Halloween Costume: Leopard

If you don't have a dress, you can also pair a leopard print top with leopard print leggings or black pants.

Accessories:

You can add leopard print ears and a tail to this costume. You can buy ears and a tail or make them yourself. To make ears, take a headband and cover it in fabric. Use construction paper to make ear shapes. Cover these in fabric and use glue or wire to attach it to the headband.



If you have a leopard print purse or other leopard print items, consider bringing them as part of your costume. Any leopard print items work great as accessories.

Makeup:

Leopard print makeup can be a lot of fun to do. Here's an intense leopard makeup tutorial:



If you don't want to go full out, you can always just do leopard print eyes and draw on a nose and whiskers in black.

Nails:

This tutorial explains how to do leopard print nails:

Animal costumes are a great Halloween costume. This tutorial is for a leopard costume. I think leopard costumes are pretty easy to do because you can find leopard print items everywhere. You can also change this costume to represent another animal, such as a zebra.

Costume:

For the costume, use a leopard print dress you have or find a new one such as this one from Overstock: 

Halloween Costume: Spider-Man

Being a superhero is a fun costume. My favorite superhero is Spider-Man so this tutorial explains how to get a Spider-Man costume. You can customize this costume however you like or get inspired to make your own superhero costume.

Costume

You can find a Spider-Man costume at Halloween Express or other costume stores. This costume is for women:

If you don't want to buy a costume, you can use any red and blue outfit. You can even draw spiderwebs on it in black sharpie marker.

Accessories

If you want the Spider-Man mask that covers your whole head, you can buy one here. You can buy Spider-Man gloves here:

Makeup

There's a good tutorial on how to get Spider-Man makeup here:

Nails

If you're not wearing gloves, paint your nails a fun Spider-Man design:

How to Design a Blog

Want to design the perfect blog? The design of your blog is important because it draws viewers in. Here are a couple of my favorite blog design tips:

1. Think of a theme for your layout. Do you want it to have a artsy and colorful look to match your brand (good to use for Etsy owners or artists)? Do you want it to look more simple and minimalist (great if you want more focus on the content)? Think of a few words to describe the look you are going for and even make a mood board or inspiration board. Choose a few layouts you really like from other blogs and make a note about what you like about each of them.
2. Make sure you use a font and font size that is easy to read in your blog entries. Good fonts to use are Tahoma and Verdana. On graphics, you can use more unique fonts. Stick to a few basic fonts to use throughout your blog layout.
3. Choose a couple main colors for your layout. I like checking out Design Seeds for color palettes which will give you ideas of color combinations to use. Do not use bright colors against white that are hard to read.
4. What rules will you have for your blog? Will you blog 3x a week? Do you have different collaborators? Consider these rules when creating a layout because you want the design to work with your blog. If you have different writers, you might have a plugin that shows who the author is for each entry.
5. Have personalized graphics in your blog posts with the title of your post that fit the style of your blog. These are perfect for sharing on social media. Canva is a good tool to use to create blog or social media graphics that are the right size.
6. A sidebar is important to have in your blog and you should consider its features when designing a layout. How will you draw viewers in? Have an avatar or image yourself to personalize your blog. I also like to include a “read more” link or clickable image that takes viewers to my about page. Include social media icons if you use social media pages. Also, include other links on your blog such as a link to your website or Etsy shop, but try not to overfill your sidebar with widgets. I like to have a newsletter or subscribe opt in also so readers can stay connected.
7. Have share or Pinterest button or click to tweets
8. Check how your layout looks on different browsers. I like using Browserling. Also, check on your phone or tablet to make sure your blog is responsive.
9. Fill in a style guide to keep track of your info. Write down the basic fonts, colors and rules you’ll use.

Download my eBook, Your Thread of Thought. You will learn how to find a platform to blog, what to blog about, how to create a layout, how to promote your blog and more! You will also get s free workbook with worksheets to help you blog.

10 Companies You Didn’t Know were Vegan

Vegans avoid all animal products when possible. Part of being a vegan is avoiding non vegan brands in other products besides food. It can be easy to shop vegan. Though it may not be possible to use vegan products 100% of the time, people who are vegan may come up with personal items they avoid (e.g. they avoid leather, but still buy beauty products with beeswax). Here are some vegan alternatives to products other than food.

