Time for celebration of 100th item listed in Eco Chique Boutique on Etsy!

I've been very busy taking pictures and replenishing the shelves in our Etsy shop and finally listed our 100th item! Well actually if you count all the sales we hit 100 a long time ago, however it was my goal to get 100 items listed at the same time and I finally reached that goal today. If you like EcoChiqueBoutique on Facebook maybe you've already seen the announcement, if not it will be worth your time to go read it now because there's a gift involved if you're not too late.

Restocking the Eco Chique Boutique Shelves!

Yesterday after doing my Saturday morning errands (LOVE our local Farmers' Market!) I spent some time taking pictures of all my upcycled drink can brooches and restocking my Etsy shop's virtual shelves. After church today I'll take pics of badge reels and if time permits will get some of my oodles and oodles of upcycled paper embellishments posted. I kind of got carried away making all those die cuts out of assorted food and tissue boxes, wallpaper samples and security envelopes. Here's a few of the new brooches just listed in Eco Chique Boutique.

Zeleny Art Fair

The flyers are ready now for the Zeleny Art Fair, making this fun event even more of a reality. You'll have to hop over to their blog to see some of the other vendors. Eco Chique Boutique should be on their as soon as they get all caught up. If you haven't liked us yet on Facebook, please head over there now so you don't miss out on any updates. We'll have a special surprise for our FB fans who stop by our booth! Please help us get the word out by sharing this post any way you possibly can. We're all just little hometown folk trying to make a difference in our world!

Goals for first half of 2012

I decided that my crafting goals needed to be posted at the top of my blog until they have all been completed. Now to figure out how folks make posts stay at the top... I just read that putting a publication date in the future would create a sticky post and keep it on top. Tried that and it didn't work, so will just make a text widget with just the list and locate it above the posts.

Here's the list that was posted in January:

1. Create card kits to sell on Etsy.
2. Create scrapbook page kits to sell on Etsy.
3. Put stuff together for a swap with friends.
4. Donate a bunch of stuff to groups that make cards for charities.
5. Make cards to donate to Operation Write Home. DONE
6. Make cards to donate to a local church that in turn donates to homeless shelters (currently doing this one.)   DONE
7. Make card assortments along with boxes to put them in to have on hand for gifts.
8. Offer some blog candy (coming soon, so stay tuned!)
9. Make upcycled embellishments and other products for Zeleny Art Fair coming up in April. DONE

Below are some things I've made. The sample is flower die cuts made out of upcycled wallpaper samples. Next is a really cute ruffled purse made out of t-shirts, then a fabric rosette using leftover fabric and the last picture is a package of paper rosettes.

Challenge for the New Year

I can't believe it's been an entire MONTH since my last post! Where has the time gone??? Unlike some of you who have very busy lives with children and/or grandchildren running around the house during the holidays, it's just me and my dear husband and menagerie of dogs and cats. Sure we have an occasional visit with our daughter and son-in-law, sometimes along with one or two of their dogs; but for the most part it's just the two of us. I think that my mojo got sucked up in the thick atmosphere and blew away for a visit somewhere else!

What have I been doing? I dare not show any pictures because of the perpetual mess my craft room is always in, but I will tell you that things are moving along. Like some of you I am trying to use up what I have on hand in my stash. This MIGHT be the time for me to finally make the switch from paper to digital design, BUT not until I've gotten my stash down to a reasonable amount. Here are some thoughts I've had lately:

1. Create card kits to sell on Etsy.
2. Create scrapbook page kits to sell on Etsy.
3. Put stuff together for a swap with friends.
4. Donate a bunch of stuff to groups that make cards for charities.
5. Make cards to donate to Operation Write Home. DONE
6. Make cards to donate to a local church that in turn donates to homeless shelters (currently doing this one.)   DONE
7. Make card assortments along with boxes to put them in to have on hand for gifts.
8. Offer some blog candy (coming soon, so stay tuned!)
9. Make upcycled embellishments and other products for Zeleny Art Fair coming up in April.

So there you have it! The past few days I've been digging through my stash and pulling out all those assorted paper embellishments that I cut or punched out in bulk for who knows what reason (just because!) and am attempting to use them to make card assortments. Isn't it funny when you look at something that you've hung on to for several years and you can't for the life of you figure out what you were thinking when you made it??? The paper-hoarder in me finds it extremely difficult to throw anything away that might possibly be used on a card, scrapbook page, collage, jewelry or whatever. Don't you love seeing and reading about all the cool things people make out of what would normally go in the trash? Sorry folks, but I've actually begun throwing away those little bits of paper that are left behind when cutting borders with the scalloped border punch! Yes they make squares look like postage stamps, BUT if they haven't gotten used in over two years they're GOING BYE-BYE!

