Etsy Stock Take - Week Seventeen

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New in LifesJewels: Greeting Cards

Etsy Stock Take - Week Seventeen - Sunday Linky Party

I have always made my own greetings cards rather than buying them. This week I thought I might try putting some in the shop. 

These are special because they feature European stamps. I find it impossible to throw away stamps and always rip them off envelopes before sticking them in the recycling. I have a nice little pile now and was wondering what to do with them... Then I thought about sewing them to paper, which I have seen other crafty-types do.

Voila, these cards were born!

There is something very nice about how each card is one of a kind. If I make more the stamp combinations will always be different :)

This is my favourite - the one with the British stamp featuring Fantastic Mr Fox.

Giveaway winner:

Congratulations to Simona at ArtsyAnts who won last week's giveaway! Simona, I will contact you shortly to get your address :)

Update: Simona received her package and blogged about it on the Artsy Ants!

Join me:

I hope that you fellow Etsians will join me in showcasing your new items each week. I will post my progress every Sunday, but you can join in with a live list anytime!

You have 2 options:

 

1. For those with time to blog: 

 

Write a new post on your blog (telling us about your new items), title it Etsy Stock Take and link back here so your readers get a chance to find the link up list. Then create a link from here to your blog using the Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post. Then we can find your post :)

If you like you can pick up the Etsy Stock Take blog button from the code in the sidebar on the right.

 

2. Link up directly to your Etsy shop:  

Post a link that goes directly to your new items in Etsy using the Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post (you can put up as many as you like!).

It'd be lovely if you took a moment to go and check out some stuff that others post below - go shopping!

It seems that there have been some difficulties with the Linky widget. If you have problems, please let me know and I will give you a hand (my email). I will list each week's stock take on my Etsy Stock Take page. Please go and have a browse...

Let's show our support for each other craftwise!

I'm hoping that my goal of listing one item a week will be a powerful motivator and a source of Etsy promotion for us all.

Ciao!

Kat :)


Also linking up to: "My entry to Simple Home Life's  Simply Creation's Friday sponsored by Appliances Online and their Fridge Freezers”.

Nature Inspiration - Spring 2012

Moss on windowsill with snow below

I find that nature provides the best inspiration and this spring has been no exception. My camera is nearly always in my handbag and I love looking out for unusual angles on everyday things.

This spring I found some exquisite beauty in the mundane!

Spiky seed pods

New Leaves

Little leaf buds

The vigor of hedges coming back to life

My favourite tree: silver birch

PS: You are still in time to enter the giveaway for a craft book, learn how to make beaded jewellery. Open until 28th April 2012, come and join in!

On My Knitting Needles - April

This is what I've got on my knitting needles at the moment. It's a waistcoat for Marmee. It's gorgeous. I'm quite in love with it, so I'll have to make myself one next! Check it out on Ravelry.  I had some gauge issues with this one, so I'm glad to have made it past the swatch!

Do you like my stitch markers? They are super luxe. A treat to myself from HeyButtons on Etsy. I do love them, they are semi precious stones! You can see one of the Lepidolite ones which are purple. But I also have green Dragons Blood Jasper (with red lines running through it!) and red Crab Fire Agate. Don't they have the most amazing names? I often thread a few on a very long silver chain and wear them as a necklace :)

I've been learning to knit lace (more about that below) and the little lace leaves have been ideal to get my confidence up. I think I have done enough repeats to have memorised how to knit a leaf now. Yay!

Back to the real lace project! This is the progress on the lace for Mimi's hat. It's taking shape. I must admit I'm finding such fine lace hard going though. I only manage about 4 rows and then I go cross eyed! I love the results so I will persevere.

I would like to incorporate some feathers, but not sure how right now... By the way, the hat base is from SquirlGirl Millinery Supplies on Etsy. 

 Half way done! Yummy.

Have you linked up to the latest Etsy Stock Take yet? There is a give away this week as well, you can win a craft book: Beaded Jewellery!

Etsy Stock Take - Week Sixteen - Giveaway!

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New in: Gift Certificates

Etsy Stock Take - Week Sixteen

UPDATE: Don't post your links here anymore, please go over to the latest Etsy Stock Take. I plan to do this at the end of every calender week, so look out for the newest link-up opportunity!