1. Did you know glue sometimes isn’t vegan? EcoGlue is a completely vegan glue you can use for daily use or any of your craft projects. Animal glue is traditionally used in paper and wood processing, bookbinding, painting, conservation/restoration and for making musical instruments and furniture. Making your own items or buying handmade or vegan brands is one way to make sure the glue used is vegan.
2. Do you use beeswax? Beeswax is used in bookbinding and some beauty products. I found a vegan beeswax called
3. Poppy’s Cleaners
4. Faux leather, sometimes caused pleather, is not too hard to find. Did you know that products that qualify as vegan or faux leather can be made from materials as varied as cork, barkcloth, glazed cotton, waxed cotton, paper, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyurethane.
5. Photos, both printed commercially and at-home, use paper that contains gelatin. Non-photo quality paper avoids gelatin.
6. Bone fine china tableware can contain animal bones. Earthenware or porcelain that’s creamy white is usually vegan. Find china that’s origin is mineral.
7. Many makeup brands are vegan if you check the labels. Urban Decay came out with a Vegan Palette that’s both vegan and uses vegan inspired colors. I have seen seen popular brands, like Bobbi Brown, carry vegan products. Looking for natural brands or handmade beauty products is always a good idea.
8. Lush often has vegan bath products that use natural ingredients. I also love being soap on Etsy. Just search for “vegan” in the search bar and tag your items vegan if you carry vegan products in your shop.
9. Vegan clothing is not hard to find. High end brands often carry vegan products. For example, Nine West carries some high end vegan products.
10. Kat Mendenhall sells the first 100% vegan true Texas style cowboy boots on the market.
11. Love shoes? Just type in the word vegan when searching for products on Zappos. vegan http://ift.tt/2fmGgol Mendenhall sells the first 100% vegan true Texas style cowboy boots on the market.

Want to find more vegan brands. Get my free printable with a list of vegan brands.

 

10 Ways to Cleanse Your Body

You may wonder how to cleanse your body at home naturally. Here are 10 easy ways to detox your body. If you are feeling sick or out of touch with your body, cleansing your body can be a good way to get rid of bad toxins and feel better again.

• Dry skin brush before you take a bath or shower. I also like dry brushing my face, but use a brush made especially for your face so it has softer bristles.
• Take a warm salt water bath or steam in the shower.
• Deep breathing can help calm you down. Do yoga. Try just doing 20 minutes of yoga a day or picking up a yoga DVD or video series.
• Drink water. Try adding a couple extra glasses a day.
• Try eating healthier. Go on a cleanse or add a couple healthy foods in to your diet. 
• Use a neti pot to naturally cleanse your sinuses.
• Try the hydro therapeutic technique of taking a shower with hot water and then switching to cold. Afterwards, get under covers.
• Go for a run or walk. Try exercising at least 20 minutes a day or move your body in some way.
• Get a massage or do a self massage with your favorite oils.
• Try drinking hot tea with herbs in it or taking an herbal soak bath.

What do you do to cleanse yourself? Let me know in the comments.

10 Things I Can Do For You as a Virtual Assistant

Are you a creative business owner? I just relaunched my personal site. Instead of focusing on my art and personal projects, the new site is all about resources for business owners and creatives.

The main thing I sell on the website is services as a virtual assistant. You can buy any of my packages or work with me hourly. Services are great for creative business owners who need extra help on their social, Etsy or blog. I have worked as a virtual assistant for several years on Upwork so I am excited to launch on my own website also. Here are ten examples of things II can do with you as a virtual assistant.

1. Create your Etsy shop. If you don’t have an Etsy shop, I can get you up and running. I can create your profile, write policies, write an about page and get your first listings up.
2. Promote your Etsy shop. If you already have an Etsy shop, I can promote your products. For example, I can do paid advertising or promote your listings in the Etsy forums to get more views.
3. Promote your KickStarter campaign. Do you not have the funds you need for your business? I can start or promote your KickStarter campaign. I helped launch a successful KickStarter campaign through social media promotion that raised over $35,000 to create coastal paintings in to functional dinnerware for Kim Rody Art.
4. Improve your listings. SEO is a method that will use the write keywords to get your product noticed. I can edit your tags, description and title to use SEO to get your listings noticed. I can also write you descriptions or help you choose photos to use with your listings. I edited descriptions and helped with SEO for Cecelia Aurand Jewelry, a new shop on Etsy that sells jewelry.
5. Fine tune your social media. If you haven’t touched your social media in a while, I can improve your social media page by updating your cover photo, writing your bio and creating photo albums.
6. Grow your following on social media. When I grow your following, I will grow it organically. This means I won’t use robots to get you fake followers. Though you may not get a higher number of followers in a short time, the followers you get will be genuine and interested in your business. For example, I promoted Gardens of the Sun, on Pinterest and helped grow their audience organically.
7. Interact with your audience. If you already have an audience, I can interact with them and create new posts on social media. I can also update your mailing list and send e-mail updates.
8. Write blog posts. Do you have a blog? I can write high quality, SEO posts for you and include images.
9. Bulk list items. Do you need something a little different? I have bulk listed over 1000 items in Cuff Links R Us, a shop that sells cufflinks on Etsy and eBay. I can bulk list your items or transfer your listings from one site to another.
10. Work as your personal assistant. I can schedule appointments, send e-mails, contact companies or anything else you need for your business. If there is another project you need me to work on, I am flexible

Let me know what features you would like to see on my personal website.

