What I'm Workin' On....

Being able to knit and crochet has brought so much versatility to my creative process! I can crochet when I'm bored with knitting and vice versa. I have been so anxious to start on an afghan but I have found myself occupied with other projects, so I guess it's time to push my limits! I started on this granny square while on vacation, but I haven't decided on the other patterns that will be in this afghan. I can only tell you this...it will be eye-catching!

My First Bloggy Giveaway!!!!

Hi Everyone!! I thought it would be neat to run a GIVEAWAY!!!! To promote my Yarncoture Spa/Kitchen Collection I will be giving away this lovely spa set, crocheted in a multi-colored pink and cream 100% cotton yarn with contrasting but elegant white cotton yarn. I will also include a bar of peppermint soap from Gassner Custom Soaps (one of my favorite scents!) ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS

1) FOLLOW my BLOG and *make a comment* about which one of my items you like in my spa/kitchen collection and WHY.

2) Pick a number between 1 and 100 and CHECK THE POSTS because no number may be posted twice! Also..if the number that I have chosen has not been picked, the entry with the closest number to it WITHOUT GOING PAST THE NUMBER wins! That's it! The deadline is February 3! Please INCLUDE your e-mail address IN YOUR POSTS. The spa set includes:

~ 1 double-sided ruffled bath sponge
~ 2 medium sized exfoliating cloths (I have one of these and I use it everyday!)
~ 1 ruffled bath mitt
~ 1 bar of peppermint soap!

The winner will receive the complete set shipped for free and gift wrapped !! Ok...POST AWAY! **WINNER ANNOUNCED FEBRUARY 4**
More giveaways here at Bloggy Giveaways!

Why Do I Feature Shops On TWITTER???

I'll tell you why. When I opened my shop in July, I was sooo excited! I just KNEW that I would get my first sale within the week. Well, I didn't. In fact, I didn't get my first sale until October 13! Before that happened I tried to frequent the Etsy forums and quickly learned that I needed to advertise my store OUTSIDE of Etsy. Occasionaly I would even see people posting threads encouraging others to post their shops for a "chance" to be "picked" to be featured on a blog or something. I tried posting my shop, but I was never picked and after being disappointed I decided not to do that anymore. I stumbled upon twitter by way of some discussion threads mentioning it in the forums and quickly learned that twitter could be an awesome way of promoting my shop and others as well. However, I still didn't want to make people feel like they had to be "picked" and I didn't want to promote shops that were always picked. I wanted to focus on the store owners that had the guts to open a shop but unfortunately were buried in the Etsy database of shops. I decided to develop a simple criterion which would give everyone a shot:

~ Promote shops with 5 sales or less

~ Require that they have a Twitter page

~ Tell them to tell all their friends (by doing this, they help promote their
shop as well)

Remember, all multi-million corporations were once the "little guy", but they were fortunate to get their foot-in-the-door and through time their businesses skyrocketed. Hopefully I represent the "little guy" and am trying to do my part in contributing to the success of the handmade movement.

The Customer From H.E.L.L

It's every business owner's worst nightmare...that super-picky, always wanting something xtra, fifty-thousand questions asking, pain-in-the-neck person that we all encounter. Most of our first gut reactions are, "oh Lord, here we go.." But in its true sense, it's your chance to push the envelope and show yourself what you are made of. I have encountered these types of customers in the past. I admit that I was a little annoyed at first, but if they weren't there to "check" me on a couple of things, I may have let them go unnoticed and may have had some problems later on. Sure, you might experience someone who is being a pain in the patootie for no reason, and there are plenty of folks out there that looooove to take advantage of the "customer is always right" philosophy....but we're not talking about them. The main focus here is to try to make sure that you have done whatever is necessary to *prevent* customer from hell experiences. Double check your inventory and/or services that you provide and perfect them to the best of your ability. And yes, YES I am GUILTY of having been this type of customer as well! I have been very demanding at times when making purchases at certain places and I am as *super picky* as they come...but I have only done this when I felt ignored or cheated. I definitely wouldn't want to experience that again but if I do, I will definitely put on my "customer from HELL" badge and demand what I feel is fair for all parties involved. Are you ready to step out of YOUR comfort zone and do the same???

A Message To Handcrafters Everywhere!

So I opened a new shop on Etsy 5 months ago and had such high hopes. I wanted to offer popular designs in knitted and crocheted items, as well as introduce my own designs for the whole world to see. As I tried to settle into the Etsy community, I was very overwhelmed when I visited the forums for the first time. There were people talking about leaving Etsy, and many unheard complaints to the Etsy Administration about the favoritism towards certain Etsy shops and their constant reoccuring appearances on the front page of Etsy. I also noticed the constant question asked by newbies, "am I charging too much?" or "do my prices seem fair?" and even also found myself asking the same question in the forums.

There's so much talk about the economy and how much consumers are "pinching pennies" and how everyone is looking for a bargain. Many consumers are being conditioned to think that they "must" sacrifice quality in order to make ends meet while the lesser quality mass produced items that they purchase fall apart or don't last as long as a better quality item would.

The handmade movement is taking the world by storm, but the handcrafters and artists MUST TAKE A STAND! Don't devalue your work...think about it: if it takes you 8 hours to knit a pair of gloves, why sell them for $10? Those are sweatshop prices! I fell into this trap "thinking" I was charging too much and did that. $10 for 8 hours of work? Heck, you pay more than that to your son to cut your lawn! Never again will I make that mistake! I was told by people in the Etsy forums that my prices were a little high. These same people would not DARE go in Sak's or Tiffany's and tell them to lower their prices...heck, not even Walmart! When you buy something handmade it's much more personal. You can ask questions about the products directly to the artist/crafter and at the time of your purchase, you have confidence in knowing what you purchased was made with great care. So the next time you are looking for something special for yourself, that special gift or an original work of art, look into purchasing something handmade directly from the artist. You will be supporting entrepeneuralship, your next-door neighbor crafter and helping the average business owner survive in the so-called "economic crunch".

Art BLASTS From The PAST

While visiting my parents this past summer in Chicago, I came across some of my old artwork that I did in high school! I was amazed that I was able to do this over (ahem) 20 years ago. Click here to see the entire collection!

Fingerless ATTACK!!

So I listed these fingerless gloves last Monday and they SOLD OUT the same day!! Now as fast as I can make them they are sprouting wings and flying right out of my store! I will have many colors available for these, so keep checking my shop to see what is currently available!