Mad Candy created this treasury Vampire Wedding – her first one ever. She did such a gruesome job! Actually [...]]]>

I didn’t get the chance to let you know about some great treasuries I in. There is so much talent in Etsy, and I feel very fortunate that some of my bffs and new friends have included me!

Mad Candy created this treasury Vampire Wedding – her first one ever. She did such a gruesome job! Actually it is delightful, Mad Candy is one of my co-members in the Etsytwitter Team, and she included a set of my Red Felted Coasters.

Thank you Mad Candy! Oooh, I love this pendant!!

Pruitt Handcrafts created this treasury Purple Bloggers (Etsybloggers that is) Pruitt Handcrafts is one of my co-members in the Etsybloggers Street Time. And she included a pair of my Pet Lover Earrings!

Thank you Pruitt Handcrafts! Oh, spooky – these gift tags are perfect!

Salon D’Arte created this Last Summer Fling Salon D’Arte is one of my co-members in the Etsytwitter Team. She has included my new denim tote bag!

Thank you Salon D’Arte! I love what she has done with this notebook!

Cicale T Designs created this treasury Blueberry Smoothie Old School. It’s actually a challenge, and I need to read the instructions so I can create a treasury for the challenge! She included my Blueberry Latte Coffee Cozy.

Thank you Cicale T Designs! I love these chandelier earrings!

Maubys created this treasury In all the World there will never be enough PUMPKIN for me Another co-member of the Etsytwitter team, she has included a set of my orange and white button magnet.

Thank you Mauby! This snack bag is so adorable!

Jus Shar Designs created this treasury I’m Falling For You. Another co-member of the Etsytwitter Team, this treasury is part of our September 7-16 EtsyTwitter Team’s Harvest Festival. She has included a set of my Earth Colors Felted Bowls.

Thank you Jus Shar Designs! What a great hat and scarf set!

An Rocaid created this treasury Sneak Team Talent An Rocaid took part in some recent Sneak Attacks! She has included a pair of my Felted Coasters.

Thank you An Rocaid! How can you go wrong with these earrings for your next party?

Thanks to all! There is so much talent in these treasuries – be sure to visit as many as you can, and the curators was well – they sure know how to create these collections!

Sandi

Foxy G Knits created this treasury Lettuce Entertain You – Lettuce Make You Smile and included one of my ACEO Trading cards [...]]]>

Meet some of my friends, who have included me in their treasuries. Be sure to visit their shops – there are so many wonderful creations to choose from, you are sure to find your favorite!!

Foxy G Knits created this treasury Lettuce Entertain You – Lettuce Make You Smile and included one of my ACEO Trading cards with tomatoes.

Thank you Foxy G Knits! I always have a problem deciding which one of her knits are perfect to show you – as they are all perfect. But here’s one I really Love!

N W Wonders created this treasury Itsy Bitsy Spider and included one of my ACEO trading cards with my favorite spider.

Thank you NW Wonders! Here’s a really neat photograph…

Honey From The Bee created this treasury Fashionable Fall and included a pair of my fall earrings.

Thank you Honey From The Bee! I love these earrings with the pinecones…

Hope you have enjoyed meeting my friends!

Sandi

As usual Bead picked some perfect shops – something for everyone. We had [...]]]>

As the advent of the start of school looms, our sponsor Bead from Bead Soul chose back to school as our theme during the Sneak Attack! There were chalk boards, school buses, crayons, teachers and much more for avatars. What a lot of fun!

As usual Bead picked some perfect shops – something for everyone. We had 3 shops that were surprised to be our victims.

The first shop was Snuggli Mum Creations Paper art and Vintage tags are included in this shop.
I love this vintage tag – What you do is important…

Our second shop was Kellyemarra featuring Bada Bling! I love this pendant…

Our third shop was Rockinlox a Bowtique – hair accessories for your favoite person! This one is really cute…

And you still have time to shop at these shops to have it count for the Sneak Attack. The shops will still be available at our Handmade Movement Blog until about noon.

And come see us on Thursday, at our Make Someone’s Day sneak attack! We always love new people and have lots of fun.

