Today is the day of giving a thank you to God. Of course we do that by being gluttons and eating lots of turkey. Then the following day going out and spending ton of money.
So my turkey is the fridge and I'll start cooking it at around 11 so it it will be done at 2pm-ish. My hubby has to work today because he gave an employeee that was scheduled to work the day off. I'm thankful he has a job so I won't complain.
We are just doing a small dinner with just our little family of 4. Of course the girly is too young to actually eat the dinner. I am feeding her some food but mostly she is unintrested. I've noticed she likes food but not baby food. She likes things she has to "chew". I gave her some avacado and she liked that. But baby food gets spit out. Really..she spits it out. So I'm thinking of buying her one of those Mesh fresh food feeders. I never had one for my son but I think that she would like it. Plus I wouldn't have to worry about her choking.
My Ebay listings didn't go that great. They had a penny listing sale on Monday so I listed a few things I hadn't listed prior. Mostly patterns that I never got around to using.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Snow, Rain,and Ebay
It started to snow today but gradually turned to rain. A cold chill is going through. I made some folk art type ornaments but my machine is on the fritz. I cleaned it. I adjusted the tension. It just still is not quite right. I made some cute gift bags for the house but I'm afraid to make things to sell with it acting funny.
I deactivated all my etsy listings. Ebay had a list free event so I posted it all over there since I won't be out anything except time if they don't sell. I can always reactivate it on etsy as long as it is within the original 3 months of listing it without having to repay. Nothing on etsy was selling so .... I figure I'll ebay somethings. I'm not sure what to do really.
I need to grow/ establish a reputation for my home based business. I have a hard time budgeting time for projects. I think that is partially to do with how clingy my little sweetsy is and that I try to do projects from 8 am to 3 pm while my son is at school and my hubby is at work. The new bumbo chair I got her has helped but only for short periods of time (under 20 minutes). Of course being able to put her down for 10 minutes or so an hour really is a huge change from before. She is gaining a little Independence. Now I just have to convince her that she can sleep without me holding her!
I deactivated all my etsy listings. Ebay had a list free event so I posted it all over there since I won't be out anything except time if they don't sell. I can always reactivate it on etsy as long as it is within the original 3 months of listing it without having to repay. Nothing on etsy was selling so .... I figure I'll ebay somethings. I'm not sure what to do really.
I need to grow/ establish a reputation for my home based business. I have a hard time budgeting time for projects. I think that is partially to do with how clingy my little sweetsy is and that I try to do projects from 8 am to 3 pm while my son is at school and my hubby is at work. The new bumbo chair I got her has helped but only for short periods of time (under 20 minutes). Of course being able to put her down for 10 minutes or so an hour really is a huge change from before. She is gaining a little Independence. Now I just have to convince her that she can sleep without me holding her!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
fabric ... not for commercial use?
I have seen fabric and patterns etc that are labeled "not for commercial use" or "for home use only". I find this to be a confusing subject. I've read several different opinions on the matter. Some say the design is copyrighted thus the fabric can't be used in anything that is sold. Others say that the writing on the selvage is not considered a binding contract since you purchased the fabric from a 3rd party.
For me, I'm not producing large quantities but I am selling things. I guess I need to start paying more attention to what the selvages say. However this is hard especially if I am buying fabric online. My personal opinion is that if I purchase the fabric.... It is now mine to do whatever I want with it.
If I buy a car that is suppose to be a "personal vehicle" the manufacture can't sue me if I use it for business use. Same with a computer or a printer. I know this battle was already fought over cross stitch patterns. And the pattern companies lost. If you gave 10 people the same fabric... chances are they would make 10 different and unique items. Just because they are all made with a designer fabric should not render them unsaleable. I read that Amy Butler fabrics will be removing that wording in the future ( on her website). They do not try to limit the use of the fabric.
I think if a designer of fabric doesn't want people to make stuff with their fabric.... then DON'T SELL IT! Duh? Plus this is somewhat impractical. What if I buy a fat quarter and I don't get any selvage with the "home use only". Can I then use it? How am I suppose to know that I can't use it? I can't research every scrap of fabric... try to figure out the manufacture.. Then contact them for permission. Well I might be able to but I would end up never making anything because all my time would be spent trying to track down fabric designers/ manufactures/ etc. What if I buy some quilt blocks that don't have any selvages attached and it's polka dots? There must be a zillion polka dot fabrics out there on the market from vintage to modern!
