How sweet is that? Gifts of paper for the first anniversary and gifts of cotton for the second. (The actual sweet tasting stuff comes in later!)

Cotton is a beautiful, durable and versatile fabric and I love making gifts for couples celebrating their two year with it.

As you likely know, I simply adore customizing things. Personalization is my middle name. Not really, my middle name is Christina, but you get my drift.

Yup. Second anniversary celebration appropriate gifts all up in the shop.

While I am happy stitching just about anything, especially gifts, I have to say I am partial to the tie square. I like to think that they are being sewn onto hubby-ties as surprise anniversary morning gifts. You know, before he heads off to work! So cute!

Here’s a sample to wet your whistle with….

I’ve always posted behind the scenes pics to Instagram, but now I’m being more intentional about it. So follow along if you wanna.

]]> http://www.merriweathercouncilblog.com/2013/04/btsmerriweather/feed/ 0 http://www.merriweathercouncilblog.com/2013/04/the-greatest-fiber-project-you-probably-never-noticed/ http://www.merriweathercouncilblog.com/2013/04/the-greatest-fiber-project-you-probably-never-noticed/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:21:44 +0000 Danielle http://www.merriweathercouncilblog.com/?p=1748 As a long time fiber-lover (the non-dietary kind, mind you) I am always spotting things that make me say “HOLY CRAP THAT IS AWESOME” that are both fibery and also, sadly, overlooked.

This one here is my all time favorite. I spent a lot of time looking for an image of this and then I was watching Reba on Hulu (that’s a serious statement, not an april fools) and this commercial came on and I was like “OMG GET THE SCREEN CAP!”

Are you ready?

It’s so good.

I really can’t even tell you how great this is….

I  screen captured these from the Hulu commercial, from the mr. clean magic erasure extra power commercial.

Let me explain what’s going on here just in case it isn’t obvious…. and so that hopefully we can all come together and appreciate this AWESOME fiber project.

This is a commercial for the Mister Clean Magic Erasure – and these spray bottles (other cleaners) are COMMENTATORS – this commercial is in a sports style broadcast and the spray bottles are all like, “omg look at him go, he can clean all the things…” etc. and if you notice, they are wearing suits.

The spray bottles are wearing suits.

WEARING. SUITS.

Mind blown.

This is someone’s job. Someone was hired to create little suits for these spray bottles to wear. THIS. IS. AWESOME. Look at the tiny ties! I can’t even stand how awesome this is. You’ve probably seen this commercial at least a few times, did you notice the suits? This would be my other dream job, if I wasn’t doing my merriweathering, I would want to be making tiny suits for spray bottles… or equally awesome fiber related projects. SO GOOD.

If you don’t know, that usually is a lot of work. And to be honest, while I had this inclination, I truly had no idea how I wanted it to look or how I thought it should be different. I think I was just bored and needed something to worry about. That makes sense right?

The one sort of look-and-feel I liked, didn’t match my product line or overall aesthetic at all. And I thought it gave the wrong impression about my work, so that just wasn’t going to work. I decided to just freshen up what I already knew and liked and that would hold me over until I made better, more concrete decisions, if ever.

So if you take a look to your left, you will see I have updated the graphics on my sidebar. And if you take a trip over to my Facebook page, you will see I’ve added some tabs over there and freshened that up. Twitter also got a makeover.

It’s not major. It’s probably not even very exciting but I felt accomplished upon completion of these tweaks.

Also, you may have noticed you didn’t hear much from me recently. This is because, while I was doing a whole lot of nothing in January, I was resting my weary hands, which I actually think IS an effective use of time. And then February was chock full. SO here we are.

10. Taking this photo

Pretty sure taking this photo was the smartest thing I did all year…. I am not actually certain I took this photo in the year of 2012, but I do know that I photoshopped the new chains into it in 2012 and that counts as far as I am concerned.

09. Going to texas

Merriweather made her outside-of-new-england debut this year when we went on the road to Austin, TX to participate in Renegade Craft Fair. While it was not a blockbuster show experience, it was SO fun to hang out with my mom and put my feet in the Colorado River and be warm.

08. Meeting or exceeding my sales goals!

At the beginning of the year, I set a monthly sales goal for my Etsy shop, in April I upped it a little for the extra challenge. I met or exceeded the upped sales goal 9/12 months! And I was especially pleased when I met my yearly sales goal 4 months early!

07. Exceeding my long standing Best-Sales-Month-Ever!

November 2012 was my best month on Etsy. I exceeded my previous best-month by more than two times! I was very tired in November.

