Brace yourselves!

Guess who's got a new item in her Etsy shop??

No, really, guess . . .
I'm waiting . . .

Okay, fine - some people like guessing games you know. . . but obviously you're not one of them so I'll just go ahead and tell you.

It's me!
 

I've actually got 5 new items in the shop. Granted, they're all variations of the same product but hey, progress has been made!

I think they're adorable and would be a perfect gift for a soon to be mom or someone who just really likes animals that wear hats, or shirts with no pants, or overalls with no shirts - what the hell?!

Really I'd like to think that anyone who enjoys vintage children's book illustrations would like one of these cute little keychains.

 I'm glad I finally found a use for some of the older vintage books I've picked up at garage sales and flea markets. These weren't in the best of shape but since the images are small I was able to rescue and preserve some of them on these little wooden cubes.

Click my Etsy link on the side to check them out in the shop if you'd like.

Stop the presses! New item in the shop!

There is reason to celebrate folks - I've finally completed a project and have listed it in the shop.  It's been a pretty long dry spell but it's finally been broken.

Here's the crocheted blanket I hinted about a couple posts ago:

You can check it out in the shop here.

New Stuff!

I've put a couple new items in the shop. The first is a set of flashcards I made from repurposing an old children's book.

I laminated them for durability. See the listing here.

My other listing isn't brand new, but a bit of a redesign of one of my best selling items. It's my retro inspired gift tag collection.

I've taken out some of the old tags and added in some even snarkier ones.

I've also made the listing so that you can order the full set or a set of 10 and you can customize which tags you want.

My favorite part of doing the photo shoot for these tags was getting to utilize my vintage costume jewelry colleciton.




And this sweet vintage flocked deer I got at the flea market.

Check out the listings in my shop.

Is that 100% all natural love or a poly blend love?

I was Pouncing on Etsy the other day. I love Pounce by the way - if you’ve never done it you should try it. It’s a great way to see what’s new and what’s selling and it’s a much more productive use of your time than trolling the internet for pictures of Robert Pattinson without his shirt on. Not that I ever do such a thing.

Um . . . anyway . . . I came across an item that caught my fancy so I clicked on it and checked out the description and I was curious as to exactly what type of fabric it was made out of so I checked the Materials listing. And wouldn’t you know it, the thing was made with Love.

Yep, “Love” was listed as a Material. Now after I threw up in my mouth a little bit I decided to do a little research to see just how many people are out there drinking rainbow juice while stroking their fuzzy flocked unicorn figurine collection and listing “Love” as a material on their Etsy listings.

The result: 93,849. And no, they weren’t all tie dyed items either, though there were quite a few of those.

Okay, I get it. These are handmade items and we all love what we’re doing and what we’re making that’s why we’re making them. We put our time and hearts into these items but really, it’s still a business. Can’t we be a little professional? Let’s save the cutesy stuff for the description area or something. Do we really need to list “love”, “fantasy” and “karma” as Materials used in the making of our products. Are we 12?

Call me a grouch, or a killjoy or whatever but it’s just really annoying and ridiculous to me and if I ever get an inclination to buy something off Etsy and they have “love” listed as a material, I’m going to just say no. That’s just me.

I’m going to go punch a unicorn figurine now . . . and then Google “Robert Pattinson shirtless”

She's a Maniac, Maniac on the Floor

Finally - I've got a new item in the shop!

Isn't she just adorable? She's made from the Sammie the Sock Monster pattern from Danger Crafts but I thought instead of socks she could rock out some awesome leg warmers instead.

I am a child of the 80's you know and her little leg warmers remind me of the heyday of legwarmers - and my introduction to them in the movie Flashdance. Every time I look at her it's like I'm reliving scenes from the movie all over again. Except of course that she's not a welder supplementing her income by choreographing and performing elaborate shower scenes at a local strip club all while harboring dreams of enrolling at Julliard.

She's just a sweet little monster with long cold legs that need some covering. Maybe I should have fashioned her a little sweatshirt with the collar cut out so one shoulder would be exposed. Nah, that would have been overkill.

Fruit Fetish

I'm busy making some new stuff for the shop. Okay, not really. I'm busy thinking about making some new stuff for the shop when in reality I've hit a crafting block. Have no fear, I shall overcome.

In the meantime I've listed some vintage items in the shop and quite frankly I'm surprised they haven't sold yet because these are some high quality items - if you have a thing for fruit.

