Giveaway at What A Peach!

Great news blog readers! I've teamed up with the oh so wonderful Kit from What A Peach! to bring all of you one fantastic (well...I think it's fantastic...) giveaway for some lovely handmade goodies crafted by yours truly!  Take a peek at what's up for grabs:

One lucky winner will receive a hand-painted and adjustable acorn necklace, a pair of icing rose resin earrings, and some ever enthusiastic love robot pinback buttons! Hooray! So stop on by Kit's blog today (link) and enter away! Good luck!

Oh! If you're a new friend (or old - I love those too) stopping by to fulfill Kit's giveaway requirements - you can peruse all of my crafty goods in my products tab here (link)! Yay! 

Hooray for Winnings!

Being an avid internet lover - I read a ton of other blogs out there on the internet. My blog list is actually pushing the 500 mark so I guess I should say that I "skim" a ton of blogs and actually "read" more like 100 of them.  Well a few weeks ago I popped by Gypsy in Japser (link) and saw that she was hosting a giveaway for some of Vernellies (link) sweet lip balms from her new shop The Hive Botanicals (link)! How lovely! Two of my favourite blogs linking together for free awesomeness...that I ended up winning! HOORAY! Nicole was nice enough to throw in a super cute felt flower brooch she made too! Check out my sweet parcel goodies:

Yay! Thanks Nicole for the wonderfully generous giveaway (and bonus flower pin) and Trisha for making such lovely natural vegan lip balms! So far I'm really loving the vanilla one the most and it has worked wonders on my lips! Perfect timing for the dry skin causing winter months ahead! Hooray! Happy Thursday! 

star cozy!

My week of handmade mail continues - this time with a prize I won in a giveaway! You may recognize this geeky handiwork because it is none other than my fabulous sponsor (and previous friday find) Velma!  You may remember how I mentioned how I've been reading Velma's blog for years now and not too long ago she held a giveaway for one of her awesome mario star coffee cozies! I am super happy I won since (yes, it's list time):

1) The cozy is totally rad (and my two fave colours)

2) I love Velma's handmade goods

3) I love getting mail (especially cute geeky mail)

4) I work in a coffee shop, drink loads or hot beverages, and can totally utilize this cozy to the best of its abilities!

and

5) I love super mario brothers and this little star guy is super cute:

Hooray! I should have also mentioned something about how I stink at knitting and extra appreciate the crafts I'm incapable of making but five is such a nice number when writing lists don't you think? I think it's also kind of cute how the stars in mario make the characters go into super speedy mode (just like me after a few cups of coffee!). Well, I'm sure Velma (and all of you) already thought of that...but I thought I'd mention it just in case you haven't had a brain boost today.  This little guy has a new home in my work tote and is ready for hand heat protecting action! Yay! Thanks Velma! I love him!

Teacher's Pet Giveaway

I was totally the teacher's pet growing up. Perhaps it was the realisation that by behaving, like the perfect child my parents raised *cough* I was given (near) free reign.

The moral of my story is that Elle Apparel is having a giveaway for this Teacher's Pet Skirt!

Just look at its stripes, and pleats, and navy, and knee length! The skirt is from Shabby Apple which is a delightful online clothing shop. I browse its items often, but never actually buy anything. (This thanks to Canadian customs and high shipping costs.)

Be sure to read the whole post for full details (and extra ways to win)!

So, what are you waiting for?

You know Kate probably didn't even finish reading this post before she entered!

rikrak's sweet giveaway!

Wonderful news friends! My dear pal K over at the rikrak studio is holding a giveaway over on her blog giving you the sweet opportunity to win $20 worth of stuff from my (or many other amazing crafters') etsy shop(s)! What do you have to do you ask? Just check out her post and leave a comment (or 20) there:




How lovely! So enter away! Happy Saturday!

A very yarn-y hello to you!

Why hello Monday! A new week has begun (well...unless you count Sunday as the first day of the week...but that seems odd to me...) and I finally have something new to share with you! After a wonderful early bday celebration of a yoga workshop, yummy lunch, and amazing pressies with Lindsay yesterday, I had a productive evening of drawing, photoshopping, and Beatles singing! As I mentioned a few days back, I've been working on new yarn themed illustrated goods for my crafty friend Caroline's new wool shop she's opening up this September and I am just loving how they are turning out. Take a peek at my first finished design:


Hello little red yarn ball! Nice to see you! I've got three new button sets in the works and two new "specifically for pocket mirrors" designs that I've painstakingly hand drawn, scanned, and am in the process of colouring and touching up on the computer. If I find some extra time one of these days, I'd love to share with you my creative process for making buttons from start to finish, but with a busy month of appointments, packing, turning 27 (ack), and moving (double ack) that may need to wait until the fall. In the meantime I'd love to know what you think about my yarn ball salutation drawing! The background colour may change once the other button designs are completed, but I am enjoying the pink and red yarn combo. What do you think?

