What I got for Christmas

My lovely husband got me some of the most wonderful gifts for Christmas (and all from etsy!) Take a peek if you will...

1. Lovely neck warmer from FoldedRoses
2. Beautiful trinket box made from Maple by dikruck
3. Beeswax Votive Candles by echinacea
4. Gorgeous Print by sandrineM

1. Framed Original Drawing by Cookstah
2. Puggle Queen Print by Mandawlfe
3. Mac Love button by Gnipmac

I would love to see what you got for Christmas too!

I'm Loving: Lace Knits

I'll take one of each of these please!

Anyone want to buy these for me for Christmas? No? Well, then at least get them for yourself!

1. Lace Slouch Hat - tanzarelle - $25
2. Crochet Sweater Shrug - byKEONA - $57
3. Gray Shawl with Lace - afra - $46
4. Lace Hood - PolClary - $22
   

Polaroid Calendar

Going through my blog roll today, I found a great little gift from one pearl button! She took her own images and made them into a calendar.

You can find the original post and the link to download the lovely calendar here!

Baby Booties

Although I'm not having kids any time soon, I was asked to sew a pair of booties to review a pattern from ithinksew.com. I decided on a gorgeous corduroy houndstooth fabric that I haven't cut into yet as I only have two yards and love it too much!

I lined the inside in chocolate brown cotton and added three little wooden buttons as embellishments. (The booties actually close with velcro, how easy!)

You can get your own pair right here!

Light Bulb Terrarium

I thought this was a really neat video on how to make a light bulb terrarium. It would make a great gift not only for Christmas/Hanukkah but for any time of the year!

Click here to see a step by step tutorial on making a terrarium in general.

Stocking Tutorials

I thought I would round up my favorite stocking tutorials to share with you!

1. Monogrammed Stocking - Mandipidy
2. All the Trimmings Stocking - Denise Schmit
3. Scrappy Stocking - Maggie Makes
4. Sewn Stocking - Craft Leftovers

1. Vintage Quilt Stocking - Sew, Mama, Sew!
2. Simple Felt Stockings - Woman's Day
3. Felted Stocking - Crafting a Green World
4. Strip Pieced Stocking - The Purl Bee

Do you have any stocking tutorials that you'd like to add? Post a comment and share!

Felt Garland Tutorial

I bought this mini Christmas tree at Target last year along with some glass bulbs (both were on clearance!) I would have loved some lights on this tree but I did not want to get the battery operated lights as I would probably go through a pack of batteries for keeping it on so much.

Instead, I chose to make a felt ball garland. I had ordered a bunch of felt balls last year because they were so adorable but I had no idea what I was actually going to do with them. Well, it hit me - I can use up the felt balls FOR garland!

I first took some silver embroidery thread (it's thicker than normal embroidery thread and has some texture to it.) and tied a knot in the end. I found a super large needle and threaded it with the embroidery thread. *note* this thread is a pain in the butt to work with and to actually thread, so pay attention that the needle doesn't fall off the thread at any point!!

I then put each felt piece on the needle and used pliers to hold onto the end of the needle and then pulled the ball down onto the thread. After you do this, knot the thread to secure each felt ball. I intend to keep this garland for a few years at least so that's why I knotted each ball to keep it in place. With the thread being so textured, it could hold each ball loosely in place if you choose not to knot it.

After doing this several times, my small garland was done! I only had 22 felt balls and the garland came out to be a little under 4 feet. You would probably need over 120 to do a full tree (as a low estimation!)

And the finished product with my Puggle putting the finishing sniffs on the tree ;)

Etsy Finds: Christmas Decor

Who doesn't love decorating for Christmas?!

1. Goodie True Shoes - $52
2. Designs by Nancy T - $21
3. Jo Heckett - $82
4. Mr Button - $18

Shop Local: Huntington, WV

1. The Last Circus - $20
2. Woodland Radio - $5
3. White Owl Vintage - $10
4. Bird's Eye Photography - $6.99
   

For buyers and sellers of handmade goods...

For those that that sell handmade goods, it is difficult (at least for me) to completely track all my expenses. Of course I get excited when I make a sale and record all the information, deduct fees and shipping...but what about all the supplies I purchase? Ad space? Seminars or classes? Somehow I *forget* to write down everything I buy and there are two reasons for this: 1. I get lazy and 2. I'm scared to see how much I REALLY spend.

I promised myself last year that I would keep a better record of things, and I have...... of sales. Supplies though? Not so much. After about March I just stopped recording things. Next year I promise to try harder! Is record keeping as hard for everyone else as it is for me?

