Why Reading Labels Is Important

Lately, the past 5 years or so,I seriously read all labels. Whether I am buying a food item, a gift, an article of clothing or an item for my house, I read the labels carefully.
Regarding food items, I am always watching my diet. Although I fortunately don't have any food allergies, I check fat, carb, salt and calorie information as well as the ingredient lists. Shopping may take longer but it is well worth it.

Clothing.........almost nothing is made in the USA anymore but I still look and hope. Though it is hard to find American made clothing, there are definitely countries I will not buy from....that's another blog post, maybe! Of course, materials are important as I do have a wool allergy, so I check that as well.

Home and gift items.......here's the stickler and the provocation for this post. Today I was in a store downtown that advertises itself as an "old fashioned general store". They sell clothing, home goods, shoes, candy, etc. Do or did they have these stores in Vietnam? China? Rangoon? I walked towards some tiny sock monkey key chains....made in China. Nearby were local college mugs and sports paraphernalia...made in Vietnam. Across from them were embroidered towels made in Thailand....you get the picture, I'm sure.
And then I was reminded about buying handmade....items like sock monkeys and embroidered towels and sports paraphernalia that don't have labels because they are made in the USA by wonderful craftspeople with their blood, sweat, tears, talent and love.
So read labels. Be informed and when tempted to choose an item, check out handmade for similar and probably better items that keep your dollars local and support your neighbors. I certainly know price is often an issue, an important one but.....!

By the way, they had magnetic bookmarks, similar in concept to mine, with the store logo on them. I sell mine for $3.50....their's were...are you ready?......$0.99. Here are some of my new ones and I will unabashedly say bigger, prettier and well worth it. Oh, yeah, theirs were made in China but you knew that!

See Saw Balance

Remember see saws from the playgound? Being flipped up in the air or landing hard on the ground? Trying to hold steady, straight across and balanced? Hard? YUP!

A partial, from memory,list of handmade venues:
Zibbet
Etsy
Artfire
Recycled Market
Folksy
Storenvy
Bonanza
EBay
GroovePress
SilkFair
Big Cartel
eCrater
Cafepress
Zazzle
RubyLane
(After I wrote this list, I Googled "handmade venues" and 3,460,000 entries came up...!)

A partial list of sites to promote the above partial list:
Facebook
Google+
MySpace
Flickr
Blogs
LinkedIn
Twitter
Forums
Ning Groups
IndiePublic
and all the sub groups within each of those...overwhelmed yet?
You should be!

How about all the e-mail newsletters you must/should subscribe to to learn the ins and out of online selling, how to take photos, the way to handle the oodles of money you're making and to be notified when your favorite seller is having a sale?
In-box clogged?
It is!!!

Some conflicting truths:
The most seasoned & novice amongst us have to step away from the computer at times and resume normal (HA!) life.
The newbies must realize posting an item online will NOT get them tons of sales without hard work and long hours promoting online.
The young parents and full time workers must not be online all the time until 3AM to work this business.

So I'm saying take a break from the computer but work hard online?
Yes...
We all need to establish a balance. I try to do it by closing the door to this room and spending time in another. Maybe in the studio creating. Maybe in the kitchen cooking. Or outdoors, gardening.

Whatever you do, balance. Create,photo,promote BUT step away from the computer whenever you can. You will also lessen the chances of  back trouble or carpal tunnel syndrome!

Refresh. Relax. Balance!

Love It Or List It!

There's a show on HGTV called "Love It Or List It". Homeowners have to decide if they love their newly renovated homes and will stay or still need to move and list it with a broker.
I have a love/list problem with my work! There are some things I just LOVE to make,so I make them & list them online but they may sit...that's okay because I loved making it. There are other things I'm not as crazy about and will not list or repeat if the first is sold. I really have a problem doing a good job if I don't love it to some degree.
So I have a love it and list it issue in another sense.
I am loving working on small hoops with stitchery and other props. I started a grouping of craft pieces, the first knitting and the 2nd, sewing.
I love them.
They are listed.
If they don't sell, they give me joy and I count!
Now, what craft should I do next???

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!