Oh and let's not forget to announce this week's winner of my "thanks for being awesome and reading and commenting on my blog" mini giveaway! Congrats to long time reader Amanda of Ulixis Crafts who will receive one of my pins in the mail as soon as she sends me her address! Woo hoo! Only a few more weeks of celebratory pins left to give out so keep being amazing and reading and maybe you will be rewarded too! Hooray!

A wonderful day for mail!

Despite the unpleasantness the almost month long postal strike Canadians have suffered from, it does mean a boatload of mail now that the post is back and running! In fact - today may have been the best mail day ever! Check out the pile of parcels I got the joy of waking up to:


All those online purchases of crafty supplies and mustard tights (yes I broke down and bought some) I've been waiting for are trickling in making each morning just like xmas when I open the front door! Even more exciting are the super awesome prizes that are arriving from Freckled Nest's May giveaway! I got four of them in yesterday's parcel pile and after taking them out of their envelopes I discovered that they were even beautifully packaged:


I do love seeing how other people wrap their handmade goods! Take a peek at the fun items I received:


*Swoon!* Aren't they amazing?! What a generous bunch of ladies to participate in the giveaway and what a ridiculously lucky girl I am to get them! Above you can see the gray ruffle necklace from Pretties by Meg, an adorable little ceramic whale (who is now living with my tea pots in my glass kitchen cupboards) from My Happy California, Two fun suede necklaces from Tumbleweed's Oddities, and a vintage enamel flower brooch from Adalou! I also got a charming little vintage tea pot from Ashley Krogmen Designs that is fitting in perfectly with my tea pot collection (and apparently is a little camera shy). Ah! I am just bubbling over with joy from all the wonderful packages and can't wait to work each and every item into my daily life!

As for the craft supplies I also received - no peeking at those yet! I've been crafting up a storm preparing for consignment sales (woo hoo! Kelowna shop Funktional and the Kamloops Art Gallery are stocked up yet again!) and now that those are out of the way it is time to prepare for another Artisan's Square Market this Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market! That's right - I'll be peddling my wares yet again this week and I sincerely hope I get to see some of you there! Hopefully the mail will keep pouring in this week since I have half the supplies to make a few projects and still need the other parts - a slight downfall of ordering parts from different suppliers. Alas, I did some ring bases in though so I'll be sure to have loads of those to show off this weekend! Yay!

So what do you think? Are you as excited about mail as I am? Do you love buying online and playing the "wait for post" game? Is there anything more wonderful than a doorstep of goodies? (Well...if there is I certainly can't think of it....)

All the cute!

After examining my Pinterest "cute" board I came to a stunning realization (well not shocking at all really...) I really enjoy kitties inside things. Behold:


That last one pretty much makes me melt into a puddle of kitty cuteness. In other news, I really want to get a westie. Not only would Fraser potentially not be allergic - but I could name him Wee Jock. He even looks good with the decor:


Okay - so a dog is far (far) in the future when I have more time/money/space but a girl can dream.

Oh! And to keep up with the trend of my post from last Monday, I picked another random blog commenter from last week to receive a wonderful "thanks for reading my blog" button as part of my "I appreciate my readers" giveaway! Congrats to Lisa from Tea and Craft who will be the lucky recipient of a Kate-made button. Want to join in on the free stuff action (that will be happening all summer long)? Great! Just keep being awesome, reading my ramblings, and commenting on my posts! I'd love to hear from you!

Surprise Yeti!

