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I’ve been asked by a few people to provide a tutorial for this lovely scarf I made as a commission by Mark for his mom for Christmas. Which, by the way, I might have to make a few more of because they are really cute. You can snap all 3 snaps, leave some open, mismatch snaps … so many combos and ways to wrap!

Also, I severely need to take better photos. I’ll take photos with me and a cute outfit for the next one I make. I wanted to have pictures of this so I could remember how I did this next time I did it. But now I have a tutorial put together for you all.

Here’s a PDF tutorial. Enjoy!

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I hate to be a Debbie-downer, but I recently had to change my shipping policy on Etsy. This applies ONLY to my dishes, not to the other items.

Here’s the sitch: Dishes are fragile and heavy, and therefore, cost a little more money than other items to ship. Said cost is more than most people are willing to pay to have something shipped to them, so I’ve had a lower shipping rate in the past. I kept small items to $5 and large items to $10. However, I didn’t take into account that I always have to wrap these items extra carefully and that they can’t just be put into an envelope.

I have lost a TON of money shipping dishes, so I’ve changed the way I’m handling shipping of these fragile items. I was typically paying $1-2 extra for shipping itself, not to mention I put a tracking number on all my items. So I was eating the shipping overage costs PLUS the shipping materials costs. Even if shipping was about right for the product I still had to pay extra for the shipping materials.

It’s not kosher to ask somebody to pay more for shipping after purchasing an item that has shipping prices included. THEREFORE I’m instituting a flat-ship rate policy. The shipping rate for all dishes is the same up front. This rate covers the worst-case scenario cost of shipping the items. However, all customers will be refunded the overages. The cost includes $4 for packaging materials.

I wrote a new policy after checking to see what others do about this same situation.

The policy reads:
Shipping will be calculated after your purchase and overages will be refunded. Shipping price below is standard on ALL dishes. Please keep in mind these objects are very fragile and require extra care (and bubble wrap) when packaging. Shipping price also includes $2 for bubble wrap and $2 for a box.

Please convo me before purchasing if you would like me to pre-calculate correct shipping for you. This will require me to reserve the item for you, but will result in you paying one accurate charge for the item instead of receiving a refund later.

If you need overnight or express shipping on this item, please convo me before buying so I can calculate the actual cost and adjust the shipping price.

All items to Des Moines or Ames can be delivered at no charge. Please convo me to arrange a pickup/drop off time/place before placing your order to receive the free shipping.

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I’ve been really busy lately making a ton of new stuff! Last month I made new wallets, zip bags and then decided to make a big box full of new dishes. Free shipping to Ames and Des Moines and Christmas orders must be placed by December 20 to receive them on time.

Here’s a small taste of what I made (click the link to go to the etsy listing):

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After stuffing yourself silly with turkey and cranberries, it’s definitely time for a day-long shopping trip. After all, that is the new American tradition.

How about shopping locally instead of hitting the big box stores? Market Day’s Black Friday sale is from 9-2 on Friday, November 25. I’ll be there and I’m going to have a couple crazy sales.

All dishes are 50% off. And most are already a crazy low price because they are last season’s pieces. So snag a handpainted decorative plate or a mug for $5 or less.

My new wallets will be on sale for $25. Normally these are $35. $10 off is a STEAL for these. If you haven’t seen these awesome new wallets, they’ve got hidden magnetic snap closures and dividers with card slots. I may have kept the middle one (below) for myself. I’ve been LOVING this wallet and have gotten a ton of compliments on it since I started using it.

I’ll also have a couple of random things on super-duper sale. These are my old wallets, old teeny-tiny wallets (I changed the size) and a few miscellaneous items.

Come on down and check it out. This event is going to be chock full of awesome vendors!

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The Craft Saturday Holiday 2011 show is THIS SATURDAY from noon-6 at the Fourth Street Theatre in Des Moines.

I will be there. And so will my new wallets. And all my old stuff will be on SALE. Major sale. Clearance. I want to get rid of it to make way for new stuff. So that means awesomely cheap holiday gifts for you!

[new wallets for $30 each — $35 on etsy]

Besides that, there are going to be a TON of awesome vendors there. Check out the vendor preview page. I know I am planning on getting some things from these fabulous vendors. Bean and the Sprout will be there, so will JuneCraft and Florence Oliver.

I hope to see you there!

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We are moving again soon. And this weekend is the last weekend that I don’t have plans before the move, so I’m getting my last hurrah out of my system because all my crafty stuff has to go in storage as soon as possible.

I started going through my craft stuff and decided to finish off some UFOs this weekend.

