Vatican City Photo

I'm back at college now. Since I've been back, my internet hasn't worked on my laptop yet. I had to sign up for the system and for some reason, it's been taking them a long time to approve me. I should have it back by next week though and I'll post about my classes, etc.

A photo I took in the Vatican while I was traveling in Italy this summer got featured in an online travel guide from Schmap. They contacted me before on flickr and said I was a finalist, but now it's published on the site. :)



Just go here and scroll over "Vatican City". You might have to use the arrows, but you'll find my photo. I also got a screen cap of it here (the image is too big to fit on the blog page).

I took Photography in school last semester. I don't know how I plan on using photography in the future (if just for fun or something more), but it's pretty neat to get featured. It also links to my flickr which is great for both my photography and shop (because I use flickr to promote my items). Ahh, I'm so excited it got featured. :)

Zebra Print Journal

I got my 100th item listed. It's this cute Zebra Print Journal:



I love the paper for this because I love animal prints. It's textured too. I've had 100 items listed in my shop before, but after having some sales at craft shows and expired items, it went below. I think around 100 is a good number of items to have - it gives you a good variety, but it's not too much.

I also got some Halloween items listed. I think I'll post more about those items in a separate entry closer to Halloween. By the way, if you look at my archive, you can see read more about the cards when I made them. I also did a tutorial on how I made my Halloween cards. I might also try to make more Halloween items if I have time.

I'm starting to get packed to go back to school. I have a lot of stuff in storage there so I don't have to bring a ton of stuff back which is nice. It's sort of hard to know what to bring though. I can't wait to decorate my room there. :) I have some giveaway prizes and stuff I bought on etsy I'm going to display. I'm also planning to decorate my room with photos I took in Italy.

Camera Working Again & Circular Boxes

I feel like I haven't updated in a while so I thought I'd make an entry. I mentioned previously my camera wasn't charging and I might have to send it in to get fixed. I don't know what happened, but today I just turned it on and it worked again. I didn't do anything different (I don't think) and before it would just shut off if you tried to turn it on. I got so excited when it turned out that I took 500 photos of new items I've been waiting to photograph. I still have more items to take photos of tonight. This will give me a lot of new items to list.

I'm working on a circular box right now. It's only my second time trying it. It's kind of hard because I can never get the measurements right (somehow something always gets a little off) and you have to be pretty precise with boxes. It is fun to make though. You can wet binder's board and bend it to a circular shape while it's wet which is pretty neat. I might do a tutorial on it someday. Here a in the process photo:



I'm using this really pretty blue, glitter paper. I don't know if it will turn out. I didn't sell the last one I made because the top was too tight and I could never get it off. It looks nice though and I got one photo before the top got stuck on:





I was planning on getting a youtube video up to promote my shop, but I decided I wanted to show off new items so I'm going to wait until I finish taking and editing photos of new items. I'm going to do one video of new journals I made and one of just cards. You can see my previous youtube video here. If you like it, please rate/comment/subscribe and you'll also get updated when I put my new video up.

Since Halloween is coming up, I'm relisting my Halloween items. I have some cards I made last year and I might make some new items. I wasn't planning on listing this early, but I hear that people are already starting to shop for Halloween. I relisted this card:

Pumpkin Carriage Shimmer Greeting Card



It's sort of based on Cinderella with the carriage, but because it's a pumpkin, it works for Halloween. It's actually probably my favorite Halloween card I've made. I'll be listing more cards in the upcoming weeks. If you're looking for anything for Halloween, autumn or even the holiday season, you can always custom order! I have two custom orders going right now. I'm still not sure if they're purchasing for sure, but it's exciting to get custom orders because you get to work closely with someone.

Journal Sold & Updates

I sold an item! It's been my first sale on Etsy since May. :) It's for this Death Cab for Cutie Recycled Journal that was made out of a t-shirt:



Also, one of my giveaway winners posted in her blog that she received her item. She chose this card that I never got a photo of (because my camera isn't working) so I'm glad she posted a photo:



My camera won't charge so I got a new battery for my camera and I thought that would fix it, but it's still not working. Does anybody know what could be wrong? I have a Kodak Easyshare M763 camera. There's a bunch of photos I have to take in the next week because I'm not going to have all my items with me when I go back to college. I might have to take it in to get serviced.

I got this new thank you card listed:

Blue Flower Thank You Card



I worked on painting my brother's room in the basement. I sponge painted it blue and this really pretty turquoise/green color. If you don't know, sponge painting is when you dip a sponge in paint and press it against the wall. It was really fun to do because I didn't have to worry about it being perfect. The room's kind of messy now, but I think it will look good when everything's cleaned up.

