New shop lines and ETC's $5 SALE!

I've been ruminating about, and working on, new lines for both my Pink Pear Designs and Handmade Whimzy Etsy shops for several months now. I think I'm finally ready to talk about them and also, start listing items in both shops.

Since I started back sewing several months ago, not only have I made myself several really cute skirts, but I've also allowed my love of fabric to blossom. I think sewing was the first actual craft that I ever did (outside of school crafts where you just do what the teacher says). My mother has always been a seamstress and she made a lot of our clothes when we (my sister and I) were little bitty. Although, thinking back, I'm not sure she ever enjoyed sewing. I think it was just something she did out of necessity.

But since I've started back sewing, I've really enjoyed it. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't say a few choice words every time I have to rip out a seam. LOL

So, my plan is to add fabric items to my Handmade Whimzy shop. My long term plan at this time, is to offer fabric items and my bookmark line at Handmade Whimzy and slowly eliminate the jewelry line. I've been working on aromatherapy sachets, eye masks, and pillows. I'm happy to say that I have some ready to list. YAY! Here is a sneak peak:

And I have plans for many more things!

For Pink Pear Designs, I've been working on a new line of hair accessories. Sweet little hair pins made with some of the adorable cabochons that I also use in my jewelry. I've also started making fabric flowers that I've turned into hairpins and plan to also use in my jewelry.

I'm very excited about my new items and have my fingers crossed that they will be a big success! I'm planning a future blog give away so stay tuned for more details!

ALSO, tomorrow (Monday, June 29th) is Etsy Texas Crafters 1st ever $5 5th Monday SALE EVENT! Check out the $5 sale sections in both Handmade Whimzy and Pink Pear Designs. Some items are marked MORE THAN 50% off in both shops!

To view items for all team members, click on the big TEX button on my sidebar.

Guess who's the Featured ETC Artist this week?

It's me!!! WOOHOO!!

Handmade Whimzy was chosen to be the featured ETC artist for the next 2 weeks. YAY!
You can read all about me here on our EtsyTx.ning site.

Ruth of RHRadcliffedesigns (the ETC Featured Member Coordinator) also made a treasury featuring some of the items from my shop.

Click here to go to the treasury page - please feel free to click the items and leave a comment!

I'm truly honored to be chosen by Ruth to be the featured member. We have ALOT of really talented people on our team.

As a special PROMO, I am offering 20% off total purchase from both my Handmade Whimzy shop and Pink Pear Designs for the length of my feature. This promo will expire July 5th and cannot be combined with other ETC Promotions (such as $5 5th Monday coming up on Monday, June 29th). Just enter "ETC Featured" in the notes to seller at time of purchase to receive the discount.

Happy Father's Day to the best dad (and hubby) a boy (and wife) could hope for. We are so thankful for him.

Inspire - Control by divine influence

My Serene Cameo Necklace from Pink Pear Designs has been chosen by ktmotif for her Inspire treasury. I'm honored to have made a piece of jewelry that inspired someone else.

Everything that she chose for her treasury is gorgeous. I love the Urban Flock by mariterecr and the cherries in the Only You Can Tell Me Apart print by tinateaspoon. All the images she chose are so vivid. Very inspiring.

Thanks so much KTMotif! Check out Kt's shop for custom scrapbook sets and pages. She has some really cute pages just waiting for your photographs.

What we did with the blueberries

We made jam! MMMmmmm!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted here about all the blueberries that we had picked. Well, last Thursday, we made blueberry jam. MMMMMmmmm. It is soooo good. I love blueberry jam.

The recipe we used is an old family secret. LOL Not really! It's the recipe in the Surejell instructions. It's super easy to make, doesn't take long and tastes so good.


I had my son doing the most fun part, which is squishing the berries. We don't use a food processor because what fun would that be? Instead, I have this old cone shaped metal thingy that I got at First Monday in Canton years ago. You put the berries inside and just start jabbing them with this cone shaped wooden thingy. It's a real stress reliever. When they're squished enough, you pour them out into a bowl.

