Red Ribbon Journal and Purchases

Thanks to everyone who took my little poll and sorry I haven't blogged lately. I've been busy with college stuff. Since each option got one vote, it didn't really tell me much, but I'll try to include giveaways, other shops, and tutorials in the future. :) If you have any suggestions for what you want to see a tutorial of, feel to suggest an item. To the person who said to have less of the letters you have to copy down before you post comments, that's just the way blogspot is set up. I don't think I can do anything about it, sorry! (and those are kind of annoying, I always get it wrong the first time, haha. Maybe it's just me, but the letters are always hard for me to read, but I understand they do it for internet safety).

It's been really hard to list things lately because the internet is so slow in my dorm and it takes forever to get photos up. I did get this listed though:

Red Ribbon Mini Journal

This is a small, 3 x 3 inch mini journal, sewn together with ribbon. I sort of made up the stitch for it. It was pretty easy to make and I love the ribbon on it.



I also made some Halloween and inspirational quotes cards that I'll hopefully get up soon. I found an art studio I might be able to work in to do my journals so that's good (I haven't made journals lately because I'm out of a lot of supplies and I wanted to make sure I had a studio before ordering more).

Since I haven't been listing, I've made a couple purchases from etsy. A lot of stuff is to decorate my dorm.

I got these two, beautiful prints. The first is from willowing. I originally found the print on livejournal though in a journal community. The second one is of Venice, Italy and I bought it from scarletbeautiful, who I've purchased from before. I had a poster of Venice, Italy in my dorm room last year except it was a huge, painted print. I figured I would keep up the tradition, and I want to study abroad in Italy next year.




I bought this soap from soothingsuds. It's a mint chocolate soap, which smells so good. I used it today and it made my skin really soft. She also threw in a cucumber sampler which smells really good too. I didn't realize it when I bought it, but I was her first sale which feels really good because I know how happy I was to get my first sale. :)



I also got a couple of these cute magnets for my fridge:


I'm thinking of buying a small decal too, but I haven't decided on one yet or if I even need one (I'm pretty low on personal money right now). If you have any suggestions of a shop or item that sells them, please post. :)

Showcase & Photo Frames

I'm on the Back to School main showcase today on the front page of Etsy. I featured my blue marbled, coptic stitch journal here. I did one showcase before and it didn't really get me a lot of views/sales, but I thought I'd try the front page one. I'm surprised showcases don't get more attention, but I did get two hearts for my journal. Also, I really like the idea of a Back to School showcase. :)

I got featured on this Helping Hands blog for my Autism Awareness Journal. The blog features etsy shops donating to charity and I think it's a great idea.

I also got a request for another sale - somebody asked if I could make a couple of copies of two of the greeting cards I have listed. It's sort of like a custom order, so I'm excited to do that. :)

I just listed my first photo frame:

Silver Flocked Photo Frame


I happy to have almost 50 items up. I think that's around the average amount most sellers have, but it's the first time I've had so many items since I just opened this past June. Also, my items usually take a lot of time (except greeting cards) so it's nice to see a lot up.

3rd Sale

I made another sale! :) I'm so happy because this is the biggest item I've sold. It's a recycled journal from the children's book "Turandot". I also like this item a lot because I remember reading this book growing up and I love the decorative paper I used for the inside. It's also a gift for someone (like my first order) which makes it exciting. I was thinking, maybe I should wrap it in wrapping paper since it's going directly to the person the gift is for? Or should I just do it in tissue paper like I do everything else?
Here's a picture because I don't think I've posted this item on my blog before:

Yay, I love sales.
Don't forget to take the poll on the right side of my page if you haven't already. :)

Dorm

I'm living in my college dorm now. The room is nice - it has carpet and a little kitchen area. Hopefully, I'll be able to craft with school and everything. I'm sort of running low on supplies now, but maybe I can make a little craft area or find a studio to work in. I miss my cat already though. :( By the way, I can log in to etsy now. I don't know what happened before.