Polka Dot Greeting Card & Updates

My treasury expires today, thanks for everyone who looked at it or commented! :) I sort of forgot about treasuries for a while, but they're fun to make and it's good to promote other shops/your shop.

I just listed this Purple Polka Dot Birthday Greeting Card. It's covered with decorative paper on the outside and it is decorated using a collage technique on the inside. I love the colors of this paper.



My Marbled Turquoise and Gold Photo Album is featured on the Friday favorites on this blog. The theme is water. I saw a thread she posted about her blog and I decided to suggest some of my items. I'm glad she chose my journal. :)



I was watching the Etsy videos in The Storque and found this interesting video about Wildpen's shop. The shop sells jewelry and gifts made with sea glass. What's interesting is she has two pet cockatoo birds that help find the seashells and sea glass and select which ones to use. I thought it was inspiring, I love watching videos like that.

My camera is still broken. I ordered a new battery off EBay and hopefully it will work before I go back to school. I still have a ton of new photos to take and it would just be nice to have my camera back.

Giveaway and Hippo Treasury

I was the winner of the Invisible Child's giveaway. I received everything in the mail a couple of days ago and I forgot to post an entry about it.

The prize was this really cute painting from her Wardrobe Collection. I think I might put it in my room next year while I'm at school. I think it would be cute by my closet, makeup area or somewhere like that where it relates.I also got cupcake toppers. I almost don't want to use them because they're so cute:

I haven't made a treasury in a while so I decided to make a treasury that's hippo related. You can see or comment it here. Hippos were my favorite animal growing up and I found a lot of cute items on Etsy.

I just got back from seeing the musical Spring Awakening today. I heard a lot of good things about it and I had the soundtrack downloaded. One of reasons I went is because an actor from one of my favorite TV shows, Degrassi, was in it. It was a lot of fun to go and it was pretty neat to see an actor I recognized in real life (he looked taller in person). The only other Broadway musical I've seen is Rent when I was in New York City several years ago. I'd recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

Pink Flowers Box & Updates

Last night, my internet was down. I was bored and there were a ton of new items I've made that I hadn't listed so I wrote descriptions for all of them (I can't photograph them yet because my camera needs to be fixed). Now I have about 20 items which I'll be posting over the next month or so. It was really nice to get everything organized. I never noticed there were so many items I needed to list still. I just got this new box listed today:

Pink Flowers Box



I don't usually make a lot of boxes because they're harder to make since you have to get the measurements exactly right. I like how this one turned out though and really like the decorative paper.

I've been getting a couple requests lately for people wanting custom items. It seems like my shop is getting more exposure lately. :) One person wants a calendar, which I was planning on trying to figure out how to make anyway. I'm thinking of even making a 2010 calendar with some of my photos from Italy as photos. Someone else contacted me about making save the date cards for her wedding. Nobody ordered anything yet, but I'm hoping they both will.

I'm also working on new items. I made a journal with ribbon that I really like. It's one of my current favorite journals I've made. One of the reasons I like it is I figured out how to do the stitching with ribbon myself (instead of using a tutorial or someone else's method) and I was happy I figured out how to do it. I also really like the paper I used. I can't wait to post it.

I need a new journal for myself. I was looking through my journals, but I feel bad taking one of my own or taking one already up for sale. I might just end up making one for myself later. It's funny when you can use the items for yourself instead of just putting it in your shop. I was sending a card for someone the other week and I realized I already had one made that would work that I never listed.

Besides etsy, I've been making a little money off EBay. I sold a bunch of magazines to this one girl and now she wants more. I've collected magazines for a while and I never threw any of them out because I love looking at old issues. I decided though that there were a bunch of ones I'd never really read again and they were just taking up space, so it's nice to give them to someone else who wants them.

I'm also painting my brother's room in the basement. He has autism and lives in a group home, but he has a room here for when he comes home for holidays. I started painting it last year, but never finished. I'm sponge painting it light blue and drawing characters from storybooks on it. I'll take photos when it's done.

VeggieFest

I'm sending all my giveaway items out tomorrow. The grand prize winner, Kate8085, chose this mini journal I already had in my shop:



I learned from Craftopolis that my journal featured in this Asian inspired treasury:



I usually only check treasuries if somebody sends me a convo about me being featured, but I think it's a good idea to look on Craftopolis too because it shows which treasuries are using your items as an alternate too (which you can't see just looking on etsy). I haven't made a treasury in a really long time so I think I might make one soon. I already have some theme ideas - I just have to pick one and get the treasury at the right time.

