The cutest little owls!!

This weeks featured creative blogger is Marsha of Spinal Fusion. While browsing her Etsy Shop I saw these adorable little blue owls made of recycled felt. You can visit her shop and see her collection of items mostly made from recycled or vintage items by clicking HERE

It's hard to believe that January is almost over!

It seems just like yesterday that I woke up to a new year and a new attitude!! Here it is that the month is almost over and I have yet to share with you what has brought about this "change" if you will.

To be honest I am not even sure what it is specifically that brought on the realization, but whatever it is, I am glad! I have decided that I need to move forward and get ahead of the ball, and not be behind it forever. 2009 was quite a learning experience for me in my business, I found what sells for me and how to make it work to my advantage. So this year is about focus, and constantly improving. Pictures is one thing that I can always, ALWAYS make better. So I have started just that, as a fob sells I re list it with a new fancy picture.

Of course I am still at the point of playing catch up and organizing to do too much of anything, but that is okay, it is all part of the plan. Once I get rolling again, I want to bring BagsByMelanie up to 200 listings, which I think should be fairly easy.....then off to 300! That a lot of stuff let me tell you. Blinky, also has a lot of work ahead too, to make that successful. I have lots of Sizzix stuff to list, which should easily put that shop over 100 listings. I crochet new flowers every night. Not all of them make it into the shop, some get stuffed in an envelope and shipped to my good friend Maggie in Louisiana to be put on her adorable hats.

So that is it for now, my coffee cup is empty, and now it is time to clean!!!

I've been keeping a secret, shhhhh

I've been keeping a secret and it is time I share with you what it is.

When I had this grand idea to use up yarn and such I had around here and wanted to get into the business of making crocheted flowers, butterflies and all sorts of crocheted goodies but didn't want to flood my BagsByMelanie shop with them. A good friend of mine offered me the solution, to use her supply shop that was pretty much empty to not only list my appliques but any ribbon or fabric that we wanted to unload collectively. So there formed a lasting partnership that not only benefits me, but her as well.



Speaking of partnerships I must speak of another, my good friend CrochetMaggie and I were talking one day (as we do most days) and she mentioned that she had so much yarn that she wanted to use and she had wanted to start making hats to get through them. So I suggested maybe adding some of Blinky's flowers to her hat's.
As you can see the flowers make a stunning addition to an already adorable hat!

Now that my secret has been revealed there is nothing left for you to do then go shopping. You can visit the supply shop by clicking HERE or by using that handy link thing on the right of my blog. If you would also like to visit Maggie's shop and see our partnership in action, you can visit her shop by clicking HERE

Re-group, Re-organize, Re-ally work my butt off........

A lot of people make a lot of resolutions for the New Year, I don't as a rule, but I use the time to sort of regroup and reorganize my life.

With this being the year of the bed (all my kids got new beds for Christmas) I figured what a better way to ring in the New Year by organizing all of their rooms. Of course that particular task is still a work in progress because no way in heck am I going to be able to do it all at once (unless I stop eating and sleeping). However, my oldest is in the process of getting a new quilt (the New Orleans Saints to be exact) and the littlest ones got new curtains in the room that they share. I recovered my couch, all of these things done with using fabrics that I have here. It felt so good to get rid of fabrics that I just don't use anymore.

So now that my house is in order I can refocus all this energy to my business, it is time to just go at this full strength, no more "just getting by" I need to be ahead of that rolling ball and not always trying to catch up to it. First and foremost I am not going to be buying any more supplies, I have enough fabric here to cover my entire house and by golly I am going to use it. I am no longer making larger bags as they just don't sell so my business is going to mainly be fobs, tissue cozies and wallets.

These are just my initial thoughts on the matter, and as I continue to think and prioritize today I will have a clearer picture of what is going to happen.

Dana's Jewelry Design

Is this weeks featured Creative Blogger. I have to tell you, there are so many talented jewelry artists that I have come across thanks to being a member of Creative Bloggers. Each one has their own unique styles and products they make my head spin!!

In browsing Dana's blog I noticed that she had gotten a custom order for some gem trees. Being the curious sort of person I decided to dig a little deeper to see what these are. What I discovered is that she has a book so you can make your very own, which can be purchased HERE. I will have to decide if I really want to take on another project or if I should just have her make one for me. I am always looking for interesting items to join me in my home or to give as gifts for my friends and family.

If you would like to read more from Dana you can click HERE and it will take you to her blog.

OOPS!

I sort of took a little break from blogging and promoting for Christmas. Now that it is over I can try to get back into the swing of things. First I have to blog about last weeks featured seller through creative bloggers, because well I didn't. When I visited Vintage Soap Shoppe's blog I saw this awesome cupcake tower.

This was for a little girl's first birthday party and her mother wanted to have something fun, well I think this hits the nail on the head! The cupcakes are vanilla filled with vanilla pastry cream, swiss buttercream and a chocolate candle on each cupcake. Can you say YUMMMMMMMMMM!

Besides baking delicious cupcakes Angela makes soaps and candles which she sells on Etsy. You can find her items by clicking HERE

It's the first snow day of the year

The fire is going, I am sitting here drinking my coffee, listening to the kids mimic what they are hearing on the television and thinking of my to do list. Of course the first thing on that list is drink a couple cups of coffee and make my rounds on the "net", which of course has brought me here. Realizing that there was a new round on Creative Blogger's I decided today would be a good day to get that done. This week's featured artist is The Precious Willow, she makes one of a kind jewelry item's such as the beautiful earrings that you see here. You can go visit her site where she has her jewelry for sale by clicking HERE.

So, back to my to do list, I have decided that I need to yet again organize my closet in my sewing room. I kept it clean for about a year, but then I just had too many new things that needed homes that I shoved in there, so it is now a safety hazard yet again. I think the main problem in there is the book shelf. It houses fabric that I don't use, but yet can't get rid of. I am thinking of boxing those up, marking the boxes, and giving the shelf to my two small children that have a small library full of books that are scattered about.

Once I get a nice sunny day, I need to redo my pictures. I bought some very interesting pieces of scrapbook paper yesterday while I was finishing up my Christmas shopping. I figured I need to try something to make my shop look a little more interesting. I will post more about that later.

I haven't even decorated for Christmas yet, I am not really feeling it this year. On that note, my coffee cup is empty, and the day is not getting any younger, so off I go.........Hopefully I don't get swallowed up by my closet while I am in there, HAHA