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!!!

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!

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!!!

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?

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???

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...

Stretch Your Imagination

I'm so excited! I just got my Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge and my fabulously generous friend is letting me borrow her Cricut Machine! The first thing I did is make my sister-in-law a birthday card! She's a big fan of turtles, so I hope she'll love it! Of course, since I was making something, I made a second one too for my stash. Isn't the Cricut amazing?!?!

Happy Valentine's Day

(My card to my hubby)

Christmas 2006

If completing one scrapbook spread makes you feel good, does completing a double spread make you feel double good? Why, yes! Yes it does!

Yay! 2006 is done! Ok, so I still haven't journaled, but since the hubby doesn't like the journaling to show up on a blog, I figure I'll just add it later. Perhaps some of you family members would like to email me some of your Christmas memories for inspiration???? Not just from 2006- any year. I plan on going a ways back!

The Pictures of Christmas' Past

Seems like each year at Christmas, when all the family is together, we end up chatting about all the Christmas' past and all the good times we've had. This last Christmas (2008) I started thinking how cool it would be to have a whole photo album of all Christmas. I printed some pics and bought some paper, but wouldn't let myself start until NJ's baby book was done. Then it seemed like things just kept getting in the way. Well, I finally started the Christmas album and thanks to Rachel's new Cricut machine, I think it turned out super-cool:

Alchemy

I've just discovered Alchemy! It's a piece of Etsy where people can out in requests for what they're looking for. So, for example, maybe you really want a blue hand knit scarf and can't find one just the right length. You just go put out a request for one and VIOLA! you find a knitter who'd love to make one for you, for a price of course. Or, maybe you, like this guy want a custom calendar made that you can print off your computer at home. You just put in a request and someone like me, who has made herself several calendars over the years is happy to fix one up just how you want it! How exciting!!! Too bad I was a little too late to bid on that one...

Anyway, I always buy one new Christmas ornament each year. This year, well, last year, well, for Christmas 2008, I decided I wanted a camping theme. This was the year we bought our camper and the year my hubby killed his first elk, and the year that NJ got to go on his first camping trip. So I created a request and got all sorts of great bids. The one I chose was a girl who makes cute little felt things. She was wonderful enough to really work with me on getting the elk just right and choosing a fun pine tree for NJ. How very exciting!!! In case you're hungry for more, this is who I chose to make the ornaments: metzypants

And, in case you're curious about my stuff, this is my etsy shop: Arizona Made

Botanical Window

Back when we lived in Michigan a friend found these two old windows (and a door) on the curb by the trash in front of an old house someone was remodeling. She always had plans to do something creative with them, but when they went to move she decided not to take them with her. The door wouldn't fit in my car but I was happy to take the windows. I brought them home and taped these four botanical prints (from an old calendar) to the back of the small one. For some reason the larger one has always remained empty. My hubby thinks it needs something in it, but I've grown to love it blank.

The Re-Scrapbooking Project

A long long time ago, before I knew any better, I put all my photos in those peel and stick albums. I like to think that I scrapbooking before scrapbooking was cool. Lately it's really been bugging me that all my photos are resting on acid and slowly rotting away. (don't you love drama?) So, I set about to convert my nine peel and stick albums to a simple photo-safe album. This is really very unusual for me. Normally, once something is done, even if it's not perfect, I can't stand to go back and re-do as long as there are other projects waiting. It's like re-reading a novel when I have a stack waiting to be read! Anyway, in the space of a few nights I managed to convert the six albums from my college days. It took over 120 pages, but the result is quite pleasant. I did zero embellishments and only journaled anything that written in the previous book (very little). Maybe someday I'll go back and fancy them up, but it's not likely.

The Family Tree

I thought I'd post this layout of the family tree in NJ's baby book because I like how I did the whole tree on the pc but then embellished around it (again, sorry for the blurs, my hubby's a little paranoid).

Hawaii Layout

This is one of my favorite scrapbook layouts. I'm not sure where I got the idea, but I did it the slowest possible way. If I'd researched a bit I would have found that the free Picasa software makes this much easier, but instead I did it all by hand. Crazy!

Once it was complete and perfect I realized I had no where to journal. But my sister came up with this great idea to do a little tab and the print the journaling a similar block like pattern! I think it turned out great! (Sorry for the blurred out image, but my husband begged.) In order to make it stay in place I folded a 8x10 piece of paper in half and then taped it, fold end down, to the background page and the mounted paper, so the tab never falls down too low!