I also got featured in this EtsyVeg treasury on their blog.

Speaking of vegetarian things, I went to this event called VeggieFest in Chicago yesterday. It was basically like a craft show, but instead of crafts, the tents were set up with companies with sample food, health products, yoga brochures, etc. I saw one company selling soap and I got this really good smelling cinnamon soap that I've already used. I also bought a vegetarian t- shirt that's brown and says "Vegetarian for Life". I wish they had more food there, but I did pick up some recipe booklets and made homemade gnocchi from one of them last night.

I also found this interesting vegetarian meetup in Chicago. I won't be able to do it during the year because I'll be at college, but I thought I'd sign up anyway in case I can make it to one of the meetsup. I brought some EtsyVeg Team cards and stickers with me to pass out which would have been perfect, but I forgot about them once I got there. They would've been perfect for it htough.

After VeggieFest, we stopped at this place called Sugar Monkey Cupcakes when we went back. The cupcakes were okay, but everything was so cute in the shop. Everything was really colorful and pink. They also had these window curtain made out of cupcake fabric that was the same as the one I used here except in pink:



I'm working on some new journals. I found this heart themed paper and fabric and I've been meaning to use. I think I'm going to do a few ribbon journals since I don't do a lot of those. I'm not sure how I'm going to stitch it yet, but I'll figure something out.

Giveaway Winners

Here are the giveaway winners and what they chose as their prize. There were 3 winners. I got 177 entries. Thanks for everyone who entered! I wish I could give everyone something.

Mindy won a greeting card of her choice. She chose this Natural History Butterfly Card:



SiSi also won a greeting card of her choice. She chose this Purple and Blue Birthday Card:



And the grand prize winner of a custom mini journal was... Kate8085! She might just pick a mini journal from my shop instead of having it custom made, but I'll let you know what she chooses and post photos.

Yay, congrats to everyone! The giveaway was a lot of fun to do. It was a much better turnout than my last giveaway. I think for the other one, I was trying to get rid of some of 2008 Election items because I knew they wouldn't be very useful once the election was over. I just didn't give it enough time and didn't promote it that much. I tried to post this giveaway in a lot of different places. I also managed to win 2 giveaways while I was promoting my own giveaway. If you didn't win my giveaway, you should definitely keep entering them because it seems like if you enter a bunch, you'll eventually win something.

I got featured in a treasury here. My item is the green swirl Tree of Life journal:



I found out my digital camera is broken because it won't charge it all. I might have to send it in to get repaired. So I can't take photos of my new items yet. I might work on some new journals this weekend. I'm also still working on getting my craft room organized. I'm going to put all my decorative paper in there today. It's hard to know where to put everything, but it's going to be nice to have a room where I can keep all my crafting stuff.

Giveaway Almost Over, New Listing & Italy Photo

Today is the last day for the giveaway. You can still enter until midnight tonight so feel free to enter if you haven't already. Thanks to everyone who's entered sofar, I'm excited this giveaway has had a good turnout and it's been giving me a lot of exposure to my shop. I can't wait to find out the winners!

I listed a photo frame. I actually made this item over a year ago, but never got it up because of some imperfections. I thought I had it listed actually, but noticed I had only two photo frames in my shop so I listed it:

Gold and Green Flocked Photo Frame



I have another one that's imperfect. It's kind of messy and the cuts aren't perfect, but I love the design of. The fabric I used is black and white faces so I thought it was perfect for a photo frame. I was thinking of using it myself, but that got me thinking that if I like it enough to use it, someone else might like it too even with the imperfections. So I'll probably retake photos of that and list it. What do you think of selling imperfect items (at sale price)? Would you still buy it?

I got featured in this July Monthly Challenge on EtsyVeg where the theme was bugs. My Natural History Butterfly Card was featured:



Also, other exciting news... I went to Italy this summer and took a lot of photos (I talked about that on here in earlier entries). Schmap, a company who makes online travel guides, contacted me through flickr and they said they might feature one of my photos in an upcoming guide. I was so excited to find out! I just post my photos online for fun, but it's nice to see them getting attention. I submitted my Italy photos to a lot of related groups that showcase photos from Italy so I was glad sending my photos to groups helped. It will also give me more exposure to my photography/etsy shop (since I post photos of my etsy items on flickr) if it gets chosen to be featured. The photo was a fountain outside the Vatican:



I like this photo a lot and I was glad it was chosen. I actually edited the coloring a little in photoshop (it was originally taken with film offline) and it made the sky in the background a little brighter which makes the photo stand out more. It's still in the final round, so it's not definite it will be in the guide, but I'll keep you updated.

