An Etsy Christmas Gift

Every season of the year there's a fashion obsession I develop.  Most of the year it goes between shoes and bags, but as soon as the snow hits it's scarves.  If I had (quite) a bit more money, this obsession could easily be winter coats.  This year I was so happy to get two new scarves one of which is from Little Birdie Design on Etsy.  It's so soft and goes with my teal wool coat beautifully.  I even sit around the house with it on wrapped twice to keep warm.  Little Birdie Design's shop has stunning knitted pieces and even some for your pets! I'm so excited to spend the winter keeping cozy with this scarf and just as happy to have discovered another great shop.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Cards by ReneHoover on Etsy

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas spent with family and friends.

A Peek at My Etsy Favorites

          

Here's a peek at the latest items on my Etsy favorites list.  In case you couldn't tell, last night I was looking for some great holiday cards.  One thing I actually didn't notice until this morning - all the cards I liked enough to add to my favorites featured ornaments.  I still haven't made my decision on which to get, but I love them all.

Top Left: A Very Retro Holiday - Peace, Joy, Love by CDesignIllustration

Top Right: Ornaments Holiday Card Set of 12 by SilhouetteBlue

Bottom: Ornaments Printable Christmas Card by empapers

Craft Show Attempt #3

It's another craft show weekend for me here and naturally there is plenty for me to get done.  There are about 280 pieces of fabric and 140 pieces of interfacing I have cut out just waiting to be put together.  The next step for the clutches and gadget sleeves has to be my favorite part.  Nothing like hammering on some snaps to get out a bit of aggression!


This is only my third craft show and I'm hoping it'll be a good one!  I'm lucky enough to be sharing a booth with an etsyWMI teammate - Afiya from OsayinHolistics.  Since my items are so small and I'm still getting started I can't quite pull of a whole booth by myself.  At my first craft show I actually shared a booth with 2 other people!  The picture above is me (being cheesy) with my section of the booth.  I'll have quite a bit more product this time around and hopefully there are the buyers for it.  Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving and Sales!

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's to hoping your day is full of family, food, fun, and of course, football.  Now would be the time to admit that I'm a Lions fan.  Every year our Thanksgiving feast starts around 12:15 because kick-off is at 12:30!

Anyway, something that goes along with Thanksgiving is the Day-After Thanksgiving Sales.  The official start of the Christmas shopping season.  What better way to start that off than with a sale! So this weekend from Friday through Monday I'll be offering free worldwide shipping in my shop.  Hope to see you there and Happy Thanksgiving!

   

Photography

Photography is one of the areas of my shop that I know I've needed to work on.  With the help of a $1.10 sheet of grey paper from Hobby Lobby I had an amazing success taking photos today.  Why didn't I buy this sooner!  So here's a preview of the (unedited) photos for some upcoming listings.

Show This Weekend = Stress

First I have to say that I really am so excited for a unique holiday home tour and art sale that I'm participating in this weekend called "Beneath the Tree."  I have to follow that up with - why do I always manage to stress out SO bad.  Oh I know, it's because I have so much to do.  It's one of those things where I think that I'm doing plenty to make progress and move along in the weeks before.  That is, until the week of the show.  Then I wonder what I did with all that time!  I just hope that I get most of what I want completed.  After that it'll mean taking pictures and listing things in my Etsy shop.  Wednesday I'll be putting my shop in vacation mode until after I pick my things up from the show.  Wish me luck!

Gifts of West Michigan Treasury

I've had this treasury ready for what seems like forever! The past couple times I tried to snag a treasury I would stalk craftopolis until I deemed the time close enough to move over to stalking the actual treasury site.  Up to the last minutes I was paying attention and somehow got caught up with whatever else and missed it!  This time I checked out craftopolis and the main treasury was at the "opening soon" stage - generally a sign that I just missed it.  Get to the site and the list is at 333 and I waited for less than a minute!  Ah, luck.

Anyway, this is a collection of items from the Etsy West Michigan Team aka EtsyWMI.  Enjoy!

Buttons!

I finally found some buttons that I think will be just perfect for my Lab Rats Challenge Entry.  I found this button pack for a really great price at LittleRedCottage's Etsy Shop and I'm so excited to pick through them.  The only bad news is that I have to wait at least a week before starting on my new item.  The positive side is that I am participating in really unique holiday home and art sale tour that is keeping me busy making items in the meantime.

In Waiting... Treasury

Every once and a while (ok, so quite frequently) I find myself just perusing Etsy.  One of my favorite ways to do this, especially when I'm not looking for anything in particular, is to use the Pounce feature.  All of the shops that I chose for this treasury were found using the "undiscovered" side of pounce.  It took me a while to find all of these great items, but I love how the treasury turned out.  It expires tonight so take a second to check out these great items.

