Our Labor of Love...

This is the result of weeks worth of work, and headaches (and I'm not going to lie, many arguments), but the invitations are finally finished!  We dropped them off at the post office this afternoon.  

I was a little reluctant to let them go, they looked so pretty in a big pile with all the vintage stamps so delicately affixed to the corner of each invitation.  I am so happy we decided to go with the vintage stamps.  It ended up being an easy and fun addition and they really stand out against the chocolate brown envelopes.  We chose stamps that were relevant to our life and the theme of the wedding.  

In that last photo you can see the front card in the invitation set, it's a monogram we designed. I'm so happy with the way they turned out.  In retrospect, I don't know if I would ever take on the task of designing the invites again, but we got through it and the end result is perfect!

Photos: Candice

Get to soaping!

As if I needed one more thing to add to my to-do list, I just found out that I was accepted to participate in a local holiday craft fair! I'm so excited but also super stressed about the idea of having to make all those soaps. I need to get started now so I can get it all done before the wedding. I ordered some new molds which should help tremendously in the process. They are no-liner molds and they come with a cutting mold which I'm psyched about because my soaps always end up being slightly different in size from batch to batch because I can't cut them uniformly! Once the molds arrive I should be able to jump in and start making soap, I want to make about 200 bars of soap. It's a 2 day show and any overflow inventory should be able to carry me through the holiday season.

Photo: Flickr

Print Gocco

I really would love a Print Gocco. We almost bought one recently to create our wedding invitations but decided to go with good old fashioned printing instead. I have a ton of ideas going through my head and a lot of the projects I want to start involve screen printing but we only have huge screens and to coat and prepare the screens for a 3 x 5 design just seems crazy! I mean, just look at the beautifulness (word?) you can create with a Gocco...

Photos: A Lovely Morning Blog, Bridbird, Morris & Essex

Shop Talk

I'm ready for a complete shop overhaul. I want to revamp my logo, my colors, my shop photos, everything. I'm basically looking to do a "shop baptism."

I need a cohesive look and right now I don't think I have it. I have some shop photos that were taken in New York on the wood floors in my apartment with really cool partial light coming in through our window and then I have some shot here, outside on the balcony. I've been doing some research on how to build a light box, I think that will make a huge difference in how my photos turn out.

My labels and packaging also need to be improved.   I've been looking around the internet for inspiration, here are some of my favorites. Stay tuned for some big changes!

Photos: Flickr, Naiad, Flickr

For all the locals...

Lotta Jansdotter is holding a surface printing workshop at her studio in Brooklyn on Jan 17th and March 7th. I'm a huge Lotta fan and this class looks like a lot of fun. It would probably be a great accompaniment to her book, Lotta Prints.

Photo: Lotta Jansdotter

I'm almost finished with the quilt. I have it all pieced together and now all I have to do is baste and bind it. I'm proud of myself considering this was my first quilt. It was not very forgiving and there are a couple of minor things that just couldn't be fixed...believe me I tried! Luckily they don't really stand out and I'm really happy with the results. I'll post a picture of the finished product soon!

Putting the color wheel together...

My little helper...

The front is complete!

More holiday crafting

Purl bee has a week's worth of Christmas projects on their blog. These will go great with the soft trees I posted about yesterday. I'll be indoors all weekend working on the quilt, drinking tea, listening to Christmas music, and spending time with Mike before we go our separate ways next weekend for the holidays.
I laid out the colors for the color wheel last night, I love the way it looks. I can't wait to start piecing it all together. Hopefully I will have a finished quilt to show you on Monday (fingers crossed)!

Photos: Purl Bee

Christmas craft project

I love these Christmas tree softies, a fun and easy craft project for the weekend! Pattern available here.

Photos: Stephanie Congdon Barnes

Flying off the shelves...

well kind of. My dog soaps have been doing pretty well since the feature in Bark Magazine. I've had a couple of large orders come through because of it, which I am grateful for. It has given me the motivation I need to get back into making soaps. The Christmas season has been slow but I know I am partly to blame for that. Your business is what you put into it and since I've been back from Alaska I haven't been putting much into it. I'm just hoping I don't lose this momentum after the holidays like I did last year!

I have a lot of ideas floating around my head that I am hoping to implement after the first of the year. I am more motivated than ever to make this little business of mine successful. I am eager to get away from the corporate world someday, it just really isn't right for me and I am feeling it more and more every day. I need a creative outlet that I just don't get from sitting at a desk in front of a computer for 8+ hours a day....

Free Amy Butler Holiday Patterns

Amy Butler has some free holiday patterns for download on her site. Here are some of my favorites!

Snow Mum Pillow



Tree Forest


Gift Box Sash


There are many more on her site!

More linen love...

you know my obsession with linen...isn't this fabric gorgeous!! I can already picture what I want to make with it


Photo: maramiki

The Knitting Bug...

I have the knitting bug, ever since my friend at work made this adorable neck warmer for herself. I have had the itch to start knitting again.