This week the Etsy Stock Take is full of news!

Etsy Stock Take:

Firstly, I have been rather busy knitting. Now knitting is very time intensive and doesn't normally yield anything for my shop as my knitting projects are usually earmarked for someone before I start. 

So I have no items to list this week. But I know that regularly listing new items is important for getting an Etsy shop noticed by Google. So I was wondering what to do about that and then thought that perhaps I can offer gift certificates... 

So I put together a new image using the same font as my blog (I'm trying to create a more cohesive look) and a lovely photo of Provence in the the South of France that I took last time we were there. That goes nicely with my lavender items.  Have you ever thought about offering gift certificates in your shop?

The shop gets a name change:

Secondly,  I decided to change my Etsy shop's name! Now it is LifesJewels to fit in with the blog. I would love to take on more custom orders and I think that using the blog to show what I can do will help with that goal in the long term.

100th post giveaway!

Thirdly, this is my 100th post! My blog is very young, I just started it last year in the autumn. It's been a bit of a journey and I still have A LOT to learn and improvements to make. But I am very excited to have made it this far. In celebration I would like to offer a craft book to one of my readers!

The book is:
Chic and Unique Beaded Jewellery edited by Naomi Abeykoon and published by D&C.

It includes a run down of the needed materials and techniques for making beaded jewellery and many great projects by several designers. It's brand new, I have only leafed through it :)

To enter the competition, please leave me a comment with some feedback or advice on what I can do to improve the blog, LifesJewels (Etsy shop) or how to attract more custom orders. 

It'd be great if you followed me on Twitter too - @KatEzat ;)

The author of the best piece of advice will be the winner! I'll announce the winner in next week's Etsy Stock Take and you can enter until then. This is open to anyone, I'll happily post the book internationally.

Sneak Peek!

Meanwhile please link up with your shop items as usual, you know what to do!

Oh, and don't forget that last week LeAnn offered us all a 10% discount in her shop LeMaisonBelle with the coupon code: JEWELSONSTRING10. Go and check it out!

See you next week,

Kat :)

Join me:

I hope that you fellow Etsians will join me in showcasing your new items each week. I will post my progress every Sunday, but you can join in with a live list anytime!

You have 2 options:

 

1. For those with time to blog: 

 

Write a new post on your blog (telling us about your new items), title it Etsy Stock Take and link back here so your readers get a chance to find the link up list. Then create a link from here to your blog using the Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post. Then we can find your post :)

If you like you can pick up the Etsy Stock Take blog button from the code in the sidebar on the right.

 

2. Link up directly to your Etsy shop:  

Post a link that goes directly to your new items in Etsy using the Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post (you can put up as many as you like!).

It'd be lovely if you took a moment to go and check out some stuff that others post below. 

It seems that there have been some difficulties with the Linky widget. If you have problems, please let me know and I will give you a hand. I will list each week's stock take on my Etsy Stock Take page. Please go and have a browse...

Let's show our support for each other craftwise!

I'm hoping that my goal of listing one item a week will be a powerful motivator and a source of Etsy promotion for us all.

Crochet Class

Last week I had a lovely cozy afternoon with a friend. She was interested in learning how to make crochet flowers and so that's what we did!

I made a pot of fresh mint tea, got out the biscotti and we dived into my stash! That was a scary moment, how on earth did I end up with soooo much yarn?

We decided to go the intuitive path and not count the stitches too much so you can see that our flowers are not exactly perfect. But we did cover the names of the stitches and got through the basics:

chain
single crochet
half double crochet
double crochet
triple crochet
slip stitch

That's quite a lot for only a couple of hours work. My flower is the orange one and the pinky peach one my friend made is now proudly attached to her phone, it's a handy screen wipe!


PS. If you are an Etsy Seller you can promote your items on this blog right now for free in the Etsy Stock Take. Please come and join in :)

Etsy Stock Take - Week Fifteen - Best of March

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Etsy Stock Take - Week Fifteen - Best of March

UPDATE: Don't post your links here anymore, please click on the link to go over to the latest Etsy Stock Take. I plan to do this at the end of every calender week, so please look out for the newest post!

