Summer product - Cozy!

Okay, I have no idea how to spell it and the more I search for a standard, the more I realize that there isn't one - maybe it's regional or maybe not - anyway, here's a picture of my latest product only available this summer - water bottle koozie kozy koozy coozie cozie cozy sleeve:



Also, I have hot pink, bright blue and neon green "sleeves" available - I'm working on getting flowers and bows to match these colors (yay! a trip to JoAnn's!)

More Fabric Flowers (b/c I don't have enough variety)

My sister is getting married! Yay! and I even like my soon-to-be brother-in-law, popped collar, colored jeans and all (yes, he's much more fashion-y than I am)! So while the bride-to-be (henceforth: B2B) was studying for final exams for her LAST semester of grad school (congrats to the Wagner grad!!), my other sister, my mom and I went to a local bridal show. Somehow B2B got a year subscription to Brides magazine (hehe). So yesterday, I get a notecard in the mail from NYC with a page from the May 2011 magazine enclosed (I know you're thinking, "You get real mail?" yup!


Woohoo! Boutonnieres! and I can make most of them!


So here's the tutorial:
First, cut out 5 squares of fabric. Heat up iron and get out the starch!






Next, spray the squares with starch and press in half.


Fold up the tips to form a smaller square.





Open the triangles and press them out.






Tuck the tips in.







Fold the triangles back into the center to re-make the square.




Fold the square in half.



Stick needle thru the tip - make sure to get all the layers!



Repeat and add to the same needle









Stick a second needle and thread thru the bottom of the flower.




Pull both threads snug and (separately) knot tightly (I use a surgeon's knot).


Turn the creation around, shape, fluff and VOILA!


I haven't figured out how to mount the above to the clips so they look nice but these here are now available in my Etsy Shop.





oh, and don't let your kids do you manicure the day before you take pictures for a tutorial. It's so -yeah- that even the camera didn't want to focus on it!

Recycled Art

Earth Day was last week and my daugther's 1st grade class is putting on a recycled art project. She wanted to use plastic stuff from the recycling bin to make a cow so I bought some not so environmentally friendly glue (ahem - epoxy, not glue)- E6000. It's a VOC (volatile organic chemical - I'm letting my previous life as a lab rat out) and pretty much indestructible and doesn't decay over time. People use it to hold countertops on. Perhaps it was overkill but it's holding!

I tried really hard to let her do it herself but as it's due tomorrow and she was only making a mess by pulling things out of the recycling bin and putting it in a pile for the last 10 days, I decided to help her. We started with a plastic (#1 PETE aka polyethylene terephthalate) strawberry container for the body...



and cut out 4 "legs" from an egg carton (also #1 PETE aka polyethylene terephthalate).



Then we used a crushed Pepsi can (Aluminum) for the neck.



Strung the tabs from some soda cans (aluminum on several pieces of yarn (acrylic) and attached it to the body.


She then begged me to go to the store to buy AquaPods for the head. Um... no... this is a recycling project, not a collect art supplies project - use what we have. So I cut a waterbottle (also #1 PETE aka polyethylene terephthalate) that she had taken on a field trip last week in half and she got to choose what side she'd use for the head and we used a Coke can for the horns. This, of course, makes the head side heavy so we put a bag of rice in it to keep it standing up. I would have used a recycled piece of muslin for the bag but Emily doesn't have the sewing skills to pull that one off so we used a baggie that had something non-food in it previously (I keep these around for my supplies - appliques, buttons, half-finished projects).



We got it all expoxied together last night (has to sit without touching anything for 2-10 minutes and then held together for about 10 minutes and it stinks to high heaven - I still have a headache from it 15 hours later) and let it cure overnight. We have to paint it (or maybe paper mache!) tonight.

This morning, Emily says to me, "That doesn't look like horns Mommy!". oh well! I actually think it looks like a cat. Maybe I can convince her to grab some ribbon from my scrap pile and put a bow on top!

