Stitchin for a Livin

Last night I was up late finishing off the final pages of the last Twilight book. Even though I was tired I only had a few chapters left and it was finally getting to the good part. At around 1am I turned out the light and tried to settle down by watching Lost reruns. Needless to say it was a while before I got to sleep. Things I wanted to do for my shop kept creeping up in my mind. I just couldn’t shut it all off. At 2am I gave up and took a tylenolPM. I knew that would knock me out and it did. At around 8am I started to wake up. The sun was shinning bright but my mind was still dark. I closed my eyes and before I knew it I was out again. Finally an hour later I dragged my butt out of bed and went to make coffee and set down at my computer. I checked my email just like I do every morning and noticed an esty convo in my email set a 6am. Strange, I haven’t been getting many convos since Christmas was over. The email was from another shop letting me know I was on the Front Page.   I was shocked, amazed, bewildered, delighted!!!!

Immediately I went to the front page to see, but it was already gone. I missed it completely.  OMG!!!  I was on the front page and I missed it.  Then I was off to Craft Cult to see how many views I got. My jaw dropped to the floor. I couldn’t believe how much traffic I got for just a few hours on the front page. Here are the reults:

This item got 211 views and 10 hearts

The shop got 198 visits from 37 countries

717 total page views and 8 new shop hearts

in 4 hours!

Compared to last week

111 visits to the shop from 10 countries

and 228 page views and maybe 2 shop hearts

I had heard about the views the front page could give.  I never thought I would actually get to see it for myself.  I’m delighted about the fact so many new people have discovered my shop and it has given me the kick in the butt I needed.  I’ve had a real hard time getting motivated to make new things.  I’ve mostly been working on my website and blog.  I really need to get back to making new things to keep my shop fresh.  This week I will sew something.  A new design has been dancing around in my head.  I need to get it on paper then under the needle.  It’s about time.

A big Thank You to CaitlinSainio for putting my push pins in her gorgeous treasury.  And to shopjude for letting me know I was on the front page.  Visit their shops if you get a chance.

until next time,

~halfs

Classes have started up again and it should be a very interesting semester.  All of my classes are so completely different this time around.  Unlike last semester when they were all so close in subject matter even though they were in different disciplines.  I have 3 international professors 1 from Ukraine, 1 from Nigeria, and 1 from India.  I still have a lab that has not started yet so there still is a possibility of a 4th (fingers crossed).  One guess on which class I have the female Indian professor in!! Anyway, it has been a ride going back to school in my mid 30′s.  So without further ado…This is what I learned in class today……

Criminal Justice:  Human Behavior ~ Crime is harder to define than you think

College Mathematics ~ Doing a crossword puzzle during lecture is a must to stay awake

Astronomy ~ It is very hard to understand a Nigerian Professor especially when he is using words you’ve never heard before.

Human Sexuality ~ Wilma and Fred from the Flintstones were the third couple to be shown in the same bed on TV

Until next time ~ Halfs

Etsy Shop Shout Out will be a regular post (hopefully weekly) featuring one of the many talented and inspiring artist that sell on Etsy.com.

This weeks shop is

So Lovely Creations

http//:www.slcshop.etsy.com

My name is Martha. I am originally from Mexico, but I’ve lived most of my life in Arizona. As long as I can remember I always loved doing craft projects. Art was my favorite subject! I decided to open an etsy shop November 2009. My family was the one who motivated me to open my shop. All my family and friends always said my creations were lovely, thats how I got the name! I would always hear everywhere I went “how lovely”, “lovely creations” etc… So Lovely Creations was the perfect name for my shop!

To the new sellers starting out please be patient! It takes work to make your shop successful! I am still working on mine!
*Its very important to take some time a day to promote your shop.
*Great photos are a must! White background and natural lighting works best!
*Write thorough and give details.
*Provide excellent customer service. I always answer messages after reading them!
*Don’t give up! It takes a while to make regular sales.
*Have a positive attitude about your business!

Be sure to check out Martha’s shop at  http://www.etsy.com/shop/slcshop.  You can also follow her blog at www.solovelycreations.blogspot.com

If you would like to be considered for a Shout Out please feel free to contact me at halfstitched[at]gmail[dot]com.

Over the summer I decided to start a blog.  I spent days (yes literally days) looking at templates on Blogger.  I would download one and try it out, playing with all the features.  After staring at it a couple of hours, I would decide I didn’t like it and try another.  I think I posted once and my template changed about 50 times.  Take away…changing your template does not create more posts.  You must actually write them.

Flash forward to January 2010.  I decided I must have a blog.  Not only for my shop but also, I am a college student who is hoping to go to graduate school in a year and I need to get use to writing again.  Nothing is more daunting to me then the blank page.  I never know how to get things started.   So, I figured this would be  a good way to brush up on my writing and typing skills.  So I started looking into Word Press.  I read several forum threads and other bloggers suggestions on formats to use.  Of course, everyone has a different opinion.  I decided I just needed to try things out and get a feel for myself.  I signed up for an account on wordpress.com and started to play around with there templates.  Again with the templates!!!  Geez, I really needed to get a grasp for what I wanted.  I decided the best way I could decide what I wanted was to look at other blogs I liked and find out what template format they were using.  I found a few cool ones and started googling themes like Thesis and Cutline.

