entrepreneurship and community markets.” She values her experience in running her shop, having made both personal and professional connections in the few short months she’s been selling on Etsy.

In closing, I’m going to just copy & paste her quote on the import of buying & selling handmade goods – I couldn’t write it any better myself!

When people make and sell and buy handmade goods, I feel that it brings us back to a place where everyone knew their neighbors and you could trust in quality craftsmanship, and also in the people around you. We're so disconnected these days from the dinner parties, and knitting circle type activities that brought communities to be proud and tightly woven; [communities] that worked hard to do what was right and help each other. I feel the community ties we make are the most invaluable outcome of handmade communities.

Fun Facts:

Favourite Colour: Earthy, Mossy Green
Favourte Food: All of it (“I'm a food maniac! I'm one of those live to eat people and not the eat to live type”)
Favouirte Drink: Alcoholic: margarita (on the rocks, no salt) Non alcoholic: nice pink lemonade in the summer.
Favourite Travels: Her parents’ house (how sweet is that?)

Hearts for Haiti Donation, SOLD!

So, the tattoo-inspired "LOVE" key fob that I donated to the Hearts for Haiti cause on Etsy just yesterday, sold TODAY! Yay!! There's $5.99 more for the cause! And I hope the buyer loves the fob!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Meet & Greet: Studio Seventy Five

Since I’ve run out of daily fodder to chat about, I decided to run a series of “getting to know you” posts featuring other Etsy artists. I love meeting other creative people and finding out what makes them tick. I hope you enjoy reading about these great crafts(wo)men & collectors. :)

The first Etsian that I’d like to introduce you all to is Jennifer of Studio Seventy Five. In conducting the interview, we discovered that we live only about 20 miles from each other and that she grew up in the same town that my entire family is from (Franklin, MA). I guess it truly is a small world! She loves living in New England and can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Jennifer is a stay-at-home-mom to two boys (ages 12 and 6) and has been married to her husband for 16 years. She discovered her passion for jewelry making when she took a beading class a few years ago and it quickly snowballed into a desire to learn several different techniques. Having sold to family & friends, she decided to open an Etsy shop in September of 2009. In this short time she’s had over 50 sales! Her jewelry is classic, clean and reasonably priced, so it’s no wonder she’s doing so well.

Asked where she gets her inspiration, Jennifer replied, “I always have ideas swirling in my head. I get inspiration from nature, magazines, current jewelry trends”. She prefers buying and selling handmade products, supporting local artists, and knowing that what she’s purchased (and sold) is unique and not available at the large box stores.

Jennifer is working on growing her business and plans on showcasing her beautiful jewelry at several craft fairs this year. Her advice to other new Etsy sellers is great customer service & great pictures! The first can be easy, the latter, as many of us know, can be very tricky! Keep your eye out for Studio Seventy Five!

Quick facts:
Favourite Color: Aqua
Favourite Food: All of it!
Favourite Drink: Midori Sour (when she partakes)
Favourite Travels: Hawaii

Lip Balm holder being featured on another blog!

I'm so honoured that Kira Ann Designs (http://www.etsy.com/shop/kiraanndesigns) has featured on of my lip balms as her Etsy Find of the Day. The lip balms can be found at my "sister" shop, the Key Fob Fairy. Check it out!

http://kiraanndesigns.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much!!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

OMG, 100 hearts!!

LOL! So I hit a huge milestone today (for me) and received my 100th "heart" on Etsy!

Wow... now, to hit 100 sales! ;)

Sock Monkeys, anyone??

So, today I finished an adorable baby set made with Moda's Funky Monkey fabric... so darn cute. The set was a baby blanket, 2 sets of bibs (2 monkeys, 1 Dick & Jane & 1 Merryville), and 2 sets of burp cloths (2 monkeys, 2 merryville). I hope the soon-to-be parents love it!!

Testing out the crumple zone...

So, we had a long, slow snow/ice storm last week and after dropping DD off at preschool, I promptly slid right into the back of a, brace yourself...

school bus.

Yup.

After specifically going a DIFFERENT, less hilly way, just so I WOULD NOT get into an accident, I hit a patch of black ice and slid for about 50' at about 1 mph right into the steel bumper of a bus. If I'd hit anything else, there would not have been any damage to either car. However, given what I hit, my bumper & hood are goners... yay...

So, the insurance guy is out front looking at it now - It makes me sick to think of having to pay the $500 deductible. Blech.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Fabric, sweet fabric...

So, after I dropped my daughter off at preschool this morning, I chucked my son in the car & headed down to the best local fabric store we have; The Mill Store in Franklin, MA. They're the only "local" (40 minutes away) store that sells designer fabric like Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Joel Dewberry, Alexander Henry, Heather Bailey, etc., etc., etc...

I was feeling REALLY drawn to oranges today, and had to keep putting fabric back on the shelves and reminding myself to branch out a bit! I picked up some gorgeous Amy Butler orange floral (Lotus line), my favourite Joel Dewberry Azure (Deer Valley line), some Sandi Henderson Pear (Meadowsweet line) and some Alexander Henry Mod Dots... Great stuff!!

