The Speckled Kat: my etsy shop

Showing posts with label my etsy shop. Show all posts

Saturday, March 10, 2012

New Flowers in the Shop

I've been pretty lazy about uploading stuff into the shop.

This afternoon, I finally got to work, here ya go :)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/92053337/4-inch-mulberry-100-merino-wool-hand

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91583703/4-inch-handmade-and-sewn-100-wool-shrimp

http://www.etsy.com/listing/92052805/4-inch-sea-green-dahlia-flower-brooch

Friday, March 9, 2012

New Colors in the shop!!

18 Beautiful shades of Wool Felt arrived in my mailbox yesterday!

4 were replenishment so we have 14 new shades to add to our collection.

Making it a total of 38 beautiful colors in the shop!

Mulberry, Soft Plum, Purple, Navy Blue, Aquamarine, Sprout, Black,
Magenta, Red, White, Ecru, Light Yellow, Light Peach, Bright Pink

I am in love with my growing collection of Beautiful colors!

I can't wait to get to work on some fun new flowers.

{I'm especially in love with Mulberry and Light Peach!}

Now time for more thread shopping.

Monday, February 13, 2012

200th Post and a GIVEAWAY!

It's true, I have reached post numer-o 200!

Can you believe it?!?

I've seen this post sneaking up on me for a while now. I wanted to do something special like a sale in the shop, but I didn't plan on having my "on a whim" sale coincide so closely. SOoooo who's up for a giveaway?!

Free > sale, Right?

To enter:

Become a follower of the blog-a-roony {If you are not already} and leave a comment on this post saying what color flower you would choose from the shop, and the winner will win a flower of their choosing.

Easy peasy right?

You have until Friday at noon to enter, and the winner will be chosen at random by my lovely assistant, KennaKat!

Guys, feel free to get in on the giveaway action, there are plenty of Ladies in your life: moms, wives, special gals, post lady, etc that are willing candidates to be the recipient of this freebie.

I've been busy these past few days making new flowers to go in the shop, so check-em out :)

Now that I've got my "L" issue taken care of for the label, they are ready to go :)
What do you think of the gift boxes?

Thursday, January 26, 2012

in the shop and drooling over stuff

Finally took pictures of my most recent flowers.

I was waiting for a nice sunny day, but the only day like that was when I wasn't home.

So today, I had KennaKat pose for me while it was sprinkling this morning.

{Of course the sun is out this afternoon, but I'm too lazy to retake pictures}

I'm working through my wool felt, 6 colors to go! I also ordered another 12 colors, I'm so anxious to get them! The plan is to have one of every color made before the new felt gets here next week.

{We'll see how that goes}

I'm not the most goal oriented person. I'm more of an 'on a whim' person, which pretty much relates to almost everything I do. Being in Jehovah's Organization, Being Married, and having kids pretty much sums up my long term commitments and accomplishments.

So if I can accomplish my mini goals, then I'm pretty proud of myself.

I can't seem to get into the habit of making one a night, which is where I would like to be.

Maybe it's because it takes so long to hand-sew them, and once I get my table cleared off I don't really want to pull all the stuff out again?

Clean up is such a drag!

I've been day dreaming about what my perfect craft room {or even just an area all my own} would look like.

And even though I may change my ideas every other day, I'm pretty settled on what I want to use for my flower station and other small art supplies:

Feast your eyes on these beauties!

Gorgeous printer cabinet

printer/ apothecary cabinet

This person took a library card cataloger and put a printer cabinet on top...ingenious!

Isn't this such a great idea?!?! I could house all of my felt, my beads, my flowers, my attachments, packaging materials, paints, glues, papers, EVERYTHING in one of these babies. Oh how I drool over them.

Maybe some day somebody will find one of these awesome creations in their shed or basement and be like "Hey, do you want this? Here have it for free"

And I'll say "Thanks! You rock!"

One day...

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Flowers

I've been in a flower making rut lately.

Nani ordered a custom order the other week, but other than that flower, I really hadn't made/or felt like making anything.

I hate when that happens.

Then I was worried that maybe opening a store and selling the flowers wasn't such a good idea.

"Do people really want my stuff? Is it worth all the time and effort?"

That doubt runs through my head all the time.

Yesterday, a friend of mine ordered a custom flower. After finally deciding on her color, I went to work.

All the while, worried that it wouldn't come out well, since I didn't feel in the "groove".

But as I sewed on each petal, and the flower took shape, I regained my enthusiasm for making them. Remembering WHY I enjoy creating these beautiful flowers.

So here it is, a custom flower for my friend Bethany.

All 40 hand-sewn petals of it..

I love it.

And I'm so thankful that I found my niche again.

I was so happy making that beautiful Lilac flower last night, that today, I made another.

A Lovely 32 petal, 100% Wool, hand sewn, Carnation Pink dahlia.

Isn't it girly?

Now that I am back in the groove, I'll be making more flowers with that beautiful new wool felt now in stock.

Happy Thursday everybody!

Got any good plans for this weekend?

I do, we'll be hanging with the whole family, I'm excited!

And if I remember to take pictures, I will share our adventures here.

Take Care!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Latest flower

Apricot Dahlia

The first flower made with the new felt!

I love how soft and pretty it is!

Friday, January 6, 2012

New Wool Felt Colors!

After much anticipation and waiting and waiting, my beautiful new 100% wool felt has arrived!

{As I said before, man, I am LOVING my mailbox this week!}

I have 12 new colors to choose from.

I can't wait to get started on more flowers!!

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Flowers In The Shop

New flowers have been listed in the shop.

Trying out different petal shapes, I don't know what type of flower I'd call it...maybe a carnation?

