Finally, a sewing machine!

I've wanted a sewing machine for quite some time now, and I FINALLY managed to get my hands on one. I found it at the local Salvation Army for $30. I set myself up a little sewing area in my living room (my bedroom/craft room/office is already full, so it was the only spot left in the house --- in between the TV and the bookshelf). So far it has been working quite well for me, minus the fact that I'm a little... 'rusty' in the sewing department. However, I've been making tons of zipper pouches for myself and friends, and I'm finally getting myself back into the swing of things. I've spent quite a bit of money on some awesome fabrics, mostly stuff imported from
Japan, and lots of colorful zippers, snaps, buttons, etc. Once I start going, I will hopefully be making a lot, so be sure to start looking for zipper pouches in my shop! I also have a pile of clothes that have been waiting for me to get a sewing machine so they could be fixed but... well, fixing pants is just not nearly as fun as sewing zipper pouches!

I posted a picture of one of my pouches on my Flickr, feel free to judge my awesome skills! I'm making Dave a padded case for his Nintendo DS for Valentine's Day, so I will post pictures of that as soon as I get it done. I'm also going to start trying to come up with a pattern for some of those mini business card wallets that everyone seems to have, and of course I will be making some buttons with some of my scrap pieces of fabric.

I also have ambitious thoughts of making myself and awesome skirt, and a messenger-style sort of purse, but I think I need to stick with the slightly more simple stuff for now...

The best thing for the winter chill...

a sale in an online shop!

With the temperatures here and all over the US being so darn cold, who wants to leave the house to go shopping when you can do it online?

Right now I'm having a "Dead of Winter" sale in my shop -- all pendants are buy 2, get 1 free; and all order of $25 or more will receive free shipping!

You know you want to look ----> Tangerine Sunshine <--- click here!

Hedgehogs, Squirrels, and Mushrooms, oh my!

I'm so excited, I arrived home today to find a package for me in the mail! I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of said package since the day it was shipped out, so I had to control myself to keep from ripping the packaging to shreds to get to the contents.

What is this awesome package, you ask?? What could have me tearing at a brown paper envelope like a madwoman (although I will admit this isn't the first time I've been excited to receive a package in the mail)?

My new wallet!!!!

Isn't she adorable?

I had the awesome Etsy seller TeePetals make her for me as a custom order. I'd been looking for a wallet to fit in my back pocket for awhile now, but I didn't want a plain one like you can find at every department store -- I wanted mine to be AWESOME and UNIQUE! So I found a pattern I liked, and picked out my own fabric, and viola, I have an awesome wallet!

Here's a picture of the inside:


Although it looks pink-ish, the inside fabric is actually a vibrant red that perfectly matches the mushrooms, cherries, and apples on the main fabric.

Of course as soon as I got her unwrapped I proceeded to empty my old wallet and transfer everything to my new one. Now my new wallet is full and ready to go -- I just need to go shopping so I can use her!

(These pictures were taken from the listing on Etsy -- sorry I can't post any pictures of my own, my camera is on the fritz right now)

Winners!

I am happy to announce the winners of my "Critique me and win!" giveaway:

1st place, winner of the Devil Ducky earrings, is SpotlightDesigns
2nd place, winner of the Matchbook notepads, is BeaconBookmarks
3rd place, winner of the button bobbies, is anniepoo

I will be contacting the winners today and mailing out their prizes this week! Congratulations to everyone, and thank you to everyone who participated! I got a lot of really good advice, and now I have a list of all the critiques typed up, and plan on making LOTS changes in my shop over the next week or two.

I've enjoyed the whole giveaway thing (especially using random.org and seeing who the winners were!), so I'm thinking that I will have to have another one sometime soon -- perhaps the next one will be easier for everyone!

"Hump Day" featured seller - buffalonerdproject

It's Wednesday again folks, we've all survived to the middle of the week! So here we go again, another great Etsy seller, this one a nerd like me :)

Buffalo Nerd Project
"Science Geek By Day, Sewing Chick By Night"

Cooking up a bit of Genius geek apron part 2

When asked to tell a little about herself -- her life and history, how she chose her craft, what got her on to Etsy, and everything else exciting about life, this is what Lisa of buffalonerdproject said:

My name is Lisa. I grew up in Buffalo and moved downstate after I graduated with my Masters degree in molecular biology. I work in a biology lab as a technician during the day researching anything from autism to brain methylation patterns to congenital heart disease.... the list goes on and on! My two roommates are my cat, Angel Baby (I didn't name her) and my tarantula, Mr. Snuggles.

