Pimping Etsy

Okay, so I admit it, I did a little shopping on Etsy recently. And I love the things I've gotten so far, I just *have* to pimp the seller's shops.

Firstly, I was browsing accessories and such, and stumbled across these pins - and HAD to have them! Anyone who is an internet junkie as much as I am knows exactly what LongCat is. For anyone else, here is an explanation. Slevin11 makes all sorts of neat, interesting, kitschy buttons. Definitely check him out! Anyway, I could not pass these little babies up:

And he included this with them, which I also love:

And displayed proudly on my purse:

I also happen to have a painful compulsion to use lip gloss and balm. Lately, I've had horribly dry lips, likely a combination of being pregnant and drier air at work. The lip butter I was using didn't really work, and the thought of chocolate lip balm that was made with real chocolate just drove me to shop. So, I hopped over to ivaart's shop after she mentioned it in the Red ROom chat, and after a short battle with myself, purchased two lip balms, chocolate chip and strawberry. They arrived the other day, and wow, they are awesome! I haven't tried strawberry yet, but I used the chocolate chip and with one application, my lips were no longer dry, and with a couple the flakiness had disappeared, too. And they even have cute stickers on them!

And she sent a bunch of business cards and even a sticker for kittycrossbones, who I have ordered from and love too! I love getting neat stuff like this.

So, that was my pimping of some other awesome Etsy shops. I'm waiting for a custom purse, so if that arrives half as nice as I expect it, there will be another shop pimping coming. And any time I purchase from a seller, or just really love a shop, I'll pimp it here too. As interesting as my crafting is, I'm sure people want to find new interesting people and places to shop.

Projects

Well, I sent in my application for the craft show in July weeks ago and still no word, but I'm going to go on the assumption that I'm in until I get word otherwise. So, I'm working on new summer items, stuff that is more likely to sell than the shawls and scarves I normally make. I'm also planning on designing and selling a few patterns through my Etsy shop, since I know a lot of people that buy there are crafters themselves.

I'm also hoping to start doing some items recycled from plastic shopping bags. Right now I'm cutting strips and making them into balls, and I hope to start a door mat or some similar type of project with it soon. If it goes well, I'll likely sell them through my shop as well as have a couple at the show in July.

Finally, I've also gotten down to sorting and prepping my craft supplies to sell what I don't need. Some will go into my shop, and the rest will be put out at the garage sale I'm having this weekend. As much work as it is to prep for the sales, I'm excited about both and hope to get rid of a LOT of stuff this weekend that I don't need or want anymore. De-cluttering my home will hopefully help me de-clutter the rest of my life and make being productive easier for me, since I won't have to fight with all my 'stuff' to do anything.

So, wish me luck! Hopefully I'll make a chunk of change to put into my savings box, and clear out my unwanted stuff!

Business Stuff

So, I've decided that the best way to avoid having to go back to work after the baby is born is to improve my craft business to bring in supplemental income. So, I've been starting to read and do research on the business side of things, and boy, is it complicated. I've been looking at information on writing a business plan, marketing, sales venues, etc. I drew up some basic logs for a by-hand bookkeeping system, and found a good template for writing a business plan that will, hopefully, help me to outline everything I need to know and do to make my venture a success.

For someone like me though, this is all very scary. I am so afraid of failure, I often won't even try things because I might not get it the first time. So looking at all the stuff I have to do to make this work is very daunting. Especially when I consider trying to balance home and work, and personal crafting with business crafting. I'm definitely glad I have some time before I leave my job to begin to find the balance I need to keep from going nuts. I think the worst aspect of it all is that properly running a craft business means I absolutely must get my space organized and get rid of all the excess stuff I have, to make room for inventory and materials. Being a total pack rat and having no discernible organizational skill, this will likely be the most difficult thing I have to do in getting things off the ground.

Order and Craft Show

I had a great morning: I came home from dropping my daughter off at daycare to find that I had made a sale, for a custom animal ear hat. Wewt, I love making these! Can't wait to get started.

I also finished all the granny squares for my belly bean's blanket. Took about two hours to prep and stitch together two rows of squares this morning, so I'll have to keep working tomorrow, as I have to work tonight and it's too big to bring with me. I'm considering writing up the pattern and either selling it through my Etsy shop, or just offering it here on my blog. We'll see. Hopefully I'll have it done in a couple days so I can get through my ordered hat and on to summer inventory.

Finally, I recieved an invite a few weeks ago that I totally didn't realise I got to apply for a craft show I did last year. I'm really excited, they've expanded it to two days in July, for just slightly more than double the price last year (which was pretty good anyway). I'm going to send in my application in a day or two, I'm a bit worried though because it's juried this year, so I don't know if I'll be accepted. I can try though, right? So, I'm going to fashion up a list of items I need to make to hopefully turn a profit, but at least just break even. I'll need to buy another folding table and a clothing rack to make my display nicer than last year, and hopefully a canopy thing to protect me from the sun. Wish me luck folks, I really want to do this!