 

How to Write an About Page for Your Etsy

Have you written an about page on your Etsy shop? An about page is important because it lets your viewer get a more in depth look at your shop. To edit your about page, go to Your Shop > Shop Settings > About Your Shop on the Etsy website.

Members

Your shop viewers will like to see who is behind the shop. The members section allows you to include a short bio of yourself. You can add info about yourself, what your other job is, your hobbies or where you live. You can also add a photo. Add a headshot or a photo of you working in your studio. You can also add other members or people who work on your shop.

What’s Your Story? 

Every shop has a unique story behind it. Your about page lets you share this story to your viewers. Start with a story headline that describes what your shop is all about.

The story section allows you to elaborate further on your shop. You can write about how you came up with the idea of your shop and how it get started. Maybe you have an interesting story or reason behind why you started your shop. Maybe you wanted to raise money to donate to a charity so you decided to open a shop selling a specific item to start earning money. Maybe you lost your job and thought opening an Etsy would be a unique way to earn money. Let your viewer know what your shop is all about. You can also include info on how your shop has grown throughout the years or places you have been featured on. Maybe you were featured in a magazine. This is a good place to write about it.

The story page also allows you to add five photos. Use high quality photos that are displayed 760 x 428 pixels. Since you already include photos of your items on your shop page, include other photos here. Studio photos work well such as photos of you working in the studio or in the process of making your craft. You can also add photos from craft shows, places you’ve been featured on, displays or your items or group photo shots of items.

Links

Finally, there is a section for shop links where you can include links to your shop blog and social media sites. This will help viewers find you on other websites.

Etsy might allow you to work with an outside manufacturer. If you do work with a manufacturer to create items for your shop, you can apply to work with a manufacturer in this section. Etsy will review your application.

Be sure to share it on social media.
What tips do you have for creating an about page for your Etsy?

Vellabox Candle Review + Giveaway

Vellabox is an artisan candle subscription box. They sent me a subscription box to review. We are also hosting a giveaway (scroll to the bottom to see how you can win a free monthly box).

I love the cute little yellow box Vellabox came in. Candles are delivered monthly from the finest American candle makers.

The theme for this box was Fourth of July for the July theme. I love the patriotic theme and you can still use all the items even though it was a little after Fourth of July when I received the box. The candle was wrapped in this cute blue star bag.

The candle that came in this box was from the company Pontie Wax from Brooklyn, NY. You can see their instagram @pontiewax

The fragrance for the candle was fig mixed with oil from olive. It isn’t made with vegetable soy wax and natural oils that are highly fragrant. I loved the natural scent of this candle. They also had information about a bergamot and amber scented candle that was listed on their notecard and I think came in other boxes (you get a random candle). I think it is great you get a full size candle and they make sure the company makes quality candles that are hand poured in small batches. I only wish the box was filled with more candles!

I love lighting candles to relax and set the the mood so I thought this subscription box was a great idea. I used to collect candles, but haven’t bought candles lately so this box made me want to start collecting candles again and get different scents.

They also included a SPF15 Original Lip Balm from All Good from Morro Bay, CA. The lip balm is all natural and cruelty free inspired by wilderness. It is reef friendly and gluten free. The lip balm made my lips really soft and it is great to carry around or stick in your purse. Follow their social media @allgoodbrand.

Vellabox and My Thread of Thought are doing a giveaway of a 3 month Lucerna subscription! The Lucerna subscription contains a 4oz hand-poured artisan candle monthly plus one surprise gift.

All you have to do is subscribe to My Thread of Thought on Feedly  (you can also search for “mythreadofthought.com” directly on Feedly), share this post and leave a comment with your email address.

The giveaway ends August 1. The winner will be chosen randomly from all the entries. I will leave a post and email the luck winner. Good luck!

Mini Wedding Greeting Card

I just listed this Mini Wedding Greeting Card:





I have a bunch of mini greeting cards (A2 cards). I originally made them as samples to give out. I think I might sell them in my shop though. Would you buy mini greeting cards?

Pancakes and Booze

Move the Needle will be vending at the Pancakes and Booze Art Show on February 24th-25th.

It will be held at Reggie’s in Chicago. If you are in the area, stop by and visit my booth. I will give half off any item if you mention you heard about the show from my blog.  You can RSVP on Facebook here.

Here is some more info:

• 80+ Emerging Artists Exhibiting

• Live Body Painting

• Free Pancake Bar

• 21+ EVENT

• 8PM-2AM both nights

• $5 GA (Cash at the door)

• $10 VIP skip-the-line

• Live Audio Performances

You can check out the Pancakes & Booze website here.  You can also follow them on Instagram here.

Collage Inspiration

Collage is a piece of art made by sticking various different materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric onto a backing. You can see collage items in my shop here:

You can see more collage inspiration here.