06. Being invited to Martha Stewart’s first American Made event in NYC.

It’s always fun to meet up with fellow etsians and this event was no exception. I traveled down to NYC in October to sit on the Etsy Panel at Martha Stewart’s American Made event in Grand Central Station.

via

05. My website finally turned a profit!

This is something I have been working on for a bit. My website has been around since last september  (2011) but of course right after it launched, I was getting busy with Christmas already. So it kinda got neglected. I admit it. I completely neglected it for about 8 months. I would make a sale here or there – and basically, I was happy it just paid for itself.  At the end of this summer I started getting serious about it. The biggest challenge was getting over the learning curve of navigating and using the back end/ admin area. Once I got comfortable with that, I was all set to go. And now I know how to use it to my advantage rather than let it sit and maybe it does me some good sometimes. Quite pleased.

04. Mother’s Day.

Mother’s day 2012 was by far far my best Etsy-holiday! Well, up until that point at least. I spent most of April and May thinking “Mother’s Day is the New Christmas.”

03. Being featured in Country Living

Over the summer I sent a bunch-load of necklace samples out to various publications that has requested them. So I put about 15-20 samples in the mail, did my good-luck dance (no, I don’t have one of those, I made it up…) and waited. And I was thrilled out of my face when Country Living confirmed they’d be featuring my initial necklaces in their holiday issue!!!

02. Being featured in People Style Watch

Full disclosure, I have never heard of People Style Watch before this year. I am not much of a magazine person and for anyone who has ever met me/ knows me, it is not a shock that I am not reading up on the latest/ greatest fashions and trends. However, I can certainly appreciate a solid hour’s worth of fashion mag browsing whilst getting a pedicure, so I was QUITE pleased when PSW ALSO confirmed they’d be featuring my necklace in their December/ January issue as well. And when it came out and I saw that T. Swift was on the cover, I was even more excited… I don’t really love T. Swift the way the majority of the population does – although I do find her to be cute and even interesting at times-  but I know lots of people in my target demographic do. I also know that lots of people who love celebrities will buy stuff just because they are in/ on it… because I am one of these people. Anyways, this was spectacular and I went to bed every night in December thinking “is this real life?! T Swift may have seen my necklace. I want cheese.”

01. Being Etsy’s Featured Seller!!!

Holy guacamole batman!! HOW? WHAT?! OMG!!!

AHH I was so excited!!! I know it’s really called “featured shop” now, but I’m playing it old school and calling it Featured Seller.

Being featured seller is like …  dreams. This is sort of my Mount Everest.  And it was awesome. I am so so grateful to the folks at Etsy who put this whole bit together! It really was such an honor!! I had some help making it all happen/ holding it all together from a few good friends who know who they are and should know they have my eternal thanks and appreciation and apologies for any insanity I spoke out of stress.

While 2013 looms on the not so distant horizon, I am still making and shipping necklaces and pendants and hoops and quietly plotting for Valentine’s Day, trying to remain organized and getting excited about a year of working smarter not harder and setting some new goals.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this a very exciting and awesome year!!

Cheers!!

They asked for 10-15 images of me working and of product etc. Only a few of the ones I sent made the cut but here are the rest!

*bloopers included

You can read my interview here

My pincushion ring is from Made in Lowell

I also had my big TV debut!: Makers in Business with Liz Smith

Come back next week for the year in review!

- SEO for your etsy shop

- Using etsy seller tools

- Deciphering shop stats

- Building your brand/ making your shop standout within the etsy framework

- Using etsy’s shipping tools and other prototypes.

Can’t make it? Don’t live anywhere near Boston? Feel like, “that’s cool but what about specifically for me?!”  Read on…

ANNOUNCEMENT: 

* I’ve written like a thousand versions of this annoucement but I didn’t love any of them, so here it is. For best results read this with presidential inflection and speech voice. 

I’m doing one-on-one consulting now. Officially. People have been asking me a bunch about it especially since my Etsy Educator training and I’ve been doing some here and there and I really loved it so I’m making it official in 2013!

What I do: eliminate the intimidation factor of starting /selling on etsy.  Help you figure out what all these tools are and how to use them, get found in searches, optimize your listings, brand you shop, do better business etc.

Either from the ground up or from where you’re at.

I believe, and have always believed,that if you want to learn something, you should learn it from soneone who has done it and who has done it well. If you think that what I do, I do well – then we should talk. If not, no bigs.