When I'm not at work or sewing like a fiend, I can most likely be found socializing, running, thrift shopping or scrapbooking. My scrapbook is like a huge book of collages (it's messier than a lot of the scrapbooks I've seen, no cute little cardboard cutouts or clean edges, lots of magazine tearings and clashing color motifs), and helps me to always remember the good times. :)

I signed up to Etsy when a coworker of mine told me about it. I've always been really into sewing but I never knew of a place where I could market my passion. The first time that I made a bag out of an old pair of pants that I had lying around my house, my coworker was like "you should sell those." Up until then I made things for myself or for Christmas presents (I had one winter where I made literally a dozen and a half patchwork scarves), but the idea of being able to make things without a specific recipient in mind was super appealing. I love to sew, but before Etsy, I wasn't exactly sure what I'd do with sixteen purses. Does one person need sixteen purses?

As far as choosing my craft, I usually start out making something I need, use it for awhile, and if I like how it came out and find it functional, I make more to sell. This has been the pattern with everything in my shop. I'm trying to integrate science into things because I love it so much, it's what I spend most of my day doing, and I think it puts a relatively unique spin on things. Plus, with the new Mad Scientists of Etsy team, I'm really getting fueled by other science-minded crafty nerds. GO NERDS! :)

If you stop to take a look at Lisa's shop, you can see how much her science nerd side has influenced her crafting. From aprons to ipod cozies, purses to scarves, buffalonerdproject has a variety of fun, creative, and geeky creations!

Check out this awesomely nerdy "Packing Heat in the Kitchen" apron:
In the item description Lisa claims that is apron mixes "mad kitchen skills with experimental flair!" I would say that this apron would make a great addition to any science nerd's kitchen!

Looking for a scarf? I know spring and warm weather are approaching here in the midwestern United States, but it's cold somewhere! If you're in one of those areas, or if you just like wearing scarves and looking cool, buffalonerdproject has some pretty nifty ones, like this fun black and white one:


Are you a science geek? Do you have science geek friends that love cooking? Take a look at all of the items in this wonderful seller's shop and show your support for nerds!

__________
*interested in being featured? email me or comment here with your shop name and email address and I will check you out!

Critique me and win!

Alright, so I REALLY need to work on revamping, organizing, cleaning up, and updating my shops. I've thought of lots of things myself that I would like to change, but I would like input from others as well. In an effort to get responses from people, I am making this in to a contest. Anyone who critiques either (or both) of my shops will be entered in a drawing to win one of three prizes. (*I will post pictures of the prizes by Tuesday afternoon, until then I will just have a description)

The Details:

• visit either or both of my Etsy shops (Tangerine Sunshine or Bohemian Kitty)
• critique the different aspects of my shop listed below
• email your critique to tangerinesunshine@gmail.com or post in the comments section
  
• critiques at least 5 of the points/aspects listed below to be eligible
• you will receive one entry for each shop that you critique
• be as critical as you want! I know that lots of things aren't as good as they could be, so you won't hurt my feelings!
• the contest ends on Monday, April 14th at midnight CST
• winners will be announced by Wednesday, April 16th, and will be notified by email

Points to Critique:

• shop banner
• avatar
  
• shop announcement
• featured items
• photographs (quality, quantity, etc)
• item descriptions
• item titles
• shop policies
• shipping (prices and policies)
• prices
  
• personal profile

Prizes:

• Devil Ducky earrings - your choice of pirate, red, blue, green, purple, yellow, or orange
• Matchbook Notepads - a set of 6 matchbook notepads in "far east" themed papers
• Button Bobbies - your choice of any set of button bobbies (many styles available)

Thank you in advance to everyone who participates!

Matchbook notebooks!

Ok, so I've seen those cute little matchbook notebooks all over Etsy, and they seemed like really fun, cute, easy-to-make things that I could use for promos, or to just keep in my pocket (I love making lists, writing random notes, etc, so it's convenient!). So I ventured to google to search for a tutorial, and found this one on greetingarts' blog.
I read through the tutorial, whipped out my supplies, and made one of my very own! I used brown cardstock, because I love brown/tan/other 'natural' colors, then stamped a red dragon on the front for decoration. Just stamping something on the front seems pretty boring, I know, but this was my first one! I have all sorts of ideas for decorating other ones :)


I only put twelve pages on the inside, because I'm not really sure how much my little mini stapler can handle. I recycled paper though! I have a huge stack of paper in my room, mostly from articles I have printed off for research papers or other random papers I have that are only printed on one side. I've been hoping for something to come up to use those for, and now I have something!


These little notebooks are so fun, I'm off to make a few more for myself before I have to go to class! Be sure to check out greetingarts' blog and take a look at the tutorial to make some for yourself!

One step closer!

I had a sale today! Woohoo, first one in at least a month, I think. So yeah, I'm one step closer to getting my button maker!

Also, I listed a few new things:

Some plaid hang tags in Bohemian Kitty

And a pair of earrings in Tangerine Sunshine.