 I don't quite know how it's happening but the months are passing and we are more than a third into 2012! And well into spring...

The Etsy Stock Take - Best of March is here! Enjoy the selection below and please do link up :)

Let's see what tickled my fancy last month:

Week Nine:

Magnetic Bulletin Board at LeMaisonBelle

UPDATE: LeAnn has offered us all a 10% discount in her shop LeMaisonBelle with the coupon code: JEWELSONSTRING10. Enjoy!

Week Ten:

Gold Lace Bridal Pendant at Sukran Kirtis Classiques

Week Eleven:

Origami Star Decorations at SVaethDesigns

Week Twelve:

Color Scale Book Mark at Melonheadbookmarks

I wonder what your favourite piece was last month...


See you next week,

Kat :)

Join me:

I hope that you fellow Etsians will join me in showcasing your new items each week. I will post my progress every Sunday, but you can join in with a live list anytime!

You have 2 options:

 

1. For those with time to blog: 

 

Write a new post on your blog (telling us about your new items), title it Etsy Stock Take and link back here so your readers get a chance to find the link up list. Then create a link from here to your blog using the Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post. Then we can find your post :)

If you like you can pick up the Etsy Stock Take blog button from the code in the sidebar on the right.

 

2. Link up directly to your Etsy shop:  

Post a link that goes directly to your new items in Etsy using the Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post (you can put up as many as you like!).

It'd be lovely if you took a moment to go and check out some stuff that others post below. 

It seems that there have been some difficulties with the Linky widget. If you have problems, please let me know and I will give you a hand. I will list each week's stock take on my Etsy Stock Take page. Please go and have a browse...

Let's show our support for each other craftwise!

I'm hoping that my goal of listing one item a week will be a powerful motivator and a source of Etsy promotion for us all.

Vintage Cars in Hamburg - Renault 5

 

Vintage Cars in Hamburg - Renault 5

Today I have great pleasure featuring a little old Renault 5. I spied this out while driving in the Flottbeck area of Hamburg and managed to snap it while stopped at a red light.

This was my first car! In exactly the same colour! I had adventures in that car.

-Driving to a party with the heated curlers still in my hair...
-Locking the key inside and having to hitch a lift to get the spare from home...
-Finding out the hard way what to do about the choke and flooding the engine with petrol...
-Reversing into a lamp pole after checking out a possible wedding reception location with my mum...
-Wheel spinning on gravel and being too chicken to do hand-brake turns (if I could turn back time!)...
-Leaving the lights on and Petie teaching me how to recharge a car battery (Thanks for all the great car stuff Pete)...
-Seriously considering pouring porridge oats into the radiator to seal a crack (yea really!)...

Oh the things I learnt! Shame you can't just open up the hood and fiddle with cars these days. I liked getting my hands dirty. Now you just have a computer to deal with. Can't argue with progress though, at least my current car ALWAYS starts in the morning!

Chilli Muchacha was a sweetie, until someone rammed into the side of her and that was that...

My mum also had a little black one. Good times :)


This is part of my photography project: Vintage Cars in Hamburg. I now carry my camera wherever I go and I will collect pictures of old cars that I see while out and about. They just make me happy.

1. Mini Cooper
2. V.W. Beetle 
3. V.W. Beetle with vintage skis
4. Mini Cooper
5. Vintage Cars in the UK Winter 2012 

LOVE vintage cars!

PS. If you are an Etsy Seller you can promote your items on this blog right now for free in the Etsy Stock Take. Please come and join in :)

How to: Street Stuff into Thrifty Handmade Cushions

Do you remember the bed linen that I picked up off the street for free? I made thrifty cushions!

Tah dah!

In Germany they have giant pillow cases and I managed to get four cushions from each of the two pillow cases. Wow. I have cut and assembled all eight, but only four are stuffed so far. We use them in the kitchen because the chairs there are not very comfortable.

My notes:

-Plan the size and shape. I used an existing cushion and soon realised that I could make four square cushions from one pillow case.

-Cut the pieces. I just followed the fold lines (and the printed lines on the fabric!).

-Turn the pieces inside out, right sides together. Sew up the open edges (2 sides on each cushion were already sewn up: the original pillow case seams.)

NB: Leave a couple of inches open for stuffing!