As you may recall, I made up a bunch of little free gifts to give to my blog readers at my last craft show in Kelowna. I only had the pleasure of meeting one follower that weekend and since then ran into one more blog friend at the Artisan's Market a few weekends ago. It is so nice to be able to give my thanks back to my beloved followers and since I've only given away two of my freebie prizes, I have quite a few left over:


Since the thank you cards and wee gifts have been burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to share my appreciation to more of my readers (and not just the local ones) by giving them away at random based on blog post comments! The first freebie goes to Alex of Creating Trouble for her charming yeti comment on my blog fail this past Saturday. She'll be getting her very own (not blog failing) thumbs up yeti pin in the mail:


Hooray! I really hope she likes her new pin and even though I'm far from successful enough to be able to afford any huge giveaways at the moment, I figure it is a nice little way to show my appreciation in the meantime! So how do you join in on the chance to get your own scientific culture "thanks for being awesome and reading my blog" prizes? Just keep on being great and reading! I'll be giving out the other buttons based on blog comments for the rest of the summer so stay tuned! And most of all, a big thank you to each and every one of you who takes time out of your busy lives to listen to my crafty rambles! You rock!

Ad-tastic!

All the way back in February of 2010, my etsy pal Art Tales asked me to make up a little square ad for my shop so she could put it on her blog. I jumped on the opportunity and came up with this:


Not terrible for a first attempt if you ask me (since all of my photo editing up to this point involved MS Paint). It was simple, sort of science-y (since that is the underlying theme of my crafting after all), and cute! When I saw Leigh-Ann (of Freckled Nest) offer free advertising for the month of June to her readers I figured I should join in! After all, I am one of her readers (along with hundreds of other blogs I'm faithful to) and why pass up on the fun? Time for me to make a new square ad! Since I have long since sold out of the little love robot charms in my shop I figured it was time to freshen up my advertisement while still keeping the fundamental elements of my etsy shop and blog in check (being cuteness and science of course). This is what I came up with:


I tried to keep it pretty simple and eye catching and used my glassware illustration as a good representation of what I'm all about! Throw in some futura font words in there and bam! An ad was born! It is substantially easier this time after a year of playing with photoshop (hooray) and I am so pleased with how it turned out! Check out a screen shot of the ad on her blog:


Oooo! Do you see me there? Snuggled right between a picture of Leigh-Ann and Michelle's ad from Scissor Quirk? Eee! How exciting! What do you think? Does anyone out there pay for advertising? Do you think it is worth while?

Oh! And since we're on the topic of Freckled Nest and exciting things...I won her big May giveaway this past weekend! That's right - all of my hopefully entering to giveaways has finally paid off and I am absolutely thrilled! It is 9 different items from 9 amazing ladies!!! How lucky am I!? I'll probably be sharing more details about the prizes as they arrive (I am so stoked to be waiting for 9 parcels! You know I love my mail!) so stay tuned for more! Hooray!

Fabulous Finds - Day Two!

Yay! It's day two of my fabulous finds craft show and even though I'm away from the computer - doesn't mean I can't share some more crafty goodness with all of you! Today I thought I'd show you what I ended up whipping up for packaging. I am a strong believer that good presentation of a product can make or break a sale so I really tried to make some simple aesthetically pleasing cards to showcase my goods! What did I use to execute such a challenging task you wonder? Why some recycled brown cardstock (a staple for all my packaging needs) and some paper punches of course!:


I showed that doily punch to you a few days ago and boy was I excited to use it! Check out how wonderful it makes my vintage cabochon flower stud earrings look:


Wonderful! I think it adds a little bit of detail and interest to the earrings (which aren't really that overly exciting). The brown paper is a great neutral background to all the springy flower colours but is still a bit of contrast against my white table cloth! Perfect! I experimented with a few different card designs for the earrings and ended up with the asymmetrically folded design. That way they stand up nicely on their own and I could throw a little description and url on the back:


At this point (I'm writing this on thursday) I'm not totally sure how I will set these up on my table but I have a few hours after we arrive to figure it out. In my experience, trying to plan things out to every last detail isn't the best option for me since 1) it generally causes me to panic and 2) I usually end up changing my mind when I get to setting things up in person. I am loving how the flower stud cards are looking though and I do have an awful lot of them:


I also used the doily punch to make a few cards to put some cabochon rings on. Rings are a particularly difficult item to display and put price tags on so I just made a little tube of paper with the design punched out of the top. I only have a handful of rings for sale since I didn't really intend on selling them but had a few supplies left over after making some rings for myself a few years ago. I figure since I'm not wearing them I might as well bring them to the show! Take a gander:


Onto the felt flower hair accessory packaging! For these I decided to go with the super simple rounded corner punch. The doily design seemed like too much detail that sort of stole the attention away from the felt flowers I wanted to pop. I really wanted to put the hair pieces on cards to make them look a little more substantial and (conveniently) add my shop url for potential consignment deals with any leftovers after the show. Check out the final packaging:


Hooray! I'm so pleased with them! I really enjoy trying to figure out neat ways to package items! It's totally yet another reason why I love making and selling crafts!

