Good and Happy Things!

I've been following Pip's Year Of Good Things and I have been joining in but not documenting it. Matt and I did a good thing this morning by going to see Anya in her recorder assembly and cheering her on - she was fab! I also did a good thing yesterday and went shopping with my mum - she had to return a dress and wondered if I would like to go too. So it was a good thing for her and me! You can totally do all the good things for yourself if you wish but I think it's good to strike a balance - strangers, friends, family, loved ones and yourself. So while I was shopping I bought a couple of things and decided to share - sharing the goodness as it were!

A cute Cath Kidston beaker for 50p - it's going in Taz as an extra cup, mug etc when we can't be bothered to wash up!

An apron - I can't decide whether to keep it as an apron and sell it in my vintage shop or to use the fabric for chickens.

And the cutest green velvet doggie draught excluder ever! He is called Dereck and he is fabulous! Love his little tongue!  I found him in the second shop we went in so I had to carry him around for the rest of the day. My arm hurts today but he was worth it :)

So good things all round!

Some changes :)

I went to a networking meeting the other day as an 'advisor' to people on setting up online shops through a local craft group I belong to. I gave some advice which I hope was well received! Rachel Johns was also there as an advisor and gave us some very good advice about Etsy, Facebook and Twitter.

Lion gift tags - just because!

Rachel has recently turned her Etsy shop back to US$ as she had noticed a dramatic drop in her sales when she had changed it to GB£. I changed my shop to GB£ when the announcement came out from Etsy that you could choose your own currency. I've also noticed a downshift in the number of sales I am getting through Etsy but put it down to the recession etc. Anyway I have changed my Etsy shop back to US$ to see how it goes. If it doesn't work out then I can always change it back again. It will be a bit more work for me as I will have to check the exchange rate fairly regularly but not too much and if the benefits are good then I won't mind at all! Rachel also pointed out that as Etsy is an American site, most buyers go to it geared up for spending in dollars. People in America expect it and if anyone from elsewhere in the world is going to Etsy then they will be willing to buy in dollars anyway.

Peter and Jane stickers

Matt also pointed out that most people in the UK have a rough idea of what a US$ is worth against the £ and I'm pretty sure that his logic applies to most other countries in the world. However, he pointed out that many people in America won't know what a dollar is worth against a pound, a euro or an Australian dollar. Another valid point!

Rachel also talked a bit about automatic updates to Facebook and Twitter. I am an avid Twitter user but I used not to use Facebook at all - maybe once a month. I do have a business page alongside my personal page but it wasn't being updated. So I set up automatic feed from my two shops so that when I listed something new, a post would automatically go to Facebook. It worked for a while and did the job of making sure that my Facebook page ticked over. And it did just that, ticked over - nothing more. Rachel said that she got a lot more response on Twitter when she added a link to her blog herself rather than as an automatic update and I must admit that I have found the same on Facebook. So the automatic updates have gone from my Facebook pages - any updates from now on will be typed with my own fair fingers :)

If you have an Etsy shop I would love to know if you sell in your own currency or in US$ and what your experiences have been. Also any Facebook or Twitter stories are welcome too :)

Oooooh shiny toy things without the shiny toys!

I like Instagram photos - they look fab and very retro which is my kind of thing but I don't have an iphone, fondle slab or even anything that takes photos without actually being a camera (I'm a philistine like that!) However, after an early morning Facebook chat with Vic from Punky and Me I researched How to get an Instagram effect without an iphone and I got quite a few results :) The one I like the look of most is Pixlr-O-Matic. This is what I did in two minutes this morning (and bear in mind it's early so I'm slightly sleepy and therefore it must be easy!)

The original school photo of the girls.

And the manipulated.

Quite cool eh? And it was very simple to do and there are lots of options to choose from. I think I'm going to be a fan of this!

Matt has an Android phone and got some rather cool effects from Lightbox. And exciting news for us philistines - there is an online version so you don't need fancy phones!

Expect to see lots of super shiny edited photographs from me from now on :)

Linen, doilies and a duck........

........are some of the things I bought at an auction yesterday :)

Doilies and linens :) Two whole boxes!

And a duck egg crock. We *may* not be keeping it but I think it's fab :) Look at the little duckling peeking out!  I bought some more things and they will be slowly added to my vintage and supplies shop :)

*Apologies for the dodgy photo's - it was dark out and my kitchen isn't exactly brightly lit!

5 year Etsyversary!

Today it's the 5 year anniversary of the opening of my Etsy shop. How exciting :)

The very first thing I sold was a set of 17 Care Bear mini envelopes.

Cute aren't they?

So to celebrate I am offering free shipping on anything in the shop for a whole week :) Oh and lots of things will be moving into my sale section too. All you need is the coupon code which is 5yearetsyversary. Go buy!

My Desk

At the moment my desk is covered with these gift tags.

They have been sitting in piles on one side of the desk waiting to be glued onto cardboard backs for at least 6 months. They are lying like that as they are drying - yep, I finally got round to glueing them together! So tomorrow I will be tidying the edges up, punching holes, photographing them, putting string on and packaging them up. Well hopefully! But hey, it's one thing off my to-do list :)

So our internet went down....

Stupid internet! It's back though now which is good. Now I can bombard you with pictures of what I was doing last Wednesday :) Exciting huh???? :)

Business card sewing

Making and photographing stock

Admiring my slightly neater scrap pile :)

Finding some fabrics I had earmarked for quilts.

Photographing the (very) fleeting blue sky.

And some fun sewing with Tara after school.

Tidying can be good

Especially when you sort out your pile of Liberty fabric and make it all tidy and sorted :)

I can be organised.

But not that organised! This is my scraps pile and it's made up of fabric to be used as business cards and fabric to be turned into chickens. My job today is to separate the piles and then turn the bits that are destined to be chicken into chickens. Wish me luck!

Ken Bruce egg cups :)

Christmas presents for me and Matt but I think the girls have claimed them as their own :) Gotta love a bit of Ken Bruce in the morning!

Cool video

The video for this song by Kina Grannis took two years to make and it used 288,000 jelly beans!! And the song is great too :) A happy song for the start of 2012.