-Turn the pieces right side out again. Stuff the cushions (A supply of M&Ms is very helpful here as you can see in the picture!).

I used a polyfil stuffing that I got at my local craft store. It was about EUR11 for 400g (I think, I'm guessing as I already threw out the packaging, I'll check and update...). I used the whole packet for the four cushions which are 13 1/2" square (34cm square).

-Sew up the little openings.

-Go and enjoy your lovely squishy very thrifty cushions!

What I'm thinking:

• Any old bedding or scrap fabric (old clothes?) could be used for this project, you don't have to wait until you find some for free on the street! haha.
• I do believe that the stuffing holds up in the wash, so it's not too icky to not have a separate insert in order to wash the cover. 
• The cushion could be any shape and size as it's not necessary to find an insert to match. Now I'm thinking little animal shapes... I suppose it would depend on the fabric...

Shame about the declining photo quality, it got dark and rainy before I had finished!

Little birds!

As I write this I am watching a family of Great Tits dance around on my balcony! Oh they are so sweet. I wish I could include a photo, but they are very skittish, I cannot risk even moving my head.

I'm holding my breath!

I over-toasted some pine nuts yesterday and they were a bit too bitter for the recipe I had in mind. Turns out that Great Tits love them!

Now I've made thrifty cushions with the pillow cases, the big question is what to do with the sheets...

Etsy Stock Take - Week Fourteen

Wedding RSVP Card

Tweet #etsystocktake

Etsy Stock Take - Week Fourteen 

UPDATE: Don't post your links here anymore, please click on the link to go over to the latest Etsy Stock Take. I plan to do this at the end of every calender week, so please look out for the newest post!

This week I RSVPed to a wedding we've been invited to in June. I'm very excited about going south to Geneva and hanging out with all the lovely friends we made when we lived there.

I wanted to send a formal acceptance (we just don't get enough quality post these days do we?). 

When looking in the shops, I was surprised by the price of cards, an average of around EUR7. I didn't find much of a choice either. Maybe I went to the wrong places... 

Anyway I decided that I would make a card myself. Then I got to thinking it might be a nice addition to my Etsy shop. So I have listed a Wedding RSVP Card.

It's a bright white card and envelope embellished with sweet little crochet hearts. These could be done in a myriad of colours. It could be used as an RSVP card, an anniversary card, a congratulations card or a thank you card, or I could make a whole set to serve as wedding invitations... I hope I get a custom order! 

What have you been up to? I would love to know. The Etsy Stock Take has been a bit slow in the last week, but I think that Blogger changing over it's server has had a hand in that... 

See you next week,

Kat :)

Join me:

I hope that you fellow Etsians will join me in showcasing your new items each week. I will post my progress every Sunday, but you can join in with a live list anytime!

You have 2 options:

1. For those with time to blog: 

Write a new post on your blog (telling us about your new items), title it Etsy Stock Take and link back here so your readers get a chance to find the link up list. Then create a link from here to your blog using the Mr Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post. Then we can find your post :)

2. Link up directly to your Etsy shop:  

Post a link that goes directly to your new items in Etsy using the Mr Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post (you can put up as many as you like!).

It'd be lovely if you took a moment to go and check out some stuff that others post below. 

It seems that there has been some difficulties with the Mr Linky widget. If you have problems, please let me know and I will give you a hand. I will list each week's stock take on my Etsy Stock Take page. Please go and have a browse...

Let's show our support for each other craftwise!

I'm hoping that my goal of listing one item a week will be a powerful motivator and a source of Etsy promotion for us all.

How to: Sew Stuffed Hearts.

How to sew stuffed hearts. 

I've been making rather a lot of stuff and not taking the time to record my progress, let's remedy that with my stuffed heart how to. Below are my notes for this lovely beginner sewing project, it's also the ultimate in upcycling. If you make some I would love to see!

Read on and make me! Or click and buy me!

Supplies:
-Scrap fabric
-Scrap ribbon
-Stuffing (read below for stuffing ideas)
-Needle and thread
-Pins

Template for heart template!

1. Make a template. Use very thick card and keep it for future heart making needs. This can be done freestyle, or click on the half template picture above to enlarge it, draw around it (yes, right on the screen! Just use a soft tip pen) and cut it out, on a fold (fold is the edge I'm holding down).

