Words Of Wisdom

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ~Dr. Seuss

Amigurmi :)

I recently bought from this wonderful shop that has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I am SO impressed and happy with my purchase!
I ordered this beautiful yarn bowl.



It is the perfect size and weight. Even more beautiful than the picture shows! Although I must say her pics are FAB!
Def worth checking this shop out!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DarriellesClayArt

I ordered it two days ago and it arrived today. The bowl was boxed for perfect safe shipping.
The yarn fits in her perfectly. It stops it from rolling all over the place and better yet.. keeps it from getting tangled!! As a added bonus I can toss my small items that I am always walking around with... ie: tiny scissors, stitch counter (my best friend), invisible thread, and what ever body parts I need to attach.
The piece I bought is here:
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=25469527
She also sells beautiful mugs, jewelry holder, etc.

A note on crocheting and amigurumi:

I recently feel in LOVE with so many of the cute amigurmi items on Etsy. I could not believe the prices though. $20 for a little 3 inch item? Why?
I used to crochet. This was limited. I made a really pretty granny square afghan when i was pretty young. It is purple, white, black, and pink with black linking them together. I'm looking at it now.. all these years later and i STILL love it!
I also went on a beanie hat frenzy about 6 years ago or so. Other than that my crocheting has been nonexistent. I did recall that once i started it was very easy.

So, I have been asking my mother to make me a little octopus or to show me how. I was asking and asking and asking for a couple months. Than one day she came home with a book... I must say i do NOT do instructions. My mother is always able to teach herself creative things (like knitting) by reading the book. I never seem to have any luck. I get easily confused, overwhelmed, and stuck. I than feel angry,and like a failure. However, I looked in the book and OMG there are these sea turtles that i instantly HAD to make. It is a large mama turtle, with two small baby turtles, and some eggs. The turtles fit in the eggs which than fit in the mama turtle! SO CUTE!!! I went and bought the yarn for the turtles right away...

Yet, we talked it over and i am so proud of myself bc i practiced the stitches and learned them first. (I tend to just jump right into things.) Than I decided to make a mushroom. I did this mushroom, literally, 20 times or so. It took days and days... Yet, I read the book by myself and taught myself! It's not real easy to read:
*1sc, 2sc in the next sc*
sk,sc, dec...
yoddi yoddi...
but it is now!

Beginning of a mushroom:


I haven't done the turtles yet, but i have so far made a snail, a couple pears, a apple, a mushroom, a koala bear, a bunny, and a dog hunter!
Some of these have turned out better than others, but with each piece i get faster and learn more. I've been learning about yarn and what types of yarn I like to use.

Finished mushroom:


Needless to say I now understand WHY a 3 inch item can cost $20!
I personally love the larger items. Looking forward to making some humanoid creatures, animals, monsters, and food.
The great thing is that although I've still only done a handful of pieces, I'm already able to adjust my items and am starting to design my own pieces.

This is Calvin the koala :)
I do need to re shoot him (hopefully tomorrow...) he has a tiny piece of black yarn on his cheek that was fixed...



If you would like to see some of my amigurumi please check out my etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/vee41dmb

A Quickie

I did it. I erased my writing. It was not keeping with the title of this entry.
So.. in order to keep with the title and also get some sort of sleep... it's 3:30am.
I will leave you with this.
This is a dodo...




not to be confused with a dildo....



i know i'm not the only one that links those two in my head...
on that happy note, good nite.

P.s please don't be offend, but if ya are this probably isn't the blog you want to read... just a heads up ;)

Big Crumbs, FREE promoting, and me!

I spent part of the early morning trying to tackle some of my 400 emails. While doing so i found a older etsy email. In it i read a article about www.bigcrumbs.com
The author said that his wife had a etsy shop and that helped him create this site. It is FREE to join. You can add your amazon, etsy, or ebay shop for FREE. Thus, increasing the traffic to your site.

This sounds a bit too good to be true right? Kind of, but not really. I went ahead and joined. You can indeed add your shop for FREE and it is VERY easy to do. The point of it is that you can than offer deals on items in your shop. It links right to your etsy item. These can be deals offered through big crumbs only, or sales you are having in your shop. There are NUMEROUS boxes to check for things such as : clearance, money off, free shipping, new customer, etc. You can set a date for how long the item will run as a sale too! Again, this is all FREE.

When you join they ask you for a referal. If you do not put one in they assign you to a person. If you are going to join please put me in as your referal. Vee41Dmb. also please go ahead and friend me so i can see what you are offering!



You do not have to buy anything from the site. However, you can shop the other etsy deals, ebay, etc. Along with brand name stores.. When you shop with them they pay you. I am not sure ezactly how that works yet, but it looked very simple. Again, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SHOP OR BUY ANYTHING TO JOIN AND PROMOTE YOUR SHOP!