I also relisted a snail necklace that expired not too long ago. I think this is the second time I've relisted it, so... third time's a charm, right? Maybe someone will come along and like her...

Well, that's about all I have tonight. It's been a hectic weekend with homework and such, and the rest of this week looks like it will be more of the same...

I love getting mail...

My new cello sleeves arrived today --- I got home from work, and there they were, sitting on my kitchen counter. I was pretty happy about that, although now it means I need to go through all the product that I currently have in my inventory and package everything. Besides pretty new packaging, I need to work on the color of my pictures -- they all seems a little too dark, and me and photoshop aren't on very good terms right now. I also need to keep listing things in both shops -- I added two sets of tags to Bohemian Kitty -- some pretty asian-themed ones, and some blue and brown paisley ones. I still have plenty of things waiting to be listed though, but I want to spread it out.
What else... I need to design a banner for Bohemian Kitty, and business cards as well. My craft area/desk is also a disaster, so I need to organize that. I haven't had a sale in a few weeks, but that's mostly my fault, because I haven't been promoting or keeping up with my shops very well. Oh well, craft show season is coming up -- I always seem to do a lot better when people see things in person, or can 'impulse buy', so that should bring some sales :)

Finally, pictures!

This afternoon I got my super awesome boyfriend to help me take TONS of pictures of a bunch of stuff I'd had sitting around, waiting to be photographed so I could list it... The pictures are all in my hot little hands right now, and I'm slowly working my way through them and editing them in photoshop. I work tomorrow, and I have tons of reading and writing to do for class, but I'm going to try to find some time to list a few things at some point this weekend, so look for new things in both Tangerine Sunshine and Bohemian Kitty. The Devil Ducky earrings are some of my favorites, like the little pirates at the start of this post!

Mommy, I want one!!!

So I've wanted a button maker for a rather long time, because I have all sorts of ideas in my head for cute, fun buttons to make and sell. Plus, I'm a button whore (you should see my purse/backpack/etc). But button makers are SO expensive... (for anyone who's never looking into getting a button maker, new ones start at $200 plus...) I want to make sure I get the right one the first time, so it's worth the investment. I've been poking around the Etsy forums, and it seems that nearly everyone prefers Tecre brand over the Badge-a-Minit ones, so it seems like that is the one I will be going with. I'm also pretty sure I want to go with the 1 1/4" sized buttons, although I'm still toying around with the 1" ones. I think those might almost be too small though -- I know for my "personal " use, I tend to prefer the slightly larger ones. However, I also need to know what will sell better... If I'm shelling out over $200 for one of these machines, I need to at least make that money back on it. I'm not sure how well buttons will sell on Etsy, I think it's kind of a hit or miss, but I am pretty sure they will go pretty well at some of the craft shows I will be going to during the summer. I live in a college area, and lots of college and high school aged people like spending a dollar or two on their own little 'pieces of flair.'
Ugh... there's just so much to think about. I'm going to keep poking around on Ebay and hoping that I can find a used one, because that will save me at least $50. It would be awesome if I knew someone personally that didn't want theirs anymore and would be willing to sell it to me for fairly cheap, but so far it looks like I don't know anyone that makes buttons, or used to make buttons and doesn't want to anymore...

Live from Minnesota... it's Monday morning!!!

This post comes straight to you from my Human Origins class... Today is one of those days where I feel like I'm wasting time by being in class, because I have a million and one things to do, most of which I can't do while sitting in a classroom. I can blog though, as well as surf around Etsy and compulsively check my email while simultaneously watching the minutes slowly tick by on the clock...
I have a paper to write tonight, and I can't really procrastinate on it any more. It's due Wednesday, and I have plans tomorrow night, so that pretty much leaves tonight to get it done. I am also hoping to get some pictures taken to post in my etsy shops. I have tons and tons of stuff I've made in drawers on my desk, I just haven't had the time/energy/motivation to get everything out and take some nice pictures. I also have lots of really grandiose ideas about how I am going to organize all my beading and scrapbooking supplies and organizing all my listed inventory based on what shop it comes from, what type of thing it is, etc... In an effort to help with that I did order some self-sealing cello bags yesterday, and I'm working on designing some nice labels for both of my shops. It would be nice to have all my inventory nicely packaged so when something sells it is easier to ship out. It'll also help when the craft shows come around, because they will look a lot nicer on my table...
Anyway, I'm hoping those bags show up by the end of this week, and I can spend the weekend getting everything looking all nice and snappy. I promise that I'll post some nice pictures as soon as all of that happens :)
In addition, I have a *pile* of emails that I need to send for various things... class, summer plans, internship, service-learning project... E-mail pretty much saves my life though, because if I had to find time to talk to all these people in person, I would NEVER have enough time...

I suppose this is it for now, I've already gotten through 20 minutes of class, and I can use the next 30 to get going on some of those emails.