One last thing I'll kind of share with you is that I have a huge reason for needing to downsize, but am not quite ready to post in for the public yet. I guess I don't want the plans to get jinxed somehow, so will wait until time gets closer, but trust me, this will be a big life-changing and very exciting thing! No folks, I'm NOT pregnant (way too old and the plumbing's been removed since 1994!); but it DOES have something to do with family. Like one of my favorite movie characters once said, "That's all I have to say about that."

Oriental Trading Post Haul

Ok Ya'll, please don't laugh, but I finally made a video to share a haul with you. I discovered that my daughter has the best place ever for making videos, so might just have to spend more time granddogsitting in the future. Or I guess I could just go when she's there to keep the dogs out of the room. Anyway, here's a video showing all the cool stuff I got from Oriental Trading Post.

Time to get organized!

What do YOU do when you take time off from work? Well if you're like me you work even harder at other things. Whether that means gardening, cooking, sewing, taking kids to doctor appointments, cleaning house, caring for elderly parents, or like me, organizing your craft space; it usually requires a lot of work. I've taken the next two days off to clean up my two rooms dedicated to my crafts. Yes you heard me right, TWO ROOMS!!! AAACK!!! For those of you who are now wallowing in jealousy over the fact that I have two full rooms for my crafts (one for paper, the other for sewing) let me tell you that I'd have more room on my dining room table than in both rooms put together! More space means more STUFF!

On Saturday my daughter and I had a very successful sales event in Lawrence, Kansas. There were a dozen Etsy vendors set up in a room at a downtown restaurant, Pachamamas (with absolutely FAB food that we've promised our husbands we'd taken them to later!) The crowd was awesome and steady throughout the entire day and the other vendors were all so friendly and talented that just meeting them would have been well worth the time.

Anyway.... I've finished doing inventory and now it's time to make a dent in the mess called my craft room. Hopefully I'll be able to spend tomorrow cleaning up my sewing room. I have every intention to finally get both rooms to the point where I can actually walk in, sit down and do some creating, then eventually start creating tutorials. What would you like to learn how to do? Is there a paper craft that you've seen here that you'd like to learn all the steps? Maybe you've seen a finished product somewhere else and just can't figure it out? I used to do training as part of my job and I guess you could say that it's in my blood. There are already soooooo many awesome tutorials out there and I don't want to repeat things that are readily available, so pray tell, what can't you find? Not that I can guarantee I'll be able to figure it out, but it'll give me something to shoot for when this old antique computer gets replaced by a graphics capable one. Oh, please also tell me if you're more of a visual, auditory, textual or hands-on learner. I'm one of those people who needs to do all four: see it, hear it, read it and do it. If you're anything like me you do best when there are written instructions to go along with the video tutorial so you can concentrate on soaking in all the visuals and listening rather than scrambling to write everything down.

Ok, NOW I'd better get out of this room and get to work in that craft room! Hopefully I'll have some success stories and pictures to share later. Oh, OH OH! Don't forget to sign up for my October Blog Candy Gratitude Giveaway that closes at midnight on October 29th!

Hear Ye Hear Ye Read All About Kansas Handmade Market!

Our upcoming Handmade Market for Kansas Etsy shops was featured today on the front page of Lawrence.com. We are sooooo excited and hope to see some of you there!
http://www.lawrence.com/news/2011/oct/14/hands-sellers-kansas-etsy-artists-featured-single-/

Halloween Cards upcycled from food boxes

I've been busy lately preparing for our upcoming Handmade Market in Lawrence, Kansas for Etsy artists from Kansas. Would you like to see a few of my Halloween cards? Well you're in luck because I have posted a few pics below beginning with the blob that was supposed to be a spider. Maybe it'll adorn another card as The Blob, ya think? I tried homemade shrinky dink stuff using some plastic cut from something like a salad container and well, it must be the wrong kind of plastic! I ended up just stamping a spider on the plastic and marking over the image with a Sharpee to thicken the lines.

 I like the way this bakers twine spider web looks. I cut tiny slits along the edges of the card to hold the twine in place, then tied the spider on to the center of the web.

 What you can't tell about the pumpkin below and I can't photograph it is that it's painted with glow in the dark paint! Believe me, when I turned out the lights it was really cool looking! Oh yeah, the web on this card is painted on with Epsom Salts and looks awesome, kind of like ice crystals.

 The little bats are stamped on the card using Versamark clear ink. The black dots around the orange circle are done with glitter glue and look great, just hard to photograph.

 The spider and BOO below are done with a puffy black embossing powder that feels grainy.

 Don't you just love the Stampin Up mesh embossing folder? I can't get enough of it!

 Now for those who are just happy it's Fall, here's the perfect card for them. Very simple, yet elegant.

Below I've used a circle to mask off a spot, then sponged orange ink all around it. It really makes the paper cutouts pop, don't you think?

