Doing my part

It's been a month since Hearts for Haiti hit the ground running and, though things have slowed down to a much more manageable pace, we're still going strong! Last night I was overjoyed to post that we have raised $30,012.19 for Doctors Without Borders in Haiti!!

It has been rather painful to watch the shop fill up with such gorgeous items and then watch so many of my very favorites sell before I could snatch them up. I finally have a bit of extra cash and have been able to pick up a few really wonderful finds. Here they are!

1. Vintage Atlas Envelope Seals from KisforCalligraphy:

I definitely have a soft spot for hearts, vintage paper goods, AND calligraphy, so this one was a no-brainer. The lovely Katy also created our beautiful Hearts for Haiti banner and avatar/logo and has been so very generous with her donations to the shop. I'm looking forward to purchasing more of her beautiful wares soon!

2. Hearts for Haiti Brooch from Sandhra Lee:

This gorgeous brooch was pointed out to me by a fellow team member when I was writing the answers to my Storque interview and I fell in love. I was sorry to see that it had already sold, so when I saw that the seller had donated another recently I didn't hesitate to buy it right away! I'm excited to have this as a reminder of the amazing time I've spent with Hearts for Haiti.

3. I ♥ Haiti kid's tshirt from The Cotton Cupcake Shoppe:

I LOVE this one. I bought one for Lyric and am going to try it on Tigerlily to see if maybe I can order one for her, too, but I think she might be too big. This donor's shop is filled with many more really adorable things, too!

4. Mini Terrarium from pickledaliens:

I have always wanted to have a terrarium collection and now I'm finally starting it! I love how tiny this is--3.5"!!

5. Vintage brass locket from The Creative Block:

Shhhh! This one's a birthday gift for the Annie-obsessed Tigerlily.

:That's my haul so far!! There are still so many amazing finds in the shop, I'll be back to share some of my favorites tomorrow!

etsy trade love

I'm all about trading these days. I'll never have a lot of money (nor would I really want to) but I do have a lot of skill to make/do things that can be traded as currency. I've done a few trades with other Etsy sellers (everything from the best laundry soap ever to beautiful gifts) and have a couple more in the works (including Tigerlily's 6th birthday gift--I can't wait to play with this one!).

My latest trade was so, so special. I wanted to give my mom a really special Mother's Day gift, something to commemorate her mother. When I was approached by Aurora of Eclisse Creazioni Art & Photography about a trade I knew one of her custom portrait pendants would be perfect. And I was right, it is beautiful.

The picture doesn't really do it justice, the image came out perfectly.

She offers the option to have a portrait on each side of the pendant so I had her put my Grandpa on the opposite side.

I couldn't wait until Mother's Day to give this to my Mom so I gave it to her on Easter. She loved it, it really was perfect. Thanks, Aurora!

100 sales, yo

100 Etsy sales (and many uncounted others, too!). It feels pretty awesome. It was only a year ago when I was hatching my little business, thinking about going to Renegade with my fairly new and inspiring friends Leah and Laura and still figuring out what I was going to make. I didn't have any great expectations and have accomplished more than I ever thought I would. Thanks so much to all of you for supporting me and helping make this happen. Though things are a little tough economically I'm making a go at really helping to support my family with my work, and I still love it. We're happier (though we're definitely still figuring things out). And a vital part of me that remained peripheral for a lot of my life is now really flourishing. Pretty sweet.

My current positive outlook was helped along greatly by the SPRING-like day we had today. Our whole little family spent the day together, getting muddy and a little wet, but SO happy to be outside!

98 and counting

Just this morning I realized that I'm almost up to 100 sales in my Etsy shop! To celebrate I'm offering FREE SHIPPING until St. Patrick's Day (March 17) AND I will be giving a very special gift to the buyer of item #100. So if you've been thinking about buying or ordering a book, now's the time!!

awesome customer + vintage fabric = true love forever!

I officially have the best customers ever.

My new friend Tracy ordered a really killer rock-themed book for her friend's baby. Here's an image from the book I made for her:

Yup, that's the Abbey Road album cover. Measuring about 3" x 3" this baby is a tiny little feat of amazing strength. The whole book turned out really great and I was thrilled to send it off to such an appreciative home. And then, to my delighted surprise, Tracy sent me a big box full of vintage fabric that once belonged to her grandmother!

A big ole pile of polyester double knit! Some may balk at this but I don't discriminate with vintage fabric, especially some that takes me back to my childhood of plaid polyester pants! I'm planning on making Lyric a pair of pants from that blue and grey plaid and Tigerlily an outfit of her design from the two coral fabrics. But there is a lot of fabric here so I started thinking of other things to do with it. Then it hit me--a rug! Rug-making has been high on my list of things to do and the polyester, super-strong and washable, is perfect for it. So I cut some of the fabric into strips and started crocheting (SO much faster than braiding):

:This will make a really sweet addition to my kids' play area and has inspired me to make a huge one out of some of my vintage wool fabric.

Thanks so much, Tracy!!