And for buyers of handmade goods (that includes us sellers too!): Buy less, spend more! Try to go all handmade and make gifts more personal. Not only will you search for the 'perfect' gift for the recipient, but you will also be supporting an independent artist rather than the children in china making plastic toys for $2/month.

As for myself, the majority of gifts I'm giving this year are handmade by independent artists (or by me) and just a couple of them are store bought. It's hard to go completely handmade (I want to meet the person who builds TVs from scratch AND keeps them at a reasonable cost!) but I definitely did try my hardest!

This post was inspired by The Long Thread

I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

The past couple of weeks have been quite hellish. I started my new student teaching placement in mid October. Every class is extremely rude, loud and quite disrespectful. I've been cursed at and even asked "can we have a real teacher now?" Yes, and the specific kid that said that to me is in 10th grade and his average for the class? A 26%. I'm pretty sure a monkey could do better than that.

Then I started to panic because my husband is coming back from his deployment and starting at Marshall in January. I graduate in December and haven't found a job yet so I started to panic over money. He helped me out while I was in school and now I feel it's my job to provide so he won't have to kill himself working AND going to school full time.

I can't seem to keep the house clean. During the week I come home exhausted from teaching. The weekend I'm out doing shows to make money. I feel like a horrible mom to my Puggle because she's left alone. Money is so tight we decided to cancel our Christmas trip and stay home....

Then today happened. I got to sleep in because I had my Capstone Presentation at Marshall. The final thing that determines whether I graduate or not. I already passed my PLT and Biology content knowledge Praxis II and I got all "excellent" on my student teaching the first 6 weeks. At my capstone presentation I have MY university supervisor and my all-time favorite professor at Marshall. I lucked out. Then I was able to thank her for being such an awesome professor and it was because of her I did so well on the PLT. I also was able to vent a bit about my experience now student teaching.

I leave my capstone presentation pumped. I can feel the adrenaline. I stop to 'treat' myself to some Starbucks. I order a grande pumpkin spice latte, and again luck out. Their computers are down and they are not able to process payments so all the drinks are free. Could my day get any better?

I get a phone call from someone from the Marshall Community & Technical College that I met this weekend at my show. She wanted me to possibly teach a jewelry making class in the spring semester (6:30-8:30 on Thursdays). Usually when people say stuff like this to me it's too good to be true and they never actually end up calling you. She did call and also sent me an email asking for a course supply list, a course description and a syllabus. I would be getting paid $25/hr and become part time faculty at MCTC. PART TIME FACULTY at 25 years old. Ahhhhhhhhh I got excited!

I then went to Kroger to do some much needed grocery shopping. (I haven't had milk in the house for about a week!!!) I used coupons coupled with the 'buy 10 items, save $5' thing they have in the store and end up saving 43% of my total bill just with manufacturers coupons and in store sales. Awesome!

At my capstone presentation, my past professor suggested I look for a job in the Putnam county schools, so when I got home I did. I saw a long term sub position for general science and biology - my exact content areas! I called the woman there to see if student teachers are able to apply and use a 'Letter of Completion' until they receive their actual teaching certificate. She said YES!! She was excited that I called because they cannot find a sub in this content area and would have to have someone else that doesn't know a thing about science. She asked me when I graduate, I said December 5th. She said I could start working the 6th if I am truly qualified.

*a sigh of relief*

I also check my email and my husband is finally in Norfolk checking out of the Navy. He initially did not expect to be back home until December but now it's looking closer to Thanksgiving. He's getting really excited to come home as well. I can't blame him; it has been a LONG deployment for the both of us.

I finally feel as if things are really looking up and falling into place. This Thanksgiving I feel that I truly have things to be thankful for!

...Now, only if I'd sell some things in my shops or on eBay so I can treat myself to some supplies ;)

Metricly

I found a great website for all you online shop owners. It is called Metricly and it is an aggregated dashboard and analytics platform. It helps businesses of all sizes track their metrics in one place.
They connect your data from a variety of platforms including Google Analytics, Salesforce, Twitter, Facebook, Mailchimp, Zendesk and more. They can even get live analytics from your own MySQL databases or custom internal data. Setup is fast and easy. Once you connect your shop(s), their powerful analytical tools make it easy to dive into your data and find insights that will help your business be even more successful.
I connected my 3 shops from etsy and the graphs were wonderful! You could choose what type of data you want to see and the trends based on the dates you choose. If you've been wondering who buys from you or how many sales you get per month, this does it for you. The best thing? It's FREE!!!

Who knew crafting could be stressful?