Free SVG file for 3 x 5 Spiral Notebook cover

Yesterday I created a file to cut out covers for 3 x 5 spiral notebooks on my Cricut. I know many people have purchased a special machine to do the cutting and insert the spiral binding, but I'm kind of a cheapscape when there's a way to do something without another piece of equipment to find room for in my overcrowded craft room. If these turn out to be big sellers at Farmer's Market, craft shows and Etsy then maybe I'll reconsider, but for now I'm sharing my poor-woman's file with you so you too can decorate your common little spiral notebooks. The picture I'm sharing is of the upcycled Twinkie and cereal box covers. Today I'll make some out of decorative cardstock with embellishments and will post pics after those are done. Hopefully you can dowload the file by clicking on the green picture below or using this link http://www.box.net/shared/tcycvjb2eb.  If not please holler at me and I'll send the file to you directly. Oh yeah, blogger's comments are being persnickity, but if you click on the contact me form I'll get your note. Enjoy!

I actually removed the spiral binding and replaced the front cover with what you see below. Aren't these little cowboys and waving wheat squares just the cutest things? We don't normally have Twinkies in the house, but dh "got them on sale" and I couldn't resist using those boxes! The back cover is such a nice sturdy chipboard that I left it there and will adhere the decorative cover to it. If you don't want to remove the spiral binding you can always cut slits above each hole and use your fingernail or other object to slip the cover on. Oh and you'll want to round the corners to match the existing covers and paper. I use the small Stampin Up corner rounder and it's absolutely perfect! If you're really good at manipulating files you can probably alter the file to make rounded corners, bit since my paper punch was perfect I decided not to mess with it. Here's what I made yesterday.

Garage sale loot!

What a great morning of garage sailing (ok so spell check doesn't like "saleing" or "saling") with my daughter! We didn't find any jewelry that we could salvage, but did find a bunch of other needed items like t-shirts for tote bags and t-shirt yarn, genuine StampinUp stamps and brayer (much needed!), acrylic blocks for unmounted stamps, drop-dead gorgeous burgundy wire-edged ribbon, StampinUp fiber pack and journal, wire basket for card display at Farmer's Market, jeans and some Peanuts stuff for DH. Oh and the last two pictures show some tiles. I tried drilling a hole in one of the small square glass tiles and it broke both the drill bit (titanium dremel bit) and the tile (covered both sides with painter's tape). Anyone know how to drill holes in glass tiles to insert jump rings for jewelry? Here, take a looksy:

It's a Mother-Daughter Day!

Yippee my daughter is on her way over and we get to spend the day together. We're going to scout out some garage sales looking for things to upcycle for our Etsy shop and Farmer's Market. It's just so much fun finding things that might otherwise end up in the landfill and transforming them in to something useful that will bring a smile to another person's face!

After our shopping trip we're going to make a valiant effort to cut my little Harley's hair. He does NOT like having his face, neck, legs, or well, just about any place touched by metal. I managed to hand cut the fur on his back and have snuck up on him and cut off some mats around his neck, but as soon as he discovers that I've got a scissors he tries to bite it or me. Wish us luck!

Upcycled seed sacks become waterproof tote bags!

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, even had saved bird seed bags in my garage. It wasn't until I saw someone selling them on Etsy that were made out of horse and chicken feed sacks that I decided it was time to get to work. Only thing was I didn't have any horses or chickens! Well call in the reinforcements.... tada!!! My daughter asked around at work and found someone who had these nylon bags that she couldn't burn and VOILA! I absolutely LOVE them!!! These three were donated back to my daughter, the lady who knew the lady with the bags and of course, the lady with the bags. They've promised to be my guinea pigs of sort to test them out before I try selling them. As I was struggling with my standard sewing machine my husband walked in the sewing room to ask how things were going and I mentioned that the long-arm sewing machine I'd been talking about would come in very handy for this new project. We'll look around, probably check out the special sales at the State Fair in September. Any suggestions for types or brands would be helpful. In addition to using it for tote bags I also have plans to do t-shirt quilts and other "normal" quilts that need the extra space.

Here we are (or were ) at Farmers Market!

I'll have a better picture later, but this is what Emily posted on her Facebook page right after we got set up at Farmers Market. It was a great day, a little windy and hot towards the end, but the crowd was awesome!

Banner for our vendor booth

One of my projects for today was to cut out the vinyl letters for the banner on our vendor tent for Farmers Market. I had just enough black vinyl in the size needed (phew!). I used my Sure Cuts A Lot program to lay out the letters to cut out on my Cricut. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Can't wait to show you the booth all set up next Saturday!

Upclycled washer necklaces my daughter made for Farmers Market

Please stop by Emily's Facebook page and give her some luvin for these awesome 2 inch upcycled washer necklaces she made for Farmers Market. She might also start selling them in our Etsy shop soon if there's enough interest. These are made in several different ways, decorative paper, upcycled book pages and hand painted. The girl's got talent, what else can I say? Yup, very proud momma here!!!