Any suggestions?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/89438058/oatmeal-felt-flower-pinheadbandclip-you

http://www.etsy.com/listing/89526719/peacock-blue-felt-flower-pinclipheadband

http://www.etsy.com/listing/89525482/goldenrod-felt-flower-pinheadbandclip

Let me know what you think of the new design...better, worse, no difference?

I have made it through the month of December. My first 28 days have been fun/exciting/nerve-racking!
It is such a surreal feeling to have people actually WANT something that I made.
It's crazy really.

In my first month, I sold 14 flowers...how cool is that?!?
I haven't pocketed any of the earnings, I just turn around and buy more supplies. :)
Which is what I wanted to be able to do, fund my obsession.

I have ordered 12 new beautiful colors of 100% wool felt from a fellow etsy'er, more beads, and more cool paper to make my boxes.
I can't wait for the felt to arrive and make more fun flowers!

The person I ordered the felt from gave some good tips for having a shop. Some are going to be hard to incorporate, like changing my prices to show their true value. Yeah, I guess I need to work on that, but the thought of charging anything for something I gladly gave away for free is really really tough. Plus I like to think that everyone has my mindset..."They want how much for that? I could make it myself! Is it on sale?"...Well yes, obviously I can make it myself, but I guess not everyone wants to.

So that's what I'm struggling with right now. Pricing for value/worth/time/expense/and competition. She says "don't be shy about your pricing. There is perceived value for items that are priced accordingly. Better materials certainly justify higher cost. Don't be afraid that people won't be willing to pay a fair amount for your hand crafted item. " Yes, that is my biggest struggle...placing a value on something I made.

Current goals I'll be working on in the future are more hand-sewn flowers, higher quality materials, and a variety of prices to attract a variety of customers.

A big huge thank you for all of your support and encouragement!

THANK YOU!!!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Friday

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88792755/peacock-blue-dahlia-pin-or-headband

Trying to follow the "rules to success" in my etsy shop and add new items as frequently as possible. Perhaps I'll be able to add one a day at some point. But I'll need to get ahead and make a pile before I can count on that. I'm more of a sporadic maker and not an every day maker. And another problem is that once I've made my pieces, I'm too eager to share, so I post them all at once :)...one day I'll get it all worked out right...one day.

Yesterday, E's class had share time.

They invited friends and family to come in and see what they've been working on.

E chose stick bugs as his project.

He made stick bugs out of clay, but then while he was out of the room, someone took his clay and used it to make something of their own....ooops! So yesterday before the share, he hurried to make these stick bugs out of pipe cleaners. I love them. I wonder what his clay ones looked like?

He's not much into sharing what he's made over and over, so it's always funny to see how he reacts after having to repeat himself for the 10th time... :)

Nani joined us and that was a special treat.

Today, while I listed my flower shown up top on the etsy shop, KennaKat sat next to me and painted a rainbow. Rainbows are her new "thing" and I LOVE having rainbows all over my house! This one she painted on canvas just for me! {I really need a new workspace because keeping my supplies and inventory right next to wear the kids art to their hearts content is a little bit nerve racking!}

When E was home sick earlier in the week, he painted this picture for me on canvas as well. I love that he put a description underneath. :) Also note, he is giving me a flower and there is a heart because he loves me {cue heart melting}

So now I have 2 beautiful rainbows on my wall in my room, what more could a mommy ask for?!?

A point of celebration is in order...

Today is E's last day of school for the next 3 weeks!

Woohoo!

I am thrilled to have him home and with me all day every day for a few weeks, but what am I most excited about? I don't have to wake up at 7:15 every day and make lunch and get my kids dressed, woohoo!

Let the winter break begin!!

{side note: this school year has flown by way too quickly, I can't believe my son is halfway through first grade :( *tear*}

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Sick and doing a happy dance

Being sick and doing a happy dance don't generally come hand in hand, but tonight they do for me.

For starters, we have our CO visit this week. It's been a bummer that I had to catch a cold during this special time. My goal was to be out in the ministry with them every day while they were here, and after getting this cold, well, the goal was switched to Make it to the meetings. So I haven't been able to enjoy them as much as I would have liked, but I am thoroughly enjoying them. We have a substitute CO and Wife because our CO is teaching Elders school. I LOVE our sub though, they are so kind and sweet, and I don't think brother Pack has ever frowned, he has the kindest smile on his face at all times. If that's not inviting, I don't know what is.

I have thoroughly benefited from his talks these past 2 meetings, thoroughly. So so SO encouraging, and definitely what I needed to hear. I'm so glad that I made it tonight. I was feeling completely exhausted and stuffy and like my head was carrying around an anvil instead of a brain. But I made it, and by the end of the meeting, I was feeling SO much better! Thank goodness! I'm still feeling good, so my hope is that I'm getting better, and if I wake up feeling mostly like a human being, then I'll be out in the ministry. I'm really hoping!

So that's part one.

Part 2 is that I came home to find that a friend from out of town ordered one of my new flowers that I listed on Etsy today! How awesome is she?!?!? So I packed up her order and it's all ready to drop at the post tomorrow! Woohoo! I created a new category on my shop, I decided not to put a backing on the flowers and the category is called "you decide" so the purchaser gets to tell me what to make it into...a brooch pin, headband, barrette, alligator clip, what have they. Hopefully it will get good results :)

If you care to see my latest additions to my shop, click and see...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheSpeckledKat?ref=si_shop

Oh and I've been meaning to say... If you live in the area and want to help me out by modeling some of my stuff for no pay what-so-ever, that could be arranged. I need more pictures in my shop and could use some free models :) Thanks in advance, you're awesome!