Etsy Tuesday

This Etsy Tuesday features the lovely Melissa and her shop maoiliosa. Her shop embodies tranquility and I just had to have some of her washi paper wrapped pencils!

In sets of ten, these pencils come boxed in simple kraft paper boxes and tied with a ribbon.

Melissa even included some adorable mini-moo cards, perfect for when I gift the pencils to my ladies! These will be headed out to my nieces and sister-in-laws, along with some other Etsy goodies. I will definitely keep her at the top of my list for future purchases. Yay for maoiliosa!

Our Lovely Tree

We came home from a Memorial Day BBQ to find that our lovely tree in our front yard had been damaged!

Today's high winds had ripped the tree in half.

Luckily, the picnic table broke the branch's fall, and saved our fence.

My husband called my dad, who came over with his chainsaw.

We are sad for our lovely tree and hope it survives. It is not the worse thing in the world that could happen, but it does make my husband and I a little melancholy to have lost such a great source of shade :(

Work Room Wednesday

Tools of the Trade

Orders I completed last night

Etsy Tuesday

I love this vest from LittleHouses It is wonderfully stitched and the Josephine Vest has all the greatest qualities of your Dad's favorite old Cardigan without the sleeves!

The only thing I would suggest is order smaller than your actual size. Many of LittleHouses designs don't have bust shaping so the top looks a little odd on me...but my Mom, a great seamstress will take in the top a bit! Yay!

Little Gifts

I package my hats for customers as if they were little gifts. These are the best kind of gifts: the ones you pick out yourself!

Each hat or scarf is wrapped in deep purple tissue paper and tied with a 100% cotton thread. I include a thick Moo business card and sometimes a minicard with a coupon code for a discount off the next purchase.

I love these business cards! My baby girl J is the model in this dragon hat and she is about 18 months old. Her third birthday is coming up in a few weeks and she still loves taking pictures with me!

The Heartsy Sale Day Three

My Heartsy experience has been so much fun! Jacqueline and Nathan, two of the owners of Heartsy have been so incredibly helpful! They catered a deal that would work for me and give a 60% discount to my customers.

Things I've learned
1. I have become so much more efficient with my time management in the last two years of running my own business. Orders of this magnitude used to overwhelm me. With these 100 or so orders, I am calm, cool and collected. I know everything will go out in a timely matter.
2. Sleep is important! I am staying up a bit later but instead of pulling all nighters like I did a couple years ago, sleeping for six hours gives me the energy to wake refreshed and work even faster!
3. Taking breaks to do housework and play with my kids gives me time to collect my thoughts so I can jump back into creating with renewed zeal.

Thanks so much to all my customers for enabling me to do the job I love!!! Hugs to all of you!!!!

The Heartsy Sale is Here!

The Heartsy Sale is $20 for a $50 coupon to use at pedestrian! Click here to grab up your coupon! This is the biggest discount I've ever given :D

The Weekend

Last Weekend, my friend J and I, endeavored to take photos of all the Nomad Cowls, Nomad Necklaces, and assorted hats for grown-ups I hadn't yet photographed on a model. Three hours, three locations, three hundred photos, and two coffees later....we were finished! We headed to her house to warm up and watch Mirrormask (one of my favorites) Then I headed home to make supper for my fam.

Location 1: A tree lined lane close to the Agricultural Extension Office of UNL in North Platte.

Location 2: My tried and true corrugated metal building close to railroad tracks. I think someone uses it to store fertilizer and machine parts...

Location 3: We ventured closer to the tracks to find an old silo. The door was removed and inside it was beautifully rusted, adorned with puddles, and sprinkled with corn kernels! This was my favorite location of the day. J was such a trooper too. By this time a chilly wind had come up and she was freezing!

Getting Ready for My Heartsy Feature!

Big things are coming up! I was selected to be featured on Heartsy next Tuesday (yay) so I've been creating like mad to make sure I'm fully stocked. My items will be reduced by 60% and this is a great time of year for me have a massive sale! I'm so excited to give my customers a great deal, especially on my most popular item, The Dragon Hat. I will have a link here for you to purchase your coupon on Tuesday.

Work Room Wednesday (on Friday)

My sister-in-law brought a big box of vintage yarn to my house on Tuesday. I've been sorting, untangling, and pruning the yarn down. The colors are a bit odd so I'm not sure what I will make with it yet....I'm leaning towards making fiber baskets for my little J's room to store her ponies and horses (or as she says: Pones and Horques)

Etsy Tuesday

This fantastic copper 'P' was made by CopperLeafStudios on Etsy. She was so kind to work with and even attached a bracket so I can hang it on my wall! Now to find the perfect spot...

Fiber Art Monday

In trying to get back to my fiber art roots, I'm knit/crocheting my own banner for craft shows. I've started with some cheap, durable acrylic mixed with sari silk fibers. This isn't the acrylic I use in my hats because it doesn't drape well and is a little itchy. Its perfect for a banner, though :D

Mother's Day and New Plants

These new trees and heart beanies were inspired by a trip to the local garden center! The trees are designed using a circle motif and the cheerful door hanger is a speech bubble proclaiming "hello" and "bye".

Two beanie hats will be included in the collection. One features hearts while the other says "hello"

The Dogwood picked out by my son.

New grass is growing (finally!) in the weird little mud pit in our backyard.

My son grew some dainty pansies for me in his class at school in celebration of Mother's Day, my afternoon cup of coffee, and a new organizer from teepetals.

Yay! and have a Happy Mother's Day!

The Slouch Beanie

The Slouch Beanie in Olive traveled to foreign lands!

I found this old medicine cabinet in the back of my garage, scrubbed years of grime off of it, and made 10 more wash cloths in purple, lime, and country green.

The curtains have been hung!

To Do

This week, I'm focusing on some hardcore production. Wholesale orders are flooding in and I'm working to get ahead for next season. I offer wholesale lots of ten Dragon Hats for B+Ms and individual buyers to make gift giving a bit easier. I have 22 nieces and nephews and four kids of my own and I love it when I can get all their presents at one shop! So, if you love gift giving like I do, make sure to grab up 10 Dragon Hats and spread the love! Rawr!

To Do
*order Cherry Red yarn
*make 10 Dragon Hats in Chocolate Brown with Burnt Orange Spikes
*make 10 more 100% Cotton Wash Cloths
*hang curtains
*Spring clean living room
*reorganize craft room
*take pre-craft show inventory

A Perfectly Pealed Orange

A perfectly pealed orange was my snack to power me through my day!