You remember that knitting class I took last winter...um, yeah, I haven't picked up a knitting needle since. I have been looking online for cute patterns...I love this hat...it seems so warm and cozy!


photo: Treats and Treasures

Apple Pickin'

Ok so I am kind of obsessed with linen fabric, I love it...I want to use it in every sewing project, even when it's not always appropriate. So you can imagine my excitement when I found this free pattern for a linen apple picking tote! I think this bag is cute enough for every day use. I love it!




photo: Molly, purl bee

Quilting...

I'm starting to work on Christmas gifts already. I'm hoping if I start now I won't be rushing at the last minute to finish everything like last year. Most of our gifts will be hand made this year, my most ambitious project will be a quilt for my parents. I'm planning on making the color wheel quilt from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.

Last year my mom and I were in Purl Soho and they had this quilt hanging on the wall behind the register. My mom kept saying how beautiful it was and according to the book, it is supposed to be relatively easy to make. Plus it will help get rid of some of the many fabric scraps I have stashed away! I'll keep you posted on the outcome!



photo: purl bee

I need a change...

I think one of the reasons I haven't been motivated or inspired lately is because I have sort of lost my desire to continue with bath products. I started out making soap and then I had all these ideas for bath salts and scrubs and all kinds of other things and now I am not really feeling inspired by it any more. I want to be more creative and I feel like there is only so much you can do with bath products. I enjoy making them for my own use but I can't see myself expanding my line to include anything other than soaps.

I am at a cross roads because I don't know where to go from here. I will continue to make soaps but I really want to make other things too. I just don't know what!

Almost there...

I have almost reached 100 sales on Etsy! This may seem like small potatoes when there are so many Etsy sellers out there who have thousands of sales but for me this is a big milestone!

I started selling on Etsy just under 1 year ago. I remember how excited I was when I got my first sale! I still get excited when I see that e-mail pop into my inbox from Etsy notifying me that someone has purchased something from my little shop. I can't believe how I have done since I started out a year ago, how far I have come since that night in August last year when I listed my first soaps.

Of course, I was naive and thought I would sell something instantly! I checked the site constantly, hoping someone had stumbled upon my soaps and thought they were so beautiful that they just couldn't live without them! Then reality set in and I realized that after you list something, you quickly get lost in the shuffle and your item goes farther and farther down the list! I stumbled upon the forums and quickly realized that I was going to have to put in a little work if I wanted to be noticed! I began promoting and participating in forum chats as often as I could. Finally, my work paid off and a couple of weeks after listing my first soap, I got a sale!

Now I am approaching 100 sales and I look back in reflection on what I have learned...what works and what doesn't work. Since I have started, I have changed my packaging, changed my soap recipes, thrown away many botched batches of soap! I have found what fragrances people love, and what fragrances people hate (berry wine...who would have thought?!), I have learned how to set my shipping prices, how to do a craft show, how to handle the Christmas rush! I am so thankful for this experience, it has been so much fun...stressful at times, but always fun!

I want to thank everyone who reads this blog, I know a lot of you who read this have purchased my soaps and I appreciate the support! I have met so many wonderful people through this experience! I always appreciate the kind words and encouraging comments people leave here! I hope to continue sharing Etsy milestones as my shop grows and I continue adding new and exciting things. Thank you!

Crafting

I made some cloth napkins for the house a few weeks ago...my stash of fabric is starting to take up greatly coveted space under my bed and I have a loooong list of things I want to sew and napkins were the first easy thing I could think of to make. I have been meaning to make them for a while now. I chose two different fabrics and made two of each so Mike and I have two sets and we will know who's is who's! The fabric is from Urban Outfitters, they were having a duvet sale a while back so I picked up a couple to use for craft projects.

After I sewed the napkins I was feeling very domestic so I made some zucchini bread. Then I wanted to get a picture of the whole thing so I dragged our old school desk to the window in our apartment that gets the best light!

In the works...

I hope to be adding some new soaps to the shop soon. We had friends in town a few weeks ago and they completely wiped out my inventory! They bought almost everything I had so I am now in the process of re-stocking. I also signed up to do Atlantic Antic with Beacon Bookmarks in October. It sounds like it will be a good turnout.

After doing the Brooklyn Flea in June I decided to hold off on doing shows until the summer was over. It takes a lot to prepare for a show; I generally only keep enough stock for my Etsy shop and I can only make 1 batch of soap a day so it becomes cumbersome to start preparing stock for a show in addition to keeping up with inventory in my shop. Not to mention the fact that the soap takes 4 weeks to cure!

I wanted to do a Christmas show but last year was stressful enough trying to keep up with orders so I think an October show is the perfect balance. I can begin preparing in September when we come back from our trip and once the show in October is over I can start getting ready for the Christmas rush. I can't even believe I am already thinking about the Christmas rush...where does the time go?!

Little Stitches

Amy Butler has a new book out, Little Stitches. I heard about this book a few months ago and the release date wasn't supposed to be until September but it's available now! I can't wait to get my hands on this new book, especially since my best friend is expecting soon!

Need some inspiration?

Check out these inspiration boards courtesy of flickr.









black_kat1; knack studios; quaint handmade; nikkipeterson

Happy Friday!