You know, until you experience it, I bet many people think certain 'jobs' are easy. Lets say, stay at home moms. I am not a mom, but just watching a child for a couple of hours wears me out, I can't image what a SAHM feels like. Not only does she have to watch her kid(s) she is also doing laundry, cleaning, cooking, entertaining her kids etc.

This brings me to a stay at home crafter/artist. This summer I decided to stay at home and work on my crafts while doing different festivals and shows rather than working a crappy summer job somewhere at the mall. Yes, I can make my own hours and stay in my pjs all day, but honestly, it's hard work! I can't just clock in and clock out like I did working retail or waitressing. This is an all around the clock job! I'm constantly looking for festivals, applying, remembering to send in logos, payments, updating my shops, and of course, creating things! When you have a dog that acts like a toddler and constantly throws the ball in your hands when you are making things, well, it's tough to ignore it.

I have to make sure that I have enough pieces made for a show depending on how many days/hours I will be there and the popularity of the show. This week I'll be leaving for the West Virginia State Fair. I've never done one of these nor have a done a show that is 8 days long! And apparently from what I hear, this show is crazy busy and people come there to shop! For a simple 2-3 day show 250 pieces of jewelry/hair accessories is a good number. I need quadruple that for the state fair. And while preparing for the state fair I have other festivals or jewelry parties that I'm doing so my inventory goes down constantly. Sometimes I even hope I won't sell anything so that I have enough inventory for the state fair.

Not only is the state fair stressing me out, but the day after I get back, I start student teaching. I still don't know what school I'll be at or my schedule. The education department is not very good at giving things to students ahead of time. Then throughout the fall I have at least 5 shows planned so that means teaching, taking care of home and my dog PLUS making things for these fairs! Man, I will be exhausted after this semester, but hopefully it will be worth it all.

These are the shows I have set in stone, though there are 2-3 more that are tentative:

★ WV State Fair, Lewisburg (Aug 13-21)
★ Mound Arts fair in S. Charleston (Sep 11)
★ Oktoberfest in Montgomery, WV (Sep 18)
★ Pumpkin Festival, Milton WV (Oct 7-10)
★ Craftin' Outlaws in Columbus, OH (Oct 16)

News

So I know I promised to blog more, but so many things come up in life! How do these 'professional' bloggers find time to write, cook, clean, craft, take care of their families, work etc? I don't have enough hours in the day!

Anyway, I wanted to share some news! I finally have a newsletter/mailing list with Pepper Pod Designs that we will be sending out quarterly. It will include new items that we've made, where we will be, sales, discount coupons and more. If you'd like to sign up, you can do so here.

I also wanted to post where we will be in the near future. More shows might come up as well as jewelry parties. If you are interested in a jewelry party yourself, please contact me!

★ Barboursville Civil War Days, WV (July 17-18)
★ WV State Fair, Lewisburg (Aug 13-21)
★ Mound Arts fair in S. Charleston, WV (Sep 11)
★ Pumpkin Festival, Milton WV (Oct 7-10)

Also, if you know of any festivals in your area that you'd like us to look into, please let us know!

Creativity Bootcamp

Well I have decided to join in on the creativity bootcamp. I hope that it will help keep me inspired this summer! Anyone else joining in?

Going to the Chapel!

I hope not to be away from my shops, listing new items and making things for too long, but I'm getting married tomorrow! Yup, tomorrow, May 27th at 2:00pm. It's going to be a quick courthouse wedding, pictures at Ritter Park and then Dinner with the family and just the best friends from each side. Very low key, just the way I like it!

I hope to be back with new items and more shop updates after this! Hosting people in our house, cleaning and preparing for the big day really gets in the way of crafting!

Finally! New PDF Patterns!

So, while in school, all I kept thinking about was re-vamping the two PDF patterns I have listed in my shop plus making more! I know many of you out there are DIYers and would love to make your own items. I decided that I would make the patterns of my bags available to others and also allow you to sell them (as long as you respect my requests!) I have made a new pattern called the Grab and Go Bag. It's small enough to be used as a child's bag (who think she's an adult) or for an adult who just wants something small to carry around.

I am also in the process of making another pattern for the All Day Tote. I do not have any listed in my shop right now but have about 5 in the making! Hopefully in the next couple of days I can also re-vamp the other two patterns that are already listed (the market bag and coasters.)

Any patterns that you are looking for in particular? Let me know!

New Ventures!

Now that school is coming to a close, I am finally able to get back to the things I've been yearning for since the first day of class back in August. This Friday through Sunday I'll be at the Dogwood Festival. My friend Beth and I are doing a lot of home shows after the festival as well as a couple shows at the mall.