So that's why I haven't added anything new to get to 100 listings on Etsy - I'm at 98 listings! Come and visit to see my latest - kanzashi roses


UPDATE! Emily decided that it does, in fact, look more like a cat and she "pennted" (painted) her pink and named her Kitty the Cat!

more crochet

Hairbows aren't exactly the more "take with you" craft you can find. Actually, the thought of using my hot glue gun in the car is tempting but I'm afraid that the leak we can't pinpoint might short it out and I'd have to buy yet another glue gun (on #3 since Christmas...) not to mention that a short stop might cause a burn... and can you imagine using some E6000 and getting stuck to the car... that's my luck! I do cut ribbon in advance and sew the bows up while I'm out but the more complicated ones need a bit of glue in the middle of the process (or the whole darn thing!).

So I've been bringing my crochet with me. Last time I posted (cough, cough, it wasn't that long ago, cough, cough), I showed you the "Nana" pattern that I created. I'm attempting to get that into good form and sell the pattern - it's coming along but I need to take pictures as I go. I bought this one pattern that used a contrasting color to point to the instructions - I like this and will employ it as it was thoroughly helpful. I also showed the "PopPop" hat that I made for A's gymnastics teacher's new baby boy - not sure I can sell it - definitely not as a pattern since I (rather substantially) modified a pattern rather than create my own - but I'm working on developing my own version.









No, what I've done today is take white yarn to a farm the day after a heavy rain storm... I made a tried and true baby bonnet for spring/Easter/Baptism.

What's left now? Making this brimmed one again and prepping to sell it... I bought the pattern and know that I can use it but I remember that she had specific wording that I needed to use in order to sell.

Contest!

So I've been doing some crocheting a bit lately - enough to begin creating patterns (far from being anywhere near complete - they're written, but they need to be tested -I already found one mistake, I mean, feature, I need to take step by step photographs and I need to create PDFs of them). But enough with work - I had fun with these so I entered them in a contest sponsored by a fellow Etsian Kathy's Lace & Elastic Outlet (contest is through Kathy's Yahoo! group). From the contest rules:

Rules of engagement: Made with textiles of your choosing
the article can be anything from a stuffed animal to
an evening purse, crocheted hat or pair of yoga pants. Just gotta be
fun. Remember the clue. :-)

So I prettied up the hat that was I was working on a pattern for and made a second "grandpa" style hat (modified a pattern) and entered them as "Nana & PopPop baby hats"

I also included this story: "I was recently helping my mom clean out some boxes left from my grandparent's estate. I came across boxes upon boxes of pictures of them from the 40's and 50's decked out the the extreme! They always looked like they were having a fun so I created the "Nana" hat pattern and then modified a pattern for the "PopPop" hat from an adult pattern I have. After the contest ends, I will be listing these for sale in my etsy shop."
Now, most of you know that my grandparents aren't/weren't "Nana & PopPop" but I thought it sounded more catchy. I will, of course, need to photograph the hats again, perhaps on an actual baby... now where to find a baby who won't mind being photographed for commercial purposes and doesn't charge a lot...

If anyone wants to vote for me, you can join Kathy's Yahoo! group but it's a lot of "shop talk" about making undies!

pinwheel!

So it's cold again... ugh! I like the warm weather and am hoping that it warms up again soon. But today, I'm inside and decided to post a few things - namely double ruffle pinwheel bows. I posted hot pink, purple, light pink and lemon grass (it's a musty green).





Over the weekend, I also posed an organza rosette. I saw a couple of girls at church wearing these and just thought they were the bees knees! I made a pink one and have red and teal ones to make and list.

I'm up to 78 listings! The rumor on the Etsy street teams is that the more listings you have, the more traffic you get. I haven't seen much additional traffic flow but the Etsy forums are full of experienced sellers saying that that traffic is way down!!

Oh, and finally, looking for local craft fairs - if you hear of any, let me know!!

150 views in 36 hours! Woah!

On this one item that has one photo:
I was ecstatic! But where, oh where were these views coming from? This is not the best bow that I've ever done, the photo is mediocre (and I'm being kind - I need to do a photo shoot, this was taken before Anna left for school) and there were no accompanying hearts or purchases. So where was it coming from? Well, turns out, someone on a forum for hair bow makers (not one that I frequent but I am a member over there) liked the applique I was using and wanted to know my supplier (which happened to be the storefront associated with the forum). Turns out, that particular color of the applique is sold out... sigh... so lesson of the moment: views =/= sales...or even hearts...