So if you want more info about the offerings and booking a session join my mailing list specifically for this endeavor, different from my other mailing list (so you won’t get these updates if you are on my other one!) 2013 is waiting for you and your awesome stuff, greet the new year with a new endeavor or a bigger and better take on the one you already started.

Specific questions in the meantime?  Email me, danielle@merriweathercouncil.com

PFAQ:

*The p is for predictive.

Does this only work if we can meet in person?

No, of course not. We can use the power of the internet to connect!

Do you know what f stop I should use to take my photos?

No, I am not a photographer and I don’t do camera talky. I can advise you and give you resources in conjunction with any session though.

Is etsy a get rich quick scheme?

Depends on your definitions of “rich” and “quick”, I’d say.

Oh you think you’re so smart…

Okay….?

OKey dokey, that is all for now. HAPPY ELECTION DAY!

And you certainly have a vision for it and you are trying to find all the pieces to bring together to get your wedding looking in real life like it does in your mind.

Can I help?

Perhaps you have an idea but you have not really pinned down how to execute it or you haven’t found just the right thing yet.

I love love love to work on custom projects and I would be happy to hear any ideas you may have for embroidered photo props or photo both backdrops, embroidered table numbers or welcome signs or any other sort of decoration you are needing.

Of course you might remember this custom project I did for Megan and Matthew’s dessert table.

(via)

“Thank you again!

I think this my 5th time ordering from Danielle.

She does beautiful work!

I can’t wait to use these hoops at my wedding!!!”

The possibilities for embroidered touches at your wedding are basically endless. Browse more ideas here.

Are you thinking about it? Write me so we can discuss making this dream a reality – when else will you have an excuse to order some  ”eat” “drink” and “be married” signs?

“Danielle is awesome, she worked with me on choosing custom fabric

…& it turned out beautiful! Love it!”

Sharing the Goodies

“The necklaces are absolutely lovely!

Thank you so much….

My bridesmaids will love these. ”

I’ve made lots and lots of sets of embroidered initial necklaces for brides all over the country as well as Europe for them to give to their bridesmaids. You can see them here making an appearance at Sara & Dave’s wedding in London. So colorful!

“Was absolutely perfect, and my best friend loved it!”

I often hear from my clients that their girls loved their necklaces and appreciated the thoughtfulness of something personalized just for them. It’s so fun to pick colors out for each of your girls! And you know I’ve got plenty of options – but if for some reason you don’t see what you need to match that image in your mind, just let me know. My supply cabinet is full so I’m sure we can work something out.

“Adorable necklaces!

My bridesmaids were blown away

with the quality and hand-made gift!”

Make it happen.

Now is the time to discuss and book orders for late winter and springtime weddings. Contact me so we can get started on your project!

Email me with a general overview of what you have in mid and we will go from there:

Danielle @ merriweathercouncil.com

I wrote you a poem to help you remember.

Tiny bongo roll please….

One is fun and so is two

Three is super and four is “WOO!”

Five is nice and six is great

Seven is fab and eight is “EIGHT!”

Nine is fine, and ten is a bunch

You’ll want even more, I have a hunch!

{please, please, no autographs.}

{this set for sale}

See? It all makes sense now right?

Shop hoops now.

If you are a recipient of my newsletter, you saw that Olive was the colors of the week and I showed you a bunch of olive colored items i had made! Well, they are all up and listed now. So check them out….

Peace Hoop

Embroidered Brooch

Color Scratch Necklace

List item 2:

In other news, the calendar is updated and so if you are in the Boston area (yes, I know I told you I live in Providence now) please check that out so you can come visit me in real life in December!

 List item 3:

While it might be too-soon for some, I think the time is JUST RIGHT to be adding christmas and holiday items. So if you are ready for that stuff, check it all out here. In related news, if you have anything you’d like to discuss having custom made for the holidays, please email me in the next couple of weeks about it! The sooner the better danielle @ merriweathercouncil.com

List item 4:

I’ve been updating my website a bunch recently and I’d love if you’d swing by and give it a look. There are some things up there that are not on Etsy and there will be more soon. Also, more expansive custom work catalogue will be up there soon as well – some of it is on there now, so take a peek. I’ve had the website for over a year but it took a lot of getting used to, so I finally feel like I know what I am doing over there. Also, be sure to browse the FAQ which is also recently updated and answers some of your most burning questions!

Get on my mailing list (sidebar) for more info on website/custom work updates and other fun stories.