Today I was inspired to focus more on the items which have sold the most often in my shop.. which are the wallets. From my research, it seems I have the market cornered for this specific method of fusing plastic to make these wallets. They're small and cute and easy for me to market... I'm going for it!

Like my brother always says, "Keep it short and stupid."

I have decided to try this new style of plastic wallet which is more like a velcro change purse. I have made just two so far and they turned out perfect. These two were samples/gifts for friends so as soon as I make some sellable ones, I will list some pictures here!

Ok... so I've looked up so me pretty exciting ventures having to do with local open aired craft markets. Some of them have a reasonable investment with what seems to be a high potential for turn around. I am excited.

On the work front, this means I need to get crackin'. Crack a lackin.

So... aside from ironing just 3 sheets of plastic materials for new wallets, what else did I do today?

1. I had coffee and a scone with Stephanie in the weee hours.
2. I donated my old car to charity... wooo hooo tax writeoffs for the self-employed!
3. I walked with Stephanie and Cat to Urban Outfitters and suprisingly didn't buy anything.
4. I came home with earnest intentions...


... but ended up catching up on the episodes of Scrubs and the Office that I've been missing.

Sigh.

Oh Zach...zachary... my little Braffy Braff.

When will you ever learn?

More dresses...





and wallets!....





I have been sewing, creating, and listing a lot of items lately. My sales have improved a lot because of it too! I was listed in the Gift Guides section and so my views have gone up dramatically. I had nearly four sales in just one week... I am all for keeping the momentum going, for sure!

Well lately I've been making all these awesome dresses...




Here is my BFF Alisha modeling them a few of them for me. She was gracious enough to put aside a little time this past weekend (with her hands full with twin babies no less!) to pose for me and my Etsy store. Having a model made things so much easier, it seems. I was able to line up the shot the exact way that I wanted, and Alisha was so awesome- she was natural and beautiful through the lens. I just don't think that I am very photogenic!

Needless to say, though, an item of mine was just picked this morning for inclusion in one of Etsy's Gift Guides. I am truly excited about this...

...because it means that my store will be getting lots more traffic. Already, I had two items sell this morning and have nearly two dozen hearts added to my profile. Amazingness.

On a personal note, life has been really great. I think that my Easter celebrating has been fairly fruitful. Today I sat out on a coffee-shop patio for nearly two hours just reading. It was a pleasure book that I had selected last fall and had yet to even crack open. I would have sat longer and possibly even finished the book, but my butt got numb.

I also bought a bike and have been riding it all over. It's a pretty decent little road bike. I got it off of ebay for way cheap because I wanted a brand new one. I've not ever had a brand new bike before... I've only ever had fixer-uppers with lots of problems. I figured I owed it to myself. Especially what with the weather being so awesome!!!

Well, for Lent this year I gave up smoking. Only, I really just used Lent to give me that extra little push I needed to quit for good.

But, an interesting topic was brought up at church last week and I just thought I'd share it with you all. It was this thought that if the pre-crucifixion and resurrection period known as Lent is supposed to represent our devotion to Christ in making small sacrifices, then the season post-Easter should be considered a 40 day feast of sorts. Our pastor urged us to "add" things into our life in this season whereas in the Lenten season we have removed things. I thought long and hard all week about this and I think I've come up with a few good things I need to "add"... if not add more of.

I've been getting into really healthy eating lately and have been doing a lot of my shopping at the Dekalb Farmer's Market. I am including in my diet a healthy dose of fruit (those that have known me in the past could possibly hardly recall me ever picking up an orange, but honestly, I have been downing navel oranges like they're going out of style). Eating healthy is not just going to be a watered-down low-cal no-substance boring brigade, though. I intend to include as many whole grains as I possibly can, while at the same time eliminating bleached flours and white starches. Fruits, fresh meats and lots of spices will be the staples of my diet. I realized just this year that God has placed food here for our enjoyment, and that doesn't mean that I have to "enjoy" ice cream with every meal. But, it does mean that I should explore and expand my cooking and tasting pallette.

The other night while babysitting for some friends, I had a good amount of time with nothing better to do than read. It has bemoaned me for some time how I don't seem to read as much as some people I know, and how I've always seemed to wish I read more. I do intend now to put aside time for pleasure reading.

