Oh the Cuteness!

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 cle...

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 l...

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 quanti...