I now Own This Hour on Own The Hour

I just learned of this site yesterday because of a comment left by a reader of this blog - thanks Moxylyn!

I stopped by her blog and did some reading and Own The Hour was one thing she talked about. It is so easy! I just pick up to 2 available hours...add a link to an item from my etsy store, and pay using a credit card or Pay pal! The best part - the hours were on sale...10 cents instead of the usual 50.

Can you find my item there?

Don't You Just Hate It When

you're looking for something and cannot find it?

I'm in the middle of finishing up my bitty bags...and I need the larger grommet for it. I know I have some extra large silver grommets along with the setter here someplace...but I can't find them. I even cleaned up in several areas, hoping to come across them to no avail. I did find the bronze ones which will work well with most of my bags..but I need that larger setter! I really don't want to go out and buy it again!

1000 Markets has featured lil 'ole me!

Wow! I went to take a quick peek at my 1000 Markets shop and checked out the markets...clicked on the Handmade Haven one and saw myself! Doing the happy dance!

Makes me wish I had gotten around to listing new items yesterday!

Collapsable Light Box

I'm been trying to improve my pictures for my online shops. I bought a new camera last year and that helped a lot. It had a lot of settings I'm still learning how to use such as the white balance. Just a few weeks ago, I lucked out and found a tripod at Goodwill for a few bucks. This will help as well. It can be so hard to hold that camera steady.

As I live in Michigan, it's very hard to get good weather for taking outdoor picutres during Nov - April. We can go 30+ days without sunshine...or much of it. And many of those partially sunny days occur while I'm at work. But, recently I bought a collapsable light box. I had made my own light box using an old cardboard box and tissue paper. The tissue paper lasted all of 3 minutes before it tore. So, I used tracing paper instead. Much better! Except that even my large sheets of tracing paper were smaller than the sides of the box which meant taping them together which meant you could see that in some pics. I'm excited to try out my new light box. Hope you all can tell the difference.

later!

Too Aquarius

and to keep entering! In the meanwhile...let me tell you something about one of the artists featured in this give-away. Her shop name is Too Aquarius

I've loved her shop for some time. I've hearted both her shop and some of her items a long time ago. Who is this of whom I speak? Read on to find out... I convo'd her and just threw a few questions out there for her to answer. I love that she shared so much.

How long have you worked with polymer clay? I've been working with polymer clay for ten years this fall! It was the perfect way to relax during a difficult pregnancy.

What is your favorite thing about working with polymer clay? That has to be the fact that you can do just about anything with it - classy, high end jewelry, bright, funny figures, beautiful sculpture, games, toys, vessels... I'm still just starting it feels like.

What is your best piece of advice for someone who wants to start working with clay? To just give it a try. Pick a few packs of colours you want, take small pieces and squish it. Remember how much you liked Play-doh? This is just as cool! And then, have some patience with yourself if it's not perfect right away.

Do you have a book or tutorial to recommend? My book recommendation, for newbies and as a reference is Sue Heaser's The Encyclopedia of Polymer Clay Techniques. My favourite website is http://www.polymerclaycentral.com though I have tutorials on my site too! (http://www.tooaquarius.com)

Is this your full time occupation? It's my part-time / second job. The other half of my work is as a freelance web developer, so I'm lucky to have the time and flexibility to work on my clay.

How did you pick this medium? I began selling beaded jewelry in high school, at shows with my grandmother and as I got further into it, I started to spend too much money on the beautiful glass beads I liked. I taught myself clay to subsidize my bead habit and it ended up taking over my focus!

What else would you like to tell us about yourself? Oh! The chance to talk about me and my obsessions! My focus has always been on beads and millefiori (the graphic images on the beads) and that's what I sell on Etsy between my two shops. I'm always interested in requests or completely custom orders and happy to answer questions!

Please - go visit her shops - they're fabulous! I think I need to get one of her tutorials since I've bought quite a bit of clay...and tools...and books...and even a pasta machine! Now I need to do something with those!

Beneath The Tree update

So, I finished the Beneath The Tree event last week end. Well, I say I finished, but really, all I had to do was drop off my items with an inventory list and then pick them up. So easy. I did make it our Friday night to all the homes. They all looked great and had great things. I did buy a few things...and found more to put on my own wish list.

I certainly hope to do this show again next year.

Etsy West Michigan Gift Guide is Here!

If you're in the West Michigan area and prefer to shop local, you're in for a treat! Check out our Etsy West Michigan Gift Guide. It gives gift ideas for babies, women, teenagers, men, secret santas and more!

http://etsywestmichigan.blogspot.com/2008/11/gift-guide.html

1000 Markets

I now have a new place to sell my items. Please check out my new shop at 1000 Markets! It doesn't have many items yet...but you will find different things than you see at my Etsy store.

http://www.1000markets.com/users/thatissocute

Sweet Figments Blog is hosting The Blog A Day Giveaway!

