Treasury Jackpot!

These lovely people featured us in their treasuries. Thank you very much

One of a Kind Greeting Cards with Pearl Earrings

These are one of a kind greeting cards with pearl earrings that are a first is our Boutique Signature Series. Each outfit is designed by us and created out of satin material. The cards are made with sterling silver and cultured freshwater pearls. The background paper of each card is pieces of wallpaper. We are very focused on creating a beautiful gift and card that can be treasured and used for anniversary, birthday's, congratulations or just because. Each card is like a work of art and is signed and dated on the back. You will not find another one like this.

The Entire World at 5 Years Old

I Just had to share this photo of my son who just turned five this month. He was trying to skate board down our road and wasn't going fast enough and ended up just sitting down. It was such a great shot and I am glad I got it. It just captures him.

Etsy Treasury Poster

They are doing a contest for a advertisement poster on Etsy and this is the treasury group I entered. I am so happy with the way it turned out and I just love being able to feature great sellers on Etsy. I don't know what I would do if we got picked but boy would that be fun!

We Got Interviewed

We got interviewed by a fellow seller Sewbettie on Etsy and it was a lot of fun. She asked great questions and did a wonderful job of putting it together. You can read our interview at http://www.bettie.typepad.com/.

Treasury Love on Etsy

I am in love with Treasuries on Etsy. I feel like I won the lottery when I get to make one. I always sit here anxiously waiting for the little box to pop up so I can fill in my Title and start sharing all the great people I find on Etsy. I usually get them out of my Favorites and they also just happen. I don't usually have a plan. I met some nice people recently and I wanted to showcase there work. I ended up doing a purplish silver theme and I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I also get really excited when I land in a treasury. The gold star makes me smile. I have added a link to get to this Treasury, it will be good for a few more days if you want to post a comment.

Halloween Is Just Around the Corner

Here is a set of cards that I just listed on Etsy for the upcoming Halloween Holiday. These were a lot of fun to make. I stamped the Trick or Treat and then embellished the card with a black glitter pen by adding stars and spider webs

Crafting through the Generations

I recently was talking to my Uncle and we were discussing parenting. I wrote to him that “Parenting is a constant exploration in emotions for me. My kids crack me up daily, frustrate me endlessly and make my heart grow bigger everyday”.

Well yesterday my 6 year old son gets up and asks if he can have a glass container. Of course, it being glass I ask why and he says “I want to make something”. I am very curious at this point and want to know what he is making. He says that he would like to make it by himself and can he have some glue and go down to our craft cabin. He is a very responsible little boy and very serious when he is creating so I let him. We end up needing to go into town so we hit the craft store and the dollar store. He very sweetly asks for more supplies and we get him a very inexpensive glass container, plastic jewels and a bag of shells. When we get home he goes straight back to the craft cabin and asks to be left alone again. I can’t wait to see what has happened and what he has made. About ½ an hour later he announces that we can all go in and see what he has done. He can’t bring them to us because the glue isn’t dry yet. We go in and see and he has created to glass scenes with shells and colored sand on the inside and jewels glued to the outside. One of them has a fish he cut out from a toy wrapper that he glued to the outside of one of the glasses. He has also created a sunset picture out of colored sand. My heart just got bigger. I just love it when he lets his creativity flow and that every little thing he picks up he thinks of something to do with it.
My youngest son just turned 5 over the weekend and he lets his creativity flow threw when you hand him a piece of clay. He loves to create new people, aliens, transformers and anything he can battle with his existing toys. Play Dough used to be a favorite when they were younger but it dries out to fast and ended in the carpet. Now he has his own clay board and we share the Fimo clay with him. Sometimes he likes to cook his creations but mostly he just makes one, plays with it a while and then starts over with another one. He makes his people with all their parts and very proportionately. He is very energetic and incredible adventurous but with a piece of clay he can sit and play for hours. It is like it transforms him. I feel that he is just in his element and I think as the years go by my boys will continue to amaze me in all aspects of life.