Buck It Up Note Card by BirdcageCards

The Buck it Up Note Card by BirdcageCards absolutely warms my heart!  I just smile thinking about it!  Now I have to tell you, my house is in the middle of a corn field.  People hunt pretty close to year round.  Coming across this card just reminded me that deer season is approaching here in Michigan.  Well, gun season that is.  So wish someone good luck with this card!  Or use it just because you love animals.

I made it!

Hello everyone! I have finally made it back home. Instead of getting home Tuesday night I made it in Wednesday morning thanks to a horrible storm in California. (Seriously, it just HAD to rain while I was there.) Despite the ordeal of getting home, I had an amazing time this past week.

The trip started with a couple days in San Francisco before heading to Fresno for a wedding.  The first night we just went out and walked to dinner.  The next day we made our way up just about every hill in the city.   A couple miles looks easy on a flat piece of paper.

We eventually got out to Pier 39 where I was absolutely giddy about the sea lions!  Seals were my favorite animal when I was little and this was close enough for me.

Probably my favorite of the week was our day trip to Yosemite National Park.  Ah-maze-ing!  I have a thing for nature.  We did quite a few miles of trails.  So exhausting, but worth it.

All in all a great time!  Glad to be back home despite the fact that it was 40 degrees warmer in California.  Ah, Michigan.

Outside my Window Treasury

My Paisley Print Wallet is in this treasury by abacusbeadcreations

Down and Out

This week I have had this nasty, dreadful cold.  My nose hurts, my throat hurts, my eyes hurt, my body hurts.  As if the timing wasn't perfect enough (insert sarcasm here) I am leaving for California on Tuesday.  If I am sick for this trip I will be absolutely pissed!  My family apparently can't keep their germs to themselves, lol.  So the point is, I will be on hiatus for a while.  I may be able to get another post in before leaving, otherwise see you Oct. 14th.

ACEO from sojournquilts

ACEO - Red Leaves with Orange Polka Dots Fabric Collage from Sojourn Quilts

Not to offend anyone, but I have never really understood the purpose of an ACEO.  They seem too small to display.  You could collect them much like baseball cards, but I wouldn't want to put these beautiful little pieces away into a book.  What I would love to do is to mat and frame a collection of these for wall art.  This would be the first one I'd pick!  Sojourn Quilts has so many items to choose from, but the fabric collage ACEOs are my favorite.  

Motivation?

I've been lacking in motivation lately to do anything craft related.  At the same time though I have checked off many things from my to-do list that are completely unrelated.  I closed a bank account I never use.  I rolled change and found I had an extra $74!  I had a garage sale last weekend at my sister's house.  I went and applied for a job yesterday.  All stuff that needed to be done, but now I can't shift my focus back. What do you do to kick yourself back into gear?

New Gadget Sleeve Listing!

Blue & Red Dots Gadget Sleeve

Symmetry Leaves Recycled Classic Tote from The Craft Pantry

 The Symmetry Leaves Classic Tote is one of my favorite prints from The Craft Pantry.  The Craft Pantry has plenty of totes, lunch and produce bags plus cards - all with original designs.  These leaves make for a perfect fall bag, but with some upbeat and fun colors.  Besides being adorable, this bag is functional with a wide bottom perfect for going to the market.  This bag is on my wish list!

Etsy Lab Rats Treasury

My "Dramatic Beauty" Treasury featuring a few Lab Rats expires Friday morning.  Get a look at these great items before then!

Chain and Faux Pearl Necklace by TrinasTrinkets

Recently on Twitter I started posting an item everyday from Etsy that I love. The first was a beautiful watercolor painting from Squier. Next was a glass ring by Tias. Followed by stacking serving bowls and a necklace. And today there's another item. Now, why I tell you all this is because - while these items are all beautiful and things I enjoy I figured I could use the blog to tell you all why.

This beautiful necklace is from an Etsy West Michigan teammate, TrinasTrinkets. I love the simple elegance of this necklace. One of my recent fashion obsessions has become the layered chains and bib necklaces. It was in the Lucky Shop Live event in the virtual labs that I was even introduced to this style of necklace. I must have been living under a rock! All the same, this necklace stuns me.

Beginning

The beginning always seems like a tough place to be. Getting started can be the hardest part of a new project - or at least it seems that way until I try to finish. The point being, this is my first post!

I suppose I can introduce myself to start. The name's Sara, in case you didn't figure out that much. I discovered Etsy a couple months ago and opened my own shop last month. My particular craft revolves around sewing. Looking at my shop it seems like I just make wallets (which I do love) but I'm also making gadget cases, clutches, and branching out to a couple other things. It's just the listing part that gets in the way. You'll find that I have a sarcastic, and sometimes a bit off, sense of humor but can be sincere and always heartfelt.

While I'll be figuring out the direction of my blog for a little bit, I can let you know that this is about my obsession with Etsy. Whether it's things I heart, make, or buy, treasuries or teams, I'll be writing.