I opened up a supply shop on Artfire and a graphic design shop on Zibbet. Testing out new waters as well as new venues. I still have my regular bag and accessory shop on etsy as well as my vintage inspired hair accessory and jewelry shop on etsy. I also switched my kids shop on etsy to a de-stash shop as I just have had not had time to make children's clothing like I planned.

I also have plans to make a bunch of new tutorials this summer as well as changing some of the looks of my wristlets and some other items. In my graphics shop I want to make some printables, collage sheets and other things for those DIYers out there that want to make things themselves! If you have any suggestions for anything, I'd love to hear them!

Handmade Portraits

Normally I watch Etsy's Handmade Portraits and that's it. But I'm totally in love with this one... Enjoy!

Let ME host your giveaway!

Do you have an online shop or business and would like to have a giveaway? Contact me and let me do all the work by hosting your giveaway on my blog! By having a giveaway you can get more people following you on twitter, facebook fan page, your blog, and hearting your shop! It's free advertisement!

You can contact me through my blog or through my own shops! Just let me know and we'll work together to get you some more traffic!

Giveaway #3 Winner

Holly is the winner! You will be contacted shortly! Thank you everyone for entering!

If you'd like me to host a giveaway for you, just contact me through email or etsy!

Giveaway #3 from Littlemamas!

So a little bit about littlemamas! She is a 35 year old work at home mom of a 3 1/2 little girl and a 15 month old son. She spends her days chasing after them and her 2 dogs and cat. Her nights and nap times are when she is able to work on her crafts. Crafting has been a huge part of her life for my than half of it. Its like meditation of some sort for her. She has recently turned turned her focus towards kids things after her daughter was born. She keeps finding new things to create for her kids to play with and learn with. Right now she's working at getting herself into nursing school and her goal is to finish within the next five years. Big goal, but its very important too her.

I actually have a doggy coat from her that was hand dyed. It's awesome and keeps my little puggle warm during these cold days! I loved it so much that I actually got two more for my parent's dogs as well!

Now about the giveaway!

Be My Valentine Sugar cookies, valued at $7.50. What a great way to show your love day after day with these sugar cookies with red heart frosting. Children really love to use their imagination and these work with kitchen play and also can be for Valentines Day. They measure 3 /2" so they aren't your average size cookie, they are jumbo sized for those little hands.Set of 3 jumbo sized cookies

Here is how to enter:

• Leave a comment about a like and/or dislike about her shop or a particular item in her shop.
• Remember to leave your email address or some way for me to contact you if you win!

To get bonus entries you can do one or more of the following:

• Add yourself as a facebook fan and post another comment saying that you did
• Follow her on twitter and post another comment with your user name
• Tweet about this post with @nitelily3 and @littlemamas and post another comment saying that you did
• Blog about this post and post another comment with the link of the post
• Follow her blog
• Heart her shop on etsy and leave a comment with your username
• Buy something from her shop and get 10 bonus entries
• Buy something from my shop and get 10 bonus entries

This is open to anyone in the world :) I how how much it sucked to be abroad and not be able to enter contests! The giveaway ends February 8th and a winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

And the winner

of HandyMaiden's giveaway is lucky number 15!











You will be contacted shortly!

Goldfinch Giveaway by Handy Maiden

Handy Maiden, run by Danielle is a neat little store that has all types of handmade jewelry and accessories. She is supposed to be attending SDSU right now but California's massive budget cuts to education have made her college aspirations to study Western and US history an impossibility (for now). She and her husband will stay local until he finishes grad school and then they will move so that she can persue her degree. While waiting for her husband to finish school, she spends her time meticulously painting tiny lumps of polymer clay. I personally love all her floral bibs and the tiny painted creatures made from polymer.

She's always liked artsy stuff. She draws all the time and always gets really excited about learning a new material. She has tried embroidery, crocheting, made beaded and button jewelry as well as copper wire window hangings. The majority of the items in her closet have been upcycled/ altered in some way. A while ago she got her hands on some polymer clay and made a bunch of things. She learned shortly after that she preferred to paint the clay rather than use different clay colors. This is not the typical way most polymer artists work, as they use different polymer colors rather than painting white polymer. This gives her polymer creations much more detail and more vivid colors. Now whenever she is out and sees something interesting she wonders: "How can I turn that idea into a pendant?"

She also just opened a new shop, Terra Farma, where she will be selling terrarium decoration supplies (dinosaurs, castles, bears, snails, mushrooms, etc.) for etsy sellers or people who simply want to add something surprising and fun to the terrariums they build.

