Child's Play

Wheee!! Today was a fun day for me. I needed to dye some fabric to make unpaper towels and before I knew it, I was getting rather crazy! It took some hussling on my part to be able to do all the steps involved in the process while watching 6 kiddos, my 5 plus my niece. Phew - a hard day's work but it was awesome to be able to create and to see the results.

The formula for today's creative fun was 4 vintage linen tablecloths and a bunch of napkins (that I had intended on selling a while back,) 5 different colors of fiber reactive dye, swimming pool chemicals and water = pure gorgeousness. This one turned out soooo fabulous. I think I'm keeping it!

I had to use the kids' swingset to set this one up the way I wanted. The color is still setting so I won't know the results until tomorrow! I can't wait.

I also did a bunch of other ones that aren't pictured because they are in various stages of completion. I'll post more pics tomorrow!

New Friends!

I found there was a group of Esty sellers right in my area. I was accepted into their group. yeah! And the funny part....I know one of the new ladies who just joined the group! It's a small world.

http://etsyteamnfcr.blogspot.com/

Malabrigo, Baby!

Today was a good mail day. :D

10 skeins of natural malabrigo
2 skeins of geranio
10 skeins of oceanos which is so freakin pretty it makes me cry!

Yep, 22 skeins of yarn. Mmmm.malabrigo no less. And I have no idea where to begin. The blue was sorta supposed to be for a sweater for dh. But now that I have it...I was something for myself! Maybe he can get gloves and a scarf?? Right?

I bought the natural to dye...but I'm not feeling like that right now. I may sell it to help me raise money for my next obsession!

The Dark Side of a Crafty Business

I love to sew. I love to create. I love to make something and show it to everyone in sight, children included, and say 'Look what I made!!!' And when they gush and tell me how fabulous it is, that just makes me feel all warm and toasty inside.

So that's where my passion is...in the creating part. And selling? That's fun, too. Seeing that someone purchased something from my Etsy store, or from eBay or a 'For Sale or Trade' bulletin board or even from real life friend...all good stuff. But the part that I don't like is taking photos and actually getting my items in a place where people can actually see them...so that they can buy. I struggle with background choices and lighting. I can tell you that you will never, ever see my items photographed on a dirty carpet or with a cluttered room in the background. (Hey, not that there's not plenty of cluttered here...you just won't see it!) Every once in a while, I take a picture and I think, 'That's it! Perfect.' But mostly I just say...'Oh hell, I'll never get these listed if I retake the photos yet again. So my main goal is to get stuff listed...and quickly.

So last night, I spent in excess of 5 hours taking photos, inventory-ing my lunch napkin stock after I sold a bunch outside of my store and listing my latest round of products from my sew-a-thon. More then 5 hours! And that was kid-free time because they were in bed. If I had tried to do it during the day, it would have been a 10+ hour job. And somewhere in the back of my mind is this nagging suspicion that if I were a serious businesswoman, then my prices would be high enough to cover all the non-creating time which they definitely don't. I think I'm OK with it at this point because I am mainly motivated to move the fabric that has been taking up space in my studio. And I get the pleasure of changing pace and creating something totally different depending on which piece of fabric I am touching and what it says to me. I like that. It's what being creative means to me.

So today I have 53 items in my store. I thought I was all done until I found my box of knitting project bags. Oops! I gotta get those up today.

I'm a woman on a mission...I want to buy something completely frivolous and unnecessary...and I want it NOW. ;)

How a $1 deal turns into a $1000 want

This is going to be quick because we are heading to a playdate in mere minutes!

I had to go to Jo-ann's on Labor Day...looking for the perfect fairy princess flannel for a customer. On the way there, I passed signs that our favorite thrift store was having a big 50% off everything in the store. Lucky for me, I just had my middle daughter with me and she's a good shopping sport. We got there 15 minutes before they closed. I tore through the store looking for size 14 (girls) jeans for my oldest and for size 6 or 7 jeans for my oldest son. I would have also looked for jeans for my middle daughter but we ran out of time. Somewhere along the way, my dd spotted a box.....a box incasing some sort of plastic junk, I was sure.

It contained this beauty...



The box was marked $1.99 (and would be half off that) but it was all sealed up by the thrift store folks so we had no idea what it contained or if it even worked. I ended up getting a huge bag full of clothes and the button maker for $25.

At Jo-ann's, we looked for a button refill pack...that they amazingly had but in a different brand. It looked to be the right size so I bought it ($7.99, I think) and hoped for the best.

We got home and have been having a blast with our little button maker. And not just my daughters. We did one of a yoda's eyeball from the Happy Meal box for my middle son and some pirates of the caribbean images for my oldest son. It's not perfect and some of the buttons don't turn out right for some reason or another.

So, I looked online for refill packs...and ended up immersed in a whole new world of button makers. I found a killer deal on a 2.25" button maker and I bought it and then I bought button refills for another site but in the process, I found they had button makers that did fabric covered buttons! And professional button makers and cirle cutting tools and, and, and.....to the tune of over $1000 in wants. {{sigh}} Not going to happen but a girl can dream, right?

So $1 at the thrift store, $7.99 at Jo-ann's and then approx $55 on the larger button maker and 100 refills. LOL