Heart template ready for use.

2. Draw around template onto fabric.

Enough pieces for two hearts.

3. Cut out 2 pieces for each finished heart.

Pin ribbon to centre with right side up.

4. Fold ribbon in half and cut to desired length. Pin to the right side of one heart (the side seen when the heart is finished). Do this with the fold tucked in the middle and the ends hanging off the edge in the centre of the heart.

Put another heart on top, wrong side up.

5. Place another heart piece on top, with right sides together (so the wrong side is in view).

Don't sew the orange marked bit.

6. Pin the pieces together as shown above. Place two pins as a reminder not to sew all the way around.

Trim around curvy bits and the point.

7. Sew around (by hand or machine), leaving the marked area open, about 1" is needed.

8.Trim the curvy bits and cut off the point as in picture to help the heart plump out smoothly. Be careful not to cut through stitches. Carefully pull out the pin holding the ribbon.

9. Turn inside out and stuff. I use old sewing scraps or for a softer heart polyfil toy stuffing is good.

10. Hand sew the opening closed. 

Your stuffed heart is finished!

Other ideas:

-Stuff with dried lavender flowers for a sachet.
-Put magnets in the back and stick on the fridge.
-Use as a pin cushion, if you stick a magnet in too the pins'll stick!
-Sew sequins or beads to the surface of a finished heart.
-Make them out of old frayed items you are sentimental about, eg. children's quilts.
-Embroider on the right side of one of the pieces before sewing together.
-These make great gifts.

PS. Are you into buying handmade? Yes? Then you should check out the amazing stuff in the Etsy Stock Take. If you sell your craft on Etsy, please come and join in :)

Etsy Stock Take - Week Thirteen

<a href="http://lifesjewelsonstring.blogspot.de/p/etsy-stock-take.html"><img border="0"  src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl0d5S6etnnAJSX1gdtTBIfZ-2s8IVeZqHrnorF9jPBZCXbsew-VdSoig43UA7Sbsclf3qI6aolYv75Cb0vKR76pJfG9LGfTTgsI0qbwuiJUncB5M-kPfuCFTD2q9tpPlH-ucmMIRT8fk/s1600/Etsy+Stock+Take+blog+button.jpg" /></a>

Etsy Stock Take - Week Thirteen

UPDATE: Don't post your links here anymore, please click on the link to go over to the latest Etsy Stock Take. I plan to do this at the end of every calender week, so please look out for the newest post!

I made a blog button!

Oh my, I've never done anything like this before, but after a nice suggestion from Simona at Artsy Ants I thought I would give it a go.

It's got a grab box so you can copy and paste the code into your own blog. Then you'll have a handy reminder to add your stuff to the Etsy Stock Take each week. Now please try it out and let me know if it works ok (I have tested it, so I'm confident).

I think that the image could be improved upon, although I tried to make it look like a little linky list! The important part of the exercise was getting the code to work. I code I finally used can be found at Icey Books. I did try several snippets of code from several sources online, but this is the one that worked for me. If you want a blog button try searching 'how to make a blog button' in google and you'll get plenty of help. Alternatively I think you can ask for help with this at the Artsy Ants.

So much time went into the blog button that my Etsy shop got a bit neglected this week. Oh well...

Until next week,

Kat x

Join me:

I hope that you fellow Etsians will join me in showcasing your new items each week. I will post my progress every Sunday, but you can join in with a live list anytime!

You have 2 options:

1. For those with time to blog: 

Write a new post on your blog (telling us about your new items), title it Etsy Stock Take and link back here so your readers get a chance to find the link up list. Then create a link from here to your blog using the Mr Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post. Then we can find you :)

2. For those with a time deficit:  

Post a link that goes directly to your new items in Etsy using the Mr Linky widget (where it says 'click here to enter') at the bottom of this post (you can put up as many as you like!).

It'd be lovely if you took a moment to go and check out some stuff that others post below. 
I will list each week's stock take on my Etsy Stock Take page. Please go and have a browse...

Let's show our support for each other craftwise!

I'm hoping that my goal of listing one item a week will be a powerful motivator and a source of Etsy promotion for us all.