Giveaway Contest!

I'm going to do a giveaway contest. I did one before and no one entered (or I think only one person entered) so hopefully I'll get a better turnout this time. :)

Prize:



1st Place - The grand prize winner will get a custom made mini book. I won't be able to do everything, but I can give you some choices of what color, stitching and type of design you want. The size will be about 3 x 3 inches and include at least 20 sheets of paper. If you don't want it custom made, you can also choose a mini book from my shop instead. You will also get a set of Move the Needle post-it notes.

2nd & 3rd Place - The next two winners will get their choice of one greeting card from my shop. You will also get an envelope to go with it. You will also get a set of Move the Needle post-it notes.

You can get an entry by any of these ways. You can do as many or few as you like. You must reply to this entry saying what you did.
*Replying to this entry - 1 entry
*Follow me on twitter - 1 entry
*Add me as a friend on flickr - 1 entry
*Follow my blog - 1 entry
*Heart my shop or an item in my shop - 1 entry
*Become my friend on Facebook - 1 entry
*Rate, comment or favorite my youtube video - 1 entry
*Be my 100th follower - 2 entries
*Post a link to my blog/shop in any message board or blog - 2 entries
*Place an ad on my blog using Project Wonderful - 3 entries
*Post about my giveaway on any message board or blog - 3 entries
*Vote for my Blue Marbled Coptic Stitch Journal here - 3 entries

That's a potential 20 entries if you do everything. I will put all the entries in to a randomizer and choose two winners. The contest will end August 5th. Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

New Band Journal

I posted this new Death Cab for Cutie journal. I had an extra t-shirt of theirs laying around. I was going to list it on EBay, but instead, I thought I’d upcycle it in to a journal here. It has decorative music note paper on the inside.

I’m thinking of making another YouTube video to promote my shop soon. My first one is here, but I want to make another one with some newer items. I have a really good song to go with it too.

My one year anniversary for this blog is coming up soon. I remember my first entry was on Fourth of July last year. I’m really glad I got a blog and it’s been nice to reflect on my etsy shop and learn about other people on etsy. I think I’ve also done a good job of doing a couple entries every week.

I changed some minor things in my layout. I just added a new poll and changed some of my links. I had a few links to other etsy blogs that I swapped links with, but I noticed my link wasn’t on their blog anymore, so I took their links off. Also, if you want to see what etsy blogs I’m reading, you can just look at people I follow in my profile.

I also added a new poll on the right side. You only have 6 days to vote so please vote! I like seeing your answers. I asked what items you’d want to see more of in my shop.

I just realized it’s Friday. I love when it’s summer and you lose track of days. I should have more Italy photos up on my flickr soon. I’m still going through them all and trying to edit them.

Autism Awareness Box

I just listed this Autism Awareness Box listed:



25% of the payment goes to an autism charity to help support autism awareness. It uses the official autism awareness puzzle piece fabric. I made a couple autism items in my shop because my brother has autism and I'm also part of the Etsy for Autism team on etsy. You can see my Autism Awareness Journal here:



I also have another mini version of that journal in a shop called Light Speed in Chicago (see my shop announcements for the address of it in case you're in the Chicago area).

I applied for a few craft shows, but haven't heard anything back yet. I applied to one market place, paid them money and they never contacted me so I emailed them. Someone emailed me back and said they were really sorry and would look at my application as soon as possible, but I still haven't heard anything from them. Sometimes personal emails get in to my Spam box accidentally, but I've checked my Spam to make sure of that. Do you think I should email me back? I would just ignore it and apply somewhere else, but I already paid them.

I'm working on a bunch of new items. I got this really cute zebra decorative paper and I made a card and journal with it. The journal is really cute because the stitching uses both black and white thread to match the paper. I found matching zebra fabric lying around right after I made the items. I actually like the paper better though.