And if you're coming to the craft show today don't forget to get your freebie! I made little "thanks for reading my blog" presents for the first ten customers to ask for them. Take a peek:


I have a feeling that ten was a little optimistic for the giveaway (since I can only actually think of two people who read my blog and are attending the show) but I am ever hopeful! I appreciate all my readers and if I run out of the free items I've brought back up supplies to meet the demand! Hope to see you there! And if you can't attend (or even if you are) I'd love to know what you think of my packaging! Yay!

Speaking of freebies and post...

I'm officially old. I am still beyond exhausted from my weekend (well mostly just saturday) events and haven't had a chance to sit down and blog about it! Not to worry, I'm still keeping with the post a day resolution as you get the joys of peeking at some lovely pre-scheduled blog-ness. Hooray! Hopefully tonight after work I'll be able to get a little writing done...or not...sit tight and see!

A while back, Kristin of sweeter than me designs had a super fun facebook giveaway promising a free item to anyone who properly guessed the sex of her upcoming unborn child. Well my keen wit led me to guessing a boy and I was right! Check out the fantastic gold locket I picked out:


I particularly like the chain length on this piece when its on and the bring colours are great for spring and summer! Plus this also lead to a wonderful mail day! Yay! Thanks so much Kristin for the generous giveaway! If only all pregnant people wanted to give me free stuff (hint hint leslie)...

300th Sale Giveaway Winners!

What a wonderful success my giveaway turned out to be with 119 comments, 22 new blog followers, and a boat load of twitter and facebook fans! Hooray! Now onto the winners (thanks to the fantastic randomness of random.org)

Drumroll please...

Congrats to kate stumpter (comment 94) , aj (comment 28), and lindsay (comment 26)! Please give me a shout and tell me your addresses so I can mail away your awesome winnings! Thanks again to everyone for your kind words and entries! And if I manage to stumble into excessive funds in the near future I'll be sure to spread it around (in the form of wide set eye smile buttons)! Yay!

300th Sale Giveaway!

In celebration of my 300th sale I've decided to add some extra excitement to the week and hold a giveaway! After all, I'm stoked on my etsy progress and who doesn't like free stuff? The freebies up for grabs? Some wide set eye smile pinback button sets! Here's the bunch to choose from:


Winnings are as follows:

First Prize = Button set of your choice (from above)
Second Prize = Button set of my choice
Third Prize = Random set (that I have the most of...)

Yay! Here's how it works - leave a comment on this post telling me what you like most about my etsy site, blog, or me and you'll be entered to win! I'll be randomly selecting the giveaway winners at the end of the week (meaning the afternoon of sunday april 11th)! Easy enough right?

Bonus ways to enter:

- follow my blog! (and post another comment - if you're already a wonderful follower post a second comment reminding me for your second entry)

- fan me on facebook! (and comment telling me your facebook name)

- follow me on twitter and tweet about my giveaway! (comment with the link please)

- blog about my giveaway (comment with link again please!)


Hooray! I've even created a darling little reminder badge at the top of my blog to nag you for the next week to sign up (he he). Good luck!

**UPDATE - The giveaway is now closed - thanks to all who entered!**

Freebie Alert!

Looks like I'm breaking my "one post a day" rule like crazy today and going for a fourth post! Oh my! This one is really worth it though - craftyFOLK (the awesome etsy shop I used as a friday find way back in november) is giving away 12 packs of her lovely owl stickers to anyone willing to blog about how wonderful her shop is! (Check out the freebie offer here)! All you have to do is write a post about your favourite item from her shop! Well - I couldn't chose one favourite so here are four:


Man her stuff is darling! In fact, I made a purchase from her shop a few weeks ago and am painstakingly waiting for it to arrive! That is one thing about long weekends I despise - no post! I'm sure I'll be doing a post on how much I love my new necklaces when they get here so keep your pants on, they'll arrive soon...I hope...

Cozy Mail

Remember how I won an apple cozy from a giveaway UnravelMe had on facebook? (Of course you do - link). Well it has arrived! Here it is snuggling up to a gala of mine:


How darling! Thanks again UnravelMe! I love it! And hey, we all win because while I get the joys of toting around unbruised apples you get the pleasure of reading about it? Er...yeah...something like that...

