Monday, March 30, 2009

Sellin' Like Hotcakes!

It's wrong to complain when a card sells really fast, right?

My sister's been hassling me to put more items up on etsy ("still on 17 items?"). So, I worked on a few more Mother's Day Cards this weekend and put one up Saturday and waited until today to put another one up. But the one I put today sold almost immediately! I told my sister to go check it out and it wasn't there! Here I am thinking I'll get a bunch of cards made, put them up for sale, and then get out my scrapbook stuff, but the darn things keep selling! How silly of me!

So, I'm sorry Deanna, but now there's only 16 items for sale at Arizona Made and it's going to have to stay that way for a few days because I have homework to do!!!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Mother's Day Is Just A Few Days Away


ok, so actually it's 43 days away, but it's the sort of holiday that always sneaks up on me! ("Sir, you underestimate my sneakiness") So, I am diligently working on getting some Mother's Day Cards made- some for family members and some for my Etsy shop, Arizona Made. This picture here is of the latest card I just put up on etsy and I have to say it's my favorite!!! The felt is a real trial to work with and the buttons take forever to sew onto the paper, but look at the result!!!! I love it! Fun Fun Fun!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Felt!

So, I've started experimenting with felt! I was inspired by the etsy shop Adore by Nat and I'm trying to incorporate them into some mother's day cards I'm selling on my etsy shop. I bought several more sheets of felt, but they don't seem dense enough- anyone know anything about where I should be buying my felt??? I'm hoping I start getting a lot faster at working with felt because right now, it's slow slow slow going... it moves around, making it hard to cut and it looks best if I sew the detail by hand (see my attenmpt at ballons in the pic above? I did those on the machine). So, if you receive a card from me with felt, feel VERY VERY special!!!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Trademarks

So, there was a certain item that I had posted on etsy for a few hours when it was suddenly removed due to some possible trademark infringement... I'd guess my first mistake was titling the item for sale with it's copyrighted name and then my 2nd mistake was making it look as close to the real thing as possible. Honestly, it never occurred to me that this would be a problem. Silly girl!

Interestingly enough, in the email explaining why the item had been removed was an additional blurb about the confidential nature of the email... To me, this is the strangest part. When I asked why it was confidential, this was their response:

"This is a legal matter and out of respect to the person that contacted Etsy and to the Etsy members affected by this issue, we request that you refrain from discussing this issue in the public forums. As well, such discussions could result in "calling out" or specifying private information which goes against our Forum Dos and Don'ts."

So, I guess I'll be making some things as give-aways only now. Trademarks don't stop you from making something, just from selling it, right?

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Kennel Cover

I just realized that I should put a picture of the kennel cover on. After all, I spent WAY more hours making it than the nursing covers or taggies! So, here it is! Not perfect, but WAY better than seeing black grating when I walk in my bedroom!

Then, since the sewing machine was out (I've got to put that thing away and get back to scrapbooking before Rachel gets back and her Cricut wants to go home to momma) I thought I'd try an idea I saw on etsy. This lady took her scrap material and made these adorable little belts. She was making them for girls so they had fun wild colors and flowers.... but I want to make one for my son, so I thought I'd try the leftover material from the kennel cover. Well, I don't recommend trying it with this heavy upholstery type material- by the time you get it down to baby belt loop size (1 inch) it's way too hard to turn right side out! But hey, it's done now! Here's the big question: is it too girly? I saw all these girly belts on etsy and now I'm having a hard time telling if it's boyish enough... Maybe if it was dark blue or black???

Friday, March 13, 2009

Sewing Extravaganza

I've taken a break from my paper-crafting (Rachel went out of town) to do some sewing! My dear friend, Jana is having a baby and I just HAD to make her a pair of taggies and a nursing cover. While I had the sewing machine out I thought I'd make a few extra taggies and then nursing covers for three other friends and one extra. Then, since the sewing machine was out, I finished the cover for Max's kennel that mom and I started on months ago. And, since the machine was out, my friend Kara came over and we brainstormed about her quilt. Now, since the machine is still out, I'm thinking...