I've also been working on my craft room. It was my sister's old room, but my mom and I are using it as our craft room. I think it'll just be really nice to store everything in there. I have one shelf where I'm keeping fabric and another where I'm keeping all the books I'm selling on EBay and half.com (not etsy related, but I needed somewhere to store them). I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all my decorative paper yet because you have to lie it flat. If you have any ideas for organizing/decorating items, let me know. Also feel free to share your crafting space. :)

I noticed I almost have 100 followers. I don't usually do giveaways, but I was thinking of giving a prize to the 100th follower or having some giveaway contest. I'll have to think of some ideas, but I'll keep you updated on that if I decide to do it. The prize would be one of my smaller items - like your choice of a greeting card or mini book.

New Cards

I'm home alone for the weekend by myself which is really nice. Summer is going by really fast. I can't believe I'll be back in school soon. I got an email about volunteering this year - I think I'm going to volunteer with the program America Reads. It's weird to start thinking about that stuff already.

I got these new listings up:

Red and Gold Glitter Hearts Anniversary Greeting Card



Pink Glitter Collaged Happy Birthday



I also relisted these cards, which are both made to order:

Blue and Purple Watercolor Flower Sympathy Card



Sunflower Inspiring Quote Card



I also changed the price and fixed up the photo a little for this card.

I took some new photos of items. I'm trying to organize all my photos because some of them got lost. It's been nice to go through everything and see which items I never got around to putting up. For example, I have a recycled book I made a year ago that I never listed.

I went shopping today. I had to mail some items I sold on EBay (I'm doing pretty well selling stuff), but I also stopped at my Paper Source store. I got glue (which I needed because I'm completely out), greeting cards, embossing powder and a couple sheets of decorative paper. I wasn't planning on buying paper, but I couldn't help myself. I found this really cute zebra print paper that's textured. There's this journal I've been working on, but I couldn't decide on what paper to use as a cover and this works perfectly.

Hope everyone has a good Friday! :)

New Listings

I got these new items up, which both happen to be orange:

Orange Flower Garden Mini Journal



This item was a little different because I started with a blank book, already bound, and painted it with oil paint. I had these blank books when I was a kid where you were supposed to fill in with stories. I had one laying around so I decided to use it. The colors are a mix of red, orange and yellow:

Painted Orange Swirl Journal



I also got this journal up which has a map of Chicago. I had to put it on sale because of an imperfection, but I really like how it turned out. I found the paper in a small shop in my hometown.

Chicago Map Coptic Stitch Journal (Sale)






I'm also working on getting more items up. I have some cards I made a while ago that I never listed. I just have to edit some photos. I'm trying to list a new item every day so I'm not listing all at once.

I've been buying ad space using Project Wonderful (really cheap). I've heard good things about that site and it's a good way to get exposure without spending a lot of money. I've noticed my views are up in my shop - I think it's a combination of ads, being featured on blogs and listing new items more. I also applied so people can buy ad space on my blog. I think I'd replace the plugboard box with just space for a small ad. Hopefully, the ads would be pretty much all etsy/craft related so it'd be good to add to my blog.

I sold a bunch of items on EBay today so I'm excited about that. It's mostly just old magazines for $1, but it's nice to get rid of old stuff and make a little money. I also found a bunch of expensive eye shadows for really cheap on EBay. I kind of gave in and bought them. There was a set of 20 eye shadows that would have been about $200-300 in real life, but it was only $30 on EBay so I figured it would save a lot of money and it will last a while.

I'm starting to use my tumblr daily and also post in my music blog if you want to check those out.

Luna's Famous!

I submitted my cat for a pet feature in EtsyVeg's blog (a vegetarian team I'm in on etsy). My write up and photos of her were on the blog today. :) You can see it here.



As far as the blogs I was talking about starting my last entry, I ended up starting a music blog/community on livejournal here where I'm going to post music recommendations, mixtapes, etc. If you're on livejournal, feel free to join my community. I'll update at least weekly (probably more in the summer).
Also, I started a tumblr where I'm going to post photos daily - either ones I take or ones I find. I'm hoping to do it every day for a while and try not to miss a day. I might also start a tumblr for Move the Needle to help promote it where I feature just items. I'll let you know if I get that up too.

