I Love Hearts...♥♥

I do love hearts. I have heart jewelry and wear a gold heart all the time. I love heart shaped wall decor, house decorations and ornaments. I even have a heart shaped wrought iron piece outside that I am training a vine to climb and cover.

I am not a particular fan of Valentine's Day but enjoy the heart displays so I thought I'd display some from my shop for you...♥! 

Hearts & Buttons

I ♥ hearts! And of course, buttons! To incorporate the two is such great fun. For the first time, I'm sharing with you a simple button heart project that will not come out identically as mine but will have your ♥ and button stamp of approval! My hoop measures 8" and this time I chose all white and cream, mostly vintage buttons. I used over 100 buttons. But don't let my choices stop you, go for color, go larger or smaller in the hoop measurement....go for it!

Materials:
1 wood hoop, any size
fabric piece at least 2" larger than hoop. Best not to use a knit but a woven like linen or cotton.
assorted buttons-2 or 4 holed work better, not shank as they will wobble!
needle & thread
pencil
white glue

Lightly freehand a heart shape onto your fabric piece using a pencil.
Fit fabric in your hoop and pull to make sure it is snug.
Begin sewing and placing your buttons within the heart. You can just sew them side by side and have the fabric show through or you can slightly over-lap to not let the fabric be seen.
Continue until the heart is filled.
Trim excess fabric to within 1/2".
Turn hoop over and lightly layer some white glue on the inside of the wood hoop. Work in small sections and roll the excess fabric onto the glue. You can use clamp binder clips for a few minutes until set.

Ta da!!! You have completed a one-of-a-kind heart hoop button sampler.
Tie a ribbon at the top for decoration if you wish.
Hang on the wall or place on an easel for display.
Wonderful gift or room decoration for a fellow heart and button lover...you?!

Yarn Stash and 2012

Okay, what does my (to me) humongous stash of yarn have to do with 2012?
I spent the better part of a day last week re-organizing my yarn bins and cleaning up the mess. A cat would have a heyday with the flowing strings and balls! Everything was being placed into semi-clear bins by color, except for one bin of only cotton.
And what I discovered were some wonderful threads I had forgotten about so I pulled out a bunch and put them in a basket.......whoa! STOP!!!! That's how the mess got started with the "I'm going to use this next" basket of yarn which was next to the "new yarn I don't want to put away" basket besides the "scraps of yarns just finished with" basket....ugh!
I put them all back in their respective bins. I emptied my 2 knitting totes of all their odd leftovers and stashed them as well.

And we were neat again.

So what does this have to do with 2012? AGAIN, I vow to make a dent in this stash. Unless there is a special order calling for a color I don't have (unlikely) I will NOT purchase yarn. For how long? I dunno! But I'm going to try. I am going to disregard the 50% off coupons and walk away.
The photos just show 3 of the 6 bins.
Oh, see anything you like/need/want? Let me know and it just may be listed in the shop! That's another way to get rid of some and then buy more, right???!!!

Happy,Healthy 2012!

January 3....not to be believed....just got a special order and don't have the color for part of it. What color, you ask? BLACK!!!!

Lesson Learned

So in my last post I ranted and raved about devaluing my work, marking down prices, the value of a sale.
And what did I do? Had a sale!!!! Head hanging in shame? No, this one worked. Why?
Last week was my last show of the season and we all know meeting and talking to people in real life is vastly different than our on-line experiences. I also am well aware of what I call the "touch factor"....beng able to pick up, touch, try on beats examing a photo on the computer. As I was packing for the sale I was thinking how some pieces have been with me awhile. Read that as:OLD! I want them gone!
I decided to have a sale on my hats, gloves and scarves-a pre-holiday draw. I also sent an e-mail blast to local friends, neighbors and previous buyers, offering them the sale price AND delivery. I would never do this at the start of the craft show season but since it was my last, I felt it was worth a go.

Well, it worked! I had a good fair, moved many scarves, hats & gloves and the verbal interaction definitely made the difference. That also included 4 local sales.
The best comment I heard was "Your prices are so reasonable, I feel like I'm stealing!"....to which I replied, "Well, you can pay full price!!!"...she bought.