While I was on there sites and tooling around trying to figure out the keys to customizing them, I kept reading about self hosting.  What is this self hosting you speak about?  You mean putting a WordPress blog on your own website?  I have my own .com, can I really?  Yes, I can!!  I’m currently having my own website built but don’t have it up and running yet.  Can I still put my blog on there?  Why yes, Yes you can!  Great!!!  But wait, I don’t know anything about web ugh stuff.  Then I came across this blog post.  Which, had a link right back to WordPress on how to install on your web host.

Willing to dive head first into just about anything, I pulled up my control panel for my web host and looked for Fantastico.  I thought I had seen the icon on there once before and hopefully I wasn’t mistaken.  Yippeeee!  It was there.  Click.  Click.  There’s WordPress.  Click.  And magically it said on my screen WordPress has been added.  I can’t believe it was so easy.  Fantastico is just that, Fantastico! Now, I just needed to log in at wordpress.org, not to be confused with wordpress.com, and upload the theme of my choice.

I settled on Neoclassical.  1) because it was free 2) because it had a customizable header 3) it had a multi-image rotatable header  (check it out, refresh the page and you will see a different header) 4) it had 3 columns.  It took me awhile to figure out the whole header thing.  But, I finally got my own images up there instead of the default images and I am pleased.

Now, I’ve decided I must learn html code.  It’s a must if I want to do anymore customizations or more importantly, learn to fix my mistakes.  My poor web designer/brother-in-law would be bugged to death if I didn’t.  I went to Half Priced Books and found a good, simply put instruction manuel on learning code, Creating Web Sites The Missing Manual. I’ve finished three chapters so far and already I am able to write simple code. Not quit ready to finish building my own site but maybe,  I’ll at least be able to maintain it.

Hopes this helps those who really want a blog but just don’t know what you want.  You may not get it just right the first time but do keep trying!

Like many others that have made the Handmade Pledge, I decided for Christmas everyone one would get handmade gifts. I did have some things from other Etsy crafters picked out but lacked the $$$ to buy them. So, all of these gifts would have to be made by me. Of course, being the Christmas season I was very busy filling customer orders and studying for finals. My own gift making kept being put off. Frantic on Christmas Eve eve, I was up late sewing, ironing, and wrapping. I sewed a record five garments that day. After spitting them out that quick I can only hope the don’t fall apart after the first wash.

Finally, I got everyone’s gift completed with the exception of one. I continued to put it off because I knew I would not see them at Christmas and would most likely have to mail the gift. Then Christmas rolled into New Year’s with more family, this time at my house. So then of course, I needed to time to recuperate from all of the family togetherness. Sleep and peace and quiet were top on my priority list.  Now it’s January 11th!!!  Yikes!  How did I let it go this long?  At this rate I was going to have to rename this gift from a Christmas gift to a Valentine’s Day gift.  So this morning, whether I felt like it or not, I got up and finished the over due gift.  The sad part is there was not a whole lot left to do.  Just a few stitches and a couple of glue dabs and I was done.  I had put it off so long I had forgotten how little needed finishing.  So, I guess what I’m trying to say is…Sis, it’s in the mail.

You Cover Buttons have become one of my most inspiring finds.  While surfing etsy.com I came across these wonderful things all covered in the cutest of fabrics.  The first thing I thought was, how can I make those?  After doing a little digging I came across several sellers on Etsy that sold the makings for the perfect covered button and they come in all different sizes.  The best part is you can do a ll kinds of crafty things with them other than sewing them on a garment.  You can make earrings, rings, magnets, bookmarks, push pins, lanyards, ID holders, and you can use the in groupings to make a collage.  My favorite uses so far have been making bookmarks and push pins .  They have co me in real handy for my children’s clothing line and my signature Half Stitched Magnets. 

Before  you buy you need to decide what you will use the button for.  If you want to embellish a garment or a pillow than you need to be able to sew them on and that will require a shank.  Dritz sells two types of cover buttons.  One is made out of brass and has these great little teeth on the back that hold the fabric in place so that you can put the back on.  Super helpful in getting you fabric wrapped just right around that button.  The other is made of aluminum and requires a tool to help hold the fabric in place while you secure the back.  Fabric placement requires some finesse to get the placement just right before you slap that backing in.  If your fabric ends up a little off there is not a whole lot you can do after that back goes on so becareful.  Dritz also has a cut out template on the back of the package to use for when you cut out your fabric to help get the size just right.

Now if you want to use your cover buttons for projects like push pins and magnets you will want to purchase the buttons with a flat back.  I have not been able to find these in stores.  However, there are plenty of sellers on esty.com that do.  Depending on what size of button you are looking for, you can get them for about $.15 to $.35 a piece and you can get just about any quantity you want.  For these you will need to also purchase a tool to go with them (usually sold separately).

Making the buttons are so easy, but if you are still a little unsure just follow these easy steps to the perfect cover button.

Step 4: Press the blue part of the tool down over the button back untill you feel or hear a snap

Done: Just push your button out of the tool and you are all done

Perfect Button

The possibilities are endless.  I hope that you have found this post helpful and maybe even a little inspiring.  I truly enjoy making things with my hands and am always looking for one more way I can make something unique and from the heart.  Even if you aren’t crafty I hope that you will visit the shops of those who are and support the Handmade Movement.