New Coptic Stitch Journal

I listed this new journal. I got the paper in Italy (from either Florence or Venice, I can't remember which even though I wrote Venice in the description). I think I tend to buy a lot of blue, marbled papers and they end up being some of my favorite items.

Blue and Gold Marbled Stitch Journal



I'm thinking of advertising on craftster.org, but I want to make a little more money first. There's also a challenge there where you have to make some craft item using only food/edible items. I think I might try it and maybe try to make an edible journal. I'm not sure how it will work yet (what will I use for pages?), but I think it would be fun to do even if I don't win.

I got accepted to a juried craft show happening in my hometown. I'm happy because I really want to do this show (I went to it last year, but didn't sell my crafts because I was still new at it). The only thing is I'm kind of confused on the details so I don't know if it will work out. I applied to be juried for this company and they emailed me back. The first thing they said was that the products had to be my own. I sent them a link to my etsy shop and I think because of something I said, they thought I meant I owned etsy or something and didn't make the products in my shop, haha. After that though, they said I was accepted and gave me an application for the show in my hometown which I guess I'm supposed to mail in. The application they sent me is a picture file and it is really small so it was hard to read some of the text. I'm supposed to draw out the dimensions of my space (which I did even though I've only done one other craft show and I hope I did it right). I also had to check if I wanted a "free show" or "paid" which I wasn't sure what they meant. If I have to pay though, I probably can't do it because it's more than $100 for space and I don't think I'm selling enough yet to do something like that. It's fun to apply anyway though and I'm sure they'll be lots of more craft shows if this one doesn't work out.

I also sold some stuff on EBay which is good because I really needed the money. It's also nice to get rid of old stuff I don't need anymore. If you're looking for some used juniors tops or magazines, you can check out my EBay items for sale here (just click "items for sale" on the left side).

I just learned I got featured in this treasury here:



I bought some new items for journals, like glue and some decorative paper so I can start working on new projects. My sister moved out of her own room in to an apartment so we're turning it in to a craft room that my mom is going to use. Even though I don't live here during the year, I'm going to keep all my craft supplies in there, which is great because I always run out of room in my bedroom. I can also work in there. It will also have the sewing machine and a computer. I'm hoping to decorate it in some fun way so if you have any ideas, let me know! I'm already inspired from looking at people's crafting rooms and areas on flickr.

Unrelated to etsy, but I got some new ideas for blogs. I might start a music related community/blog on livejournal. I think it will have things like mixtapes, links to download songs, music reviews/recommendations, photos, etc. I have some ideas for names, but I'm having trouble narrowing it down. I also can't decide if I want it weekly or randomly updated. I'll post a link and more about it if I get it up.

I also got an idea for a photography journal where I post a photo every day - either my photograph or something I found online. I have a ton of pictures I save so I thought that'd be a good way to be creative with it. I was thinking of making it private online, but now I'm thinking it'd be easier to have it online and probably private (unless people would be interested in seeing it, the only thing is if it's public, I don't know if I have to get permission to use someone else's photos).

I also bought a Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith which is a journal that asks you to do different tasks that are random - like to draw circles covering the page or take the journal in the shower with you. It's supposed to teach you to let go of your fears and kind of change your ideas about what journaling can be. I'm really happy I got it. I guess I miss journaling because I'm not really keeping a regular art/writing journal right now.

New Listings

I've been working on some new items today. I made this journal with paper I got from Italy of sunflowers and I really like how it turned out. It might be one of my favorite recent ones.

I was also messing around with some blank tags I bought from a craft store. I originally bought them to use for prices in my craft show, but never used them. I have a stamp that has a quote about friendship on it so I stamped that on a few of the tags. I also had a "You're Invited" stamp I used on the tags. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I might decorate them some more and try to sell them.

I also got some new listings up this morning:

Blue and White Marbled Coptic Stitch Mini Journal



I bought the paper for this journal in Venice, Italy. I found it at a small little papermaking shop. They specialize in handmade marbled paper in Italy and most of the paper I buy here was originally made in Italy so I was excited to actually go to a store in real life while I was over there. I collaged ripped pieces of the paper together for the cover and coptic stitched it together.