A Night on the Town

I just finished the design on this card and I am thrilled with the results. I designed the women and then had a blast designing some evening wear for her when she has on some fabulous earrings we made. This is going to be the first in a serious of designer outfits for cards we are making

I Just Love The Etsy Community

I came across this wonderful post about helping spread the word about Etsy and discovered this wonderful person trying to help promote the entire site and what it represents to all of us as a hand crafting community. This is what makes me so happy to be part of Etsy. It is not just a site to sell but a whole environment that promotes a better business and better life and a better human being. So here is the whole post from Fearlessfibers who wrote everything so nicely.


Help Spread the Word

Today, I want to talk about something a bit different than my usual knitting and yarn content. I want to talk to you about Etsy and to ask for your help with something.

As many of you probably already know, Etsy is a selling venue for items that are handcrafted. Most of you know Etsy for the hand dyed and handspun yarn, but Etsy is full of amazing shops that sell everything from art to pottery to purses to clothing to jewelry to paper goods to . . . well, you get the idea! The list could go on and on. If a mind can conceive it and a person can create it, you’ll likely find it somewhere on Etsy.

Etsy’s tagline is “Your place to buy & sell all things handmade” but the vision behind Etsy goes beyond that. When Etsy drafted their “Do’s and Don’ts” for buying and selling on Etsy, the original draft included a preamble that talked about the vision of creating a marketplace where there is a connection between buyer and seller. It referenced days past when the items people purchased were often purchased directly from the hands that made them. This vision appeals to me enormously. Although there is certainly a vital place in our world today for mass-produced goods, the idea of purchasing some of our goods directly from the maker is wonderful.

I’ve been selling on Etsy now for over a year and I can personally attest to the satisfaction and joy that this relationship between buyer and seller has brought to me. My customers are more than customers to me. They are very real people, infinitely human, full of kindness and spirit, sharing a common passion for yarn and fiber arts. The day to day interaction we have is a wonderful and unexpected gift that has added something meaningful to my life. I am extraordinarily grateful to the mad geniuses behind Etsy for bringing the venue to life.

Etsy is still a very new venture, but it is thriving and growing and I want to see that continue. This got me to thinking about what more I can do to help with that, not for my shop specifically but for Etsy as a whole. I want to do my part to give back to the Etsy creators, owners and staff, as well as to the amazing community of artisans with shops on Etsy. That’s where this post comes in. And that’s where you come in.

Today, I would like to ask that any of you who have blogs consider posting a little something about Etsy. This is not a request that you talk about my shop, but simply that you join me in shouting to the online world that Etsy exists and is all about a good thing. It’s a venue that is providing an amazing opportunity for artisans to reach the world and share their work. It’s a venue that allows buyers a connection and interaction with the talented people making the goods sold there. It’s a place of innovation and enlightenment, forward thinking, care and concern about the environment, and appreciation of the value of human ingenuity and the creative process.

If you have a blog, this post is my request to you that you take a moment and tell your readers about Etsy and perhaps also ask that your readers join in and spread the word as well. Feel free to use any of what I’ve posted here or a link to this post if you find it worth repeating. If some of you choose to do this and some of your blog readers take up the cry as well, a chain can begin and we can do a great deal to spread the word in a short space of time.

Perhaps this is not something you’re interested in doing. I entirely understand that! But if you have found that the Etsy venue and the connections you’ve made with some of us who sell there have brought some small but positive addition to your life, I ask that you consider helping to spread the word. I know that many of you regularly mention Etsy sellers in your blogs, but this is a bit different. This is a more generalized shout to the world that Etsy is a place worth visiting and it is a specific request that others help spread the word. If you don’t have a blog, but would like to help spread the word, perhaps you could make a point of telling a few folks about Etsy who may not already know.

If you choose to take me up on this request and post something on your blog, please do drop a comment here. I’d love to pop over and see your posts and learn more about how all of you view Etsy.

My apologies for the off-knitting-topic post! I hope you don’t take this post as just an “advertisement”! I am posting this not to spread the word about my shop, but to do my small part in contributing to spreading the word about Etsy. It’s just my small way of giving back to the Etsy community that has brought so much to me.