I picked School time! What is your favorite memory from kindergarten or taking your kids to kindergarten?

Who can remember back that far – as far as my [...]]]>

Once a month, we get to write a blog post about a subject that is picked by one of the Etsyblogger team members! There is always an interesting selection.

I picked School time! What is your favorite memory from kindergarten or taking your kids to kindergarten?

Who can remember back that far – as far as my own kindergarten experience. However, I do remember when my youngest started kindergarten. My oldest daughter, started school in the Azores, where we were stationed back in the 1970′s. My youngest daughter was born there!

By the time we left the Azores, in 1976 – my oldest had started school – and I don’t remember if that school had kindergarten like we do in the US.

When my youngest was old enough to go the kindergarten, we were living in a small community, where the school was within walking distance. And of course, as a milestone, we walked – my daughters and me – to the school. Having seen her sister walk to school for 2-3 years, my youngest was chomping at the bit.

So, dressed in cool clothes, as it was still very hot for September, we started on our walk. Of course, my youngest wanted to skip – this was an exciting moment in her life, she was GOING TO SCHOOL!! My oldest felt that skipping was beneath her. But that’s ok, everyone walked or skipped the way they wanted…

Tears? Of course there were tears – on my part, not my daughter. My youngest was finally going to school. Not quite the empty nest syndrome, but close!

At mid day, the kindergarten class got out, and I was there waiting. And who met me? Why an excited little girl. With lots of information and stories to tell about what she did on her first day!

Most days we walked to the school and back. Other times, I drove them to and from school depending on the weather. It was an exciting time!

Sigh… to have some of those days back

Sandi

LaRue from LaRue Fashions and the [...]]]>

How can a victim be wonderful? Sneak Attack victims can! And we had 4 ‘victims’ yesterday in our attack. Usually it’s 2 or 3 – yesterday we were fortunate to see shops with very different items and it was fun viewing them, hearting the items we liked and purchasing if possible!

LaRue from LaRue Fashions and the Handmade Movement Shop were the sponsors and boy, did they do a great job!

Our first shop was Suez Studio This is the message on this shop’s home page Suez Studio which was supposed to be Sue’s Studio! I think Suez is much better – as anyone can have a Sue’s Studio! This shop has needle felted items – you know that I don’t do the needle felting – I don’t like needles!! But Sue doesn’t have any problem with it. And oh, how I love this dragonfly!

Our second shop was Ning Sky. How can you resist a tee shirt with chocolate??

Our third shop was Paras Print and Paper Such beautiful marbled paper for scrap booking!

Our fourth shop was Ashesoc Specializing in Modern baby colors for your princess! Wish one of my granddaughters was that little again And her models are precious!

Now you still have a little while to visit these shops and purchase from them to have it count for the Sneak Attack – you can find more info at our Handmade Movement Blog.

Be sure to check back with us for the next Sneak Attack on Monday at 7pm!

Sandi

In 1997, I bought a Canon Rebel 35mm camera – this is way before the age of digital photography (at least as far as I was concerned). I took pictures all the [...]]]>

Let me start off by saying I’m a very amateur photographer. But that doesn’t stop me. I just keep trying to get it right!!

In 1997, I bought a Canon Rebel 35mm camera – this is way before the age of digital photography (at least as far as I was concerned). I took pictures all the time, and spent a fortune to have the film processed, with only 1 or 2 out of the shots being good enough to print a picture of. At that time, I had a small craft business, and I wanted to take good pictures of what I made to sell.

Then in 2001, I bit the bullet and opted to get a top of the line digital camera – an Olympus C-3030. It did everything that my Canon could do, but it was so neat – because I could take pictures all day long, delete what I didn’t like, copy the images that I did, that I could use for my business. The Olympus camera that I have has a neat setting called Macro – you can turn it on – the icon is a flower – and it allows you to get close to the item, to take a picture that isn’t blurry. Works great. I always put the camera on a tripod, as it gets kind of heavy!