So for now, I'm going to use all my fabric .... regardless of what the selvage says. Oh and patterns .... It has already been decided that although you can't copy a pattern and re-sell it.... you can sell whatever you make with the pattern and do not need the pattern maker's permission. I have yet to ever make anything from a pattern that I didn't adapt in some way.
I'm not trying to "steal" someone else's designs. I think I am purchasing the fabric and thus can use it as I choose. Personally it kinda makes me want to make raunchy underwear out of some of it. I don't have any Hello Kitty fabric but I know that it is mostly labeled "not for commercial use". They have some really cute Hello kitty Fairy with magic wands fabric. How about some transvestite midget thongs with pink pom pom noses on the kittys? I bet someone could make 20 pair from a yard ! (Please do NOT send me any pictures of this if you make one especially if it is being worn by a model!)
For me, I'm not producing large quantities but I am selling things. I guess I need to start paying more attention to what the selvages say. However this is hard especially if I am buying fabric online. My personal opinion is that if I purchase the fabric.... It is now mine to do whatever I want with it.
If I buy a car that is suppose to be a "personal vehicle" the manufacture can't sue me if I use it for business use. Same with a computer or a printer. I know this battle was already fought over cross stitch patterns. And the pattern companies lost. If you gave 10 people the same fabric... chances are they would make 10 different and unique items. Just because they are all made with a designer fabric should not render them unsaleable. I read that Amy Butler fabrics will be removing that wording in the future ( on her website). They do not try to limit the use of the fabric.
I think if a designer of fabric doesn't want people to make stuff with their fabric.... then DON'T SELL IT! Duh? Plus this is somewhat impractical. What if I buy a fat quarter and I don't get any selvage with the "home use only". Can I then use it? How am I suppose to know that I can't use it? I can't research every scrap of fabric... try to figure out the manufacture.. Then contact them for permission. Well I might be able to but I would end up never making anything because all my time would be spent trying to track down fabric designers/ manufactures/ etc. What if I buy some quilt blocks that don't have any selvages attached and it's polka dots? There must be a zillion polka dot fabrics out there on the market from vintage to modern!
So for now, I'm going to use all my fabric .... regardless of what the selvage says. Oh and patterns .... It has already been decided that although you can't copy a pattern and re-sell it.... you can sell whatever you make with the pattern and do not need the pattern maker's permission. I have yet to ever make anything from a pattern that I didn't adapt in some way.
I'm not trying to "steal" someone else's designs. I think I am purchasing the fabric and thus can use it as I choose. Personally it kinda makes me want to make raunchy underwear out of some of it. I don't have any Hello Kitty fabric but I know that it is mostly labeled "not for commercial use". They have some really cute Hello kitty Fairy with magic wands fabric. How about some transvestite midget thongs with pink pom pom noses on the kittys? I bet someone could make 20 pair from a yard ! (Please do NOT send me any pictures of this if you make one especially if it is being worn by a model!)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Snaps
I got my snap press in the mail. I was super excited to use it. I didn't really have anything made that needed a snap! I ordered the Kam snap pliers with ivory snaps and black studs/sockets. Then I also got the Mamma's mix of engraved caps. I figured this would give me the most versitility since I'm just starting to use them. The engraved snaps are so cute in person! I just want to make up some little pul snack bags and throw some cupcake snaps on them!
One of the things I DON'T like is that the pliers came with no instructions! Seriously... how hard would it be to print up an instruction sheet for morons like me? They have instructions on thier website so a little card reminding me would have been nice. I did go to the website and glance over the tutorial before starting. I've used a Bedazzeler... how much different could this be? (I wish I still had my old Bedazzeler!) I decided to add a snap to my son's halloween bag. It was sitting on the kitchen table and still has candy in it. I had a lot of trouble lining up the pliers on the snap. It kept being off center. Finally I got it to all work out and the snaps to snap. He now has black skull and crossbone engraved snaps on his black spiderweb halloween bag.
These came in the mix. I don't really like the skull trend in kids clothes. My son has only 2 shirts with skulls. One was a gift that he wears as a play shirt. The other has a false tuxedo printed on the front and there are hidden skulls in the vest. I didn't notice them till my son started calling it his "pirate " shirt. I was so confused for like 5 minutes as to why pirates wore tuxedos!
