Spring Preview - aka, why I haven't been posting regularly

I've been pretty busy creating all these new sweets for my shop, getting ready for the Easter and Spring season coming up. It's very soon, probably sooner than you think. Did you know Easter is April 4th? I always hate it when it is so close to the beginning of the month, I feel like it sneaks up on me. I'm working on a little banner for St. Patrick's Day to give away, as well as a surprise free pattern. Have a great week!

Little Towheads Clothing

Christmas '09

A couple years ago I reconnected with an old friend from my hometown. I'd heard from a mutual friend that she had started an Etsy shop. I was pretty excited to get in touch with her again and discover someone I knew that also had a shop, since at the time Etsy was not as well known as it is today. That friend is Dana, from Little Towheads Clothing.

Dana creates one of a kind clothing for babies and children. I've been to baby showers where I've given the mom-to-be the exact same item of clothing that she opened 5 minutes before, or run into another child at the store wearing the exact same shirt as my own kid. You can bet that won't happen with Dana's designs. She hand embroiders every design and does such quality work. Her stitching really is amazing.

You can pick from what she has in stock or she's very willing to do custom orders. For the past two Christmases I have picked out flannel to make my boys new pj pants for Christmas and had Dana design shirts to go along with them. You can bet there weren't any other boys with jammies like theirs.

Here they are Christmas "08

I have washed these shirts over and over and they are still in great condition. As you can see in the photo above, Thatcher's shirt was a little big, so he has been wearing it for over a year - still looks great. I purchased this shirt below for my cousins baby girl a few months ago. Isn't it sweet?
Take some time to go through Dana's shop. She has a lot of designs to choose from, or if you have ideas of your own, I know she'd be more than happy to work with you. She also does photography and has a number of great prints, bookmarks and notecards, all made from her original photographs. Check her out on Etsy, or you can also become a fan of her page on Facebook, where you can get updates on new embroidery designs, see samples of her work on actual babies, and view her latest photographs.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/littletowheads

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Towheads-Clothing/94943215569

Donuts in a Treasury

If you have no clue what a treasury on Etsy is, you are missing out. It is such a fun way to peruse all the awesome products on Etsy. The Treasury is a list of member curated lists of hand made items. For example, here is a treasury that someone just recently included one of my items:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=114334

As you can see, the treasury usually has a theme of some sort. The member, or Etsy seller usually, hand picks favorite items and arranges them in the format usually seen on the home page of Etsy. There are over 300 treasury pages going on at a time, and they expire after about 2 days to make room for new ones.

Having one of your items picked is a good thing, it draws traffic to your shop, and thus potential buyers. And if you're in a really popular treasury, there's a chance that treasury can be picked to appear on the home page of Etsy - the ultimate place for your item. This set of mine appeared on the front page, and I went from about 50 views to over 600.
The amount of people that 'heart' my shop also jumped by about 35 people. Pretty nice. So put the kids to bed and take some time to peruse the Treasury lists, you won't be disappointed.

I Pod Cozy

First things first, I did not come up with this Etch a Sketch design. I found it on Etsy for $22.00, but knew that I had everything needed to make it in my stash. It is a cozy. You might know cozies as those crocheted or quilted granny-type things that cover your tea kettle. This is no granny cozy.

I made this for my husband for his I Pod Touch that he got for Valentine's Day. It was so easy to make, even for someone not that crafty. It will fit regular I Pods, and it is very easy to alter the size to fit whatever small piece of technology you own that needs to be kept dust and scratch-free.

This one is simply 4 pieces of felt cut to 5 x 3 1/2. The cut-out for the Etch a Sketch screen on the red piece is 3 1/2 x 2. Cut the gray piece to 4 x 2 1/2 and then sew in place with your sewing machine. The lines and phrase 'i-sketch' are hand sewn. The knobs are white buttons.
Once you have the front finished, then stitch the pieces together using the blanket stitch, leaving one end open of course. This took me about 2 hours to do, though without my boys around, I think it would have only taken about an hour.
You really could do any design you like, or peruse Etsy for ideas. I think I'd do some kind of cupcake design if I had an I Pod touch to keep cozy. Maybe I'll make one anyway. You know, since if you build it, it will come. Right?