I mean, check out these fabulous vintage patterns!

Do you have a strong and unhealthy desire to be the next member of the Fruit of the Loom spokesperson group? This pattern could be your first step in the right direction. They've already got the grapes so that's out - but consider the watermelon or the strawberry! You'd be a shoe-in. What about the tomato? I mean they allow that leaf guy in there, why not a tomato. Sure some people consider it a vegetable but botanically speaking it is classified as a fruit.

My favorite though has got to be this 1988 California Raisin pattern. This thing just screams class.

You know I've had this pattern for quite some time (it wasn't mine originally I found it at a sale) and it took a lot of willpower for me to finally give it up. I used to have the little raisin figurines and all that jazz and this costume pattern brought back a lot of memories. Strange but wonderful 80's memories.

I debated this past Halloween on making my own raisin costume from this pattern, but in the end decided that even dressing as a dehydrated fruit would probably still make my ass look big.

Little Big Time

Recently something very exciting happened concerning my little craft shop. I didn’t write about it as it unfolded, mostly because I was afraid I was really going to screw it up and I didn’t want to build it up on here only to be embarrassed about how bad I sucked.

However, now that it has come and gone and I didn’t make a complete fool of myself, I can share it with you. It started with an e-mail from a local TV producer. She had recently joined Etsy and was impressed with the site and the stuff on it. She did a Shop Local search and out of all the fabulously talented crafters in my city, she chose me to approach about doing a spot on their Saturday morning newscast.

I was completely flattered and completely nervous but I went for it and I appeared on the local morning news on Oct. 24 for approximately 3 minutes. If I could add up the amount of time I spent preparing, stressing, shopping and blubbering about that 3 minutes it would be an astronomical number.

In the end I ended up with a new outfit, a little more self confidence, a mother who enjoys asking people if they saw her daughter on TV and a tiny amount of free local marketing. I’d say it was a win-win situation.

Their focus was on Etsy as a way to earn extra money. I was able to bring some items to showcase and I was told they would put my web address up at the end but they just showed the generic Etsy address which was a disappointment, but I’m not complaining.

Here’s the interview if anyone is interested. I recorded this from my DVR last night and quite frankly it took this long to build up the nerve to watch it. I don’t think anybody enjoys watching themselves on TV and especially someone like me who avoids any reflective surface as a general rule. However, at some point you’ve got to embrace yourself as you are.

I'm still alive!

It's been a while since I last posted and no, I haven't been incarcerated for moss thievery, but that's only because I have yet to be caught!

Things have just been a little crazy around here due to the start of the school year and the soccer season and all. My son has been in kindergarten for only 2 weeks and has already infected me with a horrendous cold so I'm battling that as well.

However, there has been some crafting. I scrounged through my scrap paper and whipped out some new clothespin magnets that I've listed in the shop.

I've also renewed some of my Halloween items since the holiday is fast approaching.

I've got some more projects in the works and as soon as I gain the use of both my nasal passages, I might actually make some progress.

Flat bottom zippered pouch tutorial

I'm all about upcycling lately – that’s the fresh new term for re-purposing something into something else, right? I hope that’s the case or else I’ll just come off like some pathetic out of touch mom who says things like “dealio” and “foshizzle” to try and sound cool.

Anyway, I recently stumbled across this old casserole cozy that my friend had at her garage sale. I just loved the funky fabric and I couldn’t bear for it be donated or thrown out so I nabbed it with the intent of upcycling it into something fabulous.

And here is the something fabulous.

At least I think they’re pretty cute. They’re in my Etsy shop if anyone finds them irresistible, but I also thought that I could share how I made them in case anyone wanted to whip out something similar for themselves.

Materials:
Fabric: The amount depends on the size of pouch you want. You’ll need two pieces of your outer fabric and two pieces for the lining

Interfacing: I used a lightweight fusible interfacing. You’ll want something light so your bag isn’t too stiff. Fusible is easier to work with but not necessary.

Zipper: any kind, just make sure the length is slightly longer than the size of your pouch. I used a 7 inch polyester zipper

Basic sewing supplies: thread, scissors, sewing machine, iron etc.

Step 1: Cut your fabric and interfacing
I was limited in size by the amount of fabric I had, but you can make your pouch as small or as large as you want. I cut 2 pieces of 5 1/2” by 6” fabric for the exterior and 2 pieces of the same size for the lining.

