Etsy fabulous find

I was lucky recently to have some money in my paypal account so, of course, I decided to spend it on etsy. Oh, but what to buy....I searched through all my favorites (all 19 pages of them!) and just couldn't make up my mind. There are so many things I want to buy, I was almost paralyzed with indecision.

I even started a forum thread about it, wondering how other people decide what to buy when there are so many choices available. A very wise etsian said that she would buy something with a higher price point (like the bag I've been coveting) because you can usually find the money to buy something smaller but it's not often that you have the money for the bigger ticket item. I decided she was right and went for the bag.

And I'm so glad I did! It's gorgeous and I'm completely in love!

This bag is from a relatively new etsy shop, HautTotes.

She has some amazing items! I had a hard time deciding which one I really wanted. I kept coming back to the ladies above and they finally won out. The bag is beautiful, huge and so well made. I can't wait to start using it for my lunch and my book everyday at work. I just know I'm going to get a lot of compliments on it!

Here are a few other bags in this wonderful etsy shop

7 things about me

Well, I’ve been tagged. Anna over at HalfanAcre put her paint covered hands on my blog and tagged me. So, now I’m supposed to share 7 facts about me. I suppose they have to be true…..although, it would be fun to claim that I once toured with New Kids On The Block, alas, it wouldn’t be true. So, here goes:


7 facts about me

* I absolutely ADORE giant animals gone amok movies. The campy-er the better. I love watching giant snakes, alligators, spiders terrorize people. They make me laugh. I love the serious ones, like Jaws but the really campy ones are the best. One of my all time favorites is Lake Placid. If you’ve never seen it, rent it!

* I hate getting stuck behind semi trucks with open beds, hauling pipes or steel rods or bricks. Basically, anything that you would need to haul on an open bed. It freaks me out because I always, morbidly, picture the chains holding the things in place breaking and the pipes/rods/bricks come hurtling at me. Now, I have never seen this happen. I’ve never even heard of this happening. But, in my mind, it happens a lot. I have to move out from behind them as soon as I can.

* I failed my driver’s test the first time I took it as a teenager and didn’t try again until I was 20. I passed (just in case you were wondering)

* I am scared of frogs and clowns. I don’t know why, it’s not a rational fear. No tragic frog incidents in my past. No scaring clown incidents either. And definitely nothing with froggy clowns. I guess a lot of people have the clown thing so it’s not that unusual. But the frog thing, yeah, I don’t know.

* I am a voracious reader. I probably have well over 1000 books. Most of them are packed away in tubs, in storage. That makes me sad. I would love to have a giant library some day. Like the one in Beauty and the Beast. That would make me so happy. I’m always reading but only one book at a time. I need to be able to give the book my full attention and I can’t do that if I’m trying to read more than one at a time. I’m a fast reader but can’t spend a lot of time reading at home because of the kids. Every job I’ve had as an adult has been working with books.

* I am addicted to TV. There, I said it. I have shows on pretty much every night of the week except for Friday and Saturday, those are the nights I work in the craft room because I can stay up later than on school nights. Every other night, I’m watching TV. I usually do something else while watching, reading a magazine, or working on a sudoku puzzle. I also cross stitch while watching and lately, I’ve been trying out needle felting. My DVR is usually full because there is invariably more than one program that I watch on at one time. I love my DVR, it’s one of the best things ever invented. My favorite TV show of all time is MASH.

* I am a San Diego native. I know, we’re rare. I left to go to college and ended up in Evansville, Indiana. I wanted seasons. I was tired of sunshine all the time. I got seasons, lovely Falls and snow in winter. It was fabulous. After graduation though, I came back home. Lucky I did to, since this is where my husband was living! Of course, I didn’t know it at the time : )



So, there you go. Seven facts about me, all of them true. I’m supposed to tag 7 other blogs but to be honest, I don’t think I read 7 other blogs and one of the ones I do read has already been tagged. Let me see which ones I can come up with……

Dog.Yarn.Knit.
Keeping Up With the Joneses
Liz Edgar
Twenty Pound Tabby

I guess that’s it. Oh well, that’s ok. This has been fun….kind of : )

Promos!

It's been promo madness around here lately. I'm getting ready to send out a whole bunch of promos in the next few weeks, trying to get more people into the shop.

I'm sending out these tags


to 4 different etsians to put into promo bags that they will give out at the craft fairs/shows they are doing this season. I cut the tags out using my Craft Robo. Man, I love that machine! Luckily, the tags are good TV watching work so I've been able to kill 2 birds with one stone. Getting promos done and clearing off some of the shows on my DVR!

The big promo are these little cuties

34 little bags with 2 of my mini thank you cards plus envelopes! I've been working on them for a couple of months now. It takes a lot of time to make 68 little cards! I would have loved to have done more but I just don't have the time. I've bagged each set in cute star cellophane bags, tied them off with one of my tags and a little bit of pretty fiber. And, of course, a business card in each one! Each card is stamped on the back with the shop info too so this promo has the potential to reach a lot of people.

These samples are going to be part of the Little Black Box for November! I'm really excited to be part of the LBB. I ordered one for myself this last month and it was so much fun looking through all the samples. I ended up with some really cute magnets, a great bath bomb and some other soap-y goodness. Lots of earrings too! If you've never gotten the LBB before or don't know what it is, I highly recommend checing out the website. But wait to order one until November and you may get some of my cards!

Front Page!!

Etsy Front Page 10/15/08 LBaccessories
Originally uploaded by Etsy Front Pagers

Wow, I made the front page of Etsy! I'm over the moon about it, even though I missed seeing it.

I noticed an increase in views and did a little investigative work. I never thought I would make the FP!

That's my Thoughts of You Retro card in the 3rd row

Baby Bouquet card

I'm so pleased with the way this card turned out. It's my biggest card to date and I think it's keepsake quality. Pricing it was a scary thing, it's the highest price point I've ever given a single card! But, I think it's worth it and hopefully, someone else will too! If you're interested in seeing the listing, just click on any of the pictures : )

And the winner is

Well, I called it from the beginning. America's Got Talent came down to the 2 singers I posted about back when the show started. Neil E Boyd and Eli Mattson. I'm so happy that it came down to those 2, they are so fantastic.

Congrats to Neil, the winner of AGT!