Orange Flower Garden Thank You Card



I also listed this card that says "Thank You" on the inside. I love the paper for this one because it's colorful and metallic. I made this one earlier this summer, but never got around to getting it up until now.

While I was listing items, I decided to list some new items on EBay too. It's mostly just old magazines I'm trying to sell and make a little extra money. If you're ever looking for a particular teen magazine though, I might have it and could sell it to you. :)

New Photos and Feature on BEST Blog

I added new photos to my Italy album on flickr and wrote a little thing about my whole trip in my livejournal. I talked about each place I went to. Some of my Italy photos also got featured on this blog which made me really happy that the girl who runs it decided to feature me.

Also, I was listening to this podcast and found this song on youtube. It's about going to Italy and if you've ever been to Italy, I think it's fun to listen to. It's funny because the lyrics say they leave from Pittsburgh (which is where I flew from to Italy) and they mention a lot of places I went to like climbing the Duomo and riding gondolas.

Also, while on my flickr, you can check out a project I'm doing called My Thirty Clicks. It's kind of like the 365 Project (where you're supposed to take a photo every day for a year) except it's taking a photo with a monthly theme. The My Thirty Clicks theme for May was "reflect" and I kept it up while in Italy. You can see my May album here. The theme for June was "summer" and you can see all my photos here. Here's some of my June photos (which mostly ended up being random photos, but it was good to take a photo everyday):







In etsy related news, I was featured on the BEST Team blog today, along with some other members. They're going through the alphabet and talking about member's shops. I was waiting for "M" to come. :)

I had my first craft show yesterday. It was a lot of fun and I sold some smaller items. I didn't want this entry to be too long so I split up my entry today. I will update on that with photos of my craft fair and items that sold in my next entry.

Front Page!

I made it on the front page today! I'm so excited. :) It's my first time being on the front page. I was checking my Google Analytics and noticed I had a lot more views today so I figured I must have been featured somewhere. The treasury I posted in my last post was the one that got featured. It was for this Good News Greeting Card:



Here's a screen cap of the front page. I missed it, but found it in a flickr group:



I mentioned my laptop was broken. I thought it could be fixed, but it was actually broken for good, which is too bad because I had just put new stickers on it that I got from etsy:



I got a brand new one though which is nice. I love having a new computer and it's nice to have everything working.

Also, I forgot to mention since I opened this blog on Fourth of July last year, it's been a little over a year since I've had this blog. :) It's the only blog I really keep on a regular basis and I've had over 100 entries. I hope to keep it up and keep regularly posting. It's been a good space to talk about my etsy stuff and also to share some personal things.

Beach House, Italy & Craft Show

This weekend, I went to my beach house in Michigan for Fourth of July. It was only my second time going there and it was a lot of fun. It’s a little house right by the beach, so it’s really nice. I went swimming at the beach which I haven’t done in a while. We saw fireworks over the lake. None of my photos of fireworks came out because my digital camera ran out of power and I had to use a camera phone, but I got these photos:

I found this sign that says “Beach” that we keep in our house.

There’s this painting in the bathroom of the house left by the previous owners. I think it’s really pretty.

I’ve also been uploading more photos in my Italy album. I’ll be gradually adding more. I’ve been working on a journal where I’m gluing in my Italy photos and writing captions. It’s pretty much done (there’s just a couple more photos I have to print out). I really like how it looks and it’s been a great way to organize my photos offline. 

This is an exterior view of the Duomo in Florence. The size of the photo isn’t that big because I had to scan this photo myself and for some reason it comes up small on the computer, but I like how it turned out. I climbed to the top of the Duomo on the last day in Florence. It was so much fun and the view from the top was beautiful (photos of that coming soon!

This was the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. The photo’s kind of blurry because it was taken at night, but it was so beautiful and I loved just hanging out in Siena.

