Has it really been that long?

I guess it has... I did the same thing to my diary in junior high - wrote in it sporadically. Oh well!

Anyway, among this heat wave, the fall fashion season is upon us...









yeah, that's what I said! I just figured out the hot pink crab and I haven't even listed it yet! Maybe it will be a Beach-For-Christmas instead of a Christmas-in-July thing...


I mean, I get that Back-To-School is approaching (much faster in some parts of the country then here where we start after Labor Day).


And immediately following that is Halloween and Thanksgiving...




but who the heck is going to buy a ski hat when the heat index 128 degrees Fahrenheit? Hopefully one of my lovely readers, of course! Gotta favorite color scheme?

Internet Sales and Taxes

Okay, today, I'm not writing a fluffy craft piece (b/c we all know that I'm so good about writing those regularly). Today is the 4th of July, Independence Day and I'm writing something a bit more - um - political - yeah, that's a good word for it.

The internet is a great marketplace - you can find what you want at the best price and have it shipped to you without getting out of your PJ's or at 2 AM! But with our government in financial distress (National debt ceiling will be reached Aug 2), they are looking for ways to boost revenues through manipulation of various tax laws. This isn't just happening on the National front. Take for example, state sales tax. Now I know that the whole Boston Tea Party thingy was about the stamp tax on tea so sales tax has been around for a LONG time and it sort of makes rational sense (although I can see it as also taxing money twice since that money was taxed as income already).

So with that thought, how do you get around paying sales tax? Buy something from a merchant that does not have a physical presence within your state. uh... well, that's not all together true - you aren't subject to sales tax upon payment but you actually ARE supposed to pay a tax on those items. It's called Use Tax. It is only very recently that I have figured out what it is when TurboTax asks me about it. Basically, this varies state to state a little bit but you should keep track of everything you buy out of state - whether online or while traveling and record any taxes you pay on those purchases. If you did not pay taxes on an item, you are responsible for paying use tax (which is generally equal to sales tax) to your state on your annual tax return. If you did pay sales tax on an item, you owe your state the difference if your state charges more tax than where you bought it. However, this tax isn't well-enforced and most people just plain don't know about it. More info and some tax remittance forms are available on GoTo's blog

Here's the kicker now - Some states want to apply sales tax to internet purchases made out of state to in-state businesses. California is the most vocal about pushing it through but they aren't alone in exploring this. Will this help increase revenues? I'm sure it will. Is this a good solution? Is it fair? I'm not sure about that.

There is another movement called Streamlined Sales Tax Project thathttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif seeks to unify tax rules and definitions across the states. This seems a bit like Canada's HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) which Canadian Etsy sellers say is fairly easy to do. Hmmm... much to think about! Now, to keep track of my online purchases so I can comply with Use Taxes...

Happy 4th of July!

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!