Cut two pieces of your interfacing in the same dimensions. Attach the interfacing to the wrong side of your outer fabric (if you do not use fusible interfacing, do this by sewing it on with a scant seam).

Step 2: sew fabric onto the zipper.
Place the lining right side up on your table and lay the zipper on top of it, aligning the edges.

Then place your outer fabric (with interfacing attached) right side down, on top of the zipper, aligning the edges.

Using a zipper foot sew all layers together. You’ll want your seam to be approximately ¼” from the teeth of the zipper.

Once you’re done sewing, fold the layers back from the zipper and press with an iron for a nice clean edge. Then return to the sewing machine and make a nice top stitch.
Repeat for the other side.

Step 3: where it gets tricky, but not really

Now we’re going to trap all those nasty little raw edges so that they won’t show on either the exterior or interior of our bag.

Pull the zipper pull to the middle, we don’t want to exclude it from our bag, and fold your fabric so that the right sides of the exterior fabric are together, and the right sides of the lining fabric are together. Line up the top edges. The the zipper should be toward the lining fabric.

Note: If you want to add a wrist strap, as I did to one of my pouches, now would be the time to sandwich it in between your two exterior fabrics.

I prefer to start sewing at the zipper (just to make sure everything is aligned) then sew down the side of the exterior fabric, across the bottom, up the other side, across the zipper and onto the lining.

Sew the lining pieces together but be sure to leave an ample sized opening at the bottom to turn the pouch later on. See below, the area between the pins is open. Here’s what it should look like when you’re done sewing. Clip the ends of your zipper off as close to the seam as possible.

Now at this point you could turn the bag right side out, seam up the opening and have yourself a lovely little pouch our coin purse, but I wanted mine to sit up instead of lay flat and to do that we have another step.

Step 4: Making your pouch sit up and behave

Using a ruler, or just by eyeballing it, mark and cut out a square of fabric in each corner of your lining and exterior fabric. I did a one inch square for mine but if your bag is larger/smaller you should make your cutout larger or smaller respectively.

Pull the two pieces of fabric apart and align the seams of the side and bottom. Sew along the cut edge. Repeat until all corners have been sewn.

Turn the lining down over the rest of the pouch and close up the opening either by machine or by hand.

Now turn the bag right side out, Push out your corners so they’re nice and crisp and you’re done!
I hope you found this helpful. Shoot me an email with any questions.

Going Vintage

I’m no antique dealer but I do enjoy going to antique stores and I adore a good garage sale or flea market and so over the years I’ve accumulated quite a few interesting vintage items. Most of them I’ve put to good use in my home either decoratively or in a utilitarian way but as my tastes and décor change and as I accumulate even more things it sometimes becomes necessary to clean things out.

I couldn’t bear to give these items to Goodwill and after putting on 3 very tedious and disappointing garage sales in the last few years and vowing to myself after each and every one never to do it again, I think I’ve finally convinced myself. So since Ebay annoys me I’ve decided to take advantage of Etsy’s vintage category and place some items in my shop.

They’re all things that are either from my childhood, like this Smurf license plate or things my parents have purged me from their extensive collections of oddities. Some are items I purchased to use in my home and have tired of.

The hardest part I’m finding is determining price. I don’t know how much to ask for an old Shirt Tales lunchbox or an ashtray in the shape of a toilet and for some of the more obscure items like a vinyl E.T. costume it’s hard to find anything comparable online to even get an idea on pricing.

I mean, what would you pay for a set of the Blue Falcon Crazy Eights cards?

So I just did my best through research and guessing to come up with what I hope is fair pricing and I’m crossing my fingers that no one with a nervous constitution and a weak heart views that E.T. costume because that thing is just freaky!

Vote Early - Vote Often!

I'm so excited! One of my items (The Dieter's Friend Snack Clips) has been selected for the April Fools Pranks & Gags item poll on the Storque!

What does that mean? It means that if my item gets enough votes it will be featured in the Gift Guide and on the Etsy blog!

Considering the multitude of wonderful items on Etsy I consider it a great honor to even have my product noticed.


So if you've got a spare moment please click on the link below and cast your vote! Of course you don't have to vote for my item - I mean it would be the nice thing to do, but you know, no pressure or anything.

http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=36