Crafting Goals for May / WIP Photos

Alrighty, so this morning I stumbled upon a thread at Crochetville that asks what your goals are for May. Well, considering how many WIPs and UFOs I have hanging around, I felt that setting up a few project goals for the month might do me some good, if only to pretend like I'm actually getting stuff done *lol* So, here are my crochet goals for this month:

1. Finish the belly bean's afghan
2. Finish my brother's afghan
3. Finish the "Lacy Sleeveless Top" in time for the hubby's swearing in ceremoney (June 2nd)
5. Finish DD's kitty ear hat (which has been sitting unfinished since last October)
4. Start and complete at least three, maybe four or even five FO's for my online store
5. Start at least one more large Christmas gift

And, because I promised WIP photos of my major projects, here you go. The first is the afghan I'm doing for my youngest brother, either for his birthday or for Christmas (haven't decided yet). It's just a simple rectangle granny square afghan, in black WW acrylic.

The next is the pile of granny squares that will, soon hopefully, become my belly bean's afghan. It's going to be small, just enough to cover him/her in the car seat or stroller. I finished the last of the green squares last night, so all I have left are 12 pink and 4 blue, then to stitch them all together - which I have never done before, so hopefully it works out.

And finally, my Lacy Sleeveless Top. I'm finding the fabric is a bit thick and stiff, but hopefully a little washing and fabric softener will help. I hope to have this done by the time Hubby's swearing in for the army rolls around, I'd love to wear it to that. I'm on repeat 6 of the torso pattern, have to do 14. Then the bust and trim and whatnot.

And a close up of the pattern:

New Photos!

I *finally* got around to taking new photos for some of the items in my shop. Having decided new baby = need for more money, I'm going to push ahead and do what I can to get my Etsy shop going. As such, I need to improve my photographs to make my products more appealing. While these aren't perfect, they're better than they were. If the sun would ever come out here and things warmed up, I'd go and do a bunch outside. Anyway, here are a few items that are already listed:

And over the winter, I managed to finish a couple scarves that never made it to my shop, so as soon as I finish relisting my expired items, I'll post these:

This one is two strands held together of wool/acrylic yarns. It is really long, thick and warm.

This one is really soft acrylic, one strand. Long enough for at least two times around one's neck.

And no, I still haven't gotten around to taking in progress photos *lol* But I'm on repeat 6 of the top, and I only have 6 squares of green left to make for the baby blanket. Wewt!

WIPs

Well, I had a brain fart moment and forgot my login for my blog -_- Durrrr... anyway, news: I found my camera! Which means, Work-In-Progress photos will be coming very, very soon, I promise! I am one quarter of the way into the green squares for my belly bean's blanket, and around round 14 of my brother's afghan. Wewt, they're coming along!

As well, I decided I *had* to make a piece of clothing for both my daughter and myself. So, I found a pattern to use for each - a simple one I can tailor to fit my daughter, and a similar one that's in the Family Circle Easy Crochet Spring 2007 issue - Lacy Sleeveless Top. I'm doing mine in Eco-Fil, a recycled cotton/acrylic blend yarn, in a really lovely purple colour. It's so yummy! And Kenz's will be in Bernat Softee Baby in a purple/green/blue verigated colour. I've gotten through two pattern repeats on my top for the body section, only 12 more to go, *lol*. So far it's really pretty, although I'm not sure if I'll be able to wear it without a cami underneath, it's very lacy.

So, yes, watch for WIP photos, they'll be coming very soon, promise!

Works in Progress

So, first post in a new blog. I don't have any finished projects to show off, so I guess I'll go over what I'm working on right now.

Currently, I have two projects I'm actively working on: a baby blanket for my belly bean, constructed of granny squares in blue, purple, green, and pink Bernat Baby Coordinates, and it will be crocheted together using white yarn, and a rectangular granny square afghan in black WW acrylic yarn for my youngest brother's birthday in June. I know, a blanket seems counter intuitive, but I'd like to give all my family members an afghan, so I might as well start with the soonest occasion.

I'm also in the process of planning birthday/Christmas gifts for the rest of my large family. I won't have a lot of extra cash come Christmas time, as I expect we'll be moving on base some time in the late fall/early winter and will need to purchase furniture and the like. So, I'm going to try and make a lot of gifts. So far, I have the following items planned:

Birthdays:
Alex (brother #2) - Black granny square blanket
Steven (brother #1) - Book thong + novel
Mackenzie (dd) - Animal Ear Hat
Kayla (sister) - Messenger Bag - black, green
Alex (hubby) - Penguin Amigurumi

Christmas:
Mom - Rectangular granny square afghan - black, teal, rose pink, hunter green, burgundy
Nick (bff) - Rectangular granny square afghan - mixed colours
Alex (hubby) - Round Ripple Afghan, army green, camoflauge, black
Mackenzie (dd) - Barbie clothes, Cabbage Patch clothes

I have a lot more that need to be decided on, but it's a start at least. All the afghans will need a LOT of time to complete, so I really need to get going. It's going to be a busy few months!