Strings of Me Etsy Shop

It's official everyone I launched my Strings of Me Etsy Shop lastnight! So far it has 6 items and I will be adding items weekly! I am so happy to have finally listed my first few items. It really was very exciting for me.

I want to especially thank my husband for the amazing job he did on my product photos. I feel he has brought an extra quality to my work. You can see the detail of my hand crocheted items in his photos and I appreciate the time he spent shooting them.

This laptop sleeve shown is just one of the six items I have in my shop. I loved working on this item. I actually wanted to keep it for myself. lol This would make a great Valentine's gift or keep it for yourself!

In the coming week my goal is to set up a Facebook Fan Page. My website is also complete as well and I think I will do some kind of give-away once the website it launched.

So for now Happy Shopping and feel free to request any custom orders. If you see something you like but you want it in a different color just ask and I can do that for you! Some items that I will be adding in the coming weeks to my shop will be scarves, slouchy hats, purses, laptop sleeve for guys, coffee cozy, and more!

Vanilla Joy's Giveaway and more!

First of all I wanted to let you know about a very awesome blogger Vanilla Joy! She is giving away an awesome basket filled with scrapbooking goodies! While on her site she blooged about some craft room furniture and craft organization.

Sorry I've been MIA the last couple of days. I've been a little under the weather. I hope to have some new announcements this weekend. Look for them!!!

Neckwarmer Cowl

I'm excited to post my newest creation. At first I had a very much hate relationship with this yarn. I cannot tell you how many times I had to frog (which mean rip apart and start over) my work. I would put the yarn away and come back to it. See there are tiny little knots/bumps in this yarn and they would get stuck. I knew this yarn would look so beautiful when it was finished but it wouldn't cooperate. lol I mean I was really getting frustrated with it. So when I finally finished this little beauty it was a sigh of relief and jump of excitement!

The great thing about this Neckwarmer Cowl is it diversity. It can be warn many ways. I showed you this in the photos I provided. It's a very fun little piece to have, too. The yarn is made of acrylic in shades of mostly brown with some pink in it. The oh-so-cute buttons are pink and made out of plastic. I think they really pop against the mostly brown colored cowl. I sewed the buttons on with the yarn for extra durability. This is a must have fashion piece.

I made this item specifically for my Etsy shop. I decided since the devastation that happened in Haiti I would hold off on launching my shop. I didn't feel right about it, but then I had a second thought. I'm going to try and work hard and get as much done so that I can list as many things possible in my Shop. Why the sudden change? Because I'm going to donate a percentage of all my sales received to help Haiti! I hope you have already made a donation and if not you are at least praying for the people of Haiti. I have two little sisters adopted from Haiti and they have had their little world's rocked from this. Their heart is with Haiti and they are grieving for the people of there.

I am already working on a new project and it is almost complete. I am really excited about this new WIP as well! It is fun, cute, and function! That's all the hints you get right now. You'll just have to wait and see what it is.

I'd like to hear from you. I'd like to know what you'd like me to list in my Etsy Shop. Feel free to leave me comments with what you want!

I'm ready for my close-up...

Well I took the weekend off from blogging. My husband and I talked a lot about plans/goals for Strings of Me's Etsy shop. On Saturday morning I woke and came out to the living room where my adorable husband had transformed part of it into a photography studio. He had a white backdrop set up on the wall and sofa table, camera on the tripod, lights pointed everywhere. It was fantastic! He did test shots of some beanies I made for my Etsy shop and they looked amazing. Much better than what I was doing with my photos. Now my pictures will have that professional look to them.

I also bought a mannequin head at Sally's Beauty Supply store. I feel good about all the steps we are taking. They are all steps moving in the right direction. It is so nice to have my husband helping me out. He is also building my website right now and I cannot wait to announce when that will be finished.

I was going to launch my Etsy shop last Friday but we were working some things out and felt better about holding off for another week. To start I'll probably only have a handful of items listed but that's ok. The point is that the shop will be launched and I can keep adding items as I work on them.

So the goal for the week is to be productive and positive! Hope you can attribute some of that into your schedule this week as well!

All Things Cherry

Well the last of the purses have been finished but I had forgotten to post the pics. This was the last purse I made and its also my favorite.

