Ooooh Paris!

I have absolutely nothing crafty to blog about whatsoever. I deliberately didn't even take any of my crafty stuff to Paris, so have made absolutely nothing in the last few days. Nothing!

But aren't those macaroons just about the most gorgeous thing you ever saw? And they taste even better than they look! I got them from the ancient tea house, Laduree, which has branches all over Paris. I went on Saturday afternoon, and the tiny tearoom shop was crammed with Parisians who were buying them to serve as after dinner treats. The lemon one was most memorable to me - it resembled a lemon sorbet, without being cold, the way it sort of disappeared in your mouth - incredible and fabulous. I have a box of them sitting at home waiting for me, and I'm actually drooling thinking about them! I think that the pictures are so beautiful as well that I want to do something with them, but I'm not sure what that is yet...

Paris was absolutely wonderful, although the Euro exchange rate was rather painful. My legs ache from walking miles all over the city, which was fantastic. There are two things that I love when I'm in a city - walking everywhere, and sitting having coffee (preferably after walking everywhere!). My favourite place to spend some time is the Jardins du Luxembourg, which are the most gorgeous city park. A highlight of the trip was having 16 very french waiters sing happy birthday to my dad at La Coupole - I think it certainly took him by surprise! For once, I didn't do much shopping (pesky Euros!) although I did get a heap of notebooks (the new moleskines). There is nothing like a French papeterie to make me open my wallet! I'm actually back on the Euros tonight as I'm off to Dublin for work tomorrow, and back late tomorrow evening. So I'll have gone an entire week of no crafting - shock horror!!! Thinking about it now has started giving me the heebie jeebies! Actually, I'm supposed to go to dinner on Thursday night, but I think I'll have to give it a miss.

Milestones, Holidays, and Asking for Trouble

I'm super excited because this time tomorrow I'll be in Paris! Yeh!!!

Okay, Parisian celebrations over. I'm also getting pretty excited about my shop because yesterday I hit a small milestone - 300 hearts. However, I'm coming up to a bigger one - 50 sales!!! Whoever buys my 50th product will get a nice little surprise in with their purchase as well. That would just be the best surprise ever, to come back from my long weekend to see that, but I think it's more likely to be in the next couple of weeks.

I've been meaning to blog about another Etsy seller for a while. asking for trouble is based in Glasgow, and I first saw her stuff at the Glasgow Craft Mafia market about a month ago. Her inspiration comes from Japan, and her stuff is made so beautifully that I totally fell in love with it when I saw it. I particularly love this pink brooch - isn't is so classy? This notebook is also gorgeous.

Asking for Trouble can also be found at askingfortrouble.org

moving along in no particular direction

Things have been very busy around here, and I've hardly had a chance to sew anything, never mind write about sewing things! Real life, such as work and family has been getting in the way of Moose and Bear, but that's fine with me - much fun as it would be to have my life dictated by the corner of the room where all my felt gets heaped, I think that eventually I would become a social recluse who would be incapable of having sensible conversations and might forget to eat. Well, being reasonable, forgetting to eat is not likely to be a problem. So letting friends, family, food, a bit too much alcohol take over from sewing isn't such a bad thing, and I'm not going to let myself get worked up by it.

That doesn't mean I've been doing nothing. I've been making heaps of embroidered felt badges, like this one I've featured here. They go really well until I try and sew the badge on the back, and then no matter what, it seems to end up cock-eyed. I've had to unpick about five to get them to a stage that I'm happy about! I've got lots more designs for these rather pretty badges to work on, and I think I'll also make some magnets and keyrings for them as well over the next few weeks.

I've also just shipped off a batch of bunnies down to the art gallery in Newcastle where my bunnies are sold. This is my only bricks and mortar place, and it seems to be working well, although I've not yet received any cash!! I'll give that one a chase in a few weeks. Actually, I also really want to put together a brochure and spend a day going around some likely Edinburgh B&Ms to see if there is any chance of having my work there. I spend lots of time reminding myself that Etsy is not a business plan, and that I should expand my horizons, but then don't do anything about it - I can be such a hypocrite!