After my trouble with getting the snap centered, I checked and the cap die was the wrong size. Silly me just assumed the correct size would be in the pliers since I only ordered one size of snaps. . I had ordered 2 extra dies but got 3. Not sure which size is which as they are labeled T5, TBA, and T3 and that doesn't exacly coordinate with the sizes.
I decided to try again with my daughters halloween bag. I choose to use yellow stars on hers since her bag has candy corn design.. This time I stuck the awl through both sides of the bag at the same time. On my son's I did one side at a time and magically they lined up perfect but I really got lucky one wasn't higher than the other. Wow what a difference using the correct die cap made. It was easy to line up and came out perfect. It took less than a minute even with a squirming baby sitting on my lap grabbing for the bag the whole time.
Last night I had a bit of another type of craft disaster. One of those... I knew better but did it anyways. I wanted to prep some of my flannel. So I washed 3 yards of a light color blue, 1 yard of medium blue, and 3 yards of dark blue. The result was a lint filled mess! I spent most of last night and this morning de-linting. The light blue was soft on both sides so it also got lint on the back. I used a super thin comb to scrap off the worst of it then ran a lint roller over it. I knew better but I've had such good luck lately with washing more than one peice at a time. It is funny how light fabric is attracted to dark lint and light lint is attracted to dark fabric. I'll be cutting tonight to make some boy wipes, girl wipes, and christmas bags. I really need to either find my camera or dig out my old camera.
One of the things I DON'T like is that the pliers came with no instructions! Seriously... how hard would it be to print up an instruction sheet for morons like me? They have instructions on thier website so a little card reminding me would have been nice. I did go to the website and glance over the tutorial before starting. I've used a Bedazzeler... how much different could this be? (I wish I still had my old Bedazzeler!) I decided to add a snap to my son's halloween bag. It was sitting on the kitchen table and still has candy in it. I had a lot of trouble lining up the pliers on the snap. It kept being off center. Finally I got it to all work out and the snaps to snap. He now has black skull and crossbone engraved snaps on his black spiderweb halloween bag.
These came in the mix. I don't really like the skull trend in kids clothes. My son has only 2 shirts with skulls. One was a gift that he wears as a play shirt. The other has a false tuxedo printed on the front and there are hidden skulls in the vest. I didn't notice them till my son started calling it his "pirate " shirt. I was so confused for like 5 minutes as to why pirates wore tuxedos!
After my trouble with getting the snap centered, I checked and the cap die was the wrong size. Silly me just assumed the correct size would be in the pliers since I only ordered one size of snaps. . I had ordered 2 extra dies but got 3. Not sure which size is which as they are labeled T5, TBA, and T3 and that doesn't exacly coordinate with the sizes.
I decided to try again with my daughters halloween bag. I choose to use yellow stars on hers since her bag has candy corn design.. This time I stuck the awl through both sides of the bag at the same time. On my son's I did one side at a time and magically they lined up perfect but I really got lucky one wasn't higher than the other. Wow what a difference using the correct die cap made. It was easy to line up and came out perfect. It took less than a minute even with a squirming baby sitting on my lap grabbing for the bag the whole time.
Last night I had a bit of another type of craft disaster. One of those... I knew better but did it anyways. I wanted to prep some of my flannel. So I washed 3 yards of a light color blue, 1 yard of medium blue, and 3 yards of dark blue. The result was a lint filled mess! I spent most of last night and this morning de-linting. The light blue was soft on both sides so it also got lint on the back. I used a super thin comb to scrap off the worst of it then ran a lint roller over it. I knew better but I've had such good luck lately with washing more than one peice at a time. It is funny how light fabric is attracted to dark lint and light lint is attracted to dark fabric. I'll be cutting tonight to make some boy wipes, girl wipes, and christmas bags. I really need to either find my camera or dig out my old camera.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Prepping fabric
I spent most of the morning prepping fabric. I'm washing, drying, and ironing it. I've done about 28 ish yards. I always prewash so my final product doesn't have warping or weird shrinkage. In my younger days, I thought this was a waste of time and made the end product look used. But most of what I made was for home use and things would never look the same after the first wash. I finally got the clue that skipping the fabric prepping was not something I should do.