Some new listings:

Mini Autism Awareness Journal

This is a mini version of the bigger book to the right (here).



Oversized Envelope Sketch book

I had this really neat decorative paper I used for this. It was basically a big sheet of paper that had a print of an oversized, old fashioned looking envelope with a written address and everything. I decided to use it to make this sketch book with pastel paper inside. I semi-made up the stitch for the side too (it's basically a variation of the stab bound).



I did a big photoshoot last night where I took pictures of a bunch of new items, so I will be posting those gradually.

I added a new poll to the right. Feel free to take it. :) I'm just trying to think of new ideas to keep this blog interesting.

Featured on Another Blog

I got a featured on another blog! You can check out my interview here.

Is anybody else having trouble logging in to etsy? I haven't been able to login since yesterday and I don't know if it's my computer or a problem with etsy. I get an error and then it says, "This should be a momentary issue -- please try refreshing this page in a few minutes! <3 br="">

I have lots of new items I'm working on and new items to post soon. :)

Tutorials & New Items

I can't believe I'm going back to school this weekend. Summer definitely went by really fast. I'm trying to get a couple listings every day this week. Here's a couple new journals I listed:

Little Red Book



I'm running out of binder's board to make journals out of, so I thought I'd use some scraps to make a few mini journals. I made this "little red book" that I think turned out really cute. I basically made it the same way as my other journals, but scaled down. I priced it using my calculations I do for all my items, but I'm not sure if my price is good. I don't know how much size matters or if it's more skill/technique.

Black and White Faces in Crowd Journal



I made a version of this journal a while ago in the same fabric, but in color. I made this journal with thicker paper and this pretty decorative paper on the inside. I actually made it for myself, but I decided to put it up anyway in case somebody buys it. If after a while, no one buys it, I might end up taking it down and keeping it for myself. :x It'd be great if someone bought it though.

Since I'll be living in college this year and I don't have a lot of room to store all my journals, I'm having my mom send out any orders for my shop. I was kind of upset at first because I really like the whole writing a handwritten note part of my orders. I decided though to include a little typed note with each order - it has a little message on it and also include a list of journaling ideas. I'm putting them in handmade envelopes with my business cards. :) I also wrote that if they wanted, they could send in scanned pictures of what they did with their journal and I'd post it here on my blog. Hopefully, I'll get some orders in the future and people will actually send some pictures in.

I was also thinking of new stuff to add to my blog. I've never tried writing a tutorial. Would anybody be interested in that? I was thinking of something I could do that is pretty simple, like a mini journal like the one posted above (where the stitch is pretty easy and you can make it out of pretty common materials). Just let me know what you think. :) If there's a certain item you like in my shop, I can probably do a tutorial for it. Maybe I'll make a poll.

Favorite Items

So I decided to do something different today on my blog and show some of my favorite items I've found off Etsy and Flickr. :)



Indie Band Stickers
This shop sells a variety of prints and things, but I really like these indie band stickers. They were actually one of my first purchases on etsy. They have some of my favorite bands on there and I love that you get to choose which you want. I also really like this art print with Death Cab for Cutie lyrics.



Chocolate Bar
I had one of her photos saved in my favorites on flickr. I love chocolate scented soap. It's such a good way to indulge without "actually" indulging in chocolate. :)



Sing Like No One is Listening Print
I actually found this shop from a post in a livejournal community and I think a lot of the art pieces she sells are actually from her journal. She puts inspiring messages on her pieces, which I think is really nice and I love her collage technique. This piece reminds me of a lyric from one of my favorite songs. I'm considering buying a few things for my dorm room when I go back to college and there's a print of hers I might buy.



Sweetheart Key Earrings
I don't buy a lot of jewelry, but these earrings are so cute! The owner of the shop runs one of the teams I'm in, EtsyU. She also has some really cute silverware earrings in her shop.