I also keep getting invites to craft fairs that I can't go to, which is really annoying. I'm doing one in a few weeks in Morningside (part of Edinburgh), but the Glasgow Craft Mafia have invited me to two I can't make, and another one from someone in another part of Edinburgh. Having only done one, I really want to do a couple more and get to that point where I can make an informed decision as to whether they work for me. Right now, I'm not there yet, and dates and going against me.

I'm also hitting some interesting targets - today I got 300 hearts, and I've also got 44 sales - so close to 50!!! (There will be a prize for my 50th sale you know!)

However, much more exciting than all that is the fact that I'm off to Paris on Thursday for a long weekend. Bring on the fine food and the good wine!

lazy sunday day

Well, I'd love to say that I had a fantastically productive Sunday creating heaps of new products, but I didn't. I did go see the Ansel Adams exhibition, which was very beautiful and inspiring. Then, somehow I ended up shopping with Ori for trousers, instead of sewing some new badges. I've made a couple tonight - this geek one I actually did 90% of the work on last week at 3am, but found I can't cut straight at that time of night, so gave the final touches a miss until now. I just listed it a few hours ago. I also finished off my custom geek badge, and have done a whole heap of embroidery to sew up over the next few days. That's the thing - I'm fantastic at starting projects and doing the fun stuff - the designing, the making, and absolutely terrible at actually getting things finished off. It's the same no matter what I do - I have 3 whales in various shades waiting to get sewn together, as well as two octopuses, and now about seven badges. I'm just a complete procrastinator.

How many is too many?

One of the questions that I often ask myself is how many items should I keep in my store? Is more better, or does that look like I can't sell anything? The best sellers on Etsy often have over 100 items in their store. However, they often have sales in the hundreds as well. I have never managed to get beyond a meagre 25 items until today, when I listed another couple - this little cute elephant and a new felt badge. I think I'm going to get to 30 (I've sold 38), and then go back to relisting rather than constantly adding new things. That doesn't mean I'm not working on new designs and ideas. I've got about 5 brooches that I need to finish off. Tonight will be about eating a lovely salad, watching a proper film (The Lives of Others), and chilling out.

This little badge is a bit change from what the embroidery that I've been doing recently - it's a bit prettier, and a bit more "skilled" looking. I wanted it to look a little more professional, and I've got a few more designs like this up my sleeve. I hope that they fit in with the rest of my shop aesthetic, and don't get lost in all the cheeky nonsense!

Today I had the nice surprise of receving a convo from a past buyer who had come back to my store again and was wanting me to create a "geek" badge for her. I'm so happy! The thought of a repeat buyer is just too cool for school. So naturally I making one up for her quick smart. As I'm sure I mention on a regular basis, my biggest problem right now is getting the right light for taking photos. Every morning this week I've been keeping an eye on the light to see if I can take some cheeky photos before work, but I've really had no joy at all. I'm really hoping that this weekend will be a bit more sunshiney so I can get some photos taken; otherwise my pile of stock is just sitting there waiting to be listed!

You would think that I would have learnt from last time that leaving craft fair preparation to the last minute is a baaad idea. And the nagging voice at the back of my head really and truly does know that. However, work and family stuff has really been taking over me recently, and I've barely had time to craft at all. I've got a to-do list in my moleskine as long as my arm on things I have to make, and definitely not enough time in the world to actually get them all done. I'm starting to feel the pressure! My next craft fair is the last Saturday in April, but next weekend I'm in Paris (oh la la!), so that's completely out. And this afternoon, I'm going shopping with my lovely sister.You see where time is drifting away too.

I just had another lovely discovery - that I'm in a treasury!! Thanks to lostintheforest for putting it together!

First Sale for April

This is a really quick post, mainly because I've been feeling a bit guilty about neglecting my blog recently. I had my quickest ever sale today - I listed this cute little nerd badge, had a shower, and when I came back, it was gone! A personal record, I have to say. I'm also currently working on a new product - some felt sugar cookies. These are mainly for a craft fair I'm working at in a few weeks. I don't think they'll make it to Etsy. I find that my more "traditional" stuff - crocheted stuffed toys and the like - do better at craft fairs than the kooky nerd badges. Right now I'm preffering the nerd stuff though!!!