And this brings me to the most important part of all. My time with God. Me and the Big Man have had (for the most part) what I like to picture in my head as a "caption blurb" relationship. It's almost like I picture God constantly watching me like a floating camera or one of those caption blurbs that floats above the character's head in a comic book. God is inside the blurb and so he can also read all my subtext that's going on, too. The biggest problem with this bit of imagery (altho it might be close to the truth perhaps) is that it causes me to not desire more intentional time with Him because I feel that He has already listened to my prayers as I pondered them all day long. I can imagine if I were dating or married to someone who became so comfortable with me that after an amount of time they stopped putting aside intentional time for me or stopped saying "I love you," because it was supposed to be "understood" that I already knew the way that they felt for me. Puh-leazy. That junk would never fly with me and so why should I treat my Lord any differently from how I would like to be treated myself. My utmost resolution is therefore to spend daily intentional time with the Lord in outloud communication or in visible worship and praise. For all that He has done, even for me, it is the least that I could do.

Another blog, projectfelt, featured my raincloud brooch and I just found it today! Awesome! Thanks projectfelt!







http://projectfelt.blogspot.com/

today I listed about 8 new felted items... it would appear (were it not for my featured stuff) that my whole shop is now almost entirely felted things (which is a huge pun considering my shop is called SoSheSEWS, not SoSheFELTS). But anywho, I'd probably feel a lot better about it if atleast one of these awesome things would sell..then I'd know i was on the right track. I opened up a flickr.com account today.

http://www.flickr.com/people/11260891@N04/

It's pretty neat. I've hooked up with a lot of groups so far and can definitely see the benefit of it.

Can I just say... that I love this guy>

What is it with me a guys with big noses? I just can't get enough...seriously...Owen Wilson, Christian Bale, Jude Law...heck, I even had a thing for Kevin Spacey for a while... sheesh. Do any other girls out there feel my pain?

Well, I have been off the carousel for a little while... I'm not sure why really... it's not like I'm busy or anything. But a few weeks ago a strange wave of inspiration hit me and I actually began creating things again! I started felting, which is something I've been meaning to start since I basically started this blog. I've made several new things....

Etsy Buy Handmade SoSheSews

The felting is fun and because it's got me in the swing of things again, I am sewing more now as a result. Yesterday I made two new items, a skirt and a sweater. I will list them tomorrow when the sun comes out again.

I have been struggling with this photography thing. Mostly because I like being able to do this from the comfort (and warmth) of my apartment, but the light in here is terrible and the camera I am working with does not take great shots unless there is a flood of good natural light. Photography is super important on Etsy. I am beginning to finally realize that a great photo of all your items will either make you or break you in this thing. It seems that your items don't even have to be all that wonderful if you just take awesome photographs of them.

I finally was able to get a treasury about a week ago, and as soon as that one expired, I grabbed up another one. This is the first time in like a year that I've been able to be online at the right moment to get one. Getting my first one was kind of a nervous experience for me. Seriously, I was like shaking and counting the seconds down until the roster became available! I included one of my felted items on the second treasury, but didn't really see the value in it... I am seeing that unless your item makes it into an article treasure in the storque, or unless it makes it onto the front page, the likelihood of getting more than a handful of clicks is slim. The real key to making it without being featured in a major way is to consistently list items every day when possible. I have been taking advantage of the Promotions Forum, but also that group is mostly people just like me- sellers who are trying to advertise. I don't want to reach the sellers as much as I want to reach the buyers!

Well, today I listed this:



and I also made and listed this:



Some friends on myspace are being very encouraging about my efforts and today I even got to tell a friend about etsy.com! He's going to start making journals out of recycled coffee sleeves... and I think that is just great! Everybody needs to get crafty!

Earlier I ordered some felting supplies and I'm planning on trying to make some needle felted projects as Christmas gifts for some folks/friends. My bff (andrea) got me an awesome book for my birthday about felting and I am super excited about this.

This is going to be my official SoSheSews blog- to keep all those fans at bay (who are just wondering all the time what on earth I do when I'm sewing and how on earth I could be the way that I am). (sarcasm implied).

Yesterday I just celebrated my 27th birthday. Yes, I am getting old.. and I'm still looking for a heart of gold. It was fairly pleasant, if you don't count the nausea I experienced around 9pm and the fever I had to fall asleep to. Oh birthdays, how I love you.

I have been spending more and more time cooped up in the cocoon (my apartment) now... which means more and more sewing and fantastic things for my shop! This past weekend I finished a ladybug bag I'd been working on and also some Christmas cards (complete with stitching detail). This is really my first attempt at creating cards for people... I hope everyone really likes them.

My shop's been a little idle for a few days.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade SoSheSews.etsy.com

Hopefully this week I will add more.