HO-LY-CRAP!

My new bead store is going crazy with the sales! I'm having a hard time keeping up, having opened the store 5 days ago and already making nearly 30 sales. So I've developed a system to keep myself from going insane: I'm going to do listing, etc, on Etsy until 7:00 p.m. and then I have to get off the computer and package everything up for shipping the next day. That way it's more like a normal job, and I can "close up" the store at the end of the night and be done with it. I hope I resist the temptation to stay on the computer messing around until midnight, but I know it's for the best and it will give me more time to compose things, not to mention work on unfinished projects. Wish me luck.

On another note, I was making my rounds at the local thrift stores and I was smitten with this little old recipe card tin. It's probably from the 50's or 60's, and a bit beat up, but I just couldn't help myself for 69 cents. So I got it home and was cleaning it up and when I opened it, amongst the 5 old mismatched paper dividers was a real treasure:

A yellowed old card with a handwritten recipe for Italian Biscotti. Maybe I'm being delusional, but I have a fantasy that it's some ancient and cherished family recipe passed down from Italy to generation after generation, and I bet someone is missing it terribly because they forgot to take it out before they upgraded their recipe storage box. So I've decided that I'm going to take very good care of it and treat it like one of my own family recipes, and eventually pass it down with all the others. Yeah, I know, I'm a sentimental freak... But you have to admit it's kind of cute, right?

Birth Announcement!

Well, I'm here today to announce the birth of my new etsy shop, The Slug and Lettuce. I've been thinking of setting up another store for quite some time now, becuse while mom's store handles all the ethnic things I love to make, I've always had an affinity for punk goodies. Some of them just don't quite fit in Quirky Bindi or oh the cuteness!, so I needed an outlet for them. But starting out, the new store is all about beads. My destash efforts are going well, lamost too well, and I was crowding oh the cuteness with beads and I noticed a drop in sales of my usual merchandise. I didn't want everyone to think I was only selling beads, so the Slug will handle all bead sales from now on. It's already off to a good start, and I'm feeling good about it. I bought the banner from Needful Things, a very talented seller on etsy. I almost went with Paperbirdie again, but I wanted something a little more Rock & Roll. The store's new slogan is "why not?" because I kept getting asked, "Why are you selling off your bead stash?", "Why are you opening another store?", "Why are you calling it that?", etc, to which I answer, "Why Not?". Hope y'all enjoy it!

At Long Last!

Huzzah! It's finally done! This is the "Strawberries and Vanilla Bean Cream" bag that I have been woking on for over a month, and that's not due to my penchant for procrastination. It's huge - monstrous, even - big enough to hold about 10 Martha Stewart Living Magazines. But of course, I meant for it to be that way.

I designed it as a magazine/crochet project tote, so I made sure it was plenty wide enough and that the white part was as tall as a MSL magazine. It's all done in single crochet, and could probably stop a bullet if you wore it under your shirt. But it's made from organic unbleached and organic red 100% cotton yarn, so it's nice and supple-soft while still being durable (And the unbleached yarn still has little flecks of cotton seed in it, hence the "vanilla bean" cream). I also wanted to make sure it has a strong enough structure to hold the weight of all those magazines, so I made it a slit-handled bag. And to top it all off, I lined it with some of that cute strawberry patterned japanese fabric I got awhile back (I had to hand-sew it in and it came out just perfect!), and then I sewed in my first ever "oh the cuteness!" tag!
I feel so spiffy right now because it turned out just the way I wanted it to. But it was a rediculous ammount of work just to make a magazine tote, so I doubt I'll ever make one quite as large again... Eh, maybe I will, it sure turned out nice. It's going into the store tomorrow morning, and I sure hope someone loves it as much as I do! *Crosses fingers.*

Beads, Beads, the Magical Fruit...

Well, I was worried for a while if I'd have enough time to keep the etsy store full of goodies while taking so many classes this quarter, but I've found a solution. I decided to go through my rediculously large stash of beads and sell a few as part of the "Destash Bash" movement, aimed at recycling and reusing and spreading the love, so to speak. And something wonderful happened - they all sold out in a few days! So I put more on, and off they went to new homes. And I've realized something - albeit something slightly disheartening - that my beads sell better than the jewelry I make with them. But who am I to complain, right? It saves me time, effort, and I feel good about passing my beadie treasures onto more talented jewelry designers. Of course, I'm keeping my favorites around because I still like to dabble in jewelry making, but I've decided to sell off the bulk of my stash. So if you're looking fore some really special vintage beads in small quantities you'd better head over to my shop before they're all gone!

I haven't been listing many things I've made lately because for one, I'm taking 21 units this quarter. And for two, I've been working on two rather large crochet projects this whole time, one being a hunge tote bag all crocheted from organic cotton and lined with japanese fabric - I still have about a third of the way to go and then I can line it - and the other being a hat. I've never had much success with hats (alright, so I've had nothing but total failures with hats), but I have a feeling this one will be different. We'll see... Wish me luck.