My Fourth of July greeting card was featured in this EtsyVeg treasury on their blog. I also got featured in this newsprint treasury (my card’s on the bottom left):

I went shopping for items for my craft show today. It’s my first time doing a craft show so I’m trying to find ways to organize my items in a 10 x 10 space. I got 3 baskets and I think I’m keeping journals and one and greeting cards in the two smaller ones. I’ll also have some of my items on display outside of the baskets, such as some of my bigger journals and boxes. I have a bunch of Christmas, Halloween, etc. cards. Do you think it’s okay sell off season/holiday cards? It’s still kind of early for the holidays, but I figured I might try selling them on sale. I’ve already gotten a lot of advice in the forums, but let me know if you have any tips!

Beach House, Italy & Craft Show

This weekend, I went to my beach house in Michigan for Fourth of July. It was only my second time going there and it was a lot of fun. It's a little house right by the beach, so it's really nice. I went swimming at the beach which I haven't done in a while. We saw fireworks over the lake. None of my photos of fireworks came out because my digital camera ran out of power and I had to use a camera phone, but I got these photos:


I found this sign that says "Beach" that we keep in our house.










There's this painting in the bathroom of the house left by the previous owners. I think it's really pretty.

I've also been uploading more photos in my Italy album. I'll be gradually adding more. I've been working on a journal where I'm gluing in my Italy photos and writing captions. It's pretty much done (there's just a couple more photos I have to print out). I really like how it looks and it's been a great way to organize my photos offline. Here's a couple of my new uploads:


This is an exterior view of the Duomo in Florence. The size of the photo isn't that big because I had to scan this photo myself and for some reason it comes up small on the computer, but I like how it turned out. I climbed to the top of the Duomo on the last day in Florence. It was so much fun and the view from the top was beautiful (photos of that coming soon!)


This was the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. The photo's kind of blurry because it was taken at night, but it was so beautiful and I loved just hanging out in Siena.

My Fourth of July greeting card was featured in this EtsyVeg treasury on their blog. I also got featured in this newsprint treasury (my card's on the bottom left):



I went shopping for items for my craft show today. It's my first time doing a craft show so I'm trying to find ways to organize my items in a 10 x 10 space. I got 3 baskets and I think I'm keeping journals and one and greeting cards in the two smaller ones. I'll also have some of my items on display outside of the baskets, such as some of my bigger journals and boxes. I have a bunch of Christmas, Halloween, etc. cards. Do you think it's okay sell off season/holiday cards? It's still kind of early for the holidays, but I figured I might try selling them on sale. I've already gotten a lot of advice in the forums, but let me know if you have any tips!

Vote for my Journal to be in the Gift Guide!

I just got a conversation on etsy saying my Blue Marbled Coptic Bound Sketchbook was nominated for this week's round of voting to be in the gift guide. I'm so excited that I got chosen! :) I'd appreciate if you could vote for me here.





Thanks for your help. :) I'll have a longer update later. I just got excited and wanted to post this!

Italy: Florence

This is part of a series of posts of my trip to Italy. See past posts here:
Rome   Montefalco   Florence   Verona   Venice

After being in Siena for a few days, we went to Florence which was one of my favorite places. I’ve always wanted to go to Florence since it’s so focused on art. I love all the art there. I got to see some famous paintings I studied at the Uffizi gallery. I also got to see the famous David statue in real life which was really neat. They also had unfinished statues by him on display which were kind of like “sketches” of his larger statue (though it’s not known for sure if there are actually unfinished).

This is from Gates of Paradise, three sets of bronze doors in front of The Baptistry.
One of the days in Florence, I went to these really pretty, famous gardens called the Boboli Gardens. There were huge fountains and great views. Apparently, it inspired some of the famous Italian artists.
I also found a paper store in Florence and got some handmade marbled paper for my shop to make journals. It was nice to buy paper in a shop in person that was made in Italy.



On the very last day in Florence, I woke up early in the morning and climbed the Duomo tower built by Brunelleschi with four other girls. We had to walk 463 stairs to get to the top.



When we got to the top, the view was definitely worth it. I don’t think the photos completely captured what the view looked like in real life, it was one of my favorite sights to see.



Have you ever been to Florence?