Then, you cook them with the sugar etc. according to Surejell package instructions. We ended up with 9 jars. Some were the bigger jam jars and some were little bitty - like for giving as gifts.

Of course, there were berries left over. We ate a bunch of them and froze the rest. I love berry season.

Blueberry TIP: Here is a blueberry freezing tip that I got from Martha Stewart a few years ago. To get your frozen blueberries to maintain a nice round, just picked shape, lay them out single layer on cookie sheets after washing them. Put them in the freezer for an hour or so and let them freeze. Then, you can take them out, put them into gallon ziploc bags and they will stay nice and round.

Last Day to YART!

Today is the last day of etsy's YART sale! Don't miss these great bargains on all kinds of handmade things, from jewelry to furniture to photography and soap. It's not too soon to buy for Christmas!

Handmade Whimzy has a special YART section with 10-40% off all items plus FREE SHIPPING on all YART items. Click the pic below to go directly to my YART sale!

YART Treasury

Pruitthandcrafts has chosen my Rings of Saturn necklace from Handmade Whimzy to be in their lovely red YART treasury. I'm honored to be chosen to be among such pretty items.

My Rings of Saturn necklace is 25% off with free shipping during the YART sale which lasts until June 14th!

To view the treasury and leave a comment, click either the treasury picture above or click here:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=64069

Thanks so much Pruitthandcrafts! I love your treasury!

ETC Promo Swap

My etsy team, ETC - Etsy Texas Crafters, is having a promotional swap. Everyone participating sends promos to Lori of ThePaperElephant, who is our excellent Promo swap coordinator. She puts packets together with promos from all participating shops and mails them back to us.

There were 27 people participating this time, some who have multiple shops.

I decided to participate with Handmade Whimzy and Pink Pear Designs. My promos include a business card which lists both shops info, and a little cardstock bookmark with a coupon on the back. Some coupons are for Handmade Whimzy and some are for Pink Pear Designs. I made 130! That's enough for each participating person to have 5.

When I get my packet from Lori, I will sort the promos into goody bags which I will give out at the next Arts and Crafts show that I do (coming up in July). Some will also be mailed out in sale orders. This is a great way to get our shops names out into the public and hopefully, make some sales!

Thanks so much for coordinating this promo swap for our team, Lori!

100 SALES

WOOHOO! Handmade Whimzy has reached 100 sales as of Sunday night! YAY - I'm very excited. It seemed to sit on the 99 mark for weeks.

Here is the lovely dragonfly bookmark that made my 100th sale:

I'm including a nice gift in the order when I mail it today for being my 100th sale. I hope my customer loves it! I hope my next 100 sales goes much faster :)

Also, don't forget my YART sale which has already started at Handmade Whimzy. It will go from now until June 14th. I have over 20 items marked down plus free shipping on all YART items!

YART SALE!

TEAM ESST on etsy sponsoring their second annual YART sale from June 10th throught the 14th. YART is a combination of yard sale and art = YART.

This year Handmade Whimzy is participating and I've decided to start my YART sale early. It will run from now until Sunday, June 14th. Check out my YART Section at Handmade Whimzy where discounts from 10% to 40% have already been taken. You will also receive FREE SHIPPING on the YART items.

HAPPY YARTING!

Blueberries!

YUMM!! Is there anything better than blueberries? Well, pears may be a close second. But as far as being really, really good for you AND tasting good, I think blueberries may beat out pears at our house. (although my son would disagree).

So this morning, we went berry picking at a local berry farm. My friend and her daughter went with us, so my son had someone to annoy while he picked berries. LOL

Between the two of us, we picked about 8 pounds of blueberries. YUMM! We are going to make some blueberry jam and hopefully have enough left over to eat some and to freeze some.

The sack on the left is the one I picked and the one on the right is the one my son picked. His was about 2 pounds. I thought that was pretty good. It's been a couple of years since I took him picking and this is way more than he picked last time. The berries were able to hold the kids attention for about 1 hour before they started whining "when are we going to go?"

I can't wait to taste the yummy jam!