Ringing in the New Year!!

Now that the christmas madness is over and the new year is just upon us, I have the time now to get really serious about my shop. I thought I'd show you all the projects I've been working on so hard since October for my dear friends and family. 

My Flopsie Bunnies. These were made for my niece and nephew and I really thought they were the cutest thing and almost didn't want to give them up.

Pattern by Melissa Lynn. You can find her at bonami.etsy.com.

My friend Megan loves this guy, so I went on a Ravelry and searched for the best Snoopy pattern they had. I came up with the pattern for this guy. Pattern by Crafts By AP

My little voodoo dolls. These were another Ravelry find. But I modified their patter a bit, but I like them better this way. 

My first two little Sy-clopses. These guys are so much fun to make and take no time at all.  I really love how the red, white and blue one came out and swirled like it did. Very neat yarn on that one. 

Second set of Sy-clopses. I decided to try some striping on these little ones. I think they came out fantastic. 

One of the three scarves I made. Easy going but long process. Really like how these came out too.

Here we have Little Lamb. Big hit around here until I had to ship him out to a friend.  This pattern was made by Anita Elmore at ASE Knits 'n' Crochets.

These little dears are 'Megan' Bears. I thought it was funny and cute seeing as one of my bestest friends is a Megan. I think they are really adorable, even if their noses are a little funny. 

My first pair of fingerless gloves I have made. I love them and the way the yarn stripped itself was awesome. I plan to take some of the same yarn and make a matching scarf or hat, not sure yet. 

Last but certainly not least is 'Devil Dude'. This is a character my long time friend Chantel made in high school. So I thought it would be cute for her birthday to make a 3D version of him. He was fun to figure out.

So there is a what I have been up to the last few months and a taste of what these fingers can do. I'd love to hear what ya'll think and what you'd like to see in my up coming shop. 

Thanks for reading and Happy Crafting!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable thanksgiving. Mine came a few days late but it was a good day spending time with family and having awesome food. Dad made one of his best turkeys ever. I suggest to those seeking a moist turkey and haven't found a way to get it to try brining their next one. There are a ton of great ones out there, just google or go to allrecipes.com and pick out one that sounds yummy to you. We like this citrus brine, used it on the last few birds. Dad has already tweaked the recipe (he likes to try to make stuff better or more to his/our liking).
And thankfully the dogs are all getting along. A few weeks ago we got a new puppy. His name is Lugnut and he is a terrier-chihuahua. It took a little while but our other dog, a two year old chi-weenie named Nascar (for those wondering my family is into Nascar. Big fans, other then me. And I didn't get a choice in our chi-weenie's name. I was out of town when we got her. And as for Lugnut, it was better then some of the other options that could have called him.), has come to love the little guy. She really likes having someone to play with on a regular basis. I think she likes the company in general since our 16 year old American Eskimo, Paddy, passed last year. So YAY for puppies, and we spoil them rotten! Anyway, to add to the dogs we had here on our thanksgiving, we also had my sisters dogs, five year old chi-weenie Dizzy and two year old St. Bernard Cleo. We also had Lugnut's twin sister Lucy who we found out is going to a friend of theirs. So lots of dogs and fun family times. And to make it even better, the Ducks won the civil war game. WOOT WOOT!!!

In other news I just have the last few of my christmas presents to finish before I can get started on my shop. I think I've decided to give a little free gift to costumers first purchase with me. I'll let you guess what this gift might be.

But for now, Happy Crafting!

Progress

The past few weeks I've been doing my research for this business venture. Jotting down notes and lists, even a time line for getting a few things done. I think it is all quite going well, but there is still a ton of work to be done. I checked out a few books on creating my own online business and how to sell my wears online. Lots of reading, along with still gathering more patterns to use. There is a lot of good information out there and I am just so happy that it is, otherwise I would be lost in the dark on all of this. I also plan to talk to a few fellow Etsy shop keepers I know, to see if they will let me bend their ears about the in and outs of running this type of show. Fingers crossed.

I'm happy to say I have gotten my labels all figured out and almost completed. A fellow bloggers blog helped me find a way to make my own instead of paying someone else to make them. I think that runs the risk of me paying a lot for something I might turn out to hate. I don't like that gamble. So I found this blog that showed me how to DIY them. You should go check out her blog, Tutorial Adventures. Lots of fun how to's there.

I have yet to start on inventory for my site, but once my christmas crafting is done that is the first thing on my list. I'm still happy to hear what anyone thinks I should make for my shop. So feel free to drop a comment for me.

Well back to the salt mines. Happy Crafting!

National Novel Writing Month

So the month of November is known to a lot of people as National Novel Writing Month and enjoyed by many. For the second year in a row I have decided to partake in this event. I wasn't very successful last year only getting to 760 of the 50,000 word goal. And this year I am falling behind, having forgotten that the event had started all together. Thankfully I've only missed three days and have plenty of time to make this years even work and hopefully don't succumb to writers block like last year. I had had a interesting little crime novel going. But as per the rules I have started to brain storm a new novel, very sci-fi and x-men inspired I have to say. No plotting down and the bare minimum of character profiles. But I have faith and lots of hope that I can reach 1,000 words this time.

Good luck to anyone else out there that is partaking in the event, and my the lovely muses grant you inspiration all month long. And its not to late for others to join in. Let the fancy strike and carry you off into a world of your own making. To get the rules and started on your own profile just go to nanowrimo.org. Have fun happy writers and readers.

Molly

Brainstorming

So as this new and slightly scary venture is buzzing around in my head, I have come across the inventory question. What should I start out making for my up coming shop? Well I decided to narrow that list of crafts down to crocheted items for the start. One avenue at a time sounded wise to me. And there is a whole laundry list of items for it alone: hats, scarves, gloves, little stuffed animals of all kinds, and blankets (just to name a few). But right now I'm wondering what the public (meaning you all reading this blog and hopefully avid visitors of my little Etsy shop to be) would like to see. I need to find out styles and colors and if I should add poms or flowers or tassels to things. I know what I would like to see, but I want to reach a wide rang of people out there.

I think my plan is to start with the smaller things like gloves, stuffed animals, and the like, before getting into the bigger items like blankets. Start small and work my way out.

So I pose this question to all of you out there. "What would you like to see?" What do you look for when your shopping for that perfect item for you or a loved one? Does your niece or nephew like bunnies, dogs, or dinosaurs? Purple, Red, Green, or Pink? Stripes or solids? Flowers or plain? I want to know your opinions before I put on my twist.

I've been compiling patterns on the net and out of books. If you would like to browse my pinterest page for ideas I've gathered and tell me witch you would be most interested in, I'd love the input. Here is that link to my Crochet Madness board.

So please let me know. And happy crafting.

Coming Soon! ... 2013?

This past week I have come to the decision to sell my work on Etsy. I'm gonna start with little crochet creations and the expand from there. I don't expect the shop to be up until next year but the idea was thrown out there.

I will take any suggestions you might have on how to price, what you would like to see, anything to help my shop really.

Thanks for stopping by.
Molly