I started with some bags …

(pink little zippy pouch)

(geometric little zippy pouch)

… and some more — 17 to be exact — quilted cards …

… but then I found a whole mess of white fabric, which I had no idea I had — my granny had left it in a bunch of unfinished projects she ultimately didn’t get to finish and her craft supplies were gifted to me.  So, I decided it was time to finish my vintage scrap fabric (courtesy of Adria) strip quilt.

I’m still in progress today. I could have finished last night but I really don’t have room in our tiny apartment to lay out the quilt, and this is one that I have to lay out and think about.  Here’s a photo of the progress. I’ll post a tutorial once it’s finished.  It’s really quite easy, but takes a bit of thinking.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

• Decided I wanted to do a strip quilt that kind of zig zagged with the scrap fabric Adria gave me — this, but without the border and with more variation in width and length of fabric.
• Cut all the fabric scraps to 2″, 1.5″ and 1″  wide pieces. One inch is probably too small, but to get the most out of this fabric, I had to go that small.
• Sewed all of the 2″ wide scraps together to make a really long strip, and did the same with the 1.5″ and 1″ scraps. Did this last year and pulled out the finished rolls of strips yesterday to start putting this together.
• Figured out that I wanted to make a 50″x50″ quilt. Originally I was going to go with twin size, but I realized I wasn’t going to have enough vintage fabric to do what I wanted to do.
• Cut 50″ wide strips from the long strip of each width I’d sewn together.
• Laid them on the floor to make 50″ wide — this required cutting the strips in halves and thirds.  See above — the bottom piece is the full length that I want and is used for measuring.
• Cut 2″, 1.5″ and 1″ strips out of white fabric and added them to the ends of the vintage strips to make up the width difference so they measure 50″ again.

Here’s what I’m doing today:

• Deciding where I want the vintage strips to line up in the quilt, then cutting the end of the white off (where it goes past 50″) and adding it to the OTHER side of the strip (so there’s white on both sides).
• Trimming everything to 48″ or so wide since inevitably there will probably be a math error on my end.
• Pinning 3 strips at a time together and sewing them into a wider strip.
• Repeating until the quilt top has been finished.

And that’s my day today! Patchworking and probably running 6-8 miles.  If I finish the quilt top in just a few hours (hoping so — I got where I currently am now with this quilt top in 3 hours yesterday), I’ll work on some more bags. I found the motherload of scraps I was saving of Wonderland …

… so I’ll probably be making some more zippy pouches out of that.  I’m loving the zippy pouches.  I need to make some more wallets, but I like to make the zippy pouches so much more.  I figure I’m doing this for fun and not for money, so if this stuff sells, great, if not, I’ve got Christmas presents taken care of.  Or maybe I can keep something for myself for once.

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This is probably going to be my last wedding invite update post for a while. I really probably should have spaced them out more, but now I’ve hopefully created interest and suspense. I have a Vegas invite but I need to tweak the size so it’s the 5×7″ size I’ve been working with. I’d like to stick to one size for invites until I get a few orders out the door.

These are the Chelsea Invites — custom illustration and invite created for my sister’s friend Chelsea. I want to do a couple more invites with my little birdies illustrations.

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I realized after I posted the last set of invites that I should probably show the RSVP card as both a postcard and a regular response card.

I created a similar option to the Stephanie Invite — the Louise Invite.

Again — these will be completely custom colors, text and fonts.

I think once I create one invitation, I’ll see if the same mix of illustrations or patterns and fonts can work just as well in another configuration and create a 2nd version … and eventually a 3rd once I start dabbling in different sizes.

Side note, I’ve been having fun coming up with fake names to put on the invites. I’m saving my name for one that is super awesome. Since I’m so critical of my own work, you will likely never see a “Calee” invitation.

As usual, feedback is welcome. Send me your comments!

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I don’t know why, but the term “cyber Monday” kind of gives me the willies. Sounds kind of dirty.

Regardless, I have some good sales going on! Check them out HERE. 10% off coupon and a couple items marked $15-20 off!

AND check it out, I’m featured on The Hipster Housewife today with some of my adorable custom cups and saucers.

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Howdy y’all.

I’ve got some good sales going on at my etsy shop for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

First — I have a few specific items on sale from Friday thru Monday.

My Beads and Lace Dinnerware set is available for $20 off the regular price.

My Black and Tan Platter is also for sale — $15 off the regular price.

And one of my lovely Fall Musical Flower plates is also $15 off the regular price.

Second — I HAVE COUPONS. For both my shops (retail and wholesale)

Today, use the code BLACKFRIDAY at the checkout from either of my stores and get 5% off any order.

On Monday, use the code CYBERMONDAY at the checkout from either of my stores and get 10% off any order. INCLUDING CUSTOMS (that are already posted).

Happy shopping! Hope you have a safe shopping trip if you’re braving the crowds.

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