Last year, I bought a photo studio kit – this is a stand up item, with lights that allows you to photograph items without all the shadows and such that you might have, just taking a picture in a room with a ceiling light. I use it to take pictures of hats that I crochet for my handmade shop. Of course, I will probably retake some of those pictures too, as I am always learning about how to take better pictures.

This year, my daughter and I went on vacation to Jamaica. I didn’t want to take my Olympus camera on the vacation – so I bought a Canon Power Shot – a much smaller camera, light weight, does the macro automatically – it worked really well on vacation. When I came back from vacation, I started using it to take pictures of items that I wanted to sell, and they come out, sometimes not so good, other times, good.

Yesterday I finished a crocheted hat that is mostly white. The small styrofoam head I have to taking pictures in the photo studio is white, so a white hat wouldn’t show up very good. The only other one I have is a mannequin head from Crochet Gal which is the one I use to take pictures of earrings.

So what to do, to use the photo box and this mannequin head – which is way taller than the inside of the box.

Ah Ha! I used a couple of storage containers, one holding up either side of the photo studio and placed the mannequin head inside and took pictures. Looks funky, but hey, it works!

Because the storage containers show up in the corners of the pictures I’m trying to take I’ll have to cover them! And I’m still trying to figure out the lighting as you can see.

I’ve always heard that taking pictures outside is the best way to have them come out looking good. And of course some of them I can do that way – such as this picture I took of hubby wearing one of my new crocheted hats for men.

Taking pictures outside with this small camera has become an obsession, (as if I didn’t have enough obsessions already) and I’ve started creating a series of photograph trading cards (called ACEO)

I know that I still have a lot to learn, and patience is one of the things I need to work on. I’ll keep trying!

Sandi

Since we have moved to the country, we no longer have trick or treaters, and [...]]]>

When we lived in the city, I loved Halloween, so that I could oooh and ahhh at the adorable costumes that the children wore, during Trick or Treat. I’ve even been known to dress up myself to greet them at the door.

Since we have moved to the country, we no longer have trick or treaters, and that’s kind of sad. So to help me get into the spirit of the holiday I have opted to use some of the new Halloween decorations that Heritage Lace has created.

Being an authorized dealer of Heritage Lace, I get a sneak peak of the newest items – boy are they fabulous! And they are available NOW!

Let’s start out with a scenic panel for your front door, to greet guests as they come up the front walk way.

If you like a ‘Bat’ theme, you can select the Going Batty pattern – and use a table topper, mantle scarf and lampshade topper.

For your dining room table, some gothic bat placemats will work just fine…

Or perhaps you would like our Witch Damask placemats to work with the scenic panel…

You could mix and match. Our Rest in Peace pattern has bats as well as spiders…

Then you could put our spider web doilies all around to finish up the decorations…

Whatever Halloween theme you like, I’m sure you will find something that will be perfect for you! You can check out all of our wonderful Halloween items and patterns. Be sure to order early, so you will be ready for those little trick or treaters and that Halloween party!

Sandi

The first one, Blue Monday, created by Old and New Boutique, has the same name as the coffee cozy that is included – I named it that on a Monday that was [...]]]>

We have such wonderful treasury creators – called Curators in Etsy speak. The treasuries I’m showing you today, combine some of my favorite colors.

The first one, Blue Monday, created by Old and New Boutique, has the same name as the coffee cozy that is included – I named it that on a Monday that was really overcast and disappointing. Well this treasury is certainly not disappointing. If anything – it really peps you up!11

Thank you Old and New Boutique! I found these wonderful fall and Halloween rubber stamps great for scrap booking and anything else you can think of!

The second one, Into the Woods has the browns and oranges that I am so fond of. This treasury was created by Beg for a Bag You will notice my new One of A Kind felted basket has been included.

Thank you Beg for a Bag! Browsing this shop I found the neatest bag to carry your laptop or whatever! The Schmooze Bag

The third treasury, Ready for Autumn was created by my friend My Sassy Glass, and she has included a set of my earthy felted bowls in all the right colors!

Thank you My Sassy Glass! You will always find something delightful and unique at My Sassy Glass! I love this colorful pendant!

Thank you to all the curators – you do such a great job show casing the wonderful artists you can find in Etsy!

Sandi