Let's Flea It Up!

As in flea market that is! I remember when I was a little girl my parents used to drag us to flea markets and yard sales. I would get car sick because I insisted I was too bored and, like the nerd that I am, read my books while driving. Not a good idea. But as I got older I learned NOT to read in the car and actually enjoyed finding new old treasures for dirt cheap prices. I found lots of books especially. I remember my mom buying me the entire Babysitters' Club collection at a flea market. My life changed forever after that. 

We then progressed to selling at flea markets and it was so much fun! We got to make money then spend it all in the same day. My inner shopoholic was born!

So it has been literally years since I have been to a flea market, to buy or to sell. I am excited this week because there is a flea market going on this Saturday and I am determined to get a spot and sell my hair accessories as if they were tiny hotcakes. I'm mostly going to be selling my older barrettes that I made a few years ago. I've been wanting to get rid of them so this is the perfect opportunity to sell cheap and get my name out there. Hello marketing plan! 

I have immersed myself in making new tags for each barrette so that whoever buys one will have my shop's web address go home with them. It's been a tedious process, but the end result is pretty cool:

Taggy goodness

Do you like it? I used to have them attached to a bright cardstock and enclosed in small ziploc bags. Not every attractive. So I had to take them all out and reattach my new tags. Exciting I know! :/

My Bunny Collection

Well I stayed up late last night to take photos of my latest yoyos, The Bunny Collection. I wanted to get started on listing them for sale as soon as possible and I knew if I waited to take the photos until today it would never happen. I love my kids, but hey are a MAJOR distraction! Breaking up toddler dramas and fights takes a lot of finesse and timing I have to say ;)
I am really happy with how the photos came out. I used some cream colored tulle circles and laid them atop an open page of my kids' Bambi book. For some reason this particular book ends halfway through the real story and only includes the happy bits. I found it strange the first time I read it, but it was nice not to have to read about him yelling for his dead mother for the hundredth time.
The illustrations are big and colorful and the words are very descriptive talking of hillocks and meadows and what not... like poetry. My kids are totally obsessed with Bambi so it was nice to use it for this purpose. A sort of personal touch.
Ok now I'm way off topic, right? Sorry. Here are a few samples of what you can find my Etsy shop:

I have a lot more finished and even more that I have to put together and photograph. I will be adding new items a few times a day to my shop. I try to keep it fresh ;)
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

My Treasury Lists

Hello out there! Can anyone see me??

Anyway, I wanted to write a post about what I'm doing at the moment creatively, BUT I got too tired to take any pictures of my 3 hour long creating-awesome-stuff-with-yoyos session. I'm working on my Easter collection right now and I didn't finish since my legs fell asleep from sitting on the floor for too long.

Will post those tomorrow! Cute stuff coming and I'm excited about that. I should really get those up in my shop since Easter is right around the corner. Crap.

So instead I decided to share something that has to do with me, but also promotes some of my fellow Etsians AKA Etsy artists whom I have dubbed Etsians. Is that an actual word going around? If not I will coin in. 

As many of you who are familiar with Etsy know the site has these things called Treasuries. For as long as I've been on Etsy, since 2008, I have never bothered with it. Until now! It's really cool. You create a sort of list with pictures of your favorite items according to a certain theme of your choice. For example I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and there are so many good HP stuff on Etsy so I made a Treasury based on the epic relationship that is Ron and Hermione. I went looking through Etsy for hours (which is a GREAT way to discover new favorite shops and inspiration). I called it The Good Ship. Clever, non? (note: A Weasley related item is at the bottom of this post.) You can see my entire list of Treasuries HERE. I suggest you do the same if you haven't already. If you would like to share yours leave the link in a comment. I love looking through them!

Here are a few awesome items I found while making my treasuries.

I love Black and White images and this one is so romantic!
 Lovely pendant by MadamLili

Beautiful Blue and Red Berries Dishes by hopejohnson

Totally Unique and Quirky Grass Ring by ginazetts

I love the use of the standard yoyo in this brooch by KalliasWonderland

CUTE Cake Topper by emiliefriday

Weasley is definitely MY king!
From the Harry Potter series bring this amazing pendant by MadamePoindextra

Two and a Half Years Later...

Wow! It has been so long I actually forgot I had this blog! Glad to see it's still up here AND that I was able to remember my password haha!
So what have I been doing since August of 2008? Well I had the baby, obviously, and having two kids has taken up a lot of my time and energy as you can imagine. My daughter, Emily, is now 5 and starting Kindergarten in the Fall. She is just as lovely and precocious as ever.
My son, Ethan is now 2 and is the prince of the house. A loud, funny, cranky, and altogether adorable prince at that.

It was a rare nice day last week so Emily and Ethan  took their silliness outside.

I reopened my Etsy shop, EmiBelle Designs about a month ago with a new logo and new yoyo designs. I made them different sizes, use better quality fabrics and now offer a choice of what backing the buyer wants. I have seen so many awesome accessories on Etsy that I would have liked as a brooch or a headband instead of the clip or barrette it was already attached to. So I thought well if I feel that way maybe others do too and would like to be given a choice as to how they want to use the exact design they want. I also make accessories that are already made with backings such as headbands and brooches.

I am so excited about this new approach, but I wanted to get some feedback from potential buyers. What do you think? Should I attach backings to everything and call it a day or keep it as it is and offer the choices?
Go on over to my shop and check out my new items! Tell your friends, neighbors, loved ones...everyone! :D

Buttons and Blisters

August 2, 2008
Hello! I am so happy today because I was featured on a fellow Etsian's blog today! It feels pretty good :)
So I was able to squeeze out a few pictures from my battery power sucking vampire of a camera to take pictures of my latest projects.

I made these tissue cozies using this tutorial. They're so stinkin easy and I love the instant gratification that comes with one.

Now these button barrettes I love, but I had to sacrifice two fingers and an ankle to make them. I am typing very slowwwly.

First of all my hot glue gun (which I somehow got from my mother) is huge and on the side says that the metal tip heats up to 380 degrees! Who in the craft world needs their glue gun THAT hot? When I apply a dot of glue to the back of a button there is actually smoke...honest. Long story short I have blisters and bandaids holding me together right now.

This is the barrette that caused my injuries. Was it worth it? Not sure about that yet...

On a more lighter and less blistery note I added a new "feature" to my blog. I listed all my favorite Etsy shops. This way they're all right there and I can also share what I like with all of you! You're very welcome :) If you like my shop and want to link to it I wouldn't mind at all! I am still interested in link and affiliates exchanges if anyone is interested.
It is now past due that I put my little munchkin to bed. She's sending me cues that she's ready by laying on the couch with her blankie. I'm so lucky she doesn't put up a fight. Great now I have to knock on wood...
Here is my little Emi Belle acting cute and knowing it.