Now about the giveaway!

The pendant that Handy Maiden is giving away is a goldfinch from her finch series, inspired by the birds that loiter about her front yard every day. It is about 1” tall (2.54cm), it was hand inked and painted in shades of yellow, orange, black & white before being dipped in several layers of varnish for a glassy finish. He comes attached to a ball chain with an aged pewter finish by way of a custom copper finding.

Here is how to enter:

• Leave a comment about a like and/or dislike about her shop or a particular item in her shop.
• Remember to leave your email address or some way for me to contact you if you win!

To get bonus entries you can do one or more of the following:

• Add yourself as a facebook fan and post another comment saying that you did
• Follow me on twitter and post another comment with your user name
• Tweet about this post with @nitelily3 and post another comment saying that you did
• Blog about this post and post another comment with the link of the post
• Heart her shop on etsy and leave a comment with your username
• Buy something from her shop and get 5 bonus entries
• Buy something from my shop and get 5 bonus entries

This is open to anyone in the world :) I how how much it sucked to be abroad and not be able to enter contests! The giveaway ends January 25th and a winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

ReadingBunky's Giveaway Winner

The winner of ReadingBunky's Giveaway is number 35! She will be contacting you shortly!

Shortly a new giveaway will be up, so watch out for it!

Giveaway! Prints Charming Purses by Readingbunky

Kathy, aka readingbunky, owns and operates Prints Charming Purses. By day she is a wonderful theathre teacher at a High School, by nights, runs her etsy shop. She is a creative person by nature and that's why she adores teaching theathre but her shop allows her to be creative in other ways. She loves to sew and work with paper, creating one of a kind items that are never repeated. He sewing skills also come in handy when she is creating costumes for the different theatre productions every year.

Her motto is "I may not be organized, but I am creative!"

She has a wonderful husband and two (mostly) wonderful teenage daughters.

For the giveaway you will be able to choos any Valentine's Day card in her shop AND a choice of one of these Valentine's Day sticky notepads

Here is how to enter:

• Leave a comment about a like and/or dislike about her shop or a particular item in her shop.
• Remember to leave your email address or some way for me to contact you if you win!

To get bonus entries you can do one or more of the following:

• Add yourself as a facebook fan and post another comment saying that you did
• Follow her on twitter and post another comment with your user name
• Follow me on twitter and post another comment with your user name
• Tweet about this post with @nitelily3 and @dramamamaugh and post another comment saying that you did
• Blog about this post and post another comment with the link of the post
• Heart her shop on etsy and leave a comment with your username
• Buy something from her shop and get 5 bonus entries
• Buy something from my shop and get 5 bonus entries

This is open to anyone in the world :) I how how much it sucked to be abroad and not be able to enter contests! The giveaway ends January 18th and a winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

Out of the Box Sampler

I love handmade items and I also love samplers. There are many sampling boxes out there, and I have tried many of them, though I have to say the Out Of The Box sampler is my absolute favorite. A lot of samplers that I have purchased have super high shipping on top of the already high price for a box of samples. Then you get the box and half of the stuff is great, things I would use, but the other half is all crap. And by crap, I mean total and useless crap. Sometimes I feel that people put in their worst items or destash items that don't even represent their shop but they put it in to get 'exposure.' Sorry, but if you submit some crap to a sampler, I not only will not visit your shop, but I really avoid that shop at all costs. If this is the way you promote, why should I even want to visit your shop, as I assume your customer service is just as crappy!

Anyway, back to the OOTB Sampler... I've been getting this box every month since maybe October or November and every month I am super happy with everything inside. There are always soaps, candles, tarts, paper goods, food (yum!) and other surprises that change monthly. Honestly, we all use soap, we all eat and most of us burn candles/tarts so really, how disappointed can you be when these things are ALWAYS in the box?! Some people who put things into the box also supply full size products which is always an awesome thing to get. In every box there is also a letter with all the shops that participated and discounts for certain shops. Not only are you able to try products, but you can get a discount when you go to purchase the full size product!

I love this sampler so much that I signed up for a subscription that was offered for 4 months this year. I'm super excited about it and just received the first box of the year! I had so many soaps, candles, tarts, foods and other goodies I was thrilled. I even took a picture of some of the stuff that was inside (sorry, not all of it was there as I got a little hungry lol). Not only does the sampler make a great gift itself, the items inside are also great for small gifts or 'stocking stuffers!' If this sounds like something you'd like to try, go check it out and get a box for your self!