I got a few ideas from playing with the fabric. I don't buy fabric with a specific project in mind most of the time. Sometimes I just buy the fabric because I like it and eventually inspiration will strike. I actually purchased most of this fabric as a lot. I fell in love with one or two of the prints. Since this was all old store stock from the 90's ( yes the 1990's!) it had a few blemishes, fade spots, and one had some rust stains on the selvages. (Never store fabric with pins or staples attached!). I decided it was best to wash it all and prep it before I put it away. That way I could measure and know exactly how much of it is really usable. One solid colored yellow fabric matched some Bee fabric I have. I definitely want to make a few toddler dresses out of the combo. But that will be a spring or summer project that I'll save for another day.
The red polka dot with black watermelon seed fabric, I'm debating making a kids apron,an adult apron, or a baby dress. Either way....I'm going to use green bias tape for the edges and maybe some rick rack. Cute for Christmas and summertime.. The green will be like watermelon rind all along the edge. I'll save that for later too.
I sound like a procrastinator! There is some Christmas fabric that I'm going to make bags out of soon and an aqua geometric print that would make a sweet little nursing cover. I need to buy D-rings. Well the cover can wait till I have them. Which reminds me that I need to prep some rusty red oriental fabric that I want to make a nursing cover &bag combo out of.
So much to do......I think I'm going to go take a nap! LOL! I've been up two days in a row before 5 am. and it's just easier to get the little sweetsy to take a nap if I'm right there beside her. I don't normally take naps but she's been up since about 5 am and has only slept about 30 minutes total. I have long ago learned... It is better to waste a couple hours napping than have a whole day of screaming fussiness where nothing will get done. Plus I'll be up in time to greet the little boy when he gets home from school. Poor kid has a little bruise near his eye ....from pumpkin smashing! My husband wacked his pumpkin really hard and a piece flew and hit the little guy right below the eye. They will be wearing safety glasses next year! My hubby is out of town at a conference till midweek. I hate when he travels. This is his 3rd trip since the little girl was born and she is not quite 4 months old right now. Seeing him off was the main reason we were up so early today. Well off to bed! Ahhh the joys of "working at home".
I got a few ideas from playing with the fabric. I don't buy fabric with a specific project in mind most of the time. Sometimes I just buy the fabric because I like it and eventually inspiration will strike. I actually purchased most of this fabric as a lot. I fell in love with one or two of the prints. Since this was all old store stock from the 90's ( yes the 1990's!) it had a few blemishes, fade spots, and one had some rust stains on the selvages. (Never store fabric with pins or staples attached!). I decided it was best to wash it all and prep it before I put it away. That way I could measure and know exactly how much of it is really usable. One solid colored yellow fabric matched some Bee fabric I have. I definitely want to make a few toddler dresses out of the combo. But that will be a spring or summer project that I'll save for another day.
The red polka dot with black watermelon seed fabric, I'm debating making a kids apron,an adult apron, or a baby dress. Either way....I'm going to use green bias tape for the edges and maybe some rick rack. Cute for Christmas and summertime.. The green will be like watermelon rind all along the edge. I'll save that for later too.
I sound like a procrastinator! There is some Christmas fabric that I'm going to make bags out of soon and an aqua geometric print that would make a sweet little nursing cover. I need to buy D-rings. Well the cover can wait till I have them. Which reminds me that I need to prep some rusty red oriental fabric that I want to make a nursing cover &bag combo out of.
So much to do......I think I'm going to go take a nap! LOL! I've been up two days in a row before 5 am. and it's just easier to get the little sweetsy to take a nap if I'm right there beside her. I don't normally take naps but she's been up since about 5 am and has only slept about 30 minutes total. I have long ago learned... It is better to waste a couple hours napping than have a whole day of screaming fussiness where nothing will get done. Plus I'll be up in time to greet the little boy when he gets home from school. Poor kid has a little bruise near his eye ....from pumpkin smashing! My husband wacked his pumpkin really hard and a piece flew and hit the little guy right below the eye. They will be wearing safety glasses next year! My hubby is out of town at a conference till midweek. I hate when he travels. This is his 3rd trip since the little girl was born and she is not quite 4 months old right now. Seeing him off was the main reason we were up so early today. Well off to bed! Ahhh the joys of "working at home".
Sunday, November 6, 2011
November Already?
Well my etsy store is not doing much better. A few views but no purchases. So I played around to see what a few popular searches are on etsy. Of course owls, Christmas, thanksgiving, steampunk, fingerless gloves, buttons, etc.