There's a funny story behind this purse as well. My sister fell in love with it, too. I made this purse and the other 2 for her three friends as Christmas presents. My sister when she saw the purse wanted it for herself. She didn't want to bring it to her friend the next day. lol So I told her I'd make her a similar one in black with a pink cherry!

I decided to add the cherry on the outside because I thought it added a little extra cuteness to it! I love the fabric that my sister chose. She did a good job. She chose all the materials and then I went from there. I was inspired by this purse the most. The pictures do not do this purse justice. And I was happy to hear that my sister's friend loved her purse as well.

This weekend I will be posting pictures of what I made my family for Christmas. Hope everyone is having a Happy Friday!

Crochet Along

Two days ago I joined a crochet along with Gourmet Crochet designer Carolyn Christmas. I was so excited to join this group crochet along for many reasons. The first reason was because this was my first crochet along ever. I've always wanted to join one but never did. The second reason is because I have admired Carolyn's beautiful work for some time now and was excited to be involved in something she created. The third reason is that it is a mystery crochet along which means we don't get to see or know what the pattern looks like before hand. Carolyn posts a pattern each day of a square until the project is complete. We do know it is going to be an afghan.

Today is day three. I have not made my square yet for the day but I cannot wait. The pictures are of Day 1 and 2. These are colors 2 out of 3 that I will be using in my afghan. Today I will be using my third color. When I went to Jo-Ann's I knew I would be picking out yarn for this project and fell in love with these colors.

It's not too late to join the crochet along fun. Just click here t0 go to Carolyn's blog where you can find the patterns for all 3 days so far. You don't have to do anything to join. Just go to her blog everyday for the new pattern. Its as simple as that!

Welcome Twenty-Ten!

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year. I took a little break from blogging and enjoyed the last week of my husband's vacation with him. Sadly this vacation came to an end this morning when he went back to work, but at the same time I'm excited to get 2010 started.

Over the course of about a month I've felt so blessed with the encouragement I've been given to pursue my passion with crocheting. Don't get me wrong this encouragement has always been there by the people I love but the last month it has been overwhelming...in a good way! Not only by my family and friends I am getting positive feedback from the craft community and strangers in stores and such.

I've been inspired by this encouragement and my love for crochet and it has driven me to make 2010 as successful of a year as possible. When I say successful I don't just mean money although this is nice, too. I mean successful in setting goals for myself and attaining these goals. There are no 'New Years Resolutions' here just real life goals I want for myself.

So these are my goals for 2010 (and they aren't in any special order either):

1. To sell and become known in the Etsy world

2. Push myself to make harder patterns

3. Make a piece of clothing (I've never done this yet and CANNOT wait!)

4. Crochet something out of Vickie Howell's Pop Goes Crochet book (goes along with #3)

5. Learn how to knit - I want to teach myself so I can have both talents under my belt

6. Knit something out of Vickie Howell's Aware Knits book (goes along with #5)

7. I would love to learn how to spin my own yarn

8. Donate Chemo caps to Children's Hospital or similar type group

9. Continue to design my own patterns and make a pattern book to hold them in

10. Make sweaters for Star, Lucy, and Kona (my 3 boxers)

11. Use my sewing machine more

So those are my goals for the crafty side of me. On a personal note I would like to pick one person every week to pray for. I think this would be something different. I am going to go out to Target and buy a pretty journal especially for this. I think it would be nice to focus on one person for an entire week. On their hurts, needs, requests, etc. I have met many IC friends on Facebook and so many ask for prayer and I want to be able to give them that not just a quick one when I read their post or comment. And its not like I will only be praying for this one person but I think it would be nice to let someone know that I took an entire week thinking of them. I hope this helps me become a better person as well and to remember there are others too that hurt just as much as me.

Even though nothing is technically in my Etsy shop I have been working on orders here at the house. So any day now there will be items up for you to look at and even buy. I will post and let you know for sure where there are actual items and my Etsy shop is live!

I hope 2010 is an inspiring year for you. I know I am glad 2009 is gone. Now whether or not I can 'feel' 2010 is gonna be better I can't say but I know I can aspire to do good and push towards what I really want. I hope you do the same. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't. If you're in a funk...GET OUT and do what you LOVE!!!