Hearted Items

I made it to 100 followers! I'm really happy about that. Also... I've been entering a bunch of giveaways since I had my own and I won another giveaway! I got an original painting from a wardrobe series. Wow, it feels really good to win and I really like the item I won. :) I also got my crocheted banana from the other giveaway I won in the mail today. It's so cute! If you want to buy a pattern of the item I won, you can check out the shop here.

I forgot to post in the last entry that I got featured in this pretty, blue EtsyVeg treasury. My journal is the first one:

I got a new plug for my camera so it's working now and I can take new photos. For today, since I don't have any new listings, I thought I'd do a post with some items I've hearted:

Red Bird Natural Pillow



I love the design of this pillow. I think it'd be perfect in the winter or for a room with a lot of neutral colors. I would love to buy it, but it's kind of expensive for me right now.

Hazelnut Cocoa Vegan Soap



I'm trying to find a Nutella flavored soap to use. I love Nutella, but it's so bad to indulge it all the time and soap is a good way to still indulge in the scent. I also just love handmade soap. I found this one which has a hazelnut/cocoa scent. I might end up buying it. :) If anybody has used any really good handmade soaps from etsy, feel free recommend some shoaps.

Most Days Require Chocolate Print



I'm sort of a chocolate addict...and I love this print. I love how the "some" is crossed out. I think it'd be really cute in a kitchen.

Mini Camera Ring



I love everything in this shop. Since I've been more in to photography lately, I've been attracted to the photography items like this adorable camera ring.

3G IPhone Felt Case



I don't have an iPhone, but I love this stitched case and how they got all the little details of the iPhone on it.

Don't forget, my giveaway ends on August 5 so there's only a couple days left to enter (scroll down two posts to see info about the giveaway). Even if you've already entered, you can do additional entries that you might not have done yet, like promoting the giveaway. By the way, voting ended for the gift guide. I didn't get in the top 3, but it was still fun to be nominated. Thanks for everyone who voted for my journal!

New Listings

Click here to go to the giveaway. By the way, when you enter, you don't have to do a bunch of responses for everything you did. You can just do one response and I'll add up all your entries. :)

I want to keep a link to my giveaway on top so it's easy to find. I know when I update, the entry will move down one. My giveaway is having a good turnout this time. It ends August 5th so there's still time to enter! I'm trying to promote my giveaway a lot so I think that's helped. I never got exactly why a lot of people did giveaways before, but now I see how they can be a lot of fun and helpful for your shop.

Speaking of giveaways, I won a giveaway done by someone else! I won a giveaway last year, but the person never sent me my prize and didn't reply to me when I contacted her. I think most people are pretty good at being honest with prizes though so I'm excited about this. I won this really cute crocheted banana:



I love crocheted things and little food items like these so I'm glad out of the giveaways I entered (I entered a bunch while I was promoting my own), I got to have this item. Bananas are one of my favorite fruits and they also rhyme with my name. :)

I got these new items listed:

Red and Gold Anniversary Greeting Card



This item is made with red tissue paper and red decorative paper. It's an anniversary card on the inside. I love the unique texture of it and had a lot of fun ripping the paper and collaging them together (I find this technique is good to use with scrap papers I have).

Hope Floats Movie Recycled Journal



I made this item over a year ago, but never got it listed for some reason. I always like to have a couple of items I don't list right away so if I do feel like listing something when there's not any new items, I can. This recycled journal uses a recycled VHS cover of the movie "Hope Floats". I've never seen the movie actually, I just sort of found the case. It seems like it's a cute movie though. I used the long stitch method to bind it together which I don't use on any other journals except this one.

The plug to charge my camera broke so I had to order a new one. Once I get my camera back, I can take photos of new items I made this week. I made 3 new journals and a bunch of new cards. I also made some envelopes out of decorative paper. I usually make envelopes to go with orders of journals (I try to have paper of the envelope match the color of the journal), but I was thinking of selling some of these new ones. Would you guys be interested in envelopes? If people show interest, I'll definitely make a listing for them.

There's only two more days left of voting for my Blue Marbled Coptic Stitch Journal to be in the gift guide. I don't think I'll make it to the gift guide, but I'm glad I got nominated and it seems like I'm getting more exposure in my shop just for being nominated. I think only the top 3 people get in the gift guides and I'm not even in the top half. I wonder how much exposure people in gift guides get. I know being in a showcase doesn't help your shop much, but being on the front page does seem to get clicks, so maybe the gift guides are somewhere in between? If you haven't voted, I'd appreciate your vote for my journal. :)