Hand Screen Printed Camera Zipper Pouch
I love the bags/pouches in this shop. This is such an neat idea for a camera holder and I love how it's screenprinted.



Stuffed Hippo
This is actually for kids, but I love this stuffed hippo. I have this thing for hippos - they were my favorite animal as a kid. Though they're not really soft and cuddly in real life, they're so cute as stuffed animals/toys.

I love shopping on etsy and everyone's items are so inspiring to me. Even if you don't buy it, it's fun just to admire everyone's crafts.

Just Listed

I posted the two items I mentioned in my last entry.

Blue Marbled Coptic Bound Sketchbook

The cover paper was made in Italy and it's the most expensive paper I've bought. I wanted to use the paper for something nice, so I thought a sketchbook with thick, art paper would look nice. I also used the coptic bound stitch which I'm still pretty new at. I think I did a good job with it. :)

Bingo Box

I also listed this box made with decorative Bingo paper. I think it came out really cute. I really like the paper for this one and I thought a box was perfect for it.



I also sold one of my cards. It was actually a card I made for my mom, but I decided to list it since I had already taken pictures of it and it would give me more feedback.

I have a bunch of unfinished projects I might work on tomorrow. I'm not sure yet if I should finish some old projects so I can sell them or start new projects I'm inspired to do.

Olympics

To celebrate the Olympics, I decided to make a treasury with Olympic themed items. It was fun to find the items and there weren't a ton of items to choose from which made it easier to narrow down. You can see my treasury and comment here.

New listings:

Chinese Lady Yang

This journal is sort of Olympic themed because it uses Chinese fabric/paper and the Olympics are in Beijing, China this year. This is also my first time using thick, sketchbook paper instead of computer paper.



Cupcake Desserts Cookbook

I made this one a while ago, but it has some little imperfections so I never put it up. I decided I'd put it up at sale price since I still think somebody might like it.



I was looking on flickr for bookbinding groups and I found a bookbinding team that I've never seen. I can't believe I hadn't found that team sooner so I joined and I'm excited about that. There's a book swap they have and I think I might participate in it. I love seeing other people's journals and learning new techniques.

Right now, I'm making a box with Bingo decorative paper and a coptic bound sketch book. I'm still trying to get better at my coptic bound stitch and I hope this one comes out nice because I'm using thick paper and expensive marbled paper. I can't wait to share. :)

Featured in Storque Article

I got featured in a Storque article today. It's about swapping business cards in your team. It's funny because I was reading it and I was going to post something about how my EtsyVeg team is doing something similar to what they were talking about and then I noticed my Postcards from Italy box on top.

You can read the article here. I don't know how rare it is to be featured in a Storque article. I've never been on the front page or anything yet so it's really exciting for. Yay! :)

In other news, I got some thick art paper in the mail today that I ordered from EBay. I got it so I could make some journals with nicer paper than computer paper for people who like to do art journals or want a sketchbook. I think I might try making a sketchbook tonight.

I'm going on vacation tomorrow for about a week to Boston. I probably won't get any sales, but just an as announcement, I won't be able to ship any items until next week.

edit - This is kind of off topic, but I decided this post needed some pictures.

My cat, Luna, is still a kitten and she still stays in the house. We're trying to get her used to going outside because she's going to be an outdoors cat. The first time we brought her out, she was really scared, but I brought her out again today and she loved exploring the outdoors. :)

Greeting Cards

I started making greeting cards. Here are some of them:

Key to My Heart Card


I used an old key and glitter to make this card. I had been planning to use the key for another project years ago, but I decided to use it for a card instead.

Reach for the Stars Card



Dressed to Impress Card



Congratulations Card and Get Well Card



Good News Card


The inside says "I heard about the good news..." in Times New Roman font.

Wedding Cake



Inspiring Quotes



I also got a new mailing scale which will be really useful (for my EBay orders too). It was really cheap on ebay too (like a couple dollars). I haven't figured out how to package cards yet. Do I just stick them in a large envelope or should I wrap them first?