Things are about to get exciting!!

So I've been off the radar for a while.  Here's what I've been doing:

Housekeeping--Check it out, I found the pics of my favorite stockings of the year!  An awesome customer ordered 5 black and white custom stockings with a rainbow of jewel toned flowers.  I thought about keeping them.=) (Forgive me, they're unedited.)

Ran the Big Sur Marathon--A-mazing...The last marathon I ran, said I'd never need to do it again.  This one, we were ready to sign up at the finish line.  A really tough run, but probably the most scenic run I've ever been on, and really well organized.

Apparently everyone I know got the memo that it's Lets Have a Baby Summer.  So I now have a stock pile of baby gift tutorials on my bookmark bar (I'll link some at the bottom), and got to use up lots of really cool tiny scraps of fabric I thought I'd have to throw out. And I learned how to make a sock monkey. Or 6 :)

Anyone know a good IT/IS whatever the *&#$ ( they're called?  I've spent the last couple of weeks transferring software, installing/uninstalling, my web host lost ALL of my contacts, and after 24 hours of internet chat restored them on and on and on.  And now I'm trying to do a total makeover on my website--(soon to be E-Commerce Site!!), blog, packaging, branding, the whole sha-bang.  Did I mention I HATE working on this kind of stuff? I can't wait till I all this crap is over and it's back to sewing!!


The bright side?  I learned A LOT. 
 
We worked through some serious silkscreen issues.  New vendor, new screens, new emulsion, new equipment, couple of good online tutorials (if you're into silkscreening check out this site), and things are going to be about 300% easier, faster, better than they were last year.

Made my big purchase of the year--Accucut Grandemark!! It's a commercial grade die cutter.  I literally cut out 1000's of 1" circles last year by hand, this sucker will cut out about 40 in about 10 seconds. And they make custom dies, lets just say I should buy stock in this company.=)

So all of this horrible housecleaning crap should be finished in the next week or so, and it'll be time to prototype all new ideas for Halloween/Christmas 2011!!  I'll post some pics once I get there.

Oh, and almost forgot, in the midst of all this, we did get some beach bags finished!  I'm not 100% happy with the screen design, that should be fixed this weekend, and should be listed by mid-next week at the latest.

Some baby gift tutorials:

Nursing Cover:  http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/2009/02/description-stylish-and-practical.html

Easy, cute baby dress:  http://www.made-by-rae.com/2008/04/free-itty-bitty-baby-dress-pattern.html

Classic Sock Monkey:  http://www.supersockmonkey.com/catalog/howtomake.html
(Target has really cute socks for a couple of bucks, pick some up!)

It's Thursday already?

The weeks are serioulsy flying by. So I was talking with a friend of mine who's thinking about opening up an Etsy store, and realized a lot of people don't know about this:  the Jo Ann's mailing list.  If you sew, and your near a Jo Anns, this is one of the best things ever!  I think they still send out flyers in the Sunday paper as well.  There's usually at least one 40% off any item coupon, and every so often they do something called coupon commotion, which is literally pages of 40% off coupons.  Plus, if you have a resale license you can sign up for tax exempt status and a VIP card, which gets you 10% off your entire purchase every time you shop.

Check it out here:

VIP Discount: http://www.joann.com/joann/common/content_custservice.jsp;jsessionid=4CEC8F1B089788D3483960CA778D1D37.a5p2?catName=VIPDiscounts

Mailing List:  https://www.joann.com/joann/profile/login.jsp?contactPref=true

Craft Hope

This is really cool. The donations are pretty simple projects (currently baby blankets, beanies and booties, or even a pillowcase or handkerchief). I need a kind of distraction project every once in a while, something different from what I've been working on. This is perfect because it's simple, and you're doing something awesome for someone in need. Please check it out.

Craft Hope

Coming Soon!

I got a little work done this weekend. Saturday morning started out as kind of a bummer (I think it had to do with the heavy June gloom.)

Sunday was the official start of the Halloween Hunt. Halloween Hunt?

Long story short, my mother in law owns the best Halloween store you'll step foot in, and she does everything from building the shelves to running the store to packing it up herself, with the help of her long time best friend. Erik and I spend a lot of time helping with the set up, which is our favorite part. It's not your typical Halloween store, in that it's kind of a haunted house, Disneyland, and gift shop rolled into one. Lots of ridiculous displays. Since it's a temporary store (Sept-Nov. 1) we never know where the store will be until about July. Right now, it looks like it's going to be the biggest store she's had. That means LOTS of displays. So Sunday my bro and I scoured a few thrift stores and the swap meet in search of pirate loot. We scored at the thrift store, swap meet was a bust. Except I found a nifty little sewing chair for $12. I'll post a before and after, it needs paint and a new cover.

Sunday afternoon I got to work on the dolls. My surfer girl is almost done. I figured out the patterns for a bikini top and boardshorts, as well as the hoodie, which I thought would be really difficult but was actually the easiest part. Last night I got most of the sandals figured out. So I just need to give her a face and finish the sandals and she'll be finished!

Scary Bird Lady is fairly close to completion also. I finished the trim on her pinafore and bought new fabric for her shoes. Her shoes have been a real pain in the !@#. But I think I'm close to having them figured out. I may actually make a new body, I'm not sure about the color of her face, but I've gotten good feedback so we'll see.

Seashell collector (she's been named Melanie because as I didn't even realize until Erik pointed out, she creepily resembles a good friend of ours who happens to be an avid shell collector), is only awaiting shoes. So it looks like all signs point to tonight being shoe night?

I hope to have more pics posted by Thursday at the latest.