This seems like a great tool! FREE advertising and it could be for things you ALREADY have on sale in your shop! I went ahead and listed 3 deals. My deals are going to run for a total of ten days. I made the exclusive to the site, because i want to see if i get any new business from it!

I have listed these three deals:
free shipping on this beautiful Luck Be A Lady Bracelet!
only 90$ for ALL THREE pieces in my owl always love you collection! free shipping
and ten dollars off of my Winter wonderland charm bracelet! free shipping



Check out the site and share your thoughts with me!
Please remember to list me as a referal. Also, if you already belong let me know!

Remembrance

I am pretty upset at the moment, much more than I'd like to admit. This is my first negative experience on etsy. I need to just write it and get it out. I'd also like to hear anyone else's thoughts on the manner.

Recently my younger cousin died. I made this beautiful necklace and wore it to his wake. I never wear any of the jewelry I am selling. I did however, consider keeping this piece. I probably would have done so, if I could bear to put it back on after the wake. I named it Remembrance and listed it on etsy.

Shortly after I became involved with hearts for Haiti. I was looking to start my own foundraiser event in the forums to help join stores for the cause. I even started my own thread, and than someone came in and directed me to Hearts for Haiti. heartsforhaiti.etsy.com where 100% of the donations minus paypal and etsy fees where going to doctors without borders. We have -together- raised over $25,000! This is after fees. I am on the admin team for facebook www.facebook.com/heartsforhait.
I also helped to list items and support the shop. If you haven't checked the shop out i HIGHLY encourage you to do so. It is a collection of over 1,000 items currently for sale that have been donated by many etsy shops. The person donating the item also ships it for free. There are items for every age, taste, sex, and price range. It is also GLOBAL!

I feel better now just writing about hearts for haiti and all the wonderful people who have pulled together! There own shops have gone neglected, their personal time nonexistant, all to help others. THANK YOU!

Even if you may not shop etsy (and my next question is WHY?? you ODVIOUSLY haven't seen the site...) perhaps you could join the facebook page and pass the word along!

So, back to the problem. Well, I guess it's not that important anymore. It is intresting to see how writing helps put things in perspective. However, now that i've started to tell you the tale.. I reckon I should finish it.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39810987


My dear readers, I donated my Remembrance necklace to hearts for haiti and emailed the lady who had marked it as a favorite to tell her. I never thought she'd buy it. I was more hopeful that she would check out the shop and pass the word along.
To my amazement and delight she bought it :) Thank you Mindielee. Her shop can be found here if you would like to show some love: mindielee.etsy.com
Such a sweet thing to do :) Thank you again!


I left the necklace in my shop and changed the listing. I wrote that it was not for sale, and why it was still in my shop. I felt it was a good example of my work and also would help draw people to hearts for haiti. I had over 700 views, and a bunch of hearts.

Today, while i was changing a few things I noticed that I only had 25 items for sale- not 26. First thing i felt was confusion. I'm not yet used to making sales, and it's not the first thing that comes to mind. I hate to admit that, but I'm being honest here. Than I was like "holy shit!! DID I MAKE A SALE!??!" So i rushed over to the good overfilled aol box and there it was...

Someone had BOUGHT my Remembrance necklace! I was a bit confused and wrote them.. THan i read the address and wrote them again. Apparently, they believe it is a "spam" listing...

here is the email and seller, because I won't post it in the forum.


Dear vee41dmb,
Congratulations on your sale at Etsy! You sold 1 item to xartic.

Message from xartic:
The buyer did not leave a message.

Here are the details about this transaction:
Item: Remembrance- SOLD SEE BELOW - HEARTS FOR HAITI (quantity: 1)
Transaction ID: 24890052
Item price: $100000.00
Shipping cost: $4.00


Total Sale: $100004.00 (USD)
Payment Type: PayPal
Shipping Address:
Upsetby Spamlistings
123 Getoutahere Pl
Leetonia OH 44431
Country: United States

If you would like to contact the buyer, send an email to etsyxartic@webcosmos.com
or start a Conversation (Etsy's internal messaging feature) with xartic.

If you have received this email, but you were not involved in this transaction,
please contact us at support@etsy.com.

Wishing you continued success,

The Etsy Team


Odviously, they have not paid for the item. I did go ahead and relist.
I just found the whole thing to be hurtful and mean.
Any thoughts are welcome here.

Also, this is a photo of my younger cousin.
You will be missed and loved.


http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/group.php?gid=158336054954

I have recently recieved my first larger painting by my fav etsy artist. Brain collins. It reminds me of my cousin's parents when they were younger. I had just made my last payment when we heard news of his death. It reminds me of the three of them every time I look at it. Please check out Brians work at: briancollins.etsy.com