More mail!

Remember how my mom won that giveaway of ink and buttons a while back (which, p.s. I totally signed her up for)? Well it arrived! And she should totally give it to me! Haha! Take a look:



What a super awesome brooch! And in a neat little cotton bag too! And better yet? The entertainment of percy (el gato diablo) trying to sneakily catch the first glimpse.



Stinkums - sorry dude but your lack of opposable thumbs gives me the clear advantage. You can have the box though...

More winnings!

Signing up for etsy related giveaways has certainly paid off. If you recall I was lucky enough to win this mega giveaway at rikrak studio and by pressuring my mom to enter ink and button's giveaway she was lucky enough to win a darling flower brooch! Sweet! Well this time I won an adorable apple cozy from UnravelMe's shop! Proof once again that networking and etsy chat rooms are a fantastic way to spend many hours of my day! Hooray! Take a look at the cozy I chose:


I'm in love with the cute wooden button and little green leaf and I think the red colour is classic. Plus this will actually be really useful for me since I seem to always have a royal gala rolling around in my bag getting bruised before my work breaks! I recommend taking a peek at all of UnravelMe's crocheted cozies available in her shop! And an added bonus for me? Extra excitement added to the "waiting for post" game! Awesome!

Oh! And in other news - I got featured on another etsy blog! This time Parami Panda Crochet included me in her list of etsians she'd love to carry in her theoretical shop! Take a look :)

Button Brainstorm!

Do you like winning? I do! Great! So now's the time to throw on your thinking cap and help me brainstorm some fantastic new pinback button designs! Best of all? If your design idea is chosen you'll receive the adorable new set free of charge! Woohoo!

Let's start off our thinking process by taking a quick trip back down button memory lane and gain some knowledge on what sort of designs I'm most interested in! And since I now possess the wonderful editing abilities of photoshop (thanks neal), I've been able to touch up my old designs (with some help from fraser) and compile them in one massive jpeg for you to ogle! Hooray!


Overload of cuteness! And super geeky cuteness at that!! But even though I love all my designs equally - the public certainly does not, and I pretty much stink at guessing which designs will sell the best (just like I mentioned here). I've tallied up my latest buttons sales and of the 170 sets I've set loose on the world this is how they rank:

1) hot sellers: mustache kitties, microbes, and dinosaurs! Yay!

2) medium sellers: love robots (quickly rising on the charts with valentine's days), and scientists (which might also be rising...if I wasn't sold out of them...)

3) mild sellers: woodland creatures, thumbs up yetis, and sea creatures. *I still love you guys!*

(Oh, I've also got my little pink promo pin in the corner up there - but I don't sell him. He's just a bonus for special buyers.)

So what have I learned from all this? Not much. I still have no clue what designs are best but I certainly have fun creating and selling them anyways! And as an added bonus (for you and me) you have the opportunity to suggest ideas for button sets! Not that the opportunity wasn't there before... now I'm just offering extra encouragement with free pins to design winners! Woo! Plus I'll even give you a list of what I'm sort of looking for to increase your chances!

I like button designs that:

• are geeky! The geekier the better even!
• I'm actually able to draw (I have a degree in science...not fine art...)
• look good in 1" button form (not too overly complicated - and can fit in a circle)
• have an underlying science theme. I am "scientific culture" after all - keep that in mind.
• are ascetically pleasing and awesome
  
• will keep up with the sweet etsy trends for spring/summer/2010
  
• can be anthropomorphic and adorable! (Not actually that difficult - tutorial here)
• are great in a set of three (I'd love to know what each of the pins in the set would be too!)
  
• make you want to buy and wear them!!! (that is the plan after all...)

So I know trying to hit all of those list points is a little over achiever-y (not to discourage or anything) but just keep them in mind when you're submitting button set design ideas. So get brainstorming and commenting!!! Good luck!

Ink and Button Giveaway over at paper n stitch

On my constant quest for coolness on the internet, I stumbled across a lovely giveaway at paper n stitch which opened my eyes to all the wonderfulness that is ink and button! Here is a sampling of some of her items I am drooling over:

This one is my favourite for sure - great colour, good texture, and awesome adornment for cardigans, hats, or jackets. And since I'm so obsessed - here's even more:



Hopefully you all agree on the fantasticness of these felt wonders because clearly I was so impressed I wrote a whole post about them...and it's not even Friday! *sigh* I'm in love...