The lesson learned: Sales may work in real life.
Did I lose any money? No.
Did I network? Yes.
Did I devalue myself? No.
Oh, did I mention I had the same sale going at the same time online? Zip, zilch, nada.
And now I have some extra coin to buy more yarn and make new items. Well, I won't buy any yarn....we all know how huge the stash is.....the photo shows a teeny fraction!

In case we don't 'talk', I hope your holiday is warm and wonderful!

To Sale or Not To Sale!!!

My goal when I embarked on the online craft path was to make what I love and share. My family (few females) are probably sick of receiving my creations and now, unless they ask, they get nothing made by me. (Right now I am making the boys hats with beards attached...who knew that would be a request?)
I have always been thrilled to sell my work as it is a type of positive validation. As Sally Field said "They like me. They really like me!"
Of course earning some extra money has been wonderful if only to feed my supply addiction and stash. So I think I have always priced fairly. I'm not looking to rip off anyone but entice by design, good pricing and heart.
Then there are holiday sales....a not so positive experience for me over the years but I didn't want to be left out so I joined those promotions. Selling scarves in July kind of yells for a price reduction and I've done it. Not to great success,though. 
Back to school, Halloween and then Cyber Monday and I see fellow crafters marking down their creative endeavors by 15-20-30 even 40%!!!! I'm confused so I posted a query on Facebook.
Responses varied but many agreed that their prices were fair and marking them down was a hurtful loss. And, like my experience, they really didn't work. I understand the desire to drum up business, get positive feedback or move older pieces but the profit margin for many is so slight, a sale hurts.
I say, do what you love, love what you do and don't devalue yourself. Does that mean I'll never have a sale or a discount or free shipping? Maybe. Maybe not. But I don't think I'll allow myself to follow the big box pack....I'm not in that league and don't want to be. I don't have items in the $100+ range, far from it and although more sales are always welcome, I will not devalue myself just for a sale.

Here's my latest...price firm!!!

Re-using,Re-purposing,Re-cycling

I don't know if it's the nature of a crafter combined with the needs of a teacher that encourages saving and thinking "Someday I'll use that" and whatever 'it' is gets stashed and saved.
As an elementary school teacher, I was always collecting what appeared at first glance, some useless items....egg cartons (of course), Crystal Light plastic containers, swizzle sticks and chop sticks and so much more.
If old clothes were clean and in good shape, they were donated. If not, they were saved for the fabric and certainly the buttons.
In my quest to use what I have, I am beginning to make a dent in the stash pile...yippee!The boys want hats with beards attached and I have ALL the yarn I need here in the house...yay!

This snow man is on fabric that was a shirt and the eyes are broken straight pins! The buttons are vintage.










This magnetic pin holder was made with an advertising magnet and again, a piece of discarded farbric from a shirt.

And lastly, of the recent projects, a felted cuff from a hot washed wool sweater...not planned!

So in the long run I am pleased with all the stuffing and stashing and storing of stuff and am happy they now have new lives! Now what can I make with that.......?!

Trends

I find it so interesting to see what sells and what doesn't, especially at shows where you have a concentrated block of sales in a definite time period...well, hopefully!
The first time I sold 9 sets of wash cloths at a show I thought I had the new pet rock!

The first show this season was a scarf and bookmark show....oodles. Yay, terrific.

The 2nd show 2 weeks later,in roughly the same area, no scarves at all but handwarmers and bookmarks.
Now I did have the other odd item here and there-some barrettes, a pin or 2, a tapemeasure but the scarves and handwarmers were the hits and the bookmarks. Now some may say, it's getting cool, tis the season for those sales and that is true but I have a new and different viewpoint. I'm thinking people,in this tense economy, are purchasing the practical. The needed. The useful. Not the decorative little doo-dad that may become a dust collector. Maybe they'll buy those closer to the holidays when gifts are really needed but I'm sensing a shying away from that stuff. Maybe marketing and promoting have to be steered in that direction. What do you think?

Anyway, here's a useful, little doo-dad I just listed. I can't help myself!
And oh, after 2 shows, just 3 sets of wash cloths!