My advice for Etsy friends :)

My shop started off with my Wish dog. ( Made from 2 garden gloves). It grew into having lots of different dogs and cats and even bunnies dressed from ballerinas to pirates.

Things were going pretty well for a while then the sales really slowed down. I did have offline sales from family and friends, but the economy really had an effect. I then had to switch gears. I had to come up with lower priced items that my customers could buy if they couldn't afford my more expensive items (which was usually $17.00-$22.00).

So I always wanted to try making little felt animals. I tried and came up with a pretty popular turtle playset. I was featured one day on the community type page and I was sewing quite a few turtles. They were priced at $7.00 and came with a little dish like home and drawstring bag. A bargain for only $7.00. Then I tried a guinea pig. No bigger than a kidney bean. Now those are tough on the eyes but that's what is keeping me going.

I did come up with some other tiny creations but I took most of them off of my shop because they were just too tedious to make. The two other big things are the finger-ling babies, which is a little baby in a little blankie drawstring bag and it has a little bottle attached to drawstring. And Ninjas in a bag, which is from one to three little ninjas in a drawstring bag. (both of these items are made from the upcycled cast off fingers of my glove dogs).

I hope someday I can get back into the glove animal business because that's really what I love putting together. I'm in the process of sketching out about 10 new dogs to post this fall.

So for now my shop's been tweeked because of the hard times. Not a day goes by without my trying to come up with the next big thing. So weather it be turtles or guinea pigs, finger-lings or ninjas, the best part of selling anything for me is the reaction of my customers when they actually hold one of them in their hand. I sold one of my tiny turtles to one of my customers who bought it for her son. His little sister then took the turtle, made a tiny crib for it and sleeps with it every night. NOW THAT IS PRICELESS. :)

So go crazy in the forums, get your items seen, and add some low priced items to your shop. Persistence will pay off in the end:) Things can only get better.......

Sign of the times :)

Here in the days of uncertainty. Trying to make due with what we have, and making due without. Everyone is turning to the simpler things. Stories I've herd from my parents of days long ago, when things were tough, are again coming alive in our everyday lives. Hours ago I spent the evening out in the backyard, with my family gathered around a bonfire. We went from music on my nieces i pod to the radio, to my daughter playing the latest songs she's learned on her guitar. We had too many smores and just plain marshmallows. We even threw some foil wrapped potatoes in the fire which were absolutely delicious an hour later. The hours flew by. Just talking and mostly laughing. An awesome time was had by all. It's amazing how many people I see with their own bonfires. Just spending time together in your own backyard. That's all that seems to matter.

This is a custom order I just finished for my customer in France.

Fur-bitz?

Spent the day in wishwithme product development and came up with Fur-bitz. What do you think? Do you think they will sell? What do you think of the name?

What I love about making my little creations :)

What I love about the things that I make is the reactions I get when people receive them. Especially the reactions of the little ones. One of my customers told me that her little daughter took the tiny turtle I made for her brother. She made a little crib for it and she puts it to sleep by her bed every night. How cute is that! That makes up for the added eyestrain of making something that little. Her mom asked me to make 2 more to add to her collection. One purple and one orange :D Another customer told me her daughter carries the little finger-ling baby with here wherever she goes. She sent me this Awesome picture of her chubby little hand feeding the baby with the attached bottle. I love, love, love this pic. :) This makes me happy :D

our old spot on the beach

I call this: Maybe next year :)

Oil painting on a shell of my favorite place

Yes I'm still missing my favorite place. Naples FL. :( So as long as I'm on the subject of the vacation I'm missing out on this year, Here's a picture I oil painted on a shell I collected from my very favorite beach. The picture is the area I painted my picture from. (minus the people in the back round :D