I can't wait to make up some chic diaper clutches and key fobs with this stuff - it's in the washing machine right now!!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

New Layout!!

Okay, so if you see this, please let me know what you think of my new layout! I actually did most of it myself (hence the silly little errors here & there). I've got to learn more HTML!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Busy Saturday with the kiddos

So, today my husband had to go into work at *gasp* 5:30AM... UGH. He normally works just 9-5, M-F, so this was a stretch for him. Rolling out some sort of thing at work.

Anyway, so it's just me and the kids today! We spent the morning catching up on laundry & cleaning - it's so hard to get that stuff done during the week with all the running around! My 3.5 year old likes to "help" and she's learning - she puts all the books away and knows to put the little toys in the bins. We're getting there. My 16 month old, not so much. As fast as my daughter is putting books IN the basket, he's taking them OUT. :)

Still, though, we had a productive morning and I do love watching them together!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Diaper clutch with built-in changing pad

I'm thrilled to see that I sold one of my incredible diaper clutches to a lovely lady in Missouri! My first sale to that fine state. It's the same beautiful mustard & chocolate clutch that is the background of my banner; except this one has a beautiful leaf shaped brown button instead of a tie. If you're looking for gorgeous, one of a kind, baby and manma gifts, please check out my shop at Etsy.com!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

New Background!

Okay, so after poking around for what felt like hours, I finally found a background that I like! How great is it that it almost matches the clutch in my banner! It's actually a lot of fun poking around and changing it up. I have to find a layout that I like next, but I'm still so new to this that THAT might take me a while!

Dirty Clean Fun for Two!

Want some naughty clean fun? Hop in the shower with your sweetie with this yummy felted soap - no need for a washcloth here! Just wet, lather, and enjoy. :)

The larger soap is a bar of Yardley's Lavender that has been hand-felted (by me!) with 100% wool. The smaller soap is just a cute heart shaped soap I found that smells like blueberry pie; also hand felted with 100% wool.

Felted soap works like this: an entire bar of soap is carefully wrapped in 100% wool fibers (off the sheep, folks) and then gently "felted" by wetting and rubbing, rubbing, rubbing, etc... The bar of soap remains intact inside the felt "pouch". To use it, you just wet it, rub it a bit to get the lather through the wool, and scrub away! The wool is a gentle exfoliator, too.

Head over to the Woolly Blue Yonder to pick up this great Valentine's Day gift!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Mailing, mailing, and more mailing!

We were able to dig ourselves out of the newest snowfall today and get to the post office! I mailed out three key fobs and one beautiful Apples & Pears baby blanket! I can't wait to get feedback from the buyers so I can see what they think! I love my stuff, obviously, and I can only hope they love it, too!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Diaper Clutch in a spotlight by another blogger!

So, my diaper clutch is being featured on another blog by Melissa at The Speckled Pear. She's done a great compilation of mustard & brown objects and my clutch made the list! This copyrighted design is a great gift for new and veteran moms! It's all I use to change the diapers of my 1 and 3 year olds! Please check out Melissa's blog to see all the other great products she found, too!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Lip Balm Holder, sale!

So, I just got notification that I sold a beautiful lip balm holder made with Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley line to a great buyer from "across the pond"! This is my 2nd sale in as many weeks to a Brit! Funny! Since s/he's the first one to buy the lip balm key fob, I think I'll send a special gift, too! Maybe a matching, regular, key fob!

Friday, January 15, 2010

How to Felt Soap...

So, today I decided I would felt up a bar of my mother's luscious Goat's Milk & Honey soap to try my hand at it. What a hoot! First, I shaved off the corners & edges to make a more rounded bar. Then, I wrapped the bar 4 times (alternating directions) in layers of 100% wool roving. Finally, I sprinkled it with warm water & a little extra dish soap and rubbed, rubbed, rubbed for about 10 minutes. I ended up with this beautiful bar of felted soap! Perfect for the shower tonight!!

15% off for Followers! Great Mother's Day gifts!!

So, in order to see who's looking for sales & good deals on baby and mama products, I'll be offering 15% off all my products (through Etsy or Artfire) to anyone who's a follower of my blog!!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Etsy

If you're one of the few folks who haven't heard of or checked out Etsy.com, you need to get your behind over there and do it NOW. What a great one-stop-shop for handmade and vintage items! We have a shop there as do about a billion other artists. Use the search feature at the top to find exactly what you're looking for and you'll be thrilled with the results!

Let's hear it for handmade!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Naps...

Okay, so how many times have you had to wake your poor children up from their naps only to find out that what you woke them up for was cancelled!? Happened to us today and it was awful! Wokd up the kiddos to take DD (darling daughter) to ballet only to discover that it was cancelled becuase they'd had power outages earlier in the day! :(

New to blogging!

So, I've decided to *finally* start a blog... Please bear with me while I get it up & running! I'm hoping to "feature" some of my favourite Etsy & ArtFire sellers here and try to get some exposure for the great artists that are out there!