Valentine's Day Party

This past Friday we had our class Valentine's Day party. Having class parties is one of my favorite things to do with my kids in school since I love making the holidays special for my boys (and since it is like a day off for me). Growing up my Mom didn't make a big deal out of holidays. I think I have more than made up for it.

I always feel a little pressure though to make it extra fun, since I know that if my boys were in a real classroom, a lot of the fun would be from the interaction with other kids in class, and with homeschooling they just get boring old mom. It's a good thing kids are pretty easy to please.
I used the die cut machines at my local scrapbooking store to cut out these little paper bags. At the time I cut out quite a few in different colors so I could use them throughout the year for different school events. This time I stuck a pack of Bubble Tape in there. It was a hit.
I also blew up about 20 balloons for the boys to toss around. Why are kids so crazy for balloons? I am not crazy for balloons and I am ready to pop each and every one, but then I look at this kid's sweet face and can't do it. He won't let me give him a haircut.
We also decorated our paper bag mail boxes for our family Valentine card exchange. A tradition we've been doing for the last 4 years. I love creating these traditions and seeing how excited my boys get. I really can't remember any Valentine's Days from growing up, hopefully I'm helping to make some great memories for my kids.

And the winners are..Steph and Shelly!

Winners were selected using Random.org. Though I secretly was rooting for Lyndsie who was actually using one of my ideas (yay Lyndsie!). I will mail your banners out asap. Don't worry ladies, I have more giveaways planned in the future, thank-you so much for reading and for all your wonderful comments!

A Pea Pod for Seth-Pod

My husband's little brother, Seth, is here for a visit. While here he asked me to make this for him to give to his girlfriend for Valentine's Day. This is Seth's design. He bought all the materials, drew out how he wanted it to look, and I created it.
It was a bit of a challenge, partly because he wanted it made out of fleece (you know my comfort zone revolves around felt), and partly because I have a hard time letting someone tell me how to craft. I had to just make myself keep my mouth shut, because after all, this was his design, for his girlfriend. Anyway, I think it turned out awesome, and more importantly, Seth is really happy with it as well.
The two main peas come out - one Seth Pea, one Ellora Pea (with bow and eyelashes). The two smaller ones on the sides are glued into place. It is fully lined (a feat for myself) in a cute floral print.

I embroidered this heart with their initials and it is glued onto the back of the pod.

Geez guys! Get a room!

Valentine's Day Banner Giveaway - CLOSED

I whipped up this little banner with my Cricut machine. I really liked how it turned out and thought others might too so I made two more to give away.
It reads 'HAPPY VALENTINES DAY' with hearts separating the words, and is strung with matching ribbon so you can hang it anywhere you like. I hung mine on the ginormous mirror in my living room.
Yes, that is a pink Valentine's tree. It has long been a dream of mine to own a pink Valentine's tree. Want to make something of it? I snagged it at Micheal's on clearance after Christmas. Here are the other two banners I made:
One's pink, the other brown and I think I like both of them equally. To be entered in the giveaway, just leave me a comment on this post. Your chances of winning are pretty high seeing as I usually have just 2 or 3 faithful readers (thank-you!) that leave me comments. Have I mentioned how much I love comments? I do. I'll close the giveaway Friday, and announce the winners (which will be chosen randomly) on Saturday. Thanks to all of my followers!

Valentine's Day Gifts

I don't think anyone (in their right mind) would turn down some chocolate. Especially some chocolate in a pretty package. With Christmas, birthdays, Mother's and Father's days around for lavish gift giving, I say keep Valentine's Day simple. And sweet.
I found these cute little decorative cups and bowls at Micheals for just $1.00 (although, I went to a different Michaels to get more and they were $1.29. What a rip off). Buy yourself a few bags of chocolate and you've got yourself a quick, cute, and inexpensive gift perfect for neighbors, girlfriends, sisters, moms, or your kids' school teachers (way better than just that "teacher" valentine card they put in the box sets). Or, if you happen to be mormon, it's perfect for your visiting teaching gals, just drop if off and call that month good ;).
I printed a little message, then glued them onto some Valentine-themed paper, and then onto craft sticks. Actually, my boys did that for me, they're such good little helpers, especially when there are piles of candy involved.
I think I would be quite happy to find this on my doorstep. Now all I need to do is keep everyone's little fingers out of these until I can get them delivered.

FYI, my next post features a giveaway.