Who's that girl?

It's me!!

A few months ago, I was asked if I was willing to complete an e-mail interview for the Behind the Seams feature on UsTrendy. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity, and then my interview never got posted. I figured they might just be backlogged or didn't like my answers or whatever, and I let it roll of my skin. Well, over the weekend, I updated my shop and portfolios on their site in preparation for the ad that they were running this week on PerezHilton. I figured it wouldn't hurt to be prepared just in case some of that extra traffic came my way. Well, imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail yesterday afternoon letting me know that they were about to post my feature!!! Yippie!! You can find the interview here, and feel free to check out my shop while you're there

Did you see it?

Okay, okay, I'll admit it. I've been slacking. I had a really rough recovery from my procedure a few weeks ago, ended up back in the emergency room, and then have just been trying to take things easy for a bit until things settled. (Not to mention that life always has a way of throwing a few monkey wrenches into things when things are already going haywire....)

Anyway, I have a store on the website UsTrendy. It's a really cool website for all things indie fashion. Well, last week, UsTrendy announced that they were going to be running an add on PerezHilton this week. Here's a picture of the ad. (You can see it on the left hand side)

So, I've been busting my butt to add all of inventory to my store over there and make sure that things were up to par in case I happened to get any increased traffic to my store as a result. We'll see what happens, but in the meantime, it's pretty cool to see something that I'm a part of on such a popular website.

Something on the side

A good friend of my husband and mine just had a beautiful, healthy, baby girl. She's so cute! Unfortunately, they live in New Hampshire, and the Marine Corps says we live in California. While it would be amazing to go home and visit, it isn't going to happen anytime soon. So, I thought that I would make a little something to let them know that we are thinking of them. It's actually not quite finished yet. I still have to put it all together, but this is the finished top piece, so that you can get an idea of what it will look like. (Keep in mind that the colors are much more vibrant in person. The natural light inside my apartment is non-existent.)

I won!

On Friday night, I was wandering around the Etsy forums, and I came across an interesting thread in the promotions section. It was for a contest being held by Sakura Bath and Body. They had made a lovely treasury, and if you could guess what movie the treasury represented, you won a free lip balm. Here is the treasury. As you can see, I was the lucky winner. Shortly thereafter, I received a convo from Sakura Bath and Body asking me to chose a flavor. To be honest, I was a bit surprised by this. For free, I was expecting it to just be whatever flavor they chose. It was really cool that I got to choose. My choices were: Vanilla Ice Cream, CranGrape, Strawberry, Citrus Punch, Bubblegum, Hazelnut, Lemon Pound Cake, Raspberry Lemonade, Very Vanilla, Watermelon, or Pomegranate. Seeing that I haven't had bubblegum flavored lip balm since I was very young, I couldn't resist. My lip balm shipped the very next day (on a Saturday), which was also very impressive. It arrived Monday, and was on my lips before I even made it back to my apartment from the mailbox. Again, I was impressed. As I've mentioned before, I've got health issues. With one of my conditions, my pituitary gland doesn't produce the hormone necessary for the body to process water. Even with medication, I'm still always severely dehydrated. The only visible symptom of this (aside from when I pass out randomly) would be that my lips are always REALLY, REALLY dry. Always. So, I have lip balm everywhere. I keep some in the car, in my purse, in the bathroom, on my sewing table, on my night stand, ect. So, for me to find a really hydrating lip balm that doesn't taste nasty is really important. This lip balm is exactly that. It tastes great and left my lips soft and hydrated. Yippie! I will definitely be back for more, and to try to some of her other goodies!!

My loss, your gain!!

So, last week, my car was the victim of a hit and run driver, a tire blew and my dog got sick. Among everything else that's been going on, it's made for a rough week. Well, my loss is your gain!! I'm having a sale in my etsy shop! Everything is already marked with free shipping worldwide! I'm also offering a special just for you! If you follow my blog I'd like to offer you an additional 10% off all orders over $10!!! Just purchase the item as you normally would, and I'll issue you a refund through paypal!
This sale will be running until midnight Monday May 10th, so please tell your friends!!!

A slowdown next week

I've mentioned before, and I'll mention it again. I've got health issues. Some days are great, and some days are not great at all. The past two or three weeks have been full of not great health days. I've spent a lot of time over the past week resting, and next week, I'm going into the hospital for a hydrodistention. It's a day procedure that I'm having done on Thursday, and should be back up and at 'em by Friday. So, what does this mean for you? Well, my shop will still be open. However, it might take me a bit longer to answer convos or get your orders in the mail to you. My blogging my also fall behind a little. It doesn't mean that I've run away or that I'm playing hooky, I've just got to make sure that I take the time to rest up. Thanks in advance for your patience with me!

A new custom order

I have said it before, and I will say it again: I have the best customers EVER! It is such a source of pride for me that these amazing people come for their accessories. It's even cooler when they have an idea and they trust me to bring that idea into reality.

Last week, I was contacted about doing a custom order for a repeat customer. Thankfully, she was patient enough to wait until after all of the Queen Bee Madness was finished and I could get myself back in working order. So, here's a few pictures of what she wanted....
I love the way it turned out, and luckily, so does my customer! As always, if you have an idea for something that I don't have in my shop, please feel free to contact me in my Etsy shop.

The Queen Bee Market Wrap-up

Saturday was the big Queen Bee Market. It was one of the first shows that I've ever really participated in, and it was a fantastic experience. First of all, the vendors there were top notch. I mean, seriously, if I had all of the money in the world, I would have shopped the place empty. Second, they packed the place. I mean, packed! They really hit the ball out of the park! While I would have liked to have sold everything I brought with me to the show, I did sell quite a bit more than I have ever sold at any other event. I'm also getting some people in my Etsy shop that saw me at the event. (Horray!!) There is some talk about them hosting another one around the holidays, and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that I'm asked to participate again!

With that, I did want to share a few of my favorites with you....
Fruition
Cut, Sew, Repeat
Simply Pretty Prints
Cinnamon Sticks

Stacey Winters
Flawed Perfection Jewelry
Paisley Mill