SO... I decided to try to think up items that would be good search hits rather than continue to list stuff and get no traffic/sales. I feel like I'm cheating. So I made some "Owl Christmas Ornaments with button eyes and hairbow". Ha ha! but I haven't listed it yet. I also purchased some really cute vintage tartlet tins. I've already made some pie, cake, and a chocolate elcaire ornament/pin cushions with them. I have 36 of the suckers to play with! They are so cute and such a great inspiration for fun. Again I haven't listed them on Etsy yet.
I would... I plan to... I just lost my camera Halloween night. I've looked everywhere I can think to look. I'm still in the process of reorganizing my craft room... also known as the room I stole from my daughter. I got her a Bumbo Chair today. I'm hoping that she likes it enough to let me put her down once and a while. She's been really clingy all week! I can't hardly do anything because I'm holding her all day. She will sleep on my lap ... that is what she is doing right now as I type this but IF I dare lay her down she wakes up crying.
So I didn't finish any of the cloth camo wipes like I said I would... or any cloth bags. (Well I did one for a neighbor having a birthday.) I'm actually getting rather frustrated with Etsy. I've noticed that there are lots of items that are not handmade being sold as handmade. Mass produced jewelry from china. It is hard to find/ search. It is even harder when if you hit the lowest price option there are tons of mass produced made in china stuff that is selling for 20 cents and 5.99 shipping. It is annoying because it doesn't show shipping price till you click on the listing. It is doubling annoying because the same stuff is selling for nothing on Ebay.
I saw a little bag from China for like 25 cents on Ebay being sold by someone in the US for 8.99!!!! And that seller had lots of mass produced jewelry they were listing as handmade too! Where is the quality control? Doesn't anyone check this stuff? I know I reported one seller and the items are still for sell! I even included Ebay links so they could see that there are literally 100's of them being sold! Worse part is some jewelry they are listed as "Vintage"... Yet being sold as new on Ebay.
I really would like to make things and sell them. I like to make things. I know people like the stuff I make. I just don't know if Etsy is the avenue for that. Maybe I just need to get some sells under my belt and some positive feedback and things will pick up.
SO... I decided to try to think up items that would be good search hits rather than continue to list stuff and get no traffic/sales. I feel like I'm cheating. So I made some "Owl Christmas Ornaments with button eyes and hairbow". Ha ha! but I haven't listed it yet. I also purchased some really cute vintage tartlet tins. I've already made some pie, cake, and a chocolate elcaire ornament/pin cushions with them. I have 36 of the suckers to play with! They are so cute and such a great inspiration for fun. Again I haven't listed them on Etsy yet.
I would... I plan to... I just lost my camera Halloween night. I've looked everywhere I can think to look. I'm still in the process of reorganizing my craft room... also known as the room I stole from my daughter. I got her a Bumbo Chair today. I'm hoping that she likes it enough to let me put her down once and a while. She's been really clingy all week! I can't hardly do anything because I'm holding her all day. She will sleep on my lap ... that is what she is doing right now as I type this but IF I dare lay her down she wakes up crying.
So I didn't finish any of the cloth camo wipes like I said I would... or any cloth bags. (Well I did one for a neighbor having a birthday.) I'm actually getting rather frustrated with Etsy. I've noticed that there are lots of items that are not handmade being sold as handmade. Mass produced jewelry from china. It is hard to find/ search. It is even harder when if you hit the lowest price option there are tons of mass produced made in china stuff that is selling for 20 cents and 5.99 shipping. It is annoying because it doesn't show shipping price till you click on the listing. It is doubling annoying because the same stuff is selling for nothing on Ebay.
I saw a little bag from China for like 25 cents on Ebay being sold by someone in the US for 8.99!!!! And that seller had lots of mass produced jewelry they were listing as handmade too! Where is the quality control? Doesn't anyone check this stuff? I know I reported one seller and the items are still for sell! I even included Ebay links so they could see that there are literally 100's of them being sold! Worse part is some jewelry they are listed as "Vintage"... Yet being sold as new on Ebay.
I really would like to make things and sell them. I like to make things. I know people like the stuff I make. I just don't know if Etsy is the avenue for that. Maybe I just need to get some sells under my belt and some positive feedback and things will pick up.
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