If you love giveaways, you've got to check this one out! Sweet Figments Blog is hosting a giveaway this month and it is a massive one! 30 amazing prizes to giveaway.

TO ENTER: This is a little different than our usual giveaways but I thought it would be fun since most of us will be shopping for holiday gifts anyways. Browse through our wonderful list of giveaway contributors, find shops or items you like and write about them on your blog, Myspace, Ning site or any other type of post that you can link to. Then, go to Sweet Figments and leave a comment with your contact info (email address) and a link to the blog post and tell us who you blogged about. If you are busy or you miss a day or two you can blog about up to 2 shops per day.

GENERAL GUIDELINES:
If you blog about more than 1 shop per day you will have to post up seperate comments for each individual shop you blogged about for it to count. For example if you posted about 2 shops the first comment would say "I blogged about shop1 here: http://shop1.etsy.com/" and the second comment would say I blogged about shop2 here: http://shop2.etsy.com/

♥ Enter once for each shop! That's up to 30 times! 30 chances to win!

♥ International residents can enter too!

♥ Contest starts Oct 31st and ends December 4th at 11:59pm (GMT)

♥ Winners will be drawn using a random number generator and a winners list will be posted on Dec 8th. Be sure to check back to claim your prize.

BLOG IDEAS:Here are some fun topics and ideas for you to blog about!
♥ Blog about your favorite item from a shop along with a photo and link to the shop

♥ Pick something that reminds you of a story from your life and tell us about it

♥ Post about who you would buy a gift for from a shop

♥ Pretend to be a critic and review a shop

♥ Create a questionaire for a shop owner to fill out

♥ Choose 4 items from the shop that you think work together as a group (by colour, pattern etc.) ♥ Post about your wishlist from one of the shop
♥ Tell us why you like the shop
♥ Pick an item from X shop as great gift idea for "Dad" or "Grandma" or one of those hard-to-buy-for-people
♥ get a shop owner to fill out a meme
♥ If you are a past customer of one of these shops tell us about your experience shopping with them.

GIVEAWAY CONTRIBUTORS:

♥ Fruit Variety Candle Gift Set from Moodwax, $26
♥ 15 oz. palm/beeswax blend pillar scented in our Cinnamon Spice essential oil blend from BeSem Natural Scents, $20
♥ Ice Crystal Resin Necklace from PennyDogAccessories, $24

♥ Xmas Dancer Gift Set from kittyhawke, $95
♥ Snow Bunny washi covered notebook and a Japanese fabric badge set from Asking For Trouble, $21
♥ Fabric Shopping Bag and Earrings from avocadocreations, $28

♥ Desert Dreams Hairsticks from stringmealong, $15

♥ Rose Quartz and Leather Earrings from HeartofaCowgirl, $16.95

♥ Handbound Leather Journal (7x4, 300 pgs) from myhandboundbooks, $30

♥ STUD from museacdonline, $18.50
♥ Silver plated Marsa Ring ,Two Beaded beads and Polymer Clay Flower Pillow Bead from dicopebisuteria, $24
♥ Island Vibe burp cloth from SnugBugClothing, $22

♥ Red Hum Love - Original Scratchboard from TidbitsandBits, $25
♥ Pink and Green box from gmistudio, $15
♥ Limited Edition Cloud Print Wristlet from TheTinyFig, $28

♥ Evergreen Earrings from GenuineArticle, $35

♥ Your choice of any pewter pendant from 2monkees, $15

♥ For the Birds - Felted Birdhouse Ornament in Pinks & Browns from thatissocute, $15

♥ Black and White Floral Bangle from tooaquarius, $25

♥ Orbitals 3-strand Wire Crochet Bracelet 'mod dots' in purple from pomomamadesign, $25

♥ Marbled Earth Earrings from chendric, $18

♥ Sweet Tooth Gift Set from threeofwands, $26.75

♥ Loves Me, Loves Me Knot from xiztance, $40

♥ Lucky Fishpond Necklace from majentadesigns, $15

♥ Hazy Raindrop Earrings from zahour, $35

♥ Shark Attack Dog Leash from Organidog, $15

♥ Sterling Silver Drip Necklace from BeadsInTheBelfry, $25

♥ A Little Black Box from littleblackboxes, $23

♥ Falling Leaves - Hand Spun Merino Wool from jilldrapermakesstuff, $20

♥ Custom Gift Set (Scrub, Butter, and Perfume) in White Gift Box with Ribbon from thegardenbath, $25


Good luck to all and Happy Blogging!